lovely lullaby

I finally found who to have as my actors. My friend Alyssa Brown would be my lead. I would use her  two younger sisters as younger versions of her when I portray her flashbacks. I started filming the first part of the baby flashback.

Here is our baby actress Aria Brown!

I am filming with a Canon T2i

For the lighting I'm using this light RGB LED party light bulb from Bed Bath and Beyond.

The point of this scene is to portray the babies ability to see color while the baby is listening to a lullaby. Present day Carmina will see this flashback and will be confused because she believes the research facility is putting these images in her head, when in reality its her. 

Make way Scarlett O'Hara, Carmina is here.

I've done even more research and decided to make the characters name Carmina. The name Carmina means song in Italian and Spanish. I got the idea from when I was looking for special names for colors and I ran into the name Carmine which is a deep red, which would be suitable for my characters fiery and rebellious emotions. The use of both names Carmine and Carmina perfectly suits the combination of music and color.  In her flashbacks the character will be dressed in red or colorful clothes but more emphasis on red. But when she is in the center she will be dressed in all white to show her non chromatic lifestyle.

Set and Design

I really didn't have to search much to find a place that resembled a facility really, my neighborhood gym has a racquetball room and I think the white walls will perfectly convey the monotone 'research/mental facility' My only problem is the gym floor that give away the reality that it is a racquetball room, more likely than not I will have to keep the shots tight and high, even though I plan on doing high angles to convey the actor as vulnerable. 

I also began spray painting the earmuffs white because the blue color was too bright. 

I'm still having difficulty finding an actor/actress for this gig aka IM STRESSING OUT.

A penny for your plot

I've been in misery trying to come up with a creative plot. My mind has thought and pondered many different ideas, but they lack creativity. Then during my three day weekend I was looking for my Amy Winehouse CD that was lost in the abyss of the garage. After rummaging through nostalgic mementos and forgotten trinkets, I came across my fathers scientific glasses and ear muffs (that he uses for mowing the lawn) then the idea dawned on me. Our main character was going to be placed in a research facility ( against her will ) in this place she is blocked from any sensory reactors. She isn't allowed to see colors or hear sounds. She begins to have these flashbacks of when she would play piano and the cello and she would hear colors and when she would taste words and letters where chromatic. She begins to think she has gone mad because her sensations have been dulled to beyond normalcy. The viewer doesn't realize that the reason she is getting all of these flashbacks is because she has been refusing the medication that dulls her sensations. For location of where I want to make this facility I will be filming in the racquetball room in my neighborhood that has all white rooms and have my character also dressed in all white. The flashbacks will consist of her as a child listening to music and remembering seeing color (she'll think its just a figment of her imagination that she composed as a child ) then the memories start getting closer and closer to the age that she is now. She begins to become paranoid at the thought that the facilitators are on to her she needs to devise a plan to escape.

Research Research Research!

After doing more research I discovered that Synesthete's associate emotion with color too. They perceive other peoples emotion as a color, for example if someone is giving off an angry emotion they see the color green. It does not necessarily follow the preconceived color schemes we believe. This will help possibly convey a sense of inner conflicting for example say the song "Blue Moon" by Billie Holiday or Elvis Presley or "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton and they see the color red or orange or feel that color. This can cause internal conflict between an association between the name of the song and the color that they perceive. I believe I will be able to portray this artistically but I am still deciding if I want to add a hue to the shots or try to use some intense editing skills to show an illumination with lights. This will also propose difficulty being that colors dim out in bright light. I guess I will have to figure it out when I get there.


Citations:
 Emma H. Geller "Synesthesia: When Ordinary Activities Trigger Extraordinary Sensations" January 28, 2011 http://www.psychologyinaction.org/2011/01/28/synesthesia-when-ordinary-activities-trigger-extraordinary-sensations/

• Holliday, Billie. "Blue Moon." By Billie Holliday, Elvis Presley,. Billie Holliday  Decca, 1942.

Plot...ideas...where do I begin?!

I've been struggling trying to conjure up a plot. I understand it is just a film title, but one should elaborate the whole plot for that will be set up in the intro. This genre is really out of my comfort, I am a film-noir and romance junkie, but I am trying to explore different and creative outlooks.
In my notes I jot some small plot ideas to put
-possibly the idea that peers think she is crazy or schizophrenic.
-it becomes such a distraction she contemplates getting lateralization to remove it (but risk dying or never being the same)
-doesn't know what she has or if she has it until a situation occurs
-or there are others like her and they are on the hunt to find her, they all have a similar trait because they were genetically created in a facility and were saved and distributed all throughout the country. They connect through each other through their abilities and encryptions because their ability to react to sensations differently.
(this idea reminds me of a book I read in elementary school, but for the life of me I can't remember the name)
Hopefully I come can elaborate more or come up with more intriguing and original ideas. I will continue on my search !

Drama?

I've been trying to identify the genre I want to go for. With some research I came to the realization that the genre is drama. Overall it's will be a drama, but because the cognitive aspect of it, I have to incorporate the scientific factor of synesthesia and maybe a fictional or thriller aspect to it to make it more compelling to the audience. The examples of movies similar in this realm of drama that is based on psychological factors are Rain Man, Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity, and Beautiful Mind . A show that follow this is Numb3rs

Citations.
"Rain Man." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 
  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/?ref_=nv_sr_1

"Good Will Hunting." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/?ref_=nv_sr_1

"The Bourne identity." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/?ref_=tt_rec_tt 

"Beautiful Mind." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/?ref_=tt_rec_tt

"Numb3rs." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc, n.d. Web. 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433309/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Oh snap! I'm riding solo

Everyone keeps coming up to me and telling me "oh my god no way, are you working on this alone?Rest in peace!"

Actually, I'm convinced working on this alone was a good decision. Throughout the year all of the group projects I have done in this class have resulted in my ideas getting chewed up and spit out by my partners. This project will reflect my vision through my eyes without any tampering to my idea. I began to worry about the difficulty of portraying my idea and executing my vision.

I began discussing my ideas with people and asking for their opinions, and a friend of mine liked my idea but said it reminded her of the neurological condition of synesthesia. Synesthesia is when the wiring of the brain is crossed, causing the stimulant to create an involuntary secondary sensory reaction. For example, someone with synesthesia can hear colors and taste words. This phenomenon really sparked my interest; the ability to experience different sensations from the same stimulant on a complex and lively spectrum.

Now time for more research!
I became obsessed with finding information on this strange anomaly. After reading countless case studies and watching Ted Talks, I felt like I comprehended what synesthesia was but knew I was going to face difficulty really trying to capture a syntesthetes senses. After watching a 360° virtual reality YouTube video in the perspective of a synesthete my ideas began to run wild.

citations:

YouTube. (2016, November 29) 
The Curious World of Synaesthesia [video file]
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taKx_stlUOQ

YouTube. (2014, November 17)
Seeing sound, hearing light... welcome to synaesthesia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKOqq21S4Nw&t=3s

YouTube. (2015, November 1)
What's It Like To Hear Colors?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obrBAysVef0

Carpenter, S. (2001, March). Everyday fantasia: The world of synesthesia. Retrieved March 13, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/synesthesia.aspx

Payne, H. (Ed.). (2017, March 08). Chromesthesia. Retrieved March 14, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromesthesia

welcome, lets delve into my subconscious

Hello my name is Liliana Amaya,

So as I try to brainstorm ideas for my film opening,  I got lost in a derailed train of thought. I tried thinking of movies and books that have been really influential in my life, which led me to making a list of suggested movies and books that I had not seen. (commencement of the derailing) By then I had realized, although I admire their movies and ideas I needed something original and creative. So as I'm continuing in my journey of the brainstorm, I think of personal stories of my family and friends. Although they have very interesting lives, nothing really stuck out to me. Then I began to do some introspection. I began to reflect on myself as a musician and how that has caused me to have a different outlook on life. Especially the fact that I play more Romantic era which was the era of ~feelings~ . Composers like Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Tchaikovsky influenced me because through their music I have been able to empathize their emotions and reflect it in to my piano playing. This prompted me to open my notes and mindlessly vent the ideas that were bubbling in my head.

Of course it makes no sense and is very redundant. But my mindless idea was out. I chose to leave it and let it sit, because if I were to overthink it I think the idea would have been changed into something else. 

Kabule, M. E. (2004). Piano Studio of Martin E. Kabule. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.kaublepianostudio.com/history/romantic.html

Kauffman, F. (Ed.). (n.d.). Romantic music. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Romantic_music