Creating props and costume design for my short film

 The weekend is coming close, needing to have everything ready to completely go to record and shot what I have set myself to film, i have decided to have my props ready, an important aspect to my mise-en-scene. In my genre, the psychological genre, it concentrates a lot into the psyche's of the character and more of internal struggles than external struggles. However, to have a more visual way of expressing those concerns, the mise-en-scene can show the mental state's of a character in an external way, low lighting or messy ways, encouraging messages. Another way of doing it was how it brings parts of the story by signaling them out, without having to have a character have to explicitly explain it and not overlay in the dialogue, "showing, not telling". As explained in an article i found, it is a way of helping through the drama, making it into what the atmosphere inside the set will be, not the same as what the normal location is, in this case, my house. It all belongs to the world inside of the movie, a fictional setting, that have deeper meaning inside it. 

For now, I created about two props for my sets, a note from the therapist and the Happy Birthday sign, I will probably
 create multiple of each and make sure that they match on the edit:

I made the note saying "try PB next, -your therapist". This comes a change from the script from "try crunchy PB", since I realized I do not have a tub of crunchy Peanut Butter and i do not plan to buy it because I figured that if I already have regular PB I could use that instead, do not want to wasted food. The type of writer may not be seen as informal as what a note from a therapist in real life may look like. I choose this type of writing for it to be seen more clearly in the camera and in the lighting I plan to shot it, a regular note with regular pen would be too faint to see in camera and not great to focus on. This is also of importance in the film itself, bringing Mariposa's problem with food and the foreshadowing for the final scene of the film, Mariposa taking a spoonful of Peanut Butter, a whole circle in the story. 

 The Birthday sign sets what time in the film we are, since it means that her Birthday already came, being foreshadowed by the first conversation between her Dad and Mariposa, as well as the days being marked in the calendar and the birthday in the calendar. I will probably decorate it more for the next days, but I think the color and the arrangement can be seen through the camera. It is also will help me have a second purpose, my sister's birthday is this weekend as well, helps me prepare something with double meaning. 

Now, another important setting of the film that also contains mise-en-scene is the costume of each of the characters. It brings so much into knowing how the characters look to themselves and what they want to present to the rest of the world. It is also to bring the actors into characters, specially since the protagonist goes to many mental changes and stages, which shows also through the outfits. My Dad will not need many outfit changes and I think his way of dressing already is good enough, if he wears something unexpected on the weekend, I will ask him to change. However, for Mariposa, I look through my clothes to finally have an idea of what outfits do I have and what alteration I had made from my original idea:

 

I though i had a yellow dress inside my wardrobe, yellow is a very "happy" looking color, but i probably donate it or gave it away, since i cannot find it. I am not a person that has a lot of dresses, 2 in fact, and i did not find that buying a new dress that i will probably only use for this film and then keeping it inside my wardrobe. Either way, i am able to find one that is flowery and has a design, can also be seen as "cheerful" and how Mariposa is trying to fit it and inside her mind. 

Now, for the next day of the montage, Mariposa will change into this outfit, showing the passage of time and how her mental state is changing, taking less time into taking care of herself and instead changing into more "comfortable" clothes. I envision for her to be the kind of person who usually dresses as the first outfit presented, but since she is less feeling like herself, she turns inside herself and uses clothes to exemplify that. 

Now, for the last outfit, i decided to use the inspiration that i had at the beginning, and i was able to recreate it pretty close, the first that i did not majorly change. Now, I am the type of person who will usually dress like this in a regular day, but like I mentioned earlier, Mariposa is different in the way of being more colorful with her clothes, "chic" in a way, so this would be a major change in her character. As the last day of the montage
, this would be the last straw before Mariposa experiences a breakdown and her Dad comes to help her. 

I still need to search for the selfie stick that my Dad said he had, to start practicing and not completely be new to it while i come to filming. Also, tomorrow i will receive conformation if the person i had for Mariposa will help me or not, the changes i will have depending on that. For now, i will take some dummy footage, meaning, how i will want my shot to look, a test shoot. 

Citations:

Vaux, Robert. “Makeup & Costumes in Movie Production.” Our Pastimes, 10 Jan. 2019, ourpastimes.com/makeup-costumes-in-movie-production-12157365.html.