Creative Critical Reflaction

hey lovely blog reader, It has come to an end. I am done with my project and now you get to watch my CCR. I'm really proud of what I have created. Enjoy!


CCR:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GOcaFVNI6E9rXl0JTyCugebXDHD1SP3e/view?usp=sharing

Short Film, Website, and Postcard

HI LOVELY BLOG READER IT'S FINALLY HERE!

Enjoy :)


Short Film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7LnTq0UUGY&feature=youtu.be



Website:

https://grossmanr86.wixsite.com/mysite


Postcard:

Reflecting On The Process

Hey lovely blog reader! How are you?


Now that I am finally done with my portfolio project, it's time to reflect upon the process. for starters, I started out working with my friend Elizabeth. We had come up with an idea to create a film about a girl reflecting upon a previous conversation and then imagining how the situation could have gone differently. We began writing a script for our film, but then we found out some startling news: school was closing because of the corona Virus. This was a very stressful time for me because I was concerned about the future of my project. I was not allowed to leave my house anymore so how was I supposed to film in places such as school and the park? The answer? I would not be able to. Elly and I then decided that it would be better to work alone because of the difficulties we were having. Thus, we could each work on our own projects from the comfort of our own homes. 

I had to come up with a brand new idea, one that could be done from my home, with me as the star of the short film. I ended up deciding to do a short film about a girl that experiences a breakup. She experiences a whirlwind of emotions and in the end, abruptly cuts her own hair. I knew this idea would be feasible and I thought it would be fun to film. I begged my sister to film for me and after constant nagging, she finally agreed. She was not experienced with proper camera shots and angles so you can bet there was a lot of me telling her to redo a shot because she cut off part of my head, etc. I had to buy a wig for my short film because at the end, as aforementioned, my character decides to cut her hair. Obviously, I did not want to give myself a terrible haircut. Thus, I did not shoot the final scene of my short film until I had edited the rest. I needed to be sure that I had enough footage and that I was satisfied with all of the shots and clips that I had taken. Once the wig was cut, I couldn't film anymore. Also, I had to do the final scene in one take and that was extremely stressful because I would not be able to get my hands on another wig. 

I began editing my film on wevideo, but I realized that it lacked a few features that I needed to complete my project such as detaching audio from clips. So, I downloaded what I had and put it into iMovie. editing on iMovie was super simple. I spent hours searching for the perfect song to use in my film.  I ended up finding an angsty rock song called "The Saloon" in the Youtube Audio Library. After I edited, I created my website using Wix. I wanted the website to be simple and clean, for aesthetic reasons and also because my short film revolves around a pretty simple story. Then, I used Canva to create my film festival postcard. While I had a bit of difficulty at first, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I was really scared about what would happen to my project because of the coronavirus. However, I learned to adapt and make it work. I'm very proud of what I created!

Website and Postcard Design

Hi lovely blog reader! I hope you are having a splendid day!

Last night I finally finished editing my short film! I wanted to get it out of the way before embarking on new tasks.

The website:

I used Wix to design my website. I added the tabs Home, Production Team, Screenings, Contact, and Gallery. On the home tab, I have a still from my short film along with a brief synopsis of my film. I tried to leave it as vague as possible because I do not want to give away the ending. The girl cutting her bangs at the end of the film is supposed to be a surprise. On the production team tab, I included photographs of the people who helped me create my project. Other than me, I added my boyfriend Dylan because he played my ex-boyfriend in the film. My sister Brooke filmed for me so I mentioned her as well. in the screenings tab, I listed the film festivals that my short film would be featured in. In the Contact tab, I added Bang!'s official email so people can contact if necessary. The gallery tab has some pictures of my short film. I did not put the film on my website because I don't want people to be able to watch it for free. I want my short film distributed at film festivals such as Sundance.



The Postcard: 

I used Canva to create my short film. I had a bit of difficulty creating the postcard because I had a hard time deciding the layout. I ended up doing a simple design involving one side featuring a photo and the name of the film. the other side has a synopsis and a location as to where to view the film.  I really like the simplicity of it as it is easy to read and sleek. It also compliments the simplicity of the website.

Wrapping up Filming!

Hello lovely blog reader. How are you? I'm doing well.

Today I finished filming! Yesterday, I got all the shots I needed except for the last few shots. This is because the final scene of my film is my main character cutting bangs. Once the bangs were cut, I could not go back and reshoot scenes. Thus, I edited everything else to make sure that I would not have to reshoot once the bangs were cut. I'm really glad to be done filming. I just need to add the shots that I filmed today and then my short film will be completed!

Beginning to Edit

Hey lovely blog reader, what's up?

I started editing my short film! At first, I decided to use wevideo instead of iMovie because I thought it would be more simple. it was working fine at first but I ran into an issue. Wevideo would not let me detach audio from my clips. Thus, I had to download what I had in wevideo and transfer it in iMovie. Imovie has been very easy to use(probably because I have had a lot of practice with it). I decided that I do not want to have music at the beginning of my film. I believe that music would not add to it. You will understand when you watch it. However, there is a part of my film where my main character has a dance party in the bathroom and thus I needed a song to play for that. I searched for hours but I ended up finding a song on the youtube audio library called "The saloon". It has an angsty rock vibe to it that I think helps convey my characters' emotions! That's all for today! Just a quick little update!

Filming Day 1

Hey lovely blog reader! I hope you are having a good day!

Today, I finally filmed a scene for my short film. The scene was the opening of the short film. I ended up choosing to execute this scene through facetime since I am unable to meet with Dylan in person. 


The first thing that I had to do was put the wig on. Wigs are very hard to put on actually. I tried to put it on by myself but I couldn't so I went to my sister for assistance. She helped me get the wig on. I'm not gonna say that the wig looks realistic, because it does not. However, it gets the point across. Also, did I mention wigs are very itchy, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

I realized that I did not want the facetime call to be recorded from my phone. I thought it would look tacky and not as technically advanced. Thus, I had an idea to use QuickTime player to record my computer screen when I staged the facetime call with Dylan who is playing my boyfriend in the short film. I did have to google how it worked, but after watching a quick tutorial, it proved to be very simple. The sound quality was not bad either. 

I am not very good at memorizing lines so I pasted my lines to the top of my laptop so I was able to read them without it being too obvious. It worked pretty well.

I still have lots to film, but I am glad that I have at least started the filming process. Tomorrow I am planning to get as much done as possible! The due date is quickly approaching and I am very well aware of that. It's frustrating because I cannot start my website or card because I need to base ot off of footage from my film(which does not yet exist). I'm glad the CCR due date was moved because now I have a bit more time to get things in order. 

Outline and Script Writing

Hey lovely blog reader! I hope you are having a marvelous day! I have some exciting news to share. I not only created an outline for my short film but an actual script as well. Who would have thought this day would come? 

OUTLINE

SCRIPT

While I am very please with my script, I am very worried about the technical aspects of my film. The right music, editing, shot composition, color, etc is super super important. To ensure that my short film turns out well, I need to be careful and not overlook those very important aspects. 

At the end of my short film, the main girl is going to cut her bangs... very badly. I don't want to give myself a disastrous haircut, so I ordered a wig. I was not able to order the wig from a previous blog because it would not arrive until the end of April after the project was due. That's because Amazon is not fulfilling many orders that are not considered "essential". Wigs are definitely not considered an essential item. However, I was able to find a blonde wig that was able to arrive this week. It was honestly the only one I could find. I would rather the wig be brunette so it would look a bit more realistic, but I guess I'm not going to be able to channel my inner Elle Woods. 

By Tuesday, I would like to have all of my shots and start editing. I know that it's late in the game, but remember to take into account all of the obstacles that I had to face. 

BANG

Hey lovely blog reader! How are you doing? I have good news! I have finalized my idea for my short film. Now that I am no longer working with my friend Elly, I had to come up with an idea on my own. While it was a grueling task, I have decided to create the short film BANG. It is going to be about a girl that decides to cut her own bangs after a breakup with her long-distance boyfriend.  I thought BANG would be a funny title because the sound BANG is very abrupt and sudden and loud and so is the decision to cut bangs. The title seemed fitting to me. I don't think it gives too much away because its not called BANGS, just BANG. You would understand the title once you reach the end of the short film

Anyway, I ran the idea by my teacher and she was totally on board. This short film idea is something that can easily be executed in my home while under quarantine. I am going to play the main character and I am going to get my boyfriend to play the character's boyfriend. I do not have a finalized outline or script yet, but I know one difficulty that I am going to face is filming the scene with her boyfriend. Maybe I can facetime or skype? 

Over this week, I am going to try my best to create a script as well as get a bit of footage. I do not want to stress myself out and I will see what I am able to accomplish.

I Have an Idea!

Hello lovely blog reader,  how are you feeling today? Personally, I feel very tired. Lounging around my house all day just makes me feel tired. Even when I do productive tasks like organizing my room and working out, I still feel tired. Anyways, with the due date fast approaching, it is essential that I come up with a project for a short film. I still do not know whether I will be working alone or as a duo, I brainstormed a few ideas.

One idea that I had was making a short film about a girl who is debating cutting bangs. I have been debating doing this myself so I think it would be a neat idea to explore. I would start the film out with the girl seeing other people with their bangs cut, her debating it, and then, in the end, she cuts her bangs. However, I want this film to be a bit comedic. I thought it would be quite comical that after the countless hours of debating whether or not to cut her bangs, she ends up cutting them too short. In the end, she will just laugh. Maybe like a joker type of laugh. This film could be more of an experimental film, showcasing her emotions and such. Since I am limited to shooting in my home,  the actors I am limited to being me, my 16-year-old sister, my 10-year-old brother, my parents. I would probably star in it as the main character. Also, I don't want to mess my hair up so I think that I can buy a wig on amazon or clip-in bangs. 

I would want to play with color and lighting to make the short more engaging and dynamic. This is an idea, but I think this is the one that I'm going to roll with. The idea is simple and something that I can definitely execute in the comfort of my own home.

A potential Schism

Hello lovely blog reader, I hope you are doing swell!

Elly and I are very good friends. Recently, we have been getting in many arguments over this project. Elly is a very organized person and likes to have schedules for things. She values order in her life and she will get very stressed in situations like this project. I used to be like that, but over this past year, I have learned to calm down. I used to stress over every assignment I was given. I would stay up till 3 am with 100s of flashcards memorizing test material. This year, I told myself that I wanted to relax. And that is exactly what I have been doing. Thus, our ways of approaching this project are causing us to fight. Elly has requested to work by herself and I respect her decision. While this may or may not be approved, I think it is still very important to brainstorm ideas. 

As you know, it took me quite a significant amount of time to come up with our original idea. having to start from scratch means going back to the sate of having no idea what to do. I have been pondering a few ideas, but nothing substantial. With the project being due very soon, I have to come up with an idea in 3-7 days, and that is still pushing it. Luckily, I am in quarantine and have lots of time to accomplish this without the project looking rushed. 

It always works out in the end. I always tell myself that. It will work out. No worries!

The Best Way to Get Inspired is Just to Watch Some More Short Films

Hello lovely blog reader! I have yet to come up with an idea for a short film. Please do not come to me. I had an idea...but then all the coronavirus stuff happened and *poof* gone. I have been trying very hard to come up with an idea, but I feel like I have not been feeling very inspired lately. Maybe its because all I do is lounge around the house(that's probably it). 

I watched 2 short films in a bid to get inspired.

The first short film I watched was called PAPER. Its a 7 minute short that I found on youtube. It's about a girl who is trying to make it in the modeling industry. The film begins with the girl and other models against a solid white background. They are all in white tank tops in black underwear. They are all judged and sized. The main girl runs into another one of her fellow models in the bathroom. The model she runs into is a bit more experienced. She tells her that being a model is not glamourous in a way. She even goes into horrific detail about how she would count every single calorie, even going as far too searching up the calories in a breath mint. The short film features shots of the main girl doing everything that the experienced model is talking about: extreme exercising, dieting, etc.

The film utilized music to convey the girl's feelings about the events that are taking place. At the end of the film, for example, the music in the background gets very intense, showcasing that the girl is overwhelmed with emotion. Also, the dialogue was super important because the words the experienced model was saying was paired over what the new model was doing. This film focussed on a very simple story. It was very easy to follow and I liked the simplicity of it.

Another short film that I watched was called The Elevator. This short film was only 3 minutes long. It's about a guy who gets into an elevator and more and more people start coming. He notices the maximum weight is 2000 pounds and becomes very freaked out when many overweight people get in the elevator. He even takes out a calculator to try to determine if it is over the maximum. Then, an obese man is approaching the elevator and the man decided he needs to get out. he then gets into another elevator in which all of the people are coughing and sneezing. That's how it ends. There is very little dialogue, only when the man says excuse me to get out of the elevator. Rather, the film fixates on the man's facial expressions while he is dealing with everything. Also, the music playing in the background is elevator music. This also was quite humorous because the music is so calm but the man is very stressed. It was a very clever juxtaposition of the two. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this piece as well.

I'm glad I watched these two short films. Maybe inspiration will hit soon!

Examining ANOTHER Experimental Film

Hey blog reader! What's up? I hope you are doing well! 

After watching "Wake Up", I became more intrigued about experimental films. Thus, I watched another experimental short film called 5 Films About Technology. The film was composed of 5 "mini-films" all about people and the way they use technology. The mini-films featured "relatable", humorous instances in which technology can hinder, us not help us. For instance, in the first clip, we see girls sitting down for brunch. They are all on their phones. When the waiter comes to bring their food, they immediately get off their phone..but just for a quick "thank you" to the server. Then, they immediately take out their phones to photograph what they are eating, most likely for social media. This clip showed how people go out to"hang out" but in reality, are super disconnected. This mini-film ended abruptly, in the middle of them taking the photo. Classical music plays as a transition into the next short clip. Each clip is cut just as you are beginning to laugh. There was nothing unnecessary that was shown.

This short film was also created in square format. I think that was GENIUS because of its reference to how humans rely on technology and view the world through technology. The film's utilization of abrupt cuts and music transitions really helped to make the piece comedic. Since my partner and I are limited to very few shooting locations(our houses), it was a glimmer of hope to see that I can make a short film that is about a very simple topic. Also, if we utilize editing techniques and such, we can turn a simple story into a masterpiece!

Examining an Experimental Film

Hi blog reader! I decided to watch an experimental film called "Wake Up". It begins with the girl waking up in the hospital. She is disoriented and wants to leave. Once she escapes, she is amazed by the world around her, especially the fact that people are consumed with technology. People are pretty much unaware of her existence because they are so mesmerized by their screens. At the end of the film, we see the girl viewing a girl get hit by a car who was looking at her phone. It is the same actress. Since the film is experimental, it's not confirmed who the girl that got hit by the car is. The girl is waking up from the coma but she is also waking up to the notion that people need to be less engaged in their screens. 

The film utilizes sound to help portray the girls feeling as she escapes from the hospital.  In the hospital, a song plays that is very mellow and elevator-music like. When she escapes, the beat dramatically drops to show her feeling of happiness. At one point in the film, the girl approaches a collection of people on their laptops. The sound of multiple people typing can be heard in the background. There were so many people typing all at once that it sounded like a swarm of cicadas. I thought that was a unique way to highlight the idea that people were not doing their own thing, rather collectively just immersing themselves in another world. Towards the middle of the film, the girl
dangles herself off a ledge and in the background, you can hear diegetic car sounds that help explain the danger of the situation. There was also a repetitive, anxiety-inducing sound in the background to help convey the seriousness of the situation. Another sound aspect I liked from this film is when the girl is walking and you can hear all the thoughts in her head. It's a bunch of incessant whispers repeating reminders over and over. It showcased how all of our worries are in our own head. 

The sounds used in the film really stuck out to me. They aided in making me feel the emotions the girl was feeling. Also, I noticed how important it is to have a good actor. The girl's acting was extremely good and made the film feel more "real'. Elly and I better take some online acting lessons. Anyway, I'm glad I watched this short film because it opened my eyes to a new type of film making.

Thoughts in my Head

Hello lovely blog reader! I hope you are doing well! I am currently writing this with the biggest headache of my life. Want to know why? I checked the screen time on my phone and turns out I used my phone for 14 hours today. Not only are my eyes strained, I feel ashamed of myself. So much time wasted just scrolling through tik tok and Instagram aimlessly. This is a wake-up call for sure.

I have been in my house for over 2 weeks. I not allowed to go anywhere(except walks around my neighborhood) and people cannot come over. I'm bored. However, when I'm bored, that's when the best ideas strike me. Well, I don't really have any solid ideas right now but maybe I could make a short film about boredom but showcase it in a way that's not boring to the audience.  Just an idea. This was probably becuase Elly had me listen to a song called Paralyzer by Nf. It is about someone who feels "numb" and realizes they dont enjoy life like they used to.

I also had an idea of making a short film about maybe my brother. All he does is sit and play Roblox all day so it may be fun to explore that idea.  Then again I can't trust a 10-year-old with my project. I also had an idea to make a film about someone who is trying to cook dinner for their family but it all goes awry. These are just ideas that popped in my head but maybe they will inspire me to write a story. I am limited to my house, Elly's house, and thats it. Thus, I'm going to have to get a bit creative Who knows?

Also, my classmates informed me and my partner that we should really take a look into experimental films because we have limited actors and filming locations. That is something that I plan to research because that may be a route that my partner and I take. I am very inspired right now.

I hoped you enjoyed reading me babble.

Websites Galore

As part of the project, we need to make a website for our short film. While we are in a bit of a tizzy about that right now, I think it is important to research how to make a website. I have made a few websites in the past but I would not say that I am very good at it. Luckily, my partner Elizabeth is exceptional at website making so I am going to be relying on her a lot for this aspect of the project. In the past, I have used Wix to make my websites, but I have been informed that there are a plethora of other website designers so why not check them out! 


1) Wix

Wix, like I mentioned earlier, is something that I have used before. They offer many website templates. For instance, I worked on a music marketing project last year and I was able to specify that I was making a website for a band. Then, Wix offered me a template that would meet my needs. Wix has many drag and drop tools. While it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing, once you get the hang of it you can make some pretty nice websites. Also, Wix is free which is pretty neat and handy!

2) Go DaddyI have never used Go Daddy before but many people have recommended this website to me. Go Daddy is known for being a very quick solution to website building. It does most of the legwork for you. The issue with go daddy is limited creative control, which is something that may be an. issue. We want our website to be really creative so this may not be the software for us. However, it is still something to consider.

3) SquarespaceI have never used Squarespace before but this website has also been raved about. It lets you create websites that are very sleek and modern, very professional. This would be super useful because my partner nor I are professional website builders. This may be of use to us. Sadly, Squarespace is not free. They have a free trial we can sign up for but then we may feel rushed to finish our website within the allotted time. 

 

After examining my choices, I think we are going to use Wix because we are more familiar with it and also the fact that it is FREE!  What more could you ask for?

Online Class Meeting

Hey blog reader! In the midst of all this panic, my teacher decided to hold an online meeting today through Canvas to chat with my class about how we should proceed with our project. We will not be back in school for a few weeks(if ever) so I'm really glad we were able to have this meeting. It was very reassuring to kind of be back in the "classroom environment". She informed us that our project is still going on and to try to adapt. She said we may have to revise our ideas so that we can now film under new conditions.  Of course, many people are a bit concerned because they cannot shoot at certain locations or their actors are in quarantine. I told my teacher that I am not allowed to leave my house and I cannot have people over. She once again said that we must adapt. One of my peers suggested that maybe we try to make an experimental film because then I could possibly shoot just in and around my house. i have not watched many experimental films so that is something that I may want to research if I need to completely change my filming idea. I am a bit overwhelmed with having to do this project under these conditions, but I know that my partner and I will eventually accomplish the task at hand! 

My partner and I are still deciding how we want to approach the short film but we are working on it!

Um Excuse me Corona Virus You Are Interfering With My Aice Media Project

Hey blog reader! I hope you are doing well. I am currently under quarantine because of the coronavirus. My parents will not let go anywhere or allow anyone to come over. I understand this precaution because even if I do not fall victim to the virus, I could potentially give it to someone who may not be able to fight it off. While this is annoying, I know this is what needs to be done to possibly make the virus go away faster. With that being said, I am not allowed to hang out with my partner. This means that we are probably going to have to work on this project from the comfort of our own homes. Maybe in a few weeks, we could see each other, however, it is important not to waste valuable time. Luckily, we have facetime and skype so that we can converse with each other often about the project. We also have google docs which allow us to both edit documents from the comfort of our own homes. 

We are probably going to have to change our short film idea because it is no longer feasible because our shooting locations are closed and our actors are all in quarantine. This is a very stressful situation but I know my partner and I are going to get through it. Over the next week or so, my partner and I will devise a new approach to our project!

Stay safe! Practice social distancing!

Hazel's Costume Design

Hi friends! Welcome back to my blog! Over this weekend, Elly and I discussed what clothes we want our main character Hazel to wear. We want her to have a quirky, aesthetic vibe, thus we will put her in quirky, aesthetic clothes. Right now, the 2000s fashion is becoming trendy again. All the cool kids are wearing shrugs, cute little hairstyles, etc. Hazel will be emulating this style becuase we think it will make her appear "cuter'' and girly. This will help to play up the "love-stricken" aspect of the short film. 

I have many of these types of clothing because I myself like this style. I also have a terrible shopping addiction which meant I had a myriad of options to choose from. Thus, instead of going to the mall, I walked 3 feet to my closet to look for some fits. Elly and I previously discussed wanting to incorporate the color yellow into our film because it will add that the "quirky" factor as yellow is often associated with that. I noticed that I do not have many yellow tops but I found a couple that we can choose from. Hazel is going to need a couple of outfits so here are some of the clothing options for her!

SO CUTE RIGHT?

Script is Coming A Long

Hi, in the midst of this corona-virus induced mayhem, I have some good news. The script is a comin' a long. Wow, who would have thought we would get to this moment. Tuesday, Elly and I began writing our script on Celtx. While we only have the first scene down, it is a wonderful start I would say. Scriptwriting on celtx has been pretty easy. The interface is very easy to work with and it makes what we wrote look super-duper professional. We feel like scriptwriting queens.

What we have written so far is the opening scene in which Hazel and Lucas exchange numbers. In the opening scene, we want to establish the idea that Hazel is a "quirky", love-stricken girl and Lucas is a super-chill, laid-back kind of guy. We wanted the opening scene to have a bit of humor in it as well to set the tone for our short film. Elly and I couldn't stop laughing when we wrote the dialogue of "Hey, so when do you wanna do it?" "Do it...Like right now." This adjacency pair really helps to establish the dilemma for the rest of the film. 


We obviously have way more to write... but hey... at least we have the beginning done!

GO AWAY CORONA YOU ARE NOT WANTED HERE

Hi, today Donald Trump declared a National Emergency because of the Corona Virus. While I am concerned about my health and my loved one's health, I am worried about how this is going to affect my project. My dad did not even let me go to school today, and that was before Trump even declared a national emergency. He is worried about me going out and interacting with large groups of people. 

Essentially, he is quarantining my entire family in my house until further notice just to be safe. Elly and I have not yet finished writing our script but there are scenes that occur outside of my house....so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the project deadline being so close. Oh, did I mention? School is closed this week and next week is spring break. I'm not even sure if we will be back in school after the break ends. Elly and I do not want to have to change our idea because it already took us so long to even get to the idea(you would know that if you read my other blog posts). 

I'm very nervous now because how are we going to shoot in a school if the school is closed?? Maybe we can stage a classroom but I do not have 30 desks and an empty room to stage one. Maybe we could go somewhere else like the library, but that is probably closed as well. I am very stressed. I do not want to have to change my idea. In summation, there is no summation. 

Some memes that made me a bit happier:

Casting Issue

Hi, lovely blogger. I hope you are feeling splendid today.  Today my partner Elly and I met with our teacher today to discuss an issue. in our short film, we are going to have a few scenes that take place at school. These are the scenes where Hazel gets Lucas' number, the end of the film where they meet at school again, and possibly a few other scenes that we have not yet written. We were considering making my boyfriend, Dylan,  play the part of Lucas because he is very accessible and I would consider him to be a very good fit for the role of Lucas. One issue, however, is that Dylan does not go to my school. He graduated last year and he is in the fire academy. 

We wanted to utilize the classrooms at school but bringing Dylan onto campus may be an issue because my school has super strict ID rules. We then considered maybe shooting these scenes after school because they don't check IDs then, but we would have to convince a teacher to let us use their classroom after hours. We may choose to get an actor for Lucas who already goes to our school as then we won't have to worry about this issue. However, they may not be as accessible and if we need them in other scenes, there may be immense scheduling difficulties. Once we are done with the script, I think we will have a better understanding of when and where we need to shoot and can worry about solving this issue at a later date! Goodbye for now!

Beginning to Write...

Hello, blog reader! I hope you are feeling marvelous :)

We are now at the stage of creating our script. My partner and I wanted to create an outline of our story before we write the script so we can get an idea of how we want our short film to move.

We already know that our main character is going to be Hazel, a quirky, love-stricken girl, and Lucas, her laid-back crush. It's going to be divided into three parts, as stated in a previous blog: the conversation, hazel fixating over the conversation, and then the resolution.

My partner and I decided that we want our characters to meet because they are put into a group to do a project. This will cause each other to share their numbers with one another. While they are exchanging numbers, we had the idea to have Lucas turn around and ask for her number with hazel imagining him do this in an extremely flirty manner. We think it will be funny to portray Lucas being unaware that hazel likes him. This will, in turn, make hazel appear more irrational and ditsy.

Next, we want to show hazel getting a text message along the lines of "Hey, can we talk?". This message is what will cause Hazel to spiral and overthink.  Then, we want to show Hazel going about her day. Elly pitched the idea of her getting ready in the morning but I told her that may come off as a bit cheesy. Then she suggested that we could make it super raw, showing Hazel look kinda gross in the morning. This would add another humorous aspect to the piece. We created a list of things that people do in the morning, even down to going to the bathroom. We aren't going to show anything graphic, maybe just a trickling sound.

At the end of the piece, we will have Hazel and Lucas meet up. The audience will in this scene find out that Lucas didn't mean anything significant by the text message. His calm relaxed demeanor will be highlighted and it will be funny seeing his reaction after all that hazel went through worrying.

With the outline near finished, we will write the script soon. Elly and I want to work on it together next to one another so we can bounce ideas off each other. We are planning to coordinate this very soon! Bye for now!

Character Development is Crucial!

Before writing the script, my partner and I thought it would be super important to decide and develop the characters for our screenplay. We ended up deciding to make our main character a girl named Hazel and a boy named Lucas.  We decided that we wanted to make Hazel a teenage girl who is a tad bit shall I say crazy and bit quirky. We would be able to convey this with mise en scene elements such as room decor and her clothing. We want to make Lucas a laid back, super chill dude. He doesn't really care about much and just goes with the flow. My partner and I created a list of character traits that we wanted our characters to have. This will help us in scriptwriting because knowing the personality of our characters will allow us to write dialogue that matches the character. in our film, the dialogue is going to be super important. Our whole film revolves around a conversation after all.

When developing Hazel's character, we sort of based her off of the one and only.....me! It was then easy to develop Hazel because my partner and I just started writing down things about me. My partner is one of my best friends so it was easy for her to identify my character traits. 

When developing Lucas, we thought of those nonchalant guys who just "show up". They do everything so effortlessly and you wonder how they don't stress about anything. This type of personality contrasts with Hazel's so this will make for some very interesting dialogue!


As we were character-developing, Elly suggested that we created mood boards for our characters. Elly is a Pinterest mom so we want on her account and selected photos that would invoke further inspiration for character development.

As you can see, for Lucas we were inspired by cute film and television characters such as Archie from Riverdale and Aaron Samuels from glee. Both these characters have girls swooning over them and they have a typical "boy' style. What I mean by that is they don't dress too nice or too sloppy. They wear jeans and a t-shirt, maybe a jacket if they are feeling crazy. They have a relaxed demeanor and don't have to try to get girls, they just come to them.


As for Hazel, we were inspired by these photos as they had the "quirky' aspect in them. We really liked the outfits these girls were wearing and think that they would be perfect for hazel to wear. The yellow and pink tints also are something we may want to include in our from. We also like the flowers because they represent feminity, something very important to Hazel's character, allowing us to contracts her from Lucas.

I'm super excited to soon write a script based on the aforementioned!