Story Outline Brainstorming

 Story Outline Brainstorming:

My partner and I want to create a film opening that captures the experience of a pregnant teen who has to navigate through school, social, and familial life with this new big change. Lily is determined to attend Yale University and has a big future in front of her. She earns amazing grades, is part of many clubs, and has lots of extracurriculars, We choose to do this because this is a sensitive subject that happens more often than people think and should be addressed more. We hope to create a relatable/comfortable aspect for our target audience, which is targeted toward pregnant/non-pregnant teens but also for family members or friends who have endured this situation.

We want to begin with our actor, me, walking into school and through school with the themey, catchy, song over it. We want to utilize mise-en-scene elements like the way she is dressed (ex: a put-together outfit like a skirt or a Yale hoodie would be good, a ponytail with a bow, holding books, with a backpack on.) 

I imagine her like this but a little more preppy.

To make her seem even more academic, and if time permits, we could always add beginning scenes of her delivering papers to teachers or at after-school clubs during the music which will help develop her character in an instant.

Everyone knows Lily, especially teachers, so she gets waved at by many students and teachers while walking into school and she has just received valedictorian. People will say hi, wave, or congratulate her and she will respond. Some people could even ask her for plans or she could say something along the lines of “Are we still on for Friday?” We want to make it in a way so that the music doesn’t stop throughout the beginning and everyone just talks over the music. The scene will immediately cut to her, throwing up in the bathroom, while a friend holds her hair back. Her friend will ask her something like, “Are you good?” She’ll then nod “no” and look back into the toilet. We will use Foley sounds for the throw and we will make a barf mixture. As she continues to throw back up in the toilet, the title of our movie will pop onto the screen with a big effect. The font will be in a way that the scene will continue, but, inside of the letters of the title. 

The next scene will begin with a shot of the back of her head, and the bell will ring. The music will then come on again and the titles will pop up as she walks. She makes eye contact with this one boy in the hallway, which happens to be a very important shot. The boy will be the guy who got her pregnant, Jake.

Lily happens to have this class with Jake so throughout the scene, they make eye contact in class (if we have time for this.) If not, we will just briefly show Lily zoning out in class, which she never does, and cut to a flashback of the night she spent with Jake. 

The flashback is Lily lying on her side in bed. She awakes, smiles, and turns to look at Jake after spending a night together until she realizes he has abandoned her. The flashback gets interrupted abruptly by the teacher saying “Lily” and she gets startled. Then the teacher will say “Focus, eyes up here.” She will make eye contact with Jake, and then look at the teacher. He will continue the lesson and that’s where the opening ends.