Daily update

I got a lot done today despite having work from 2:00-10:30. I got to watch 2 movies today (since I got up really early)  they were, Black Swan and Whiplash. They are both about obsession and followed the same pattern of story building. They both started off with the young naïve protagonist and introduces their talents and a mentor they want to impress, or position they want. Then moving on the taste of greatness, and decent to madness. These movies showed the unhealthy side of obsession and the industry of music and dance. This is what I want to portray in my film, except not having Natalia Portman or J.K. Simmons and a big budget. I also completed my character list and started my storyboard. I just need to find 2 people to act and to start my script, but other than that I am in a pretty good spot for starting this whole thing over. I was thinking about the obsession I wanted to show and I landed on Martial Arts and dance. 

Thats pretty much all there is today and tomorrow I’ll show my finished story board. 

Back to square one..

 After doing some more research I realized that the whole plot and way my story was going to be told was just over played and boring. So I sort of kind of totally scrapped it and start a new plot. I know I want the plot to be musically related and based off of obsession. Then I went on a mission, researching like crazy and coming up with ideas and plots for how this movie would work until I found it. The movie starts with a black screen and the production credits show, then we cut to a door way with the instrument of choice is laying there and the character walks in. After they pass through the door way we cut to a close up to their hand on the instrument and they start playing. Thats all I have for right now but it’s way more developed than what I had before. I started thinking about my cast and what I could possibly do. So I looked towards my good ol’ friend Martina, and asked her “hey can you play any instruments.” To which she replied “no”. I was deeply saddened by this because I really wanted her in my film, but its ok I’ll find someone. Casting is the only issue I have right now which I can deal with later, for right now I have to focus on re-developing my plot and writing my script. 

Day 1 of Script

     

    Today I started with writing my script until I forgot that I need to come up with a name for my film. As I sit in class trying to come up with name ideas for the entire class until my lead actor, and friend, Martina told me, "write your script and focus on that, stop worrying about the title so much." That was probably the best advice I have ever gotten from anybody for this project, and her in general.

As the day went on and after I met with Mrs. Stoklosa I decided to totally scrap the idea of Idia being french. I started to think more in depth about it, and it just seems too random. I wanted to just make her as simple and relatable as possible, so thats going to take some time to think about. I have started to write my script despite the character revamp. I want to make it a light hearted comedic opening that really shows the over all carefree, young aspect of the friend group. I have my story which is going to follow these kids around during their final year of high school coming from all different areas and moving into the suburbs. I feel like this would be really fun to make and relatable to the target audience of teens. I chose this because I understand what its like moving somewhere like a New York to the perfect suburbs like Weston. I wanted to show the duality of fun and feeling bored and now feeling like they belong. 

The difference between the two locations are drastic and can really take a toll on someone. My next blog will include pictures of locations I have in mind for shooting and pictures of my storyboard. That pretty much covers everything I did today, for now though I’m just going to focus on the script, doing my storyboard and try to figure out the title. 

End of week 2 recap

 End of the week recap!!

This week I surprisingly got a lot done despite it being a busy week. I was able to finish my character list, get my music source, and finish my inspiration list. 

I finished my character list last night. The film will be following one character in a five person friend group. They will be all from different places and try to learn how to adjust to the suburban life. The character we will be following is Idia Fry, nicknamed Frenchie. She’s French but was raised in New York City and just recently moved to the suburbs and just cant seem to get used to it until she finds the group of friends. Idia will be played by my good friend Martina since she suits the role well and she also owes me. 

My music will be provided by one of my good online friends to avoid the copyright trouble and having to go through the whole emailing processes. I also love the kid with my whole heart, so working with him on the biggest project I have made will be fun.

I finally finished the list of movies that I got my inspiration and reference from. The first movie I watched was Mid 90’s. This film really showed the friend group idea that I had in mind and shows the growth of a character over time.  Ferris Bueller‘s Day Off was a movie I watched when I was thinking about the freedom and nostalgia aspect of my film. Showing him being free all day and just having fun with not a care in the world. Thats the emotion I want my audience to feel when they watch my film.

Overall I think this was a productive week and really helped me set up my idea that I can’t wait for you to see. Next I’m going to be working on my script and cast list, which is probably going to be the hardest things to do.

music update

 TINY UPDATE!!!!

I just heard back from my friend about the music for the film. I told him that I won’t need it until I start editing, but this is great because I love his music and working with him in general. Thats all, good night!

Short update

 This whole week was pretty stressful but somehow I got to push in some work to do. I started by developing my story and character arcs. The friend group will include 5 people, all from different backgrounds. I have come up with their names, and some of their backgrounds and personalities. One of the characters I based off of one of my friends since she already agreed to be in my opening. The only thing she doesn't share with the character is being french, so that might be an issue. Since today is my only day off during the weekend I have to try and finish developing the story as a whole and start thinking about shot types and how I want the film to look. Today is going to be my last day waiting for my friend to answer me back about the music for the project. I will update you once that's out. Until next time.

Research day 1 :)

 Research research research, this is all I could think about during this long weekend. I researched my genre, movie inspiration, and effective film openings. I really wanted to start off by completely understanding the genre, and did this by reading articles and watching video essays on the topic (found here and here). I really enjoyed this since I wanted to get inspiration from great coming-of-age films. First of which was Mid 90's. This film really showed what I wanted to do, and did it very well. The movie had really good diversity and character growth. It also followed a friend group doing what they love together, which is what I want to do. At the end of the film, they all watch a montage of moments they all experienced together, giving the audience a sense of nostalgia. After watching this film, I am stuck between two different ideas. The reason why I'm stuck in that one, is they would both look great, and two, I know one of them is going to be more fun to film, but the other one I believe would look more visually appealing. I have a list of reference films that I'm going to try to watch by the end of the week to help me narrow down my choice. The final thing I did this week was thinking about music. I texted them asking if they would like to compose some music for my portfolio project, and while waiting for my response I started researching some bands that would go good with what I have in mind. Since I have this class tomorrow I can work on the research process more, and maybe get started on further developing the plot of my story. Until next time!! (which is most likely tomorrow)

Start of film opening project

  blog for my portfolio project. I’ll be honest when I first heard of this project I was a little nervous but overall really excited. To start off working for this project I evaluated if it would be easier to work on this by myself, or with a group. I came to the realization that it might be better for me if I worked by myself to push my creative skills and knowledge of the course itself. I started off the week by thinking about how to build this story and what my topic should be for this project. I am still working on it, but my genre will be coming of age and my film will surround a group of highschool students. At the start I instantly had a million ideas but I needed the one that would, not only look the best, but also be the most fun to film. So why not have a film based off my current life staring my friends and it coming out great?  I am super excited to start getting deeper into this project and push myself to the limit with the skills and knowledge I’ve obtained over the year.

Music Marketing

• Talk about the processes of picking the song and why
• The start of brainstorming

    We were tasked with making a music video. There are several different steps we had to follow in the 3-week span of this project. First, we had to pick our genre from the file that we were emailed. Once we got the file we listened to all the songs we were given. This was one of the hardest parts of the whole project since the songs were all so good and I like a lot of genres. We ended up going with the ska-punk genre since we felt like it went with the vibe of the group the best. This song ended up being 9th at Pine, by Less Than Jake. This song starts off with a sort of beach vibe that goes into the punk element of the song that really gets exposed after the first drop.  After we picked the genre we needed to start brainstorming the band in general. 

    The most important thing we needed to do was come up with a name. So being the brilliant, creative brains we are, we used a random word generator and got two words that sound like a punk band, and so Freight Patrol was created. Next, we needed a marketing plan for Freight Patrol to ascend to the top of the charts. We started to do our research on similar bands in the genre and the labels they are signed to. During this time, we were required to create a Music Research Chart which was perfect since this would have been the next step anyway. We decided to have our two case studies on Interscope Records and Warner Music Group, which both have signed very successful punk bands. While making our chart we also researched their marketing and distribution plans.

    After we had everything we needed, we started to create our storyboard for the music video. We listened to the song on repeat to try to get a sense of the emotions the band is trying to portray. Once we got the vibe, we started to discuss and plan our video; the process was very difficult for the group since I was out with an injured foot. Although we had this minor hiccup, we came out of it with a fantastic idea. The video will start off slow and speed up towards the end just like the song. 

    Once we finished that, we could finally start on the presentation preparation. We started by making a PowerPoint, but since we didn't like the templates we decided to go with Canva. Canva had the perfect templates and resources we wanted to make our presentation as cool and as pretty as possible. We did our research and studied the PowerPoint over and over again. Just like that, we were ready to present and rock it. When we presented, we were all super confident ... until it was our turn to speak. We stumbled on our words and forgot what to say a bit. That was from the nerves getting to us. But I guess that's normal.

    Aspects of this project that will be helpful in my Cambridge project would be the video, storyboard, four case studies, and Canva slide show. I chose these because these are the parts of the project that were the hardest to complete, and most likely to be required in the portfolio.

    Although our presentation didn't go as calmly as expected, our music video and knowledge of the genre were all spot on and were shown through question-and-answer time and our PowerPoint. We all enjoyed this project that tested our time management, creative thinking, and ability to work as a team which I believe are characteristics that will become very valuable in the future.