#and i added some pimples cus why not

[0rmtz]

Slight redesign

[mildredisabella]

Assignment 2: Storytime!

A Remote Stand-Off 

Starting the assignment 

In this assignment, we were tasked to create a storyboard. Firstly, it started conceptualising the simple narrative that I wanted to tell using the 3 act structure (Setup, Confrontation and Resolution). Afterwards, I went ahead to sketch these stories out to make sure that they represented the vision that I had and then took the photos to bring it to life. Hence, the gist of the story that I was trying to tell was about 2 friends who were bored in quarantine and just turned on the TV and having a debate about what to watch on Disney+. Heavily inspired by some of the conventions and cinematography of the Spaghetti Westerns i.e. the duel scene and the ECU shots of the eyes etc, I decided to have these 2 girls (my friend and I) fight over the remote to see who gets to decide the show they will be watching: High School Musical or Lemonade Mouth. If you’re wondering if this was inspired by a true story, it was but don’t worry we were still friends after this as you can guess from the selfie we took midway because we decided to give ourselves a 5 minute break in between shooting scenes.

Storyboarding  

Fig.1: Storyboard Part 1 (Drawing) 

Fig.2: Storyboard Part 2 (Drawing) 

The storyboard first starts off with a wide shot (WS) or establishing shot (ES) of Disney+ being featured on a TV screen. The scene then cuts to 2 girls, Layla and Isabella, on the couch looking bored and figuring out what’s good to watch. This is the set-up of the scene which leads onto the rising action when both of them spy the remote on the table and reach forward to grab it. These 2 scenes are being shot in close up (CU) and mid-shots (MS) respectively. That’s when both girls grab onto the remote at the same time (shot in CU) which leads to the stakes getting a little tense as it cuts back and forth to an extreme close up of Layla’s eyes first and then Isabella’s, both of them refusing to let go of the remote. This action results in the biggest crisis or confrontation, the duel for the remote and its shot in a MS. In this scene, it is also when the girls started screaming High School Musical and Lemonade Mouth respectively. This then brings us to to the resolution and last shot of the storyboard which is Isabella managing to triumph over Layla and manages to get ahold of the remote as Layla rolls her eyes in defeat. This is shot in an MS so that you can see Isabella raising her hand with the remote in it so she can pick the movie. 

Below is the storyboard but in picture form. 

Fig.3: Storyboard Part 1 using pictures

Fig.4: Storyboard Part 2 using pictures 

Pre-Critique 

To further prepare for the assignment, I attempted to make my narrative foolproof and cutting out the unnecessary scenes I may not have needed. I also went a step further to try and edit some pictures using Photoshop by playing around with the settings that it had to offer. For the first picture, I decided to make the TV stand out a bit more from the background and to do that, I went ahead and selected a new curve layer and using the brush tool, I masked it with another layer where I inverted the masks and modified the layer again. This effect overall did help as the TV is now slightly brighter than the rest of the objects in the background (Fig.5). For the rest of the shots, I mainly played with brightness/contrast to get achieve the desired effect that i wanted as the light source was to my right in the picture (as you can see from the windows), I wanted to make sure everything was brought up to ensure the white balance is there. I also cropped some images like Shot 7 as I wanted to bring out the ECU and the MS shot as I felt it was better in that size than a WS. Moreover in Shots 6 and 7 (Fig.6 and 7), I also played around with the spot healing brush tool to get rid of the pimples that plagued our faces which we were not excited for the world to see although we are still coming into adulthood. After all these pictures have been edited, I layered them all out on InDesign (Fig.12) and used a western background to further bring out the mood of what I was trying to go for which was a story inspired by Spaghetti Western conventions. 

Fig.5: PS work area for Shot 1. 

Fig.6: PS work area for Shot 6

Fig.7: PS work area for Shot 7

Fig.8: PS work area for Shot 3

Fig.9: PS work area for Shot 5 

Fig.10: PS work area for Shot 8

Fig.11: PS work area for Shot 9

Fig.12: InDesign workspace for storyboards (drawn or photos) 

I left shots 2 and 4 unedited as I thought they perfectly captured the essence of the story I am trying to portray on their own. 

To sum up the shots in the assignment: 

Shot 1: WS of the television featuring Disney+ 

Shot 2: MS of 2 girls staring at the TV pondering what to watch

Shot 3: CU of the TV remote 

Shot 4: MS of 2 girls reaching for the remote at the same time

Shot 5: CU of the 2 girls grabbing the remote at the same time and refusing to let go

Shot 6: ECU of Girl 1 (Layla) staring at Girl 2 (Isabella) intensely

Shot 7: ECU of Girl 2 (Isabella) staring at Girl 1 (Layla) intensely

Shot 8: MS of fight for the remote

Shot 9: MS of Girl 1 smirking happily as she emerged triumphant while Girl 2 is rolling her eyes

Pre-Curation

Before achieving the images that I needed to place in my storyboard, I did have some shots that I was not as satisfied with such as these 4 examples below. 

Fig.13: Shot 5 of the remote that did not make the cut

In Fig.13, this was meant to be for the 5th shot and I personally thought was not suitable. This is because according to the rule of thirds the remote is off centre and towards the centre right of the photo which is very uneasy on the eyes and puts the remote not as the focus of the photo as in the left third, Layla’s leg is showing which brings in a lot of elements and the viewer would not be sure as to what to focus on if this image was presented instead of the final one that’s being shown. 

Fig.14: Attempted CU of the remote 

For this shot, I wanted it to be used for the 3rd photo where the remote is in focus which was why I attempted to try for a CU shot. Even though the remote is placed in the foreground of the photo, it is not as sharp as the people in the background. As our eyes are naturally more drawn to the object that stands out, the remote in the foreground which is not in focus would lead audiences to think that the focus is the person in the background when that is not the case. Hence, this shot was a complete fail and did not make the storyboard for its shot size and depth of field. 

Fig.15: Attempted Shot 4 (reaching for the remote scene) 

This shot though emphasising the point that I was trying to make about the 2 girls going for the remote at the exact same time is very uncomfortable to look at as there is no headroom for the girls and even cuts out some of the features of the girl on the right. Therefore, this does not make for a good scene as there is no room for your subject to breathe (cropped head) and the framing is just very awkward and aesthetically unpleasant. 

Fig.16: Attempted Shot 8 (duelling for the remote) 

This shot was one of the many outtakes that did not make the cut as it was very obvious that Isabella has already gotten hold of the remote. Hence, this was a fail on the misc-en-scene and character behaviour where Shot 8 was meant to be the 2 girls struggling for the remote. A challenge while shooting this shot was actually getting the timing right as we needed to time it perfectly so that it showed the struggle of the 2 girls grappling to see who gets hold of the remote. Therefore, to overcome this obstacle, I decided to film us doing the action instead and then revisiting a few frames to get the shot that I needed so that it was timed perfectly which is being shown in the final submission. 

Critiques and Edits 

During the critique session earlier, I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out I did not have to reshoot any of the scenes and that my narrative was easy to comprehend (thank you film school for making me a film school brat) i.e. Shot 1 of the TV was good at establishing the setting and the rest of the events to follow. However, I do realise that I could have experimented with the angles a little more if I did have a tripod but I made do at my friend’s apartment. 

Hence the main feedback I got was to work on the formatting of the storyboard. For example, I should not include the captions that I had previously as this is meant to be a photographic storytelling not a storyboard that I was used to in film classes and to also put the shots that I had into 1 page so that it was easier to see the flow. 

Final Versions 

After listening to the critiques, I made the adjustments accordingly so that my photos and sketches in my InDesign layout (refer to Page 3-5) are put in the 3,3,3 format. I have also removed the text from the bottom and decided to feature it in the blogpost instead. I have also added in the pre-curated images that did not make the final cut. 

Fig.17: InDesign layout 

Overall, this assignment really tested my creativity and allowed me to incorporate some of the film conventions I already know and put it into modern day context. This was a fun assignment that I got to do with friends as I felt that it made the story more realistic and it is a first world problem that we face today as well. 

[bxckybxrnxs]

All This Time

Summary: ‘You and Bucky have recently started sleeping together and when you’re wearing his joggers your ex boyfriend Pietro sees you and gets jealous. Bucky finds you pressed up against the door by Pietro and doesn’t know what to think.’

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x female reader, past Pietro Maximoff x female reader (ex)

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Pietro Maximoff, Tony Stark

Feels: Low-medium, fluff

Warnings: Swear words, implied smut (references made)

Word Count: 2,350

Part: 1/1

Author’s Note: (Not my gif cred to @whatwasdead) All my own work, this story is copyrighted to me (@bxckybxrnxs) but I do not own the characters or setting. There is a slight POV change near the end I’d like to make readers aware of but it is marked :)

You wrapped the fluffy towel you had set out for after the shower around your shoulders, after lightly drying yourself with it. Stepping out of the bathroom into your room you felt a rush of cold air as you left the warm, moist air from the bathroom behind.

You had forgotten to pick out clothes to wear before you went in and as goose pimples were beginning to form on your arms, you brushed your hands up and down them and decided to throw on clothes that had been left on the bed.

Grabbing a tank and some joggers, you threw underwear on before almost jumping into the clothes. Instantly feeling warmer, you ran your hands through your hair, pulling the wet locks up into a bun.

Kicking your feet into flip flops that had been on your floor for a while, you left your room in search of food: it was past 8 and you were starving.

You had heard Tony mention something about getting take away pizza for dinner earlier, so you made your way to the usual hang out place to find some other Avengers, and if needed: to beat the shit out of them for eating all the pizza. Stopping in the kitchen to get a drink, you opened the fridge to grab yourself an iced water.

You straightened up and pulled the joggers higher around your waist for the fourth time. Taking a look at them properly since you’d seen them on the bed, you noticed that they trailed around your ankles, clearly far too long. You swore under your breath, they were Bucky’s joggers, and if this wasn’t a gigantic marker for your rapidly progressing relationship, you didn’t know what else you could have done.

Might as well have put on some blaring music and ran around the tower with a flashing sign that read, ‘ME AND BUCKY ARE SLEEPING TOGETHER!!!’

There was no one else in the kitchen now but you could hear laughing voices not to far away. Deciding you’d rather starve for a bit longer than completely embarrass yourself you quickly started to walk back to your room. Before you’d even got anywhere near the door there was a complication.

Quiet as a mouse but as fast as lightning like usual, Pietro had whizzed into the kitchen and was leaning back again the fridge, usual smirk plastered on his face, “Hey Y/n.”

“Hi Piet,” you sighed, slowly edging towards to doorway.

Things were a difficult enough between you and Pietro at the moment, you had broken up two months ago but he was still doing everything to try and get you back. You could feel his eyes on you and you wished he wasn’t such a flirt, with him constantly checking you out there was no way he was not going to notice that the joggers you were wearing were clearly not yours.

Almost as if your thoughts had cued him, his eyes narrowed as he looked at your pants. “Either you’ve shrunk…a lot, or they’re not yours,” he scowled.

“Er-what are not mine?” You replied innocently, playing for time as you continued to slowly move towards the door.

“Don’t play dumb with me Y/n,” He snapped, storming towards you, coming so close you could smell his aftershave; the aroma dragged up so many memories that it was like rubbing salt into a burn, “Who’s are they?!”

You placed your hands on his chest, pushing him away. “It has nothing to do with you!” You hadn’t been this close since you broke up, the intimacy was making you feel uncomfortable.

“Nothing to do with me? Y/n are you fucking serious? It has everything to do with me.”

“Maybe once! But not anymore,” you replied staring directly into his frosty blue eyes which were filled with jealousy.

“Tell me who’s they are!” He persisted, leaning further into you, his fingertips pressing into your hips. Your back was against the door of the kitchen, there was no way you could move away with his hands holding you there in his strong grip.

“Get the fuck off me now.” You said icily, glaring at him.

“Not until you tell me,” The rage burned bright in his eyes and although he spoke quietly you had spent enough time in close proximity to him that you knew he was furious.

Suddenly a door slammed on the other side of the kitchen. You could imagine exactly how this looked and you let your head fall back against the door. “Fuck,” You swore softly.

You couldn’t see who had entered, Pietro’s silvery blonde head blocked your view. His fingers brushed against your bare skin of your hips as he loosened his grip, turning to look. Your eyes fluttered shut at the contact and you just managed to stifle a gasp.

Opening your eyes, you craned your neck, trying to see around Pietro. You took advantage of his slackening grip and finally pushed him away from you, only to come face to face with James Buchanan Barnes.

Shit.

Another guy who could express so much emotion purely with his eyes alone. The rest of his face was blank but in his eyes you could read uncertainty, anger and jealousy. He’d obviously read the situation in the worst way possible.

“What…is going on?” Cat like, his eyes slowly flicked over the two of you in the deafening silence. His arms were by his sides but his fists were already clenched.

Pietro stepped forwards, “We were just talking,” He said, covering his rage with a smooth smile.

Bucky wasn’t satisfied with that answer, “About what?” He asked, dangerously calm.

You were looking directly at him, trying to catch eye contact, but his gaze never fully focused on you as it brushed around the room. He must have taken the jacket he was wearing earlier off, as now he only wore a black t-shirt with his dark jeans. The top was tight fitting and practically outlined and highlighted every single one of his muscles, they looked more pronounced than ever. A few strands of hair had fallen over his face, obscuring-what you would imagine-his clenched jaw.

“About things,” Pietro replied, carelessly. You looked around at both of the men you have gotten to know so well. To an outsider this could have been a casual conversation among friends but Pietro’s shuffling feet and twitching fingers along with Bucky’s tightening jaw and emotionless face were obvious indicators to you that they were both extremely pissed off.

“What ‘things’?” Bucky questioned, “Were you talkin’ about that involved you holdin’ her up against the door?” He still looked completely unruffled about what had taken place but you could almost see the rage building up inside of him.

“Why do you need to know Barnes?” Pietro said in reply and you could tell Bucky was itching to slap that antagonising smirk off his face.

“Guess I’m just curious punk,” Bucky said, a ripple of tension flowing through his body as he stiffened. If he was annoyed before, that was nothing to how he felt now.

You wanted to intervene, to step in and try to sort this out, but there was no way to do so that you could think of without one of the Avenger’s losing their shit at the other.

“Maybe you should keep your nose out of business that doesn’t include you, ‘punk’.” Pietro mimicked with a sarcastic laugh.

“What happens if this ‘business’ does include me?” Bucky hissed, taking a step towards Pietro, letting his pretence fall, not caring anymore as Pietro registered his obvious rage which you knew was mirrored in the other man.

Glancing across at Pietro, you looked away instantly as an ugly scowl tore across his handsome face. You had never seen him so angry before in the whole time you had known him, even when he thought you were cheating on him. His hands were shaking with fury as he glared at Bucky with full force.

“You,” Pietro spat, “It’s you isn’t it?! The one she-” he nodded sharply at you “-has been fucking.” The last word was said with such ferocity that you took a step away from him. “ISNT IT?!” He shouted, fixing Bucky with a look of absolute hatred.

“So what if it is? You don’t own me Pietro, and you definitely don’t control what I do, not anymore.” You snapped, finally wading in, feeling the anger bubbling up inside you. Taking a step towards Bucky, you placed a hand on his arm, “Leave it Buck.”

As your hand made contact with the bare skin of Bucky’s arm, it was the last straw for Pietro and he launched himself at the dark haired soldier. Snarling like a savage cat his fist crashed into Bucky’s face before you or Bucky had even noticed him move.

Tumbling back, Bucky raised his own hands, already curled into fists, swinging back. You stood there in shock, furious that Bucky was being hurt over Pietro’s stupid jealousy.

“Stop it!” You screamed as you noticed that Bucky was pulling his punches. You’ve seen him fight properly many times, in and out of Winter Soldier mode and you knew if he was going 100% Pietro would have been knocked out on the floor by now, even with his super speed.

Kicking Pietro in the knees, making him falter, Bucky grabbed his arms, twisting them behind his back as he lost concentration. You stormed over to where Bucky was holding the speedster against his will and slapped him, hard. “Don’t you ever touch me again,” you hissed, “And stay the FUCK away from my boyfriend,” you added, nodding at Bucky to let him go.

Pietro took one last look at you, before speeding out the kitchen with his hand clutching his bloody nose, not without sending a glare in Bucky’s direction.

There was an expectant silence between you and Bucky as you took his hands, leading him to sit on a stool at the island. As you made to let his hands go, he held onto the for a little longer, a need for closeness between the two of you. You grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer, wrapped them in a clean tea towel and gently pressed them against his eye which was beginning to bruise from one of Pietro’s punches.

“Boyfriend?” Bucky questioned, breaking the quiet.

Your relationship hadn’t been more than long, passion filled nights and this moment was loving and tender, which the two of you had yet to experience. Drawing a stool up and sitting next to him at the island as he held the frozen peas to his black eye, you sighed. “I’m sorry, I know we haven’t put a label on what we have. But I-” Breaking off, you turned away from him slightly.

He leant forwards suddenly, lowering the peas and captured your lips with his gently. This kiss was loving, nothing like the heated make out sessions you usually share. Your eyes fluttered shut and you brushed your fingertips though his dusky hair. There was so many words to be said between you, so many feelings and expressions that had been pushed into this kiss.

You were glad that Bucky had understood the situation, everyone in the tower-hell everyone full stop, it wasn’t exactly hidden from the media- knew that Pietro still had feelings for you. You had briefly talked with Bucky about your and Pietro’s history because Bucky hadn’t wanted to go behind the other man’s back if there was still something going on, which you had assured him that there was not. You had noticed the jealousy burning bright in Bucky’s own eyes when he had walked in upon Pietro pressing you against the kitchen door, but you knew that when you had slapped Pietro it had evaporated all of Bucky’s concerns.

(POV change)

That jealousy and anger Bucky had felt was unlike anything he had ever felt before. All the feelings that he had kept simmering under the surface had all come bubbling out in an unstoppable torrent. Y/n was the first girl to ever make him feel this way, not since before he became The Winter Soldier, but for the first time.

When the two of them made out on the veranda at the end of one of Tony’s parties, he had pulled away, convincing himself he would only hurt her. But she kept on coming back, again and again until after one night when they couldn’t deny the chemistry they had any longer, they had fallen into bed together. After she admit one morning that she found him insanely attractive, he had presumed that that was all there was, pushing down and suppressing his feelings, settling for the feel of her skin against him but nothing more.

(POV change back)

You smiled into the kiss, pulling away. “All this time, you felt this way and never told me?” You asked.

Bucky broke his eye contact with you, looking down as he picked at his fingers, “I didn’t think you felt the same doll,” he replied.

“God you’re an idiot Barnes,” you giggled, “I was trying my hardest to show you that I liked you but you always seemed to brush me off,” you added.

He leant forwards to kiss you again, his fingertips trailing down your jawbone. Your stomach fluttered at his touch, barely containing your happiness. He pulled away from you sooner than you would have liked but left your foreheads still touching. “So all of this is because of that jerk Pietro, he opened my eyes,” he laughed.

“Don’t let him hear you saying that,” you replied as you stood, wrapping your fingers in his, pulling him to stand too. “Now can we please go and find some food, I’m starving!” You complained.

“There’s nothing left,” came a voice from the door. Your head whipped round to see a smirking Tony Stark with, what you presumed to be, the last slice of pizza in his hand. As you glared at him, he took a huge bite, his eyes locked on yours, “Mmm delicious.”

“STARK!!”