FIQAH'S MEDIA WEB
Research and Planning
Film Opening Research
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For my film opening research, I decided to research on these two film opening; Chef (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy. The reason why I chose these films is because the Chef film is highly related to what I want to do for my film opening which is cooking and the Guardians of the Galaxy film has a very iconic opening scene which I would like try to adapt to my film opening.
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Chef (2014)
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The movie Chef is about a head chef of a restaurant who decided to open up his own food truck with his son after he lost his job. The movie was released on the 9th of May, 2014. It was co-produced, directed by, and starring Jon Favreau who played as Carl Casper.
'Chef' Movie Poster
In 2019, Jon Favreau created a spin-off from this movie and created an American cooking show ‘The Chef Show’. He himself along with Roy Choi was the main presenter and it premiered on Netflix.
'The Chef Show' title card
The genre of the movie Chef is comedy and drama. It is a good movie for families as some of the scenes is about the love between a father and son however it is rated R due to violence, cursing and sexual references.
Chef’s opening scene starts off with the main character getting ready to start cooking. We see the character going into the kitchen, switching on switches and laying out a bag full of knife.
In the background, we hear a background music which is a non-diegetic sound. We can also hear natural sounds like the sound of a cooking stove blast. Most of the transitions are fast cut and uses close up angles which I find satisfying and appropriate for a cooking opening scene.
The camera always follows what he’s doing. At times, the camera would focus from the character’s face as he goes full concentration on his cooking to his cutting and cooking movement. The opening scene for Chef made me more aware of camera angles and movements that I want to use in my film as I want the audience to clearly see what the chef is doing without making the scene look like a cooking tutorial.
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Guardians of the Galaxy
The movie Guardians of the Galaxy is an action movie produced by Marvel Studios. It was released on the July 21, 2014. The film was directed by James Gunn, an American film director.
The movie is about Peter Quill (known as Star Lord) who stole an orb that Ronan (the villain) wants. Peter ended up meeting four misfits and eventually forming a group ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and stop Ronan.
'Guardian of the Galaxy' Movie Poster
The genre of the movie is comedy and action. Just like the movie Chef, Guardians of the Galaxy is a good movie for families however it is rated PG 13 due to violence, cursing and sexual references.
Guardians of the Galaxy’s opening scene starts with the main character going onto some kind of sci-fi land. We can see the character’s behavior and attitude right after the opening scene starts.
Just from the opening scene, we can tell the film is going to be a comedy film as we see the main character turns on music and dance along to the music ‘Come and Get Your Love’ unbothered by his surroundings.
When I first watched the film, the opening scene just attracts me to watch it and its certainly different compare to other opening film. We can also hear background noises such as the splash of water as he dances and kicks the puddle. The camera movement and angles are always following the character as he dances around and is in his own zone.
The opening scene for the second film of Guardians of the Galaxy sure adapts very similar opening scenes to the first film.
In the second film, we see Baby Groot in his own zone, dancing carelessly to the music ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ as his team members in the background fighting a weird looking octopus’ monster. We see and hear his team members calling him asking for him to concentrate and stay safe but Baby Groot does not really bother to listen and yet is still dancing to his music. We can also hear the background noises such as the guns and explosions which could make audience not only focus on Baby Groot but also what’s going on in the back. All the background noises such as the explosion and music are all non-diegetic.
The camera movement always follows the character that is dancing to the music and at times would dolly out to show his surrounding so audience know what is going on.
On both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the opening scenes use warm colours. This could be because it is a family movie so the warm colour could present warmth and coziness. There is also a mixture of rainbow colours from the explosion and sci-fi location which also suits with the mood of the character Baby Groot that is happily dancing around.
These two-film opening gave me good ideas for my opening film coursework. So far, what I’ve planned for my opening scene is similar to Chef’s opening scene but I want to adapt the idea of using music for my opening film and use some of the camera movements from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
Pre-Production
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Title
For the title of the film, I have decided on the title ‘Young Chef’. The reason I chose the title as ‘Young Chef’ is because it can give the idea to the audience that the film will involve and relate to cooking. The ‘Young’ would represent the character as he is a young adult. I plan to use the title in cursive font as it reminds me of menus from expensive restaurants.
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Plot
The main plot of the movie is about a teenage boy who that is passionate in cooking and wants to pursue his dream to be a chef but his parents do not want him to be a chef. Instead, they want him to be a doctor as he is very smart and has what it takes to be a doctor.
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The plot of the opening scene would be linear narrative as it is told in a chronological order. Below is the state of equilibrium of my opening scene:
Stage of Equilibrium
- Saud cooks his own dinner, and eats his dinner all alone while playing his console
Disruption of Equilibrium
- Receive an email to inform him that he got accepted into his dream school, the University of Culinary Arts
- Was about to inform his mother on the great news
- His mother texted telling him that he got called for an interview at the Medical School of Belait
Recognition of Equilibrium
- He ended up not informing his mother about the acceptance into the University of Culinary Arts
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Genre
The genre of this film would be family and drama. The reason the genre is family is because the character is filled with the aspiration to succeed to become a chef which in my opinion, these kinds of film would be a great family movie as not only it can inspire the audience but also give a better understanding of other people’s ambition. As the genre would be family, I want to use the convention of using warm color to give that warmth and comfort feeling.
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Props and Equipment
The equipment needed to shoot the opening scene would be a DSLR camera which I am going to use my Canon 200D Mark II, tripod, laptop, microphone and a phone. The microphone is for recording any non-diegetic sound that will be connected to my laptop. The phone is also for recording any non-diegetic sound. The microphone I am going to use is my Razer Seiren Mini and the phone I am going to use is the Honor 8s.
The props needed for the film would be a bandana, headphone, hand-held gaming console (Nintendo Switch Lite), phone, dinner table along with chairs, stove, frying pan, tong, wooden spoon, chopstick, recipe book, email along with pdf of acceptance letter and cooking ingredients (such as pasta, chopped onion, butter, cooking cream, mushroom, sausages, parsley and salt).
For the acceptance letter, I had to create my own. I did some research on Google for ideas on the acceptance letter as I had no idea on how an acceptance letter looks like. I also made the logo of the University of Culinary Arts and Medical School of Belait using Canva. However, I end up not using the Medical School of Belait logo in the video. Coming up with the names of the schools took quite a while as I wanted to make the name quite obvious what the school is about.
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Below is the acceptance letter I created:
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November 2020
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Dear Saud Dayang,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted to the University of Culinary Arts, Class 2021!
We are so thrilled to have you join us! We know you will bring something delicious and fun to our university!
Congratulation again! We are look forward to see you here on the 3 days orientation starting on the 5th until the 7th January 2021!
Sincerely,
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Syahzani Afiqah,
Principal of University of Culinary Arts
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Location
The filming location would be in the kitchen at my house. Most of the scene would only be filmed at these particular areas; nearby the oven and wardrobe, table area, fridge and the stove area. The opening scene would probably be filmed at afternoon or night time due to better lighting.
Nearby the oven, for the scene where Saud takes his recipe book from the shelve
Table area
Cooking/stove area
Fridge
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Character and Actor
The actor playing the teenage boy would be my good friend Sa’ud. As acting is not something he is used to doing, I decided to make the character have similar behavior and attitude to the actor himself so my actor feels comfortable acting the character. I also decided to use his real name as the name character Saud.
Saud the character is an introvert. He does not mind being alone as he gets to do the things, he loves without feeling of getting judged.
He is a smart teenager who always tries to make his parents proud. This could be seen from the texting scene where he was about to tell his mother that he got accepted into the University of Culinary Arts but ends up not sending the text as his mother informs him about the interview, he got called for Medical School of Belait.
The character for the opening scene would be wearing a simple, comfortable pajama with a red bandana that he always uses when he is cooking to keep his hair away from his eyes.
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Storyboard
For my research and planning, I have made a storyboard to help me plan out for my film opening. On the right is my first storyboard. However, it was on a different story plot that I end up not using as I believe it would be too challenging as it is a thriller genre and I am not really into thriller films.
The new storyboard that I planned to use for my opening film is similar to the plot of ‘Young Chef’ however, I end up not using it as I could not get any actor to act as the parents and I realize that I focused too much on the cooking scene but not on the character’s personality. I think introducing the character’s personality is very important in an opening scene to make the audience feel connected to the character and maybe can even relate to the character.
In the first couple of scenes, we see the character getting ready to cook. We see the character taking a recipe book and finds the ingredients. The next scene then shows the character cutting and starts cooking.
Once the character finish cooking, he packs them into container, labels them and packs it all up. The difference from this story and the one I filmed is that Saud the character has his own small food business. After he finishes packing, he goes outside to put the food in his car to deliver it to the buyers. As he was getting ready to drive, he sees his mother outside taking out a letter from the mailbox which was for him. The letter is actually an acceptance letter from the University of Culinary Arts, the school he applied and wanted to go to which his parents did not know of. The opening ends with a hang cliff of his mother asking him what the letter is about.
The new changes made that I end up using for my film opening has been updated on the shot list and screenplay down below.
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Shot Lists​
Below is my shot lists that I have planned to use to shoot my film opening
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YOUNG CHEF
INT. KITCHEN
Saud takes a recipe book from shelve, puts it down on the table along with his gaming console and studies the ingredients needed. He then ties his bandana around his head.
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He then goes and finds the ingredient needed; uncooked pasta which is inside the wardrobe and mushroom and cream, inside the fridge and puts them on the table.
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Saud pauses and goes look over the recipe book then goes over to the stove to start cooking.
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He starts with turning on the stove, drops the uncooked pasta in a boiling water, uses cutter machine to blend onion, chops some mushrooms and cooks them all together in a pan with the cream.
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Once the pasta is cooked, Saud drains it using colander and bring it over to the table. He takes some of the pasta into a bowl, pours the cream sauce over it and puts the pan into the sink.
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Saud goes back to the table; sits down as he gets excited to eat his food. He grabs his gaming console and plays a game as he eats his dinner.
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While he was playing, he receives a notification on his phone. He puts down his gaming console and immediately checks his phone. Turns out he receive an email with a letter is attached to it. The email is from a University of Culinary Arts, the university he applied at.
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Saud reads through the letter then realize that he got accepted into the university.
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SAUD
(full of excitement)
YES!
Saud then immediately text his mother to tell her the good news
ON PHONE SCREEN
SAUD
Ma!
Mother
Oh by the way, I got good news…
SAUD
(types with full of excitement)
I just got accepted at the University of Culinary Arts!
(Saud did not get to send the text as he got interrupted by his mum’s text)
MOTHER
You’ve been called for an interview at the Medical School of Belait!
Slowly, Saud deletes his text as he takes in the news that his mother texted him
Saud close his phone, puts it down and stares into space, face full of different emotions.
END OF OPENING SCENE
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Screenplay