Transition into portfolio project

    Hello Cambridge! 

    This blog post marks the beginning of my portfolio project. I'm so excited to be working on my project, and of course writing about it here! Prior posts have been about the learning opportunities that have lead up to this moment and thanks to those projects I feel like I can be successful in producing a film opening that is up to AICE standards. 

    In class we completed an assignment to help us get an understanding of what a film opening would have to include, the importance of developing a purpose in the opening, and some ideas for our own projects:

    Out of these approaches to film openings, I would like to focus on developing the character. I think that this is most vital to understanding the story. Seeing how the character interacts with the environment and with other characters can tell the audience a lot about the story. Understanding the main character can also help with focusing my opening and developing a purpose. No matter what genre I choose the main character will always shape the way the audience perceives the world, so it is vital to the entire project that the protagonist is fleshed out through mise-en-scene, and interactions with both the environment and other characters.

    Though developing a character is currently the top priority in my mind, I also understand that I should use the approach of developing the setting. The protagonist should interact with the environment and that cant be done unless the setting is established. One way to do this would be to make the costume design all the same or similar and have the protagonist either stand out or blend in. This would give context to the setting and who the protagonist is as a person. These two approaches work together to give the audience a full understanding of how the setting has shaped the protagonist.