Art on Art on Art

Filming starts (and finishes) tomorrow and I am very excited!! In gathering up all my props this week one of the first things I started working on was getting a sketch book that is full of drawings and pictures; some pencil, some color. If Eevie Davis is going to be a smart, mature, legitimate artist she needs to have a portfolio more impressive than just stick figures, which is about what I or Isa would be able to provide. Luckily, my brother is a very talented artist and although he is away at school, he does have a great sketch book in his room that he left behind that would be great for me to use. And like I had said in my last post, I know an amazing group of talented people so I also reached out to a friend of mine, Britney Lyons, who I know is a great artist. She kindly agreed to let me borrow one of her sketch books for my film opening. Her pictures are all beautiful but there is one in particular that I want to appear in my film that I think will be perfect.

This drawing is of course a more dream-like and idealistic version of where I will be filming, but that is why I love it. If Eevie is in a forest and she is creating art inspired by her environment this forest scene makes perfect sense, and I love the colors in the picture because I think it is just like something Eevie would create as she is longing for a simpler and genuinely happier world. So, I just wanna say thanks Britney!!

Everything is finally coming together and within the next couple days, my film opening will be done... Wow! I absolutely cannot wait for all of my ideas to become a reality. Updates to come.

Looking Towards the Future

I know I know, I haven't even filmed yet (two days!!!) but with the project due date QUICKLY. approaching I can't help but start thinking of my creative critical reflection. Obviously a lot of this reflection will be based on the actual outcome of my film, concerning technical choices and the actual production process, but a lot of the reflection will also be based off of the development of my project, story and character development, etc.

Time is precious. And although I will have a week to complete my reflection, if everything goes as planned, I didn't want to waste any time given to me so I decided to get ahead. I've started drafting some of the answers to the suggested questions by Cambridge for the creative and critical reflection and have begun planning what I want to say and talk about. I plan on doing my reflection through a director commentary so based off of the visuals that I will use as I am speaking, the current script I am drafting is obviously very very subject to change, but it's a start in flow of ideas and a little planning never killed anyone.

Im excited for the creative and critical reflection, I love that it gives me a chance to explain myself and justify my ideas and choices. I can't wait for all my readers and graders to get a clear look inside my head.

Just Call Me Telsey & Co.

Meet the face of Blank Canvas! I have officially cast my film and present to you one of my best friends Isa Jimenez who graciously agreed to play Eevie Davis in my short film opening. 

Isa (right) and I (left) in Boston last December

 I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned it on this blog, but I've been doing theatre and performing in plays and shows since I was in the third grade, so growing up in that world I have met a lot of talented people and have many talented friends that I considered asking to be in my film. I ultimately ended up deciding on Isa because although she doesn't do theatre anymore, she used to, so she has experience acting and I have confidence in her that she would do a good job. She's outgoing, hard working, takes direction well, and since I've known her for so long I trust her and will feel good and comfortable working with her. Also, with everyone's busy high school schedule, she happened to be available, so it worked out perfectly. I wanted to start filming after school some days but since I'm only filming in one location and it is outdoors I thought I should just film everything on the same day in order to ensure a constant lighting and make sure that I will be able to finish in one day, and filming after school, I just don't think we would have the time so I am going to be filming Saturday and also beginning to edit Saturday. I am slightly concerned because it has been pretty rainy this week but I checked the weather channel and the weather should be clear for this weekend, but just in case I'm thinking of alternate locations if worse comes to worse. 

So Much Angst It's Incredible

So as I gather everything up to film and edit this weekend, I've been going through everything in my head and making sure it is exactly as I want it so when I go to film everything goes smoothly and my film opening results in a piece that I am genuinely proud of. At the beginning of this process once I first shared the commencement of my idea, my teacher recommended a few films for me to watch to give me inspiration, one which she most strongly suggested was an independent coming of age film called Thirteen.


Thirteen is a 2003 film directed by Catherine Hardwicke which originally made it's debut at the prestigious Sunfest film festival. The film is a "semi-autobiographical drama" that follows 13 year old Tracy and her crumbling relationship with her mother as she befriends popular, but troubled, Evie and begins to experiment with a life of sex, drugs, and crime.

Tracey (Evan Rachel Wood) at the beginning of Thirteen versus at toward the end

When I first looked up the film a few weeks ago I didn't really think it would help me plot wise because this film covers a different chapter of adolescence than the one I wanted to portray, but I figured any resources would be worth while and there must have been something I could get out of it. After actually watching the film I did get some idea's for my film visually as far as the degree of rawness I want my shots to be and the aesthetic part of my film. For example, since my film will only feature the opening I don't think I would incorporate this, but I found it interesting that as the film progressed and Tracey and her mother's life became more and more flooded by the evil and danger of teenage depravity, a dark, dim, greenish-blue filter gradually took over the screen.

However my initial concerns were confirmed and I did ultimately decide that I didn't want to take any ideas for my film from the content of this one. Both young protagonist in the story are way younger and in a different part of life than my protagonist, as well as being extremely reckless, rash, and haughty; which is great for the story the film wanted to chronicle but a direct antithesis of the mature, serious, and thoughtful individual that I wanted my main character to be (although my protagonists name was in part inspired by Evie, if you hadn't already picked up on the one) but as I was looking over my script I thought that it did seem too preachy and monologue-y which was exactly one of the obstacles that I wanted to avoid in writing my voice over. It wasn't even that it didn't seem like Eevie's thoughts but it was just it seemed TOO much like her thoughts and nothing more. I knew who I wanted Eevie to be and the situation she was in but that situation did not come across clearly. Eevie's character was there but the plot and story wasn't, so again, I made some revisions and did, to my surprise, draw from all the angst, rebelliousness, and confusion from Thirteen.

I kept all of my voiceover the same, but rather than just ending my opening with the narration the way it started, I added some dialogue that eludes to Eevie not only contemplating her current life and possible future, but because of these thoughts, letting go in school and becoming a bit careless and negligent in her studies which had been very important to her her entire life. In adding this dialogue however, I didn't want to directly introduce a new character. One, because I didn't want to draw away from Evie and two, because I just dont think it would make sense in the context. SO, i drew from ANOTHER film from my research (Buried) and decided to make the dialogue a conversation over the phone where the second party is only heard, but not seen. I hope that this makes sense to you for now and that I've done a good job of explaining myself and my thought process... but if not I am excited for you all to see the final product soon!

Digital image. StyleCaster. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

Mitchell, Elvis. "Thirteen (2002) Film Review." New York Times. N.p., 20 Aug. 2003. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

Thirteen promotional poster. Digital image. Amazon. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.