Target Audience!!

I can't believe I haven't talked about the target audience. It is important to know what kind of audience you are transmitting your message to. They are the ones that will purchase the movie and aid to distribute it.

Age

My age range is going to be between 18 and 25. Because my main character is 22 years old, I want my movie to be intended towards a younger but mature audience due to some explicit language that will be appearing in the movie. I feel like at this age people are more aware of what they are watching and I want my audience to be able to understand some of the sensible content that will take place throughout the movie. Especially when talking about a movie involving violence and mental illness.

Gender

This movie is intended for both, women and men, though initially would involve in the opening a female actor, later in the movie the female actor becomes an important character in Brandon's life. I have found that women watch more drama films than men, but men are more likely to watch a drama film that has violence and involves mental illness. 

 

Storyboard(ing)

Here's my first idea for the opening, is the resumed version but the concept of it is clear. It opens with a pan of the portraits of the two of them hanging on the wall as it goes down. Then, a shot of the two of them vibing and dancing in the kitchen while one of them does the dishes. A series of close-ups and mid-shots of them dancing later is shown as the door knocks, Brandon stops the music and goes to open the door. Then, a third actor Sara, which would have been me, appears at the door with English history books to do a project for the Literature class at their university. "Ready to do the project, Brandon?" I say to him, to which he responds "Yeah yeah, come in, I just want you to meet someone first. Sara, I want you to meet Thomas." Then a shot of the house empty is shown to demonstrate the idea of Thomas being imaginary. In the end, a mid-shot of Sara confused on the left third and on the right third the movie title "1+1≠2"

On the second storyboard, it would be more focused on the objects that they have representing them. For Brandon, it would be his posters, all the pictures with Thomas, a ball because he likes to play football, a guitar, all his clothes spread in his room along with his shoes and stuff. Then Thomas' room with nothing because well, he's imaginary. This idea is an alternative to the first one, it has just a little presence of the main actor in case I am not able to film Jose (Brandon).

Now, due to social distancing, I can't go over to my location nor film with my actors. I have some ideas to resolve my problem:

•  I can do the second idea, but I would have to change the actor or I could do my makeup to make me look like Jose. 
• To do the second idea I could also ask Jose to film the bathroom scene at his house, the problem with this idea is that I wouldn't have control over the way it is shoot. 
•  For the first idea, it would require a lot of editing, but it could be done if I ask Leo and Jose to film the scenes by giving them specific directions.

Hello? Where's the movie name

I think is really hard to find a name that can represent their story and that will be appealing to my target audience. So far I found that short and concise names work better, but also it has to be a subtle approach to the plot or problem of the film. I'm trying to figure this out before editing to make my life easier. 

So far I have these options:
- 1 + 1 ≠ 2
- Lonely Together
- Reality sucks
- Outside my Head
- Memories of an imaginary friend


Because of my target audience, I'll have to decide a name that goes accordingly and fits the movie. Otherwise, I'm not going to be happy and the audience will not "purchase it."

🍺Virus

Changes 

So! It just happens that a worldwide pandemic happened while I was trying to do my project. Due to social distancing, I have to limit myself to film the opening. I made some changes but the spine of the film opening will continue. I'm going to film like a representation of the relationship between the two characters while trying to show that Thomas is an imaginary person. So my idea is showing two bedrooms, one of them is going to be messy and like you will see that the person that sleeps there uses it every day (duh), while in the other room will be intact as if nobody was sleeping there. I'm also going to show pictures of the two of them, BUT unfortunately, I wasn't able to take the pictures on time, so I had to photoshop their pictures to show their friendship for the portraits. Now, below you will see my creepy intention of photoshop

Scheduling like a responsible student

Recording 

Okay so, I decided that I want to upload my schedule just now because I finally have it figured it out. Is simple... But I feel it's going to work, also If I ever have to record I'm letting myself have more time just in case I have to make any changes in the production.

The 10, 11, and 12 I'm taking pictures and proceeding to have all the props for the recording, and the 21th is the so waited recording day. That way I'll have all the spring break to edit and see what's missing. 

Group Critiques

Todayyyy, we were put into groups to help shape our stories and maybe take some new ideas. Now, based on what my group discussed about my movie, I think I might either change the way I'm going to portray the "recollection" of memories because it can be seen as a montage and we don't want that. 
They liked my idea of Thomas and Brandon, I told them that I didn't want to put in the beginning the idea of Thomas disappearing because I didn't want to bore the audience the rest of the movie. 
I'm definitely going to do the shot with the two of them in the kitchen and then a third person coming in to see the perspective of the other person. 

Developing my second character

Thomas Scott 

He's 22 as well, he is almost the opposite of Brandon. He's calmer but at the same time a goofy character. He's the type of character that likes to have influence in what others think, often to his own benefit. He is just a chill friend to talk to, an easy-going person.
Since he's an imaginary friend, all these traits can only be seen by Brandon.

This one to the left is my friend Leo, I chose him to play Thomas because of his personality and just his way of being is similar to Thomas.





The Hangover

OKAY, so Alan... This character is a child at heart. He has no understanding of social norms, nor he cares to learn about them. He is childish and just dumb-acting but at the same time, he has intelligence in things that nobody would think he has.

Developing the main character

Brandon Lage

Brandon Lage is a 22-year-old with schizophrenia. Although he has a very serious mental disorder, he is able to live a "successful"  journey by himself... And his best friend. When you first meet him, you think of him as a jerk and just a bad person, but the few people that have got to know Brandon, find that he's a really interesting person with a smart mind and an odd personality. He is at the peek of having a series of good things happening to him, having a steady job, paying rent in time, and having his life in order, but at the same time, he struggles with his own mind as he goes through a mental disorder that he doesn't accept he has. His best friend,  his brother almost all of a sudden disappears, which leaves him with an internal problem though he is emotionally dependent.



Now, the picture you see is my friend Jose. I asked him to please play this role because I think he resembles how Brandon would look like and he doesn't have to do something alternate from his reality. He has this serious and angry face but once you get to know him he's really chill and cool person. The thing is I have to see how can I dress him because I want to base my movie in the late 90s and the early 2000s                                                


A Beautiful Mind

I got inspiration from the character of John Nash in a Beautiful Mind to construct Brandon. Nash is more of a rude and arrogant person and you see him struggle when he's trying to socialize. Since he has schizophrenia it was a great example for me to see how people with this mental disorder are portrayed and see an example of how the sudden changes and thoughts are shaped by the hallucinations that they have.  

Lars and The Real Girl

Also, I want Brandon not to be a character that stands out, but rather to "blend" with the rest of his community. The only thing that sticks out is his odd way to socialize. Like in Lars and The Real Girl, Lars has also a problem meeting new people but he is a personality disorder. 

Song request!!!!!

So I've decided to request 3 songs: Happy together, Sunflower, and other one that I haven't decided yet but is going to be copyright free.

Good thing I already have the good to go for Sunflower. BUT it was a headache to get the licensing, I had to:
-Go to the FAQ section of Sony records and look for a website or phone number
-The website didn't work,I thought it was me at first but then I found out that it was deactivated
-Then, I had to send an email to general concerns, which I did get a response. They sent me two emails, one with a waiting number, and the other one had the website link (which didn't work) and two phone numbers. One for non-profit, me, and the other one for commercial stuff. 
-Then the next day I tried to call again and I got the email that I wanted initially. So I wrote them
-In less than an hour got a response back telling me that I could use the song :)

-This was in the course of two days, so it was something like
9am: investigate Sony Records website
10am: after not finding anything, sending an email to general requests
5pm: getting the two emails, calling the phone numbers, clicking in the website that I knew it wasn't going to work because I previously tried. I even asked Mrs. Stoklosa if I was getting scammed  
6pm: Nobody answered after like 6 calls, so I left a message
The next day...
3pm: Called again (I'm intense, I know) but they answered! And I got into the mood of Karen, get me your manager (not really), but I finally got the email for the licensing request. 
4pm: Got a response back saying that they didn't have the copyright for that song but I could use it if give them credit
4:01pm: :)

Other than that, I'm still waiting for the response from the Turtles and still trying to find a copyright song just in case.

Schizophrenia or Paraphrenia

I want my main character, Brandon, to have a mental disorder. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder, people with this condition tend to have a different perception of reality combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning. Paraphrenia is a mental disorder characterized by an organized system of paranoid delusions with or without hallucinations. 
The difference comes to the age range which affects. Paraphrenia affects elderly people and schizophrenia can affect people from their early adulthood. 
Since Brandon is imagining his friend all his life, for him to show symptoms of schizophrenia he would have to show changes in his mood, hallucinations (of his best friend), and sudden changes of behavior. 
People with schizophrenia often have speech symptoms like incoherent speech, rapid and frenzied speaking. Also a lack of emotional response and fatigue are often seen. 

Delusions and Hallucinations 

Delusions and hallucinations aver very common in schizophrenia. Most of the time, people with this mental disorder will experience auditory hallucinations, like hearing a voice or many voices. This a combination of positive and negative symptoms for schizophrenia. 
In this case, Brandon would have a combination of all, auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile hallucinations.