Project Schedule

 As we move on in this big and important project we have to make sure that we are consistently on pace. That is the reason why a schedule is such an important thing. It will reflect the work done in the past weeks and the work to be done to stay on track. But, it is important to notice that this will only serve as a basic guide, due to the fact that we all know things do not always go as planned. And, those moments of improvisation getting out of the schedule, plan, or comfort zone can sometimes result in great results.

Weeks 1 to 3

The past weeks have been used mainly to research and plan the upcoming steps. It is always important to layout a basic plan of what you want to do so that it becomes easier to execute such a plan. As of right now, we have researched our genre, about opening scene patterns, we have created our main storyline and our main characters.

Week 4

We will utilize next week to really start creating the physical plans of our project. Storyboards, scripts, shot lists, sound lists are among those plans. And, having these fundaments will allow us to start looking into shooting locations, details in sets, details in accessories, and prop creation.  

Week 5 to 6

Week 4 and 5 are some of the most crucial moments. As we start to really get into the project and start shooting, we might notice some plans are missing elements, or maybe a shooting location is not available, that is the thing, you never know. So, after laying out the plans in Week 4, Week 5 will be the first week where we start shooting and developing what will be our final project. It is worth mentioning that due to schedule conflicts we will all be able to film only on weekends. Therefore, these shootings have to be focused and productive. On the weekday we will also use it to work on editing and further planning for the next shooting. As the time comes, new schedules might also be posted in order to showcase the points to address, or scenes to film at each meeting to increase productivity.

Week 7

This week, we will focus on key details such as wrapping up editing, foley sound recording or even reshooting if necessary to increase the quality of the project. 

Week 8

Hopefully, in the final week, we will already have everything set to go. This way we can both focus on bettering our blogs and reflecting on our own project.

Class Meeting Feedback

 Today, we had a class meeting that allowed a small group shares their ideas and progress for their portfolio project. We all talked critiques and gave feedback on each other's projects. I found this activity very helpful, not only was I able to get feedback from another perspective in my own project, but I was also able to help others that needed some advice.

One of the best feedbacks I received was "show, not tell." My classmates really emphasized this phrase and elaborated it in many ways. At first my basic idea relied too much in dialogue, mainly relying in dialogue as a type of narration of the story is not the best idea if you want to do a drama. Showing what those characters want to do and achieve instead of telling the audience, can make it easier to convey certain emotions to the audience. 

That phrase not only was a correction, it was also a suggestion. One of my friends suggested to make sure to have everything right on a scene. For example, make sure everything in my characters room matched with his personality. Moreover, mentioned that it would be good for my idea to add some symbolism, for example, using accessories that symbolize the way he wants to achieve a certain thing. This was a quick and awesome reminder that as directors of our own movie, everything is a prop, from costume to accessories everything needs a reason to be there, a meaning, or a symbolism.

After this awesome input, one of the things that really stuck with me was to relax on the project. They mentioned that I was rushing on the entire process developing this project. This group exercise allowed me to compare my progress to the progress of my class mates. With this I noticed that while I was already starting to storyboard, they were making sure their research was good enough so that they can be able to replicate their wanted genre. I am going to keep up the same pace, but whenever I need to, I am going to slow down to make sure that everything is good enough to keep going. After all, this project should be fun to make with your teammate while utilizing the elements learned in class, there is no need to rush it and be stressed about it.

Portfolio Project Outline

 We are now a step closer to starting on the final process of actually shooting the film opening. Now that we have the main idea of the opening scene clear enough we will need to create other types of outlines. We will need to create storyboards, scripts, shot lists, and even sound lists. Mainly, we want to start off by setting up Peter's character of a guy who gets sad for seeing other people achieve something or get into college, but he does not strive to achieve something too. We wanted to set up his character of underachiever, while also setting up the amazing relationship of help and friendship him and Michael have. For now, here is the outline that is subject to change.

Scene 1

- Students are in a college nigh, a teacher is presenting

- Main character on a meeting shown desperate to get out

- As presenter keeps talking, the character is impatient

- Several shots reflect his state of mood

- The title sequence will be added in between shots

Scene 2

- The presentation ends

- Both of the characters are walking together as they talk

- Mike tells Peter that he got a full track scholarship

- They keep talking until they get to Mike's house

Scene 3

- The scene transitions into Peter walking in melancholy through his house

- He sits down on his computer "going back into the loop" by playing video games

- Before he can start, he receives a call from Mike who tells him that he will not leave him alon during this stressing time of getting into college.

Portfolio Project: Characters

The film centers around our main character (Peter), with his best friend (Mike). For the characters, we decided that we wanted to create very simplistic people that could be able to relate back to our target audience. As we have our basic idea for the movie, we have centered the characters around it:

Peter Moore: 

(17 years old, high school senior)

He is our main character. His high school years were filled with friends, fun, and the constant homework. But, he always had average grades, average classes, and average homework. This resulted on him having good grades, but not really standing out from other class mates. 

Like any other high school, Santa Fe High School provides college guidance throughout the four high school years. As an underachiever, he never really bothered to look for any kind of guidance. So, when there is a mandatory college night for all seniors, his doubts and regrets start: "I should have done this earlier" "Where do I start?" and most importantly "What do I even want to do?."  

Michael Pike:

(17 years old, high school senior)

He has been Peter's friend since freshmen year. He had a similar high school experience, fun, friends, homework. However, in difference from Peter, Michael has done track and field ever since 8th grade. Still being an underachiever and not that smart, but he really worked hard for his times. While in some occasions Peter and his friends were playing online, he was out in the track practicing. This work that he put in really showed, because by the end of his Junior year he ran a competition and because of his great times, he got a full scholarship offer at the University of Houston. Even though he still needs to keep working to maintain or better his grades and marks, in his mind, he is already set.

As a good friend, he saw the mental "breakdown" Peter was going through, so through his "wide experience"(or so he says) of college advice and finding your vocation, he decides to help him.

Film Opening Idea

 As a result of research and brainstorming, we have decided we wanted to create a film opening from a story that we see around us. As juniors and seniors in high school, we are expected to know what we want to do in college or what our preferences are. But, the truth is that most of us really have no idea. People close to me are very close to graduating and do not have a plan on what they would like to do. No idea of college, no idea of hobbies, no idea of passion, no idea on what path to follow.

We took this feeling of not knowing where you stand in the world, and we will try to convey it through our opening. Even though it might seem like a complex theme, I believe it can really make most teenagers feel identified with this topic. Our main genre will be drama as it can be used best to showcase our character's obstacles in life and how he manages them. Drama showcases problems any human can have, hence many high school students can feel identified with this issue as they too might be encountering this: not knowing your role in society or your path in life.

We are still in the process of developing a storyboard and main opening, but we have a basic concept:

The whole plot of the movie will be centered around the main character who is an average, teenage, high school senior. Like any other, our character's high school life was filled with homework, friends, and videogames, but he never really took time to think about his future. After school college seminars and seeing his friends taking important decisions, he notices he has no idea of the decisions he is gonna take or how to even start. As his senior year comes to an end he seeks for help from a friend who will try to do his best to help him out on figuring out his likes. They go on a path of trying things he has never don before to see what he would like. 

Ultimately, he loses hope because due to external reasons his friend is not there anymore to support him anymore. He sets himself on the path his friend believed was the best for him. He gets accepted into college and there are big celebrations from part of his family due to his high school accomplishments and for getting into college. But on the inside "he knows, that he doesn't know." Doubts overflow, is this what I want to do? Are my average accomplishments worth this? Is this the path I want to follow? Maybe I have not gotten to find my passion? What have I done?

Drama Film Techniques Analysis

    As mentioned in previous posts, dramas are a genre that rely on the creation of strong and emotional characters throughout the movie. Due to the true aspects in a dramatic movie, the character development has to stay consistent and realistic, in order to showcase the real human struggles the character might encounter.

Production Techniques

As the characters are the main thing that drive the plot forward they have to be excellently conveyed to the audience in order to build up the characteristic emotional connection of dramas. Therefore, actors become a big part in the buildup of the genre. On dramatic roles they get to stretch into a role that other genres would not allow them to. As this genre relies on subtle movements and words, actors really have to work their way into getting into a character. They have to study the way their character would think, their ambition, and what drives them forward. But not only must they study the inside of the character, they also have to convey it to the audience, so they also act out their mannerisms, accent, body language, and vocal dynamics, This, is the reason why Oscar winning actors normally achieve these awards when playing a dramatic movie. As they truly immerse themselves into a character, they are able to exhibit their acting skills.

A drama film is structured very specifically to keep the audience's attention and to make them emotionally attached to the actions of the characters. A drama film is essentially a drama film because of the way it makes the audience relate and sympathize with the characters. Movies that reflect this are such as Citizen Kane(1941). The cast is filled with theatrically trained actors, this really gets conveyed in the move. As theatric actors, they are really able to convey emotions and feelings in a variety of ways. All this to create a relationship between the audience and the main character,  Charles Foster Kane. Indirectly, through its process of interviews, the audience is able to connect with Kane, his friends are excellently able to layout an image of who he was and what he went through, hence the audience gets to relate to Kane.

Recent Drama Films:

Just Mercy (2019)

The Irishman (2019)

Sound of Metal (2019)

Little Women (2019)

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Drama Research

Drama is a genre where its stories mostly reflect on real-life scenarios or extreme situations where the characters are mainly emotionally-driven to accomplish something. These characters are very important in a drama movie as their emotions, challenges, and accomplishments are what drive the plot forward. In the genre, this character typically has a lot at stake through his journey and while facing down the conflict, although this conflict tends to be mostly internal.

Again, one of the most important aspects of this genre is the character. This is the person the audience is going to see evolve and arc throughout the entirety of the movie. Essentially a dramatic movie showcases the main characters in their best moments as well as their worst moments. They are shown in their daily basic lives as they deal with things they did not expect. These obstacles are the ones that forge their personality and as a result, create those character arcs that are very important in dramas.

This is one of the elements that sets drama apart from other genres: the challenges. While genres such as action, sci-fi, or comedy characters resort to physical feats, dramas are the opposite. They rely on words and subtle actions more than they rely on physical acts. These movies are mostly the way different people deal in their own way, with the world and the problems they encounter. 

Drama is a very flexible and expandable genre. This is because the obstacles that the characters face are very basic, drama conflicts can come from any problem any human can have, hence characters In a drama film can become so likable: because we all face the same problems. Drama does not need a specific setting, it does not rely on mystery, it only needs this strong character to have a feeling or goal driving them forward to break and confront their problem. 

The versatility of the genre its what makes it perfect to be mixed with other genres. The cross-genre with dramas is able to create a piece that while integrating another genre, can be able to evoke emotions in the audience as the character they fell in love with evolves and deals with the problems that make them feel identified. With its ordinary yet complex conflicts drama is simply able to keep audiences entertained.

Introduction Portfolio Project

Today we start on a new, more challenging project than we ever have done before. Most of the following posts are going to be dedicated to that project and mainly my journey. The journey which starts with my questions: what should I do? how should I do it?  where should I start? With the questions will eventually come problems and maybe drawbacks as well as answers and results. The posts will mainly serve as the diary of my journey through this important project. Diary, in which I will be able to explain my process of try answering these questions and the many more to come. 

May the journey begin.

Music Marketing Post #2

    Our Music Marketing Campaign was a great experience as we had to research about a certain genre we did not know much about. We all got placed out of our comfort zone by getting the genre of heavy rock metal. None of us had experience with the genre or were even interested. However, the project served as a good challenge since we had to research, brainstorm, and market our very own band. It also served as a good lesson, teaching us the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone every once in a while to learn new things, just like we did with heavy rock metal.

    As we began the project we all realized it was definitely going to be a challenge to know where to start as none of us knew about the heavy metal world. So we brainstormed multiple times about the different bands and recording studios that could be the “best” inside the genre. From there we all worked on the case studies that reflected our research and all the brainstorming we have done.

    After researching and having introduced ourselves to the heavy metal genre and its world we decided to look for inspiration from other heavy metal artists’ music videos. We tried to catch on patterns that make a heavy metal music video a proclaimed heavy metal music video. When all of us were able to recognize these patterns we started a storyboard. The storyboard served as a vision basis that was later expanded before recording and during the recording. One inconvenient was that since some of our group members had COVID restrictions, we could not meet up to shoot. So, we decided to go for a music video with a storyline. Even though it was not our first option, the music video worked out as instead of focusing on the band members, it focused on the meaningful lyrics the song had, and how do the lyrics reflect on the band.

    Finally, having done all of our research, marketing, and the music video, we also had to work on how to present all of our work. We concluded that the best thing to do was doing a presentation that went straight to the point stating how we managed our marketing on different platforms, the reason why we did the marketing the way we did, and showing the music video for our new band, Gidimake.

    Again, this project helped me understand the importance of doing projects about things that you do not know much about, for the purpose of being exposed to other genres, editing styles, or even music. This made me expose myself to other styles of filming I did not know about, but now that I know them I can be able to take that experience into the Cambridge portfolio project if required. 

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