Save time, make an outline!

Hi guys!! This week is going to be very productive and exciting for many reasons. I want to start off by saying that even though I have been very busy, I am ready to give this project my all and work harder than I have ever worked before! At the same time, I have some exciting news…

Santi and I will finally introduce our outlines for our film so that you guys have a better idea of what we have in mind.

We will get started on drawings and showing you guys not only what the film could look like but also our amazing artistic skills (haha, I'm joking)

Our storyboards will be finalized

Shooting schedule will be made.

In order to see all 4 plans in my blog, be sure to tune in each day! So in my last blog you guys know that in class we had a group meeting. Due to my group’s advice, I will be showing you guys my outline for the film opening.

TADA!!

Now I had made this outline before my group meeting and after my group meeting, I realized I needed to change some things. Everything in red is what we want to either add or take out. It’s no big deal and was just a quick little fix so here is the updated one.

We decided to be very detailed when making this outline so that when we want to film the opening, all we have to do is look at the list and follow the instructions. At the same time, we decided it would be best to make an outline on paper due to the fact that we can have it with us at all times, and it will never accidentally delete.

According to Aims Writing center:

“An outline allows a writer to categorize the main points, to organize their shots into an order that makes sense, and to make sure that each idea can be fully developed. Essentially, an outline helps prevent anyone from getting stuck”

Lastly, I found this website that gives you advice on how to outline your film (final draft) and I think it is very crucial in order to be organized. Click on the link and on the left hand side you will see many tabs. Ex: How to outline your screenplay. Then, it will automatically tell you many effective ways to start outlining your shots, edits, sound, and more!!

Stay tuned for more posts!!

Peace and Love - Vale

“How to Outline Your Screenplay.” Final Draft®, www.finaldraft.com/learn/how-to-outline-a-screenplay/.

“Online Writing Lab.” Using Outside Sources - Primary vs. Secondary Research - Aims Community College,  www.aims.edu/student/online-writing-lab/process/outline.

Teamwork makes the Dream work!

Welcome back guys!! Let me tell you guys what happened in my AICE Media Studies class today. Our teacher, assigned us to be in groups to be able to discuss our ideas, our blogs, and our doubts with our partners. I truly believe this was an amazing way to bounce ideas off of each other in order to use them for either our film opening or magazine spread (whatever the members chose.)





I want to start by saying that my partners were 100% completely honest with me and gave me some really good advice to use in the future. I was the first one to discuss my blog and my ideas and although I was nervous of what they would think, they all supported my idea, along with giving me more!!





If you guys have been reading my blog since the beginning, you would know that in a teen drama (the genre my partner and I picked for our film opening) the opening can either start with establishing shots of where the film will be taking place, or a voice over that introduces the character to the audience. I was stuck on which to choose and although I liked the establishing shots better, my partners had given me the advice of doing both of them, and when the time comes to edit, I play around with my shots and see which one fits best!! I really liked this idea because it will allow Santi and I to have as many shots as possible.


At the same time, we also decided that in this film opening, we should include character development rather than the representation of the school. They believed that if I had shown the jocks, nerds, and popular people, I would have been jumping into the movie to quickly and I totally agree.


Lastly, my main task that they left me was to focus on the community (suburbs) that the characters live in, use both voice-overs and establishing shots, and end the film opening getting to the school. Guys!! I am so excited for this and If you still don’t have a visual in your head of what this film is going to be about, don't worry, I am focusing on the storyboard right now and will post it tomorrow!


Peace and Love, Vale

The Game Plan

OMG guys!! I am really excited to let you guys know that santi and I are sticking to teen drama. Now, I know it’s a bit cheesy, but I have some really cool ideas after thinking, researching and planning. So lets get into that!

After further researching, Santi and I have realized that most teen dramas start out with a voice over of the main protagonist explaining who they are, where they are, and how they got there and also integrating the voice over with real world sounds. In other words, the directors introduce the character to the audience. On the other hand, other teen dramas start with lots of establishing shots of where this film is going to take place and usually add a non-diegetic song and incorporate it with the shots.

An example of the voice over: The Kissing Booth, where Elle (the main character) talks to the audience.

An example of the establishing shots: Monster in Law, which opens with some shots of L.A with some upbeat, happy music in the background as you can see if you click the link.

Our original film is going to be about a new family moving to Florida and starting all over by going to a school that isn’t at all what it seems. Don’t judge guys, it’s still fresh in my mind but next week ill get into EXTREME detail.

For now, we plan on using the establishing shot method which includes driving to these places and spending our time filming the perfect shots.

Shots of Miami sign

Shots of palm trees

Shots of the beach

Shots of car moving along the road

For costume design, we will need to recreate a school setting, which includes going to thrift stores, asking friends, and maybe even using our own clothes to find clothes that represent these teenagers:

Jocks uniform

Nerd uniform

Cheerleader uniform

For music, we will either be picking a non-copyright song from this website called killer tracks or reaching out to the producer of the song and asking if we can use it for our film. We aren’t sure yet what song to choose, but we want something upbeat and happy since it is taking place in a happy and bright setting.

Stay tuned for next week, I will be discussing further detail into planning like story-boarding, outlines, and times for shooting!! So excited. Peace and Love, Vale.

“Killer Tracks - Online Production Music Library Resource.” Killer Tracks - Online Production Music Library Resource, www.killertracks.com/.

Pantoja, Marya. “Monster in Law ( First 3 Minutes of the Movie).” YouTube, YouTube, 18 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdfzxMSzWW4.

Not to be a "Drama" queen but ...

Guys!! This has been really stressful for me. I am stuck between two genres and santi and I are having a hard time figuring out what the story line is going to be for our film opening. I have been watching over 20 film openings and I still. have. no. clue. Ever since the beginning of my journey and these blogs, we have decided that we want it to be either horror or drama, so i am just gonna be giving you guys some research on Drama since we are leaning towards it more. From my previous blogs, I have talked a lot about drama and how it has various sub-genres. Meaning that there could be comedic drama, romantic drama, teen drama, and melodramatic films all under the category of drama. If santi and I had to choose a specific sub-genre, it would probably be teen drama since it is not so complicated and we relate to it a lot (hence, being a teen.)

So, before we begin, I will be going over characters since it is a very important aspect to consider when making these types of films. Below, is a quote that proves why characters are important for these teen dramas and generally any drama.

“ The number of characters in your cast is very important. A lot and you'll have a great variety for your audience to identify with. Too much and the audience may get confused. If you are just starting out, maybe start with a small cast of four or five. Enough so you won't overwhelm yourself but still have the possibility for drama.”

With that being said, these characters consist of:

Jocks/Cheerleaders

Nerds/Loner

Misfits/outcast

For example: A Cinderella Story:

Main character - Geek/Loner

Best friend - Misfit

Main character’s crush - Jock

Crush’s ex girlfriend - Cheerleader

To know more, here is a link to a prezi that covers more about characters https://prezi.com/uq9g9tbaudkc/teen-drama-genre-research/

Another film that is a teen drama is The Duff and according to Film Synopsis it is about

“Frumpy high-school senior Bianca who has a rude awakening when she learns that her classmates secretly know her as the DUFF -- designated ugly fat friend -- to her prettier and more popular pals. Desperate to reinvent herself, Bianca enlists the aid of Wesley a charming jock. In order to save her senior year from becoming a complete disaster, Bianca must find the confidence to overthrow a judgmental student and revolutionize the school's social order.”

Now, if you would really like to visually see an example, here is a trailer to The Duff where these representations are shown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awm5slV5ZM

Lastly, this case study has made me realize that I am starting to want to create a teen drama due to the fact that I liked the role between the characters, the environment and shots that were incorporated as well. Although I am still not 100 percent sure of what I want to do or how I want to do it, I am excited to finally start this project and give it my all!!

Taylor, Holly. “Teen Drama - Genre Research.” Prezi.com, 31 May 2016,

prezi.com/uq9g9tbaudkc/teen-drama-genre-research/.

“Write a Teen Drama / So You Want To.” TV Tropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/WriteATeenDrama.

Movies, YouTube. “The Duff - Trailer.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Apr. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awm5slV5ZM.

The story behind JV

Hey guys! So recently I was assigned a project where I had to create a music marketing campaign for my group’s upcoming artist. In other words, I had to describe ways, use steps, and come up with creative ideas in order for my group’s upcoming artist to be introduced to the world, exposing them to their specific target audience. So basically, Im just going to give you guys a recap of what my group did and how our ideas will impact my work on the portfolio project. In this case, the artist that my group came up with is named JonnyVivas or JV for short. He is a young artist that would love to make it big someday and rule the music industry. The genre of the music that he produces is Rock and his target audience is 16 year olds - 25 year olds. In order to present our music marketing campaign, we created a power point. JV’s logo is presented below!!

To begin, we researched about the genre Rock, their target audience, and why it is popular and also supported it with two major rock artists/bands: Paramore and Twenty One Pilots.

Now, I know many people do not believe that these are rock bands but they certainly are. By doing this, we gave our audience an example of how we wanted to get JV out there by providing some of their same marketing creations. At the same time, it also gives our audience a general background about what the genre is and how these certain marketing creations correlate with each other.

      

To continue, after introducing the genre, the two major rock bands and their marketing distributions, we then created some steps for our future, in order to make it BIG as an artist.

These steps include:

Making flyers to put up in restaurants, cafes, malls, etc. This correlates to the genre Rock due to the fact that by making flyers, we are taking Rock back to its roots

Performing live (getting known) in local bars, and for radio stations.

Making an album

Touring

Here are some of our flyers ;)

Then, we created a whole website dedicated to JV in order for people to stay connected to him by being updated with merch, tour dates, new songs/music videos, and also his own blogs. Not only does it aid in giving out information, but it is also very easy to navigate through. You should check it out, here is a link!!!

Website link: https://vale1116.wixsite.com/jonnnyvivass

Which also includes our merchandise. By creating merchandise, JV will get recognition, create his own authentic products, become known worldwide due to worldwide shipping, and make money for other marketing activities. If you don't check out the website, here are some pictures of JV’s merchandise.

Now the exciting part, JV’s own music video!! So, for this music marketing campaign, it is very crucial to make a video for the artist in order to get out there just because it connects an artist and a listener, as well as connecting a listener to an audience. The song is called Love Train and the video was about a guy who is tired of being single and just wants to “get back on the love train”... get it, haha.

Furthermore, we decided to introduce JV through social media. The main ones include:

Youtube (14-40)

Spotify (15-30)

Twitter (18-34)

Instagram (14-24)

We chose these based on our target audience and decided that by using these social medias, JV will be exposed to a lot more fans and also keep them updated if they don’t frequently visit the website, don’t have one of these social medias, etc. Below you can see some examples of his social media accounts.

 

Lastly, I learned a lot of things about this project and how everything connects when promoting an artist or a band. From genre and target audience to music videos and marketing campaigns, everything allowed for JV to expand as an artist, which was his overall goal. The things I learned from this project will impact my work on my portfolio project due to the fact that I now know way more about marketing and how to market from a simple video, to a whole artist. At the same time, doing our research on our specific genre really helped put everything into place. Overall, this project helped me manage my time, stay committed by working diligently every day for hours, gain more experience with technology and editing, and also put in the effort! I think this will impact my work on my portfolio project because by doing all of that, my project will be great!!

Thank you all for reading and tuning in, peace and love! - vale