key moments

Room Decor

Props

When we realized we should probably use a lot of context to develop the time period that our movie takes place in we did some research. We wanted to make it so that she is vlogging on a camera like I said in my storyboard blog post. Then we realized we have to figure out how we would make that work with the technology they had back in the day. 

the research

We found that the camera people used in the 70s to film and capture pictures was a standard 8mm camera, which we were able to find online for $24.

standard 8mm

Since none of us were really willing to spend that much on the camera, we realized we could replicate it and make one that looks just like it.

Posters

Another thing we wanted to include since the start is band posters. This is something we won't mind ordering online since 2 of us were already planning on buying some to decorate our own roms. Band posters were very "in" during these times so we knew it wad a good idea to include them. To go even further, we decided that since the whole point of the movie is that she has to come out to the world, that we should find bands that supported the LQBTQ community at the time and use those bands. This will show that she likes listening to artists who support her.

Arthur Conley: He was a famous musician in the 1960s who supported the LGBT+ community and was also apart of it himself as a gay man at the time

The Rolling Stones: supported this specific community while also creating popular music.

Cris Williamson:part of the LGBT+ community and was an important figure in the women's music movement. 

CHANGE OF PLANS PART 236478 !:

So we decided that our camera vlog plans was way too complicated. We thought that using a diary instead for documenting her thoughts could solve this problem. However, we realized very quickly that it would not be very visually appealing to our audience since no one like to read. At this point, we felt kind of hopeless because our whole plan has changed. 

We decided that we are doing a school scene instead. When we decided on this, at first I was kinda freaking out cause we had spent so much time planning something that we aren't even gonna do. Even though we are not doing the bedroom scene, I realized that we can still incorporate a lot of the stuff we researched in our school scene as well. Hopefully we are able to come up with some camera and editing techniques in the new storyboard.

changes to project

we're too indecisive :)

Genre change:

If you have read the blogs I made earlier in my process, you probably already know that we are one of those groups that have way too many ideas and we have a hard time picking one. This is more of a good thing than a bad thing. We started off really convinced about doing a horror film but we ended up watching some film openings on coming of age that convinced us a little more. I don't want to think we wasted time researching on horror film techniques because I still find that knowledge useful. But let's be real here, it's pretty clear that we wasted some time whether we want to admit it or not. Such as a simple thing like changing the genre can change everything. However, I think my group does a really good job at working under pressure and getting things done when we realize we don't have a lot of time left. We've gotten away with doing things last minute for other projects but for this one we can't take any risks. Now that we have decided on our genre once and for all, we each gathered a lot of information individually on a variety of techniques used on different coming of age movies like the ones I address in my previous vlog on "movie inspo".  Yesterday we got together and we all made agreements on what we have to get done by the end of the week and we also agree on the whole idea of the story and on our storyboard idea. 

Storyboard change:

If the person reading this has never filmed anything, my word of advice is to PLAN. I think planning is the most important part of the filming process and in any process at all. For this reason , I want to make sure we have all of the items we need to make our film opening a success. At first, we had a pretty cool idea for our film opening to set up the context of the film but cutting from one object to the other. Setting up the context will play a big role in our film opening especially because we want to develop the character and the setting that takes place in the 70s through visuals rather than dialogue. WELL, believe it or not we realized from seeing previous projects that we should do something more different since many film opening set up the context that way. For now our film opening begins with Lana, the main character filming a vlog but im not gonna get tooooo specific because I don't wanna hype up our idea if we can't go through with it. It is very likely that we will change our storyboard at leastttt 8 more times but im hoping that it's less. :)

production process

we're being productive?

Today was honestly very productive. After seeing some inspiration in class, I got a lot of good ideas for shots and for the storyline of our film overall. At this point of our process, we have already gathered enough information to at least come up with our storyline and what we want to include in our storyboard. When my team and I got together, we realized that we need at least a week (this week) to find our props. The reason for this is because we realized that we have to create context through a variety of shots using  different props and mis en scene elements to show in what period of time our film takes place. For example, we wanted to create a scene where there is a news broadcast of a news reporter talking about how "kids nowadays think it's okay to be with the same sex when it is not". This could've been a good way to foreshadow kind of what the movie is about. However, we ran into a problem when we realized the technology we have today isn't the same as the one they had in the 70s. Unless we find an old tv where we can put green paper on the screen in order to use it as a greenscreen and project our fake news, then we are gonna use our backup plan. In this part of the production process, we are planning carefully to avoid any obstacles we may face in the future. We want to make sure we know who will play Lana, the main character, and if we are using someone who is not in our group, we have to make sure they are available on the days we want to film or else we will have to adjust our schedule.Our self assigned homework for this week is to look for any props we can possibly use in our film opening such as tapes, record players, band posters from some 70s bands, or any clothing pieces that will match the same vibe. Today, we also did our ideal storyboard. The reason I say "ideal" is because it's too good to be true and we are probably gonna end up improvising on some parts since there is a good chnace that we won't find all of the things we need to film. If anything, we plan on going to goodwill to look for any potential props for our film opening.

Storyboard:

I want to briefly tell you guys what we have for our storyboard so far. We want to start off with a VHS looking screen of an old camera while we show the credits(we still have to decide on a font). 

Credit Screen

Then we want it to transition to the camera POV of Lana vlogging about her struggles on the standard 8mm camera( one they used in the 70s).

(not this exact format)

Then we want to have an over-the-shoulder shot of her mom as she walks into the room with her dad and a focus pull to show Lana's reaction.

over the shoulder example

To show an even closer reaction to her parents walking in on her talking about her problem, we want another POV medium shot from the camera of Lana's face.

medium shot example

After, we want an over the shoulder long shot of her parents, Chris and Amy (two popular 70s names), telling Lana to invite Harmony to go to dinner with them since that is her "bestfriend".

over the shoulder shot example #2

Then Lana will cover the camera and this will transition to the next scene

covering camera lens example

Harmony's phone ringing (close-up)

house phone in the 70s

Editing technique they use in mean girls to show they are having a conversation

editing technique

storyboard ideas

Some Ideas:

My group and I are pretty indecisive. I wasn't planning on bringing astrology into my blog, but considering 2/3 of us are libras, should tell you something. We are debating between a coming of age type of film or a typical horror film. In my opinion both of these genres will appeal to our target audience. I feel like coming of age can be more interesting and more successful than a horror film. However, if we do end up choosing to do a horror film, I'm aiming for something relating to the movie "Nerve". Now that social media plays such a  big role in everyone's life, I feel like a film that involves social media and the dark web will quickly grab our audience's attention. A coming of age film will be very interesting. One of my team members thinks we should do something involving a mental disorder since that is a topic we all find very interesting. 

Update:

We ended up deciding on a coming of age of film involving a 16 year old teenage girl who deals with the struggle of coming out to her friends and family about her sexuality. Having this film take place in the 70s plays a big role in how much harder it is for her to deal with this all on her own.

Storyboard Camera shot ideas:

After doing a lot of research on different techniques for coming of age films I came up with a series of shots that I want to incorporate in my film opening in order to make sure the viewers know what genre they are watching and more importantly, the time in which this film will take place.

Since coming of age is a transition from childhood to adolescence, I find this shot from a very well-known coming of age film, Stranger Things, that I want to include in my film opening.

"Stranger Things"

Now I know you're probably wondering why I would want such a scary shot in my coming of age film. I do not want this exact shot, but I want to give the film opening a mysterious feel by having a shadow shot in it. Since this movie is all about a teenage girl who "doesn't know" how to show her real self to the world.


The second shot I want to include is a close up like the one in the all time favorite coming of age movie, "Boyhood". Although I haven't seen the movie, when I saw this clip in class I really liked how it almost gave the audience a glimpse into his the boys life. The viewer automatically knows that the film will be about the boys life and that he is the main character.

"Boyhood"

Lastly, another major shot I want to make sure I include is a closeup or extreme close up of the girl looking at her reflection, whether it's on a mirror, or on the classroom windows as she walks down the hallway. I find that that extreme close up shots can tell a lot about the character and I want to reveal the type of person she is through shots rather than dialogue. I feel that an extreme close up shot can achieve this best.

"It Folows"

schedule!! (important)

Schedule

For now, my group and I have come up with a schedule for the first steps in our process. We made it so that we have a week for every portion of the process considering we might come across some issues. In this way, we'll have enough time to get everything done by the time we begin the next part. We still have to add more detail to it and actually plan out the exact costume design for our characters. But for now this is our schedule:

Week 1: Post blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday// establish complete plot of project and create storyboards
Week 2: Post blogs on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday// begin writing the script and looking for actors// start filming
Week 3: Post blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday// Finish filming and putting clips together
Week 4: Post blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday// Finish editing
Week 5: Post blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday// Make any last minute adjustments to my film.

I find that scheduling things is very important it's kind of like writing things in my agenda. I find that it's an easy way for us to stay organized but we have to make sure to be disciplined about it and make sure we finish what we have to get done each week. Lastly, we are making this same schedule on google calender cause it's an easy way for us to see if we are all available on those days and we can also share the calender with eachother.

70s vibes

The Goal:

Since my group and I decided that our best option for a film is coming of age, we want to change the time that the film takes place. We are making our film take place in the 70s since we find that it is the most interesting time for our film to take place. At this point of the process we are still brainstorming storyline ideas. For now, we want our main character to be dealing with an issue that they don't really know how to deal with and we want it to tie in with the time. We also want to make sure our main character is a teenage girl. This will also appeal to our audience because people who watch coming of age films are more likely to be a current teeenager or a young adult. It is likely that they will relate to the main character. Right now we are gonna research different costume designs and makeup that will aid in representing the age of each character that appears in our film opening. Finally, we want to research different factors such as bands and tv shows that can be shown in the background of our film opening to show the audience what time this film takes place in. 

70's Trends

Teen Fashion

Since our main character will be a 16 year old girl, we want to make sure we implement the proper clothing to reassure that we are up to date in the time the film is taking place in. Since we are already an all girl group, I don't think it'll be that difficult for us to find clothes that will fit this style. I think the costume design is the least of our problems.

makeup in the 70s

70s fashion

Popular Bands in the 70s: 

We can use the research we do on what bands were the most popular in the 70s to find a soundtrack that can compliment the time that our film is taking place in. If we want to use certain music we have to contact the artist ahead of time that's why we our making this our first priority.

"Pink Floyd"

"Queen"

"The Rolling Stones"

Possible issues that the girl may face:

- "Coming out of the closet"

Nowadays, it is clear that it is more common for people to be part of the LQBTQ community. However, a lot of the time people were just too scared to admit to their sexuality in the past due to stereotypes of the possible negative consequences they will face. We are more accepting of these things in todays world. I feel that this is a problem many teens must face. Whether you deal with this problem yourself, or you know of someone who has dealt with coming out of the closet, this can be a very interesting coming of age film opening. 

- PTSD

Many times, people go through traumatic experiences that affect them throughout the rest fo their lives. In the coming of age film, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," the main character deals with PTSD because of a terrible childhood experience he had. I feel that many teens experience things they should not be exposed to or things that they are exposed to too soon in life. 

Movie Inspo

"Love, Simon"

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"

genre ideas

Coming Of Age: 

My group and I find that coming of age and horror are our best options. Coming of age is basically movies where there is a transition from being a child, to becoming an adult. I think that films in this genre appeal to almost anyone who watches them. Last night I was on tik tok (like always)and I saw a post that said "these are the best Netflix movies that will make you cry" and to be honest I was kind of in the mood to cry. So I searched up the first one I saw and it was the movie "My Girl". Usually when I see movies that were released in the 90's or earlier I automatically make them my last option because of the quality. However, since this movie had such good clout I decided that I would give it a chance. After watching this film, not only was my cold hearted self in tears, but I also recommended this movie to my family. I feel like this movie is the perfect example of the "coming of age" genre. 

"My Girl"

Like I mentioned in another post, my team and I also thought a good film idea could involve something with mental health. I find this to be something very interesting and I feel like we are all very curious to research on a specific mental illness or disorders and produce a film opening for a film about that. Depression, for example, is something everyone should be aware of. At our age, especially, depression and anxiety is very common. Teenagers, our audience in this case, are more likely to want to watch a film on something involving this. Another movie I want to bring to your attention is the movie "A Walk To Remember". If you haven't already watched this movie, then you probably should even though it will most likely also make you cry. Anyway, this movie is a coming of age romantic film that involves a couple that falls in love. I don't wanna get to into detail because I will easily spoil it but I found this movie very interesting and I think it's a good example of what we are aiming for if we do coming of age. 

"A Walk To Remember"

What's Horror?

 An all time favorite genre for films is horror. Whether you are a fan of jump scares or not,horror films are a must. Although it usually excites the younger audience, the typical audience for horror films is young adults and teenagers from ages 15-25. Directors like Stephen King and Jordan Peele create horror films like "It" and "Get Out" to entertain this kind of audience.

To begin with, this media genre is a very popular one and is usually on the top charts. A good example of one of the most recent, popular horror films is the movie, "It Chapter Two," directed by Andrés Muschietti. In fact, as of October 31, 2019, this movie has made a total of $453.1 million worldwide.

Although most people have seen at least one horror film in the span of their lives, not everyone is able to point out the kind of content that makes up the typical horror film. In terms of the story, most horror films start off with a main character that the audience will find relatable. Throughout the film, the director aims to make the viewer feel the fear that the main character is feeling with the use of various camera shots and angles such as point of view shots, which make the viewer see what the character is seeing, and close-up and extreme close-up shots which demonstrate greater detail of the characters facial expressions and feeling of fear, in this case. Furthermore, not everyone notices that many horror films have a sub-genre of sci-fi or some type of religion involved. Another component of the typical horror film is that there is usually a villain or another presence that the main character(s) must defeat. In addition least, lighting plays a big role in the content of a film, along with color schemes like red and black. In horror films, the lighting is usually a cool tone that gives a cold feeling, a long with low dark lighting. This gives the film a mysterious feel. Depending on the scenery, some films even add a haze effect usually if the setting takes place outdoors. Last but not least, music plays a huge role in horror films. Horror films such as Insidious usually start off with a suspenseful short noise that creates tension. Throughout horror films there is a lot of suspenseful music that implies that something bad is about to happen.

With all the hard work and effort that goes into the content of a well-made horror film, it is important to have good marketing techniques. Apart from aiming to the target audience, one of the most important factors of good marketing for a new movie is the trailer. For a horror film trailer, a lot of the time there some type of monster or creature whether it is physically there or not, that the main character has to defeat. For example, in the movie "It," the monster would be Pennywise the clown. Just from watching the trailer, the viewer is aware that the plot of he movie is that the kids are trying to defeat this enemy. However, it is essential that the trailer does not reveal too much about the villain, but just enough to create suspense and mystery to keep the viewer interested.

The first horror film I will analyze is "Insidious" that was released in 2010 and directed by James Wan. This movie is about a big family who lives in a house. One of the children has the power to leave his soul when he goes to sleep. One of these times where his soul leaves his body, he is trapped in the world of spirits, good and and, bad bad a dark entity. This film is a good example of when the main character(s) must defeat the enemy or evil presence. In the scenes where the main character, Ty, is in the other world, it is very hazy and dark. Also, the Insidious movies all start off with the same theme song at the very beginning with the word "Insidious" written in red.

the best of horror

Film Openings

Of the many horror film openings, there is only a handful that use the right techniques at the right times in order to grab the audience's full attention. \

As many of you may know, one of the most popular movies of 2017 was the movie, "IT," a terrifying clown, pennywise scaring little kids left and right. One of the reasons this movie was so successful was because the director did an amazing job at making certain choices in order to grasp the audience's attention from the start. This films film opening uses a variety of shots and camera movements along with making specific music choices to create a mysterious effect.  Even though the scene involves something fun and exciting like the little boy playing outside with happy non-diegetic music playing, the dim lighting contradicts this and shows the viewers that the scene will not end good, keeping them interested. The suspenseful music stops as soon as the audience is introduced to pennywise which implies that he must be important. The dark lighting throughout this opening  scene also adds on to the mysterious feeling that helps to keep the viewers on their toes.

"IT"

Another horror film opening I want to talk about is the movie "Scream".The beginning of this 1996 Wes Craven film gives off a carefree happy tone. As the film progresses you start to notice the darker tones and the eerie music. The pov shot of the main character also helps to establish the tone of the film.  Finally, the popcorn popping was a metaphor used to show the situation the character was in. When the scene was getting intense, there was smoke coming out of the popcorn. Overall this film opening was the most compelling because they did a great job at using different techniques to establish the tone of the film.

"Scream"

Music Marketing Project

a. Indie Alternative Rock

b. Marketing indie alternative rock music can be very difficult. The artist or artists have to be able to make a personal connection with their audience. Individuals who listen to this music genre like to get to know the artist before listening to their music. Another important factor is live performances. Artists who create music that falls into this genre are better off performing live because the target audience is very likely tp attend concerts and music festivals. One example is the band, "Young the Giant". The band only wanted to record what they could reproduce in front of a live audience. Received exposure through their VMA Performances. Also, the band promotes a lot of their music through performing at Festivals such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Finally, another marketing technique is to play additional shows with a variety of other bands to increase a following base.

c.We chose to develop the brand of our band, "LivingLoud," through our website, our social media platforms, and through our music video. To begin with, we designed our website to be very simple and easy to maneuver. We included merch that had our bands name on it and items that we found our target audience of 16-25 would be interested in. We also include a direct link to our blog where the band creates relatble posts that help the audience get to know them better. Next, we chose our social media platforms, instagram, and twitter because we found that that is what our target audience is more likely to use. On our Instagram our band will posts very aesthetically pleasing things. This is more so that we can develop the vibe we want the band to give off. More importantly, on our twitter, the band will post more first person things like how their day went and other personal posts that the fans will be able to comment on. Finally, our music video helps to brand our band by showing the rebellious teen/ young adult energy we want them to give off. 

d.  We created two filters. One for snapchat and one for Instagram. The snapchat filter is intended for people to use to represent our band through the bands main colors, orange and blue. The "tap to change" allows the users hair color to change between orange and blue, making it more interactive. Next, the Instagram filter is of our logo, a lightning bolt. Both of these filters will be under the name "LivingLoud".

       

e. In the making of the music video, I came to the realization that the most significant step in successfully making a music video is planning. It is important to plan how to put together all of your ideas before actually filming and editing. Planning a music video is a very important factor that many people don't think much about.Throughout the process of creating this marketing campaign, I learned many useful marketing techniques and ideas. The thing that stood out to me the most is that not all marketing techniques are beneficial to every genre. For example, live performances and relatable posts are more important for an indie alternative rock artist than for a pop artist. I also learned that developing a marketing campaign can be very challenging for a new artist especially if they are on a low budget.