Mid Term Submission

In the first scene, when the hacker starts hacking into Manny's reality, there are long takes of high angle shots. The long takes show the hacker's significance and his code in the film. With the long takes, it consists of many high angle shots, showing that someone is watching him in the film, despite his attempts to remain anonymous. The first shot of the film shows the hacker's back in the left third as he is accessing Manny's reality, this will induce feelings of curiosity about the identity of the hacker and him seeking anonymity. There are other shots that only reveal a small portion of his face, but there is no clear image of his own face for the audience to see. The insert shot of the screen with the text "ACCESS GRANTED" after panning from the code on the screen foreshadows the upcoming events in the film. After this, the film cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the hacker picking up a geometric object before fading to black. This gives the audience a view of the creation of the geometric object through his eyes. The green color of the text on the screen serves as a visual theme of hacking or coding which is conventional for many Sci-Fi movies such as "The Matrix". There is no dialogue revealing what the hacker intends to do with the geometric object in the opening, which will be uncovered later in the story. It serves to also arouse curiosity and tension about what he plans to do with it in the audience. As the next scene fades in after the hacker scene, the camera moves up from the side of the bed and then tilts downward to serve as a high angle shot of Manny sleeping on the bed. This reveals that somebody of greater power is watching over him. The film stutters and shows very brief cuts of a tree. This will confuse the audience at first, but by the end of the opening, it becomes an eyeline match after Manny falls down onto the sidewalk later in the opening and it also serves as a nightmare he experienced before waking up, thus making it a foreshadow. After the film stutters, it cuts to him again on the bed waking up from the nightmare, the colors in this shot are duller than that of the previous shot. This color change shows the dull life Manny, goes through and shows slight changes that the hacker made of his world. The next important shots are several insert shots of various items around the house that show his academic performance. This comes with him interacting with or organizing it as if it was his own and showing indifference to his achievements as if he has higher standards for himself. This shows the personality and background of Manny's character as a compulsive perfectionist with a stoic personality. This stoic personality can be seen with the choice of clothing as it is darker and monochromatic. Afterwards, the film cuts to a wide shot of him opening the front door to leave the house. The setting around him has more color in comparison to his clothing in this shot, this shows how he contrasts with the world around him. As Manny sees the same things he saw in his nightmares become reality, the pacing goes faster and there are shorter takes of the tree and multiple cuts to him waking up frantically. Afterwards, he blacks out and the loop restarts. He becomes more disturbed as he wakes up before he gets up from the bed, commencing the whole loop again. I chose the title of the film, "Limbo", because the plot of the story is that Manny has to do specific actions to break the loop and free himself from the hacker's grasp while the meaning of the word limbo is an unfinished state. The title font is an allusion to the game, "Limbo".

Film Project - Shot list

High Angle Shot

 

The high angle shot shows the back of the hacker in the left third. This allows the audience to think about who he is. 

 Insert Shot

The insert shot shows the screen with a popup text saying "ACCESS GRANTED". This shows the importance of the hacker accessing Manny's reality.

Over the Shoulder Shot

 The over the shoulder shot the hacker's point of view when he holds the geometric object that he made from his code, providing importance to it.

High angle shot

The high angle shot shows that the hacker is hacking something on the left third and a part of the hacker's face on the right third. This gives some clues to what the hacker looks like but still makes them wonder who he is and what he is trying to do.

High Angle Shot

 The high angle shot shows Manny sleeping on the bed. This shows the audience that somebody, the hacker, is watching over him.

High Angle Shot

 This high angle shot also shows that the hacker is watching over Manny, however, the duller color change shows the life Manny is in.

Insert Shot

The insert shot shows Manny's exams with exceptional grades on them. This shows the audience the academic background and perfectionist character of Manny.

 Closeup Shot

 This closeup shot of Manny's unchanged face shows his stoic emotions as if he is unsatisfied with his performance.

High Angle Shot

 The high angle shot shows Manny rearranging the trophies he has earned from school. This also shows his perfectionist personality and academic background and possibly his compulsive nature to organize.

Wide Shot

 The wide shot shows Manny opening the front door of the house with colored walls and furniture around him. This shows his contrast to the world around him which is seen by his dull and monochrome clothing.

Eyeline Match

 The eyeline match shows what Manny sees after he falls onto the sidewalk. This shows the audience the connection from the trees that appeared before he woke up.

Mid-shot

This mid shot shows Manny turning his head to see the hacker, but the hacker's face is not in frame. in the intense part of the film. This makes the audience uneasy about who the hacker really is and what he plans to do with the geometric object.

Film Project - Storyboard

Film Project - Scouting Locations

House Front Door

 

This location will involve Manny leaving through the front door to the streets outside. The appearance of everything around the door will show Manny's perfectionist life in the film. I chose this location because it is the most accessible location we can find to have Manny leave the house through since planning mostly took place in this house.

House Bedroom

 This is one of the most crucial locations of the film because it is the beginning of each loop of the plot in the film. There are multiple bedrooms around the place, but this one worked the best as it connects with the events after Manny wakes up and gets out of bed. The messiness in the room is representative of a bedroom of a typical teenager.

House Kitchen

 This is also another important location of the film because it involves props in the household that shows Manny's perfectionist nature. The colors in the kitchen show the false appearance colorful life of Manny despite his stoic and dull personality. I chose this location because many parts of the film will involve this general setting.

 Neighborhood Street

This location serves as the location where Manny falls onto the sidewalk. One of the shots in the scene takes place here and it is used as a foreshadow for the opening scene of the film. I chose this location because it has a more peaceful atmosphere in comparison to other neighborhoods around the place.

Film Project - Script

The film involves a hacker taking control of Manny's life by creating code for time loops in his reality. Everything seems normal at first as he wakes up and does his daily tasks, but something goes wrong in each iteration of the loop which causes him to wake up again from the start of the time loop. He has to do specific tasks and actions in order to break the time loop and free himself from the hacker's control.

Film Project - Limbo Casting

Manny

Manny is a compulsive perfectionist but also a clumsy character, the insert shots of perfect scores on exams and trophies showing shows his exceptional academic achievements. This goes to the extent where he starts to risk his own mental health to the point where he becomes an emotionless and stoic character. This is seen where he wears dull clothing to represent this character. He is currently in a looping state where he constantly wakes up on the same day and time, however, there are changes with each iteration, each involving a bad event before he goes into the next loop. He must do the right actions or tasks to be able to break the loop. The actor for the character is Enmanuel Gutierrez. He fits for this character because of his personality and ability to keep his facial emotions consistent while recording.

Hacker

The hacker is the main antagonist of the story, he is a quiet and observant character. He has been involved with ruining the lives of many people he comes across. His fearsome knowledge of coding allows him to be able to access their realities and minds for his villainous plan to control the whole world. As of now, he recognizes Manny's true potential and decides to hack and abuse it for his own benefit. I am the actor for this character. This is because I fit the personalities of the character myself and I often keep a lot of my personal life to myself.

Film Project - Schedule Filming

The film shoots are scheduled for the two weeks before the end of the semester. Originally the film shoots were planned for the weekends, however, due to school-related issues, it became more optimal to do them during the weekdays after school. On Tuesday, December 10th, my goals were to shoot the first half of the film opening. This part of the opening mainly involved the exposition of the main character, Manny. This involves the hacker, filming the props, his interactions with the props, and Manny waking up on the bed. By next week on Wednesday, December 18th, my goals were to finish up all the shots of the intense sections needed for the film. This involves him leaving the house, walking outside on the sidewalk, Manny falling onto the ground, and shots of the scenery.

 

 

Overall, the process went as planned, I was able to get the shots in by the scheduled time and finish editing it before the due date.