Social Media Research!

I would like to apologize for lying in my last post, because the research is never over, so I will now clarify that I meant genre research was done. Today, I am researching the different social medias of short films to see what me and Mariana could do for the digital aspect of our project, and what to avoid while creating our social media presence.

In order to get a wider understanding of what we will be doing, we are each researching three different social medias. We both think that having an Instagram best fits our film idea, so we made sure all six of the short films we would be looking at had Instagram pages, or at least a form of official promotion through Instagram. The short films I will be researching are Two Distant Strangers, The Resemblance, and An Irish Goodbye

Media text: Two Distant Strangers

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: Combination of Reels, Images, and Text. No highlights were used to allow viewing of past story posts. Posting was consistent from production process to Oscar Award (2021). Many pictures of production process, both the actors on set and camera crew working. After film's release, they continued posting until the one-year anniversary of winning an Oscar.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Color scheme and overall graphics used is VERY consistent throughout entire page. Profile picture is the short film's poster. Short film's credits and website is linked in bio, along with where to find the film. Included quotes from well-known figures in the industry that praise the film for its production or relatability such as Harry Belafonte, Jesse Williams, Dean Parisot, etc. Also included praise from established film critics and magazines (Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter; Tim Molloy, MovieMaker Magazine; Matt Grobar, Deadline).

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: One important thing I took from this social media page was the consistent theme throughout the entire page, regardless of what was being posted. They kept a consistent color scheme that correlated directly to their poster (Black, Yellow, and Navy). Another thing that I plan on including is how they made it very easy to find where you can access this film (Netflix).

Media text: The Resemblance

Social media tool: Instagram (Only posted through the Director's account)

Description of types of posts: Very few actual posts of/from the film, but many highlights on the profile of the director. Posts were mostly single images promoting the film and major people involved. Highlights included where to find the film, festivals and theatres you can watch it, and reposts from cast members involved. After release the highlights transitioned to celebrating awards it had won and more festival viewings that could be attended.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): The overall branding developed was not that good, as it was not the main focus of the social media page. Along with this, it was also hard to find where the film could be accessed, as it mostly brought up festivals and not permanent sites that it could be found on. The page was a bit all over the place since it was the Instagram of the director, rather than just the film, so it wasn't clear when the branding was being developed or if it was a personal post.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: This actually helps me know what to not do in my social media page. I want a clear development of branding through our social media, whether we only post about the film itself or other aspects of the process, I believe it should be clear when even taking a quick glance at the page. That being said, I did actually really like how the one-time events were posted on the stories rather than getting an actual post, so viewers don't get confused while viewing posts, as it would only appear when it is relevant to the poster.

Media text: An Irish Goodbye

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: MOSTLY images to promote film, in the form of banners (3 posts across the page to appear as one when only viewing profile). Some reels, but very few, mostly are trailers or teasers of the film. Highlight story reel of positive reviews and critiques.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Cohesive color scheme, all posts seem to be images from production or awards the production has one. No behind the scenes content, only finished products. Film name and references to it are included throughout posts (Irish Premiere, etc.) Bio includes all awards won by short film. Profile lists that it is a movie. Website included in bio.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: Again, I really liked that where to find the film was clearly displayed on the profile (the top middle post). I also think that their large inclusion of images that matched the film's overall aesthetic and images from the film was great, especially since it avoided spoiling major plot points, but still gave an overall vibe to what the film would be.

(n.d.). Two Distant Strangers poster [Image]. https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.249639c2e2fdd08a6508c685bb341622?rik=AHNv41mjAyRruw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.impawards.com%2fshorts%2f2020%2fposters%2ftwo_distant_strangers.jpg&ehk=VgniuakSxxZ%2bK%2b%2b%2b6IBsIFT7NYLglu3KH0uLOZMlizQ%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

(n.d.). An Irish Goodbye poster [Image]. https://epicchq.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/MV5BZjRkMDEwNWMtNjA2OS00Njk1LWIzMWItZDk3ODc0MTcwYTQ5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI0OTgwMTUw.V1.jpg

(n.d.). The Resemblance poster [Image]. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzY3YzRiYWQtYmY2YS00MDA3LThhMTAtZjg0NDY2OGMyNGMxXkEyXkFqcGc

Still researching...but now I'm finished!

 I know, you're definitely sick of all of this genre research too, but it is genuinely very helpful in getting me to figure out what to include and exclude in the plot of the film. The final two films I will be researching on my blog are Whiplash and 500 Days of Summer.

Let's start off with Whiplash. In short, Whiplash is the story of a drummer who is put through extreme psychological pressure by his instructor.

Looking at what me and Mariana could include from Whiplash, I think an important part is that 'psychological pressure.' Our main character falls into an unhealthy lifestyle due to issues at home, but I think we can further develop those issues with the idea of the psychological pressure.

Obviously, we won't have J.K. Simmons to play an abusive music instructor, and I really don't think we will have any part of our film go to the extremes they had him portray in his character. I think the important thing to take away from this film is how Andrew (the drummer) succumbs to this pressure and how it affected him as a person. While describing genuine issues such as this, it is important to properly showcase how it affects that person, and I think we can get inspiration from Whiplash while developing our character a little more.

Now finally my last one, 500 Days of Summer. An important part of this film is Tom's self-reflection and his thought process throughout all of this. This is very important to focus on if we are having our film be told through therapy sessions with our main character. 

Therapy is full of self-reflection, so we could definitely take notes on how this could be portrayed and what struggle our main character can go through while confronting his own emotions.

I think this story is told in a way that me and Mariana can honestly take loads of inspiration from, and I think while finalizing our script we should definitely rewatch this film to further investigate what the film does to showcase Tom's emotional journey throughout his self-reflection process, just like we will have our main character do in our own film.

(n.d.). Whiplash poster [Image]. https://wallpapercave.com/wp/wp1952004.jpg

(n.d.). 500 Days of Summer poster [Image]. https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.RdXQBvPOevHMB7UWfH4PDgHaKj?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain&o=7&rm=3

More drama!

 Using the help of Letterboxd, I had to find quite a few more drama films. In this post I will be focusing on the following: La La Land & Fight Club.

Now obviously I couldn't choose two more different films for one post, but I believe the idea still stands that regardless of the plot, I'm researching the conventions of drama in these films and tying them back to what I can include in me & Mariana's film.

Starting off with La La Land, another one of my favorite films. This film is exactly what I want in regard to keeping a consistent theme throughout the entire film. La La Land does a great job of showcasing the two main character's individual issues, and how they come together to ultimately form a relationship that doesn't end up working for them.

What I like about this film is that they don't work out, even though they could and they both want to. I think that this is displayed very well in this film and I could take notes on keeping a consistent theme throughout the film. I also really liked how they story told in this film, especially since it is hard to take musicals seriously in some senses, but the way that this film is written nails it. 

Overall, La La Land is a great example of how I want to represent characters in our short film and how we can keep consistent theme and tone throughout the entire film.

Now moving on to Fight Club, this film also explores individuality and how that can affect oneself, and others around them.

The aspect of this film that I want to take inspiration from is the self-confrontational bits. In our film, we have a character who is going to therapy for an event that he blames himself for, but we didn't really establish why exactly he blames himself for this event. I think if we use these self-confrontational bits, then we can establish how and why this character finds himself to blame in this situation.

Although Fight Club isn't totally centered around this idea, it's still important to use it as an example of how to portray the concept and make it work, and obviously is won't be what our entire film is centered around, but this example from Fight Club is helping us fill in some plot holes that would have otherwise confused the film.

(n.d.). La La Land poster [Image]. https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6ibTJwSpzFT43rqtoy51PF54A9r.jpg

IMDb. (n.d.). La La Land (2016) [Film page]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3783958/

(n.d.). Fight Club image [Image]. https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.5fc197c149c913301c9468373ad027ac?rik=fM%2bqgS70Kkk24g&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Now to get more specific....

Now in order to even further grasp the drama genre, I need to research films that exhibit that genre. The first two films I will be discussing are the ones I previously mentioned, Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society (look at that, common theme of Robin Williams!). I know, it's kind of cheating because I researched Dead Poets Society for genre last year, but looking back at that previous blog post I think I did a terrible job actually researching it, since I knew it wasn't really the direction I wanted to go in.

Starting off with Good Will Hunting, even though this film isn't completely similar to what we plan to do, it is still very useful to research general films in the genre we will be doing, since we might notice some conventions that we want to include, or completely avoid.

Good Will Hunting follows the story of Will Hunting (Matt Damon) who is a genius but works as a janitor at MIT. He struggles with the trauma of abuse from his childhood. 

This actually somewhat coincides with what my film would be aiming to produce. We want a character to have some sort of trauma and be able to properly display that through the script and acting for this character. This film does a good job of displaying what you can do to showcase that trauma through characters without being offensive or downplaying the trauma these characters have experiences.

Now to look at Dead Poets Society. As I had mentioned last year, this truly is one of my favorite films. I think one of the things I will need to take from this film is how trauma affects others around the person experiencing it.

Dead Poets Society is about an English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), who teaches his students at a strict all boys school to embrace their individuality and "seize the day." He tells the boys about his time at their school, and hints towards the Dead Poets Society, a group of boys that would defy the standard school rules and meet regularly off campus to just embrace themselves. This ultimately leads to some tragic events that effect the boys at the school.

What I want to use from this is a lot of aspects from the ending, how the boys deal with their trauma, and also what they do to try to overcome it. I also believe this film does a great job of showing how others can influence the behavior of an individual, and I want to showcase that in our film as well.

IMDb. (n.d.). Good Will Hunting (1997) [Film profile]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119217/

(n.d.). Good Will Hunting promotional still [Photograph]. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDdjZGQ5YzEtNTc2My00Mjc0LWFlMTctYzkwMzZlNzdiZWYzXkEyXkFqcGc

IMDb. (n.d.). Dead Poets Society (1989): Full cast & crew [Webpage]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/fullcredits/

(n.d.). Dead Poets Society poster [Image]. https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/uGa3NexFBtk12KT9vAoweVmN4k6.jpg

Let the research begin!

 Alright! Now that me and Mariana developed an outline for our plot, we can start researching our genre to try and establish some conventions that we can utilize.

For our genre, we ultimately decided on a drama film. Originally, I thought researching this would be very easy, but drama is such a broad category than many films use to describe their genre while they have a few sub-genres too. I'm going to be researching the overall genre, and I'll do my best to find films that mainly exhibit this genre, too, so I don't confuse me and Mariana's research and film outline.

First of all, I'd like to actually get a clear definition of what makes a film considered a drama. In my eyes, a drama should be a story with realistic characters that examines/displays issues that could happen in real life. An example of a film like this would be Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society. While those films may have more than one genre, or some sub-genres, they both clearly display what my definition of a drama film is.

All dramas have one thing in common; they focus on serious issues more than humor. This is actually a very old concept. The masks used in theatre "comedy and tragedy" represent the two genres live theatre used to display, either a comedic play, or a tragedy, now known as a drama.

So, using that little piece of history, me and Mariana will aim to showcase one of the most basic conventions of a drama film, showcasing a serious 'tragic' event. This actually perfectly aligns with our film idea, so we can continue on to deep diving into films that may exhibit similar concepts to get a good idea of what we can do with our short film.
 

IMDb. (n.d.). Drama feature films [Webpage]. https://www.imdb.com/search/title/genres=drama,!documentary,!short&explore=genres&title_type=feature

DeGuzman, K. (2024, December 3). Drama: A guide to the genre. Backstage. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/drama-genre-guide-78027/

(n.d.). Product image [Photograph]. https://i.etsystatic.com/5682186/r/il/d3db32/4513295653/il_fullxfull.4513295653_6bgu.jpg

Making a schedule....but we are both insanely busy

Here is the show me and Mariana are doing!!

OK! So, I think the both of us might actually go insane figuring out a proper schedule for this project. Both me and Mariana are in Theatre at our school, and this week we have tech rehearsals every day from 3-6, and next week we perform from Wednesday-Friday at 6 pm (and we likely won't be able to go home in between school and the show). I also have rehearsals every Sunday from like 9-5 so those days are also super busy for me. I think we will try to do more of a weekly outline of what we want done every week and we will figure out the details as we go, but I want to have specific deadlines for when each part of our project should be DONE. Here is my schedule plan:

2/23-3/1:

2/23: Have our project option and general idea DONE and set in stone

2/25: Properly decide what we would want for our genre, target audience, etc.

Complete blogs throughout week: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

3/2-3/8:

3/2: Research social media, decide what type of social media page we will create

3/3: Create a schedule for when everything will be filmed, tentative dates and reach out to people to be featured in the film.

3/4: Outline our entire film component, firm concept that won't be changed after this week

Complete blogs throughout week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

3/9-3/15

3/10: Solid script for project finalized

3/11: Work on any outlying planning that should be done

3/13: FINALIZE filming dates, possibly even begin filming

Complete blogs throughout week: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday

3/16-3/22: SPRING BREAK, Me & Mariana have a field trip from Wednesday-Saturday

3/16: Work on print component

3/17: Film as much as possible, continue filming on trip if we have to

3/20: Make sure social media is being kept up with 

Complete blogs throughout week, from this point on it will be hard to predict when each post can get done, depends on what we accomplish on what day.

3/23-3/29:

3/25: Finalize film, all editing done.

3/28: Finalize digital and print aspects of project, make sure all parts of those are done

3/29: Begin Critical reflection planning

3/30- 4/5:

3/30: Continue critical reflection planning

4/2: Begin writing the critical reflection

4/6-4/10:

4/7: Critical reflection finished, work w/ Mariana and peer edit 

4/8: FINALIZE critical reflection

All of the project should be done at this point!! Have everything fully uploaded by 4/10!

London Box Office. (n.d.). Mamma Mia! musical poster [Image]. https://www.londonboxoffice.co.uk/news/public/mamma_mia_musical_poster__1_.jpg

Portfolio project time!!

Mariana & Me!

I'm back!! It's finally time for possibly the most stressful part of the year...and also creating my A Level portfolio project!! I'm working with one of my closest friends, Mariana A., and I'm super excited to see what we come up with! I know we are very like-minded people, and we have pretty similar schedules, so I hope we can create a project we are both very happy with and proud of.

In class, we went over the different options we could do for our portfolio projects, and Mariana agreed with me that our options are going to be a Short Film or a Documentary. Choosing exactly what it will be will definitely be a bit difficult for us just because we both are very particular people and I know how the both of us work when it comes to having an actual concept. For us, that will probably be the most difficult part of the entire project.

For a documentary, we would need to think of a topic that could work as an entire series, rather than just one episode. I remember when we did the documentary project in semester one we focused on the arts, which we realized was severely overdone by students. The thing is that this is something me and Mariana are super involved in outside of school, so creating this concept and gathering footage was relatively easy for us. When we watched an example documentary project in class, we recognized that we should head a totally different direction if we decide to do this option for our project, so we would definitely need to brainstorm this some more.

With a short film, coming up with a general idea would be difficult, but once we have that we would easily be able to develop the idea way further and involve our own creative elements. We have been interested in creating a short film since the second semester of sophomore year, though, so we are slightly attached to this option, even with no actual ideas behind it. Another issue we may have is coming up with an idea that isn't super cliche or overdone, and we may feel a lot of pressure to come up with something. Knowing us what we come up with could definitely end up being too abstract and sort of undoable, so we definitely need to consider that too.