Planning - Production Timeline

    Planning my production timeline was really important because it helped me stay organized and realistic about what I could actually achieve. It also helped our group a lot because we all do competitive sports and have busy schedules, and it is insanely hard to plan when to film and collectively edit. 

I broke the process into different stages: planning, filming, and editing. For the planning stage, I gave myself time to finish my storyboard, script, and location decisions. As well as every class we each would have some sort of progress check in with our group. Then I scheduled filming days based on everyone's schedule and competitions, which was SO hard to do. 

One challenge was making sure we didn’t leave everything to the last minute. It took so much time and energy to had to think ahead and plan for possible problems, like weather, lighting, or people not being available. We also had to schedule for a longer filing period than would be necessary because of how many retires the clips took to get the perfect one. Smartly, we also planned an extra day if we needed for reshoots just in case something didn’t turn out the way we wanted. This was really important because filming doesn’t always go perfectly the first time, and sometimes after returning back home is when I realized that a clip wasn't exactly up to my liking. 

Creating a timeline made the whole project feel more manageable and less stressful. It also helped me stay on track and make sure I was meeting deadlines. We had aimed to film in 2 separate days, and completed the first day/house scene a week before spring break, which gave us ample time to edit the clips together and further plan for the nest time we would film. My group members, wanted to film the first Monday of spring break but I had a national competition the first 4 days and was out of town, so that did not work. Through planning ahead were able to pick a more convenient day which ended up being Saturday the week of spring break - leaving Sunday free incase of retakes.

Planning - Settings

    When planning my psychological thriller opening, one of the first things I focused on was the setting because it plays a huge role in creating atmosphere and tension. We decided to use a normal, everyday location, such as a house, because it makes the film feel more realistic and relatable to the audience. This is important in psychological thrillers because when something disturbing happens in a familiar environment, it feels more unsettling. To create this realistic scenery we used Santiago's house to create a realistic and personable environment that would be relatable to the audience. Filming areas included Santi's bathroom, bedroom, and living room.

I also thought carefully about how I would present the setting visually. I planned to use low lighting, shadows, and possibly dim or natural light to create a dark and mysterious mood. This helps build suspense and makes the audience feel like something is not quite right. I wanted the setting to almost act like a character itself, adding to the tension without needing too much dialogue. We placed the shadow figure behind Lily to further give the unsettling feeling.

Overall, choosing and planning my setting was important because it helped establish the tone of my film and made sure it followed key conventions of the psychological thriller genre!!

Planning - Props

    Props were another important part of my planning process because they help tell the story in a subtle way. Instead of directly explaining everything to the audience, props can give clues and hints about what is happening. For my film, I planned to use props such as a ticking clock, and pocket knife to help foreshadowing. 

Each prop was chosen carefully so that it would add meaning to the scene. For example, a phone with multiple missed calls could suggest urgency or danger, while scattered photographs might hint at memories or a past event. These small details help create mystery and encourage the audience to ask questions.

I made sure that every prop had a purpose and contributed to the overall narrative. This is important in psychological thrillers because the genre relies on subtle clues and symbolism rather than obvious explanations. Additionally we used more normal props to create realism. For example, because we were filming at Santiago's house but I was playing the main character, I had to bring my own blanket. It is visible in the first beginning scenes and helps create the idea that Lily actually lives there and therefore creates more relatability. 

Here is the blanket that I brought to help symbolize a girls room!

Planning - Characters

     Today during class we worked on the characters of our script!! I had originally really wanted to NOT act in this project because I was unsure of how my acting skills would possibly ruin the project, but my group convinced me to act the main character. I was pretty terrified but I agreed to it nonetheless. 

    Firstly, we have the main character which is Lily. I will be playing Lily in this film and she is the backbone of the film. Without her we would not be able to have a clear organized storyline. Lily suffers from mental illnesses that drive her insane and end the film opening with a plot twist and lots of foreshadowing. 

    Secondly we have the therapist, Mr. Fernandez. The job of Mr. Fernandez, played by Samuel, is to discredit what Lily is trying to explain that she saw. By not believing her, it led Lily to become further upset as no one was listing to her or caring what she suffered from. 

    Lastly, to make this film really scream paranoia, we have a shadow figure. This figure is split between being played by Santiago and Samuel. This responsibility is split between them because the shadow figure must be present in almost every scene, and also present during the therapist scene. Because of this, Sam can obviously not play both the therapist and the shadow figure, so we have our main editor Santiago step in and help act.

  

Planning - Script Writting

 

    The script writing process was where I started turning my ideas into a clear storyline. I wanted my opening to immediately grab the audience’s attention, so I focused on creating a sense of mystery from the very beginning. Instead of revealing everything, I made sure to keep parts of the story unclear so the audience would stay engaged and curious. At first, the script was very basic but I just wanted to get a vision out. After conversing with my group we added details and finalized the script.

I also decided to limit the amount of dialogue in my script. Psychological thrillers often rely more on visuals, sound, and character expressions rather than long conversations. This allowed me to focus on camera shots, pacing, and actions to tell the story.

Another important part of writing my script was thinking about pacing. I planned for the tension to build slowly, starting with normal scenes and gradually becoming more unsettling. This helps keep the audience interested and creates suspense throughout the opening.

Planning - Project Proposal

    HEY Blog!!! Today is a very exciting day because we are almost done with this longggg planning process and can finally start productions. You guys know who I am of course, but I am working with 2 very talented students Samuel Ruiz, and Santiago Acosta. We have chosen to do a thriller film, and specifically a psychological thriller. This was a genre that after a long discussion we agreed would be fun to do because we all enjoy those types of movies and creating one could showcase our groups creativity well. 

Target Audience & Social Issues: 

The target audience for this thriller is young millennials and Generation Z  members. This ranges from people 18 all the way to people that are 25 years old. While we have equal representation in our film, usually the genre of thrillers leans slightly towards females as they are the primary watchers of these types of movies. Our film is catered towards people who enjoy suspense and true crime television shows or movies. Recently there has been an increase in mostly millennials who choose to watch slow paced, tension filled films over fast paces action movies. 

Instead of physical danger, we are choosing to focus more on the aspect of mental health and sanity. We have designed this "shadow character" that will represent an internal monster in the mind of Lily. The rest of the story will showcase trauma and memory loss and instability and focus on the importance of support and helpful therapy. 

Software and Planning:

Moving forward throughout this process, we plan to use Premiere Pro to edit the film opening. We all agreed easily on this application because myself and my group members all have plenty of experience using this app and thought it best to edit with something that we know well. I would love to play around with sound during this project as that is one thing that I am not confident using Premiere Pro for. I think it might be challenging to learn but overall worth it if it sharpens my skills! 

Now that we are basically done planning, I think our production might be hard to finish. My group members, myself included, all play competitive sports and are involved in many after school curriculars. We all have very different schedules and finding time to film might be an issue because of this. Due to this possible complication we have split our production days into 2 separate days. We will film the opening scenes and house scenes before Lily sees the shadow figure one day, and then we will film the therapy scenes and the final scene another day. Our goal is to hopefully finish all filming before spring break....we will see if that can actually happen but I hope it does so we can all have a relaxing break! 

Planning - Titles and Distribution Companies

    As the very tedious and boring part of my planning, I also researched distribution companies to understand how a real psychological thriller would be released. This helped me think of my project as a real media product instead of just a school assignment, which I knew would be helpful to think about because this is eventually going to be one of my CCR Questions. 

My group and I really wanted to try and understand the industry side of media as we believed it would help our film feel ore polished and professional. I looked at companies like Netflix and A24. Netflix is known for distributing a lot of psychological thrillers and reaching a wide audience through streaming. A24, on the other hand, focuses more on independent films and unique storytelling, which fits well with psychological thrillers.

I also thought about how distribution affects the film’s style. For example, films released by A24 often have a more artistic and slow-paced style, which influenced how I planned my opening and the font for our title. 

This is our final draft for the title of our film Paranoia. We wanted to be as creative as possible, hence the creative writing and the dripping swirl behind it. I took inspiration from A24 while designing this title because I really loved how they are always unique with their titles. To me, one of the things that makes me want to watch a movie is the title page so it had to be captivating - which I think in the end it was!! 

Another thing that I took from both Netflix and A24 is their logos that flash at the beginning of their media. Watching clips of film openings helped me realize that creating logos for both a production and distribution company would make my opening feel more realistic and professional which is exactly what I wanted.

Branding is an important part of the film industry, not just the film itself. Santiago specifically wanted our project to look like an actual media product, so he, with our guidance, came up with our own company names and designed logos that matched the psychological thriller genre, using darker colors and simple but slightly unsettling designs such as the bloody hand and the crawling spider which is my personal favorite!

Planning - Beginning the Process

    At the start of my project, I spent time brainstorming ideas and researching psychological thriller conventions. During class, my group and I spent a lot of time I looked at different films and TV shows in this genre to understand how they create suspense and engage their audience. This helped me develop my own ideas and think about what I wanted my film to include.

I created mind maps and wrote down different possible storylines before deciding on my final idea. This allowed me to explore different themes, such as fear, isolation, and mystery. I wanted my film to make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable and unsure about what is going to happen next.

This early planning stage was very important because it gave me a clear direction for the rest of my project. By organizing my ideas and doing research, I was able to create a strong foundation for my psychological thriller opening.