Hey, I'm Zachary London, an aspiring filmmaker, sports journalist, political journalist, or anything I can do myself. I love the rush creativity gives me, and anything I can do to further my creative process interest me. Follow me as I grow in my creative journey, strengthening my skills, and learning as I go.
Character development within a 2-minute excerpt of a film is hard to manifest in reality, so we have to hint at a change that would come later in the story. The main character of our story (name TBD-I will refer to them as Emi's character) is a woman in a man's world. Disguising herself as a man is the only way to survive and live. In our open, we hint at this by showing her in a fairly male outfit. The audience cannot tell she is a woman. In our sequence, she removes a hat, revealing her long, waving hair. This is a significant moment in our opening, the climax of a cinematic story.
The character kind of developed out of nowhere. We wanted her to be an independent woman from the start, and the more we talked about our unnamed character's attributes, the more we thought of Disney's "Mulan", a character that disguises herself as a man to fight in the military. It was her strong will and determination that drew us toward that character archetype, and I think we reflect it well within our own open.
Mulan (1998)
We do have another character, but he is not seen in this open, merely mentioned. It is the son of the man Emi murdered. The plot of the story revolves around her making amends to the son. He is not that developed simply because we didn't see a need to make his character that large of a focus in our already busy schedule.
Nico (the other character)
I leave for Tampa in 8 days to Direct a short film, and the next week is hell. Will Emi's character develop more than mine this week, we'll see.
"Audio makes the world go round" or something like that. Honestly, audio in productions has kind of become second nature for me ever since I won best short film at the Student Television Network National Convention doing audio for my team (slight but needed flex).
Me with my 2 (two) 2 first place trophies
Me on the set of a short film doing audio
But this production presents a new challenge...planning. Unlike past productions, I actually have time to think about the soundscape and auditory elements I want to incorporate within the film opening. Because it's a Western, I want to incorporate lots of nat sound. This includes sounds like the wind whistling, footsteps crunching along the hills, birds chirping, dirt flying, and shovels breaking ground.
I want to play into the Western motif, so I plan on incorporating strung, acoustic instruments as a backtrack to the scene. These elements would create a tranquil yet mysterious vibe around the first 2 minutes of the production. I'll use my nice Lavalier mics to capture the audio and sound effects databases like pixabay.com or bulletproofbear.com to fully enthrall the viewer within the world of my production.
Audio is vastly more important than video, and I plan on making it worthwhile.
I am quite the progressive. When developing the leading character for my film opening, I aimed to inject within the character some of the same qualities and beliefs I hold myself. I aimed for the lead not to be a projection of myself, but rather a mirror to some issues facing society today. I felt that, since my opening will take place a couple hundred years ago, I had the unique opportunity to place some of society's contemporary issues in antiquity. This not only helps us put our problems in perspective but allows us to deal with them in a much easier and comprehendible fashion.
The Media theory we chose to model our character on is the "Gender Performativity Theory". First developed by feminist philosopher Judith Butler, the concept posits that gender identity is not something inherent, but rather a "performance" one puts on through gestures, clothing, and language to fit societal norms and traditions. In other words, gender is only present in action, nothing more.
Applying this to our film, we will feature a character, born female, diverging from societal expectations of her. She takes up the identity of a man because of a bounty placed on her, but finds her life completely different because of a newfound societal perception of her. She is perceived as male and is treated with more dignity, honor, and repute than she ever was as a female. Through this, we can explore the modern-day issue of gender identity in a classical era, giving the issue new light and perspective.
The lead in our film
Works Cited
Allen, Paige. “What Is Judith Butler’s Theory of Gender Performativity? | Perlego.” Perlego Knowledge Base, 14 Feb. 2023, www.perlego.com/knowledge/study-guides/what-is-judith-butlers-theory-of-gender-performativity/.
Szorenyi, Anna. “Judith Butler: Their Philosophy of Gender Explained.” The Conversation, 19 Oct. 2022, theconversation.com/judith-butler-their-philosophy-of-gender-explained-192166.
Wamsley, Laurel. “A Guide to Gender Identity Terms.” NPR, NPR, 2 June 2021, www.npr.org/2021/06/02/996319297/gender-identity-pronouns-expression-guide-lgbtq.
It's been an arduous day, one where I made 2 separate short films, so here's my script because I have no effort to write something else. I hope you enjoy it.
I have fallen victim to the venomous fangs of American consumerism :(
While watching Super Bowl 59, one of the commercials that often pass me by caught my attention. The ad featured Harrison Ford advertising Jeep with a rustic old vibe encouraging viewers to live their lives (a luxury only afforded to those with jeeps, of course) to the fullest and freeest. The first line Ford speaks specifically caught my attention. He delivers quite a profound statement "The longest thing we'll ever do is live our lives". The line stuck with me after the game, and despite my best efforts, I could not get this stupid commercial out of my head. The ad goes on to highlight great American feats. The liberation of France from Nazi rule, chasing Nazis through the forests of Western Europe and down the Rhine. It highlights the triumph of returning from service, hugging your loved ones close as you finally reach safe hands. Ford gives advice to the viewer, pleading not to be boastful or prideful, as pride is a bad driver. And while, yes, Ford reasons that freedom can only be attained behind the wheel of a Jeep, on a much broader basis he encourages the audience to write their own stories.
Watch at your own risk of
being propagandized
Now you may ask "Why are you discussing this commercial ad nauseam"? Well, dear reader, I, unfortunately, developed my story because I was inspired by this Super Bowl Ad.
The day after the Super Bowl, I was still pondering this commercial. I was really bored in my AP US History class and may have been developing a fever, so I felt there was no better time than right then to start writing my open.
The first words I put on paper were “I’ve started to realize lately that.. the longest thing I’ll do in life… is live. And the shortest thing I’ll do...Is die”
I'd imagine you can see the influence.
I developed my story from there. Along with my group, we set the character as sort of a trailblazing figure in the Old West. She hides the fact that she's a woman from the world to be taken more seriously as a cowboy.
The story follows as the once fierce outlaw faces her most dire crisis yet: her own morality.
The cowboy we follow is notorious for her efficient work, but one job changes her. She kills a father, only to come in direct contact with his son. With her deadly work staring her right in the face, she must choose to end his life, and her problems, but continue her bloody trail. Or she can make amends, and face punishment, but be secure in her morals.
A stylistic Western is never easy, and one where there's this much contemplation about the nature of human morality won't make it any easier
God I love ethical consequences
It's an ambitious plot, but surely one that is doable by the right people, and I feel like I have just that around me.
So thank you, Harrison Ford, Jeep, The Super Bowl, Capitalism, The American Military Industrial Complex, and my incredibly fried brain for taking this commercial as inspiration. The world is worse for it. Good night.
I've just had a group meeting with some of my classmates to check their progress, and I'm here to report back on where they're at. I've linked each of their blogs for you to look at.
Lucia- Lucia is making a horror film opening with a partner. She was confident of her choices and had most of her story about a missing person named Amber solidified. She was definitely one of the more active members of our group and asked meaningful questions to the rest of us that helped us develop our productions. I helped her develop auditory motiff with a specific horror sound. She wanted to have a foggy, mysterious vibe and plans to film early in the morning.
The type of vibe she hopes for
Elke- Elke is making a coming-of-age open. She is debating on a 2000's 2000s-era vibe or a more modern take. She wants to have shots during school, so I advised her that if she were to shoot in school, she would see people on their phones and would therefore be better off making her production modern. Elke was also struggling with how to make dialogue not sound so cringy like teen movies often are. She reasoned that having a group of her friends with her when she was writing would inspire her dialogue, and the table loved that idea.
Sarah- Sarah is doing an ambitious apocalypse opening. She wants to begin her film with a news broadcast telling of a zombie outbreak, followed by a character running away from zombies. I advised her to have most of the broadcast be the news broadcast, creating more suspense for the audience. A big issue for her was trying to find space for credits, and the table advised her in a few different ways. We suggested maybe during the news broadcast on screen, in empty spaces while a character watches the news, or maybe while a character is running from zombies. She noted our ideas and will try some out to see what works best.
Gigi- Gigi is creating a horror/mystery open with a doctor as the star. She has the most thought out open of all of us with a developed character and a good central idea. She wants the doctor to keep sickly patients alive for monetary gain. She got the idea from Gypsy Rose. Gigi is going to feature a jar of marbles as a representation of the doctor's insanity, an idea we all loved. Her biggest issue is finind a willing actor as she as an older man in mind. She is currently asking her friends if their dads can act.
Andrew- Andrew had the least thought out project at our table. He's doing a dystopian future where the government does weird experiments on people. He mentioned the idea came to him the day prior, but that's about it. He wasn't really in tune with the rest of our group, and didn't answer the questions we posoed. There's only so much we could do to help, but I hope his project turns out well because the idea seems cool.
The group loved my Western idea and it definitely helped me develop some story ideas that I tool back to my group. They mentioned some coloring, costuming, and interesting genres of music I could include. This was an overall helpful experience and I look forward to meeting with others again.
Here are some famous credit sequences that I might take after for my film opening.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
This credit sequence is loud and energetic. The screen flashes with bright colors and big, dramatic text while music plays. It's freeze-frames and animated silhouettes, give it a unique feel. The fast-paced visuals match the rough and unpredictable world of the film. It's a a great example of a stylized sequence.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
This opening is all about silence and slow-building tension. Instead of music, we hear only natural sounds—a creaky windmill, footsteps, the buzzing of a fly. It feels slow, but that’s what makes it so gripping. The long pauses and quiet moments make the audience feel the suspense, showing how dangerous and unpredictable the West can be.
True Grit (2010)
This credit sequence is simple, yet beautiful. It starts with wide shots of the Western landscape while peaceful music plays. The text is clean and classic, matching the serious, emotional tone of the film. Unlike more action-packed openings, this one takes its time, setting up a story that feels old-fashioned and powerful. It is unique amongst other Westerns in that it is slower and has more emotional beats as opposed to a more action-packed sequence.
