Trailer #2: Updated Script

INT. SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAYTIME

We open up on a school classroom. Nick is with his friend (still no name) in the back of the class. The teacher is teaching something (English or math) while the boys are pretending to read a book (the book is upside down) while they're taking a nap. There's loud chatter going on.



Out of nowhere: silence. The teacher realizes Nick's asleep and thinks for a second before walking up to Nick and slamming a textbook on his desk. Nick wakes up suddenly and the rest of the class begins cracking up.



Teacher

Next time you want to pretend to read in class Mr. (Nick's last name), at least have your book right side up.


Nick

(Makes a smart-ass comment)


The class starts dying of laughter. McKenzie turns around crackling and looks at Nick all romantically.

He puts his feet on the desk, pulls the beanie over his eyes and falls back asleep. The bell rings and it shows the boys walking out of class when the girls walk over to them. 

EXT. SCHOOL - DAYTIME

Mckenzie

Hey! Party at my place Saturday. 

Nick

Yeah um I heard about it

Mckenzie

So um.. you coming? 

Nick

Not really my scene.

Mckenzie

That's okay we'll hang out Sunday maybe?

Nick

Maybe

They walk away. The girls whisper and you can hear a little bit of the conversation

McKenzie

He's just playing hard to get. He's like in love with me, you'll see.

Sophie

No he's not but keep being delusional. His friends cute tho. 

Nick

Oh my god this girl wont stop.

Jake

Dude. How have you gone for that? She's literally all over you.


Nick

Ehhhh. She's okay. She's not really my type you know.



Jake

She's everybody's type.


Nick's friend rolls his eyes. They walk away from camera

EXT. PARK - DAYTIME (film at Regional)

This scene consists of Nick skateboarding around town where he runs into McKenzie. He tries to find a way out but it's too late. She sees him and walks over. 

McKenzie

Hey you!

Nick

whats up?


McKenzie

I was thinking maybe we could hang out sometime just us? 

Nick

Maybe 

McKenzie

Maybe? Are you not into me? Like everyone's into me. 

Nick

It's never gonna happen, sorry.

McKenzie

Do you know who I am? Like what?

McKenzie storms off and yells "ughhhhhhh"

INT - DAYTIME (film at somebody's house)

This scene consists of Nick and Jake talking about McKenzie.

Nick

I saw McKenzie again today. She asked me out again today. 

Jake

Why don't you want to go out with her? You're the only guy at school who's not like in love with her.

Nick

She's like idk not my type.

EXT. PARK - NIGHTTIME (film at Regional)

This scene consists of Nick skateboarding at night. I was thinking of going back and forth between different shots (ex. longshot, pov shot, tracking shot) while he thinks to himself about his feelings for McKenzie. 

He checks his phone and a message pops up from McKenzie saying: 
"Hey. A bunch of us are going to the beach tomorrow. You wanna come? If it means you'll be there, you can bring Jake."

Nick smiles and then realizes he smiled at her text and then immediately puts his phone away and skates off. 

He sees all these images of McKenzie and it keeps flashing from that to him skateboarding. Eventually there is the inclusion of Nick walking around with his hands in his hair thinking to himself and trying to figure out how he feels. 

BLACK SCREEN: WILL NICK FALL IN LOVE OR WILL MCKENZIE FALL OUT OF IT? 

EXT. JAKE's HOUSE- NIGHTTIME

Nick runs to the front of Jake's house panting with his skateboard in his hand. He is out of breath as he rings the doorbell repeatedly. 

Jake answers the door all worried. 

Jake

Dude it's 12:30. This better be good. 

Nick

I think I'm in love with McKenzie ! (panting)

Jake

Dude finally. But it's 12:30 a.m., you couldn't pick a better time to tell me? 

Nick

She invited me to the beach with her tomorrow. What do I do? 

Jake
I think you better come in...

Nick walks in the room and closes the door. The door closing acts as a transition to show McKenzie and Sophia speaking. 

INT. SOPHIE's HOUSE- DAYTIME

You know. I think you're right. I think I was never into Nick, I just thought I was because I want what I can't have. What do you think about me going after Jake?

Sophie

Girl. 

Both girls laugh.

EXT. PARK- SUNSET

SLOW-MO SCENE OF THE 2 CHARACTERS WALKING UP TO EACH OTHER. THEY DON'T BREAK EYE CONTACT. 

Nick

Hey

McKenzie
Hey

THEY BOTH SMILE AND THEN THEIR HANDS BRUSH AGAINST EACH OTHER. THEY EACH LOOK DOWN (POV SHOT) AND THEN THE TRAILER ENDS.

Day #2 of Filming Trailer #1

Hello, 

Today we are on our second day of filming this weekend! Because of the time that everybody got here last night, there was not much daylight left to film the scene in which the girls are talking on their walk to school. We were only able to do the sleepover scene which worked out at the end. It was hard in the beginning but towards the end the conversation flowed very naturally because  the character is similar to one of our friends and therefore Gabriella (who plays McKenzie's friend) simply imagined that she was talking to her and Samantha (McKenzie) combined a little bit of her personality with that of our friend. It ended up being partly improv which I think came out very good. We did about 5 or 6 takes since I wanted to make sure to have different angles.  

I was talking to Samantha and she told me that If I wanted to she could text one of her friends who has a very deep voice and can do the rom com trailer voice instead of doing the black screen with text. That was my original idea but since I couldn't find anybody I went in the black screen direction. She texted him last night and hopefully when I see her in a few hours she can update me as to if/when he can do it. Since it would only be a few sentences, I hope he will do it but I will post a blog update regarding the voice/black screen later.

Although I still have a lot to do, I am starting to see my ideas come to life which is an amazing feeling. I was worried that working alone was going to be difficult since for the most part I have worked with a partner for almost every project. However, I like the direction it's going in and people I talk to about my ideas understand my ideas as well which I appreciate because it means they see my vision as well. 

Editing Brainstorming

 Hello, 

We are continuing to film trailer #1 this weekend. I am still working on the script and storyboard for trailer #2 but I just wanted to start filming something so that I can begin editing in the meantime. Because of my friends' work schedules it makes it a little hard to film during weekends. For example, my actress who is playing McKenzie's friend has work until 7 pm today and will be opening at 5 am tomorrow so we can only film one or two scenes (sleepover scene between the girls and walking outside to school). As a result, we are going to have to continue filming Wednesday and Thursday during privilege and then if I work on the script for trailer #2, we can film for that as well the same day.

I decided to look at typical editing for early 2000 romcom trailers for an idea of how to edit my trailer in a very cliche way. The main thing I noticed was the swipe transition being used so I decided to go to youTube and research how to create similar effects/transitions on Premiere Pro. I included the links to the 3 videos I saw below so I could go back to them at any moment easily when I begin editing. 

video 1

video 2

video 3

Song Ideas

 Hello, 

I am back! We are going to start filming again tomorrow so I decided to do a little more planning. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to start off the trailer with McKenzie blasting music and having a little party while getting ready for school but I didn't know what song. I began looking at songs today and probably spent at least 45 minutes searching for copyright free song which led to a dead end each time. I was getting very frustrated and needed a break. I took a little break and then called my friend who is coming over to film tomorrow and asked for her advice since she does CBTV (our school's television network). She recommended I go on Audio Library and find copyright free music from there. I found a couple I think might work and downloaded them before I forgot. 

I love one called "This is Not Another Christmas Song" but there are lyrics in it that I obviously cannot use because they have absolutely nothing to do with the trailer. I might be able to edit it so that I do not get the chorus but it's gonna be difficult. I also really liked this one called "Turtleneck" that could work. It's alternative and punk but its a happy, feel good song that could work; same thing with "Rocker Chicks". I was thinking this song be used when McKenzie has socks on and glides across the room to do her hair/makeup. 

Fonts and colors

Hello, 

Today I decided to do some research regarding color schemes and fonts to use in both my digital and print component part of the project. I included my notes below...

• Red font
• Big text, bold font
• Used with a white background
• Poster often consists of an awkward or uncomfortable situation of 1 character
• The most common fonts used are impact and futura
• Examples
• The Proposal:
• light black futura for "THE" and red, bold font used for "PROPOSAL"
• Ryan Reynolds is obviously in an awkward situation
• 
• American Pie
• Bold, heavy, red, Franklin Gothic Heavy font on white background
• There is definitely some awkwardness in this poster too

• 
  
  
  

• Classic fonts
• Times New Roman
• Arial
• Helvetica
• Bright colors
• Example
• Rainy Day in New York
• Still plays around with the red/white color schemes but switches it. The red umbrella is used as a background while the text is white. 
• 

Props

 Hello, 

I am back! I was only able to shoot a little bit the other day because my actors had to go pack home and pack for spring break before their flight the next day. We got a few scenes but it ended up being more of a read through which you know what I am okay with. The little I did film, however, I might need to redo depending on how the lighting is the next time I am available to film. My actors/actresses will not be back until the weekend before spring break ends so I will likely film then. In the meantime I decided to go on Amazon and order any props necessary for the filming portion of the project. I am going to go through the list and order a few but this is my potential props list for now...

Costume Design

Hello!

 I am planning on filming today!!!

Unfortunately, I am still having issues with finding my "Nick". I have my brother that I suppose can play him but he doesn't exactly fit the idea I had for the character. As for McKenzie, she will be played by Samantha Perez and her best friend will be played by Gabriella Tavares. I think Ani very much fits the description of who I wanted to play McKenzie. Luckily, for this trailer I do not need a lot of props. Ani will wear a crop top and low waisted jeans and a hand purse with low, casual heels. Isabella can wear a dress that still fits the theme of early 2000s. 

This is the inspiration I was going for with McKenzie's wardrobe... 

I actually have my mom's old iphone 5 that I used as an ipod when I was younger to communicate with my other friends who had phones since I didn't get one until I was in about 7th grade. The camera is partly broken but I think the screen is fine. I was thinking that when McKenzie starts doing her markeup in the bathroom, she could press play on the iphone 5 and then I would edit in the music.

We're going to film in my bedroom, bathroom and walking around my neighborhood for today, so it should work out okay. If I think of more locations like Town Center, I will write a blog post about it.

Location Scouting and More

 Hello!

Unfortunately, my actors had last minute plans that got in the way of filming today. I will likely film on Tuesday but am now having issues with my actor for Nick so I might replace the actor altogether since they don't seem like they're fully committed. I am planning on filming trailer #1 before spring break and hopefully edit it during break little by little.

As far as location scouting goes, my locations are pretty basic. I am planning on filming in my room, my friend Isa's room (she plays McKenzie), my brother's room and whoever ends up playing Nick. The scenes such as the football game can be filmed at the bleachers at school and the scenes walking can be filmed here in my neighborhood. 

I included a few photos below...I am in the process of moving rooms and getting new furniture so I only included a few photos for my room... 

Trailer 1: Storyboard /Shot List

 

Hello! 

I finally created my storyboard for Trailer #1! I'm hoping to film this weekend and then edit during spring break. I will finish editing my script and storyboard for trailer #2 after spring break but I want to edit something ASAP so that I can get part of my project done soon. 

Trailer 1 Script Update

                                      Trailer #1- most updated script

                    INT. McKenzie's ROOM - MORNING

We open up on McKenzie (Last name) getting ready for school. McKenzie has clothes thrown everywhere on her bed and floor as she tries to find the perfect outfit. McKenzie looks at herself in the mirror after finding what she thinks is a good outfit originally.

                                                                                                         McKenzie

Ughhhhhh..... Why do I look bad in everything. I hate everything in my closet!

McKenzie takes off her sweater and throws it at the mirror in anger. This is used as a transition to McKenzie now in her new outfit. 

                                                                                                       McKenzie

Finally!

McKenzie now walks to her bathroom and presses the play button on her phone for the music. She immediately begins dancing around her bathroom as she puts on a natural makeup look: foundation, blush, light eyeshadow and mascara.

                                                                    McKenzie's MOM

McKenzie!!! HURRY UP! YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE

                                                                   McKenzie                                                                   

GOING!!!

The doorbell rings and McKenzie runs out of her room. She grabs a bagel and as she closes the door yells goodbye to her parents. 

                           EXT. SIDEWALK - MORNING                                                                                               

McKenzie's friend

You look cute today! 

                                                               

McKenzie

Thanks. Gotta look good for Nick!

                                                                      McKenzie's friend

Oh my god. Not this again. Stop going for Nick. He's literally so bland.

                                                              

McKenzie

Oh my god, no he's not. He's literally a skater boy. That makes him hot. He's at least an 8.5                           

                                                                     McKenzie's friend

6 max. He has no personality. All he has to do is skate to school and he has you drooling all over him. You should see someone. 

McKenzie

Shut up. I mean I probably, but still shut up.

Both girls break out in laughter. They stop when they look across the street and see Nick and his friend skating to school with headphones on.

As they get closer to the school, the girls cross the street at the crosswalk onto the side of the street Nick and (Nick's friend's name) are. They cross paths

McKenzie

Hey Nick (Very eagerly)

Nick does a little whats'up head toss but doesn't wave or say anything.

They walk past each other and are now on their own

McKenzie

Oh my god, did you see? Nick said hi to me. 

McKenzie's friend

Girl he hit you with a 'sup. He didn't even say hi. 

McKenzie

Po-ta-toe, pat-at-oe

*** I think what I am going to do now is have a black screen as a transition and write something along the lines of "McKenzie's searching for love. But what happens if Nick is not interested?" ****

***Now the rest of the trailer consists of McKenzie asking out Nick and it being clear to everybody but McKenzie that Nick is not interested.***

EXT. FOOTBALL FEILD (BLEACHERS) - EVENING

This scene opens on Nick and his friend sitting on the bleachers. Nick's friend is on the right (facing the field) and Nick is on the left. There is room next to Nick and McKenzie and her friend notice. McKenzie's friend tries to stop her but McKenzie walks up to the boys anyways and asks to sit next to them.

McKenzie

Hey

Nick

What up? 

McKenzie

This seat taken?

Nick looks down at the empty seat next to him and thinks for a minute. 

Nick

Yea kinda. Our friends on his way

Nick's friend looks at him confused.

McKenzie's friend 

Yea? What friend? I didn't think you had any of those?

Nick mimics her

McKenzie's friend

Let's get out of here (grabbing McKenzie by the arm)

McKenzie

He's like totally in love with me.

McKenzie's friend

He most definitely is not but keep dreaming

*** I think what I am going to do now is have a black screen as a transition and write something along the lines of "Will Nick fall in love or will McKenzie fall out of it? ****

INT. McKenzie or her friends bedroom (sleepover) - EVENING

McKenzie's friend

Do you really like Nick or are you only going after him because he doesn't like: you?

McKenzie

I don't know. He's the only guy who doesn't fall at my feet, you know?

McKenzie's friend takes the opportunity to hit McKenzie with a pillow. 

McKenzie

HEY!!!

McKenzie hits her back! The girls laugh so hard one of them falls off the bed

INT. Nick's house in front of TV - EVENING

 Nick

Dude, I can't stop thinking about McKenzie. I think I might be into her.

Nick's friend

Finally! What are you gonna do about it?

 Nick

Chill dude! I said think! I didn't say I am. 

EXT. POOLSIDE (SUNSET TIME)

Nicks sees McKenzie sitting alone with her feet in the pool and walks over. 

Nick

Hey

McKenzie

Hey

(Black screen: 

Name of the movie

only on Netflix June 15th)

Social Media

Hello,

I just created my social media for my movie! My target audience is 13-20 year old females and as a result I decided to create an Instagram and TikTok account. I did decide to create a twitter account just because 18-24 year olds make up 17% of twitter demographics but it was more of a side thought. 

I had an issue creating my accounts because I do not have a name yet.  I decided to go with "Sk8er Boi" (Avril Lavigne's song) for now. I may or may not change this but I need to create my social media accounts ASAP. 

My label is : sk8erboi_movie on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

Moodboards update

 Hello, 

I  decided to  redo my moodboards for my characters since I have explored the characters more and changed the story. I still cannot figure out how to get the picture to come up since PNG and JPEG come up as zip files. Instead, I just included the link below. 

moodboards

trailer 2 script

INT. SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAYTIME

We open up on a school classroom. Nick is with his friend (still no name) in the back of the class. The teacher is teaching something (English or math) while the boys are pretending to read a book (the book is upside down) while they're taking a nap. There's loud chatter going on.



Out of nowhere: silence. The teacher realizes Nick's asleep and thinks for a second before walking up to Nick and slamming a textbook on his desk. Nick wakes up suddenly and the rest of the class begins cracking up.



Teacher

Next time you want to pretend to read in class Mr. (Nick's last name), at least have your book right side up.



Nick

(Makes a smart-ass comment)



The class starts dying of laughter. McKenzie turns around crackling and looks at Nick all romantically.



Nick's friend

Dude. How have you not gone for that? She's literally all over you.


Nick

Ehhhh. She's okay. She's not really my type you know.




Nick's friend

She's everybody's type.



Nick's friend rolls his eyes.

Nick shrugs and finishes the conversation. He puts his feet on the desk, pulls the beanie over his eyes and falls back asleep.




*** Here I think I'm going to have same thing as the first trailer in which McKenzie is kinda of throwing herself at Nick and he's like go away girl. I can do this with the screen with font on it and the typical narrating voice and eventually show the turning point. I want it to be fast paced when showing the series of Nick rejecting her but kinda of normal paced for everything else.***

Trailer 1 script

 Hello!

I asked around and I decided to go with 1 actor instead of 2 so that it doesn't become too confusing to the audience. 

As I mentioned earlier in my blog, I might need to change my script. I spoke to my teacher about whether or not she thinks I should add this twist and she told me she doesn't think it's a bad idea but that I need to make sure that I stay true to the typical conventions of romcoms since its a genre that relies heavily on its conventions. I think I do want to challenge myself in the sense that I could combine the romanticizing with the typical conventions. I could make this clear through different point of view shots showing the juxtaposition between how McKenzie and her friend view Nick. 

I was thinking that the old beginning to the trailer could still continue but make it more about McKenzie into Nick and romanticizing Nick. She could still start off doing her hair and makeup in the mirror before school while blasting music and kind of whisper to herself "I need to look good for Nick today" in the mirror when her parents call her telling her she's going to be late. When McKenzie meets up with her friend (whose name hasn't been decided yet), her friend could have a serious conversation about Nick and asking why she's so into him. 

INT. McKenzie's ROOM - MORNING

We open up on McKenzie (Last name) getting ready for school. McKenzie has clothes thrown everywhere on her bed and floor as she tries to find the perfect outfit. McKenzie looks at herself in the mirror after finding what she thinks is a good outfit originally.

                                                                                                McKenzie

Ughhhhhh..... Why do I look bad in everything. I hate everything in my closet!

McKenzie takes off her sweater and throws it at the mirror in anger. This is used as a transition to McKenzie now in her new outfit. 

                                                                       McKenzie

Finally!

McKenzie now walks to her bathroom and presses the play button on her phone for the music. She immediately begins dancing around her bathroom as she puts on a natural makeup look: foundation, blush, light eyeshadow and mascara.

                                                                        McKenzie's MOM

McKenzie!!! HURRY UP! YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE

                                                                       McKenzie                                                                   

GOING!!!

The doorbell rings and McKenzie runs out of her room. She grabs a bagel and as she closes the door yells goodbye to her parents. 

EXT. SIDEWALK - MORNING                                                                                               

McKenzie's friend

You look cute today! 

                                                                    McKenzie

Thanks. Gotta look good for Nick!

                                                                      McKenzie's friend

Oh my god. Not this again. Stop going for Nick. He's literally so bland.

                                                                       McKenzie

Oh my god, no he's not. He's literally a skater boy. That makes him hot. He's at least an 8.5                           

                                                                     McKenzie's friend

6 max. He has no personality. All he has to do is skate to school and he has you drooling all over him. You should see someone. 

McKenzie

Shut up. I mean I probably, but still shut up.

Both girls break out in laughter. They stop when they look across the street and see Nick and his friend skating to school with headphones on.

As they get closer to the school, the girls cross the street at the crosswalk onto the side of the street Nick and (Nick's friend's name) are. They cross paths

McKenzie

Hey Nick (Very eagerly)

Nick does a little whats'up head toss but doesn't wave or say anything.

They walk past each other and are now on their own

McKenzie

Oh my god, did you see? Nick said hi to me. 

McKenzie's friend

Girl he hit you with a 'sup. He didn't even say hi. 

McKenzie

Po-ta-toe, pat-at-oe

****Here I could probably have a screen filled with text about the movie in the dramatic typical rom com voice****

***Here I could have different situations in which McKenzie is following Nick around like a dog and he's kinda like "go away girl"***

***I could also have the typical cheesy slow motion showing the way McKenzie perceives him***

Peer Reviews

Hello!

Last class, we did peer reviews and I realized how far behind I am. The main critique I got was that I need to have a twist on my movie to differentiate it from any other romcom. The main advice I received during this process was that the movie could consist more about a girl (McKenzie) who is romanticizing the guy (Nick) since he is a skater boy and as my classmate said, "Skaters are hot now". I thought this was funny and it could totally work with modern times but maybe it doesn't with the early 2000's. 

Another question I had was how to portray the romanticizing of Nick. I don't know whether or not to have two separate actors or have one actor and use hair, makeup, and costume design to portray the idea that one is the real version of Nick while the other is the romanticized, fake version. I have another actor in mind that can play the romanticized version because I think that the original actor can do a better job at brining the role of Nick to life.

I had planned to begin filming sometime next week but I don't know if it's still possible because I need to fix my story and create my script. If anything, I would be able to film Thursday and Friday and then edit over the weekend. However, I just realized that the two actors I have are also in musical theatre and their show is next week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so they obviously cannot film up until next Saturday because they need to rehearse. The second actor I had in mind for the romantized version of Nick (haven't spoken to him yet) is also a theatre so either way I cannot film up until Saturday. However, this does allow me more time to plan everything out, make changes to the story/script and set everything up.

I am going to ask around and see what people think about the one vs two actors portraying Nick and then talk to the two actors I had already spoken to, to see if they are available for next Saturday.