Introducing...

Today progress was made on our psychological film "Can You Help Me?"

Mood Boards:

"Real Room"

"Imagined Room"

    The location will remain the same throughout the opening until the character goes to the restroom. We will show the differences through props. 

    Today I focused on character development. Our characters now have names!! Patti is the psychologist and Meredith the ghost-like figure who is Patti's daughter that committed suicide through drowning.  Our patient character is unnamed. 

character	type	purpose	occupation
Patti	Main character	Driving character	Psychologist
Meredith	Main character	Plot advancement	Psychologist's daughter
Unnamed	Supporting character	To establish psychology setting	Patient

Character Breakdown:

Ghost-like: Meredith – Meredith is Patti’s teen daughter who committed suicide and is now a ghost stuck at the age she died. She will have wet clothing since she drowned, something you could wear any day and she will have a little bit of makeup to add to the dark discoloration of her face and wet hair. 
Psychologist: Patti – Patti is a middle-aged female psychologist whose goal is to prevent suicides; this has been her goal since she lost her daughter Meredith. She will have two different outfits, one for the “real room” and one for the “imagined room”. Her real room outfit will be some sort of long maybe red colored top and basic pants. Her imagined room clothing will probably be a short sleeve black top and basic pants.  
Patient: Unnamed – Our patient is unnamed and has a voice that’s words cannot exactly be made out. We have chosen to keep our patient's identity private, as not all people are open about going to psychologists for help. We also think that this gives off the tone that Patti is not really listening to the patient. 

Side Note on Music!:

    I gained the idea of using music at the end of our opening as a transition. How will our audience know Meredith died by drowning? I believe the scenes after the films opening would be a montage or some sort of flashback as to when Meredith was alive and right after she died, which will allow the audience to connect with Patti, understanding why she feels a struggle in her job. I thought of the song "Fourth of July" by Sufjan Stevens. It is a beautiful, yet heartbreaking song about a moment between a mother with cancer who is near death as she talks to her child. Now yes, our story is very different, but around the first thirty two seconds of this song gives off an eire yet calm feeling I believe fits the film. I reached out to Asthmatic Kitty Records the music company that owns the rights to "Fourth of July" in hopes of gaining access to use the song to for our opening. If I do not receive an email back by next Wednesday, I will try and see another way of contact. If they happen to say no (please do not say no) I will look for other options that will not require rights.

Message I sent through the companies website:

"Hello, my name is Grace Decker, I am a high school student currently creating a two-minute film opening in my AICE Media AS class. My piece is a psychological thriller. I want to use sound from the first thirty-two seconds of Sufjan Stevens song "Fourth of July" This is solely for educational purposes and will make no profit. Please let me know if I could have the right to use this song, the piece will complete by May. 
Thanks!!"

Moving Forward:

    Over the weekend I will be researching specific costumes, hair styles, and makeup that will suit our characters. I will also be looking through my room and other rooms in my house to see if I have any props that I think give off either the real or imagined room. I will also be creating a list of anything needed to be purchased. Julie will be researching suicide and drownings, the drowning in specific will relate to Meredith's costume design so we will need to be sharing our findings! Storyboard still in progress, as it took the back row behind our deeper development of character and look.