Equipment

     Today I did some research on some equipment I can use. I already have a canon DSLR camera, along with several tripods. I also had some lavelier mics. I wanted to add a scene where I needed a dolly, but I didn't know whether to get one or not. Finally someone had told me from the cast that they had one already and I tested it out and it went smoothly. I decided I can make that scene become a reality, but also try and branch off from it and have a plan B in case some things go wrong. Overall I have much of what I need for equipment and I have everything I believe that is needed for everything to be in order for the cast as well. 

The Meeting

 Today I met up with the cast and told them the ideas. I showed them the unofficial storyboard and explained to them the genre, the ways it'll be shot, and tried to coordinate a date, time, and place. This meeting helped everyone understand what they were going to be doing, as well as understand the overall roles to be played. I also managed to get some ideas and write them down in order to see what I was going to imporve upon, or take into consideration for the cast. 

For the people

     I had to decide on a target audience. I was trying to capture a big group for this project and the mafia theme led me to do some research on what types of target audiences I had to look for in order to make sure the project was successful. Since it is a coming-of-age story, I decided one main target audience will be teenagers. Not only that but it is also a family film, making it a good film to watch with the family, but not one where it's a bring the little kids, more of a family with kids that are in their teenage years. The adults can also enjoy it since it will have classic concepts from movies they've probably watched, for example, "The Goodfather". 

After I did some more research I decided to continue with my storyboard. I had to show the storyboard to the cast I have so far, to make sure most of them approve of it and are on board with some of the scenes, and also understand how it will all work. I even recommended them to watch some movies that fit with my genre in order to make them allow themselves to act as if they were in those movies, and understand the language, or body movement that would be needed in the shots. 

Castiiiing

     I had a major thought running through my mind. I would have a lot of people in my film opening. It would be hard to find a lot of people willing to do this, that can actually perform well, and not have a hard time to coordinate when everyone can meet up. I thought maybe I can do seperate days for each person, and then change the way that scenes looked based if a person was shown. I realized that wouldn't work for continiuity errors, and the timing of when certain shots were made dependant on the time of day. After this I settled on first casting people and asking for help. I began asking those I knew from families and friends who have had experience with this sort of area who could help as characters. I was nervous no one would respond. It wasn't later on that three fourths of those I requested for help said yes to help me. I was happy that people were starting to agree to help and be characters for this film opening. I thought it would be harder, but people were willing to help very easily. I now have to coordinate a time with everyone, but since there is a lot of time at hand, I realized I can choose a date that is flexable for everyone, and that everyone will be able to join in on the same day so the continuity is good for the opening. I'm very happy I got this vital spot for the opening done with so I can focus on research and not have to worry about casting later on. 

Planning Planning Planning

    Today I began to take some of my ideas, and jot them down on a storyboard. I couldn't stop planning shots, angles, actions, and dialogue for the opening. I tried to write down as much as possible and to get some ideas. I realized as well that I have to do more research if I want to actually get this project completed perfectly and make it look good. Once I finished jotting down potential ideas, and characters for the opening, I thought of some areas that could help me continue the story and write down ideas. I had to come up with a target audience, that was something I sholuld've thought of first. I began to come up with some target audiences, but more ideas flooded my brain as I began to think. I kept drawing on my unofficial storyboard, and kept writing characters down. I thought to myself, "I need a day where I do research to benefit myself". This was true. I had to find the fonts, themes, colors, audio, and the target audience which I didn't finish deciding on yet. After planning it all out, I decided to make a small calender for what I should do each day on this project to make progress over time. I decided to take a bit of a mafia theme into this and create my story on that certain theme. Overall by the end of the day I had my ideas set up in motion to find my characters, my setting, and some shots. I need to focus more on the research and plan this out more and not jump straight into the filming without more redearch.  

Choosing Genre

Today I began to think about genres for my video. I thought that if I can come up with a genre first, it would help limit my ideas and allow me to come up with the best representation that I can come up with for that genre. At first, I thought of an action genre and watched some openings like "John Wick" or "Kingsman" or even any Marvel movie. 

I realized they were all repetitive, so I decided to try out the horror section, but after watching scenes like "Halloween" or "Paranormal Activity", I wasn't fond of that genre either. 

Then I thought of some coming-of-age movies and realized I can relate to this genre and incorporate new ideas that will fit in. I watched movie openings such as "Encanto" or "Holes" to try and find some ideas. After creating some ideas, and getting into the genre, I realized that the coming of age genre would be the genre I can use to help me with my opening.

Portofolio #1

     In class we transitioned into the portfolio project. I've been thinking of this project and some ideas that I can come up with once it was announced. I have had ideas nonstop thinking of what I could create and what could be unique. I don't want to go overboard and have it all fall down, but I also don't want to give minimal effort for this project. Looking at the requirements for this project I've jotted down some ideas. I also have a lot of time to work on this project, something that rarely happens at school and allows me to actually do this correctly and make it effective with time management. I was thinking of having a partner, but in the end I thought it would be better if I work by myself and allow myself to create what I want without any issues. I'm very excited for this project and can't wait to begin planning everything to make this project come to life!

Music Marketing #2

    During research for the project, there were many aspects the group had to look at and take into consideration. The main one was to find the target audience that we wanted to attract. We researched multiple other songs and tried to find the main audiences for them. After we found a target audience we decided to incorporate a new target audience as well in order to capture more people and make it more interesting. We took a look and saw some areas people could like for the music video and branding as well.

    Then came the planning for the whole idea. We started with what fits the theme best. The entire group threw out ideas left and right and tried to combine them into one whole idea. Once there was an idea decided we wrote it down to later plan it out better. Eventually came the overall and final result that the team came up with. The storyboarding part allowed the team to draw, and fix the areas in the story for the music video and allow us to find the right path we wanted to go down. We took ideas out and added new ones in, eventually completing the storyboard we wanted our creation to turn out as. 

    In the production phase for the video, the entire team came out and brought supplies to film. At first, the thought process we had was to film everything sequentially, but eventually, some shots were better to be shot all together at once rather than film, leave, them come back. It worked way better that way because we had our storyboard. After filming multiple scenes, we had some ideas along the way to help make the video better. Once we had most of our shots done it was complete. Some shots weren't able to be shot that day due to the location and timing. After we tried to finish some of those scenes, but it never worked out, so those were not used, or the story was changed to be a bit different. 

    After the production, everyone started to do research and develop the band a bit more on what was needed. For example, a website, social media platforms, and the overall presentation. Multiple ideas were already in place during the research phase at the beginning, and notes were written down based on what we captured. After everyone was assigned basic roles we got to work. One person was editing and we all got to look at the video and pitch in ideas and help. Everyone else tried to help in the other areas like the social media platforms and the websites. Once everything was done, all that was left was the presentation. Everyone wrote down the main areas they worked on while also collaborating with one another and always asking for help or helping others. Everyone had their parts and was also known in the other areas so everyone was good to present and it was all done accordingly.

    Overall I enjoyed this project on the creation of it and the presentation is trying to market a band and coming up with creative ideas. I learned new techniques and ways to capture the target audience's attention. I also learned how to manage the film portion in order to get the shots and scenes needed and try and get other shots in case of a backup plan, or a shot is corrupted or does not work. I also learned more about the target audience itself, and how to capture them, as well as how to capture them through the area of sound and music.