Getting Input

 

Group Meeting

Today we did group meetings, and it was great to hear some feedback, as well as hear some of the other group's projects. I definitely heard some unique ones!

First, I will start with the feedback on my project. My group gave me some great ideas to use which included...

• showing the main character looking back at old pictures
• the main character performing a skill (show the good) and then show the character in pain or bleeding.

- I really liked this idea because it shows the contrast between what people see from gymnastics but the reality of it.

The next steps that I would like to take my project is creating a social media account, coming up with a name, and creating a shot list/script. I want to do some research or a case study on marketing a short film. I forgot the name mentioned in class today so I will have to find that out.

Now for my group and their projects. It is great to hear the ideas people have, how far into the project they are, and the plans they have for the future.

The first project introduced was basically about f**king a monkey. 👀 It was odd to say the least, but an interesting topic. It was not all about the monkey, but about what leads up to people being so f**ked up to actually think that way. The planned mise-en-scene was perfect for this idea, and I hope that this project can successfully portray the character.

The next was about a guy who is basically emerged into a talk show. He has conversations with the T.V. thinking that the host is talking back to him. It is based off Erik Erikson's ideas in psychology, in fact the main characters name is Erik. We questioned how old the host would be, considering the limitations to actors, and thought that using two teenagers can create more of a theme. I thought this was a very clever idea and am eager to see how it is displayed.

Another project was two trailers for a romantic comedy. The idea sounded very basic, but we had suggested some ideas to make it more interesting. Instead of the popular cheerleader being chased by the awkward skater boy, we thought that the girl should be chasing the boy. This allows for a little bit of difference from the usual rom com.

The last project was a documentary on queer people involved in the arts. The number of interviewees was questioned, but we thought that the number did not matter and more so the effectiveness of the interview. Documentaries are interesting because you could think you have so much but after it is cut, it is really not a lot. We suggested getting as much as possible from each person.

Overall, I found this group meeting helpful and informative and think that later on in the project, this could be very useful again.

So... who is watching?

 

Target Audience

Target audience is huge component to whether a film is successful or not. Our film can be specifically geared towards many groups of people, let me explain some...

First, because our film is about sports, athletes will be interested in watching. I think that all ages would be able to watch this, however, I feel like it would be more for teenagers. I think that teen athletes is more specific because that is the age that people start to deal with those stresses from something that used to be so fun. When you become older in sports, it starts to become more of a competition and less of a fun activity. I think that a lot of teenage athletes would be able to relate to this and hope that what they get from it is that they are not alone in this struggle by many.

As our main character is a female gymnast, female gymnast is going to be expected to be a main component of our target audience. Gymnastics is a very complex and different sport from others. It is competitive and very much an individual sport, despite having a "team." Each person is set against each other, and this can create a lot of self-deprivation when one person is not as "up to par" with someone else.

I would want this film for adults to view this film so that they can get an understanding of what their kids, or just kids in general, may feel. Some parents may not realize the pressure that their children feel or may not be able to properly communicate. I hope that our short film will be able to present those emotions properly.

Story boarding

 

1st Story Boards

We created a story board just to put some of our ideas onto paper. This is subject to change, but we can take a lot of these ideas and use them in out short film. We plan to make this more complex and detailed once we discuss more about what we want to include.

Rough outline

 

The Plot

We came up with some ideas that we wanted to include in our film. These are not specific shots, lines, settings, etc., just ideas of what we want to show.

Beginning:

• main character as a little kid enjoying the sport (practice, smiling, laughing)
• admiring older gymnasts, olympist, and college athletes
• growing up and continuing to improve skill
• start comparing skill to other gymnasts

Middle:

• starting to not be able to do a skill
• practice outside of gym
• watching others out of anger not enjoyment
• not wanting to go to practice
• struggle to stay positive
• self-deprivation

End:

• giving up on dreams
• parents notice and try to help
• quit to relieve stress

We wanted out film to have a message and a meaning. This shows that somethings that are meant to be enjoyable can end up being draining and difficult. Our story is about a gymnast who started at a young age and loved every aspect of the sport. Unfortunately, as she grew older, she created obstacles in her head that stopped her from believing that she was as good as the other gymnasts. This negative mindset takes over and she is put into a difficult position when this starts to impact her everyday life.

We want to show that not everything is perfect, and that despite sports being a fun extracurricular, they can be deteriorating and affect someone's everyday life.

We finally decided

 

Our Topic

Today in class we compromised on a topic and made all of our top choices into one.

Our short film is going to be about...

the struggle of trying to be the best in sports

I feel like this is a combination of trying to fit in with beauty standards and the pressure that kids feel from parents to succeed in a sport. Just as our previous projects have been about, we like working with sports for a topic because we find it interesting and entertaining. We plan to show the work that an athlete puts into a game as well as the good, bad, and everything in between. If our plan continues, we want to do it about gymnastics. I think that this a great sport to do this short film on, considering the comparisons that gymnasts create against each other. It is not much of a team sport, which will create more of the distance between athletes, and desire to be like another.

I feel like this will delve into an emotional message but also be entertaining. I hope that whatever actor or actress we use to display this role will be able to portray it properly. 

What we've been talking about

 

Discussion

As a group we have been discussing and accessing the ideas that we have had and what we can create. For our top ideas we have tried to go through plots and scenes that we could include and see which we like the best. Of course, these are just brief overviews, but give us a way to access the topics.

We still have not fully decided on what to do, which is partially because of our limited class time this week. Next week will also be limited but we plan to pick a topic on Wednesday. Once we have this decided, we will use our messy outline of scenarios to create storyboards and a script.

We discussed what we found in our research and how we wanted to outline our short film. We plan to create the outline of our film following a plot line and creating a beginning, middle, and end. We plan to "set the scene" of the film at the beginning and then move towards the actual conflict, show that conflict, and then the answer to it.

Some Short Film Examples

 

Examples

Here are some short films that I found on YouTube. I used this for a little inspiration on style and formatting. Some are a little longer than what we are allowed to create, however I found these entertaining and informative for ways to improve ours. The first film listed would be the most similar to our situation because of the low budget and shorter film.

https://youtu.be/ApXXJ1iqBew

https://youtu.be/2m_VTZR5MU0

https://youtu.be/B6uuIHpFkuo

Info on Short Films

 

Short Film Research

A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits."

Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers with either a low budget or no budget at all.

Short films generally rely on film festival exhibition to reach an audience. Such movies can also be distributed via the Internet. Certain websites which encourage the submission of user-created short films, such as YouTube and Vimeo, have attracted large communities of artists and viewers.
Short films are a typical first stage for new filmmakers, but professional actors and crews often still choose to create short films as an alternative form of expression. Amateur filmmaking has grown in popularity as equipment has become more accessible.

The lower production costs of short films often mean that short films can cover alternative subject matter as compared to higher budget feature films. Similarly, unconventional filmmaking techniques such as Pixilation or narratives that are told without dialogue, are more often seen in short films than features.

Source: (Wikipedia, December 12, 2022).

What's it going to be about?

 

Ideas and Topic

As a group we decided that we wanted to attempt a short film. The first thing we all said to each other when trying to find a topic was "there is so much." To try and narrow down the options we went into what genres could be interesting. We all agreed that we did not want to do the basic kidnap, stalker, killer film. I suggested that we should try to pick a topic that can convey a message, which would mean more like a drama.

A few things that we had discussed as a possible idea are:

- beauty standards (being authentic, style)

- sports (our go-to)

- losing interest for a sport because of a coach

- how sports can impact your mental health

- how school can impact mental health

- pressure from parents (sports, school)

- danger of social media

- how technology has negatively impacted youth

- technology creates a loss of connection to the real world

- how quarantine has affected the youth

- moving

We have all of these ideas but are most likely going to do one of the highlighted ones.

I'll let you know what we pick!

The Plan

Portfolio Project 

Timeline Schedule

Week One (2/7-2/13): 

• Choose project 

• Think of ideas 

• Create timeline 

• Research project genre 

• two blog posts (transition and project schedule) 

Week Two (2/14-2/19): 

• Continue project ideas 

• Research components to project 

• Four blog posts (research, planning, class meetings) 

Week Three (2/20-2/26): 

• Continue project ideas 

• Start to create script/outline 

• Create storyboard 

• Plan days to film with people in it 

• Four blog posts (research, script, outline, storyboard, planning, class meetings) 

Week Four (2/27-3/5): 

• Continue planning 

• Create ideas for print 

• Create social media page 

• Possibly begin filming 

• Four blog posts (planning, production, progress) 

Week Five (3/6-3/12): 

• Film 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Four blog posts (production, key moments, changes) 

Week Six (3/13-3/19): 

• Continue filming if needed 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Begin editing 

• Four blog posts (production, key moments, changes, editing) 

Week Seven (3/20-3/26): 

• Continue filming if needed 

• Print 

• Post on social media 

• Begin editing 

• Three blog posts (production, key moments, changes, editing) 

Week Eight (3/27-4/2): 

• Edit 

• Finish print 

• Post on social media 

• Three blog posts (production, changes, editing) 

Week Nine (4/3-4/9): 

• Finalize 

• Post on social media 

• Create critical reflection 

• Three blog posts (production, finishing project) 

Week Ten (4/10-4/12): 

• Finish 

• Critical reflection 

• Three blog posts (final reflective comments, embedded link with short reflection, critical reflection)