Production Post: Tinder Profile/DMs

For a scene in our film opening, we had the main character, Elena, pull out her phone to check a notification she had just received. This scene is one of the most important scenes in the film opening as it reveals a very significant fact regarding Elena; she is a serial killer. The entirety of the film revolves around a night of a cat-and-mouse game between Elena and her victim, Jackson. In the opening, the phone scene is one of two scenes that show the audience the truth behind Elena's intentions. 

I made this photo/"screenshot" that displays Tinder messaging. I first made a Tinder account with my number and I originally planned to make several accounts and have them text me but then I realized I needed different phone numbers for each account. I texted a few of my friends asking if I can use their numbers for it but after a few no's and long periods with no response, I decided to take a screenshot of my empty DMs and get to work in Canva. In Canva, I had to make the lines, the circles for the photos, the names, the messages, and time since the messages have been last sent, and the hardest part; the stock photos for the profile pictures. I had to search up several different Google searches such as "men smiling stock photos" and "pinterest men" but finally, "men dating profile pictures" worked! I felt like a catfisher the way I was copy and pasting random men into the profile pictures and having to choose men who were attractive and matching them to their names too. For our main character, I made him appear innocent but at the same time good-looking as Elena is looking for a man who's pretty on the inside AND outside. This was definitely one of the most fun parts of making the film opening!

Storyboard Planning of MANSLAUGHTER

 When our teacher told the class about making a script and/or storyboard for our film opening, me and my group instantly decided that we'd do both as soon as possible as that weekend, we'd be filming. I wrote most of the script while Vicky and Bella drew up the storyboard. The script helped us create the prop list as I included all the different scenes and what items would be shown and used in it. The storyboard, though, was definitely 10 times more useful as while we were filming, we CONSTANTLY referred back to it as it visualized our opening and helped us with the shots, angles, lighting, character positions, etc.

STORYBOARD:

Audio in MANSLAUGHTER

 Regarding the audio for our film opening of MANSLAUGHTER, me, Bella, and Vicky were thinking of using a good amount of foley but also relying on sound effects that we can find online.

For the foley, it shouldn't be too hard to recreate noises of actions seen in the opening ourselves as our film opening showed a lot of normal activities done in a normal environment. For example, the sound of Bella/Elena walking in heels on a wooden floor shouldn't be that difficult to recreate. The "shing" sound a knife makes, sort of like a sword or machete being taken out of a sheath, will most likely be a little more troubling to produce ourselves as who knows what else we'll need to be able to make a knife make that sound? We can recreate the chopping on the chopping board, cutlery being placed down, the thud of the cucumber piece falling to the floor, etc.

Moving onto the sound effects that we'll need to find online, there are probably less of these than foley as once again, most of the actions seen in our film opening are "easy" noises to recreate. When it comes to the doorbell, for example, it is possible to record that ourselves but it honestly depends on the house because the doorbell is heard all over and the house could have an echo or maybe the recording device is too low or high. This can also be said about the "click" sort of sound effect a phone makes when being opened. Honestly, this doesn't happen in real life... well, at least not with Apple phones, but that noise is used in several films to show that the character is unlocking their phone but since it doesn't occur in real life, we'd have to find it online and use that sound effect in our film opening.

There are way too many sound effects within our film opening to list all in this blog posting but we're (me, Bella, and Vicky) positive that we can incorporate all sound effects necessary into our filming, regardless if we're relying on foley or online files for it.

Elena's Character Development in MANSLAUGHTER

In the start of the movie, the audience can see that Elena has had SEVERAL victims. She only kills men as she is looking for the best lover for her and is only attracted to men. Unluckily, if she comes across a man who isn't "perfect" for her, which had been every man up until Jackson (the victim for this film), she kills them. She is a very picky woman when it comes to her dating life which means if she finds any imperfection, no matter how little or big, she gets rid of them by getting rid of the person entirely. She's used to only encountering men who she's incompatible with yet she still tries.

Finally, in this film, she finds a man compatible to her. You may be asking, "Why would she be trying to kill him if she thinks they're compatible?" Well, she doesn't find him to be compatible until near the end of the movie. This doesn't mean that at first, she saw an imperfection and decided she was going to kill him but then that imperfection suddenly disappears and she likes him now. Nope. The situation is that once Elena finds out Jackson is a serial killer as well, she falls in love with the thought of finding a man who is exactly like her. This shows a shift from being distrustful and strict to finally becoming calmer and laid back. Elena starts attempting to kill him at first when she finds Jackson snooping around in her room when he said he was going to go to the bathroom. He's in there because... well, he's a serial killer and he was getting to know more about his victim before killing her and while doing so, stumbles upon bloody clothes in her hamper. Whil`ding him invading her privacy does count as an imperfection to Elena, she mostly wants to kill him because he found out her secret. After she ends her hunt after him and the both of them have a normal dinner while covered in blood, messy hair, sweaty faces, and wrinkled clothing, they both realize how much they like each other and this represents a complete change in Elena's on-guard demeanor to a more relaxed and comfortable one now that she has stopped her search for a perfect man and started her journey in a relationship with her perfect man.

From when Elena was searching for the right one ^ (sorry that it's a little blurry)

Mise-en-scene for MANSLAUGHTER: Costume

 Our film opening won't have many characters so when it comes to costume design, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. There will be the main character, Elena, and the dead man on the floor of her kitchen, unnamed. The only other people "shown" in the opening are Tinder profile pictures that we will probably find Stock photos for. Jackson is a character in the film opening as well but he will only be shown as a Tinder profile photo, not personally in the opening.

ELENA

Since Elena is hosting a romantic dinner date with a man, Jackson, she hasn't met before, she needs to dress properly not only because it's a date but because it's going to be her first impression on him. She will wear a dress and heels but it can't just be any color; it needs to match the genre, setting, and intentions of Elena. The genre is thriller so the color could be black or red, the setting is pretty casual as it's in a normal house so there's no colors to link to that, but Elena's intentions are dark (black) and murderous (red/blood red). Since neither Vicky or Bella own a red dress, we will have to resort to a black dress. None of them own red heels either but since we don't want Elena to be in all black, we are thinking of having Elena wear silver heels. We won't have Elena wear any jewelry as she likes to be the main focus of attention and she admires natural features. Her hair will be straightened and brushed and although you only see her face for a few seconds at the end of the opening, she will have basic make-up on (just mascara).

DEAD MAN

For the dead man, who will literally be shown for around 5 seconds, I am going to have to play him as I am the only male group member. Since I don't own anything fancy (not even a flannel or button-up), I'm thinking I will wear a sweater, jeans, and some normal sneakers (mostly because it's my whole wardrobe). We did think of a reason, though, to link the man's death to his clothing as Elena is searching for the perfect lover and she kills the ones who don't meet her requirements. This man specifically wore casual clothing to a date she wears formal attire to, meaning they both don't have the same importance for a date and/or the man doesn't feel she's important enough to wear formal clothes. Because of this, Elena kills him and that explains his death! Anyway, regarding the color of his clothing, we don't want them to be wearing the same colors (black) so he will wear anything but that but since "he" is me, the only other color of sweaters I own besides black is brown. He will wear a brown sweater which can symbolize that obviously, him and Elena aren't exactly the same (the color black) but since brown is a dark color as well and not far off from the color black, it can show how the two are similar but since Elena doesn't allow any small imperfections, she killed him anyway. The jeans he will wear are dark blue. I own black jeans but we don't want him to wear the same color as Elena and I also have grey but that doesn't match with brown so dark blue it is. He will also wear brown shoes as he (me) loves following the sandwich method which basically just means wearing the same color top and bottoms and any other color for pants. He will wear a bracelet (visible) and a necklace (not visible) to represent the tiny differences he had from Elena along with the BIG difference he had with her (formality).

(ignore the sauce/"blood")

SANDWICH METHOD \/

Mise-en-scene for MANSLAUGHTER: Props

 Since the opening will take place in a normal house and more specifically, a normal kitchen and dining table, the props needed are still plentiful but at least they're not difficult props to acquire. 

The start of the opening will be a woman's hands placing a vinyl in a record player. This means we need a vinyl and a record player but we can't use just any vinyl; it has to be a black vinyl with no artist/company/album/song name on it. Vicky has both a record player and some vinyls and the only vinyl she has that fits the mood the most is a red Queens vinyl with "Queens" in the center of it.     

 

The montage after the record player scene will be divided into two sections: setting up the dinner table and then preparing the meals. For the start of the dinner table section, we were thinking of having the woman throw a table cloth over the table and also cover the camera. Afterwards, it'll show the woman placing the table mats, the napkins, the cutlery, the plates, the glass cups, a centerpiece of flowers, the candles, a wine bottle, and a wine bottle opener, each separate scenes of the montage. We are planning on filming at Vicky's house and she does have all of these in her home. 

The only props that are more uncommon than others are the rotisserie chicken that the woman pulls out the oven and fake blood. I am planning on just buying the rotisserie chicken at Publix on the way to Vicky's house and Bella herself owns fake blood (don't ask). 

 

 

Besides those props, we will also need some sauces to pour onto me to make it appear like blood. We will be using red lighting so as long as the sauces are dark, they will work as they will look like blood on camera. We will also need some seasoning for the chicken as the woman is seen sprinkling it on top of the chicken. She will also be chopping up a cucumber with a knife atop of a cutting board and then putting the cucumbers pieces onto the board. All of the following Vicky does also have at her home. 

Finally, the last props we'll need are some paper towels and gloves as we will pour the fake blood atop of them and then put them inside the trash can to show that the woman has been covering up a previous crime scene the whole time. Luckily, Vicky comes through once again and owns this too! Me and Bella's only contributions are the rotisserie chicken and fake blood but they are the most uncommon props of this entire shoot so 🤷

That goes over all the props necessary for our film opening! I doubt we'll need any more but if so, it'll definitely be mentioned in a future blog posting. 

PROP LIST:

•⁠  ⁠[X] Record player

•⁠  ⁠[X] Vinyl

•⁠  ⁠[X] Tablecloth

•⁠  ⁠[X] Napkins (2)

•⁠  ⁠[X] Cutlery (2)

•⁠  ⁠[X] Plates (2)

•  [X] Table mats (2)

•⁠  ⁠[X] Centerpiece/vase of flowers

•⁠  ⁠[X] Candles (2)

•⁠  ⁠[X] Glass cups (2)

•⁠  ⁠[X] Wine bottle

•⁠  ⁠[X] Wine opener

•⁠  ⁠[X] Rotisserie chicken

•⁠  ⁠[X] Sauce for chicken

•  [X] Seasoning for chicken

•⁠  ⁠[X] Platter for chicken

•⁠  ⁠[X] Cucumber

•⁠  ⁠[X] Cutting board

•⁠  ⁠[X] Bowl

•⁠  ⁠[X] Knife

•⁠  ⁠[X] Fake blood

•⁠  ⁠[X] Gloves

•⁠  ⁠[X] Towels

SOURCE (for picture of rotisserie chicken😂): Publix

Integrating a Genre Theory into Porfolio Project

The Hermeneutic or Enigma Code is the genre theory I believe fits best within our project idea. This theory is one of the Narrative Codes by Roland Barthes and the description for the theory is as follows; when a narrative withholds information to develop mystery or leave a plot point unexplained. Our film idea is about this mysterious woman, Elena, who is a serial killer and her victims are men she has dates with after meeting them online. In this film, her victim is a man named Jackson and the entirety of the film would be a cat-and-mouse type of situation where she goes after him and attempts to kill him. Throughout the movie, Elena's and Jackson's motives are revealed and many plot twists follow. In the opening specifically, it will be Elena preparing for the date which will be shown through a montage of her setting up the dinner table and cooking the meals in the kitchen. At one point, Elena will drop a piece of cucumber to the floor and when she goes to pick it up with the knife still in her hand, there will be a flashback to her in the exact same position except her knife is now bloody and a dead man lays in front of her on the floor. The opening comes back to the present where she throws away the cucumber and inside the trash can reveals bloody towels and gloves. She walks over to the dinner table with a cucumber salad that she just chopped, places it down, and receives a notification that shows her date has arrived but under his notification is several other mens' profiles/messages stating they had just arrived to their place and that being their final messages, implying she killed them all and displays that she's a serial killer. At this point, her name is finally revealed as her date states her name in the message. The title card will then show after she smiles eerily at her phone and a doorbell will interrupt the title card and show the woman approaching the front door before the 2 minutes end right there. 

This genre theory can be integrated into our project for one main reason and it's motive. For the entirety of the movie, Elena's motive as to why she kills all these men is unknown and she's not the only one with a mysterious secret as her date for this movie will also be a serial killer. The motive will eventually be revealed near the end of the movie when she realizes Jackson also intended to kill her by seeing that he deleted his Tinder account so it'd be harder for the police to track him, his ID shows his real name which isn't Jackson, he had a small bag of drugs that he planned to put inside her drink, he carried a pocket knife with him, and he had rope, zip-ties, duct tape, and other incriminating supplies inside the trunk of his car. Elena will end her attempts at killing him at this point as she explains that she's been looking for the man of her dreams; one who understood everything about her. The only reason Elena had tried to kill him is because Jackson would have realized that she was also a killer when going to the bathroom and stumbling upon a box in her room that held several of her victim's items and bloody clothes in her hamper. He went in the room because obviously, he isn't a normal person either and was being creepy. Jackson will then also admire that she's a killer too once she shows compromise and the two of them will become partners and "live happily ever after." In Purdue University's website going over the five Narrative Codes of Roland Barthes', Dino (2011) states that "we witness a murder and the rest of the narrative is devoted to determining the questions that are raised by the initial scene of violence," which describes our project idea perfectly as the audience witnesses the flashback and also Elena's attempts at murdering Jackson and ask themselves her motives for doing so. The Hermeneutic or Enigma Code is the best genre theory that aligns with our project and describes the main aspect (motive) of the idea perfectly.

SOURCE: Purdue University

Group Meeting #1 Reflection

I met with Lucia, Amanda, Nicholas, and Benji for our first group meeting. We each explained our ideas, themes, concepts, and/or inspirations and the rest of us asked follow up questions to help air out some details and fill potential plot holes. We also made suggestions that either strengthened their idea on something or changed an aspect of it to make it fit better.

OUR GROUP!

NICHOLAS

Nicholas didn't have a name for his film yet but he did have a good idea of what his film and opening was revolve around. He wanted his story to be about a 19-21 year old who has had to live with a disease his whole life that he's always been bullied over and he is finally trying to make a change by working out and becoming his best self and eventually enter this boxing competition to show off his abilities. Nicholas mentioned he wanted his character to be in college trying to become a doctor since he wants to help people with diseases like himself so that's why I mentioned 19-21 years old as that's the general ages that are starting off in college. Benji suggested that trying to establish that the character has a disease, has been bullied, is starting to work out to overcome his insecurities, has a goal of entering the boxing competition, AND showing that he's also a medical student is too much for an opening and so Nicholas decided to take out the medical school out of the opening but he might keep it in the description for the actual film. Lucia also stated how when the character is working out, he should continuously get flashbacks to when he was being bullied and each time, he works harder and harder and reaches a new limit for himself. I feel like this was a very productive group meeting for Nicholas as he was writing down several notes while we all spoke and he told us on how he was going to tell his partner for the project about all of the suggestions he wrote down.

BENJI

Benji's was about two friends who work out together and encourage each other to become better. Benji didn't have a title idea or names for his characters but the previous sentence is basically what his entire film is about according to him. I suggested that he could maybe give the two of them a goal that they attempt to reach just to add some more other topics within the film besides working out with each other. He told us how he was going to have the opening be a montage of the two friends and how in one scene, it was them going to be on the football field. He said that since he's a football player, having the scene take place on a football field shouldn't be difficult to achieve. Besides that, no one really had any other suggestions or ideas for him but he seemed pretty set on and he didn't have any questions that he had about his own film that he'd want us to try and pitch some answers in so it seemed like a helpful group meeting for him as well.

JUAN (me)

My idea for my opening is this woman who is preparing to host a dinner date at her home. I told them how it was going to be this montage of her first playing some music on a record player, setting up the dinner table, and cooking in the kitchen. When I told them that there would be a flashback of her holding a bloody knife with a dead body on the floor, they all supported it and claimed how clever and interesting that aspect of it was which made me feel more confident about my idea. I then then mentioned how the woman would receive a text that showed her date is outside and below that guy's date was several other men whose last texts were how they had just arrived. I told them how this scene establishes that the woman is a serial killer to which they also added on how good it was. When I mentioned how the title card would appear right after she smiles sinisterly at her phone and then a doorbell would ring to interrupt the title card and bring the audience back into the movie, they got confused on where the doorbell would be. Some thought it should happen before the title card, in sync with the title card, and after the title card but honestly, not to sound egotistical or anything, but I thought my idea for the title card was the best only because of how it would provide a great transition from title card to movie again. Lastly, I mentioned how the title card would appear which is the word "MANSLAUGHTER" but the "MAN" would be distorted in a way to specify that she not only kills men but targets them too. Overall, they all mutually liked my idea and I didn't really receive any suggestions or other ideas on it which I guess is a good thing! The group meeting definitely made me feel more confident about my idea.

LUCIA

Lucia didn't have an idea for an opening or idea but she did know that she wanted hers to be coming of age. I suggested on how her character could maybe live a double life meaning at school, she had nice clothes, hair, makeup, etc. but when she got home, she lived in an RV or something and was very poor in reality. Benji then suggested how maybe her character could be bullied or something to which I then added on how maybe the character could be the bully. I elaborated on this idea by saying how the character could maybe be the secret author of a blog where she exposes everyone's secrets but in school, she's a loner which would make her unsuspecting. Besides that, there wasn't much more ideas to add to Lucia's but at least we got some strong concepts in there that align with her chosen genre of coming of age. 

AMANDA

Amanda also didn't have any ideas for her film besides the fact that she wanted her character to be a teenager fighting a drug addiction. None of us had any actual ideas, just small comments on how she could try tackling her theme. I mentioned how she needs to ensure she incorporates the character's school life into her drug addiction and use her school life to represent how addicted the character is to drugs. 

I'm unsure if we'll have the same partners for every meeting but it was very easy to talk to the four of these people and I feel it benefited each of us when it came to confidence and/or influencing each other on our ideas.

*MAN*SLAUGHTER - Script

When it came to writing a screenplay, I didn’t really have much issue with the writing part as I’ve been doing it in my free time since 4th grade. The formatting, though, of a screenplay is completely new to me so I had to find some samples that fall under the thriller genre and compare them to see which features of it are more commonly used within thriller screenplays. Some features I noticed are that transitions are included, there are no quotation marks, the date/time and/or setting are established at the start of the scene, and that character names are in all caps.

SCREENPLAY 

 

NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 7TH, 2025 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

 

An empty vinyl record player rests on a table, the camera directly above it. Footsteps approach and soon, the hands of an off-screen woman places a vinyl inside the record player and readjusts the tonearm to start playing the vinyl.  

*SONG NAME* starts playing over the scene. 

MONTAGE START 

The woman places a tablecloth over a long table and covers the camera which is placed at the opposite end of the table. 

(CUTS) 

The woman puts napkins on both sides of each table and adds a fork and knife to each napkin. 

(CUTS) 

The woman then adds plates in front of two seats of the table. 

(CUTS) 

The woman brings out a centerpiece of flowers and places it in the center of the table. 

(CUTS) 

The woman carries over two candles to the table and places it on both sides of the centerpiece of flowers, lighting them both. 

(CUTS) 

The woman transports two glasses to the table and rests them atop of the dinner table. 

(CUTS) 

The woman brings over a wine bottle and wine opener but before getting to open it, the oven beeps and interrupts her. 

(CUTS) 

While the camera faces the oven door from inside, the oven beeps and the door opens, the woman taking out a rotisserie chicken and closing the oven door afterwards. 

(CUTS) 

The woman places the chicken atop the kitchen counter and pours sauce over it before transferring it to a plate and bringing it to the dinner table. 

(CUTS) 

The woman begins chopping a cucumber on a chopping board with an empty bowl besides it. When one of the pieces fall to the floor, the woman bends down to pick it up and rises back up. 

FLASHBACK SEQUENCE 

The woman still carries the knife in her hand but now, blood covers the knife, her hand, her arm, and the floor below her. A dead man is bleeding out on the floor in front of her, the lighting darker and the background music distorted. 

PRESENT TIME 

The woman looks up towards the trash can. The camera angle is directly in front of the trash can but still shows the entire kitchen. The woman is seen approaching the trashcan, throwing away the cucumber, and inside lays bloody cleaning gloves along with bloody towels. The woman returns to the chopped vegetables and drops them into the empty bowl, picking it up and approaching the direction the camera is in. 

The camera angle switches back to show the woman place the bowl of vegetables on the dining table when her phone suddenly buzzes. She opens the notification and her phone screen displays Tinder messages with the only notification being from a man named Jackson who texted her saying, “Hey Elena, I’m outside.” 

Below the man’s message are several other men’s opened messages, all their last texts saying that they have arrived at the woman’s house.  

The woman is seen smiling eerily and the title card appears. 

*MAN*SLAUGHTER [title card] 

The angle remains the same as the shot before the title card. The doorbell rings and ELENA turns her head towards the front door. 

The camera now tracks ELENA as she walks down a hallway towards the front door.

[END OF OPENING/2 MINUTES]