90s Style

                                                              

                   
Hey everyone!I would like to start off by saying that my partner and I still do not know exactly what we want our film opening to be about.  The only thingas that we know for sure is that  we want it to be about an outspoken/bold girl and we want to date it in the 1990s.  It's going to be some sort of character driven story that takes place during the summer, but we do not know yet if she is going to have a love interest, who her friends are gonna be, where the movie is gonna take place.We will do this by specific costume design that reflects the time period.

 Girls in this time period were known for wearing lots of plad, cargo pants, slip dresses, flared jeans, crop tops, and platform shoes. They accessorized with butterfly cips, chokers, and scrunchies. This is not everything that girls wore in the 90s, but this list consists of items that stick out the most and are most notable. We want our main character to wear some of these items to help date our film opening. We are going to want to dress our main charcater in a bright, bold color so that she stands out. Most likely a red color to demonstrate our character's bold nature. 

Tomorrow, Andrea and I are planning to video chat to establish exactly what our film opening is going to be about. I am very indecisive and it will probably take many hours, but do not fret, soon I will know what my film opening will be about. 

So Much Work....So Little Time

Hey everyone! It’s me Rachel again. My film opening is due in roughly 6 weeks. That sounds like an abundance of time, but I’m actually feeling a bit overwhelmed. My partner Andrea is very involved in the drama club and I work part time at an icecream shop. With such busy schedules, it will be an absolute MUST for us to map out a schedule that we can religiously follow. This will allow us to stay organized and to gradullay do things, rather than all at once. Like I mentioned in my last blog post, we still do not know what our film opening is going to be about. We just know that it will be a character-driven story. If we want to create a film opening that can make an audience go WOW then we really need to meticulously plan how we go about a task like this. I think that
a step-by-step guide will be an A+ way in keeping myself organized
because I am practically a Pinterest mom (without the kids).

Here’s what my step-by-step looks like so far:

Step 1: Decide what the story will be for the film opening 

Step 2: Write the script for the story

Step 3: Work out any kinks/flaws within our story

Step 4: Determine what we will need to create a magnificent film opening (cast members, equipment, location planning, editing programs, etc)

Step 5: Set dates for filming 

Step 6: Film the film opening 

Step 7: Begin editing the material that we have

Step 8: Reshoot if necessary

Step 9: Continue editing

Step 10: Watch the film opening over and over to make sure that it is work that I am proud to turn in

This is a very simple list because it makes me feel like the task at hand is manageable. I know that Andrea and I can produce a well-done film opening if we work hard and put forth lots of effort. We must remain organized and dedicated!

Character Driven Stories

It’s now the time for me to begin my portfolio project. Currently, I am overwhelmed as I don’t know where to begin. What kind of story do I wanna tell? Who will star in my film opening? Where will we shoot it?

                                         

 I have had a few discussions with my partner Andrea about our film opening and it’s starting to make me a bit less worrisome. We were casually talking about some of our favorite movies and we discovered that we both loved the movie “Ladybird”. It’s a coming-of-age film about a turbulent relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter. It’s a very character driven story. Character driven stories have always intrigued me. They can be a bit slow at times, but I am always in awe when I watch people’s inner transformations. I guess that means I like stories that are more “raw”, rather than a movie about robots and big explosions. 

                                   

                                      
                                     Ladybird(2017)

          

In my time as a “dedicated” high school student, I have deduced that when I do work that interests me, it turns out a whole lot better. I’m no psychology major, but this is probably because when you enjoy something, you tend to place more value on it, and therefore put more effort into it. As a result, Andrea and I are planning on doing a character driven story. I have no idea as to the “who”, “what”, “when”, “why”, “how”, but let me tell you this. This film opening will be memorable. Mark my words. 

I have begun to do some research in regards to character driven stories and this is what I have concluded:

A character driven film focuses on the inner conflicts within characters. In the beginning of the film a charter can have a specific outlook on life, and then at the end of story, view the world in a completely different way.  For instance, at the beginning of a film, a 16 year old girl could think that she unattractive and undeserving of a boy’s love. Yet, at the end of the film, she realizes that she believes all of this because she was never “properly” loved by her parents.  You see, it’s all about self-discovery.

I also have found that the characters in these character driven type movies have desires. They seek something more, something more magnificent. Over the course of the film, the character will experience what I now like to refer to as “hiccups”. They are the little obstacles that these characters will face as they attempt to reach their goal. They know why they want, but there are some obstacles in the way whether it be an over-protective mom or low self-esteem. At the end of the film, the character/characters will come to some sort of realization about their previous desires.
I now know that I need my film opening to establish an inner conflict within my character.  

References:
https://www.rrfedu.com/blog/2016/04/04/makes-screenplay-character-driven/

https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/reader-question-who-is-the-nemesis-in-character-driven-films-ec959690a367

My Music Marketing Campaign

My Music Marketing Campaign

My partner and I were tasked with developing a music marketing project. We had to create a music marketing campaign that explained how we were going to market and distribute our new, up-and-coming band. We were given 3 songs to choose from and we ended up deciding on the song "Mother Mother" by Tracy Bonham. After choosing our song, we had to come up with a new band that would be singing the song. The song fell into the alternative rock category so we obviously decided to form an alternative rock band. We named the band "Topaz", because it just sounded cool and you know, "band like". We created a band that got their start on YouTube, as that is currently a popular method in which bands and singers are discovered. From there, we developed social medias for the band like Instagram and Twitter. There, people could engage with our band on a regualr basis and be informed on all of our band's ventures. We also created a webiste where people could access news about our band and buy merchandise. Also, we had to create a music video that represented the song. We chose to the video about a girl who was going down a dark path after gpoing through a difficult time with her mother. It represented our song perfectly! We also wanted our band to become mental health ambassadors as it would help to bring awarness to the fact that mental illness is a real thing.

We determined that the traget audience for our band would be girls aged 16-25 becuase the song features a bunch of angsty lyrics, which this demographic tends to like. We researched popular ways that singers and musicians are marketed and we found that almost all of them use social media. Therefore, we knew we had to make an Instagram and a Twitter. Many people use Instagram because users can create engaging content. People can post videos, photos, and even post on stories. Instagram is used by 64% of people aged 18-29, so we knew that if we created an Instagram, it would help us gain lots of traction as millions of people use the platform. We also created a Twitter so we could post quick little updates on tour dates and song/ablum release dates. Twitter and Instagram both offer fantastic anylytics so we would also be able to see  exactly who was interacting with our content and see if our accounts were gaining in popularity.  We also disocvered that many bands also have a website, so we made one of those too. We also learned that most people consume music through streaming, with over 170 million people  using the streaming platform Spotify.Therfore, we knew we had to put our music on Spotify! We did a ton of research to make sure that we made the best choices for our project!

These are some of our marketing creations:

This is the super adorable hoodie that we created that features the logo of our band Topaz. The design is simple and all genders can wear it. We also made our hoodies size inclusive. We had a size range of xs-3xl so that any person of any size can enjoy wearing Topaz's merchandise.












This is an example of our twitter. On twitter, our band updated people every day until the release of their first song "Mother Mother".














                         






This is a screenshot from our band's instagram. It includes aesthetic photos that will engage our followers. We post updates about new music, where our song can be downloaded, and cool shots from our music video. We also have a link in our bio that will take people directly to our website.


 

 

This is an instagram campaign that we created. It is a hashtag called #mothermother. People will post photos of them and their mom using the hashtag #mothermother. These people will then be entered into a giveaway. This is essentially free advertisemnt for our band.

Our music video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE7fSHl-1tw


So what did I learn?

Well, I learned that if you put your mind to something, you can acomplish your goals. To be quite frank, I had serious doubts when starting this project. I did not think that what we were going to create good work due to the tough time constraint. However, me and my partner worked relentlessly on the marketing campaign and on the music video. Hard work is one of the pillars of success in my opinion. I know that if I just try my best, I will put out good work. I also learned that creating a campaign is not easy. We had to put in many hours coming up with and creating our plans. I know that I will have toput in bucket loads of effort into my portfolio project if I want it to turn out the way I invision it.