Balancing it all

 Hi Blogger! After my last blog post, I have put a lot of thought it what I wanted every piece of my portfolio project to look like and I have resolved that I would like to focus on the ending excerpt of an episodic documentary so that I can delve into the message about what I am trying to produce much more. By demonstrating the ending, it is the resolution that discusses positive reinforcements to take within having an insecurity. Therefore, I have a lot more ideas on how I would shift the mood of more emotional moments into a more positive outlook. Due to these reasons, I am taking storyboarding more serious and am working on my first official draft for my portfolio project which is super exciting and I love watching all of these small details come together to cultivate into what is my own piece of work. 

Something that I really helped me decide on having this structure within my episodic documentary was by actually envisioning what a 25-30 minute episode of this series would look. I had watched Season 1 Episode 10 of the episodic documentary series Explained entitled Explanation Point which recounts Linguists and copy editors exploring how the exclamation point has adapted across history, literature and internet-speak. By understanding the beginning, middle, and end of an actual episodic documentary, it helped me envision how I would want to see my episodic documentaries episodes.

Since I have been trying to do it all this week, I have been attempting to build up my marketing campaign more to make sure my target audience is more engaged within my product. Although I have not posted as much as I would have liked to keep my target audience's attention, I have been creating new designs on Canva to demonstrate on the Instagram page to ensure that my audience stays hooked on what I will be producing in the future. Therefore, I have created new teaser posters and layering ideas to present on my Instagram page. 

Although I really like the overall look of these designs, I want to get more creative on my marketing campaign to ensure that I attract more viewers into my audience. I have not been as active on the Instagram page as I would like to be; therefore, in this upcoming week, I plan on creating more unique and interactive posts through polls, Q&A's, interviews with other subjects within the series, meet the subjects, and other content that can appeal to the target audience that I am reaching for. 

I am trying make sure I do not loose sight on any aspects within this project in order for my brain to not forget anything within this hefty project. Even though I discuss many of my drawbacks and things that I would like to change about the progress of my portfolio project, I think I am doing a solid job at balancing everything that must get done. I may still have some unanswered questions, but everything so far is coming along the way that I want it to. Until next time!

Structure

Hi Blogger! Now that I have began to have an answer to some of my questions that were previously unanswered, it is time to put my vision into action. After talking with Sadie, she let me know that she would be discussing her insecurity about her self esteem and overall self image of herself which is very common and relatable amongst my target audience's age. Therefore, I think by having a topic that is as recognizable as that one, it will allow my target audience to be more intrigued and engaged since it may be personal to what they're going through. 

Although I am on the right track with figuring out many significant details within my portfolio project, I am still a little bit lost on what exactly my episodic documentary will look like, especially considering this is an excert. A huge thing that is on my mind is where exactly I want to start this segment. The beginning? The middle? The end? I have no idea yet if I am being completely transparent. Despite my surrounding questions, I believe that what will work best for me is to start experimenting that way I can understanding what works and what I believe will not fit into this project. I have been playing around with different ways to go about and approach my portfolio project, as shown below...

I experimented with taking a segment from the ending of an episodic documentary episode. I did not understand why I tried this at first, however this may be the easiest one for me to do since I will have more of a resolution as well as closure that what I will be implementing. Also being having the segment be based on the closing scene of an episodic documentary, I could discuss more of how to use your insecurity as a positive reinforcement rather than just sulking about how it makes you sad. I believe by having this message included within my portfolio project will be fitting for my target audience since most young adults and teenagers do not have somewhere to look when they need a media source to give them guidance on something that is bothering them about themselves. 

Also within my planning I included some aspects I want to produce within my segment that will make shots, angles, etc. more meaningful as seen on the planning sheet.

Overall, although I am still figuring out many details within what I am implementing, I believe that I need to keep experimenting in order to find out what suits this project the best. I want to ensure that what I am putting out is engaging enough that it is not another typically informative documentary that nobody ends up watching but a production with engagement with a structure that is not typically viewed within the media sphere. Even though I do not know how I am going to do this yet, I need to keep trying while thinking of new and creative ideas (storyboarding will help me a lot with this) Until next time!

Group Meeting #1

Hi Blogger! Today was super exciting since we had our first group meeting :) I was super excited to discuss my progress and to see how other people were doing as well. Most importantly though, I was really looking for advice on things that I could add/incorporate in order to improve my portfolio project. 

While group members were discussing how there projects were coming along, I made sure to take notes that way I could get more information on what my peers have done, what exactly they're doing, how they're coming along, etc. Below, you will see some aspects that I noted about their upcoming projects. 

Julia 

-Trailer Film Distribution

-Coming of Age drama

-Blog series 

-Film is called “Wake Up”

-Has an active Instagram of a countdown for engagement

-Has a storyboard for the first trailer and is working on the second one 

-Unique ideas for Instagram

-More marketing

-Create saturation

-Have colors contrast more

Romina

-Episodic Documentary

-How people express themselves through their clothing

-Interviewees are sister and her boyfriend due to their love for clothes

-Unsure of how to market product

-Title: Window to the soul

-Using the mall for B-Roll since she works at Hollister

-Each episode would be a different aesthetic of clothing

Corina

-Comedy short film 

-Two people who start a fight club

-Working on storyboarding the plot

-Goal: Get the girl

-5 actors included

-Consider filming schedule

-Needs to find exactly what she wants

-Consider what she would like to be included within her production

Zain

-Comedy short film

-Not exactly sure of what her group will be implementing 

-Researching social media with brighter and bolder colors (Blues, purples, etc.)

By taking note of the characteristics of my group members progress, whether is was genre, social media, intentions, social media pages, what can be improved/changed, it helped me gain further insight into what I can maybe do within my own portfolio project. After discussing the highlights and drawbacks in my group members' endeavors, it put into perspective that you can always improve or change something within your project for the better.

As for my own project, my groups members had some constructive criticism in order to help me with the future in my portfolio project:

-Intense moments: Close ups

-Stick to a more colorful pallet due to target audience 

-Accent lighting

-Consider what I want the shots to look like (realization)

After receiving these comments, I now have a better understanding that although my project is a solid idea with great potential, I need to start actually putting my ideas into action and realize how I want my episodic documentary to be constructed. Although I now know who I will be using as my subjects within the production itself as well as the social media page after the group meeting, I need to start making moves with these ideas that I have. Even though I was conflicted at first about the look of my episodic documentary, Zain gave me a great idea to use brighter colors since my target audience is young adults are the use of more captivating colors will provide further engagement for this age group.

I really enjoyed this group meeting and thought is was super useful for the future of my portfolio project. Not only did it help me better understand what I want to include within my project, it was a great wake up call that I need to be putting my plans into motion. Although I am still conflicted on how I exactly want an episode of my episodic documentary to look like, I am grateful that I now have a better idea of what are my next steps and how I should go about them. However, I have made significant steps these past week through outlines, storyboard drafts, figuring out who I want to use as my subjects, and other aspects that will heavily contribute to what I am implementing within my portfolio project. Now that I have grasped all of this new information, I am ready to move along with these exciting new things that are involved in this eventful journey. Despite me not making my Instagram page for my episodic documentary super active this week, I now can introduce my subjects this upcoming week and post a variety of other pieces of content that will allow my audience to become more engaged within my product. I am super excited for planning this next week as well as captivating my audience through posts within my Instagram page. Until next time!

Meet the subjects!

Hey Blogger! As you can tell, I have an idea of what I will be implementing, however, I am not sure of exactly what it is going to look like and how it will be structured; this is partially due to not having an idea of who I am going to include within my portfolio project. Therefore, I have final solidified who will be starting in the episodic documentary itself as well as who I plan of including within my Instagram page. 

This is my friend Sadie who is a Junior in high school like me. Although Sadie told me that she is not exactly sure about what she wants to discuss in my portfolio project's excerpt, she has agreed to discuss a insecurity in her life that she thinks about often and how she does positive reinforcements in order to cope with her feelings about this insecurity. Sadie's goal, which is similar to mine, is to allow others to understand that your feelings are valid and that you're not alone in regards to having an insecurity that bothers you.

This is my friend Finley who is Senior. She has agreed to be demonstrated on my social media page to represent that my portfolio project is a display of a series. Therefore, Finley is assisting me appearing as a subject within my episodic documentary. Similar to Sadie, we have not discussed what insecurity she will be speaking upon, partially due the fact that I brought the idea up to her in a brief manner. However, she agreed to aid me in any help I need for posts within my social media page for my episodic documentary. 

This is my friend Cecilia who is also a Senior like Finley who has agreed to be displayed on my social media page. I was able to go more in depth with Cecilia on what my episodic documentary will be about, therefore, she told me that should be representing her insecurity about her ears. Within the social media page, I will have her discuss the thing that she does not always like in a more uplifting manner in order to go along with my theme and purpose of this episodic documentary which is to make people more comfortable within their own skin. 

I am really happy I have found who I will be including within my portfolio project since now this gives me a better indication of the content that I can create in my future journey that will take place within this project. Although I am still missing some details along with some unanswered questions, this will help put my mind at ease while getting a better understanding of how I will be going about the rest of this project. I am super excited for what is to come next with my amazing friends who have agreed to take part is this process. Next blog post is the group meeting which I am DESPERATE for since I am in need of a lot of advice and guidance. However, now that I have my subjects, I feel much more secure. Until next time!

Fork in the road

 Hi Blogger! As much as I have been discussing the digital aspect of my portfolio project through my Instagram page that I have set up last week, I think it is time for me to actually start creating the excerpt for my episodic documentary. For this next week, planning will be crucial for what I am planning to implement. Therefore, I will be creating storyboards, making outlines, brainstorming B-Roll, figuring out who my main subject will be. 

However, I feel slightly stuck. Since I am unsure about who I will be using as my subjects as of now, I do not have many ideas or inspiration. Therefore, I am a little all over the place. Despite this, I attempting to persevere in any way that I can. Consequently, I am working on both planning for the excerpt itself as well as more inclusions to have within my Instagram page. It has been a little hectic and chaotic within my planning process recently but on a good note, I did make a poster for my episodic documentary that I am extremely proud of.

                                                                                    Poster

I believe this image is suitable for my target audience since it has an innocent essence while also remaining engaging as well as appealing to the eye. I also think that my tag line, "What you can't see wont hurt you", being in a text message box is relatable to teenagers since majority of this age group's primary source of communication is through text messages. As for the flowers, I picked a wide variety of shades to add color to bring a positive mood and message to the series to allow my target audience to understand the purpose of this production is not to discuss how much insecurities suck but how you can use them to uplift yourself along with your overall well-being.

On the other hand, my storyboards and outlines have not been as successful as my social media campaign since I am unsure of exactly who my subjects will be. Therefore, this made me realize that this week I need to figure out who I will be using within my project that way I can properly plan out what I will implementing. Due to me not having an idea of who will be in the production, the storyboarding did not go very far since I did not have a way to surround fitting B-Roll. My main takeaway from storyboarding during my class period time today is that I need to find my subjects as soon as humanly possible. 

Despite not having a ton of new progress, this blog post has made me understand that in order to figure out exactly what the future looks like for my portfolio projects, I need to figure out who I will be incorporating into my episodic documentary that way I can come up with a larger sum of ideas and promotion strategies. Therefore, this week will be heavily focused on choosing who I want to include that way I can get down to business. Until next time!

The roots are holding up!

 Hi Blogger, I have awesome news, I have officially created my social media page! Despite the setbacks within creating the accounting, the issue is now fixed which means I can start posting (which I am super excited about.) As mentioned in my previous blog post, I will be posting the design that I created this past week, which is shown below...

Although I have my account and theme set up, I need to ensure that I am consistently staying active to keep my audience's attention and that I have an organized schedule of when I will be posting on the Instagram page. I am planning on posting AT LEAST 3 times a week to ensure that my audience does not loose interest within what I am producing. Therefore, I wanted to go in depth on specifics posts that I will be including my the page for my episodic documentary. 

Man On The Street Style Reel - In one of Instagram posts to provide interactive content, I was planning on having a Man On The Street interview style video where I would go around in an outdoor setting, for instance a Mall or Town Center, to ask people what is their biggest insecurity. Through these interviews, it would allow my audience to understand my purpose within my episodic documentary even further through grasping that no matter who the person is, everybody has an insecurity even if they do not make it public. I believe that by bringing more awareness to the topic that insecurities should be more normalized and that they're typically underlying, it will make my audience more invested in how to essential handle having these insecurities in your life as well as being comfortable in their own skin within realizing that so many people (which will be demonstrated in the Man On The Street interviews) are enduring these same hardships. 

Behind The Scenes Footage - Through this simple yet effective footage, I believe by including Behind The Scenes Footage within my episodic documentary, it will allow for more engagement for my intended audience. By showing silly moments on set, what goes into creating an episode, deep unseen footages of discussions about insecurities, and a variety of other extra inclusions, the audience will grow more fond of this production through demonstrations of relatability, rawness, and emotional appeal. Furthermore, I believe this would be a great post to include as the days approach to the release date of the episodic documentary in order to provide a climactic lead up and hold onto the attention of people who follow the Instagram account.

Another important aspect that I feel is essential to include is a few other subjects being demonstrated within the social media page in order to represent sent that this is an episodic documentary and that each episode involves a different insecurity. For instance a title for an episode would be the subjects name and what insecurity they will be discussing. In order to represent this idea, I wanted to include short segments from a potential episode within the series I am producing in order for the my intended audience to not only understand the genre of what they will be watching but how the series is structured and accommodated to focus on one person per episode to make one's insecurity feel more important and personal to them. 

After exploring a variety of ideas that I could include within my social media page, I am super excited to implement these on my own Instagram. Throughout this next week, I will be continuing to come up with new ideas to include on my Instagram, posting consistently (at least 3 times a week), and beginning to plan for the actual production of my episodic documentary for my portfolio project. I am so excited for these next steps over the next few weeks. Until next time!

Beginning but digitally

Hi Blogger! As I mentioned in my previous post, I am slightly nervous about beginning to develop my social media page. Although I have my idea and kinda sorta have plans for the Instagram content as well as marketing campaign, I want to ensure that it accurately depicts my piece while also being aesthetically pleasing in order to satisfy my control freak needs. I have been attempting to come up with a look for the feed, therefore, I have been creating a variety of designs that I could potentially implement on my Instagram page through Canva. 

Something that I desire for within the digital aspect of my portfolio project is an organized and layering look. Therefore, I found a Canva template that could represent how I would like my feed to like organization wise. 

                                                                            For example...

                                                                          

Although my title is The Roots of a Flower: Our Underlying Insecurities, I wanted to make a tagline in order to tease what I will be producing to provide audience engagement to look forward to what will be coming next so that they're invested in watching the documentary develop and unfold. Therefore, I came up with What you can't see wont hurt you in order to reference what topic my documentary will be discussing, insecurities. 

I feel much better about my project now that I have an overall theme and marketing campaign to develop, therefore, I will be posting these designs on my Instagram page by the end of this week which I am super excited about. Although I have an idea of what I want it to look like now, I want to consistently stay active that way my audience is engaged and is looking forward to what is to come. As a result, I have started to brainstorm potential posts that I could also include within my Instagram page. 

Instagram Post Ideas

These are a few examples of some posts that I find visually appealing that I could potentially include within my own social media for my episodic documentary.

In order to get all of the ideas circling in my head more organized, I found it really help to jot down these ideas that way first of all do not forget them but also to make a schedule for each week on what should be posted that way the Instagram is constantly active. 

Brainstorming for social media

In addition to that, I also created some other Canva designs to brainstorm what I can include on my social media page. I really enjoyed testing out what I could possibly include throughout this template and I plan on making the rest of my social media page match this theme that way my brand is more recognizable.

Minor Setback

When I was attempting to make the Instagram, the verification code was not working after many attempts which caused the account to say that it was suspended. Therefore, I will be waiting for the appeal email. However, if it takes too long, I will have to find another phone number or email to use that way I can begin posting on the Instagram account. 

Despite these current events, I am really excited to start posting and I have a lot of faith within my ideas for content. Although I was stuck at first, I really like the theme that I have developed I am exciting to continue to further my marketing campaign through the Instagram page.