Character Development (portfolio project)

 Character development is a significant part of telling any story. Movies such as 10 Things I Hate About You and Groundhog Day show the male lead progressively maturing throughout the film towards their situation and/ or love interest. This character development appeals to audiences across all types of media. While movies like Legally Blonde and Pride and Prejudice feature female leads with significant character development, they show the women as powerful, independent women who know what they want. Which connects to the target audiences, who are a majority of women watching the film.

In my film, I want the male lead to have a subtle personality to show room for improvement. As the most important part of my film, the flashback towards the end of the opening, his personality should be subtle but also noticeable. As my character is walking through Las Olas, he is just a calm, cool person minding his own business. However, for my female lead, I want her to be happy, blooming, as she walks into his point of view. Having a type of aroma around her is comparable to sunlight and happiness. Bringing said happiness into the male lead's life.

Movies with character development-

Mis-en-scene #2( portfolio project)

 My lighting in my film opening will be determined by the sun's positioning when we film at Las Olas. Las Olas is a boulevard, as I have mentioned in my previous posts. The area is outside and is either lit by street lights at night or by the sun, as it is an outdoor area. As I want my final part of my opening to be the two main characters in the street, I want the lighting to hit my female character's face to symbolize her "lighting up" the male protagnists world.

As we continue to film this week, my costuming and props will be finished, hopefully by the first official date. With my props for my male main character, little to no will be added to his person. I want this character to be bare for the audience to try and understand who he is, what he likes, etc. Movies like these will have my target audience intrigued and interested in wanting to know what the movie is about.

The movie listed below is the film "Before Sunrise", which is a beloved romance movie where the couple is madly in love with each other, with deep connections and character development throughout the film.

my sources-

Google. (2026). Search results for "Before Sunrise". https://www.google.com/search?q=Before+Sunrise

Marder, H. (2020, August 21). 24 of the most pure, swoon-worthy, unproblematic male movie characters of all time. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/best-unproblematic-movie-men

Mis-en-scene element(portfolio project)

 This blog post is going to be about my props and costuming. In my previous post, I talked about my locations and costuming. However, this post will be about how my characters will come to life with the costuming and props coming together. The idea for my male protagonist in the climax of the film opening is to have warm hues in his wardrobe. So with my outfit already inspired, as mentioned in my previous post I have done more research. Men in the 1970s wore bellbottom jeans with bottoms ups top downs. Many mismatched outfits showed others how you liked to be dressed. For my male character, I want a statement piece collar with light blue bellbottoms and his hair combed over to the side, as most men wore it in the 70s.

For my props, my female character will be having a type of bag that has trickets, particularly falling out of it. I want flowers, cds, and tickets, based on the storyline, to be in her bag but for the audience to see. This will create an interest in my male protagonist and show the audience why he has a liking for her. Research shows that props, particularly in romances, are supposed to symbolize emotion and the atmosphere of the scene within the film. Which shows that the props that I want for my woman lead will be perfect, as they are subtle for the opening and will be effective for the storyline to come.

This is from the famous movie Titanic. The necklace shown in this image is a significant part of this film connects the beginning of this film to the end when the credits roll.

My media theory( portfolio project)

 This blog post is to show which media theory my film opening represents. My film opening is represented through the Binary Opposition Theory. As this film is to show a loss in a family, the film is to show the two main characters' lives together before one of them passes. The theory explains the experiences of life through the concepts of opposites, so my film will show this by showing the two main characters experiences with each other and showing how their relationship is built on their interactions. 

Movies that have used this theory are Harry Potter and Twilight. In Harry Potter, there is a clear separation between "pure-blood", which are wizards with wizard parents, and ''muggle-born'', which are wizards with normal parents. This dynamic is between characters such as Hermione and Draco, which creates tension between the two. In Twilight, there is a clear dynamic between vampires and werewolves, for the two characters, Edward and Jacob.

my sources-

Ehrhaskewa. (2017, October 16). Claude Lévi‑Strauss: Binary opposition theory. https://ehrhaskewa2.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/claude-levi-strauss-binary-opposition-theory/

Blakeley, S. (n.d.). Binary opposition in literature: Concept & examples. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/binary-oppositions-in-literature-list-of-examples.html

Other films that have this theory-

My costuming and locations (portfolio project)

 This blog post is about my costuming and location setting for my film opening. Costuming will be an obstacle for this project due to my flashback taking place in the 1970s. With this flashback, my characters will be dressed in '70s attire, and I will go to thrift stores such as Goodwill to find outfits. I have found outfits on oxknit.com for my male protagonist. For my woman protagnist I am still deciding how to dress her. I want to dress her in a light color scheme as she is the "light'' of the male protagnist life.

My flashback will be in front of La Olas, which is a boulevard of restaurants and stores, and I believe it is a good place for the two main characters to meet. I want this meeting to be quick but also have a big impact on the opening as it is the entire point of this film, the woman walking into the male protagnist life. This scene is to build up to the rest of their interactions together, having the audience wanting to find out more about the two lovers' story.

my sources-

OxKnit. (n.d.). Men’s 70s brown retro knit polo. https://www.oxknit.com/it/products/men-70s-brown-retro-knit-polo 

Google. (n.d.). Search results for “las olas”. https://www.google.com/search?q=las+olas

SOME WOMAN OUTFIT INSPIRATION-

My storyboard(portfolio project)

 This post is to show how I want my film to be presented, visually. The storyboard is to help me outline how I see the film in my head. This storyboard that I have created has multiple scenes that are merged into montages so I am able to fit the 2-minute time duration and complete my plotline. I will be using my family for the majority of this opening. I will be going to my grandfather's house to film the first half, while in the next few weeks, I will film the second half.

The link to the storyboard is here. Three pages make up my entire scene, and I hopefully won't have to get rid of any or add any new ones. But still, this is just the outline and my vision for my opening. The name of this film is " As She Walked By". As I have mentioned in some of my posts, my inspirations are The Notebook, Forrest Gump, and Titanic. These films all gave me the idea and grasp of this project genre, and I hope you enjoy it.

sources-

StudioBinder. (n.d.). Storyboard examples for film: 10 great examples. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/storyboard-examples-film/

Bored Panda. (n.d.). Directors draw the storyboards for iconic movie scenes. https://www.boredpanda.com/directors-draw-storyboards-movie-scenes/

My plotline inspiration (portfolio project)

 My plotline starts with a family gathering after my grandmother died, and we all visit my grandfather. I, ( his granddaughter),
will have a drink with him and ask about grandma. He’ll refer to her as the color of his life, my Evangeline. Then transition to a strip mall. People walking around, and while my grandfather is voicing over the frame. It will end when he starts talking about seeing her, and then the opening ends with Evangeline's face in the frame.

Inspiration would be forest gump and The Notebook. For forest gump, the voiceover of Forrest telling the people on the bench his life while the audience is visually seeing it. The notebook, the flashbacks of Noah and Alison's life before she gets Alzheimer’s.  The impact both these movies have on their target audience was the reason I picked romance as my genre.

Romance is the type of genre to live their target audience in tears. That’s how I want the opening to be. Of course, I would have to not show the entire film, but I will have the heart-warming tone that these movies brought me.

Movies-