2/29/24- Group Meeting #1

 Hi Blog! Happy Leap Day! Yesterday in class we had our first group meeting! Everybody was super sweet and helpful when it came to advice or ideas. I took note of everybody's progress to see how my peers were approaching their project, incorporating research, and ideas that they may have for their story.  

The first person to speak in my group discussed how she would like to create a murder mystery/thriller which I think has the ability to be super engaging for her audience. She took inspiration from True Detectives, Knifes Out, and Joker. One thing that I spotted as she showed us her Blog and notes is that her research is done extremely well inspiring me to do some more myself. Her opening will be set in New York as she told us that she will be traveling there for spring break which when we are scheduled to be shooting these projects. She presented her idea of having a group of three detectives attempting to figure out a case. She also told us she would be using her family and friends to act in her film and talked about how she would like incorporate mise-en-scene elements. She is about to start her storyboard. What she presented was super well done. She has yet to establish her title but her idea is clear and her research will definitely help her in the grand scheme of things. 

I could heavily relate to the next group member who presented as she struggled in the beginning in establishing an idea on what her film opening would be about. She is also attempting to fix her organization skills (relatable) She knew that she was interested in visual appeals, such as mise-en-scene, to use in her opening. She explained the group that her genre research helped her with decision making. She had discussed a wide variety of film genres on her blog. Originally, she was going to choose fantasy but ended up choose sci-fi as her genre. She mentioned that she would like to have chaotic outfits and makeup shown in her characters. After explaining her idea, I got the vibe that she was going for the more artistic side of films. Overall, I think she is progressing great with this project. 

The next person to speak is in the process of developing her story but has picked the coming of age genre. She does not have a start to finish yet but she has an idea of what she is looking for. She mentioned that she would like to focus on aesthetics and she wanted to create a unique and different story. I really related to this as I have mentioned from the beginning of my journey with this project that I wanted my story to stand out. She discussed her coming of age research and the films that she reviewed to grasp a better idea of the genre that she would be focussing on. Her research is going to further understand her genre as well as help with decision making. 

Another group member mentioned how he would like to do a horror opening with a kill scene. I believe this idea can draw in an audience making them entertained while staying engaged with the film opening. The engagement would leave the audience wanting to see the killers identity revealed since the group member mentioned that the film would surround the mystery of finding the killer which reminded me a lot of one of favorite movies of all time, Scream. He did not know which genre he would like to pursue in beginning. To solve this, he did loads of genre research in order to have an idea of what category this film would fall under. He is currently in the process of developing his script but he discussed what elements would be added to his film opening such as the use of his tri-pod and incorporating fake blood. I think his ideas are very appealing and can be very successful in this project. 

The last member that discussed his project is working with a partner and mentioned that they work well together, which I believe will definitely smoothen in the process of this project. They discussed that they would like to do a film opening involving sports and they are planning to film at a local park. He described his protagonist as a poor guy, who is typically bullied by his peers. He discussed the challenges that may be involved with filming the opening because of the soccer shots being put in the goal and matching with the audio. Heat us that, at the end of the film opening the protagonist would be recognized by a famous scouter. I believe the ending the film opening like that is a great way to engage their audience. 

Overall, I enjoyed discussing with my classmates about their progression within their film openings. It was great to hear from other people who are experiencing the same thing as I am. I even got to receive advice on improvements that I can make as well as gain useful information regarding research that I can use. I think that this will help me to consider things that I have not thought about yet. See you next time!

2/28/24- Defining

 Hi Blog! I have big news, my second story board draft is complete! After adding a plot point with the protagonists sister passing away, I added shots to represent that somebody in her life is no longer with her and that she is massively struggling because of it. I did this by the use of props previously mentioned in my blog posts such as candles, pictures, cards, etc. Another component that I added that I thought would be super engaging is ending the film opening with a flashback of the protagonist and her sister living life as normal not long before her passing. I thought this could leave the audience wanting see more of their relationship, how she passed away, etc. The flashback will consist of the girls laughing, living care free, and enjoying each others company. I put in my storyboard them riding bikes to represent the innocence and pureness that is within their relationship. I believe the flashback will leave the audience pondering on how much the protagonists life changed since her sisters passing. After researching past AICE Media portfolio projects, I think that ending with the title looks corny. Therefore, I will place the title before the flashback begins. 

I am proud of how far this storyboard has come. If I have learned anything from this class this past year it is that every shot has a meaning and significance that it contributes to your story. I contributed this idea heavily to my storyboard. So, here it is...

                                                                      Second Storyboard Draft

On top of creating my second storyboard draft, I labeled each shot and its meaning. Everything for my storyboard was picked meticulously in order to ensure that everything in my film opening has a meaning. I not only included why I made that shot I also defined certain choices I made with the display. For instance, I had the protagonist sit on the edge of the counter to capture the idea that she feels "on edge" since the death of her sister. One issue I am having with my storyboard is that the shots feel too basic. Most of my shots are long shots and medium shots which is the most basic lesson that I learned in this class. I would like to incorporate more complex shots and angles to further advance this film opening and challenge myself with a more difficult skill set.

With all of that being said, this is not my final storyboard draft as I would like to create more occasional cuts in order to make this film opening more engaging to viewers. If I am being completely honest, I have been playing it safe. I think I should be making more bold choices in order to make this film opening stand out among other drama films especially considering how broad this genre can be. How can I fix this? I plan on doing more thorough research about aspects such as credits, screenplay, character development, etc. By doing this, it helps me grasp a better understanding of what I would like to see incorporated into my ideas and overall better understand the importance of decision making in the film world.

Shot Meanings

One thing that is starting to bother me is that my main characters do not have names yet. I do not know why I would not name them earlier but I found this to be a great opportunity to make diagrams of their characteristics. Knowing who the main characters are is incredibly important to the development of a story. Providing the characters with a specific and unique personality sets themselves apart from other main characters that you may see on television. 

Character Analysis Diagram

Overall, I believe my planning has gone relatively successful. I have come a long way from a week or two ago despite my setbacks early on. A critic that I am giving myself is to not make decisions so fast without thinking everything through. I am not saying that every decision that I make is final but making rash decisions will not be effective in the grand scheme of things. I cannot wait to see my ideas come to life. So in the mean time, I will be working different aspects that are done behind the scene. Until next time!

2/24/24- But, why?

 Hi Blog! I have officially created a title for my film opening :) 

Derived- "To have or take origin"

This title felt right with my intentions for the film opening due to the fact that the protagonist is experiencing being taken away from a typical teenagers life because of her sister's absence. She is derived from happiness. She is derived from normalcy. She is derived from relaxation. She is derived because of the idea of the having her sister by her side, which is the main plot point that my film would be based on. My protagonist wants to be blended in, but now, she will forever have to live without her twin. Her feelings of being derived are based on the fact that she feels guilty if she moves on with her life without someone who meant so much to her. Her sister is everything she wanted to be, now, she will not have the chance to look up to her anymore.

Apart from naming my film opening I have decided to work with the editing tool Adobe Creative Cloud. As an amateur film creator, I am not super familiar with how the editing process goes. If I've done any sort of editing, it was done on Perfect Video for a small school task. Due to the bulk of the project, this is too simple to handle what I am going for. Another issue with the previous platform is that the website can only produce videos up to 45 seconds. Therefore, I would be unable to produce anything longer than that time frame. After researching websites that I can produce my film opening on, I chose Adobe Creative Cloud with out having to pay any fees. 

The most popular website that I saw for editing was adobe premiere, which I do not have availability to because I am not willing to pay that much money a month for a project that will take me less than two months. As as the quality may seem, I feel as though I can produce this project while still staying in my budget. Look up a few videos on how to edit on the website that I have chose, because I have not been exposed to a professional level of editing. 

The videos I have viewed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqf_ZSBE40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLlzm4Zlkog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfJ5jUgLEBk

I hope this research that I have gathered for not only help me for this project, but on using a new website for my future endeavors. Research has my primary focus during the process of this project and I will continue to follow this technique as the next month or so proceeds. Until next time! 

2/22/24 - Creativity Strikes!

 Blog, I have a vision! When figuring out more and more details on my protagonist, I really need to understand what her backstory is. I was considering a lot of past trauma stories such as other protagonists in films such as Auggie Pullman from Wonder (2017) who was bullied and tormented his entire life because of the way he looks and Lizzy from Instant Family (2018) who was a foster child in and out of homes for her entire childhood. I decided that my protagonists back story would be the loss of her twin sister which completely flipped her life upside down. This would be the reasoning for the protagonists isolation from others and lack of social skills. I was brainstorming different ideas I could film to establish and represent that her sister is no longer with her. For example, flowers, pictures displayed of her, and cards/ notes expressing their deepest condolences. 

Plot Planning

New Character Diagram

I am super excited that I have more and more ideas to contribute to my film opening. However, I have not established what I will be creating for the end of my film opening. Another note that I should add, I have to recreate my storyboard this weekend in order to include my new storyline into the story. I am going to change the beginning of the film opening to establish the setting and context. To do so, the first few shots will be displays of props to establish her sisters passing. 

                                                                        Examples...

I realized the importance of establishing a setting during my class lecture today where we viewed sample film openings that were successful. By showing shots, such as the ones viewed above, it helps show the context and foreshadow what is to come from this film opening. I plan on writing the shots for my second story board draft. Not only will this defined the context, but will also leave viewers questioning and predicting what is to come from this film allowing loads of audience engagement through the unknowing. Without these minor details to help, it could be rather difficult and confusing for viewers. The small details matter and as I was taught today "less is more" :)

I definitely have some critiques for myself this past week as I have not been as organized as I would've liked to be. My scheduling on Canva does not match blogger, which stresses me out a little bit. However, I am proud of myself for how much I have progressed these past few weeks, as I typically do not do lengthy projects, such as this one. To keep my brain in check, I have created a list of the top things that I would like to complete in these next few days to make sure I am on the right page with this project.

Priorities

-Complete storyboard 

-Introduce film title

-Introduce character names

-Meaning behind certain shots/angles

-Research credits

My idea is set, now the journey officially has begun. I am ready to tackle this by implementing everything I have learned in AICE Media Studies AS this past school year. This is just the start.

2/21/24 - Smooth Sailing

 Hi Blog! These past few days, I have been creating outlines and making decisions on small yet significant details that will be in more portfolio project. I have been keeping an open mind on what I need to decide and when it will be done. I must consider what my protagonists will be dressed in, who I will be using to play their parts, what the script will look like, the font style I will be choosing, what I want my film opening to be titled, and mood boards for my main characters. This outline captures what my mind has been experiencing during the planning and decision making that this project consists of. 

 Before I start putting my opening into motion, I wanted to define who my protagonists are and what they represent. In order to do so, I used Canva to develop vision boards of how I see my characters that are being created. I believe this will make a huge impact to my planning as I keep writing the script and creating my storyboard. 

                                                              Teenage Girl Protagonist

For this mood board, I envisioned a dull teenage with a pessimistic mindset on how she perceives her life. After a representation lecture back in November, I wanted to show this through the messy room. This room shows the disorganization that consumes her life. Another example of this representation is portrayed through the messy hair and shoes to show how little she does to care for herself as well as other people. I am attempting to figure out what is truly bothering her that makes her act and appear this way. Is she being bullied? Are expectations of her set to high? Does she have any past trauma? I do not know what I want her primary struggle to be yet.

  Mother Protagonist

When beginning this vision board, I had a difficult time figuring out who the protagonist's mother is. She is shown to be a wealthy, educated, and successful individual which is shown through her style, car, career, etc. However, deep down she feels trapped with her past of being a popular and well-rounded high schooler who everybody adored. She is not unhappy with her life now, however, she has realizations that she will never be able to achieve the life she had previously. Now, she is secretly living through her daughters experiences because of her inner feelings. Due to her daughter being rather an "outcast", it is disappointing that her daughter is not having the same high school life that she did. That is why she is constantly encouraging her daughter to put herself out there, be more social, etc.

2/16/24 - Baby Steps

 Hi Blog! A few days ago, I did not have a clue what I would be creating my film opening about. Despite this, I have my idea! I even have started my storyboard and a to-do list of aspects that I need to make decisions on such as the fonts, title, protagonist, mood boards, etc. My first draft of the storyboard is not quite done yet because I do not know how I want to end my opening yet. 

I have a few different ideas for how I could end this opening. The first one being she gets back from a party she does not want to be at and then she arrives back to her room, receives a phone call, and has an ending reaction that leaves the audience questioning what the call was about. Another idea I had was to end the opening with the protagonist screaming into their pillow out of frustration because of her internal struggles. The endings may seem confusing with out knowing the beginning yet so I put below my first storyboard to get a glance at my idea. 

                                                    Storyboard Draft (I am not an artist)

As you can see, I do not know what I will be filming after car scene. So far though, I believe that I have made great progression these past few days. I have a developing story but I want to explore the characters I will be creating. This weekend, my goals are to develop more on my two characters (Protagonist and her mother) I would like to define how they look, their style, and make mood boards about who they are, interests, hoobies, etc. 

Not only I am developing my characters, I am currently making another calendar where I will label what type of post I will be making for a given day. I will most likely have my full story board done by the end of next week. I know that I have so many more tasks to complete but I am taking it step by step carefully crafting my every move so that this is a project that I can say I am proud of. By doing this simple step with storyboarding, it gives me an outline of what I will be working with. I will see you next week!

2/15/24 - Bouncing Back

 Hi Blog! I am supposed to be posting this on Wednesday instead of Thursday according to my blog schedule that I had posted week 1, however, I had a slight setback. My plan was to discuss the genre of my idea on Wednesday and then begin to discuss my approach on Thursday. When I was beginning the post on Wednesday, I knew that I could no longer go through with my plan. During the beginning of week 2, I created an idea of my film opening around something that recently occurred in my life but after a few sentences of the blog post, I had a realization that I do not have the strength yet to discuss these events for the next two months.

 I also scrapped my ideas from the week 1 blog post which lead me back to square one. After I realized I can think more outside of the box. My ideas were "been there, done that". As I have previously mentioned prior to this post, I want my audience to be hooked on the plot by only watching two minutes of what I am producing. I have created an idea but I thought that first I should introduce my genre which is... DRAMA

My inspiration for this film opening came from the film The Edge of Seventeen. While this film is not a drama, I was inspired by the main character, Nadine. She has trouble controlling her emotions ever since her father passed away. Her struggle is made clear to the audience that she is battling internally and that not many people are able to understand her feelings and reactions. These characteristics are inspiring the creation of my soon-to-be protagonist. 

                                                                       Drama Films

The Florida Project (2017)

This film is a documentary drama surrounding six year old Moonee and her rebellious mother, Halley. The two are barely able to pay motel rent. Despite these setbacks, Moonee continues to remain a kid with a huge imagination playing with her two best friends, Jancey and Scooty. This film captures Halley and Moonee's living on the edge lifestyle. Halley hides her internal struggle (which is a similar personality trait that I want my protagonist to have) from her daughter normalizing her rent to rent routine. Halley does not have a job so to pay rent she will go by doing whatever it takes to survive another week. The contrasting two provide different perspectives surrounding their unique situation. I have watched this film before I have gained inspiration from both the mother and daughters emotions throughout the drama. By analyzing their behaviors, it helps me realize that every action has an intended meaning behind it.

Thirteen (2003)

This drama film is another huge inspiration for my film opening as it surrounds A thirteen year old girl, her rebellious best friends, and her developing relationship with her mom as she begins to discover troubling subjects such as drugs, sex, and crime. Her best friend is having major impacts on her actions, behaviors, and views. The mise-en-scene and mother daughter relationship has inspired aspects that I may want to integrate into my film opening. The 2000's style and duller lights are other ideas that I may want to include when I pick costumes and lighting. This film is a reference I can use when it comes to adolescence, hormones, etc. Having a relatable film can help create a direct target audience for what I am trying to represent. 

These two films have greatly helped me with my continued research about the drama genre. Watching these films has reminded me that every move that I am making in this project has to have a purpose. After viewing these films, I have gathered many ideas on what I want to include in my film opening. I am proud of my progression so far and despite my minor scheduling set backs, I am on track to make this project one that I am proud of. I am super excited to share with you my ideas and storyboard next blog post. 

Sources:

https://www.charactour.com/hub/characters/view/Nadine-Franklin.Edge-of-Seventeen

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-florida-project/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328538/

2/13/24 - Disoriented Brain

 Hey Blog! If I am being completely honest, I am lost. I realize how significant this project is not only to my grade but what my life will look like for the next few months. I am not super creative when it comes to initiating ideas. I should know more about what I want my portfolio project to look like but I do not have a starting point idea as of now.

Here are some things I do know...

- I want my film opening to be engaging and leave viewers want to see what happens next

- I want to be able to look forward to working on this project

- I want this project to be relatable

-I want this project to educate viewers

When I think of film openings my mind turns to...

                                                              The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

This film opening captures Andrea (Andy) Sachs as she prepares for her first day as a major magazine editor. Not only does it show Andys preparation, the opening shows her other co-workers preparing as well to foreshadow who Andy will be interacting with in events to come. As I instructed, I will not be creating a film opening where the protagonist gets ready for their day. What makes this opening stand out among other films that I have viewed before is the song choice (Suddenly I See By KT Tunstall) By having a catchy song to match your film opening, it helps your film remain memorable to viewers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_xdkGrwSA

 The Breakfast Club (1985)

The first shots of this opening begin with establishing the idea of an empty school to leave the audience pondering. We see that only five students are entering the school on a Saturday. However, the could not be more different. As described in the film, "A nerd, a jock, a princess, a basket case, and a criminal." This film opening has unanswered questions as to why these 5 students were placed in detention. The director provides a sense of wonder and curiosity for viewers allowing them to stay engaged within the first few minutes of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyTK3QHuHE

By taking into consideration what I admire about certain film openings, I believe this will help my research and inspiration through out the course of this project. My research has gone well, however, I need to act fast when considering what I will be creating my film opening about. 

2/9/24 - Brainstorming

 Hi Blog! This week is the start of The AICE Media Cambridge portfolio project. After learning the rules and requirements for this project, the first thing that I felt that I needed to do was to organize how I am going to tackle this task. I went to Canva to create a calendar for the month of February to label what task I will be doing for each given day. By doing this, I believe it will help me keep my cool in order to not get overwhelmed by this bulky project. To keep this organization flow, I have set the dates on my reminder app to send me a notification in the morning to remind me that I have a blog post due that day. I may not have an exact idea on what I will be creating my portfolio project about yet, however, this planning before hand will be beneficial during the long run of the next two months. 

When this project was mentioned, I slightly went into panic mode. I knew that it would come eventually but now that it is happening, the nerves of what I will create my film opening on are hitting me. I started my research immediately on who my target audience would be, what genre I wanted to have, and certain topics I may mention. I went on to Blogger to research portfolio projects to gain inspiration on a story, shots I may want to implement, lighting, sound, etc. I know for a fact that I would like to pick a genre and story that I would want to see myself as I will be working on this project for the next two months. For me personally, sitting through an entire film can be too much for me at times which is why I love the idea of simply producing a film opening. Since the opening is only two minutes, my main goal is to make it engaging and make viewers want to see what happens next. 

My first idea of a filming opening would be about a rockstar. She would be in a band and be regarded as one of the trendiest stars across the globe. She is seen as perfect to her fans who could do no wrong. When in reality, her internal struggle is hurting her voice and career as a whole. Through out the opening she would be shown performing with segments of her drug use catching up to her. This opening is slightly inspired by Euphoria. If this were to be produced in the real world, I believe it could reach an audience with fans who are interested in topics presented in shows similar to Euphoria. As cliche and typical this idea may sound, I believe it can inform my target audience about the dangers and side effects that doing drugs can have on your life. It would encourage others that as temping as drug usage may be, it is never worth losing your life over. I want to create this opening with a purpose to educate while also keeping an audience intrigued and entertained. 

My second idea of a film opening idea I envisioned was a girl who is struggling with the idea of turning 16 and not wanting to grow up. As I am going through this right now, I believe that it can be relatable for people around my age. It is a simple and small idea but I will continue to research now going on into the weekend. I do not know exactly what I may want to produce yet but my goal is to have an outline of my idea by Monday. I will be continuing to brainstorm this weekend so I will check back up on soon enough!

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

 Hi Blog! After completing this complex yet rewarding project, I am very proud of the way it turned out. Coming up with ideas is usually difficult for me, however, we had a clear vision of what we had to do in order to implement this project. We began to brain storm about what the band would look like, how they would dress, marketing strategies, etc. We came up with a family band "All 4 One". Since band is new to the industry, the main idea of the band is to spread their name around locally. We came up with posters, a website, and a link tree filled with social media accounts that the band can use to interact with their fans. The website would also include show dates of when the band will perform at live events to reach their target audience. Originally, we made the target audience 14 to 21 year olds but after having a class discussion about what a target audience does for a band or artist, we created a new description. The audience would reach teenage girls from the same age range that would appreciate indie, 90's, and punk bands. The band having this style would be influential to future generations to come. We had members of the band dress similar to school of rock with a slight edge to differentiate the band from others to avoid competition. After finalizing the research for the music video, we created a vision of using promotional aspects to further the bands career while also having a story to go along with it to entertain viewers. One thing I look for in videos is to want to watch it over and over again. I think our video provides the best of both worlds within both the promotional and storytelling aspects to make this potentially a top selling music video. 

After filming the music video, we started our campaign to reach our target audience. All of the members in our group contributed to the Canva presentation about All 4 One. We added slides such as the distribution, target audience, and social media presence. We all worked on different slides and created different images for what we envisioned about the band. I believe our marketing strategies work well with the image of the band. We included in the Canva presentation about doing pop-up performances inspired by Ed Sheeran  and doing local performances to engage with a smaller audience in the beginning of the family's upcoming career. The Canva presentation provides a full run down as to what you can expect for the future of this band. I am especially proud of the creative marketed implemented into our campaign. An example including a TikTok challenge can create videos with the song showing viewers their "Electric Feel"

My primary job was producing the website to inform others on who the band is and what recent/ upcoming projects are. When designing the website, I focused heavily on the display and image that we wanted the audience to see. I implemented bright colors, newspaper clippings, unique designs, etc. The website is a great way to get to know the band for new fans who happen to search up the name All 4 One and will click on the website to become knowledgable about their upcoming songs, covers, and future performances. I put the bands contact information on the website to reach local restaurants and bars to not only raise money for the business but extra money to further our name down the road. Performances like these can directly reach the target audience we set as people among the range like to go out with their friends, party, and listen to music.

An idea of the website

Overall, I believe my contributions to this projects were beneficial to the final product. Every piece of work that every member did crafted into the final result. I am very proud of the level of creativity that went into this campaign and all of our ideas turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Our idea came ton life no matter how impossible a matter may have seemed. If this band were to be produced, there is no doubt in my mind we would have gained a decent sized audience. This project has been a fun one that will definitely remain as a good memory during my time in this class. I learned how important music videos are for marketing artists, the importance of having a specific target audience, and most importantly teamwork. I believe that this project is going to further my knowledge about not only marketing and media but help me before I enter the long term journey of My Cambridge portfolio project.