Now as I finish up on the last details of the opening, I wanted to take some time to reflect back on the process. It's been an amazing journey in which I've learned so much. I remember how excited I was after being assigned this opening, and I never imagined how much work would go into making, but throughout the whole process I've never lost that excitement. Yes, I faced some struggles here and there but it was nothing major that negatively affected the outcome. So here we go:
The Spark
After our teacher mentioned the next big task we would take on which was the creation of a film opening, she showed our class some great examples of films that gave just enough context to pull you in, but not too much where it seemed overwhelming, or like you had seen the whole film already. This inspired me to create a storyline in which I could grasp the viewers attention within a short period of time, and this was ultimately my task. We saw some great examples form past students and full-film productions as well. Like the film, I Am Legend. I'd say this was probably my biggest inspiration, and wanted to create an opening similar to it. The film tells the story of a man who lives in a post-apocalyptic area, in which all the humans have died or been infected by this virus that turns them in vicious creatures. Although I didn't want to include any of these creatures, I did like the idea of a lone character who has to survive without the rest of humanity. So, that's where the idea sparked.
The Planning and Research
Then the planning began. I had to take this small idea and expand into something even better. I started with research of the genre; sci-fi. Honestly, I was surprised with my choice because I'd say that I don't typically watch many sci-fi films, and tend to drift more towards the romance or comedy genre. However, with this idea I would have to explore new territory and I'm happy I went with it. I began researching the technical things, such as background on the genre and the target audience as well, but before continuing I wanted to have more knowledge on sci-fi films. So, I took some recommendations from the Internet and friends and began watching. Each film was different, but they also had common characteristics such as ideas that defy scientific beliefs, including aliens, time travel, intelligent robots, and other futuristic elements. I watched films like Inception, Children of Men, The Matrix, and rewatched I Am Legend. Each of these films had some similarities, but what I found most important was they each had a unique theme that made the film special. Like in Inception, where a man has the ability to enter people's dreams and use that to his advantage to ultimately achieve the final goal of actually planting an idea into someone's head. I knew I would need a unique theme to my film opening that would make it different from the others. Of course I'd still include features that are classic within the genre, such as the use of futuristic tech, which is the device the main character wears on her head. But the idea that made my film unique was that this character was lost, with no knowledge of what had occurred. And in installments, she would slowly begin to realize what had caused the disappearance of all other humans, leaving her to be the survivor. Only to further realize throughout the film that she is only the guinea pig of an experiment, being controlled to believe whatever memories the device on her head triggers. This idea continued to develop even after I was done with the planning process of creating both the script and the storyboard. Until eventually it was time to film.
The Filming
I want to say that this was my absolute favorite part of the process, and probably the step in which I learned the most about myself. I think one of the most nerve-wracking parts for me was actually asking Silvana to be the actress in my opening, especially during this time. Before quarantine started, I had filmed some parts at the grocery store of empty shelves as essentials such as water and toilet paper quickly began to disappear. Then just a couple days into quarantine we went to the grocery store to get food and everyone was wearing masks. At this point I realized that I could make the cause for the end of the human race in the film, a pandemic. When I was first asked this question during a group discussion, I wasn't completely sure of what the cause would be, but I knew it'd have to be a catastrophic event. An idea like an explosion was suggested to me, but this would be difficult to recreate as I could only use special effects to do it. But that first day I went to the grocery store, it clicked for me. And filming these people in masks served as a way for me to also document what was occurring this year as something like this hasn't happened in years, and it hasn't seemed as major. So, at this point, I updated my story and finished filming all the "flashback/memory" scenes. All that was left was to film Silvana. Now this was a new experience for me as in all the other media projects I've done, I've been able to use friends or even myself as the actor. But this time I needed an actor that was older and in her 20's or 30's. So, first I talked to my mom and she mentioned being able to call Silvana so I could ask. This worked out perfectly in the end as she was happy to help me with the project, even when I told her we would have to re-film some parts. Throughout this time the project also underwent many changes as COVID-19 prevented us from doing certain things. One of these changes was in location. We could no longer drive out to a park or an empty city, as we had to try and stay close to home. Luckily, we were able to find the perfect place by her house. In just a couple hours, I had all the footage I needed.
Bringing it Together
All that was left was to put the footage together to create what I had envisioned for weeks. I began editing by looking through the footage I had and selecting the best takes. I tried filming each part two to three times that way I had more to work with. Then I started cutting clips to make them shorter and to fit smoothly with the next clip that played. Once everything was put together it was time to add the most important elements, effects and sounds. Now the effects weren't like special effects, it was more like a filter I created to put over each clip in which the character is outdoors to make the colors less bright, and to create an apocalyptic feel using darker tones and shades of blue. Then I applied a different filter to the clips that serve as flashbacks to make them a bit hazy and brighter. Then came sound. So for quite some time I had been looking for sounds, until I ran into a website named FreeSound. With this website I was able to access a library of sounds. After about an hour, I had found everything I needed to create the sci-fi feel. I added them in and the final step was complete. I had a my full film opening!
Overall, creating this opening was awesome experience that I'm so grateful for. I was able to see the extent of my skills that I hope to improve as I continue on this path of filmmaking.
Look out for the opening because it's coming your way!
