Film Opening - Blog Post #5

We Meet Again!

        After researching our genre and creating a backbone for our film opening, all we have to do now is fill in the blanks and solidify the storyline, plot, character(s), and techniques that will allow us to successfully develop our story. Once again, we were able to meet during class to discuss our idea further. Here is what we came up with.

(Virtually) Visiting Our Location

        Since we knew our potential filming spots and our idea, we narrowed down our location to Sabrina's mom's office space and the nearby factory. This allowed us to focus on this specific place and what we could visually show in order to make our story cohesive and understandable. We went on Google Maps and looked at the area through street view, which was extremely helpful for both Logan and I (since we have never been there before). By doing this, Sabrina was able to show us around and point out potential spots, which in turn allowed the entire group to gain a better understanding of what the film opening will look like (and ways we could creatively tell our story). Since this location has a variety of buildings, a factory and an office space, we will be able to get very different shots within the same general vicinity. 

        Since we want our post-apocalyptic film opening to show a person surviving and searching for resources, we could film in the offices during non-working hours and make the place look abandoned, possibly through lighting, messy set design and audio (silence and basic foley). We could also utilize the nearby factory to not only get an interesting filming location, but also to emphasize that the character is actually living in a post-apocalyptic world (since factories are not usually open to the public). Moreover, we could film between the buildings where the grass is and have the opening end with the character finding out that they are not alone (by showing the train passing through the area that the character thought was completely abandoned). Knowing that all of these places are available to us, our group is now very excited to see what we can do and how to make this film opening as creative as possible, all while establishing a cohesive story and dark mood.

Here are some pictures of our filming location! As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities...

Other Available Resources

        Surprisingly, our filming location is not the only interesting resource we have available to us. Since Logan's dad works in the production industry, he happens to have a GoPro that we could attach to a drone (which he also has) in order to get some overhead establishing shots. This would not only bring up the quality of the film opening (since drones are usually not available to high school students like us), but also allow us to create that dark mood of abandonment and isolation by showing that the character is fully alone. Unfortunately, we would have to get the shots blindly (meaning we won't be able to see the shots as we get them), but Logan's dad will be there to supervise and give us advice on how to capture the shots we want. We really do think that having this resource available to us will help us fully establish the character's aloneness but also give us the opportunity to learn about drones and how to use them. I am very excited to see what we do with this!

Production Techniques

        After discussing the whole drone idea, we began to talk about our personal equipment and what we could do in order to pull this idea off. We conversed about lighting, types of shots, and times that we would like to film. First of all, in order to create the dark and abandoned mood we want, we thought that using more low-key lighting would benefit us. The only problem with this, however, is that shooting without sunlight can get difficult very quickly (unless you have the equipment and skills to pull it off, of course). Thankfully, Sabrina happens to have lights we could use in addition to the small light kits that Kimberly and I have. This would allow us to create that moody, cinematic lighting we want (however, I want to research cinematic lighting more before filming just to make sure we are prepared). We will also have access to Sabrina's new camera, which is much better at capturing video in low-light situations in comparison to my Canon T7i. 

        In addition to the type of lighting we want and the equipment that is available, we decided that we will be using a lot of wide and extremely wide shots (especially when the character is scavenging) to establish that they are alone. We also decided when the shots should look more stable and when they should be shot handheld, since a lot can be told through the way the camera is moving. We chose to keep the camera stable throughout the scenes of them scavenging inside, while shooting handheld while the subject is outside (to give it more of a "survival" look). We also decided to have Sabrina in front of the camera (since she the best actress among us) and have one of us behind the camera with the other two taking care of lighting and making sure that everything is running smoothly. 

Conclusion

        Overall, I am feeling quite excited to start fully planning this film opening and eventually start producing it. I think it has a lot of potential and with our group's efforts combined, I am confident that we will be able to create a high-quality video. Next, we will have to refine our story outline, get more pictures of the office from Sabrina's mom, and find out when the train passes (in order to start creating our filming schedule). We hope to visit the location in person before filming in order to avoid any issues. I'll let you guys know how our project progresses! I have a good feeling about this film opening...

Film Opening - Blog Post #4

 A Post-Apocalyptic World: Research

        Now that we have a solid idea and genre, our group thought it was a great idea to research the post-apocalyptic film genre in order to help us further develop our story as well as learn effective ways to establish the mood and plot we are going for. There are a couple conventions within this genre: survival, limited resources, and lack of people. Let's get right into it!

A Need for Survival

        By definition, a post-apocalyptic world is a world that takes place after a catastrophic event. Because of this, it is very common for post-apocalyptic movies to deal with issues like survival, since all the characters within this "world" are trying their hardest to remain alive in these new and unstable circumstances. For instance, in the television show "The 100,"all of humanity's last survivors are forced to survive ninety-seven years after civilization was destroyed by a nuclear war. This creates conflict between the characters, their environment, and their own morals.

Source: themoviedb.org

Scarcity 

        After civilization is changed after a disastrous event, food and supplies are often limited. For example, the trilogy The Hunger Games deals with a dystopian society in which characters from each district must compete against each other for the Capitol's annual "games." In this televised competition, teenagers must fight to the death, compete for resources, and use their skills to survive the ruthless arena in which the games are held. During the first movie, the series's protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, must hunt for food with her bow and arrows, gain the public's favor for donated supplies and make alliances with other players to make it out alive. 

Alone in the World

        Another convention within the post-apocalyptic genre is the constant feeling of isolation. In the film I Am Legend, the main character is the only survivor from a plague that killed and transformed the rest of humanity into monsters. As the only sane human left, he makes it his mission to find a cure for the disease that was once created to cure cancer. Interestingly, since this movie was filmed in New York City, the creators had to heavily rely on editing to make the setting seem run down and destroyed. 

This movie poster shows the film's main character surviving in a post-apocalyptic New York City, trying to find a viable cure for the remainder of humanity.

 

Conclusion

        Now that my group members and I are more knowledgeable about the post-apocalyptic genre and its conventions, we hope to apply this research to our project. I will post again with more updates. Until next time!

Film Opening - Blog Post #3

 Meeting Up for the First Time

        Hello guys and gals! I bring very good news. My group for the film opening project was able to meet today! This was a huge relief, especially since we still did not have a solid idea and were struggling to come up with one. Thankfully, we were able to get on a call together to discuss potential filming locations,  our genre and the storyline. Here's how it went.

Finding a Location

        Before we came up with any ideas, we wanted to lay out all of the filming locations that were available to us and chose a story we could portray with the resources we have. We had a couple options:

• Sabrina's mom's office space (with a factory, parking spaces and a railroad track in the back)
• My dad's car shop with a parking lot and a plaza nearby
• A nearby park with lots of trees and open, natural spaces
• Our houses and other public places within our town

        Once we knew what locations were available to us, we began to brainstorm once again. Since we wanted to stick to the dystopian, post-apocalyptic genre, we began to come up with storylines and choose the type of tone we wanted to establish throughout the film opening in order to aid in storytelling as well as add to the video. Then finally, a solid idea began to develop.

A New Story

        Considering available locations, our skills and our resources, we thought it would be interesting to create the feeling of being alone in a post-apocalyptic world. We thought that in order to develop this feeling, we needed to demonstrate that the character was not just alone in their general vicinity, but completely isolated from other humans. We also decided that we definitely wanted to show, not tell. This means no voiceovers or dialogue, just visual and auditory clues that would help our audience understand what is going on (and remain intrigued throughout the film opening).

All of the pictures above are from the film "A Quiet Place," which also begins with its main characters searching for supplies and portrays a sense of isolation and danger. Though replicating the film's "abandoned" feel will be difficult, we will do our best to do so through costuming, make-up, and set design (which Sabrina's mom's factory will come in handy for).

        Knowing this, we came up with the idea of having a main character searching for supplies that could have been left behind by others (in offices, streets, et cetera). However, we did not want the entire film opening to consist of a mysterious character collecting food and other handy items. We wanted to show that despite them being in a constant battle for survival, they were still, well, human. We thought we could achieve this by having the main subject show emotion, such as happiness, sadness, or fear. We thought of two events that would make this possible: the character could find something that they have not seen/eaten in a long time and react with desperation and excitement, and/or they could suddenly find out that after all this time surviving alone, they were not alone after all. Both of these could fit into the film opening and ultimately establish that main subject is not just a character, but a complex human being with desires and emotions. 

Conclusion

        We still have a lot of work to do, but I am glad (and relieved) to know that we have a solid idea that is both achievable and interesting, and a concept that we could still get creative with. I'll be back next week with more updates! Stay tuned.

Film Opening - Blog Post #2

Our First Challenge

  Good afternoon everyone! Unfortunately, my group was not able to meet like we had planned. Every member’s schedules were different, especially since everyone in our group was competing in a national production competition, STN. Competing was stressful enough, however not being able to meet definitely added to this frustration (especially since we were planning on solidifying our idea during today’s meeting).

An Idea With Potential

Even though we are not completely set on anything yet, I wanted to share an idea that one of my teammates, Logan, suggested. He said that we could have the film opening take place in an office (which is a filming location that would be available to us thanks to another teammate of mine, Sabrina). Throughout the two minutes, we could have the credits (ex: director, writer, etc.) appear in the corner while we establish the dystopian, post-apocalyptic mood we are going for. We would achieve this through the use of colored lighting, diegetic sound and possibly music. Logan proposed that we could have the main character be working overtime, all alone (we would establish their solitude through dialogue when they say goodbye to a coworker). We would cut between the shot of the protagonist and a security camera showing some sort of creature outside with monster-like sound effects to show that the subject might be in danger. The worker would then get up to get a cup of coffee, but as they close the door, a loud monster noise would play and the title would splash on the screen. This would set up the setting and plot, and hopefully hint to the viewers that this character’s purpose was to demonstrate the dystopian conditions of our fictional world, not necessarily serve as the main character of our story. 

Source: videohive.net

We'll See

        Like I mentioned before, we still have not decided on anything yet but we hope to meet tomorrow or some other time this week to finalize the brainstorming process and hopefully begin planning. I’ll keep you guys posted! 

Film Opening - Blog Post #1

 A New Challenge

For the next eight weeks, my group from my AICE media studies class will have to plan, film, and edit a two-minute film opening. Though my peers and I have faced a multitude of similar tasks in the past, there are plenty of new obstacles and lessons ahead (all of which I will be documenting on this blog, of course!). So far we have only thought out some of the basics, but I thought I would share some of this progress with you.

Establishing Mood

Once this project was assigned, my group decided to break it into manageable parts: brainstorming, planning, filming, and editing. Of course, brainstorming and planning are always the most time-consuming, since we need a solid idea and a well thought-out plan to make this project possible. Though many may start with planning the plot or the characters, our group chose to establish the mood of the film before jumping into the movie’s genre or plot. We began by looking through images online, particularly on sites like Pinterest. We found a multitude of photographs that encapsulated a cold, dystopian look that we were very attracted to, so we decided to draw inspiration from them. We all agreed that the use of color and other techniques were going to be heavily used for this project, especially to establish the other-worldly tone we were so set on. 

These are some of the pictures that stood out to us when surfing the web
(both are from @iamwinter on Instagram). 

Choosing a Genre

Though we could go many different routes with this dystopian feel, we thought about doing a science-fiction type story in which there are some sort of supernatural or alien beings that are targeting humans. We looked at countless pieces of media to draw inspiration from, including the YouTube channel Local58 and the short film “The Witching Hour” by Forlorn Foundry. Both of these captured the feeling of being threatened by  mysterious beings, while simultaneously being trapped alone in a house. Though we have not decided on a specific plot, we definitely have a better idea of what we want to do (and have examples to give us ideas on how to achieve our end goal). 

• The Witching Hour - Forlorn Foundry

This video uses disturbing imagery and text to convey to its audience that there are strange beings roaming outdoors (and that under no circumstances should someone let them into their houses). The creator of this short film also edited the video in a way that imitates an old television broadcast, which makes the audience feel as if they are the ones in danger.

• Weather Service - Local58TV

As fans of all of Local58TV’s videos, my group knew that we had to draw inspiration from this fictitious local news channel on YouTube. This channel (founded by Kris Straub) has a total of eight “video casts” that are not only incredibly twisted, but do an exceptional job at eliciting fear within its audiences in a creative way. Much like in Forlorn Foundry’s “The Witching Hour,” Local58 uses text and graphics to replicate old television broadcasts and establish that some other source is trying to interrupt the channel’s content to brainwash the channel’s viewers or put them in danger. In this “Weather Service” episode, the station informs its viewers that there is a dangerous meteorological event that can gravely harm the human eye. However, later in the video, the broadcast seems to be interrupted by a contradicting message telling the audience to go outside and look up. In addition to text, this YouTube channel does a great job at using sound, especially since there is no dialogue in any of the episodes (except for “You Are On The Fastest Available Route,” which tells the story through the directions on a GPS). 

A Long Road Ahead

        Again, we have not decided on anything concrete, but we definitely want to draw inspiration from these photographs and videos in order to effectively convey our story. My group plans on meeting tomorrow to sort out more of the details, so I’m beyond excited to see what we come up with! I’ll update you guys tomorrow on the progress.

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

  Hello everyone! It has been a little over two weeks since my last blog update regarding my music marketing project, so I thought I would share everything that has occurred since then. 

Research

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, my AICE media class was assigned a marketing project where we create an entirely new band and come up with some marketing strategies to successfully increase the band’s success. We began with research, learning more about two music companies and researching two bands from each label. We chose Atlantic Records and RCA Records (both very successful music companies) and four case studies: Nothing But Thieves, Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones and Highly Suspect. By looking at each band’s road to stardom in terms of their advertising and marketing campaigns, we were able to get a feel of which strategies were useful and which approaches were unique to each band. After defining what these “marketing standards” were, we began implementing them into our own music marketing project and thought of ways to make these approaches complement our band’s brand, message, and music. These “staples” included the use of multiple social media platforms (mainly Instagram) to interact with audiences, a website to provide more detailed information to fans, touring with bigger artists with similar music, and more.

This is our band's logo. We wanted to have the planet Venus somewhere in the logo because 

of the band's name (as well as their space-like brand), so we made that the base and put some 

simplistic, curved letters over the planet. 

This is a screenshot of the Instagram account the we created for our band. We wanted to post some 

behind-the-scenes content, as well as some informational and advertising content. This establishes 

Venus's friendly character, as well as helps solidify their brand and message.

Brainstorming

After laying down these basics, we decided to get more creative in order to find unique ways to spread the word about our own band. One of these special techniques was using the band’s backstory to not only make the marketing process more personal (since audiences feel closer to artists that share their stories), but also to find even more ways to market our group. For instance, we decided that the members of the band went to the same school and bonded at a local ice cream parlor, Twisty Parlor. Therefore, we included spoon rings, pop-up shows at this location, and even an original ice cream flavor (the Venus Twist) that is sold at the parlor and named after the band, all in our plan. Moreover, both members would jokingly call themselves “the floating rock society,” which not only matched their “otherworldly” theme but also ended up being a part of their brand (and printed on merchandise). Just as extras, we also decided to collaborate with a growing clothing company to sell merchandise, and create a snapchat filter that would play the group’s new music as well as market the band’s brand. 

This is an image of the Floating Rock Society logo that we created for the merchandise. 

We wanted this logo to be simplistic yet still have an ethereal aesthetic to complement Venus's brand. 

We then used this logo to design merchandise and give something for the band's audience to 

identify with. This would increase audience engagement and ultimately maximize the 

success of the band.

In addition to creating a logo, we also used Canva.com to lay out what the products 

from the collaboration with the clothing company would look like. We included spoons in 

the image because spoons are a large part of their brand (thanks to the members' history and 

ongoing collaboration with Twisty Parlor).

Music Video: Planning and Production

After brainstorming and creating the website, social media accounts, and more, we planned the music video and prepared to film. Unfortunately, due to the surprisingly cold and windy weather that South Florida experienced the weekend we set aside to produce our video, we were not able to fulfill our original plans. We were not able to film, forcing us to come up with a brand new way to convey the message in the band’s “new” song, “My Name is Human.” This song is about someone encouraging others to break free from something that is holding them back. Before having to rethink our idea, our group thought about it very literally, especially after hearing the lines “get up from your knees, girl, stand face to face with your God.” We wanted to produce a video about a girl who felt trapped by her religion and ultimately broke free. After being unable to execute our initial idea, however, we came up with something more abstract yet something easier to portray - society’s obsession with social media. 

This is a photograph from the first time our group met to film (when we were still trying to 

execute our original music video idea). Though it might seem like Maya is relaxing in the water, 

this could not be any farther from the truth (the water was at least 50 degrees and the air outside 

was even colder). If we had not met up early to film, we probably would not have been able to 

come up with let alone produce a brand new music video.

We decided to tell a story about a young woman that is held back by her addiction to her cellular device, yet eventually faces her issues and comes back stronger. In order to convey this message, we used complementary colors (orange and blue) to establish the contrast between someone that is living passively on their phone and someone who has taken control of their own life. Furthermore, we made sure to explicitly show the subject “facing her God,” which in this case we achieved by editing a shot of her getting sucked inside the phone that she is a slave to. 

This is a picture of our second storyboard (which we completed on a white board out of pure 

frustration and lack of time). We used this as a reference while filming this second idea, however 

still ended up having to compensate for lack of footage in the post-production process. 

The filming process was quite stressful, yet very educational. Before meeting up, I went to Michaels and bought cellophane, a plastic, see-through material to place over lights to achieve colored lighting. We set up the lighting, removed everything but my bed from my room, and made sure that we were all set to begin. We then started filming around 6pm, beginning with the “blue” shots on the bed. This took quite a while since these shots made up a majority of the video (and some shots were difficult to capture). The still shots of the subject swiping on the bed were quite easy to get, but the shots of her “falling through the mattress” and getting sucked into her phone definitely required more thought (and a sturdy bed frame for all the times that Maya, one of the group members, had to repeatedly fall on my bed). We then proceeded to film the orange shadow shots with a blanket and floodlight covered in yellow and pink cellophane, and took the pictures that were showcased in the beginning and end of the video. We achieved the “ghost” effect by shooting with a very low shutter speed and the same orange light in the back. After capturing all that media, it was already 2 am, so we decided to call it a night and work with the footage we got.

Post-Production

This inevitable, last-minute decision added plenty of stress when it came to editing, especially since we were not able to capture some of the footage we needed for the chorus. Despite this, however, I was able to edit the entire thing in a total over 11 hours. I used Adobe Premiere for line editing and masking, and used After Effects for the more advanced effects (such as the “sucked into the phone” effect). I made sure that even the still shots (such as the orange shadow shot) were interesting by using key frames and masking, as well as playing with the opacity. While editing this, the rest of the group members were perfecting the presentation and ensuring that all of the information we needed was on the Google Slides. Though rushed, we managed to finish on time and create a quality band, marketing campaign, music video and presentation. Presenting this was also quite enjoyable, especially after putting so much work into the project. It was super satisfying to see all of our hard work come together! 

This is the link to the final video. As you can see, it is quite different from the original 

storyboard due to the last minute changes, but I was able to edit this as best as 

possible within the time we had left to complete the project.

Reflection

Overall, I think that this project not only introduced me to some amazing peers within my AICE media studies class, but it also taught me a lot about marketing, music video production and time management. I learned a lot of new things about lighting (specifically colored lighting), low shutter speed photography, and even how to use certain tools on Adobe After Effects (ex: puppet points). This was also the first time I thoroughly enjoyed a class presentation (probably because I love the material and would potentially like to pursue marketing and production in the future). This has been by far the most enjoyable AICE media project yet. Super excited to see what we do next! Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading about my experience. Until next time! 

Music Marketing Project Blog Post #1

Music Marketing Project: The Early Stages

     At the beginning of January, my class was assigned a marketing project in which we create and market a band based on a song that was randomly assigned to us. After listening to the song and identifying its genre and message, we began to create a fictional band, its "brand" and a potential marketing strategy to promote the group. Throughout the duration of this project, I will be documenting our thought process and progress on this blog. 

Basic Planning

    First, we created a Google document where we began to lay out the musical group's fundamental characteristics: their name, brand, and overall feel. We decided on the name "Venus," since the idea of having an "other-worldly" and space-like theme seemed not only aesthetically pleasing, but could also help us come up with innovative marketing strategies. We also decided that the colors would consist of warm tones (mainly orange), black, and white, and that the band itself would be made up of three members. With all of the basics laid out, we moved onto the more logical yet equally creative part: marketing.

These are screenshots from our Google document that demonstrate 

our brainstorming process at the beginning of our meeting.

This is an image we believed to capture the band's essence well, since the band's theme 

revolves around space and how humanity must focus on "the big picture."

In addition to creating a Google document, we also created a Pinterest board in order to 

fully capture the essence of the band and the colors we wanted to include in Venus's branding.

Marketing

    First, we agreed that our target audience would be teenagers and young adults ranging from ages 14 to 28. By narrowing down the audience, we were able to determine what strategies to use in order to maximize the exposure that Venus received. One of these strategies was replicating standard techniques that are commonly found in the music industry. These included making a website, creating social media accounts on multiple platforms (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.), and interacting with fans through those mediums. We expanded on this and also decided to make Venus act as guests on rock music podcasts, perform on live TV shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and tour with bigger artists with similar music, such as the band Nothing But Thieves. This way, consumers with similar tastes are also being exposed to our musical group, maximizing the amount of new loyal fans that the band would gain after participating in these events.

These are two more screenshots from our Google document outlining our target 

audience as well as our marketing plans for our band, Venus.

    However, we knew that replicating these standard techniques would not be enough to make this new band successful - we needed to be more innovative. Because of this, we thought that partnering with a small and growing clothing company would be a promising move. The band could create a slogan that would become a significant part of their brand, and then the clothing company could design merchandise that not only incorporates that slogan, but also captures the band's essence. This would not only allow the store's customers to be exposed to be band, but it would ensure that the company would gain more customers as well. My group has not made an official decision regarding the slogan, however we know it must be appealing to the target audience and offer design opportunities to profit off of.

Distribution

    As for distribution, we determined that Venus's music would be disseminated through streaming applications, radio stations and other platforms. These include Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, and stations such as iHeartRadio. By having multiple outlets, our band's music would be able to reach as many people as possible and expand its audience.

Above is a list of the companies we would like to work with regarding 

the distribution of Venus's music.

    Though the details are not completely sorted out, I believe that our marketing and distribution plans are both promising and innovative. After finalizing these plans and producing ninety seconds of Venus's first music video, we will be presenting this information to our class and learning about other groups' bands and plans. Very exciting!