My Film Opening: The Idea

Hey Blog!

We have finally settled on an idea of what our film would be about so that we are able to have a good introduction for the story we are presenting with our film opening. However, this idea didn't just come from thin air. Sofia and I really like movies from the 90's and early 2000's that are so iconic we enjoy them to this day, largely because they are fun, but also because they tend to really stick with you after having watched them, whether it be because they had an interesting storyline or because their message is so meaningful you don't stop thinking about it for days, or years, after. These are such treasured movies that we wanted to try our own hand at making our own meaningful story, though, of course, for the purposes of this project, we won't get further than 2 minutes in. 

Our idea for our film consists of an emotional coming-of-age summer film, which was inspired by my personal love of these films and Sofia seeing my original vision for this project (though we've strayed quite far from this original idea) and agreeing that it was a fun aesthetic to play with. The basic premise of our story is that of two best friends as they are getting ready to start the new chapter in their lives of going off to college, but their plans go off the rails as they are faced with a terminal illness that will end with the death of one of them, leaving the other to cope with surviving and having to live the through the dreams they hoped to achieve together. Our goal with this story is to have a film that would be very summer-y in its colors and in its mood, but that it has themes that allow for relatability with the audience (though I hope not many people relate to the death of their best friend) and emotional depth. 

Inspiring this were a series of summer teen movies I watched over last year's spring break mostly, though, like I said it tends to happen, there was one movie that I saw years ago that I still think about to this day and that is Bridge to Terabithia. 

This movie, though not quite the summer film Sofia and I are aiming for, is a beautiful and heartfelt film that deals with topics of friendship, childhood, grief, and loss. I first watched this movie in middle school and it has not left me in these last 6 years and I doubt that it will anytime soon. Seeing how Jesse goes from being the lonely kid in school to forming a friendship with Leslie that turns into such a strong bond that, when she dies, he feels at such a loss and he doesn't know how to manage or control those feelings, and, even worse, he has to return to school knowing that the best friend he'd ever made is not going to ever be there again. This just an experience that, even as a viewer, just wrecks you because the film has made you feel so deeply for these characters that their loss is yours also. This is such an inspiring film, not only as we try to create something similar for our project, but also to me, as a writer, because the emotions go past the screen or the paper into a part of us that only such stories can reach, and I truly love that.

For the visual aspects of our "summer" film, however, I was more inspired by a wide variety of films that I watched over spring break last year, as I mentioned before. Among these are Before Sunrise, Mamma Mia!, The Spectacular Now, Summer of 85, and Fireworks. Thinking about it now, these films had such strong visuals of summer that I was watching them during spring break because I wanted to feel that it was summer already, and they delivered. It was such a pleasure to watch them, and I could feel as if I, myself, was in Vienna or Greece or France or Italy as the characters enjoyed a life free of responsibilities or other torments. So, these aesthetics really stuck out to me in a way that I wanted to watch more, but I was running out of movies I was able to watch, sadly. However, this project allows me to create my own, which is even better so I'm really excited! Here are some of the posters for these films that helped me and Sofia visualize what we want out of our project.