I Sense there is more than just hearing.

    

Although this is painfully obvious, deaf people cannot hear. Yes, we all knew that, but I just wanted to state that to bring up something that may have been overlooked: all of the other senses. People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing rely a lot on sight and feeling and I just wanted to have a quick post on why this is important and how I will show this in my opening. 

Well first let's talk about sight. 

This is one of the main tools that Deaf people use in order to do almost everything that everyone else does. Sign Language is a very visual language, and just being attentive to surroundings, the eyes are extremely important. I must take into account some of my lighting choices within my film and what may be the easiest to use when accommodating Deaf individuals. 

First off, many deaf people have light switches that flicker throughout the house to notify them when someone is ringing the doorbell. The flickering of lights is also a way to grab someone’s attention, since they wouldn’t be able to hear you. This may also be used in fire alarms at school or even a wake-up alarm that flashes. Second, I will utilize as much natural daylight as possible if my characters need to be signing to allow for proper visual of them communicating. Other than that, I may use bright flashlights or a light kit, if needed to have different colors or add a different effect if I need to film anything in a dark area.

Another important accommodation that I will include in my editing process is closed captions. While subtitles may give a translation or text-to-speech version of what is being said, captions include other sounds such as a radio going off, clicking of a pen, opening of a door, etc. Just the many things that deaf people who may be viewing the film, would like to see to understand what may be happening.

Another important sense is feeling.

    Although not spoken about a lot, Deaf people will still rely on vibrations. Despite not being able to actually listen to music, Deaf individuals can still enjoy it just by feeling it. Many of them will blast their music and speakers just to be able to feel the vibrations and beat of the music. Just like in The Sound Of Metal, people may place their hands on an instrument and feel the clicking of piano keys or the beat of the drum. Additionally, feeling vibrations is also used within speech or oral training for deaf children; they would feel the vocal cords of the person speaking and try to match the vibrations of their own. I plan on having my main character act just as every other deaf person and allow her to feel the beat of her favorite music just to get her day going.

The Sound Of Metal

 

    Last week, I was recommended a movie to refer to for my project and I finally had the opportunity to watch it, so I thought it’d be nice to write a short review and how I can relate it to my opening.

    The movie, The Sound Of Metal (2019), is about a man who is a drummer for a heavy metal band and how his increasing hearing loss is becoming detrimental to his work. 

    The opening starts off with- what seems to be- the main character at his drum set in a close-up shot. In the background we hear distorted feedback, singing, and just overwhelming and overbearing sounds. Along with this we have the strobing effect of red and white lights on the character. 

    Still in the beginning of the movie, the main character starts to hear ringing and muffled noises and he seems quiet and confused as to what is happening. Eventually it keeps getting worse and worse to the point that he can hear very little and goes to see an audiologist. He is given the option of a Cochlear Implant. A cochlear implant (C.I.) is a machine that is implanted on the cochlea, an inside part of the ear, through an invasive and costly surgery, that allows someone who is deaf or hard of hearing to hear. There is a separate piece that attaches like a magnet to the part of the head that the implant is. This controls the ability to hear. It is said that C.I. do not work for everyone, especially adults it may be more difficult. Although most of this process was not explained in the film, we can see Ruben’s quick response to get the surgery, which makes sense since he’s lived all his life so far as a hearing person.

    In some later scenes Ruben is introduced to people who are deaf and living in a Deaf community. After a lot of reluctance to cooperate with these people his girlfriend/bandmate forces him to stay for his own good. Although very ignorant, he eventually picks up ASL and learns to communicate with the rest of the people staying in the same house as well as learning with students. Despite learning to be happy, he is faced with thinking about his future, which causes him to sell all of his valuable belongings and get the surgery without thinking about any repercussions. He is kicked out of the home and forced to start again. As expected, the cochlear implant does not work for him and he is left disappointed and alone in his decision.

    At the very end of the film, he realizes that he would've been better off if he had taken the time to clear his mind while it was silent, then rush into stupid selfish decisions.

  

 This film will help me reflect onto my own characters and plot of my opening and gave me many more ideas to include in the process. Overall, it gave me a different outlook than I had before on how I can develop my main character and their journey, even though she is already deaf and not becoming deaf.

I Won't Be Alone

 

    In one of my earlier blog posts, I talked a bit about how I felt somewhat frightened and worried that I was going to be alone in the process of making my film. Yes, of course there were going to be more people helping as actors, but after working with people on almost every project, it seems difficult not to rely on others for support and equal work distribution. While I spent a decent amount of time dwelling about how I was going to overcome this, it placed a small blockade in my mind that prevented a good flow of thoughts that could help me with my film and I felt like this was going to be one of the major issues moving forward with my project.

       Luckily, I saw some friends I had not seen for months and it felt so clear to me that I could still ask for help. Three of these friends were also interested in film and two of them had also talked about needing help on their own projects. We decided that we would form a little support group chat between the four of us in order to ask for advice anytime as well as to help in the process of filming, because one person cannot do everything on their own. This is really helping me clear my mind and look forward to working by myself and being able to have control over my own project as well as making my own decisions without worrying about others opinions. This idea really brings out my strengths of working individually, but also being able to direct others during my filming process, and receiving help and support from those who are going through the same experiences.

Advice From Great Minds

    Hello Blog! Today I’m pretty happy because I just got some very good advice from a few people from my class. We were split into groups and each person talked about how they were going to go about their film and what they may want to include or change or just needed help with. Not only did it make me feel better to know the progress of some of my peers and feel like I could help them improve their thought process, but I also felt like this gave me a few more ideas to shove in my mind and it made me feel more confident in my plan for my film opening.

    As I continue doing research about certain aspects of my film I will keep in mind a few of the questions I was asked today.

• How will my love interest contribute to the main character’s overall growth?

• Will my love interest be a mutual friend, a classmate, or just a neighbor?

• Where will my characters meet and how will that impact the relationship between them?

• Should I write my main characters as enemies to lovers, like in “A Silent Voice”, or no relation, to friends, to lovers, and how will I achieve this?

• How will I foreshadow the message of being kind to others who are different than you?

• What filming location will show the full extent of what may be shown later in my film?

    Although I don’t plan on answering these at the moment because I am still deciding what will be best for my film, I will definitely be reflecting everything in my final project and as I figure out.

Sound Through Deaf Ears

 

    During the process of brainstorming for my project, I kept thinking about how I was going to incorporate sound techniques into my film opening, especially since my main character is Deaf. I had an incredible idea to create clips of sound as hearing people would, however, more intense and blaring, and then juxtapose that sound with silence, as if from the perspective of Andi. I was not completely sure how this idea would work, so even though I was very excited about this, I was a bit hesitant to write about it. This was until I coincidentally saw a movie in class about a week from when I had the idea (which was today) and now I have my heart set on this. 

    The Hammer (2010) is based on a true story, which talks about the deaf wrestler, Matt Hamill. The opening of this film, as well as other parts of the movie, are shot with the main character's perspective in mind as it switches from having sound, to having little to no sound at all (which would represent the profound deafness or small amount of residual hearing).

A Bit About My Characters

 

    I have already discussed, quite extensively, about having good character representation and what different groups my characters may fit into, but I feel like I left out a major part. Who even are my main characters. Well you are about to find out. As previously mentioned, part of my story will be based off of the movie “A Silent Voice’’, so it just makes sense that my characters will have a bit of resemblance to some of their traits; however, they will still be unique and have their own individuality.

Andi-

My main character, Andi, is a deaf girl who has grown up all her life mainstreamed into hearing schools where she feels like an outcast among her classmates. She lives in a single parent household, but they try to be supportive as possible to Andi. She resembles an INFJ personality type, similar to Nishimiya from “A Silent Voice”, which was due to influence from her past and being bullied in school. INFJ’s are very creative, gentle, and reserved, with high moral standards. They are very soft-spoken but enjoy thinking in depth, usually about the meaning of life. Her personality will play a role in her interactions with others including Vera. 

Andi typically likes more pale or neutral colored clothing with sweaters and jeans because it makes her feel comfortable and not stand out too much.

Vera- 

Vera, is the secondary main character who will serve as a good friend and love interest to Andi. She is hearing and has always been a go-getter, usually being the center of attention. She is an ENFP type, which are typically very energetic, warm, and optimistic. Vera is very passionate about many things and is liked by many, and just like Andi, she is very creative and artistic.

Vera has a very bright, colorful, and artistic essence that attracts many people and leaves a good impression on others.

“‘It's so Incredible to Finally Be Understood.".” 16Personalities, www.16personalities.com/. 

Cherry, Kendra. “What Personality Traits Are Characteristic of INFJs.” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/infj-introverted-intuitive-feeling-judging-2795978. 

“All About the ENFP Personality Type.” Truity, www.truity.com/personality-type/ENFP. 

Genre Research

 

While thinking of more and more ideas for my film, I believe it would be best to do some more research on the genre and genre characteristics that I may want to include in my opening or overall plot. In this post I plan on discussing certain aspects I like about the genres Coming of age and Romance, and how I can reflect this in my own movie.

A “coming of age” movie or story is one that shows one or more young characters that are facing some form of personal growth that would help them develop from childhood to adulthood. Coming of age films allow writers or filmmakers to tell a story about their own life as a child; thus, the target audience can appeal to both teenagers as well as adults feeling some childhood nostalgia, depending on the time period the story is set. Since “first-love” is a common theme in coming of age movies, it may be a smart idea to cross over between both this genre and romance. 

A good example of this is the film “Call Me By Your Name” (2017).

This movie is a coming of age/romance that tells the story of a young 17-year-old boy, named Elio (played by Timothee Chalamet), and his father’s student intern, Oliver (played by Armie Hammer). “Call Me By Your Name” is a great movie that portrays the idea of two gay men during the summer of 1983 in Italy and their awakening of love and desire for one another.

Romance movies usually contain two different aspects: a central love story and a happy ending. This may sound cheesy but the romance genre strives to create a plot where individuals facing conflict are trying to fall in love and may be struggling to do so. During these films there is freedom for writers to introduce many subplots, though still keeping “romance” as the main focus. Along with the romance aspect, there should be a satisfying ending, whether the characters solve their issues or end up together. The great thing about this genre is that it can take place in any time period, for a variety of age groups, and having a different tone or style. Typically the target audience for romance films or novels are middle aged women, however some younger readers may be typically more interested in LGBT romances. A popular theme in romance movies are specific tropes like “enemies to lovers” or “forbidden love”, which gets the audience tied up into the story line.

“After” (2019) is another coming of age/romance film that tells a story of a guarded and reserved girl going off to college and meeting a boy, with a rebellious attitude, who changes her view on the world and teaches her how to love.

Though this movie is extremely cheesy, and maybe does not have the best plot, it still fits into the category of romance.

Going forward in my film brainstorming, I will be trying to fit the styles of these two genres and finding ways in which I can tell the story without overly dramatizing it.

https://www.liveabout.com/coming-of-age-movies-4690625

https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx