Week Two - Planning

It feels like I have a short amount of time to plan and film this project. It's given me a lot of anxiety; I'm not a professional filmmaker and don't have all the resources I need to make my production look good. I'd like to think I have confidence in my surroundings, but suburbia is boring and I'm not able to drive myself out to cool looking places to film, and I fear that those that can drive me won't be reliable. I seem to be good at finding all the problems but none of the solutions.

Once I settle on an idea for my setting, I'm going to try and film primarily over the weekends or any days that I don't have school. It also depends on the actors that I'm going to be using and what days they're available, but idealistically I'll be able to use actors that have pretty open schedules and maybe their own rides.

For right now I think I've settled on the idea of using three actors; two posing as the couple and the third posing as the character that the couple is targeting. It doesn't matter to me the sexes of the characters. What matters to me more is that they fit the vibe I'm looking for. They should look like average people, but at the least they need to be able to act and convince the viewers that the emotions they're displaying are real.

I'm going to ask my friends if any of them could pose as characters in my film opening. I do have friends that are legitimately a couple, and maybe this authenticity could come across well in my film, however one of the two is at FSU and the distance would be nearly impossible to schedule filming dates where it's convenient for the both of us.

I thought more than once that I could pose as one of the characters, not only because it's fun but it would make choosing actors simpler; however I want to be the one filming to get my vision across as closely as possible. Maybe I just don't trust other people enough to let someone else film, but who knows, I may be short on actors and need to take a loophole. I've settled on the idea that, if I really need to, I could pose as the character that the couple is planning on killing, as I'm not sure this character would really be filmed yet, but instead the couple would have physical pictures of the character.

I'm going to need a lot of props to capture the aesthetic I want this project to emulate. I want everything regarding mise-en-scene to be meticulous; the dishes and food needs to be within a certain color scheme, and definitely within the same brand to show that this couple likes to remain organized down to the last point. They're not only wishing for their get together to be perfect, but their plans for killing this other person should show the same amount of care and attention. The characters' costume designs should be within this same realm. Considering that the setting is placed outside, I wanted everything to be dainty and floral patterned, including the dishware and their clothing, their bags etc. I have to shop a little bit to make sure I have all the materials I need.