Marketing Research

A point that I wanted to research and just get better at in general is marketing. This is no surprise to me considering the half-baked sideshow presentation and music video I had to present under said unit. It was a disaster but a disaster that I've learned from and if anything the work I have to get done will hopefully make this project better than anything I've done as well as make it appealing enough to make it to a film festival. 

The First video I watched was incredibly informative and I think this should be feasible in advertising the short film. There is a lot of information and a lot that needs to be done especially with a one woman marketing team. Some of the things it brought up was reaching out to bloggers for reviewing your short film. It also brought up more about the director's statement and the cast list involved. 

This video offered techniques that were a lot simpler and a lot easier to-do. I also never thought of using forums in such a way to not only receive criticism. But to reach a community that can further open up my social- circle of like-minded filmmakers. 

This is such an important part of this film because this makes it a well rounded project.

To be honest I've got high hopes for this and I might just experiment with another short film I'm working on. Marketing is everything in making sure that your film is seen.

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Props- 👺

I mentioned before how I had plans to use a mask to identify the ‘antagonists’  in this piece. Now I have a number of masks but none that I have in stock fit my vision for what I want so I think I might have to create them. A style that I think inspires the future design would be something like this:

Now of course the little girl isn’t included but the uncomfortable expression on her face is exactly what I want to capture with the main character. 

On my quest to find ways I can make this mask I came across these videos: 1, 2, 3. All that told me is that I must summon and relearn the art of paper-mache. An art long lost from the days of my youth according to video 2 this is definitely the easiest cheapest way for me to do this.

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Research Key Art

Key Art!!!

This is one of the most important parts of a film in general. Not only is this the first impression, it's what would hypothetically be what associates everyone with this film. Before I commence the actual research I already know one of the colors I want to have a major part in this film is blue. Although it can be the color of serenity and control I want it to demonstrate the feeling of loneliness. I’ll worry about the technical difficulties with that later but for now that's the plan. 

For the first video it wasn’t exactly ‘a how to’ but more so of a ‘what to’. It did give me ideas for the key art and the social media promotional posts in the future. Playing with the lighting and overlapping voices definitely aligns with the film’s experimental nature and can cause people to gain an interest early on. 

The next resource was a school’s website: that mandated that posters must be at least 32" x 44" in size, but no larger than 36" x 48." Other hand, the rest of that stuff was for the students so I figured I’d look for a better guide.

Found it! This website was a lot more direct with their information and had the dimensions I was looking for–more or less. I really want something that will tell me the correct dimensions for the credits and whatnot. But this was probably the most helpful: it offers a template, the dimensions for different social media platforms, and other websites that can work with photoshop.

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Research on Editing

One of the edits that was used a lot in Shapes and Colors. was datamoshing which is the glitchy-looking transition of two clips into the other.  It truly makes for a trippy feel that many experimental films have. To learn how I could do data moshing I watched 

4 TRIPPY Ways To Blend Footage (DATAMOSHING) | Video Editing Tutorials which did a wonderful job of giving me a general idea on how to do this. In the video the commentator went over a lot more than just datamoshing but newer ways I can blend images in adobe premiere, which I find very helpful, all of which are being considered for the future. 

After watching that I felt as though my editing was important for me to try and expand the power of the shots I take. So just to refresh on my abilities I go to the video I watched in the very beginning: My Review. Further on I watched the 13 Creative Film and Video Editing Techniques in hopes of adding a bit more to expand my knowledge about Adobe and editing there. 

Overall I think maybe blending as a transition is going to be majorly important for what's to come. Now all that's left now is for me to craft actual substance for my portfolio project.

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More Research on Experimental Films

 Both The Crash Course History of Experimental film and the Beginners Guide to Experimental Cinema

were helpful in understanding the past of experimental films.
For instance Warhol’s Empire which was simply a static image of the Empire State Building for eight hours and five minutes. While I have no intentions of just filming a single object for hours on end I don’t think I can create something as elaborate as David Lynch though there are some elements I plan to use. Similar to the formerly mentioned director, the elements of

Un Chien Andalou creates more of a feeling rather than a concrete story. The supernatural traits that are utilized in David Lynch’s pieces but the loose narrative in Un Chien Andalou  is what I want to inspire my creation.

In terms of the validity of my resources do bring into question the information I did attain. For instance the Beginners Guide had very opinionated diction like: ‘best’ and ‘in my opinion.’ Whereas crash course kept things very informative by letting the chain of inspiration and innovation amongst film makers. It also talked about the history of the experimental genre’s origin or the “Avant Garde” style of film. Apparently this was sort of a protest against conventional film; the absolute opposition to what is typically done is accepted. As I mentioned briefly before these films were all about what it made you feel or think about rather than a story that needed to be told. 

One last thing–the crash course video talked about how documentaries use some abstract elements to deliver mostly nonfictional information. 

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Research on Genre

 

Two short films I originally found on Youtube were Catharsis and Shapes and Colors. Both are experimental and demonstrate an underlying tone but nothing set in stone. It left so much up to interpretation that the artful creation and direction of the piece shines through. Something about both these pieces is that they seemed low in production value as the effort was focused on simply the appearance of props or the editing/musical factor. With no specific structure rhyme or reason this doesn’t come off as some nonsense put together to make you think of a specific story but more so a collection of factors that make this artistic short film

Something else I learned while doing this was that there is another place I seem to have neglected for posting videos and getting your name out there: Vimeo. Catharsis had a link to the creator, Robert Machado, and his profile allowed you to hire him and look at more of his work. I really appreciated this as another outlet to expand my reach with my portfolio.

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Final Decision & Moving Forward

I’ve finally decided that I would go with the short film in hopes of adding more finite short films into my portfolio. Although the trailer would be easier to film I know from the last project that it is something I’m not the best at. Maybe if I spent more time on it I guess I should be able to improve but I don’t think that's entirely possible with a schedule as tight as mine.  That being said, it's time to begin the next step of preparation is completing research!!

For research I figured watching what past students came up with as well as what can be found on Youtube should be good inspiration. I also figure researching how to independently produce and film one would also be good. I mean I know what my limitations are but how to expertly maneuver through this can be improved upon. As well as research about how to create good props and to improve my script writing to fit into the time frame of 7 minutes. Just thinking about the plan from here on out. I plan to know everything about anything when it comes to this film.

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Here we Go Again

Now that the time has come for another portfolio project since we were told I already had ideas circling in my head, the only problem is that now I don’t know which to choose.

Out of the three decisions: Documentary, two trailers, or a short film. Seeing as I want to be a screenwriter, director, and head of story the last two are ideal but now the question is which one? At first I only had one idea for the trailer that I love but the feasibility of such a piece would be a real challenge. 

The story would have been for the trailer. Where a character meets and fights alongside her multidimensional doppelgängers. She would have discovered that through some unidentifiable reason herself from other dimensions are convening in her dimension. There would be light banter as they each introduced themselves: One who is similar to a Victorian noble, one who is a wild card, one who is a quiet kid that's just socially awkward, and finally another quiet kid who is secretly a skilled swordswoman.  Together they would discover another version of her who collected everyone there to kill at the same time. Of course the versions band together and fight as the plot of every team action movie. The genre would be an action/comedy where certain versions of her would bring most of the comedic relief. In terms of  actors all that would be needed would be me and that works great seeing as I’m working by myself. My worries though is how long this would take considering a lot of time for planning will be lost due to family situations. 

On the other hand my idea was for an experimental piece about loneliness. Essentially the main character will have interactions with masked people. The masks would begin to chip pieces away before the protagonist responds the wrong way and the mask comes back. While witnessing this version of the protagonist will help try to rationalize this phenomenon. The ending would be the main character settling to watch TV to escape the rationalizing and relax. 

Either way I don’t know what exactly to start planning for both have their ups and downs. On one hand the trailer idea is a lot of work but is much shorter than a whole short film. The short film will also take long but is a lot easier to shoot and less physically taxing. I will attain the opinions of many before making a decision.

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Parody-Pastiche-Psycho

While I’ve definitely completed something for my Media Studies class I’ve been able to spread my creative wings a lot more in my Film class. That's not to say that the skills I’ve acquired from Media Studies haven't helped but the lenient nature of the assignments really lets me have fun and push myself to complete what I want to the best of my ability. For this love-project I created a parody/pastiche piece to 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Watching the movie was inspiring as it reflected the power of suggestion through multiple shots, enticing sound, and fast edits. I realized how much I loved the tragic but suspenseful nature of the film. I attempted to recreate the shower scene but with my own twist. 

Here is the my Psycho Parody:

Now I know there were, again, problems with the sound being too high or faint but the actions and story all followed a specific plan, a vast juxtaposition from the project in my last post. Either way I did learn that my dog probably will not always be as cooperative as he was in the picture and when delving into deeper topics not having your camera person be your mother who can demand you put a warning. Of course I doubt she’d ever go looking for it but better safe than sorry. Of course there are some other issues with mise-en-scène and sound as well as story line. This I’m slightly more proud of , granted should anyone every play it on a big scene I will divert my eyes but still. 

PS: I've been told by quite a few I have an accent, is this true?

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Old beginnings

I’ve grown a fair amount since the last time I posted. One of the products of my growth was the result of a project focused on distributing. With a story written by a student my group was tasked to create a distribution plan and create a trailer for a romantic comedy. I focused mostly on the editing of the project as my teammates dominated the acting, directing, and the creation of the key art. Other than editing I did a majority of the hypothetical marketing and focus on what the conventions for romantic-comedies are in general. It may not have translated well per my social ineptitude but nonetheless I found I was quite proud of that. 

Here is the folder filled with the distributing contents for “A Project for Disaster”

In all honesty there were a multitude of issues with the preproduction, production, and post. There was an insane lack of planning when it comes to knowing exactly what was supposed to be shot. Let alone the major factor of there being a lack of audio and shots for moments that truly needed it. Editing without a plan was like pulling out my own tongue and then trying to reattach it, an action done without a clear direction on where to go next. What’s worse is that the prompt of distribution was lightly grazed and didn't help the impact this could have-in theory-had.

Looking at it more positively it helped me realize how bad I am at sound design and how I can learn from this to spend more time truly planning out every step of mine. 

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CCR

 Here are the CCR Thanks again for being with me on this journey! :)

Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I4LpB7oO7_zfH9YOHRa6U9QIL51ZtNz3/view?usp=sharing

Portfolio Project Final Product

 Here is the finished project. Thanks for sticking with me throughout this journey. 

Depending on what works for you I have two links that you can use. One will give you access to the direct download and viewing of my video and the other will take you to the video on Youtube. Both are the same are just added to provide easy access.

Link 1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cQQv3WVQMtF0ETdYk166O7BTX9ohmC7x/view?usp=sharing

Link 2

https://youtu.be/g2HG8unW2Jc

Final Reflection

 Looking back at all my old posts it's crazy how much of a journey this was compared to any other projects I’ve done. I’ve learned a lot from my class about developing something worthy of my audience's attention and it's one thing to learn from a screen from a PowerPoint to actually put the lessons into practice.

I’ve made a point to talk about it in the CCR but planning was a big thing for me. When doing past projects I’d make a script and then wing the rest of it but having a plan for every aspect of the film opening would make the execution so much better. I knew exactly what to look for when filming because I planned all of it out. 

Editing was something I am very familiar with but like pre-production, in the past, my post was simply “winging it” but since my edits were so specific in planning it provided a structure that made my opening beautiful.

A flaw that proved itself over and over again was how difficult it was to do everything by myself. As the actor, director, and editor it made the burden of the project much heavier but working with someone has its own hurdles. Even though my project came out as it did the power of a team and the input of others would have been helpful. 

Ultimately I really enjoyed this project and I look forward to others like this one in the future.

CCR Ideas

My teacher made rules for the CCR and made suggestions in order to look appealing. The CCR’s maximum time is seven minutes and she suggested that we don’t do standup. I’d understand why...it’s easy and can be done very quickly; funnily enough that was my first idea when I first heard about this part of the assignment. 

Instead, I’ve figured another way to not only reflect on my progress in the project itself but also answer the four questions assigned which are:

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware, and online – in this project?

I can casually answer these questions in a fun interview; let me explain. The name of this part is literally called Creative Critical Reflection and what better way to show off my production’s techniques, gadgets, and overall purpose. I plan to act out at least three different characters to give their answers to questions offered by an ‘off-screen interviewer’ when in fact it’ll all be played by me. I want to make this as fun and transparent as possible about the portfolio project that I’ve nearly completed. I won’t spoil it but I’ve got plans to make this a CCR remember.

Until next time!! :)

Editing

I’ve done the majority of the editing at this point and I’m not disappointed. I was worried that the shots taken weren’t enough despite practically filming everything twice. I’m well aware that none of my cameras hold a candle to a DSLR or even an AC-80 (which I have experience from in the TV club/class) but the shots were fairly decent. I’ll probably go more in-depth with my CCR but I’m not disgusted by my creation; in fact, I might be proud. 

I’m not praising it as my greatest art piece but I’m confident that this is a fair representation of the skills I’ve been taught in Media Studies AS. 

After hours of keying, cropping, and cutting in Davinci Resolve all I have left is to officially decide my music. In all honesty, I’ve been avoiding talking and adding official labels about the music because I wasn’t sure if the voiceover and the diegetic sound from the environment would be enough. I wanted to get a feel as to where this is going in order to pick which music I will officially implement into the final product. I have a bias towards one of the songs but I want to check its royalty-free guidelines before I wholeheartedly commit to using this music. I’ll be sure to let you know. Until next time!!! :)

Filming

Today I filmed all that I planned to. Needless to say, not everything was particularly flawless which is what I expected going into this project on my own. In all honesty, my shots that had to be set up with a tripod were absolute poop!!! But I can’t give myself all the credit, the timing of my family and the time of day were all contributing factors to the disaster shoot. The whole reason I chose my backyard was to have a controlled area but alas my naivete knows no bounds; my family recently decided on the morning of my shooting to move the trampoline in my backyard. Moving it so close to the hammock stole away my vision of a beautiful longshot of my backyard which would cut multiple times to move in on my character, establishing their lively environment. 

It wasn’t a total bust. I was later able to enlist the help of my sister to hold the camera. Being a novice with a camera, I had to be incredibly specific on how I wanted these shots to be. And even with proper guidance filming wasn’t without problems; my other sister and rambunctious puppy made sure of that. One with the desire to be a part of everything and the other who just wants to eat. I predict that there will be a lot of sound being cut out. 

    For the shots I mentioned earlier, the visuals only offer footage for my attempted set up at the beginning and provided some beautiful diegetic sound for the outside; the birds must’ve been having a concert. 

Things seem to be on track! Until next time! :)

Storyboard Pt. II

Continuing the storyboard:

Storyboard Pt. I

So as promised in the first part of the Storyboard of course a lot of these images will not be what’s in the opening but it’s more like conceptual visuals. 

Screenplay

Here is my screenplay as scheduled on the chart. Now I won’t do any more talking (typing?) than necessary so let’s just jump right in:

Opening Scene Tomatoes

[Tight Shot from High Angle]

A tomato is placed on a cutting board. 

VO Begins The fruit of a plant is the carrier of the seed. The seed: new life. 

A hand goes off-screen returning with a large butcher knife.

-Black Screen- [Fade in] Credits

VO Continues To be eaten for another to survive. That’s how it works. A life for a life. An eye for an eye. An arm for ahead.

A knife is guided to rub the tomato (almost sensually) with the hand steadying it.

-Black Screen- [Fade in] Credits

 VO Continues Fruits are naturally bright.  Enticing. Juicy. It is fate that the fruit is consumed; it’s their purpose. And the job of a predator is to consume the fruit; after all, it is their desire. 

Then the cut of the tomato right down the middle (swift chop). 

Slicing continues choosing a half (slice horizontal). Continue slicing until small pieces. 

Dice remaining bits 

[Wide-Establishing Shot of Backyard] 

[Wide Shot of Marlyn on a hammmock]

[Closeup of Marlyn’s face]Her face is stoic, reflective.

[Over the Shoulder of her writing]

[Extreme Closeup] Marlyn’s eyes look up to the camera.

-Black Screen-[Fade-in] Title of Movie 

Script for VO (voiceover)

Abiding by the schedule here is the script for the VO:

VO: The fruit of a plant is the carrier of the seed. The seed: new life. 

[Pause]

VO: Fruits are naturally bright.  Enticing. Juicy. It is fate that the fruit is consumed; it’s their purpose. And the job of a predator is to consume the fruit; after all, it is their desire. 

VO: To be eaten for another to survive. That’s how it works. A life for a life. An eye for an eye. An arm for ahead. 

Of course, this is just a piece that will be incorporated into the screenplay which will explain the overlay of the VO and the visuals that accompany it. This is the only spoken part that will be heard in the opening and will probably be heard with the quiet fade-in of one of the pieces I selected in previous posts. I hope to figure out which piece by tomorrow. Until next time! :)

Final Stretch

The time I plan to film is becoming even closer and the final parts of pre-production will need to be completed. I’m going to layout the official plan for the next couple of days leading to filming; so stay tuned!

Tuesday	Script for VO
Wednesday	Screen Play
Thursday	Storyboard Pt. I
Friday	Storyboard Pt. II

The schedule above is a rough schedule I have to leave the weekend open for the filming. I split the storyboard because it should take up a good chunk of the blog page and I don’t want to overload anybody. If time permits me I would like to reflect before I have to go out to film but there is no guarantee considering how time-consuming the trip will be for this break. Either way, I plan to be productive and maintaining the themes throughout the written parts of the script and screenplay.  Until next time! :)

Genre and Preparation

   During my classes introduction to the CCR or Creative Review focuses on the genre is very important as well as its conventions and how you are going to break them. I'm eager to represent the thriller genre because it is overlooked or misinterpreted as horror when thrillers are known to play a viewer's interest and anticipation. 

    To prepare for the CCR and just to make the concept easier to look at I organized to help me organize my thoughts. Again using a favorite tool of mine as a genre-organizer: Canva.

Beginning of Spring Break

 With the beginning of Spring Break being in full swing in a normal situation, I’d have plenty of time but I do not. Per (strong) suggestion from my guardian I will be traveling throughout the state visiting colleges. With a constant change in scenery and the majority of the props at home, I’ve ruled out the possibility of moving the filming to another place.

Just because I’m on break doesn’t mean I won’t have to work I plan to work on the more specific tools to have before filming: scripting, storyboarding, and editing. In a later post, I’ll go into depth on the plans for achieving these final steps before actually filming. I also want to reflect on all the preparation I’ve done so far. I hope with all the traveling I will have to do that I will still have enough time to relax and focus on my mental health. Until next time!!! :)

Moodboards for Marlyn

Using Canva I created some mood boards for my character Marlyn that highlight the color scheme and major themes in the opening.

Sound Samples Pt.ll

As promised I’ve returned with more samples for sound. I’ve decided it wouldn’t hurt to compile some diegetic sounds in case the scene called for it. In-depth I mean to prepare to capture whatever my filming doesn’t capture-as they say it’s better to be prepared now than sorry later.

First thing first, *Knife Sounds* with the crucial motif of killing signified in the beginning by the cutting of the tomato its vital that I have this. Again the filming, will hopefully, pick it up but should the slicing be too quiet or not heard at all this will come in handy. To begin the search I headed to my favorite place to find anything I want: Youtube. As per usual it did not disappoint with so many different compilations of Copyright-free knife sounds. And the knife to flesh title of course matches up with the theme of it being the tool to cause death. With such a large variety in one place, I almost don’t want to look anywhere else. For now, I’ll accept this and I will expand on it later if need be.

    

    The next resource for Copyright-free was recommended to me in class; it’s called CHOSIC.com. The website has a vast degree of different songs that can fit many different genres. Covering lots of genres but not a thriller; the closest I could get to the genre is between Mystery and Horror. In both sections, I found a song that has an eerie but oddly calming (maybe only to me) named: Come Play with Me. A lot of the others are very intense and don’t really match the energy of hidden darkness that I want to convey.

The Final Touches and Changes?

As the due date for the opening nears I’ve made a point to finalize my props, costumes, and settings. Thus I’ve selected my ‘stage’ for the writing of the character. And to show the finality of it I have pictures to demonstrate:

Here I have the tree where Marlyn will be (minus the blue tarp), unfortunately, an unforeseen addition has been added to the midst. Unexpectedly my mother brought back a hammock from her travels in hopes of giving my family another place to rest; this can add a new element to the production as well as complicate it. 

Add to it by providing alternative camera angles that may make the shot more interactive, and add to aesthetics. Complicated because filming by myself is near impossible at the height that the hammock is on the tree. I do have my family group at my disposal though and I may have to (begrudgingly) enlist their help. 

But I have another site that would work just as fitting for my needs. And it is this one:

Granted it's not nearly as engaging as my original idea and the updated one. Until next time! :)