Okay so here's the deal: Genre

 

    From the beginning, Sof and I knew we wanted to do a short film. Even though we didn't know the list of options we had to choose from, we quickly decided on a short film as I think it gives us the full capacity to dive into an interesting story and play with editing and filming techniques. Our initial ideas revolved around emulating the same energy of specific productions we love, with the hard part being that we love so many different movies and series!!! Here is some information on a short film in general and on some genres we are interested in further diving into/ seriously considering for our own production:

Short Film Info

              From: 7 Things To Know About Making Short Films! (Friday 101, YouTube)

•     Duration: 40 mins or less with credits ( Preferred: 10-15 mins)
•     Develop important content slightly quickly/ don't drag out for too long (limited time)
•     Speak through visuals; dialogue doesn't have to be main form of communication to audience (SHOW DON'T TELL)
•     Experiment with production techniques
•     Keep central focus throughout piece (one character, scenario, etc...)

Coming of age

•     Characters: Growth/ development in some aspect (psychology, physiology/ physicality, sociology...)
•     Setting: Realistic and relatable/ recognizable to general audience
•     Production choices: Visuals to convey meaning (SHOW DON'T TELL)
•     Themes: identity, friendship, self-discovery...

Common example of plot: Identity transformation from teenager to adult (adolescence)

Personal ex: Call Me By Your Name

    

Comedy

More info for comedy in films: Film Genres and their Conventions

•     Characters: Specific characterizations/ more individualized
•     Specific beats/ narrative turns
•     Setting: Many locations (where a lot of movement/ interaction can occur; a lot of chances for different types of situations)
•     Represented tropes (sense of familiarity, characterized character dynamics)
•     Props that can drive scenarios
•     Themes: Irony, familiarity

Personal ex: (Dramady) A Real Pain

Drama

•     Character: Focus on one or few character's internal journey, emotional development
•     Dialogue reveals character motivations; Authentic
•     Clear central conflict (creates turning point/ drive in plot)
•     Thought provoking/ impactful ending
•     Common production Techniques: Frequent close-ups (get close to character internal state)

Common example of plot: Relationships/ love journey, grief, familial dynamics

Personal ex: Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting

LETS PLAN: The Schedule

 

    Hi again! To make sure that Sof (my sister) and I stay up-to-date on the project timeline, we have to make a schedule! Luckily, our gracious teacher already made one for us that goes from this week's blog posting schedule to week 9, aka the week it is due (APRIL 9). Along with the this schedule that includes what we need to focus on each week, tying into each week's blog postings, we decided to add weekly goals for ourselves that we are REALLY GOING TO TRY TO ABIDE BY. I capitalized that part of the sentence because we REALLY WANT TO AND NEED TOOOOO. They aren't too far off from the original schedule we have to abide by, but those personal goals are there to also work around our crazy theater schedules, considering we have our production of PIPPIN :)) from March 12-14 (we are both theater kids and have like 4 shows coming up right now, not exaggerating, so!). Isabel and I did a similar setup last year for our Portfolio Project where we personalized the schedule, and it ended up working well, so Sof and I decided to do the same thing for this year. I also printed it last year which worked well for me because I like to have things tangibly in case I want to edit it more freely manually, so I will print this schedule out for both of us so I can do the same thing this year.

    Anyways, enough of me rambling, here is the link to the schedule! (We are still adding personalized goals so it's not 100% done, but it's pretty much done).

MY LIKE THIRD REINTRODUCTION

 HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO it's me!! 

     I am so excited to be back for my Portfolio Project. Usually I am more formal with these posts but for my second and final portfolio project IMMA BE WILDDD ;)))) Just kidding hi Cambridge... What I meant by that was that I am truly SO excited to start this new project, and will be fully enthralled in the process, with my personality being more engrained into my blog posts in the process!

     This was the project that I have obviously been looking forward to, considering last year's was such a fulfilling and adventurous process even because it gave me the "excuse" to bring up a story that I had conjured up in the midst of Covid during my 7th grade year and reconnect with an old version of myself in the process. It also gave me the chance to work with one of my best friends and practice the art (because it can very much so be a challenging art for some!) collaborating and building off of each other's ideas, ultimately (after a WHORLDWIND) creating something we are both still extremely proud of. Every now and then I'll look back on the film intro because it's saved in my camera roll favorites and be really proud of what we made, and excited to get the chance to create something totally different. If you want to hear more about my thoughts from last year which I can only imagine is a current craving of yours, here is the link to my reflective blog post. That time is NOW.

     For this year's Portfolio Project, I will be collaborating with my TWIN SISTER and creating a SHORT FILM!!!! I am SO EXCITED to get to do this, as we've created videos before for fun and helped each other out on our own projects, but have never gone out of our way to make something more "professional" that will be taken more seriously, even though we've talked about making something together and shared ideas on fun things we would love to make together for years. We knew instantly we were gonna work together and began thinking of ideas over the summer. I resorted to my best friend, my Notes App, and wrote down random ideas, themes, or even quotes that we would maybe end up implementing, but landed on some solid ideas regarding inspirations from other pieces to guide the energy of the piece we wanna make, from music to specific types of characters. 

   Project Guidelines

     Notes in addition to the ones I made during my sister and I's "meetings" about ideas for the project (that we can have whenever we want because we are sisters!) include the Portfolio Project notes from the in-class presentation that cover the 4 options that we can choose from for our projects: Music promotion, film promotion, documentary, and short film. On top of that, the presentation went over this year's version of last year's Creative Critical Reflection, being an individually written 1000 word essay that answers 4 questions. I have more specific notes on it from December, because our Midterm assignment was in the same format, answering the same 4 questions but in relation to the documentary assignment we completed. Here is the link to the essay, being my last blog post.

    For the short film option, here are the specifics that we have to abide by:

• 5-7 minutes
• Animated or unanimated
• Audio has to be copyright free, if not note in blog if got rights to use it (ex: music, sound effects- mainly foley if can...)
• Print Component: Postcard Design of Ad that would given out at film festival 
• Digital Component: Social media page 
• Due date: April 9

    Below are pictures of notes I'll be referring back to for specific instructions on the project, which I'll definitely add on to in the next weeks as we learn about more for the digital and print aspects of the project:

Portfolio Project notes

Reflection Notes

Priorities for our Thought Process

    Although nothing is set in stone, right now we are pretty set on combining comedy with another genre, although we are playing around on whether we want the comedic aspect to be less heavy and more weaved through, making it a less emphasized part of the piece but with noticeable intention. I don't want to give too much away yet of our ideas/ thoughts, BUT here are a list of important thoughts/ questions that I wrote down from our conversations that I want to list as a reminder/ indicator of key priorities:

• Relatively shorter amount of time (5-7 mins): do something really cool with it (abnormal/ experiment with form of storytelling)
• Metaphorical/ impactful (like surfing op doc: short but impactful through production and story; stylistic, ex: Queer)
• What type of story do you wanna tell???
• Consistent theme, all tie back!
• Embrace all elements! Don't let dialogue be only form of communication to audience, speak through production choices.

    This is where my heads at right now, with probably my main goal being to experiment and try cool/ more abstract things in the way we tell the story we choose to tell. I want to have a strong personal connection with not just what we end up choosing for plot, characters, and the SCRIPTT (very excited about writing), but also very meticulous choices regarding the way we choose to film and edit. THIS TIME WE ARE TAKING ALL OF SPRING BREAK TO EDIT because last time I had to rush and it was so stressful. Especially considering that we both also really want to prioritize getting more involved with Adobe Features like Color grading/ stylistic elements, we are both also focusing on our time management so that we can experiment without paranoia of due dates. 

    With all of that being said, I am really happy to be starting, and without further ado, LETS START THE SV SHORT FILM CREATIONNNN (that's what I will be referring to the short film as until we come up with a name ;)