Beginning the Process (looking at films pt1)

Beginning a project can be quite difficult, but also leaves plenty of rooms for ideas. I have decided to create this film alone, for the purpose of creative freedom and accessible time slots for myself. I'm Scarlett Jones, though I do also go by the nickname ScarJo. My overall plan for this opening scene for my movie, is to introduce the genre of coming of age and also realistic conventions that can be either relatable or controversial to audiences.

As far as deciding what I want to do, I was think of a coming of age film such as the following movies: Juno (2007), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), and Love, Simon (2018). Most of the films I was researching, were more modern as far as with-in the last decade or so. Opening sequences in these films can be quite simple, but also show a lot of meaning.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

For example, in the film: The Edge of Seventeen (2016), the opening sequence simply shows the female protagonist, Nadine, rushing into school where she tells her teacher she is going to kill herself. All this happens in the course of two minutes. The opening sequence introduced disposition well and even included a questionable problem that soon would be answered throughout the movie. It created a good tone for the movie, a teenager in desperate stress to the point of comedic suicide-fun… But as far as action, the beginning is mainly just an introduction of this character and her dialogue between a snarky teacher while she tells him she wants to "jump over a overpass in front of a semi".

More shots from the opening sequence

I want to do something of this similar nature, where I include both a disposition and an opening problem. This would leave audiences wanting more of the movie, therefore making it an interesting film.