Designing My Poster

In class the other day I started the rough draft design of how I want my poster to look. I am planning on having the three girls in front holding things, such as: toilet paper, eggs, rope and a hammer. This comes from one of the scenes in the movie and it look interesting and will hopefully engage the audience. In the background the boy is going to be standing looking cute with his arms crossed. The entire background is going to be white and he tilte is going on the bottom. I plan on putting a small quote on the side next to the girls, possibly saying "He messed with the wrong girls", or something similar to that. 

I got some ideas from researching movie posters. I liked the look of Clueless and how all three girls are big in the front catching the viewers attention. I also liked John Tucker Must Die. The white background shows the focus on the main characters, and the placement of the title gave me the idea of where to put mine. The last one is She's The Man, I got the idea of the small quote on the side from this movie poster. 

Chaning It Up

Since my two actors are no longer together I decided to change my thought for my trailers a little. Instead of focusing more on the boy and girl together, I am going to focus 95% on the three girls. I am still going to need to find a guy to put in the trailer a little, but hes only going to be a minor part, instead of a major part now. I have a friend I can ask to be in the few scenes I need with the boy, hopefully it will turn out good and many different types of girls will be able to relate to it. I am going to film the girls disscussing, attempting, and completing some of the pranks. I need to try to make sure I don't give too much away, because some people feel like they have seen the whole movie from the trailer, which makes them not want to go see it. I want to give just enough away to leave viewers on their seat with anticipation, so they feel the need to go watch the movie.

I think this approach will turn out better than my initial idea. I believe it will connect to more audiences and create more of the comedic vibe I am going for. I have some new ideas planned in my head and I hope to start filmimg them next week. My teacher also gave us an extra week for our project and I almost cried from happiness. I was really starting to worry about time since I have been so busy recently, but now I am not as worried since I will have my Spring Break to work on it and fix whatever I need to.

Website

I started working more on my wenbsote in class, I have the design of it completed and I need to add all of the details. It is going to be simple but fun and girly. When you go to the home page the main trailer is the first thing you see, it is big and right in your face, making viewers want to watch it. There are four pages of my website:home, info, contact, and bio. The home page shows the tailer and gives the audience a little information on the movie and some critics rewiews. The info page is all the information about the movie;  including plot, characters, and other stuff. The contact page is so people can contact the movie studio with questions or whatever else they may want to ask. Finally the bio page is a biography on the creator, aka me, of the movie. It still has a long way to go but once I add all the details and colors and images, I hope it will look really good and appeal the adiemce, and potentially bring in new audiences. 

Time

This week has been very busy for me. I have had to work a lot this week, not giving me much time to work on my project outside of class. I am starting to get worried about time management and need do a lot of things still. Next week I should have more time to work on my project and film. I need to film a lot this week and try to finish next week so I can have about a week-week and a half to edit. I am going to need to change some o my ideas about my trailers, due to some minor issues that have happened this week, which I talked about in a posting earlier this week. 

I need get on top of things and really work hard these next few weeks to finish filming, so I can start the editing process. Hopefully I will only need a couple days worth of filming, giving me more time to edit. 

Forming a Website

I started looking at different website builder sites to begin working on my website. I wanted to use Wix.com, but it doesn't allow you to create a website on an ipad, which is all I use. I didn't really like using Weebly.com the last time I used it, so I didn't want to use that site. I found Web.com/webbuilder 

and I liked the themes and being able to edit everything relatively easily on an ipad. 

I started editing some minor things on the site to get a feel and chose a design for how I want my website to look. I am planning to make it very girly and pop out and fun, to fit my target market. I have not done much with the website yet but I am going to continue working on it as I develop my trailers. 

I am excited to see where my project and website goes and I hope that my website comes out as I am imagining it. 

A Small Hiccup 

I have ran into a small problem with one of my characters. I was planning on using my good friend and her boyfriend but sadly they broke up yesterday. I obviously can't use the two of them together now, so I am going to have to find someone else and fast. I have a friend in mind who would probably help, but he doesn't fully fit the image that I am looking for. But the show must go on... I am just going to have o make some udjustments and possibly put less of the main guy in the trailers and more of the main girl. 

I hope that I can make everything work and that my friend will help me. I am starting to get worried that I am going to have time issues and that I won't be able to get the image I want across. I need to plan around this and start rethinking a few things. I am at a point where I am not sure where to go from here and I need to figure out what I am planning to do next so I can continue filming. I am at a moment where my creative juices have stopped flowing and am trying to find what I need to do next to complete my project. 

Planning/Filming

I started planning and filming for my project. Today was my first day of filming. I did not get into a lot of details but I wanted to try to start filming early so I could get as much footage as possible. I filmed my 3 friends, the main female character and the two supporting female characters. Filming today was very successful, I started out having an idea of what I want to do but not a deep idea. One of my friends gave me a great idea for the ending of the trailer. She owns a Mustang and she had the idea to have the three friends hop into the Mustang and drive off. Im really happy with how this turned out and I think it will be a great ending to the trailer and movie.  

I filmed some of the beginning scenes where the main character finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her. I also realized I want this movie to be overly dramatic in order to be more funny. I think that this worked out very well and makes the movie look more appealing. I wanted to make the movie more of a rom com, but now i've decided to make it a chickfil comedy. I think this route will be better for the outcome I wanted. I still need to film a lot more, and I need to film everything with the boy and girl together. I have started thinking of funny revenge prank scenes to record for my film, but I am currently having problems thinking of funny pranks. Overall I am happy with the course of my film and I am excited to see the outcome. 

Group Meeting

On Friday, in class, we met with groups to discuss our project and help each other with ideas. I found this very helpful because I was having problems with developing my plot and storyline. Some comments I recieved were focusing on the comedy aspect without giving too much away in the trailor.

Also for the two different trailors, have one a full length (around 2:30) and one shorter and faster paced, since many movies tend to do this for their films. I thought both of these ideas was very helpful. One issue I have is trying to figure out if I want to do a party scene. One girl suggested that if I wanted to do this I have to film it very well because party scenes are difficult to film. One of my good friends is having her 18th birthday party next weekend, and I am going to try to film some of it. If I find that I like the shots I film I will use it as a scene for my trailor, and if not then I won't.


I am really happy with the feedback that I recieved, it was very helpful and gave me more ideas for directions my film should go. One girl recommended focusing on the relationship aspect more, but I really think thats the route I want to go. Overall I found the group discussions very helpful and I hope we have more in the future to help go over our project after we have some progression.


Link to image: https://www.google.com/search?q=group+meeting&safe=strict&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=inv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO2fjkltvSAhXF8CYKHZoCD2kQ_AUIBygB&biw=1024&bih=672#imgrc=Fs9pi6hkQMaW5M:

Characters

I am now starting to work on developing the characters, specifically the main boy and girl, and brainstorming their personalities. Considering that my storyline is somewhat based off of true events, I want to make the character authentic to the real people. I also need to find people who could pull off acting as the two main characters. Being that the main character is based off of me I want to create her personality similar to mine, giving us the same features and personality characteristics. The female character is someone who is always happy and smiling and kind to everyone. She is new to the relationship and boy world, making her vulnerable and not really sure about what to do in certain situations. This is where another very important character comes to play, the best friend. The main characters best friend is always there for her and has her back no matter what. She is much more experienced in the guy department and helps out her friend. The boy who is first introduced as extremely good looking, tall, with a great personality, is one of the typical hot guys that every girl drools over in movies. As the story continues and this character starts developing more, viewers start to see that he is a huge jerk that only uses girls to get what he wants. He comes across as a sweet, funny, honest guy but then transforms into someone who breaks girls hearts. The development going deeper into the characters personalities and traits is still in process, but the main idea for them is there. I am worried that I won't be able to find people that fit my image of the main girl and boy. Luckily I already have someone in mind to play the best friend. I want to have the characters look somewhat like the real characters, to keep the characters as realistic as possible. There are probably going to be physical features on both characters I will have to adjust, specifically the male character, for example his blue eyes or blonde hair or lean figure, but hopefully I can find a way to make both characters feel real and make certain truths to the story come alive with the characters.

Genre and Target Audience 

I have chosen to do a rom com chick flick for my genre.

I aim to target females aged around 13- 24.


I chose this target market because I feel that they will connect to the story better than other groups. I want to relate to the audience by connecting to their different emotions, such as humor, anger, happiness, and sadness. I want them to be abke to feel the pain that the main character has, and to be able to see themselves as the main character. I want this film to be extremely hilarious but also hurtful and angering. Many girls understand the pain of being cheated on, so I want to express their pain through the main character to show all viewers just how much pain cheating can inflict on a person. I think this genre and target market go together very well, there have been many movies from this genre targeting primarily teenage females. I hope that my point and emotions reflect on this audience and makes them connect deeper into the movie and the main character.



Links to images: https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&client=safari&hl=en-us&biw=1024&bih=672&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=6JvKWLa9DsyEmwHUxoKgAw&q=female+target+audience&oq=female+target+audience&gs_l=mobile-gws-img.3...11303.12050.0.12953.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.mobile-gws-img..0.0.0.yN8IVcFXxLw#imgrc=atbOWyr_iSEGUM:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rom+com+genre&safe=strict&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=vni&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWvuW3mdvSAhUK5SYKHU-0CHwQ_AUICSgD&biw=1024&bih=672#imgrc=ut1P3pLNYgQEyM:

Beginning Again

    I am in the process of brainstorming ideas for my new project. I am creating two trailers for a movie idea that I must create. I began reading over genres that I could potentially use to create my film. One genre that keeps popping out at me is Romance. I don't want to go for an extremely romantic, dramatic movie like the Notebook, but a more funny casual romance like the one in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Another movie that has helped me develop my idea is John Tucker Must Die.

 
       

I am doing a similar type of movie where a boy plays with a girls heart and she finds out about .it, making her want revenge. The idea is still in the brainstorming process and my not completely go this route. I am using a real life event that happened to me with a guy and just changing around the story line to make it more interesting. My idea is still in the early stages of development and could possibly change completely by the end of the week, if I come up with a better idea. I have had some issues trying to figure out what to create and an idea that I like and could do a lot with. As I research and brainstorm more this week I am hoping I will think of strong idea to make an amazing project. 

       

My Film

  Here is my film Pointeless

My Creative Critical Reflection

Here is my creative critical reflection: My CCR

The End

  I have started thinking about what I am going to say for my CCR, and answering the necessary questions. So far I have about 7:30 minutes from my thoughts and what I have written. I am going to add some more tomorrow and record a voiceover or podcast as my medium. I need to talk some more process and my struggles I faced during filming and creating  my project. 

  I have also thought of a title for my movie. I am calling it Pointeless because pointe ballet is the main dance in the film and I liked the play on words, instead of just calling it pointless. I think the title really realtes to the movie and has a catchy name. At this point all that I have left is to film a little more on Friday and edit the rest of my film. I emailed Warner Bros. for copyright permission for the song '7 Years' by Lukas Graham yesterday. I am waiting to hear back from them, to know if I can use the song in my project. Below is the last clip of my opening, showing the title before the screen fades to black. 
  Other than recording my CCR and finalizing my film, I am done with the project. This is also my final blog post, other than my creative critical reflection and film, for this project. I am happy that I have finished, but also a little sad that it is over. I really enjoyed making this project and hope that it will help open my mind and eyes for future projects. It's crazy how quickly this process seemed to go by, and now all thats left is the end.

Finalizing My Video

   I have now come to the final steps of editing. I chose the song '7 Years' instrumental version by Lukas Graham as my background music. I played my video with my voice over without the music and then with music to see which I preferred. I think it sounds better with the piano and guitar quietly playing in the background. I still have to figure out if I can lighten two of my video clips. My teacher showed us Googles Nik editing application that is now free. I am going to download it and see if I can lighten the videos from that. If I have time to squeeze in a few more hours of filming that would be very helpful, and improve my project. I have thought of some new shots since I last filmed, and will hopefully be able to get everthing in on Friday.

   I want to make sure I am done with everything other than the finishing touches to my video so I don't have to feel stressed and rushed because my project is not done. I hope that my final filming will improve my idea and make my project beautiful. I am going to fingure out what I am going to say for the final step of my project and hopefully record my 10 minute creative critical reflection

before Friday. This way all I have to focus on is finalizing my video editing. Even though it seems like a lot of work left, I feel confident that my project will turn out the way I want and I will finish before it is due on Sunday. My goal is to finish everything by Friday so I do not have to stress about it Sunday.

Script

    I finished writing my scrpit and recorded my voice over. Below is my finalized script.

(Black screen) People always say it takes hard work and dedication to make it anywhere. But i assure you it takes much more to make it to the big leagues. 

(Start video) Take dance for example, thousands of people aim to be the best and follow out their dream of becoming a professional dancer, and thousands fail. They work everyday for hours upon hours, yet they still don't make it. Dance is one of the hardest professions, especially if you want to get paid well. Talent alone will not cut it in this industry! I remember the first time I put on my ballet shoes and went to my first dance class. I was 3 years old and from that moment on I knew that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Every time I walk onto a dance floor my mind goes blank of all thoughts and my body flows to the rhythm of the music. For 14 years I have lived, breathed, and embodied dance. Dance is not only my life, it is who I am, without it I would be nothing. There have been many people in my life who have told me that I will never make it, that I'm not good enough, that I should just give up. It's people like that who make me want to work harder, to prove them wrong, so that one day I can say "don't ever tell someone they can't do something, because people will always surprise you." I challenged myself to be the best, working twice as hard as everyone else, I have danced every day for at least 5 hours for 10 years. Dance at this point not only consumed me but made me the person I am today.  All I have ever known is dance. My name is Hannah and I am a dancer! (Fade out)

Finalizing My Script

   I have come to the final process of writing my script. In order for me to know if I need to add more, I need to record myslef reading my script. Hopefully what I have currently written will be long enough to fit my entire opening scene. 

   I have asked multiple people to read over my script to edit and critque any issues they may have found. I found this very helpful with writing the script, because thy gave me good ideas to incorporate. I am planning on adding a few pauses in the script where I will stop talking for a few seconds so viewers will just focus on the dancer. After I have recorded the script and added it t my video, I will post it on my blog so you will have a preview of what my story is about. I really hope this turns out great, I hope to record my voice over tomorrow and add or fix whatever may be needed.

Group Meeting

   The other day my class had group meetings to discuss our project among a a few people. This was very helpful for me becuase I got feedback on my video. My group members suggested that I add more angles and shots to my video to show off my technique more. They also said that I need to show the main characters face more, so people can really see who she is. I agreed with there comments and know that I need to film more. I am going to have to finish everything other than the rest of the filming and editing for my project. I am not worried about my blog becuase everyone said that they thought it is great, which is very reassuring for me. After taking into consideration my critques on filming, I am going to try and focus on more tecniques we have learned during the year, to show off

my full potential for this film. 

   It is just starting to hit me how little time we have left to complete this project. I am starting to get nervous that I will feel rushed and won't create my film to its full potential. I really hope that I finish everything before the due date so I don't stress out over not being finished. I am excited to see how the rest of my film turns out. When I film next week I am going to make sure I film the dancers face more and add different shots of her body. I have started looking through my class notes at some of the different shots I can do, such as a close up of her face while she is dancing, a mid shot of just her torso/legs, and some different angles looking down at her feet and up as she jumps over the camera. The group meeting helped me a lot and put me back on the right track on how to improve my film.

Finding A Song

   I started researching songs to use in the background of my video. I need a song without words since

I am going to have a voice over. My friend suggested a song that I think could work very well if I can find a version without words. The song is called 'Runaway' by AURORA, it is slow paced but picks up some towards the middle. If I do decide to use this song I will have to email the owners of the somg becuase it is copyrighted. I was hoping I could find a song that would work that is not copyrighted, but I did not like any of the songs I listened to. I listened to the instrumental piano version of the song, and it is slower than I wanted it to be. I am looking through karaoke versions of songs to see if I like the way any of them sound. Currently I am at a dead end for finding a song. I am going to look through more youtube vidoes and, if I still can't find amything there, then I will look on more websites with non copyrighted songs. I am currently listening to the song 'Let It Go'by James

Bay, I love the song with words and I like how it starts off very slow but then starts picking up towards the middle and then slows down again at the end. I feel like it would fit in well with my video and may be a good choice. I am going to continue my search to see if I can find any songs that I like better, but of not I am most likely going to use 'Let It Go'.

Sources:
"James Bay - Let It Go (Karaoke Version)." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nhv788BMisk>.

Creating My Script

   Today I began to think about what I want to say in my voice over. I want to be inspirational and be from the dancers perspective. I want her to tell the audience her story of how she made it as a professional dancer. I want to add some knowledge about dance, for example facts and percentages about how many dancers actually make a living as a professional. This will let the audience acknowledge how difficult it is to become a dancer. This movie is a story that is ment to inspire people. I want it to seem like it is real and based on a true story to make viewers connect too the main character and her story. If it sounds realistic then it will be more likely to inspire more people. I have already shown you my rough draft of the first few smetances in an earlier post, so hopefully you already have a little idea of the introduction. I am having issues of thinking of what to add and where I am going to add the facts. The voice over is what is going to bring the entire video together so people know what the movie is going to be about, without it the movie would just be a clump of dance videos placed together.
   My script needs to be intriguing so that people want to continue watching. The opening of a movie is one of the most important parts because, if it is bad or boring people wont want to continue watching much more of the movie. However I chose to word my script I need to make sure it is extremely powerful and attention grabbing. After the script is finished and I start recording the voice over I need to make sure I speak with passion and don't sound boring, becuase talking is a huge part in making the voice over great. Since I am making the script in first person I need to act like I am the dancer speaking to her audience, I hope by thinking this way I can perfect my video. The script is the most important part of my movie, so I need to spend the majority of what time I have left to perfect it.