Catching Up!

 Hi Cambridge ! Here is a little update on our progress before we start week 4 (how are we already in week 4). So honestly, this week was not super productive other than meeting with groups and getting insight on our project. To be completely honest Audrey and I have both been extremely busy the past 2 weeks with rehearsals and shows that we just have not had time to sit down and talk about our film. 

Given this, our plan for this week to play catch up and basically work double time to get back on schedule because we really want to start filming before winter break because we are both going to Tampa for a competition for the majority of spring break which will make it a lot harder to film. 

My main goals for this week are as follow: 

• map out social media plan (color scheme, posting schedule, create account, etc.) 
• Go to Panera and knock out script writing (and get a cookie)
• start and finish rough draft script (and edit) 
• plan out filming dates/ talk to actors about any scheduling conflicts 
• finalize filming dates 

I know this might seem like it's not a whole lot but Audrey and I only have 2 class period together this week and one of them is an early release day so we really need to get the ball rolling with production. 

Anyway, I'll keep you guys updated on how the week goes and hopefully we are able to get everything done. Good night! 

Group Meeting Notes

    Hiii, in class today we had a group meeting and it honestly went really well! My group and I were very successful at giving each other feedback and suggestions. Below I'll attach the notes we took during the meeting and I'll go deeper into detail later on. Fair warning, our notes are a bit scattered because our main focus was on listening to each other and not necessarily taking notes but, we wrote down the important stuff by splitting up the notes into general information, concerns, and suggestions. 

Emi: worked with Joaquin and Andrew

• Dark comedy short film 

• Critique of power struggles

• Gore 

• Makes a deal to get power

• Statement about joining religions for power

• Completes task for devil, loses humanity at the end 

• Script is finished

Concerns: 

• Location filming

Suggestions: 

• 1 death (instead of 3)

• Film at markham park 

• Make your own symbol (instead of the pentagram)
  
  

Adriana Vega: working with David 

• Comedy short film 

• Guys teleports by flipping a penny

• Everytime he goes somewhere new he tries to do a kind act and it backfires

• Researched other shortfilm

• Interested in using fast cuts

Concerns:

• Scheduling

Suggestions: 

• End with David completing a kind act but when he tries to teleport again he drops the penny down a drain/sewer

Aneesa Bajaj: Working with Quinn, Nico, and Zach

• Meta dark comedy 

•  Heavy on breaking the fourth wall

•  Camera starts on initial subject and falls in love with another subject, subject 1 tries to win back its attention

Concerns: 

• Developing storyline and it making sense

Suggestions: 

• spotlight turning off on main subject 

• mic turning off of main subject

• -give context to studio setting 

• -casting call (actor desperate to get role)

 

Victoria Duque:working with Kenna and Renn

• Coming of age 

• Message: even through fears and stress, you keep growing

• Girls plants seed, life gets stressful, she forgets about it

• Using a sign to show day 1 day 2 etc

• plant= metaphor 

• Friendship breakup (friend gave her the plant) 

Suggestions: 

• End with voice over

• Bus 3 different plants to show the growth of the plant

• Focus pulls 

• Use calendar to show days passing

• Weeks instead of days

• Camera is calendar- writing on camera 

Mariana Aldana (Me ****): Working with Audrey

• Drama short film 

• Boy has older sister whos excited to go to college

• The guy is very laid back 

• Starts with a therapy session 

• The  

Suggestions: 

• Quick death 

• Ideally have an adult play therapist 

• Maybe car crash

• Younger 

• Not dd 

• Therapy a year later

• Put date on bottom

Fabiana Castillo: Working alone

• Psychological thriller short film 

• Guilt is getting to him after killing girl

• He’s going crazy 

•  

Suggestions: 

• Give context at the beginning - like crash and show year of crash and then year 

• Dead person is signified by item specific to them

• Time doesn’t pass

• Hes like bipolar so he writes the notes himself and just through the movie show the different personalities 

• Limited dialogue 

• Fractured movie 

• Two different crips for the ideas 

Daniela Gonzalez: working with Gaby

• Music promo 

• Annie Lemasters 

• Taylor swift, olivia rodrigo vibes 

• Dramatic vibe  

• Story based 

• annie in nashville

• Story will be fully acted out 

• Build up to running on the beach at the end (sitting on beach, walking, then running.)

    I know it looks pretty disorganized by I promise the meeting was super helpful although it made me realize that Audrey and I have a LOT to figure out. So, first and foremost I began by sharing the idea of the film to the group, they all really enjoyed but all collectively agreed that the plot that we were originally going (the sister going off to college and disappearing from there) for might be hard to to develop in such little time and it might be more suitable to change it to the sister dying from something such as a car crash. Funny enough, Audrey and I had originally thought about that in the very beginning of our planning but ultimately we decided that it might be too hard to portray a car crash. However, my group made a really good point that we could work around the idea by having the parents receive a phone call or somehow finding out instead of physically showing the car crash.

    One concern I had was the time jump between the therapy session and the 'flashbacks' specifically how to make it obvious to the audience that these are two completely different moments in time. My group suggested that I could physically show the date by having it place in a corner making it clear that these are two completely different time periods. However, Thinking about this I decided it might look better if instead of putting the date in the corner it will be right in the middle of the screen in the vest first therapy scene and slowly fade off and then once the 'flashbacks' start do the same thing but with the corresponding date. 

    Anyway, I'm excited to see what Audrey and I decide on and hopefully script writing will start soon! 

Social Media Research

 Today, I will be discussing various social media's of short films so I can take note on what I should and should not do!

Media text: The Singers

Social Media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: The Instagram page for this film has over 100 posts all carefully selected to help promote the film. The Instagram features 4 separate highlights dedicated to reviews, film festivals, letterbox, and FYC. The Instagram keeps a consistent style withing each post incorporating a mix of photo and video promo including interview clips with cast members and directors as well as posters for the movie to keep audiences engaged.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Branding is well developed by having a sense of cohesion between the posts made on the Instagram and the style of the film through the color scheme despite having a few posts that do not fit perfectly with the color scheme (for example, a clip of an interview done through zoom). There are a variety of elements that develop the brand such as interviews with various members of production, posting behind the scenes, and articles that work to promote the film.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: I'm a huge fan of how the Instagram for this short film was used to promote the film. I would like to incorporate this into how I choose to promote my short film by creating an Instagram that is both cohesive in style and interactive with audiences. 

 

Media text: A Friend of Dorothy's

Social Media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: The instagram page has 90 posts which all vary yet still keep a sense of cohesion. For example, there are various posts which are visibly similar put include different quotes regarding the film from various people. The Instagram extends from the vary beginning of the making of the short film to its current Oscar nomination. The caption states the films Oscar nominee status as well as some notable names featured in the film.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Branding is extremely well developed through cohesive details withing posts which allows the instragram to be varied while still looking put together. For example, almost every post has the word 'Dorothy' in hot pink cursive as seen on the profile picture as well. The Instagram also makes a point to feature notable people withing the film such as Miriam Margoyles to further promote the film. The color pink, which is reflective of the movie poster is used consistently throughout the majority of posts. The page itself overall looks very lively yet cohesive.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: I was extremely impressed by this Instagram page and will definitely be taking some things into account when promoting my short film. For example, the inclusion of the name of the film in the iconic font in almost every post is a very smart way of creating cohesion throughout the Instagram page without restricting the types of posts. 

 

Media text: Hamnet (note that although this is not a short film, I chose to research this film to learn how to promote a drama.)

Social Media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: Posts all follow a general color scheme that includes earthy tones such as dark greens and deep purples. Posts mostly consist of posters for the film, pictures from award shows, and interviews with actors. There are over 301 posts that audiences can engage with including promo for an exclusive screening of  the film and how to get access.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Branding is well developed through a consistent color scheme and 'look' of each post. Each posts is either a poster of the film or somehow has an actors face on it in order to promote those starring in the film such as Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal (their names are also featured in the bio).

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: I honestly am a big fan of how this film is promoted through its Instagram although, it is clear the main selling point is the actors which isn't exactly how I want to go about promoting my piece. I'd much rather focus promo on plot and teasers that having the main selling point be who is acting the piece. 

Introducing the Idea!

 Hiiii, so after much discussion Audrey and I finally got the ball rolling on the plot for our short film. Just to give some info before I start, our main goal of the film is to focus on the grief of losing someone who isn't really gone. Below I'll attach what we jotted down as we were brainstorming, it is pretty messy but I'll explain everything I promise. 

Short film:  therapist grief sadness vibez 

Genre: drama 

• Main points: grief, loss, 

Theme/plot: 

• Characters:

• Main guy: Jayden

• Therapist: tbd  Brandon maybe??

• Sibling?: Kami

• Obvi a lot of extras for party scene 

• Parents: maybe brandon? See if we can possibly get some actual adults mayb

• 
  

Target Audience: 

Insta page

Panera *** 

Stuff we need to get:

• 

  Fun lights 

• 

  Alcohol FAKEEE 

• 

  Copyright free house music

• 

  Mics tiny?????

Party they both go jayden does drugs and stuff because hes at a party and hes sad because family sitch is not the best, he brings kami with him to be is dd but things happen. 

Kami is alone and scared and she's mad and he is mean to her so she decides to run away (bye bye) 

She is older 18 senior in highschool, shes a nerd patrice vibes, already committed to a college w scholarship so she doesn’t need parents support

 Jayden is like 17 junior in hs, bad at school, drinks a lot, party person.  

He blames himself for her running away 

Make it CLEAR that she ran away willingly and they have no idea where she is 

Jayden gets home after she left and doesn’t know she is gone yet. He finds out from his parents when he gets home and parents start questioning him about her and the party.

Mom and dad blame him (subtle) 

A couple months in the future he is applying for colleges she was supposed to help him with and so he’s like super sad so he goes to therapy for the first time which is what’s seen in the film. 

Set: 

• Mari’s house for party 

• Audreys house for house 

• Tbd house fro therapist office 

Characters: 

• Kamila's character : nerdy, ready to go to college, NOT a party girl, 

Okay it's very messy I KNOW, but let me walk you through it. So at the top we jotted down a few key points that we wanted to focus on. Next, we listed the possible characters and a few people we know that could possibly play them. Next we jotted down some basic points to help us remember the plot for when we go back to add details or change anything. We also included things such as what we might need to buy, where we might film, and started on some character analysis (although we didn't get too far in.

So essentially the plot is this, a high school senior deals with the grief that came with his older sister disappearing off to college after he forced her to go to a party with him to drive him home after the year prior. At said party, they end up in a big argument which results in her going home without him, packing her bags, and going off to college earlier than expected. He doesn't find out about this until he gets home from the party to his parents sitting at the dining room table questioning him about what happened. It turns out, since leaving she completely cut ties with the family and has cut off all contact with them, assuming that this was her choice they decide to not go look for since it is clear that she made this adult decision on her own and now must live that. The boy only starts to deal with the grief about a year later as he realizes that he is now in the position his sister was in before deciding to leave. As he talks to his new therapist we see the moments that lead up to her disappearance and what transpired following it and he expresses the guilt he feels about his sister leaving the family.

That's all we have now, I know we have a long way to go but I'm excited for what's to come. Anyway, we'll try to develop this as much as possible this week but Audrey and I do have show coming up (Mamma Mia) so it might be difficult to find time but I'm really excited for the show so yay!

Dramatic Media Texts Part 3

 Media Text #5: Stand By Me

I chose to research this film #1 because it's sooo good and #2 I love how real it is. It doesn't feel other worldly or completely bizarre, it's the kind of story my dad would tell me about from when he was a kid (maybe minus the murder). The film highlights the power of friendship between 4 boys as they go on an adventure to see a dead body. 

However, as each of the boys struggle with their own personal struggles and traumas, they overcome these issues by being their for one another despite their own individual weaknesses. This film, unlike the last few media texts I've researched, isn't hyper stylized or uses elaborate costuming or coloring tricks to tell a story, the story just flows (no hate to what I've researched so far). That, is what I hope to achieve, although I could like to incorporate such technical aspects in to my short film, I don't want to be so reliant on these things to move the story along. 

Media Text #6: The Dead Poets Society 

This film has been critically acclaimed for years now for it's deep and profound understanding of boyhood and the importance of literature. Many reviews have stated that this is the kind of story that stays with you a life time. It captures the growth of characters during their most developmental and vulnerable years as well as seeing how their friendships and teacher, played by Robin Williams, play a pivotal role in this time in their lives. This type of reaction is what I want my short film to have, for the story to stick with audiences for years to come and gives them them something to think about. 

Citations: 

Steinberg, D. (n.d.). Stand by me (1986) and the Power of Friendship | Hollywood Suite. Hollywood Suite. https://hollywoodsuite.ca/stand-by-me-1986-and-the-power-of-friendship/ 

Hinesman, L. (2023, October 19). “Dead poet’s society” review. The Communicator. https://chscommunicator.com/87408/a-and-e/2023/10/dead-poets-society-review/#

Dramatic Media Texts Part 2

 Media text #3: Saltburn 

This specific drama piece is also uses lighting and coloring techniques to move the story along but also uses costumes. As we know from our media studies, costumes are supposed to be a representation each character, it can tell certain stories that can't necessarily be told in the form of dialogue. For example, Jacob Elordi's character, Felix, is often seen wearing outfits that are pretty worn down and as the clothes were just thrown on without any real thought. However, he is seen wearing brands like Ralph Lauren which illustrates the idea that although he was born into money, he doesn't really care much for it, or isn't cognizant of his extreme wealth compared most other people especially considering he surrounds himself with people who are also very wealthy. 

This style contrasts that of his costar Barry Keoghan, who plays Oliver. Oliver's styling is an extreme contrast to Felix in that it is very purposeful and exact despite his financial situation. Furthermore, the characters purposeful costume choice reflect his plan to be in Felix's world. As the story progresses we see Oliver's style converge to be more like Felix's, the only difference is that Oliver's style is extremely performative. 

 

 

Media Text #4: The Black Swan 

The Black Swan is psychological drama that has been acclaimed for it's extremely stylized approach of the ballet 'Swan Lake'. The film highlights the juxtaposition between control and letting go regarding the lead characters struggle to play both parts. Not only do the ballet costumes themselves hold symbolism such as the white swan representing innocence and vulnerability while the black swan represents the fierce, dark, presence, but costumes outside the ballet represent Natalie Portman's character, Nina's, psychological descend. For example, her makeup and costumes slowly become darker as the film progresses. Her natural makeup is replaced with bolder and darker colors and her style of clothing becomes more and more edgy as the film goes on, hinting at her transformation into her own 'black swan' 

Citations: 

Mcqunt, A. (2023, December 16). Saltburn costume analysis. Saltburn Costume Analysis. https://alexandermcqunt.substack.com/p/saltburn-costume-analysis

Malik, N. (2024, August 16). Shattered reflections: Artistic expression and symbolism in “Black swan”. Another Level Higher. https://anotherlevelhigher.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/shattered-reflections-artistic-expression-and-symbolism-in-black-swan/