Mise-en-scene #1

Props

    One thing that is critical in my film opening, as well as many others, are the props as they will tell a story of their own. For instance, I want to have the younger version of Emily's room be filled with colors, crayons, and art supplies, while the older version of her room will be filled with school books and supplies. Furthermore, a key part of my film opening is the fridge, simply because it will be filled with Emily's drawings from when she was a kid, pictures of her family, and it will be the object that shows the transition in between years. Thus, without props I can't correctly tell the story or represent Emily's character, meaning that if I want to accurately execute my vision for this film opening, I'll have to find or create my own props. Which includes all the different drawings, crayons, school supplies, etc.

    To have a clearer understanding of everything I need, I made a list of items, which you can find below.

        -Art/Drawings

        -Textbooks and note books

        -Sketchbook

        -Pencil case and pencils

        -Photograph of young Emily

        -Calculator, rulers, erasers

        -Computer

        -Lined paper, folders

        -Backpack

        -Crayons

    Thankfully, I already have most of these items at hand because they're mostly school related, meaning that I can just use my own for when it's time to film. However, some things I'll need to ask my friends for, especially if I want the props to be more specific and personal. For instance, I know that one of my friends has a big medicine text book that I could ask her to borrow for filming. 

    Another thing that I'll need to find or make, though it should be rather easy to find, is actual art work. I'm personally not an artist, which means that I don't have any of my own old drawings that I can use, thankfully, I'm friends with multiple art kids and my sister also has a collection of drawings that she made when she was a kid. I'm hoping to be able to borrow these actual drawings or print them out myself to use them for my opening.

    However, one object that I know I will have to make myself is the photograph of Emily when she was a child. This photograph is critical to the story because of what is shown on it. You might've seen it in the storyboard blog post, though the quality might've been a little rough, but it will be a photo of the younger version of Emily holding up a sign that reads, "When I'm Older, I want to be an Artist," after the transition to the present day, the photo will fall off the fridge. This not only shows the audience that Emily is very passionate about art and truly wanted to pursue it when she was younger, but by having the photograph fall of the fridge, it will show how Emily has been losing herself and her passions. Below I've included a picture that I'll be using for inspiration, my own rough draft of it, as well as a list of things I'll need to make this.

Word on the board is Spanish for painter.

    To make this photograph, the first, and most important, thing I'll need is my younger sister. Since she'll be playing the young version of Emily, I'll need her for the photo. I'm hoping to make her look younger by using scale with background items (to make her look shorter), having her hair be set up in a more child-like style, or by using the costume design. Thankfully, this is the only time I'll need her to look significantly younger than she actually is, because for the rest of the section with young Emily, she'll need to look like she's 11 to 12 years old, which is perfect because my sister is around that age. Other things I'll need include a markers, a border for the photo, a printer, and a sign or a board. Most of these things I can find in my own house or buy them off of Amazon.