MEREDITH

Our group filmed our short film on December 5-6. When scheduling our film,  The Neighbor , we watched horror and thriller films, like The Boy Next Door , for inspiration to come up with our script. Our goals while filming is to play the roles of the teenagers spot on so our plot is very clear. The first day we filmed, December 5th, we shot all of the scenes that are in the daylight. This is because we wanted to film all the daytime scenes in the same setting of light. The next day, December 6th, we shot all of the night scenes, like when Patty breaks into Ally's house and takes her framed picture. Being our first time filming a short movie, we could've done better. For example, in the beginning of the film, Ally is listening to Payphone by Maroon 5 in her bedroom and the next scene she is still in her bedroom not listening to the song. After the shoot, we definitely know how we can make our film better the next time we film.

On the week of December 3-7, our group decided what person in our group will play the characters in our short film The Neighbor . Ally: Ally is an 18 year old over-privileged girl who lives in a nice, modern house. Her life is perfect as she her family spoils her and she has great friends. Rachel was chosen to play this role because she has a bold, sassy personality and she has played the main character in another short film. We thought that since Rachel has the experience of being the main character and the personality, she was a perfect fit. Patty: Patty is a 17 year old girl who does not fit in with the status quo. Patty is a loner and has an obsession with Ally since she is popular, rich, and lives the perfect life. Jealousy turns Patty into a stalker and Patty has one goal in mind: to destroy Ally's perfect life. I was chosen to play the role of Patty because I am a good actor and I have a crazy side to myself. Ashley: Ashley is 18 years old and is Ally's best friend...

During December 3-7, my group and I planned out where we were going to film. We ended up choosing my house to film most of our shots since the short film was based on Ally's new stalker neighbor. The house we chose to film at was my house, a new modern house. We were attempting to inform the audience that the main character, Ally, was a rich girl who everyone was jealous of because of her wealth and popularity, especially her new next door neighbor, Patty. We filmed most of the scenes at my house as the girls were supposed to have a fun day at Ally's house while her parents weren't home. My group and I decided to film in my backyard as we believed it would look very creepy if at night Ally's stalker neighbor, Patty, would invade on her property while her parents were gone. Also, my gates surrounding my house aren't very high making it very possible in real-life to trespass on my property. This scene shows the viewer why it is important to be responsible ...

On December 17, our group created our storyboard. Lauren Cuffaro drew the storyboard as she is the most artistic in the group. My favorite shot was the high angle shot of Patty in Ally's bed holding her portrait. This shot establishes how badly Patty wishes she was Ally. Also, by Patty breaking into Ally's house while she is at the beach shows how she is a stalker.

During the week of December 10-14, my group and I did the shot list. The shot list was based off of the storyboard and script we made last week. By watching the professional thriller/horror films, we used some of their shot examples like the mid-shot in The Gift , establishing shot in Hush , and two shot in Would You Rather .

The Neighbor is about an over privileged, popular high schooler, Ally, who lives the perfect life and has the best friends a girl could have. Patty, an outcast, envies Ally's life and wishes to destroy her perfect utopia since Ally makes fun of her. Patty ends up kidnapping Sarah, one of Ally's best friends, and stalks Ally until she discovers Patty sitting on top of her kitchen granite countertop holding a knife.