Monster's Inc. "Dreams Come True"

Dreams Come True by Monster’s Inc. is a complete indie film with a complete set of an amateur director, editor, cinematographer, and actors. In the process of developing the plot of our film, all members of the group were very determined and excited. It was my first time experiencing anything like this, which gave me high hopes for the outcome of our film. In the beginning, before shooting, we assigned everyone specific roles to be carried out during the making of this film; however, many roles changed including mine. Previously, I was to be one of the actors and the screenwriter, yet I became the director and the screenwriter. To be honest, our group did not start out with a laid-down script to memorize lines from, but actually planned and created as we went. We decided this would create a more natural, less-planned look as well as lessen the awkwardness for the actors. In order to carry out this process, all the actors, director, cinematographer, and editor had to work together to smoothly convey the story. Basically, my job as the screenwriter was to translate the Korean language into English, which was quite difficult in some ways in that like any other language, it is very hard to equally shift the feeling or exact meaning from one language to another. However, I will not complain because the member who put in the most time and was the most stressed was probably the editor, Lois; therefore, I think she is the MVP. I have helped in some areas of the editing process and from that small experience, I immediately realized how frustrating and time consuming it can be, especially with the limited skills and knowledge as an editor.
Our film, Dreams Come True, is based on a Korean story I read on the internet a few years ago with a few changes here and there. In a brief summary, our film is about how someone’s dreams can greatly affect the fate of another. A friend dreams about another friend being followed by a ghost wearing a red kimono. Judging by the appearance of the ghost, the friend (dreamer) lies to the ghost and misleads it to a different road. The next day, the dreamer has the same dream except that this time instead of the ghost, a very friendly looking person wearing all white asks which way the friend went. Judging by this appearance, the dreamer is relieved and tells the person which way the friend went. As the person walks away, the dreamer sees the bottom of the red kimono under the white coat and realizes that this person is the same ghost as the night before. Basically, the dreamer unintentionally gave away the friend to the ghost. The time I first read this a few years ago, the story was quite surprising and freaky; however, shot as a film, it did not turn out the same way. I think our film can be more praised as separate shots rather than a whole film telling a story. The scene I remember most while shooting is during the second dream where Jane and Paul collide with one another as Paul is running away from the ghost. As the director, that is, honestly, the one scene I remember the clearest due to all of my effort explaining over and over again how it should be shot. The technical issues as well as the sun setting too quickly were all obstacles hard to overcome. One of the film’s strengths is that it is a foreign film. During this course, we have watched many foreign films and I’ve learned to appreciate them. We thought as a group that it would be more interesting to speak in a different language and then use subtitles. We also used a director’s cameo in the beginning of the film and also utilized the match-line cut inspired by North by Northwest. The many weaknesses in our film are as said before, the limited technical and skilful knowledge as well as the lack of the smooth flow of the film as a whole. Although this film did not turn out the way I’d expected it to be, I am still proud that we made a movie, although very amateur, on our own, and that I really did enjoy it.
The main five cinematic aspects that were used to communicate visual information were the Dutch/tilted angles, low angles, subjective point of view shots, an extreme close-up, and a long take. The Dutch and low angles were primarily used while shooting the ghost. These angles gave a queer, abnormal, and powerful feeling; components that define a ghost. The subjective point of view shots were used to show what it was like to be in the shoes of Paul, the friend running away from the ghost. The extreme close-up of Jane’s eyes was utilized to express her shock when realizing what has happened, and finally, the long take in the beginning of the film showing the three friends talking about nightmares created a rather smooth effect than it would have with several different shots.
By creating our own film, I became to appreciate the many movies I have watched in the past because now I know how it feels to go through all the difficulties of making a film. Considering the fact that our film is only about five minutes while those in the theatres are hours long clearly amazed me in a way I have never been before. I have realized that it takes so much patience and so much time and effort to develop the perfect shot that taking a year or two to create a complete movie is now not unbelievable at all. I have even thought for a second of becoming involved in the movie industry myself, but then came back down to reality after watching our finished masterpiece-not really a master piece.