Group support meeting

 Group meeting  

Hey guys, Today we had a group meeting in Aice Media class to discuss our projects. In my group, there was Clara, Valentina, Jack S, Erin, and Claudio. All their projects sounded super interesting, and I'm super excited to check them out when we are all finished with the project. 

Before the group discussion, we had a class lesson about social media, and how to utilize it for the digital marketing part of this project. Honestly, I am really interested in this part because I want to go into marketing, mainly for movies and tv shows, so it's an opportunity to get a taste of this industry. My group and I decided to open a Tik Tok and Instagram for this short film, which is perfect for our target audience. I'll go into further depth about this in a later post. :D

 

In the group meeting, I introduced to everyone what our short film would be about, and everyone seemed interested in the concept of the short film. After explaining everything, the one issue that I brought up to the group is keeping a color scheme while filming the gym scene. In a gymnastics gym, many of the colors are bright, like red, green, and blue mats and bright-colored walls or/and carpets. The gym also usually has harsh white lighting. All these are factors we can't change which would affect the color theme of the movie overall. 

 

(picture of the gym) 

For the film, I want to have a gloomy color scheme as the main character grows up in the gym. Visually showing her emotions towards gymnastics through colors. However, if the gym is full of bright, intense colors it would be difficult to do this.  

I presented this problem to my group and they suggest to alter the saturation of the clips during the gym scenes, and also the ending scenes. This way we can easily show her emotions through the colors on the screen, even if we don't have full control of the mis-en-scene. I will definitely take their suggestion given that it's even easier than altering the design of the gym. Overall, this group meeting was very helpful, and will be making sure to include everything they suggested

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Location picking

 Location

The question "where are we filming this" has always been in my groups and my mind. Our short film will follow a gymnastic, so most of our footage would be set in the gym. Specifically, the gym one of our team members goes to, eugenia, given that she does gymnastics and we are allowed to film there. This gym is the Park Avenue Gymnastics gym in cooper city. 

 

This is what the gym looks like, lots of bright colors (reds, yellows, blues) which would develop a problem for trying to maintain a gloomy/saddened color scheme during the gym scenes. There's no way to change out the equipment in the gym nor do we have equipment that would fit the color scheme needed. I think will filming well try to figure something out maybe with the lights or specific angles, maybe this way our colors will be kept gloomy, this would probably form an issue while filming and editing, and I'll keep on thinking of ways we can solve it. 

Other locations for this project are going to include a house (the characters home), given that we need a bedroom, living room, and practice room for the scenes in the short film. This could be recorded in any of our houses, our only concern would be the equipment to show the main character had been practicing at home. Neither of us has gymnastics equipment except for a mat, which we'll see if it's enough to show practice. If not we are going to need to improvise and use other objects, or even show her working out at home and doing some floor techniques. 

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Scene outline

Storyboard 

Hey guys, A few days ago in class my group and me we created a rough outline of the scenes we want to include in our short film. Here are pictures that show it. 

In the beginning, we want to show the main character is young and enjoys the sport of gymnastics. Basically, showing how she develops her love for the sport from a young age. We want to include a few scenes of her younger self also doing various skills. 

After, as she grows up we want to show scenes of her admiring other gymnastic (teammates and famous gymnastics). As well as practicing at home and trying to become like the people she looks up to. 

Another time skip, as we show her doubting her skills, becomes insecure when she is in the gym. During this time we want to show her working non-stop to improve, but still not feeling good enough.  

 

In the end, we want to show the character giving up on gymnastics, not showing up to practices, and feeling insecure about her skills. Because of this, she would quit gymnastics overall and in the end, become happier now that all the pressure developed through the sport is gone.   

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🎵Song Recs🎵 

- Die for you Remix- The Weeknd, Ariana Grande 

- Cupid- Fifty Fifty

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Who is our target

Target Audience 

Our film will consist of the growing love for a sport and how as you grow up, that love fades away. It would specifically follow the loss of their passion for gymnastics, so we were showing her growing up in gymnastics and as she gets older the sport gets harder, and expectations get higher as the pressure increases to be perfect. 

For our short film, the main character would be a teen girl (1. there are 5 times more women competing in gymnastics than men 2. it's the gender we were able to easily find). These would allow our film to be targeted at teenage girls (11-19). For social class, our group decided it would probably be middle class however the topics in the film could be relatable to anyone. Additionally, the topics discusses would give a rating of the movie as PG, given the target audience. Also some hobbies our target audience would have in common would be sports, specifically gymnastics.  

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Outline for short film

 Outline  

After picking the topic we are going to do for the short film, my group decided to create a rough outline of how the film would be organized and what is going to be shown. This is a very rough outline, when we further plan everything out, the outline would be more specific about what and how we are going to shot the short film.  

Beginning:

• main character as a little kid enjoying the sport (practice, smiling, laughing)
• admiring older gymnasts, Olympic, and college athletes
• growing up and continuing to improve skill
• start comparing skill to other gymnasts

Middle:

• starting to not be able to do a skill
• practice outside of the gym
• watching others out of anger, not enjoyment
• not wanting to go to practice
• struggle to stay positive
• self-deprivation

End:

• giving up on dreams
• parents notice and try to help
• quitting relieving stress 

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We picked a topic!!

Topic

Heyy guys so my group and I finally picked a topic after debating between a few different ones. We all the topics we had in mind for this project we really liked and would enjoy producing any of the options. Some of our topics consist of obsession, pressure, beauty standards, and sports, things we are interested in. That is why we were struggling to pick a topic. 

So today during our group meeting we decided to combine the topics, basically a monster topic. We decided to combine sports with beauty standards and pressures. Our short film is going to consist of how as you grow up in a sport, the sport you once loved when you were little, gets harder and harder, given that as you grow more pressure to be perfect gets thrown on you. Specifically, we want to focus on the sport of Gymnastics, given that we feel it's the easiest sport to show pressure to be perfect. We feel like the way sports are structured and all the expectations of gymnast have to reach to be considered good.  

 

I really cant wait to starts this project, am very excited 

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Inspo for the look of short film

Colors and Production 

Hey guys, so I have been thinking about how the short film would look, thinking about all the past films I watched and there were a few that I felt had a feel/ aesthetic I would like to show in my piece. the two that really stuck out to me were Black Swan and The Grand Budapest Hotel. I really love the look of both movies, though they are very different in themes, and aesthetics the way that each director made the movie feel through their use of color and effects inspires me for the look of my short film. 

 As for black swan my group and me really like how the director shows the people's extreme obsession with the main character through the acting, makeup, colors, etc. I really want to focus on those elements in the short film so not only are we expressing the characters' emotions through their script but also through mise-en-scene. Most of the options we are in between with have some sort of obsession them. Furthermore, focusing on those aspects could also help if the actor we have isn’t the best at expressing believable emotions on screen. Having a fully develop mise-en-scene would help this problem. 

Another thing I noted about the movie is the color scheme that is kept all throughout to express the deep themes discussed in the movie. The cool tones used throughout the movie show the mellow, extreme feelings that the character experiences throughout the film. The way that obsession and mental health is shown through the movie is something I’m inspired by and want to show in my piece. 

I have an overall idea of what I want the short film to look like. I really want to focus on the aesthetic of the visuals of the film. I want to make sure we pick a color specific to the theme and/or character and emphasize it throughout the short film.  Also playing with different colors and their symbolism. I want to take inspiration from Wes Anderson's films in how he intensifies colors in his films, through clothing and mise-en-scene. By doing this he creates an immediate association with colors and his films. For example, how red, purple, and pink are associated with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

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Reserching for inspo Pt.2

 For more research, I moved my focus from old projects to released short films. Ones that have been in Film festivals won awards, were distributed on streaming platforms, etc. I also looked through some that were student/ teen made, so their features could be something that we could do in our film project. For this, I went to Youtube and searched for "short films about beauty standards" and "short Films about sports", given that the topics that we are deciding between all fall under those two themes. In the following ill go over some of the short films I watched and the parts that I took notes on. 

Doll Face 

This was one of the first short films I watch, which made me think the most. The piece was released 16 years ago, and done through animation. I don't plan to use animation in my short film, but the piece still has some features I may want to utilize in my short film. Firstly, the film has barely any dialogue and just uses sounds from the TV and robot to express the message intended. This makes the audience think more about what is being shown to them, making the message more prominent. I think this is a clever way to express a message, only using sound, I would love to attempt to use this in my short film. These were the background objects, sounds, and actors' expressions that can express the message. Another thing I'll want to do in our short film has a dark ending, just like this short film. In the end, the character didn't end up happy or better than at the start, her actions left her hurt. I would want to do the same thing with what we choose to do, have an unconventional ending. I feel like it emphasizes the message and its consequences rather than having a happy ending. 

 A Cinematic Baseball Film

Honestly, this one was one of my favorites that I watched. I really enjoy the cinematography and message that it leaves behind. From this short film, I noted the use of creative shots used throughout. Especially the ones used in the boys' room when he is contemplating continuing baseball, and the one at the end when he finally hit an awesome swing. I want to try to use creative angles and shots from my short film so it would be more entertaining for the audience watching. Just like the last short film, this one used almost no dialogue until the end, which made what the boy was saying more impactful. If our idea allows it, I would really like to do something with no or very little dialogue given that I feel it's more impactful than a voiceover throughout the piece. 

Not enough

This short film looks closer to what we can do for this project as the production isn't as elaborate as the other ones, though it's still really good. I really enjoy the creativity that was put into this short film, as the use of words for food to express body issues. I would really like to do something similar to my short film, like playing with different objects to make a metaphor out of their use. Additionally, the use of dialogue in this short film is. I know that in the previous two, I mentioned how I would really like to not use dialogue, but if the idea that we choose the lack of dialogue would help to express the message, I would prefer to use dialogue between two people rather than a voiceover. I feel like voiceovers are to overuse in short films and sometimes they don't really help the piece. I much rather utilize conversations with the character to spread the message like done in the short film above.

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Researching for inspo Pt.1

Watching other projects 

Hey guys,  I've recently started researching for more inspiration on what to do for the short film. I started to go through projects from the Aice media class on Ms.Stolkosa's Website. I was curious to see what others have done when producing a short film. Even though there are only a few options of what I could watch, and fewer that are good, I was able to note what to do and not to do when producing, editing, and planning my short film. I went through last year's projects (2021-2022), some from the year before (2020-2021), and the year before that (2019-2020) however when watching the previous years I took note of the pandemic and how it would've affected the production of many of these projects.

By watching the previous year's projects I was able to make a list of my do's and don'ts from the way that others made their own short film. I watched a handful of short films done in previous years and while watching I took some notes on my computer about the things I liked/ will try to do in mine and the things that didn't go well. 

Notes 

For Script 

Something I'll take note of is the script many of these people produced for their films. For our short film we want to make a piece that is relatable to its audience and at the same time leave them with a lesson. For this, our main concern is to make the script for the short film reflect the speech of the target audience, which I noted many of the projects doing. All of our options for the short film we have are mostly targeted toward teens/ younger adults, meaning well include slang words, sarcasm, etc. which are features common in teen speech. Additionally, will try and play into the language in relation to identity so specific lexis that connect with the character's traits (which will be chosen later on). 

For Production  

I noticed not many of the projects I watched played with lights, they instead used filters in post-production when trying to achieve a certain vibe. I personally didn't like the way many of them used the filters, given that the color chosen was usually overpowering the scenes, leaving the audience focusing on the color but not the actual content. For my production, I would like to go against using filters and instead get lightbulbs or/and objects when trying to emphasize color in a scene. I feel like this way is more subtle for the audience when watching the short film. 

For mise-en-scene 

Tying in with the previous notes, for the project one of my goals is for anything that would be in the frame, and have a meaning to the plot or the characters. For example, creating color palettes for each character and sticking to them throughout the whole production, with this we could place small objects in the background that would be associated with each of the characters through their colors. 

For Editing 

In most of the short films, I watched the editing was kept to a minimum. Most didn't have many special effects in their final products. if they did use more 'advanced' editing is to add filters to scenes. I am pretty sure my group would be utilizing similar traits as most of us have a basic- intermediate knowledge of editing. Furthermore, the simple editing will allow our film to appear more relatable to its target audience which is one of our main goals. 

For sound 

Something that was very prominent in the project I saw was sound. If it either was sound effects or scores, the way the people used sound inspired me to include meaningful soundtracks in the production. Utilizing songs in products is a easier way to set the mood in specific scenes, and watching it being used in various projects showed me the necessity of this feature in short films. Given this, I definitely want to try and include a song from an artist or from the public domain in the scene of our short film. 

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Thinking hard

 Ideas Ideas Ideas 

Hey guys, today my group (eugenia and Sasha)  and I meet in class to discuss our different ideas for the final project. While we were talking we decided it best for us to do a short film. This is because a documentary has given that it's episodic would need us to think about what we would show in every episode while short film we would have to think about one main idea. During our meeting, we also talked over many ideas we had for our short film. We are still aren't sure about what plot to pick however all our ideas fall under the genre of drama. Here in the following is a list of some of the ideas we were discussing in class. 

• Developing an obsession with someone  (celebrity or friend)  
• Beauty standards 
• keeping your 'Authentic' style in today's society 
• Losing the love of sport (job) 
• How technology makes you lose touch with the world 
• FOMO
• How technology affects youth 
• Moving away from home struggles  
• living with pressure to success 
• Parents living through their children 
• How schools drain people  

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Schedule for project

 Timeline 

For the upcoming project, my group and I decided to create a broad schedule to follow so we are able to keep on track to finish the project on time. We are gonna try our bet to follow it and finish all our work in the finest quality possible.

Week One (2/7-2/13): 

• Choose project 

• Think of ideas 

• Create timeline 

• Research project genre 

• two blog posts (transition and project schedule) 

Week Two (2/14-2/19): 

• Continue project ideas 

• Research components to project 

• Four blog posts (research, planning, class meetings) 

Week Three (2/20-2/26): 

• Continue project ideas 

• Start to create script/outline 

• Create storyboard 

• Plan days to film with people in it 

• Four blog posts (research, script, outline, storyboard, planning, class meetings) 

Week Four (2/27-3/5): 

• Continue planning 

• Create ideas for print 

• Create social media page 

• Possibly begin filming 

• Four blog posts (planning, production, progress) 

Week Five (3/6-3/12): 

• Film 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Four blog posts (production, key moments, changes) 

Week Six (3/13-3/19): 

• Continue filming if needed 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Begin editing 

• Four blog posts (production, key moments, changes, editing) 

Week Seven (3/20-3/26): 

• Continue filming if needed 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Begin editing 

• Three blog posts (production, key moments, changes, editing) 

Week Eight (3/27-4/2): 

• Edit 

• Finish print 

• Post on social media 

• Three blog posts (production, changes, editing) 

Week Nine (4/3-4/9): 

• Finalize 

• Post on social media 

• Create critical reflection 

• Three blog posts (production, finishing project) 

Week Ten (4/10-4/12): 

• Finish 

• Critical reflection 

• Three blog posts (final reflective comments, embedded link with short reflection, critical reflection)

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🎵Song Recs🎵 

- Karma- Sarah Kingsley 

- Cologne- Beabadoobee

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