Filming Location Secured!

 Hi blog! We officially worked out all the details for where we are going to film! 

So, lucky for us, Renn's brother is currently in college, so his room is empty and being used as a guest room. The reason this is so amazing is because we can put up the room, leave it, and come back to it being the exact same without it having to function as a real bedroom and worry about external factors. This wil also ensure that all the little details that we put in stay consistent between filming days. 

However, on the less fortunate side, it may not look as lived-in, and appear too staged, which would cause a lot of issues when it comes to the flow and time skips in our film plan. Also, it is facing a window which could make filming difficult, with the natural lighting playing a big part into how the room is lit. We have very little control over how we can manipulate the lighting with light kits, so we may have to film out of order to maximize our shooting schedule time, and limit the amount of days that we spend on production. Overall, there will most certainly be a lot of challenges to face, but I have a good feeling about the location.

Since our film is going to involve many plants, we made sure we had access to some before we bit off more than we could chew. That being said, not only do i have several cacti in my room, but also Renn's mom has a bunch of plants in their house already, which makes moving it into the set super easy and effective. We are most likely going to use a pea plant for our main one, since they grow somewhat fast and we have access to several of them in different stages.

As for the party scene, we have the idea of filming at the Weston Hills Neighborhood Clubhouse, as it has a lot of space to film, and is close enough to a road that we could shoot a scene on the curb like we had planned. However, we also want to have strobe lights from the party in the background and we are not sure if that will get to happen or not, since it is a public space.

I believe that is all the info I have regarding our filming locations for now!

Critiques/Changes

Hi blog!

On Tuesday, Renn, Vicky, and I went up to Ms. Stoklosa to ask for some guidance regarding our plotline. We showed her our script (you can see it in a previous post that was dedicated to the creation of it), and she did think our storyline could have some cool different paths that we could go with it, so I am going to discuss some of those really quick.

Love Interest (Michael):

So, the main "conflict" of our film is that Dahlia has a crush on Michael and she feels like her best friend, Melia, is ruining that shot for her. When we were having our group discussion, Ms. Stoklosa was not a big fan of our conflict being based around a man, as it did not seem like a very creative way to go about having two very close friends fight. We 100% agreed with her, especially since all three of us are very passionate about what we create, and it seems like the easy way out. In the beginning, it felt like the best option, since we could focus more on the techniques and not worry so much about the plot, but we decided that it is more important to have a strong, unique plan for the plot, which may be more work, but having that on top of great technique, we will be that much prouder of our results at the end of the day.

Tom Clarity:

So, if you noticed, there is a "character" named tom that gets older throughout the film, and Tom's age sets an understanding of how much time has passed. Tom is the plant. In our discussion, it was brought up that who Tom is wasn't clear, so to combat this, we are going to take a sticker that says "Hi, my name is" and write tom on it, and put it on the pot of the plant. This also allows us to show Dahlia's handwriting, which allows the audience to further understand a more quirky side of the character while still making the Tom aspect more clear. Instead of buying multiple plants in different stages, we decided to buy a fully grown plant and cutting it when it needs to be smaller.

Argument:

This somewhat ties into the whole Michael dilemma, but it was also mentioned that the argument felt depthless, and a bit petty for two girls who are supposedly best friends. I did agree with this in a way, however I do think that the way it was written was really well done. Renn wrote most of the script while Vicky and I looked back over it and made several tweaks, but I thought the character was very clear, the conflict was the main concern among this comment. We also decided it would be a better idea to call it a confrontation instead of conflict, since we are getting rid of the whole Michael side plot, and made the main disagreement based on how Dahlia is always busy.

Ending:

The ending will most certainly be up for interpretation, as we all agreed we wanted to leave the audience to sit with a clear feeling. Our problem was that we had so many potential connections, and we didn't know which one we wanted to convey the most, so how can we expect the audience to walk away from the short film feeling a certain way when we don't set what we especially wanted it to be.

We are so grateful to have gotten these figured out, and we feel much more confident going into production based on the notes. Here is a photo that Vicky sent us, as she wrote down the notes on her phone during the group conversation.

Postcard Research

 Hi blog!

Since we chose the short film, the print aspect that we are required to design is the short film post card. It is important to remember that the purpose of the post cards is to advertise the short short film as well as how to get in contact with the creators (instgram handle, email, phone number, etc) so that they can receive feedback. It is also very important that there is a clear brand on both the front and the back, the layout is easy to understand, and the date, location, and time of the short film are all included so that it can be best marketed.

This one for the film "Mulberry Child" is somewhat strong. The key art definitely gets your attention, and you can sort of tell the genre from the font, which is a good thing to keep in mind when noting the audience. They also included the line "Will the past haunt your future" which gives us a better idea that the girl and old woman in the postcard are the same person. Also, they included their film festival logo which is very smart, however they did not say where it was streaming or when, which can be confusing for viewers. Overall, I  am not obsessed with the layout, but there are many key elements present.

This is the one that I included in a recent post. I really strongly enjoy the layout of this one, it is neat and has just enough space for both the photo, credits, title, showing info, and contacts. The font is very eye catching, and it immediately gets your attention. However, you do not know much about the short film from the post card whatsoever, which could lead to it being forgetable and blend with other short films shown at the film festival that day. The contact for facebook was really well done, and the idea of including a Q&A was really creative. Overall, this one was very nice looking, well organized, and had all the right information.

For this one, I will give it the benefit of the doubt and say there most likely is a back that has more information (hopefully), but this is a great example of what not to do. There is the title, and beautiful keyart, however the only other thing on there is the creator and the film festivals, no socials, no location, and no extra fun ideas. I do think that you can tell the story will be eerie and a bit odd from the post card, so the branding is strong, but overall compared to the others, this one is lacking in many areas.

Citations:

kavyamediastudiesa2. (2017, February 20). Postcard advertisements. A2 Media – Short Film. https://kavyamediastudiesa2.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/postcard-advertisements-research/

Tupling, A. (n.d.). Postcard ad. MEDIA BLOG – Alastair Tupling. https://alastairwt.weebly.com/postcard-ad1.html

Plot Explained/Script Written!

 Hi blog! We officially decided on the plot that we want so here is me describing it to you as well as including our script so that you can look at what we have!

So, our protagonist's name is going to be "Dahlia" and her best friend is "Melia". They have opposite personalities, Dahlia is very quiet, yet driven, and when she is with Melia and she is comfortable, she gets more outgoing, as all close friends do. Melia is an outgoing person on her own though, however she can also be very confrontational and social anxiety fears HER. Anyways, their friendship is the basis of our whole short film, since we want it to capture where we are right now in our lives, and in High School, friendship is everything. 

The two of them are getting ready for Dahlia's birthday party, however the party is the least important part of the day, since Dahlia has to take a breather at her own party before getting comforted by her best friend, only we find out later that Melia was the reason she needed to calm down. Dahlia was talking to Michael, her crush, and Melia was being "annoying" and getting between the two of them. When Dahlia is outside, she finds a seed, which she later plants in her room in a pot that Melia made her.

After the birthday, we have a montage of Dahlia slowly getting more messy as she pushes her friend away, which of course leads to her feeling like her life is falling apart. This montage will include the technique we had planned to go back to the same shot multiple times. In this frame, there is a counter on her white board for how many days old "frank" (her plant) is, which helps us keep track of time during the montage.

To end the montage, there is a scene of Dahlia working in her bedroom on her laptop, before Melia walks in and tries to talk to her friend, who seems very uninterested in having a conversation. They get in an argument about who is in the wrong and Melia ends up storming out of the room from frustration. This scene is then followed by Dahlia feeling very guilty, but also angry about how her friend could not see where she was coming from.

The following day, when frank turns 91 days old, Dahlia calls Melia and apologizes, and they agree that they handled the situation poorly and mutually forgive the other. Melia ends the short film by saying "We are all just growing up", which is what we plan on the title being.

I am super confident in this story and the underlying meaning of how important friendship is during our adolescent years.

Link to the script!

Our Planning for Spring Break!

 Hi blog! So, this is the last week of school before spring break, which was our original planned week to film, but we want to finish developing our mise-en-scene, characters, and script since the hardest aspect of our short film will be filming, with all the time changes, and the editing does not need as much time as we originally anticipated that it would.

Here is our plans for what we want to accomplish over spring break next week!

Renn is going on a trip, so they cannot do too much, however they are going to be in charge of completely developing Melia's character, so making a mood board, deciding what clothes she would wear, etc. Essentially, Renn is acting as Melia's creative director. They are also going to begin working on how we want the print aspect of the project, the postcard to be designed. Although we will need to film before we can officially create it, Renn will begin brainstorming. Here is an example of a short film postcard looks like, to give you an idea.

Vicky will be un New York City (I'm jealous), so once again, she will not be able to do too much, but she plans on working on the shotlist over the week, and having it completely done by the time we get back on March 23. She also has a goal to finish the soryboard so we can all envision the same thing and have our filming day be as smooth as possible.

I am not going on a trip, so I will be working a lot on the project over the next few weeks, and will definitely be documenting the process. I am in charge of Dahlia's character, just as Renn is with Melia, so I am making a storyboard for her as well as designing her room, since the majority of the film will take place in there. I am also going to begin developing our social media page, and plan out what posts will need to be made, and how when we need to get the content for them by (on filming day, prior, or post). I have a lot on my plate, but I am so excited about this project, so I am not concerned at all, as I am having fun with it, so i'll enjoy the process!

We all want to have filming be the DAY we get back into school, so we are going to spend the next two days planning, as our film teacher Mr. Cummings likes to say, 80% of your project is in pre-production.

Citations:

Tupling, A. (n.d.). Postcard ad. MEDIA BLOG – Alastair Tupling. https://alastairwt.weebly.com/postcard-ad1.html

Group Meeting!

 Hi blog! Today I did a group meeting to discuss some other groups plans for their portfolio project, as well as getting some feedback on my own ideas. My group was Nikita, Nico, Andrew, Lauren, Audrey, David, and Me! Here's some stuff that I noted about each idea as well as what I think they could improve on, along with their blogs!

Nikita Albul- #7607

Planning on doing a short film, with the plot being about a guy who is severely depressed, falling into addiction of drugs and alcohol, and ends up ending his own life. Although the plot was not the most developed regarding underlying meaning or symbolism, some of his ideas regarding mise-en-scene were pretty interesting. He also planned where exactly he will film these shots, such as a free office in his house. We discussed some problems that may arise, such as how he will imply drug use without making it too graphic and adding his personal stylistic choices to it. We came up with the idea of doing some shots from behind to imply it. I am excited to see where he goes with this idea.

Nico Restrepo- #4888

Nico is working with two other people who he is confident in their skillset, since they have worked together on multiple projects together throughout the years. Their idea was to lean into the idea that the show "Fleabag" shows, frequent breaking of the fourth wall as a method to convey the main character's thoughts and feelings. Their planned genre is dark comedy, but they haven't come up with a plot yet, so we helped them come up with potentially having a turning point where a character that the protagonist does not get along with also can break the fourth wall. This whole concept was really intriguing. 

Andrew Zamudio- #7558

Andrew is also working in a group, specifically with people that are known for having very stylized productions, so I am really excited to see where this idea goes. Their plan so far is to have a dark comedy that has a character getting posessed and ends up sacrificing their sister, which was way more bizzare when they explained it themself. My first concern that I brought up was how they would show the character being posessed, and we concluded that since they needed something visual, they may wear contacts to highlight the different parts of the story. They definitely have some kinks to work out, but other than that they had a good baseline on where they would film and what shots they wanted.

Lauren Thomas- #7503

Lauren is the only person in our group meeting that was not planning on doing the short film option, she was planning on the film distribution one instead. She was very undecided on what she wanted her story to be about, she mainly only knew the genre, a psychological drama, which is a tall task so we tried to work out a plot that would be attainable. We decided that she wanted to find a way to convey a complex idea but in a simple way with symbolism. We thought maybe water representing insecurity or something along those lines, and the coloration starting light and getting darker. We spent most of the time that we were discussing Lauren's plan fleshing out possible ideas, but we didn't land on one, moreso giving her ideas to play with in her own mind.

Audrey Pangalangan- #7396

Working with one other girl, the idea was to do a short film like most of us, specifically about a therapy session that included nonlinear storytelling and highlights the relationship between a younger brother and older sister. Our main concerns were that the topics she wanted to cover are somewhat hard to talk about without being cheesy, since loss as a whole can be triggering if talked about too graphically. However, I think the story she wants to tell is a really important one, and if she does it well, it will be a truly beautiful piece.

David Gomez- #4840

Once again, working with one other person on a short film, David had a really developed idea, I can tell he had thought about it. He wants to do a short film that involves teleportation, since he is going on an international trip to London and Spain, so the concept was to make a comedy that has a magical Penny that gives him the power to teleport. It was a really fun idea and we spent a lot of time talking about how he would connect the story to the comedy genre, and what jokes he wanted to make, especially since he had the idea of using minimal audio recording, so it would be very visual heavy.

Mackenna Smedley (Me!)- #4440

I presented my idea last, and the original thought was to make a short film that the majority of the shots were from one angle, but we all agreed that there would be very limited technique being shown with that idea. We played with the idea of just constantly going back to the same point of view instead of just staying there, since there could be problems with showing time passing, since that was the basis of my plot, which takes place over 90 days. I really liked this idea, since it would give a better flow and we could show off our skills that we learned about composition better. We played with the idea of the room gettin progressively messier to show the character's headspace throughout the 90 days as another way to highlight time passing. Andrew recommended that since we need a plant for our film, we should look up what different plants represent, and decide which one we want to use based on which meaning connects the best to our storyline of personal growth. I got a lot of specific little details, and after discussing them with Vicky and Renn, on top of the comments they got in their group meetings, we felt much more confident in specific aspects of our short film.

Social Media Research

Hi blog! Today we researched social media pages for inspiration on our own, since we are required to make our own for our project. I chose to study Instagram, since I am in charge of our social media on the project, and I am the most comfortable
with that one over others!

Media text: The TELL-TALE HEART– @Changwang.pictures

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: Postings of when it is uploaded on YouTube and keeping a count of hour many views it has on their Instagram page. Posting small clips to build up anticipation for the release date. There are also posts of the creator talking about what camera they used. This may have been because of a partnership, but it was a great thing to include. There is a slideshow post that includes several shots that promote the branding but also draw in the viewer to understand the tone of the
short film so they want to watch it. The caption includes these release date and where it is being distributed. One post has a simple question in the caption to make the viewer ponder something related to the short film. There is also many hashtags such as “#visualstorytelling”, “#creativity”, “#changwantpictures. Including not only posts but also reels promotes the account’s popularity, as people are more likely to view the account from the reels than the posts.

Description of how branding is developed (or not):
Posting shots as individual photos to match the tone of the short film to the Instagram page. This short film specifically leans into the black-and-white aesthetic and very eerie visuals. The row of dark images stands out to promote the account, since it is so different from the other posts, which signifies that the branding would stand out amongst others. However, I do wish that there was a highlight related to stories specifically about the short film or maybe even BTS of the making of the Tell Tale Heart. Also, to go with the creator’s consistent color palate of having yellow lettering on their own posts, prior to the short film promotion, they put a yellow heart at the end of every caption, just after mentioning the link in their bio to access the short film.  The account also has branded highlights that have yellow emojis that tie into the creator’s personal color palate as well.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: We will use the idea of posting what equipment we used so that we can connect with other potential filmmakers and come off as a relatable account. The posts of singular shots that were in the short film also helped develop a color palate, and we will do the same so that the colors in our feed are the same as our short film. We want to also take inspiration from the bio of the account, providing a link to the short film, as well as consistent plugs to the production in the captions of the posts and reels.

 

 

Media text: The Writer - @popvisualz

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: This account makes creative reels, such as “if you like these movies: Sin City, Fight Club, Pulp Fiction, you might like mine”. This is great because it instantly guarantees that the target audience will be reached, since only the fans of those films or overall film lovers will stick around. The reel then was followed by clips of the making of his own short film, The Writer. This account posted a photo of the official key art of the short film, as well as what film festivals it will be shown at, in this case, “Are You Afraid of Fantasia 2025”. The post with the key art also included a screenshot of the showing information of where the film festival is, what day, and what time, to promote people to attend and watch the production on the big screen. This was especially important since it was not being uploaded to YouTube. There was another reel that showed the reference from another movie to the result in their own short film, which gives credit to other directors for inspiring modern filmmakers, and gets to relate one’s short film to others. There could have been more posts especially highlighting the production rather than the director but given that the short film did not have its own page, it made sense.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): The brand was somewhat developed, the tone that was conveyed in the key art was not developed throughout the feed, making it seem somewhat messy and incoherent. The captions were all simple and did not contain many words besides hashtags, which may have been the goal for the branding, but compared to the messy layout, it was very confusing. There were well-done reels, but they did not directly tie into the themes or color palate of the production, which did make the whole account seem less appealing. The key art of The Writer has lettering that resembles street art, and
this ties into the creator’s aesthetic quite well, but was not developed throughout the rest of the post that it was included in. The artist did pin the main post promoting the film festival, but they should have made the key art the cover photo. There are multiple reels that have the same cover, which does not match the palate of the production. making the feed look repetitive and busy.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: This account gave us a lot of ideas for reels, as well as some good reference for how to plug a film festival. The creator’s face is also very present in the account, which we liked. The hashtags were useful, and the branding was good in some respects, but we will be taking more inspiration from the content than the branding.

 

  

Media text: We Were Art Thieves @iphilgood

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: There is several clips included of the short film that highlight moments that leave viewers wanting to watch the whole thing themselves. The caption says, “Our first short film is out now”, and does not state what the title of the short film is, which is not a very strong choice. However, the caption does keep viewers engaged, by mentioning that they plan to do a Q&A soon, which will keep anticipation high for the future content to come. The creator’s vision is clearly established, as they like to appear more professional than relatable, as they compare cameras as a plug for their short film. They also made a very creative reel that says “My favorite cinematic clips from my short film” which leans into the stunning cinematography, which is most certainly the thing that makes this production stand out the most among other short films. I do think that this page could do a better job of posting about the films themselves, as a lot of
the content feels repetitive, and a bit disconnected. But you do get a strong sense of the creator’s style from their page alone.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Looking at their page, and just the cover photos on each post, it does seem cohesive overall. The cinematography is clearly showcased, and the palate is consistent, which is a great sign for the branding. However, the captions are not the most well-correlated to one another. The highlights are also not very easy to understand, as many of them are not related to film at all, and the title is simply emojis, which is not the best idea, considering when people go to the social media page, it should be clear what each highlight’s purpose is. I think overall, the page just lacks purpose as a whole and a lot of the content was not intentional. Although it was very pleasing to the eye, the branding could have been better established than just pretty covers.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: We want to take inspiration from some of the reel ideas, and the amount that the content is shown on the feed, however there was very little behind the scenes, which we noted and will make sure we don’t make that mistake I our own social media page.