Pre-Production with Alexa

          It was the first time Alexa and I had ever collaborated on a story together. We've always talked about doing such a thing, but we never really did it until now. Honestly, writing and coming up with ideas with her was a lot of fun, and I'm not just saying that because she's my friend. She and I had very similar ideas and when one of us came up with something, we readily accept the idea. We did not have any conflicts. We both pretty much kept an open mind, allowing us to keep an easy flow of ideas.

          The idea for our treatment actually came from something Mr. Lemos said. He mentioned the idea of a valedictorian and I picked up the idea from there. Originally, Alexa and I planned to make Finn, the main protagonist, become a drug dealer. Scarlett was going to lure him into her gang because she gets commission for every new person she brings in. Two things changed that route. While I was writing it, I began thinking about how Alexa and I would end up showing the whole drug deal scandal. It was too much trouble for its worth. Then while I was writing, the idea just kind of popped up about Raven being the whole mastermind behind Scarlett's femme fatale character. Actually, when we first wrote the treatment, Raven didn't even have a name. She was just going to be a plot device to instill the idea of Scarlett being the School Loner. It just shows how easy it is to deviate from your original outlone. It's not always necessarily a bad thing. In our case, it turned out to go in our favor. The story suddenly made a lot more sense.

          I was also very pleased at how our pitch to the class went. Alexa and I both knew the story by heart. As soon as I stopped talking, she would pick the story up. And vice versa. Our pitch went smoothly. After class, I was on such a high because we did not get any criticisms. It seemed like everyone really liked our idea. When they had questions, Alexa and I answered them without hesitance because we had full confidence in our story. I was glad that everyone accepted our answers, rather than question them some more.

          As soon as class finished, Alexa and I were already coming up with different ideas of how we would shoot the film. We began considering ways we could portray entrappedment, anxiety, paranoia, and etc. We're starting to really get into it. When we go into production, Alexa and I would really like our story to be chosen because it has great potential. Alexa and I had also already agreed that if we can pull off our story into a film, we are going to, without a doubt, send it to a film festival.