The Final Product!

     It's been a very long two months, but the final product of "Steve" is finally here! We hope you enjoy it! Thank you to everyone who helped us along the way! 

Introducing the Characters (Part 3)- Dainty

    The third and final character in our film opening is Dainty. Dainty is by far one of, if not THE most important character in our film. Dainty was molested by Steve at a very young age, but this isn't really tackled in our opening and the mystery created leaves the relationship between Dainty and Steve up to the audience's interpretation. Dainty says that "He stole from me.", showing that she is aware of Steve's impact on her, even though the stealing is thought to be the stealing of money. Dainty, despite her youth, acknowledges her loss of innocence. Even though she has grown up, she dresses in small-fitting clothes as a way to feel and reclaim the youth and innocence that was stolen from her. Below, I will attach a character board Nicole created.

    In our film, Dainty will be played by Nicole. I think that Nicole is going to do a great job playing this part, as she has the most experience in acting. In fact, tonight, she'll be playing Maria, the lead in our school's musical, West Side Story. For the Five years that I've known Nicole, she's always been involved in acting, whether it's at drama competitions, school musicals, or short films. I have no doubt that Nicole is going to be a great Dainty, and I'm very excited to film next week!

    Dainty will be 

Introducing the Character (Part 2)- Maria

     Today, I wanted to continue the "Introducing The Characters" series on my blog by focusing on Maria, who will be played by Virginia. Most people would consider Maria to be a psycho. Much of her anger and aggression in our film-opening comes from the fact that her now ex-husband, Steve. After finding out that Steve has cheated on her, Maria feels jealous of the mistress, who is much younger and more attractive than she is. Maria envies the mistress' youth and takes her anger out on the man (Steve). Below, I will attach a character mood board Nicole made for the character. She definitely uses the most aggressive and explicit language of any of the characters in the opening, saying lines such as "

                                     MARIA

In my f@cking house. With a wh0re. "

    Virginia will be playing the role of Maria in the film opening. I genuinely think that Virginia is very feisty and blunt, so she's definitely going to do a great job playing the character. I'm confident that Virginia is going to do an amazing job at playing this part, as she has acting experience in other films she has produced, including "Critique", which I have mentioned in a previous blog.

Introducing the Characters: Steve

    As we go further into this process, I thought it would be cool to introduce the characters from our film opening! The introductions will be split into different blog posts, but I thought it would be fitting to introduce the character that I will be playing in our opening: Steve. Steve is the main character in this film opening, he is also the character that our film, "STEVE", is named after. Most of the film opening revolves around Steve and the mystery and confusion he wakes up to, and his douchey personality is almost immediately made apparent to the audience. 

    Steve is a stereotypical cocky, misogynistic, rude, business executive. In the film, Steve is married to Maria, who he considers to be extremely insane, and often questions his relationship with her. He often blames Maria for many of the problems he causes or puts himself in, and is very emotionally abusive towards his wife. Steve feels as if he deserves everything good in the world, be it money, power, or love, and he will do anything in his power to get what he wants. He has a long history of manipulating and gaslighting people to get what he desires, especially women for sex. He is the complete antithesis of an empath, he is a narcissist, really, and he hurts everyone and anyone around him in his search for glory. Steve is someone who has both a savior and victim complex. His passive aggression, toxicity, and lack of empathy will be very clearly seen in our opening, both through his words and actions. Nicole developed a character board for Steve, which I will attach below. Essentially, Steve is a very fratty and macho character. If we had to compare Steve to a famous character from a film, it would be Jordan Belfort from "The Wolf of Wall Street". Even though these movies are of completely different genres, both of these characters are extremely money-driven and manipulative, and they won't let anyone get in the way of what they want.

Nicole's character board for Steve.

    As I prepare to play the role of Steve in our film, I'm definitely going to do more research on similar characters as him so I can channel my inner-douche to give the best performance possible. I'm going to try to stray away from method acting throughout this process because I don't EVER want to be like Steve... I don't think anyone wants to. I'm going to make more posts about playing the character, especially when it comes to choosing aspects such as the costume and maybe even makeup to develop the character's tiredness and confusion, and maybe even a post dedicated to how I'm practicing the lines and having some run throughs before we film.

A New Start!

     Now that May is coming closer and closer, it is time to start working on our 2-minute film openings for our final portfolio project! My team, composed of Nicole, Virginia, and myself, have about 3 months to plan out and produce a 2-minute film opening to tell a story that we would like to share. 

    While I know that this process will require hours upon hours of hard work, I want to do everything in my power to make sure that we have fun while doing so. I believe that some of the best pieces of media I watch are ones where I can tell that the cast is enjoying playing the characters and being part of that production. I also want to create a story that has a meaning. As I hope to minor in Communications in college, I know the importance that media can have in spreading a message, and although I know that the audience for this film may be limited, I still want to have the film opening be of some worth to society.

    My class spent an entire period learning about the importance of film openings; their power to captivate; to inspire, and most importantly: to intrigue an audience to invest their attention to the other 99% of the film. We live in a world where first impressions are crucial, and that is true for both people and the media we consume. One thing that stood out to me was said in the Ted Talk by Producer Andrew Stanton that we watched in class. He said that a film opening "should give the viewer 2+2, not 4". This quote in particular made me realize that the best films don't give everything away. Sure, they may pave the road, but the end isn't reached without the viewer stepping on the gas. Seeing this Ted Talk really made me conscious of how important film openings are.

    Although my group and I are still brainstorming what our film opening should be about, what it should look like, and how we want to produce it, I am looking forward to planning and executing this project. I have never had the opportunity to have this creative freedom and produce my own pieces of media, so I look forward to learning a lot throughout this process as well as to producing a film opening I can be proud of.