Representation in our Film

While our group didn't necessarily start this project with the intention of making it super representational, our film actually turned out to have a lot of good representation. All three of our main characters are part of at least one minority group and live normal lives in the suburbs.

I should start with our actress, Tori, who plays Betty in the film. While when you first hear the name Betty, you might picture a caucasian girl from a rural town, Tori completely changed this idea, bringing Betty to life as an African-American teenage girl. This places a black female character as our main protagonist, something that wasn't too common just a few years ago. It also shows a different side to the black experience, placing Betty in a middle-class, suburban family with common teenage girl problems. It is very important to see different black stories, especially when so many films just choose to show the stereotypical qualities and situations. These stories need to be shown more often because they could inspire other young black girls who can look at Betty and see themselves represented. 

James and August, are played by Hispanic actors, Daniel and Ashley. Similar to Betty, we need to see more people from the Hispanic and Latino cultures represented in different ways on the big screen. Often we see the funny Mexican gardener or housekeeper, or the Colombian narcos, or even the Central American illegal immigrant, but we need to see less stereotypes and actual representation. James and August provide this because they live normal lives, as any other teenager would. It is refreshing to see Hispanics represented in a different way that is not super stereotypical because there are so many Latinos that can see themselves in August and James nowadays. 

Finally, I think it can be said that we have a lot of powerful female representation in this film. For example, while August might be a little egotistical, she is definitely very confident and strong. Instead of waiting around for James to come to her, she pursues him. She also drives herself around and doesn't take any stupid behavior from anybody, which is really cool to see. The same can be said about Betty. She is very strong and independent, which can be seen by how she stands by her decision to reject James and not be taking as a fool by any man. This is very respectable and can be inspiring to young girls today, who, as of now, might only see princesses who wait around for a man to save them.

The only change I would make to the characters is allow August and James to speak Spanish. Maybe this is something that could be explored later in the film as more of their character is explored. However, I feel that at least one of the Hispanic characters in the film should be shown speaking in their ancestral language. 

Title Sequence

 While this may not be an entire professional film, the movie opening must still include some type of title sequence that introduces most of the main people or groups involved in the making of the film. The Hope of it All is no different and will feature a title sequence during the Betty's Room scene. We want this title sequence to reflect the overall genre and mood of this film, which is about romance, drama, and coming-of-age. For that reason, we are looking for a more mellow mood, including more delicate fonts and styles. 

To allow you to envision our title sequence the best that you can, I will include the order that the sequence will go in:

1. Production Company Name: Swift Pictures

We decided on this name towards the end of our film production. It represents how we has to swiftly make this movie opening and also our inspiration to create this film.

2. Actors: Tori Ragin as Betty, Daniel Morales as James, Ashley Polo as August

This doesn't require much explanation. We are simply giving credit to the wonderful actors who starred in our film.

3. Producers: Tori Ragin and Melanie Reynoso

    At the end of the day, we all contributed something to the production of this film. We are all technically producers. But, for the sake of this film, we decided to write down Tori and Melanie as our producers.

4. Edited by Melanie Reynoso

Our amazing and talented editor was Melanie Reynoso. She played a big part in the coming together of this film opening and really brought it to life. She was the one who added all the music, sounds, and transitions. So, we must give credits where it's due. 

5. Screenplay by Daniel Morales

Yes, I was indeed the one who sat down one afternoon and wrote the script of our film from beginning to end. I organized the order of the scenes, what would be seen during each shot, and what would be said and heard throughout the film opening. This was a daunting task at first, but once I had gotten into my creative mindset, it was a piece of cake!

6. Directed by Hannah Barnes

We couldn't have created this film without the wonderful help from our director, Hannah. She accompanied all the actors to the filming site and did all the camera work. She was behind every shot and angle in this movie, capturing our acting. 

We want the credits to be visible, but also no impede the view into the film opening. It is because of this that we have decided to put the credits in the bottom left-hand corner and not the middle of the screen. This will ensure that the viewers are focused on Betty and her possessions and not the words of the credits. The title will come later at the end of the opening. Obviously, we want the readers to focus on the name of the film, so the title will be in the center of the screen with the sky as its background.

Now, I should discuss how the fonts and styles of our title sequence will actually look like. We have debated about this decision for quite a while now, but I think we have officially come to a consensus!

Pictured above are the four fonts we liked best for our film. From top to bottom, they are Quita, Kinuta Shin StdN, Bickham Script, and Adorn. Obviously, we couldn't choose all four, so we had to make a decision. 

Eventually we decided on Kinuta shin StdN for the credits and Quita for the actual title, The Hope of it All. We didn't want too much cursive in the credits, but something a little more legible and sensible. This disqualified all the other fonts and left Kinuta standing. When it comes to the font of the title, we wanted something different from the credits to make it stand out. We also wanted something extravagant and fancy, going along with the dramatic component of the film. We ended up choosing Quita because it is definitely extravagant, while also not being too much like Bickham Script might be.

Finally, is the actual colors of the fonts. This is very important because we can't allow the font to blend in with a similar color in the background. To prevent this, we are pretty sure our fonts will be white. This is a simple, elegant, pure color that fits the mood of our film. Not to mention, the lighting of Betty's room is more dark than light, so the white should work perfectly here. However, since the title will be in front of a sky, the white clouds might get in the way of the white font. If this is the case, we might have to switch out the white for a darker color, like black. 

Hopefully, all these fonts work out in the end. We have yet to actually enter it into our opening, so hopefully everything goes smoothly. I'll keep you updated!

Updated Storyboard

 

Film opens with a black screen and silence. Suddenly, an alarm goes off while the screen is still black and there is a cut to an alarm with the time 9:00 AM on it. Betty's hand (Tori) claps down on the alarm, turning off the ringing. There is then a cut to Betty stretching as she wakes up, with a music track starting to play (Reverie (Piano Version) ft. Adarsh PV by Lahar). A voiceover of Betty explaining her situation in a dramatic fashion plays throughout this scene. At the same time, the opening credits are rolling. This is followed by a pan to her desk, where multiple photos, ripped up letters, and flower petals are laid out. 

   Next, there is a cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of Betty opening her closet door and picking out an outfit. The next part of the film consists of several insert shots of Betty's items and objects that were shown on the desk before. During all this, a POV shot of Betty picking up the pieces of a ripped photo and throwing it away in a trash can is shown. 

Following these multiple shots, there is a cut to an over-the-shoulder of Betty putting on makeup and getting ready for the day in front of a mirror. Suddenly, a doorbell rings and the music/voiceover immediately stops playing. Betty glances to the side. This cuts to a POV shot of Betty walking up to the door, opening it, and seeing James on the other side holding flowers. James, with a guilty frown on his face, says, "Hey Betty". This is accompanied by ambient diegetic sound of the wind, birds chirping, and the door creaking. 

There is then a cut to a James' POV, looking at Betty, who says, "James, what are you doing here? What do you want?". Cut back to Betty's POV, and James says, "Bette, I just want to talk to you...about everything". Cut back to James' POV, and Betty says, "I'm sorry James, but what's done is done. I really just can't do this anymore. Go home. Bye". Betty goes to shut the door. Betty's POV shows James on the other side of the door begging her to "talk real quick" as she shuts the door. Cut to medium long shot of Betty on the other side of the door looking upset. She slides down the door and put her face in her hand.

This fades to a medium close up of James walking down the street, which cuts to a shot of his feet walking, and back to his face as he notices August, saying "August?". This cuts to a medium close up of August sitting in the driver's seat of her car, rolling down the window, and saying, "Hey hot stuff. Long time no see huh". 

This cuts to a medium shot of James walking towards the car so he can start talking to August. This shot is constantly panning between August and James depending on who is speaking at the time. The following is their dialogue:

James: August, I told you I'm done with this, so get over it. 

August: James, stop being silly and hop in

James: No. I already hurt the girl I love enough, so I'm not not repeating the same mistake

August: But I'm not going to let you walk all the way home. Just let me drive you.

James: Well, I'm walking.

August: James, just stop being so immature and hop in. 

James opens the car door and gets in the car exclaiming, "fine!". 

This cuts to a medium close up of James and August arguing. At the same time, music begins to play (Token (feat Cloe Sutherland) by Fernweh) This argument consists of James saying he can't go back to last summer and make the same mistake because he loves Betty, not August. August is replying saying that she knows he felt something, that he should give her a chance, and mentioning how he is single now. The camera tilts up to the sky and their arguing comes to a stop, so only the music is heard. As the camera is showing the sky, the title, "The Hope of it All" appears. 

Who are the Supporting Characters: James and August

 James

James is one of the most important supporting characters in the film. He has a big role in affecting Betty's life because they were together for quite some time before their breakup at the beginning of the school year. Which only happened because James acted like the immature, silly teenage boy he is, cheating on Betty with August. 

Physically, James is a Hispanic-American 17-year-old boy who lives in the same town as Betty. He has known Betty since they were very young, but only started dating during high school. I should mention they go to the same school and are in the same grade level. He has my physical appearance since I am the one who plays him. For the entire scene, he wears a red sweater with white and black striped, along with black jeans and white Tommy Hilfiger shoes. He has very dark brown, wavy hair and brown eyes. 

Mentally, James is a bit silly. By this I mean he is a young, immature boy who doesn't fully think before he acts. He completely broke the trust of the girl he loves and cheated on her with another girl during the summer when he was on vacation. Yet, he somehow expects Betty to forgive him and come running back to his arms because he still loves her. He obviously wants Betty back, which can be seen by how he goes to her doorstep with flowers just to win her back. He also feels horrible for what he did, regretting the entire summer with August. James is pretty popular in school. He might not be friends with everybody, but he definitely knows his way around the school. He usually likes to play sports and video games with his friends, along with spending time with Betty (pre-breakup). James will not rest until he finds a way back to win Betty. For he might not know anything, but he knows he misses her. 

James never speaks directly to the audience, but he is actually the only character in the film opening that has a two dialogues with two different characters. He speaks slowly and softly to Betty, as he is trying to win her back. He wants to be on his "best behavior" for Betty and is practically begging her to take him back. On the other hand, he speaks very harshly and direct with August. He has no feelings for her and is actually getting annoyed with her constant attempts at trying to be with him. He wants nothing to do with her anymore and begins to argue with her about the issue.

There aren't many probs associated with James in this opening. The only prop he really interacts with are the flowers that he brings to Betty, obviously representing his desire to be with her again. 

August

August is also a very important character to the story because she is the main cause for the situation in the film. She is the girl that James had a relationship with while still with Betty. While she may seem to be only present in the movie to explain the cause of the end of Betty and James' relationship, I assure you she also has deeper emotions and feelings in this story. 

Physically, August looks like your typical popular girl. She is an 18-year-old Hispanic-American girl that goes to the enemy school of Betty and James's high school. She is the lead cheerleader of the team at her school and is known by many people across the town. She is very confident in herself, wearing a white crop top and ripped jeans. Most consider her to be very pretty and everything a guy would want. She makes other girls very jealous and is known to flirt with a lot of boys. 

Mentally, August is very self-centered and shallow. She is less shy than Betty, but a lot more superficial. She only really cares about herself and sees herself as better than Betty. She did in a way entice James to be with her, even though she was aware of his relationship with Betty. Her maturity, confidence, forwardness, beauty, and fun spirit is what attracted James. But it was her ego, selfishness, attitude, and shallow personality that made him realize that Betty is his one and only. However, while August might seem like this selfish, emotionless soul, she actually surprises herself by falling in love with James. She genuinely wants to be with him and wishes for him to forget about Betty and come back to her. She misses those nights where she'd sneak off with James and just "live for the hope of it all". 

Like James, August also never speaks directly to the audience, but she does have a conversation/argument with James. She seems to be very flirty with her words, and also very insistent. This is ultimately what annoys James and leads to their argument in the car. She mostly just tried to convince James to be with her again.

She also doesn't have many props. She does pull up next to James in her car though. While we thought a sports car would best represent August's personality, unfortunately my father's mini van was the only vehicle available. Still, the point of August driving in her own car is to show her slight maturity and independence.  

Who's the Main Character: Betty

 While you readers might have a general idea of who our main character is, I have yet to really do a deep dive into what makes Betty who she is. She is a very special, smart girl and I feel like if you are going to understand what our film opening is about then you must understand Betty. While I would say we do have three main characters, I think Betty would be the most primary since she is the first character audiences are introduced to and she gives a voiceover.

Physically, Betty is an African-American 17-year-old girl who lives in a small town where news gets around quick. We always knew Betty would be 17, our age, but her ethnic background really depended on who we could get to play the role. For most of the opening, she wears a pretty typical outfit for a teenage girl. This costume features a light pink long-sleeve shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Pretty normal for an all-American girl! She also wears a simple white shirt as her pajama in the beginning of the room scene. 

Mentally, Betty has gone through a lot. While she is a smart, talented girl from a loving family whose life seems perfect, she went through the hardest thing a teenage girl might go through. Heartbreak. Last summer, James cheated on Betty with August and completely ruined their relationship. As a young girl, Betty's mother always told her that men could never be trusted. Betty takes this advice seriously because she wants nothing to do with James and no longer trusts him. She doesn't even try giving him another chance and rejects him at her doorway, not wanting to speak any longer. While Betty isn't the most confident, outgoing, popular girl of the town, she is definitely very strong and who won't let herself be manipulated. 

She speaks to the audience pretty dramatically, but also openly. She wants to tell us the story of what happened almost as if the audience is her friend. On the other hand, she is very closed off with James. They barely speak to each other and when he tries to reach out, Betty rejects him completely. She also speaks in a very annoyed, angry tone.  

There are many props around the scene that correlate with Betty's personality and what she is going through. For one, the memories Betty has with James are scattered around the room (photographs, letters, teddy bears). Obviously, Betty wants nothing to do with James, which can be seen by how the bear is stuffed in a trash can and the love letter is ripped up. It can also be seen that Betty cares about her appearance, since she is shown applying makeup to herself before starting the day. 

I don't think Betty knows what she wants or her intentions. While she has convinced herself that she doesn't want to be with James anymore, she obviously still has feelings for him by how she reacts to James' arrival. She is a little lost, which makes sense because the boy she loved so deeply completely violated her trust and their love. I think this movie, if it were fully completed, would follow Betty's growth and how she reaches some sort of closure, whether it be single or with James. 

Editing Part 2

So, the editing journey continues and I'm sad to say that we haven't made much progress. I blame it on the life of a Junior! We took our SAT today, which required a lot of time and studying from all our parts, including our editor, Melanie. So, since our las blog post was only published a few days ago, we haven't done much. Still, we've made some progress and are on track to finish in the next week.

So far, we have basically combined all the footage into one long video. Pictured above is a shot of Betty (Tori) slamming the door shut after James came to visit. As you can see, it is followed by the car driving up. We are creating a sequence of events! 

We also put in the sound of the alarm clock, like I said we would. It was actually much harder then we thought it would be! Melanie told us how she has to scour the Internet to find one decent alarm clock. It turns out that not alarm clocks are made equal. We also played around with Betty's voiceover and the music during the scene and tried to find the perfect volume amount for each. This is because we wanted to make sure the music didn't overpower the voiceover, since Betty's monologue is important to the story. We still have to institute the sound of the other scenes, like August and James' scene.

 We've also tried to play around with the transitions more. This part hasn't been that complicated because most of our transitions are simple cuts. But we still have to work on a more smooth transition from the back to back dialogue between Betty and James. It is a little choppy right now. 

Melanie spent some time editing last night, but like I said we were very busy with the SAT the last few days. However, not that we have this very important test out of the way, we can dedicate a lot more time to our film opening. We haven't done any additional filming because I think we have our final takes already.

Editing Part 1

        We have officially into our editing journey. While we are far from finished from a complete movie opening, we have made some work when it comes to editing. For example, our chief editor, Melanie Reynoso, has already received all of the footage from Tori and has cut the clips to make sure they sign up correctly in the film. 

Melanie practiced with some more of the editing last Sunday, since we were able to film the final footage for the film the day before. I should mention we changed the actress who is playing Betty to Tori since Amber is no longer available. We were also able to film the infamous August and James car scene last Saturday as well. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to dedicate too much time to the project because of other assignments and our upcoming SAT. However, I'm sure we will be closer to the finish line this upcoming week!

This is Melanie! She will be the person in our group that overlooks everything related to editing. While she was patiently waiting for the rest of us to finish filming, she was setting up the software we will be using to make our opening come to life!

    First, I should mention our preferred method of transition. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that a simple cut would be the best way for us to transition from shot to shot. This is a fast opening scene, so a slow fade or other transitions wouldn't exactly work out great. In fact, it would feel a little rushed. So, we won't be using these as much, but they are obviously still an option.

Next, I'd like to talk about what audio effects we will use. I have mentioned before that we will have some diegetic sound we will have to enter into the opening during editing. For example, an alarm sound and a doorbell. We will also have to attach a separately recorded voiceover at the beginning of the scene and two different music tracks. One of the more complicated effect we will be using is the fade away from James and August's argument as the second music track fades in. This involves more advanced editing, so Melanie is still trying to figure it out. With a little research, we hope we can achieve this.

Here's a quick photo of one of the editing softwares Melanie is using. Seems like pretty fancy high-tech stuff to me!

I am also very excited to announce the we have chosen the name of our film! It's called The Hope of it All! We feel like this name fits perfectly with the vibe of our movie. These teens are just living for "the hope of it all"! The title will be displayed at the end of the film opening during a shot of the sky. We are thinking of making the font for the title either Great Vibes or Satisfy. Any swirly-styles font will do!

Tori as Betty in The Hope of it All

Daniel as James in The Hope of it All

Ashley as August in The Hope of it All

None of us are very experienced in editing. That has been the hardest part of this portion of the project. We find it much easier to film than edit! So, Melanie is still trying to figure out the works of the editing software and how we can make the opening look the best it can. Honestly, I think that is the factor that is slowing us down the most! Luckily, Melanie has at least a little experience, so she was able to shorten down the clips Tori sent her, like I mentioned before. I'll keep you guys updated as we get deeper into editing and I'm so excited to reveal the finished result.