Film Opening Project: Discussion With Classmates

 Group Meetings

    Hey everyone! I am back with a new update on my film opening project process, but this step is a bit different from usual. For every other blog post, the information on the posts usually come from either me and Natalia's ideas or research, but today we received insight on our current progress from some peers. 

    We did this through group meeting in our AICE Media Studies AS Level class, where our teacher split up the class into groups to let us talk to each other about our project. In my group, we shared the URLs to our blogs while explaining our ideas and any issues we have been having to receive feedback from other classmates. I gave some feedback for each of my classmates' project, but in this post my main focus is to tell you all about the feedback I was give. 

What advice did my peers give? 

    When it was my turn to talk about my progress, I first gave everyone the URL of my blog so that they can read through it before I begin explaining it to them, so the idea is a bit clearer. I started off by introducing the genre I chose, drama, and the research I did for the genre. I briefly went through the blog posts I made that had to do with my research, and then moved on by describing the plot and the characters, as well as the thought process behind these decisions. I then made the connections back to my blog and showed them the blog posts relating to our schedule of the process. 

    I then moved on from talking about my ideas and moved on to any things that I was having trouble with or felt that I would have trouble with. I began talking about postproduction, like editing the opening or the credits. I expressed my doubts on where I should place the credits. My first option was placing the credits in between different segments of the opening, since I feel that it may make the opening flow better in a way. I also thought about just placing the credits in the beginning of the film opening, since the opening is more of a story rather than a montage, so I felt that a montage suits the spread-out credits rather than a consistent story opening. 

    My peers discussed it with me and helped me realize that credits at the beginning of the film opening may suit my film opening better. So, I definitely felt relief to have a final decision on that. I also expressed my concerns on using Adobe Premiere Pro as my editing software for the film opening project, since it has been a while since I last used it( its been 4 years!), and I have had trouble saving clips on that platform.

     However, my group reassured me and said that there are many great tutorials on YouTube to watch, going from basic techniques to more advanced ones. They also recommended that If I do not feel 100% sure about using Adobe Premiere Pro, then I could also switch to iMovie, which is known for being an easier platform to handle. While I have for sure decided what editing platform to use, this discussion gave me more options for the postproduction process. 

Future Plans

    With the feedback I was given, I know have a better idea of what my next steps should be, as well as how cohesive me and Natalia's ideas are for the film opening project. I will definitely look forward to more group meetings, as my teacher did tell the class that we will be having more group meetings. Anyways, that is how the group meeting went and I am excited for the next one. 

    Stay tuned for my next update on this journey!

Film Opening Project: Costuming Options

Costume Design

    Hey everyone! I am back to continue sharing with you all my journey with Natalia as we work through the film opening project. As you all know, we only have a few days left until we begin the actual production process. So, we felt that we should finalize our ideas in terms of the costume design for each character. 

    Costume design is a very important part of any film, as it gives the audience more of an idea as to how the character will be like without them being formally introduced. That is why we spend much time emphasizing this in our posts. 

    As you may remember, I already dedicated a post towards introducing Stella (our main character), which included the inspiration for costuming, but for this post I wanted to clarify the costuming options for every character that will be featured in the film opening, which is Stella, her brother, and her father. So, for the characters, I created Pinterest boards to help illustrate their aesthetic.

Costume Design: Stella

    As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Stella's aesthetic consists of colorful clothing, yet softer colors like pastels or baby blues and pinks. This styling is used to highlight Stella's youthfulness, in contrast to her inner conflicts. She also wears funky earrings and shoes with pastel colors to match her clothing. For the actual film opening, me and Natalia were thinking about putting her in a pink top with a light-colored shirt to match this aesthetic that we would want to present to the audience. While I have a screenshot of part of the Pinterest board I made, the full board can be found by clicking this link: (38) Pinterest

Costume Design: Brother and Father

    To create more of a dramatic contrast between Stella's family and Stella herself, we decided to give them contrasting styling to give Stella more of a "star" appearance. For this reason, the brother and father wear casual and sleek styling, consisting of blacks, blues, greys; cool tones in general. While we used this styling to make Stella stand out even more, we also did this to add a symbolic element of the depressing reality surrounding her that highlights the harsh journey that Stella must go through. While I have a screenshot of one section of the Pinterest board, the full board can be found with this link: (38) Pinterest 

    Hopefully this has further clarified the styling for each character and the reasons behind these decisions. Soon enough, these decisions will be put into action during the production process. Anyways, stay tuned for the next step of our project!

Film Opening Project: Outlines and Storyboarding

 Outlines and Storyboarding

    Hey everyone! After meeting up with my partner Natalia and discussing more about our film opening in depth, I decided to share a very important part of this process with you all, which would be outlines and storyboarding. We knew that these two components serve as the foundation of our project, so we had to make sure that we were both on the same page for how exactly the film opening will be shot. 

Our Outline

    During our discussion, we first shared any ideas we had and while we were discussing, I took note of some of these ideas on a paper. This paper served as our mini outline of ideas, because I felt that this outline would help us better understand what each other's thoughts are. The outline is a bit messy because we had lots of ideas that we didn't want to go to waste. So cut us some slack please! Anyways below is a picture of what our mini outline looks like...

    As you can see from our outline, we had several ideas to consider before finalizing what we wanted. Throughout the discussion, we first established what would be the beginning and the end. We decided to add the credits at the very beginning of the film opening while the title slide would be the last thing that the audience would see. 

    But for the actual first scene, we decided to show Stella and her family on their way to the movie theater as they go through the hallway. However, we originally thought that they should already be inside the movie theater in the first scene. For the ending scene before the title slide, we decided to make it either a long shot or an extreme long shot (this is still up for debate even after our discussion) of Stella by herself in theater to show how emotionally involved or captivated she was by the actor/ actress on the screen. 

    After having a firm stand on the beginning and ending scenes of the film opening, we then spoke on what would happen in between, scene by scene. This took a few hours to go over and talk about, but after having the scenes sorted out, we moved on to the actual storyboard...

Our Storyboard

     To be able to clearly illustrate our plan, we had to create a storyboard, so that's exactly what we did.

Below this you can find the images of our storyboards...

     I won't have to explain much of each scene, since the images of the storyboards do the talking, however, there are a few things regarding the storyboard that I feel are important to go over. Anything highlighted in green, the arrows or the parenthesis, may represent one of two things. If there is a highlighted green arrow, this goes for directions for camera movements. 

    For instance, if the arrow is seen pointing upwards, during this scene, the camera should be moving slightly upwards. Same thing goes for the other way around. However, if there are green parenthesis, this just means that the information in the parenthesis is important. This doesn't mean that what is not in the parenthesis isn't important, but whatever is highlighted is definitely a key aspect to the plan.

    Another thing I would like to point out is the actual writing shown on the storyboard. Each scene is shown as a frame on the storyboard, and the writing on top of the frame is the type of angle /shot of the scene. The writing below the frame is the description of what is supposed to be happening in the frame. So, in other words, the top deals with the technical side, while the bottom deals with the plot. 

    One thing we are missing in terms of the opening is the few seconds that occur after the opening itself, like the actual beginning of the film itself. However, this will be our focus for next week, so I'll keep everyone updated on that!

    We believe that this process is key towards creating a successful film opening, as it will allow us to stay on task while filming and acts as a guide for the production process. That is why we are relieved to say that we have completed this step of the process. This work will definitely pay off when we begin filming soon. 

    Anyways, stay tuned for my next post with more updates on our journey!

Film Opening Project: Target Audience

 What Audience Are We Appealing To?

    Hey everyone! After careful consideration on how to clarify the approach that me and Natalia have towards the film opening project, we decided that it is very important to talk about our target audience. As you all now know, we have chosen to go with the genre of drama, and in order to make sure that our film can be successful in the media world, we did some research on our target audience in order to be able to come off as more appealing. 

What is a Target Audience? Why is knowing this important?

    Like the name may suggest, a target audience is a group of people that the media text is aimed towards. In order to make fitting adjustments to our plan for the film opening, it is necessary to identify our target audience so we are aware of how exactly we should be marketing our film. Identifying our target audience can determine how successful the production will be, whether or not the film will make or break in the media world. 

Who is our Target Audience? 

    Since our genre is drama, drama tends to rely on emotional appeal, which is why our target audience leans more towards women, since a variety of themes relating to dramatic ideas like romance and tragedy tend to be highlighted more by women in comparison to men. As for the age aspect of our target audience, it would be from women of ages 16-30, because it is around this time wear people tend to change from teens to adults and mature throughout this age range. 

    Also, drama tends to have several sub genres, including romance and inspirational stories, which are two of the more popular sub genres. For this reason, women from the ages 16-30 tend to experience these aspects in life mainly during this period of their lives, which is why our inspirational drama film would be appealing to this audience, making them our target audience.  

How Will This Affect the Rest of the Process?

    Since our target audience is on the younger side, the majority of the marketing process of our production would have to take place through social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The reason why I feel that it is important to mention this now is because in a few weeks me and Natalia have to begin considering what we will be writing for the CCR, since it asks about the distribution of our production. However, this isn't the current thing I should be worried about, but it is something that we need to keep in mind for later. 

    Anyways, that should hopefully help create more of an idea towards me and Natalia's research on our target audience. So, stay tuned for my next update on this journey!

Resources

“Audience Expectations and Target Audience.” A2 Media Studies, 2014, maddiemedia.weebly.com/audience-expectations-and-target-audience.html. 

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Film Opening Project: Scheduling

How To Stay Organized: Scheduling

    Hey everyone! I decided to create a post dedicated to scheduling, because I feel that this is a very important step to my Film Opening project, so I don't end up procrastinating or missing deadlines. Creating a schedule means coming up with set dates and times to set goals for when something should be completed. 

What makes scheduling so important?

    Scheduling allows one to remain organized when it comes to priorities. A schedule allows one to lay out every task they must complete and by when the task should be completed. This scheduling system will prevent one from missing deadline and strengthens one's time management skills. A schedule will also allow one to understand the effects of changes for when something is done, so it lets one see how flexible their day-to-day routines are. 

My Schedule

    As you all know, I have a huge film opening project to complete that is worth a big segment of my grades, so I need to take advantage of the skills I have to ensure that no due dates are missed. For this reason, me and my partner Natalia decided to create our own to schedule so we do not lose track of our progress, which can be found below...

    Now, you all may be wondering: "Hannah, why does the schedule start at week 3? What happened to week's 1 and 2?" The reason why we chose to start at week 3 is because we knew that the first two weeks had to be dedicated to genre research and really making sure we understand our tasks for this project, so we felt that there was no need to add these in the first two weeks. 

    Scheduling is a crucial step to take, since there are so many components to this project: planning / research, storyboarding, production, blog posts, editing, reflecting, the CCR (Creative Critical Reflection, etc. So, this system will take my organization to the next level. This schedule will also allow me and my partner to stay on the same page about what we should be working on per week. 

    I hope you all understand how helpful it is to make a schedule. Stay tuned for my next step of this project!

Film Opening Project: Meet the Main Lead

 Meet Stella

    Hello everyone! As you may remember from my last post explaining me and Natalia's idea for the film opening, I did touch a bit on the main character. However, I felt that I should dedicate a full post to just Stella herself, as she is the main focus for our film.  

Naming

    When creating the main character, the first thing that me and Natalia thought of was the name. We tried to thin of names that had a meaning behind them that would have to do with acting. We thought of lots of words that we knew had a meaning that could relate to the character. However, the reason why we ended up choosing "Stella" is because it means "celestial star." We decided that "star" was a fitting word that easily describes what Stella would like to be in the future, which is to be a "star." 

Personality 

    To begin explaining more about Stella, I will begin by talking about how her personality is like, and then go into depth about how this connects to the film. Stella is a friendly person that is only outgoing with her close friends. She is very scared of what the world sees her as so she is not the type of person to put herself out there. She is insecure of her acting dreams, since she feels that being an actress is very much out of reach for her and feels that she should go into a more "normalized" career like being a lawyer or doctor. 

    This insecurity is what makes her convince the people around her, friends and family, that she wants to go into other careers, when she really wants to pursue acting. Since Stella is disabled and feels that the disabled are an underrepresented group in the acting industry, she is scared of being rejected by her dreams and fears criticism. However, these insecurities do not show from the outside, as her visual aesthetic represents quite the opposite.  

Physical Appearance / Aesthetic

    When it comes to her physical appearance, Stella has a very youthful look to herself. She wears colorful clothing and accesories, and her color pallete consist of mainly baby pinks and baby blues, but also incorporates any pastel colors. She wears simple make up as she likes to use her clothing to expresses her youthfulness, and she wears funky earrings to emphasize this look. Below is a screenshot of a Pinterest board that I created to show you the type of style that Stella has. This isn't all of what the Pinterest board has, but if you would like to see the entire thing, then click on this link:  Stella Pinterest 

    

    The walls of her room are full of posters that show the many actors she admires. Her room also has many information cards from several different acting agencies and auditions opportunities. They are in a corner of her room because she is conflicted on whether to try out for these agencies or not. 

    Stay tuned for my next post to continue going through this process together!

Film Opening Project: Introducing the Plan

The Film Opening Plan

    Hello everyone! Today I have decided to share what will be the blueprint of me and my partner's (Natalia) film opening project. After discussing different ideas and considering what the both of us are interested in, we decided to take on the genre of drama! 

 Overall Storyline / Inclusions in Opening

    For this post, my main focus are the ideas and themes of film, as well as how the film opening relates to what the rest of the film is about. The film is about a character named Stella (who I will talk more about in detail for another post), and about her journey on pursuing her dreams within the acting industry. We decided to make Stella belong to a part of an underrepresented group in the media world, being those that are disabled. We also did this to showcase how much more difficult it is for many underrepresented groups of people to successfully make it in the acting industry.

 In the duration of the film opening, Stella will be shown in the movie theater with a group of friends. In the movie theater, a black and white film will be playing on the large theater screen. Stella is shown admiring the actress on the theater screen, as it is her dream to become an actress. While watching this black and white film, Stella realizes how badly she wants to become an actress and will do what it takes to be successful in the industry. At the end of the film opening, the movie theater lights will go out, representing how Stella's mind snaps back to reality, and the realization of this harsh journey comes to life.  

    The film itself is supposed to outline the harsh reality of how challenging it is for a disabled individual to make it successfully through the acting industry and be able to pursue these dreams. This also highlights how this journey will take an emotional toll on Stella, as she is insecure about her dreams due to her fear of criticism from others. This film will also deal with finding one's identity, as Stella will learn more about herself and finds her true color throughout this whole journey. Our main inspiration for this kind of story comes from the following films... 

Inspirations for Film Opening Plan