The student-produced film, The Sun Sets At Noon, is centered around the identity crisis of Madison caused by their twin, Tina. The film sheds light on mental health issues many high schools struggle with today, but with spice.
Madison develops an identity crisis through constant comparison and being mistaken for Tina. Madison sees this and starts to grow and do her own thing. Tina sees this and starts to feel pushed to the side, and the light isn't on her anymore. Tina in this situation tries to manipulate and change the situation in her favor since she believes everything has to be done the way it was intended to be. This usually tends to hit home, especially with my target audience who are high schoolers 15-19, and resonates with them. What Tina does happens a lot in high school, whether it is from parents, friends, or like in this instance your sibling. I chose to focus on both characters since I wanted people to be able to relate to either one of them. Some people can see where Tina is coming from in the sense of her not wanting things to change and keeping the core values of a relationship between two individuals pure. Others can understand Madison's perspective in wanting to grow and not be held down by others. Even Gabe is relatable as an outside source of advice and being a "comfort buddy" to someone who is struggling with these kinds of issues. Whatever way you interpret the film, you will be able to relate to one of the characters which were ultimately my goal. This plan was done in the production through its writing and editing process. The color, script, and lighting were all taken into consideration in how these issues and characters are being portrayed.
Throughout the piece, I made sure to differentiate the twins through color and vibrancy. Madison has a cooler look shown in her costume as well as the tint of her shots. Madison also keeps a bit of her sister with her through the orange hair she has, showing that although she may have changed she won't let go of her sister. Madison is more fierce but is seen as "kind" to people who may not know her. She has vibrant, bright colors in her costume and a very pinkish tint and warm hue in the majority of the shots she's in. These two color choices were intentional in a sense to develop a brand. Two very contrasting colors, for two very contrasting characters that look the same, is like something out of a Disney show if you think about it. The way they clash, yet go together is fantastic and unique in the sense of subtlety. The title is in a handwritten font that looks inviting, yet borderline formal. The color used to mimic the color of the sun during a sunset and a color in between both Tina's pinkish tint and Madison's green undertones, hitting just the right shade of yellow/orange. "The Sun Sets at Noon" sounds very abnormal and out of place, but when you watch the film you will understand that at the climax of the film, and the peak of the twins' issues, comes a very quick falling action resulting in a peaceful, easy resolution and rest of conflicts. Noon represents the peak of the issues since it's the peak time for Earth's temperatures. The sun setting at this time means that everything is resolved during the peak of the conflicts.
Researching social and mental issues allowed me to properly portray how people in these situations acted and displayed themselves. For example, for Tina's character, I researched OCD with its effects and how people with it act. People with OCD are usually well-kept, proportionate with everything, have good posture, and have a place for everything. These are all traits I gave to Tina in my production. As seen in one of the very first shots in Tina's trailer, you see her place her phone and make-up bag in a very specific way setting up how this character's disorder affects her. This sets up the character at a very early point in the production to make sure the audience understands where she's coming from. I didn't want to give the audience the fact that she struggles with OCD straight out the gate so that's why I chose to portray it the way I did (giving them the two plus two). My research did not just surround the characters and plot elements of this project, but the technical elements as well. My first piece of research was color. I learned about the importance of color in my project from last year, how it affects the audience's perception of the character, and just the events taking place in general. Peripherals were another thing I took my time and researched on. What camera, microphone, editing software, and even locations were both affordable and effective. These things were looked into from the position of costs, accessibility, and performance. Unfortunately, I did run into some trouble with the microphone as I could not get the one I wanted in time, but I saw that I can record audio through my cell phone and run it through Adobe Podcast. Adobe Podcast is a program currently under beta testing that enhances your audio using AI technology. You better believe that I used this program to my advantage and all the voiceovers in the project are run through Adobe Podcast. Music was also a huge thing I had to research but luckily my friend Wade gave me a tip about the website "epidemic sounds" which has a full catalog of copyright-free music that is accessible for anyone to use.
All of these things were done in the span of 10 weeks. Ten long, hard weeks have finally come to a close. All the research, planning, writing, meetings, and changes I've done are finally wrapped up. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did.
