The Narration...

Below you will find the transcript for our film opening:

When I was 8 years old, all I wanted was to be a superhero. I dreamt of being unstoppable; flying through the air, strong enough to save a city.  It was only a matter of time before I realized that I couldn’t have super strength or shoot fire from my hands, but that didn’t stop me from feeling limitless. I had the power to dance.

My mom used to take me every Saturday to her dance studio where I sat and watched her teach dance classes.  

   I was mesmerized by the way peoples’ emotions took over their bodies and told a story. I loved watching them lose control and glide and spin. They seemed unstoppable. From that moment on, I knew that I would give anything to dance.

Dance has the power to move people, to bring people together, to tell a story. It is a way of expressing yourself and freeing your soul. There is no limit to what can be done when you let your body take over.  They say that dance is a way to free yourself and lose yourself all at the same time and every move allows the dancer to reveal a little bit more of themselves

My mom taught me to always dance from the heart. She used to say that dance was the rhythm of life. When I was 15, my mom was diagnosed with Leukemia, and a year later she was gone. Ever since then, I’ve devoted myself to dancing because it’s the only place that I can still feel her with me. I felt that if I let go of dancing, I would be letting her go too. So I told myself that I was going to dance forever. But that was until I got into an accident and in a split second, everything I knew, disintegrated.

Capturing the feeling of Dance

There are different types of dance and our film hopes to focus on all aspects of dance.

Before we film, we felt that we needed to get organized and prepare a list of shots we need for our film opening. This will help us make sure we are getting everything we need. The list is as follows:

Main Character

1. Feet stretching-CU

2. Feet dancing quickly-CU

3. Pan of arms moving

4. Shallow focus from floor

5. Focused facial expressions-CU

6. Face- MS

7. Full body dancing-WS

8. Low angle of fall

9. High angle of her slowly dancing 

10. Tilt down of full body

BC Students
1. Dancing in street-WS
2. Dancing in street one person-MS
3. Dancing in street two people-MS
4. Low angle flips
5. Group clapping and dancing-WS, MS, CU

Grandparents
1. Dancing slowly
2. Leaning into one another
3. Counter shots of both grandparents eyes
4. Laughter-CU

Kids

1. Old home videos- make video to look grainy, add time graphic 

2. Practicing in studio- WS and MS to make it seem like a parent filmed the footage
The actor is going to have blonde hair and act as the main character as a child

Each of these shots is going to be paired together with a narration of the main character explaining what dance means to her. The home videos of her as a child will be used in the beginning of the opening to show the audience that dance has been a part of the main characters life for a very long time. She will then continue to talk about how there are different types of dance and different means of expression. Ending with her fall...

How the Idea was Formed...

After 2 weeks of brainstorming and trial and error... My partner and I have finally decided what our film opening is going to be about. In its entirety, the film will focus on a teenage dancer who has danced her whole life, the viewer will see her life as a dancer and be able to see how much dance means to her. The twist? One day she gets in an accident and can't dance again... But she doesn't say no for an answer. 

The film begins with our main characters on stage practicing her dancing. That moment will be paired with video of children, adults and grandparents dancing in different places. There is a narration of the main character talking about how much dance means to her and then the music stops, the audio gets lower and she falls.

Movie Poster

The Overview of a Movie Poster

The project I am working on includes making a film opening and also making a movie poster to go along with the film opening that I will create. Although I spend much of my time at the movies, I never knew the rules to making the poster with the correct information.

I am planning to make a poster that does not follow all the conventions, but now I know what information I would need to have.

Telling a Great Story

Andrew Stanton of Pixar tells the audience how to tell a good story.

Tips to telling a good story are:

1. "Storytelling is knowing your punchline."
2. There isn't anyone you couldn't learn to love once you've heard their story.
3. You have to make the audience care.
4. Promise your viewers that the future story will be worth their time.
5. One of the most involved forms of storytelling is without words.
6. People are born with deductive reasoning.
7. Make the audience put things together (2+2).
8. Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.
9. Your story needs to have truthful conflict, pull from what you know.
10. All stories have an underlining theme.
11. Are you able to evoke wonder?

Andrew Stanton tells the story from the end to the beginning in order to engage the audience. After listening to the TED talk with Andrew Stanton, I feel that pre-production is one of the most important steps in planning a story, as my partner and I begin to plan our film opening I understand that we must have the full story. We have two minutes to get the viewer involved in the storyline. This means we must promise them something good.