COMP 1: Development

 AS MEDIA STUDIES

Here is a list of possible film opening names, credits, our production team, actors/characters (cast) and locations for Moonlight Sonata. This blog is written by me (Sharon).

Here are some possible movie titles my group recommended before finalizing 'Moonlight Sonata'.

Possible movie titles

• Liebestraum
• Harmony
• A Reignited Harmony
• Reignite
• Perfect Imperfections
• A Musical Match
• The First Verse
• The Duet
• Two Halves Make a Whole
• Moonlight Sonata

These titles convey a sense of passion, connoting romance, and also incorporate subtle hints that music will play a role in the film.

The title we eventually settled on is Moonlight Sonata since the word 'moonlight' is frequently associated with love and romance-related concepts, whereas 'sonata' is a song that narrates a storyline. In addition, 'Moonlight Sonata' is a well-known composition by Beethoven, thus, this can draw an audience who are particularly interested in (classical) music.

Here are all the details to whom we give credit.

Credits

The credits include the production and distribution companies, our production team, along with the cast members of Moonlight Sonata.

• Production Company
• Regents Media Production

• Distribution Company
• 20th Century Studios

• Production Team
• Producers: Timothy Sulaeman, Maxi Gehlen, Sharon Tan, Nayana Sumaniaka
• Director: Timothy Sulaeman
• Screenwriter: Maxi Gehlen
• Creative Designer: Sharon Tan
• Casting Director: Nayana Sumaniaka

• Cast Members
• Young Hazel: Timothy Mulia
• Adolescent Hazel: Matthew Tan
• Present Hazel: Danny Budiada
• Harmony: Jasmine May
• Hazel’s Mother: Hawila Eva
• Music Teacher: Benjamin Whitaker
• Extras: Elvina Ryanto, Nicholas Mawardji, Eileen Milano, Charlene Crestella Wijaya, Michelle Darmawan

Note: The casting was done by Nayana in preference based on Moonlight Sonata's characters, e.g. young Hazel as a cheerful toddler, adolescent and present Hazel as someone (quite) mature-looking personality, and Hazel's teacher as a male adult figure with a stern manner.

The following reveals all the locations we filmed in.

Locations

• Regents Secondary School Bali (Hazel's school)

• Jalan Belanjong No.14 (Maxi's house)

Moonlight Sonata will be filmed in 2 locations - day 1(10th February 2023) in Hazel's school, and days 2-3 (11-12th February 2023) in Maxi's house. Filming at school eases the cast members, especially Hazel's teacher, present Hazel, and Harmony to simply meet up after school for filming. Additionally, our school also has musical instruments, such as guitars and amplifiers, but primarily the keyboard as our main instrument, to decorate our set in order to conform to a typical music room. 

We have chosen to film the home scenes at Maxi's house since he owns a piano, supported by a cosy environment to give a sensation of a homey atmosphere. Furthermore, his house is quite spacious, hence, we could easily set up our equipment, such as stationary lighting.

Here presents the research and discovery of typefaces, along with developing each of them to comprehend which fits best for our general concept.

Typeface Development

We started the research of typefaces and fonts for our credits and title card by searching "teen romance" on Netflix so we could get a gist of typical romance films' typefaces as Moonlight Sonata itself is a teen romance film. The results are as follows (screenshot taken by Nayana).

We can see that most romance films use a 'handwritten' type-like font to convey a 'childish' romance/personality. Yet, we suppose that wouldn't suit Moonlight Sonata best as our film is a serious, dramatic type of romance. Fonts from movies like "Through My Window", and "Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between" are likely to fit in the atmosphere of Moonlight Sonata best since they give a dramatic look - capitalized serif fonts.

We experimented with different typefaces for our title card (Moonlight Sonata) shown as follows. The 'glow' surrounding the title - 'Moonlight Sonata' isn't originally there, however, we suppose it would associate with the word itself better, 'moonlight' - the glow of the moonlight which also adds to the elegance of the name.

IBM Plex Serif.

Source Serif Pro.

Tenor Sans.

Our final typeface for the title card is 'Tenor Sans' with capitalized letters to convey a deeper, more serious, dramatic effect that aligns with the overall atmosphere of the film opening. 

However, with our credits scene, the IBM Plex Serif (without the glow) for the names, and DejaVu Serif for the roles, are shown as follows:

The 3-day filming process is summarised below.

Filming Process

DAY 1 (Friday, 10th February 2023)

We put our time into good use in media studies class by setting up the equipment beforehand to save us time as actual filming will be during dismissal. Including, attaching the video mic (lent by our classmate) and gimbal/stabilizer (rented) onto the camera (owned by Timo) in the media studies classroom, moving the musical instruments from the music room to class 206 (the room used for Hazel's school scenes), as well as transferring other rented equipment (lightings) from Timo's car to room 206.

Setting up the stabilizer and video mic onto the camera (Maxi and Timo in the picture).

Mock shots of Harmony's walking scene to test out the stabilizer, monitor, camera, and video mic with me (Sharon) as the model. 

Moving the rented equipment (lighting) from Timo's car to class 206.

Final setup of Hazel's music class (class 206).

Mock shots with Timo's phone and lighting:

More trial shots of Harmony's walk-in scene with me as the model, but instead, with Timo's phone and the assistance of the handheld lighting.

We also did a practice shot (by Timo) of Hazel (Maxi as the model), with me (Sharon) assisting with the handheld lighting.

The result of the mock shots can be viewed here after some editing done by Timo right after the practice shots were done to give us a gist idea of Moonlight Sonata's end product.

Real shots with cast actors:

Harmony's (Jasmine May) walk-in scene.

Featuring Hazel's music teacher (Benjamin Whitaker).

Featuring Hazel (Danny Budiada) and Hazel's music teacher (Benjamin Whitaker).

All through and through, we took a great variety of shots, trying out different camera angles to see which was best for this particular shot instead of following everything based on the screenplay as we weren't able to realistically visualize the shots, just yet, when creating the screenplay. Hence, with all our cast actors in one set, along with all the props and equipment, we weren't afraid to experiment with the different types of shots and angles since we wanted the best outcome from Moonlight Sonata. We did not rely strictly on what was stated in the screenplay and storyboard.

For instance, we took shots of Hazel's teacher yelling Hazel's name both while sitting down and standing up - this could create a great combination in post-production (editing). Secondly, shots regarding the focus of Hazel's hands playing the piano (this isn't detailed in the screenplay).

By the end of the day, 70 (more or less) shots were taken, all thanks to the cooperation of my team and the actors.

DAY 2 (Saturday, 11th February 2023)

Our target for today is to complete/shoot all scenes featuring young Hazel (Timothy Mulia) and adolescent Hazel (Matthew Tan) with Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva). As we were waiting for the casts to arrive, we reorganized Maxi's living room (e.g. moving the sofas aside) to create more space for the equipment, such as the stationary lighting. Also, the decorations that were initially on top of Maxi's piano were moved away as well and were replaced by trophies (props). Once everyone (the cast) have arrived, they were all given instructions on the acts based on the screenplay (briefing).

Below shows Maxi's living room before and after rearranging:

Before rearranging.

After rearranging.

Young Hazel (Timothy Mulia) playing the piano and Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva) standing beside him.

Adolescent Hazel (Matthew Tan) playing the piano with Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva) standing beside him.

We tried different camera movements and possible editing transitions, such as a tracking shot - the camera moves behind the vase to show the transition between young and adolescent Hazel. Nonetheless, we wouldn't want to risk the lack of shots for post-production (editing), thus, we did several shots in one scene to maximize production/filming. In time, we were able to accomplish all shots featuring young and adolescent Hazel along with Hazel's mom on day 2.

DAY 3 (Sunday, 12th February 2023)

Our goal for today is to simply film all scenes with (present) Hazel (Danny Budiada) and Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva). First things first, we bought baby powder for Hazel's mom's hair (to make it seem grey to convey that she has aged throughout the years). To further develop the mom's character, we decided to add small, rectangular glasses found in Maxi's house to expand on showing that she has aged. As for Hazel, he put on formal wear - a white long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and a watch as if he were going out for a piano competition, which shows that his piano skills are taken more seriously.

Further, we utilised eyedrops to film Hazel's low-angle, close-up shot from the point of view of the piano after being slapped by Hazel's mom in order to show Hazel's crying scene more realistic. 

Me (Sharon) and Nayana applied baby powder to Hazel's mom's hair (Hawila Eva).

Filming of a scene featuring Hazel (Danny Budiada) playing the piano and Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva) standing beside him.

By the end of the day, we were able to complete all scenes featuring Hazel (Danny Budiada) and Hazel's mom (Hawila Eva). 3-days of filming were wrapped, all thanks to the cooperation of cast members, and my team.