I’ve started to shape my idea for my final title sequence. Like I said in my film pitch, A Lot To Learn is a comedy/coming-of-age story that will follow seventeen year old Aspen through the worst week of her life. It is set in Wesley Chapel, Florida and will focus on her desire to leave town. A central part of the story arc is the comedic dynamic between Aspen and her math teacher, Ms. Jennifer Graves. Below is an outline for what shots, editing techniques, and sounds I want to include. Astricks (*) indicate shots that I want to try and film, but I am not sure if including them will work.
- Fade in close-up shot of the main character, Aspen. The sound of an alarm clock is also fading in to represent her regaining consciousness. Her eyes open slowly to show she is waking up. The sun needs to be up; she slept through her alarm.
- The shot switched to an eye level/slightly low angle shot of her grabbing her phone, checking the time, and turning off her alarm. Her eyes widen.
- ***Long shot of her falling out of bed.
- Long shot of her opening her door and running to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready. Her hair is disheveled and she looks like she just woke up (because she did). *Debating whether or not I want to do this as a tracking shot instead of a stationary shot.
- Close up shot of her brushing her teeth OR over the shoulder shot with the mirror in focus.
- ***Extra Shot: Her washing her face.
- Mirror POV shot, center framing, of Aspen frantically brushing her hair and looking concerned.
- Close up of her putting on mascara frantically. Possibly leave a glob of mascara on her lid for the rest of the clip.
- Medium close up shot of Aspen putting on a sweater (?) over a tank top.
- Close of of her shoving her feet into sneakers OR long shot of her pulling them on and hopping around.
- If I use the last shot described, I will also film her snatching up her keys. If not, I will film her running through the kitchen, grabbing a granola bar and and her keys. There will be insert close up shots of her hand grabbing the keys and the granola bar and her backpack.
- Long shot of her exiting her house in a hurry. Shows her fumbling with and dropping her keys. Would need to record sound of keys falling.
- ***Insert shot of her dropping keys and locking door frantically.
- ***Tracking shot of her running to her car?
- Ground level shot of her car tires pulling out of the driveway. This is hard to explain, so in future blog posts, I will include examples of what I mean by this.
- ***Possibly include crosscutting between a red traffic light and Aspen in her car looking impatient and desperate for it to turn green? This might be too much to accomplish.
- The same sort of ground level shot will be used in the school parking lot when Aspen arrives. She will pull into the parking space; I may add the sound of tires squealing?
- Montage of tracking shots of her walking to class through hallways, doors, and upstairs.
- Final shot will be an eye-level shot. At first just part if the desk and the chair will be in focus. The classroom door opening will be out of focus but still visible. Aspen will not be in focus until she sits down in her chair. She should seem out of breath.
As of right now, I don’t know if I want her to be on time for class or late. This decision will effect whether or not there are other people in the hallways at the same time as her and whether or not I have to record ambient sound of other people in the hallways. I feel generally confident with my outline, however I am concerned I don’t have enough shots to keep up with the fast pace I have in mind. We’ll see!
A Lot To Learn 