Peer Feedback + more planning

    Today in class we had the opportunity of getting feedback and advice from our peers. We were placed in random groups of five, where I luckily enough was met with three people whom I worked with in past projects. I was really glad to be able to get advice from people that, to an extent, already know me. We took turns discussing each of our projects and giving our opinions on them. If anything, this discussion just made me really excited to see the finishing pieces of my peers, everyone has unique ideas such as filming about the last person on earth and a person on their descent into madness. Because my idea for the opening is quite simple when compared to others, there wasn't any feedback that presented any new ideas or changed anything that I had already thought of, Overall, the tips I received that did help was some filming and editing techniques that I could use, which is something I've been worrying about considering I have little to no experience with the film other than what we've done in this class. Overall, I'm really glad Ms. Stoklosa gave us this opportunity as not only did it help with the project but it's also nice to talk to some classmates once in a while, especially now that everything's online.

    I also wanted to take the time today to share some new concepts for the opening. Since I'm in the process of drawing up the storyboard and writing a shot list I can't stop thinking about the colours that will be present in the film. As an artist producing a movie featuring an artist, I think it's absolutely important to take time and think about the colours present in the setting as well as the colours I feel it's necessary for the development of the narrative. I plan to use a lot of colour symbolism and contrast in order to convey emotion. In order to organize my thoughts, I decided it would be a good idea to take the time and create a colour palette, so here it is!

Colour palette for the setting- natural hues

Colour palette for the painting- mostly primary hues

    As I'm sure you've noticed above, I included the colour palette for the painting that the artist in the film will be making. The painting itself has been something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. I want the paintings to server a higher purpose than just an item that the artist knocks out in anger, and to do so I have to come up with a design for it. I've been leaning towards an abstract piece, though I tend to focus on realism for my own art, I thought than an abstract piece could perfectly covey the complicated emotions that the artists feel, and that's what this film is about. I do know, however, that I absolutely want the painting to feature primary colours as this creates a contrast between the setting and the art. 

Filming Schedule

    As we begin nearing the actual filming portion of the project I came to the realization that there is no way I can do this completely on my own. As someone with zero filming experience, I thought it'd be best to get some extra help. Luckily for me, a friend of mine that I've known since we were five was in the same position. Because Nicole is in a different class period than I am didn't have the option to officially work together however we came to an agreement to help each other out as much as we can. For me, Nicole will act as the, well, actor for the film. This turned out great for me because not only does she have a passion for writing but I also feel more comfortable behind the camera rather in front. I also have more control over what the film will look when solely directing as opposed to directing while also acting. 

    Our new partnership came with its own set of challenges. As juniors SAT and exams can get the best of us, making our schedules very difficult, and above that Nicole is very committed to her job which takes up a large portion of her time. Earlier today we called each other to discuss filming schedules and came up with the following. 

   Once the items I bought arrive, (which should be Wednesday), I will do my best to film the shots of the opening that don't exactly require an actor. Saturday, March 6th at 12 pm, we will meet together and help to film each of our projects. I'm hoping that we'll be able to decide on another filming date the following week because I genuinely don't think we'll be able to finish filming my shots, let alone hers as well, on one day. If I do end up unable to finish filming the parts that require Nicole, I'll just film myself using my tripod. If it comes down to that hopefully I will only have the indirect shots to film. 

    Despite these challenges, I am still very excited for the opportunity to be able to work with an amazing and talented friend. We have grown so much since we first met and I hope we'll be able to work with each other during our careers in our future.

Nicole (right) and I, 2014

Set Design

     After watching these films that featured artists I began thinking about the mise en scene for my film opening. As of right now, I'm planning on filming in my own room, though the small space may become an obstacle when filming, I feel like it's the most accessible area I have (it also wouldn't bother my parents too much). I am an artist and so my room has become a sort of makeshift studio that, with some tweaking, could become a proper area for the film to take place in. Here, I have listed items and concepts that I either have or will buy that I feel would bring the set together.

An easel is an essential component for many artists and I believe that our character should definitely have one. 

Along with the easel I plan on buying a drop cloth, which is essentially a piece of cloth artists lay on the floor to catch any paint that drips of the canvas/paintbrush

Though I have a fair amount of paintbrushes I do plan on buying more, especially the larger flat brushes, so that I can scatter them around set in random jars to create a messy atmosphere

I plan on getting a glass pane of sorts to films the shots I mentioned in the previous posts where it looks like the artist is painting on the camera lens

New paint is definitely a must as I'm sure during the filming process we'll end up wasting a lot of it

I also would like to decorate my room a bit with some paintings and pottery. I may use some paintings I've done myself or paintings around the house for this. 

 

Along with the set supplies, I also thought I should mention two items that would aid me in the filming itself. My room doesn't have the best lighting so a ring light would definitely help me with that. The tripod would also help me get smooth and still shots. 

Shots and Angles Research

  Last post I shared what type of shots and angles were most commonly used in drama films. Though I gained a great understanding, I thought that I should look into shots and angles used specifically in movies featuring artists. To do so, I spent the majority of the last two days watching the films I mentioned in my post "Art Films" as well as a movie called Fake, directed by Gregory W Friedle. While watching these films I thought it would be a fun idea to do a technique many artists do to practice composition and shading, which was storyboarding. Through this, I was not only able to achieve a better understanding of shots and angles used specifically to develop an artist but I was also able to practice storyboarding for my own movie opening. This was an activity I was looking forward to do even before this project was introduced so I'm really glad I was able to apply it to my portfolio process. 

Here are a couple of the shots I noted: 

(because they are pretty messy and can be hard to understand I added a quick description of each drawing)

Here I sketched out shots focusing on camera movement

these two drawings are of shots of the actor painting a glass frame, I thought it was a cool scene that gives a different perspective to painting

Here are two shots of different angles used to show the artist painting

A large shot that gives a better look of the studio

Here I sketched out two shots that relied heavily on lighting

and these two were great examples of close-ups

And lastly... a shot where the artist was going through a fit of rage

Drama Genre Research

 Lights, Camera, Action!

   Drama (along with comedy) were the earliest genres in cinema, and to this day they've held on to their popularity. Reaching a total of 36.89 billion dollars on box office revenue in North America from 1995 to 2020, drama films are arguably one of the most popular and successful film genres. Drama as a whole is a very broad subject, including various subgenres such as psychological dramas and historical dramas, which all contributed to the mass success of the drama genre.  

Content:

     Dramas consist of a serious presentation of settings or real-life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with themselves, others, or the forces of nature. Overall, these films are extremely character-driven as opposed to plot-driven. Though subgenres like the ones mentioned above add more plot to the narrative, at the end of the day dramas driven by the characters, who they are, and what they do.

Ex: Though Joker and The Help have insanely different plots, both of these movies portray realistic characters in real-life settings, such as a man who faces mental health issues and a woman who faces racial discrimination.

Production Techniques:

        Because drama's are centered around a character themselves, shots and angles that develop characters as well as their relationships with others are used constantly throughout the film. Some of these may include close ups, which creates intimacy between viewers and the character, as well as two shots, which are used specificially to create a dinamic between two characters. Long shots are also commonly used throughout this films to establish a setting while also allowing viewers to see the characters full range of motion. 

    Drama films also use editing, lighting, and set design as a way to represent the characters feelings, for example when a character is at their low, this can be represented through low key lighting as well as a set desgign of primarly dark blues.

This long shot was used in Marriage Story as a way to establish how alone the character felt.

This two shot from Pride & Prejudice demonstrate how the relationship between these to characters has evolved

This close up of Fake creates intimacy between the audience and the character while also developping his role as an artists. 

 

Marketing: 

    Drama films have a relatively large demographic, however the target audience does lean towards women as well as older generations. This varies along each subgenre, for example period dramas tend to have a demographic of 17-45 year old women while war dramas tend to be mostly male. This is a great thing for drama films as their able to reach people of all ages, race, and gender because of the large variety of content they can produce. Trailers tend to include shots that establish the characters as well some long shots to establish more of the plot. The movie posters also tend to focus on portraying the main subject of the film, which would be the main character.

Art Films

    Since my last post on Sunday, I've spent nearly every moment I had decided between the two ideas I had mentioned. After talking the ideas over with my peers and teachers I did end up choosing the drama about the troubled artist. Because of this, I am planning on doing a new research post dedicated to researching the drama genre as a whole, however, I thought it would be a good idea to first research and create a list of some drama films concentrated on art and artists, that way I might be able to watch some of them and include them in my drama genre research. 

    To do so I did as anyone in the twenty-first century would and searched up "movies featuring artists as the protagonists". From there I was able to find many websites that spoke about movies about artists both fictional and real. From these movies, I hope to gain a better understanding of techniques, shots, and angles used specifically to develop an artist and their stories, such as painting scenes as well as certain mise-en-scene characteristics used to portray artists. 

    Some of these movies that I've bookmarked to watch include:

The Moderns (1988) 

Séraphine (2008) 

Edvard Much (1974) 

Artemisia (1997)

Frida (2002)

 

Brainstorming

    After learning the importance of a film opening and the ways to properly create one, it was time to begin thinking about our own project. Ever since our teacher first introduced the portfolio project to the class, my mind had immediately begun thinking of many different and elaborate ideas that could be not only a great concept for the opening of a film but also its entirety. Due to the fact that I will be working alone (and also the fact that I have zero to no experience with filmmaking other than what we've done in class), however, I tried my best to step back and not get too ahead of myself. In the end, I will have to find a balance between a great concept and one that is attainable within the reach of my abilities. 

    During the first official brainstorming day, I decided to set aside the ideas I had before and begin from scratch, taking a moment to look over the variety of genres that I could choose. During this, I came up with the idea to draw out a web/flow chart as a way to help me organize my thoughts. In this chart, I listed some of the genres that I could dive into along with some key facts of each genre, movies in the genre,
and any ideas for my own film in each genre. 

    I think this chart did actually help me as I was able to narrow some of the genres. For example, I have no interest in producing a romance or comedy movie since they usually start a bit slow and rely heavily on actors since they're character-driven movies. I also think that an action movie would be difficult for me to do considering the number of special effects used in the films. Though I love horror movies, they also tend to have a few special effects and for the life of me I can't think of a concept that hasn't been overdone to my liking, maybe in the following days something will come up but as of now, zilch. That leaves thriller and drama, which are two genres that I've been leaning towards since the beginning. I have two separate concepts that I think are in the range of my abilities that would fit these genres. 

    For the thriller one, I'd rely heavily on sound techniques, which is something difficult for me to get right but I do think it's manageable. I have these vivid images in my head of certain scenes that could take part during the opening, such as glimpses of a shovel forcefully digging and close-ups of someones eyes, where through the use of lighting, editing, and the distorted, asynchronous sound of the shovel still digging, would make it seem that the character is going through a delirious moment. I also see shots of the character washing their hands almost exasperated between each take. This would all lead to the character then waking up, with the loud sound fading to silence. 

     For the drama, I actually turned to an idea I had for a script for my creative writing class about a troubled artist. Like for the thriller one, I can also vividly see shots that could take part in the opening, which is great for getting ideas but once it's time to execute them I know for a fact I'll stress over the fact that it won't look the same in person as it does in my head. In this piece, the opening would begin with various shots of this artist sketching and painting in a brightly lit room, with kind of a warm filter to make it seem like the sun is delicately bouncing off of everything. As these shots play, a "chill" acoustic guitar melody would be playing, following along the close-ups, mid shots, and back shots of this artist doing his thing. Then suddenly during one of the closeups, the artist either breaks his charcoal or drags his paintbrush in the wrong way, and the music stops. I see a close-up of the artist's eyes, anger slowly building as he stares at his piece, where suddenly he throws the easel to the ground, and begins to furiously break, damage, throw everything around him in a rage. Once the first throwing of the easel occurs the guitar would start playing again, creating a contrast between the calm music and the enraged artist. 

    Of course, these are all just ideas and there's a lot for me to work and think about before committing to a concept and genre, such as finding people that would be willing to act for me, and, if I chose the second one, find someone that would like to compose an original song (which I am already in the process of talking to someone about it just so I don't have to ask after I've committed to the idea and not have anyone that would be able to do it for me. So far it's looking good, hopefully, it stays that way.) Before the next blog posting, I will definitely think over everything, even get the advice from my peers on the topic. 

    

Film Opening

     As part of the Aice exam, we were tasked with filming a fictional movie opening as our portfolio project. Throughout the following eight weeks, I will be documenting my process, thoughts, and challenges here, in our very own blog. 

    Unbeknownst to many people, the opening of a film can make or break the whole production, it's vital for filmmakers to produce them correctly. In order to do so, I decided it would be best to do some research beyond what we learned in class on the importance of the first few shots of the film prior to the actual planning of our own opening.

    I began reading articles that explained why the opening shot of a film is important, like this one from Outpost, and articles that gave tips to filmmakers and screenwriters on how to make a great opening shot, such as these from No Film School and Variety. Along with these articles, I also watched a couple of videos that not only spoke about how important openings are but also features opening scenes of a variety of movies and explains how these scenes affected the movie, such as these from The Closer Look, Now You See It, and CineFix. 

    From these sources (along with what we learned in class), I learned that the main thing a film opening achieves is setting the tone for the overall movie. The video from The Closer Look mentions how one should imply the plot of the movie through the opening in order to create a mystery that hooks the audience into watching the movie rather than directly stating what the movie will be about (like how the movie they mentioned, The Emoji Movie did for their opening). The same video also mentions how you don't have to rush the story during the opening scene, using the example of Indiana Jones where the opening shot introduces the characters along with the tone of the film. 

    While watching the videos I also noted some of the iconic opening scenes mentioned for future references. Some of these include: 

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Shining (1980)

The Matrix (1999)

Music Marketing pt ii

 3, 2, 1, Action!

    As mentioned in the past blog, the first step in our Music Marketing project was to research artists of the same genre we were assigned, which was Alternative Rock. Through our research, we learned how these bands interacted and marketed their products to their fans/followers, Despite the common genre, these artists were all unique in how they presented themselves as a group, however, we found that all of their target audience fell under the range of 15-25, and they all used a form of social media and internet presence to communicate with them. Through a website and social media platforms, the artists we researched were able to market their videos, merchandise, events they took place in, even interact directly with their fanbase. During our research, we also made sure to note down the 'unique' aspects of each artist, such as the things that make them stand out in the music industry. For example, The Killers created their own brand of hot sauce, and Fall Out Boy released fidget spinners along with their music, claimed a mascot as a llama, and even has their own animated show on their youtube. These were all important for when marketing our own band we had to make sure that they'd stand out and not blend in with the crowd. 

    After our research, it was now our group's turn to decide who our artist will be and how will we market their content. First, we spit-balled back and forth different ideas for our brand until we noticed a line in the song we picked, (The Man), "I carry the crown" ultimately deciding on a 'royal' theme and coming up with the band name M'Lady. From there we created our social media, such as our Instagram, Twitter, designed our very own website, along with a youtube channel. After this, we began discussing ideas for our music video, another source of marketing for the band. It was around here where discussed more on how we wanted to be viewed as a band as the question "What is our brand?" arose. We paid attention to the physical image of M'Lady, taking the opportunity of the royal theme, and creating our own logos that would be present throughout all of the platforms and merchandise. This logo, the lion with a crown, would become a symbol for M'lady. We also used the colour pallet of the logo, making sure to incorporate the purples and golds wherever we could. 

M'Lady Official Logo

M'Lady Website

    A big part of an artist's brand is also how to present themselves. Together, we decided that we didn't want M'Lady to be serious, we wanted them to be funny and playful, and overall just a group of people having fun. We wanted M'Lady to act like they didn't really take themselves seriously, and more importantly, we wanted their fans to see them as just any other person. 

    With this in mind, we began planning and storyboarding the shots that would be included in the video, focusing on keeping it lighthearted and comical. Since the lyrics of the song is a bit overconfident,  with the constant lines 'I'm the man', we thought that considering our royal theme it'd be a great idea to have the center of the video around a king. This worked perfectly as a big part of M'Lady's symbol was the crown on the lion's head and we were able to incorporate it in the music video. In order to keep the video comical, lighthearted, and to fit in with the brand of our group, we included many 'foolish' shots, some of which were even thought on the spot. Some of these shots included Logan, our group member that plaid The Man in the video, riding a horse spring rider in a park, and falling off of a tree. We also thought it'd be interested to include some sort of a narrative to the music video and we did this by including a secondary character, played by group member Anthony, who would appear throughout the video obviously mad and troubled at our king, which would all lead to the final clip of the music video where The Man gets pushed by this secondary character into a pool. 

    It took two days to film the shots of the video, and this was almost immediately followed by the editing process which our two skilled team members, Sabrina and Logan took charge of. Like most projects, editing took a bit of time but the end product was absolutely worth it. 

    After the music video was complete, we began working on the presentation portion of the assignment. Here, we basically rallied up all of our information and data that we collected throughout the whole process and made it, well, presentable. During this process, we were also able to refine some of the marketing, such as creating more merch, releasing behind the scenes images, and even editing a blooper compilation of the music video. The presentation itself went well, we faced some technical difficulties such as links not opening and my computer 'blue-screening' practically the exact moment I finished my portion of the presentation, which was discussing our website, social media platforms, and merchandise. 

 

M'Lady Poster Merch

   

M'Lady Logo Graphic Tee Merch

     Overall, though, I think it went well. I for one am super proud of both the work that I did and the work the rest of the group did. I think that we worked really well together, which is something rare when you're randomly assigned partners. I genuinely had a lot of fun creating the merchandise, the websites, and the social media accounts. I even enjoyed filming my small role in the music video, which was something I was a bit anxious about. For me, it's safe to say that M'lady was a success. 

    I think this project has taught me two main things, for one, the importance of marketing not only in the music industry but in general, and two, the process of thinking through, reflecting, and writing out the steps we went through in order to make this project how it is, which is something important for the Cambridge portfolio.

Watch the music video above