Target Audience

 YELLOW! Dropping by really quickly to talk about my target audience. 

So because my genre is Drama I wanted to make my audience more specific as it is a really broad genre. Mainly my film touches on the topic of the tension of what your parents think you should be doing versus, what you as a person think AND want to be doing. Therefore, it showcases a lost teen trying to find their way which led me to decide that my film falls under a coming of age film. 

According to MEEEE coming-of-age films usually portray a similar kind of narrative since they want teenagers to be able to relate to these stories. Naturally, the target audience of coming-of-age films is teenagers. More specifically ages 12-18 and mostly females. Usually, characters have some sort of tie or attraction to an artistic element whether that be fashion, music, etc. I believe that this is actually a great example of emulation within my opening as I will be portraying the struggles of a teen girl in a situation that has to do with art. More specifically, finding her way through it.

Predicted Color Wheel

 I want to make the use of primary colors clear throughout my opening. For example, I wanted to showcase the color yellow when showing Paola to represent her insecurity when she's working with her father. As for Nick, I wanted to make the color red prominent throughout his scenes to symbolize his love and passion for working with his daughter.
My reasoning for showcasing primary colors is because primary colors work together to create the rest of the colors. So I wanted to take advantage to use this as symbolism. In other words, the showcasing of these colors would represent that Paola and Nick have all the resources that they need to succeed but this goal won't be reached as Paola doesn't want to continue with this. 
How this tension will be shown is still a little blurry. But I do know that I want to implement the color black since according to nofilmschool.com black is associated with "no". I think this is a great opportunity to show Paola's rejection of this situation.
Color Psychology                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                             

How Research Helped me Today :D

 I was researching some film openings and I came across the City of God (2002) opening. In one part of the opening, the main character talks about his past and there is a clean transition where the camera spins around him and transitions from him being surrounded by cops and punks to his younger self at a baseball game. As soon as I saw this, I felt inspired. I want to be able to show how Paola has been accompanied by music throughout her whole life.

The movie I'm talking about is shown 10:53-11:26

Then I remembered my dad and I actually did produce a cover in which you can hear little me, :D, singing which then transitions into present me signing. I thought this could be a really cool way of not only introducing Paola's character but also establishing the extent to which music perseveres in her life.

This transition can be seen at 1:00-1:32

I think this could be a really cool way to start my opening. So let me get into detail.
After seeing this transition I thought I could do one of two choices. (Really the only difference between them would be how much of the transition I use) I like the idea of using the beginning piano on a black screen. I can take advantage of this by using this time to showcase the names of the actors, directors, cinematographers, etc. Eventually, the video would be shown on a screen as the camera slowly zooms out to show a person watching the video. Then Nick and another character would be shown as it pans to Paola's repugnant face. This will make more sense in the storyboard but I think that this could really work.
 

The Stars of the Show

Our first character is a teen girl (16-18). Her name is Paola. She was raised in an artistic household. Art pours from her entire family from both her mother and father's side. Therefore, no matter who she was with, she saw the world from an artistic and creative point of view. She lived the first half of her life in Venezuela where she was instantly immersed into the world of music. Since her dad was a music producer she grew up learning the technical aspects of music. Paola has a weird relationship with music. While she appreciates it, she doesn't believe it to be a big part of her life. She likes performing, but only in certain situations. Her relationship with singing has always been iffy. Sometimes she feels it is too personal and as if she will show too much vulnerability when she sings. Paola is lost, yet headstrong. Mentally mature, yet indisciplined. In other words, she is very complex. 

Our second and final character is Nicacio but he goes by Nick. He is Paola's father. He is a sensitive guy and always takes in every aspect of life and learns to appreciate it. He cultivates his relationships and fills them with love. He is selfless and has a hard time putting himself first. Nick has always been passionate about music. It's the one thing he's always appreciated the most. Inevitably, when his daughters were born, he wasted no time teaching them about music. As one daughter showed her love for a sport, Nick nudged his second daughter into music.

The two characters have a loving relationship but when it comes to music, and showcasing it together, there is always a bit of tension.

Say Cheeeeessseeee :DDDDD

 So I wanted to come on here for a quick second to talk about the more technical part of this journey. Thank gosh I got into photography when I was in fifth grade because now, I own a Canon EOS. So this is probably the camera I will be using throughout the course of this project.

I like this camera because it gives me options. For example, I am able to change the exposure on the camera and get that out of the way instead of doing it later in the editing process. I am able to do this through the ISO setting on the camera. Below is an example of how this simple setting can change the tone/ mood of a shot. In this project, I think I will use a lower ISO to reflect the resistance and disconnection between the two characters. 

The next setting I would focus on would be frames per second. Usually, I feel like more frames per second are more suitable for fast-paced situations. For example, In sports, you want the audience to be able to recognize almost every second of a game, so you want to make sure that your camera is able to capture every possible movement in frame. However, as my film opening is set to be a bit more dramatic, I hope to have it set to a lower amount of fps.

Potential Locations?

 Naturally, I would want to film this either in a studio, or maybe I want it in my closet?

Since the advice we were given was "write what you know" I thought I would start with something I know and the situation that I chose hits very close to home. Quite literally though. Everything that happened, happened in my house... Which honestly, I think is an advantage because I have all the resources available to me :D But I'm a little torn let me explain why.

I currently go to a studio every Thursday to work with a producer on voice acting and such. So although I have my parent's closet to film in. The studioooo wouuuuullddddd prroooobbabblylyyyy be available. So its a bit tough because I have an opportunity to make it look a bit more professional. But at the same time, is that what I want? One of my main goals with this was to make sure that I kept it authentic. But I don't know if my living room and my parent's closet is TOO authentic. I think this is a topic I may need to revisit when I get further into the project. But for now... these are my potential locations.

My parents cool indie closet and my own living room

professional studio :D

Some #Inspo

     When I began thinking about and developing this potential idea, I instantly knew the vibe I wanted to portray. I want this film opening to feel real, authentic, and instead of simply "telling a story", I want the audience to feel like they are eavesdropping. Watching people and their struggles which they have no right to know about. Of course, the first director/ movie  I thought of was Chloé Zhao's, Nomadland. This film feels makes the audience feel like they are a part of the character. Like they are truly experiencing Fern's struggles rather than just watching them. 

Nomadland (2020)

I think the most notable aspect of this movie was the acting. Nothing was too over the top. Frances McDormand does a great job of keeping the audience engaged by using a kind of acting that is overly realistic. I think she is one of the reasons why people want to continue watching the movie as she makes the audience feel like, even though they are not necessarily going through the same issues as her, they are very possible.

As I have limited resources, and Frances isn't one of them, I thought maybe I can approach my film opening with improvisation. The whole opening most likely will not be improvised, but maybe this way I can get an authentic feel.

Good Job Team :D

     It's been hard to decide what to make my film opening about. Obviously, I want to take the "write what you know about" advice to make not only a good opening but an accurate one. I know what I don't want to do and I think that's a good start. 

I had one potential idea that I thought would be cool to do and I know I could do well. My dad is a music producer so I thought I could create a film opening about the process of creating a song. The film could start pitch black with just a beat and as the shots progress, so does the song. However, we were shown a film example in class and I'm scared it might be too similar due to the fact that it has to do with art and the process of creating it. Buttt,,,,, now that I think about it....... maybe I CAN add something else..... Maybe I can focus on that process even further......

The example we were shown had to do with the frustration between one artist. Meanwhile, my film opening can focus on the relationship between two artists. One who is passionate about a project, and one who is not. 

WAIIITTTTT I think this blog post just helped develop my idea

My goal within the opening could be to represent the imbalance between collaboration. Fortunately, I know this all too well so I think this potential idea might have just turned into a solid one :000. 

Introducing My biggest Nightm- Dream?

     Soon I'll be starting a scary, yet, exciting project in this class. It is exciting because I get to create "something from scratch", make something completely out of nothing but it is horrifying because it is also worth 25% of my grade in this class. As someone who is motivated by both this course's content and academics, I am ready to dedicate time and quality to this project. This week we learned about the basics aka developing characters, establishing setting and background, etc. So, at least we got the basic knowledge that we need to start developing our film opening.

I am still deciding whether or not I want to work with a partner, but I think that will become more clear as my ideas keep developing and I can see whether I want to take control over the whole project or would like some collaboration LOL. Anywho, I'm excited for my train of thought to take off. Next stop: Success! :D

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

   In the first phase of this project, my main concern was enlightening myself and becoming comfortable and confident with the genre. Punk was mostly popular in the '70s and as I was born in 2003, I'm not very familiar with the punk genre. I made sure to look back at a variety of music videos to draw inspiration from and specifically, heavily researched the marketing techniques used since the genre was popular around a time when there was no such thing as digital distribution. I knew instantly that I would have to get creative as I was assigned to apply punk to accommodate a more modern take. I believe that the best way of reaching an audience is to be able to inflict a feeling of empathy. Since our genre was punk, I wanted to be able to impose a sense of nostalgia in older audiences who are already familiar with punk, while still finding a way to introduce newer generations. 

    To kickstart our project we researched some popular bands such as Green Day and The Clash to get an insight on some punk traditions and eventually, incorporate some of the traditions into our presentation/ music video. When brainstorming ideas for our music video, we tried our best to think of a timeless form of rebellion. Instantly, we thought of a video showcasing teens sneaking out. Our specific genre was ska-punk. Ska originated in Jamaica so, inevitably, it tends to have some beachy undertones. With this in mind, we decided to have our characters sneak out to the beach. In our storyboard, we illustrated the characters in the process of sneaking out such as climbing through the window and getting in the car. We then also made sure to demonstrate our characters having a great time at their beachy destination. We made sure to plan out some shots, angles, and even pans and tilts. We made this clear through the use of arrows within our storyboard. 

    The storyboard was the pillar of the filming process. Since we had planned most of the video to a T when filming started the process seemed fluid. However, e had to keep in mind that our resources were limited. We weren't able to build a set or use professional lightning so we had to organize ourselves in such a way that we would be able to use the same kind of sunlight. This meant shooting scenes at 3:00 pm so the lightning didn't abruptly change. This organization also translated in the beach shots as we had to make sure we would be able to get a shot with bright lighting for the most part but also stay just enough time for the sun to set. All of this had to be managed so that we would be able to bring the right amount of people and incorporate this many characters into our music video.

    The editing process quickly became one of the more meticulous processes of this production. The end of the video had to have a variety of concise cuts in order to match the punk aesthetic. This is what allowed the end of the video to be so fast-paced and essentially give a more chaotic vibe to the music video. We wanted the short clips to match up with the beat of the song. However, since there are a great number of beats in a short amount of time, it was specifically hard to cut the video just enough to give the audience just enough time to understand what was happening.

    Finally, we put our research, video, and notes together to compile a well-developed presentation. We split the information so that each member of the group could put all of their focus into one area and become very confident about the content that was being presented. However, notes for the presentation were shared between the group members so that everyone could have some idea of the other content as well.

This assignment further opened my eyes to the creation of projects like such. I now understand that every aspect does not necessarily depend on the visual. There are a variety of steps that are crucial in order to construct a successful project. Whether this is spending a little extra time on pre-production or even just downloading absolutely necessary shots to ease the editing process. I also learned that I am better at working with like-minded people. At times, I felt like I might have been putting too much thought or not enough into some elements of this assignment. This project was the perfect example of what to continue to do, what to not continue to do, and things to consider more in-depth for when I start working on my Cambridge portfolio.