Fonts

    There are way too many fonts to choose from. I feel like I've looked at 20 different fonts that are the exact same, just with different names. 

     I want to do something that shows the girly, light-hearted side to the film so that it sets the tone right away. I've been browsing through the Adobe font library which actually has such a great variety of fonts. It breaks them into different categories like friendly, clean, rough, etc. I looked under the fun category for the light-hearted aesthetic. I finally brought it down to two fonts:

    They both match the theme I'm going for so it just came down to which one was more feminine and simple enough for the opening credits and title. I also looked at both fonts in just a plain black text and the same size so I could do a better comparison. 

    I decided Chill Script would be the best fit for the film opening due to the subtle cursive writing for the more feminine touch, but still bubbly big letters to match the vibe. I was also able to confirm that it looked good in pink since that's the color I am planning to do the title and credits in. 

    This week has been a very productive week and I feel so much more progress now that I have the outline of my plot, the title, font, and other stylistic choices all figured out. 

First Group Meeting

    Today we had our first group meeting. I don't usually work on projects on my own, so it was refreshing to talk to others and learn about their different creative processes. We started by sharing our blogs one by one and explaining the concept of our film. We then gave each other feedback and tried to help each other with things we were stuck on.

     Personally, I needed help with my title and credits so everyone started bouncing off ideas. I knew that I wanted it to be related to the gym, so we started thinking about puns. I jotted down some ideas and finally decided on Worth the Weight. It portrays her journey of becoming a successful fitness influencer after overcoming the obstacles of stereotypes. 

    I also decided on the credits being pink, but I have yet to decide what font will fit the theme best. I plan to do some research on that some time this week so I can have most of the stylistic choices set.

 

Storyboarding

     Today I started to think deeper into the plot and how to incorporate the main character's (Stella) love interest. I began to create a story board to jot down my ideas for the opening and how he will be introduced. 

Start of Storyboard

    I'm definitely not an artist (clearly), but it at least provides an outline for the different shots and what the characters will be doing. 

    I thought about lots of variations of how Stella's love interest can be introduced, but it was hard to create much of a story without it taking up the entire opening. With this being said, I decided on just having a small character interaction when she gets home from the gym. This will also urge the audience to wonder about their relationship and continue watching to find out. Him waving from across the street is meant to give him that friendly and romantic "boy next door" vibe.  Her love interest will also be into fitness which is how they met. 

    Here is where I will also introduce that she is a fitness influencer. She will be looking at her work out videos on Instagram or TikTok and scrolling through her comments. This is also where the women empowerment message will come into play. Stella will see discouraging comments from people, especially men, saying that she doesn't know what she's doing since she's a girl. I want to show her not letting them get to her and instead working on something that betters herself and her career, but I haven't decided how I'm going to show this yet.

On a Schedule

     Since last week I felt like I was cramming with no direction, I thought it would be best for me to create a schedule. It's very simple but I already feel much more under control of the project now that I have that sense of direction I was lacking.

(My Schedule)

    So based on this, I wanted to start by developing the main character deeper. Now that I've settled on her being a fitness influencer, I want to change her vibe a little bit to match this better, while still incorporating the color scheme of the mood board I created. You can reference back to this post for mood board. She will obviously be wearing gym clothes as I'm imagining her to be getting home from the gym in the opening of the film. I made a sort of collage to portray my final ideas for her:

    I want to use the messy ponytail and gym clothes to show she just got done working out. I was thinking the pink bottoms could represent her femininity, along with red accents in her jewelry to show her sense of confidence. Her character is also very approachable and kind, which I plan to represent more through her room decor, since that's where I think I want to shoot most of the opening. 

Plot Idea

     Taking several factors into consideration, I decided that the main character is going to be an aspiring fitness blogger. Since going to the gym is generally perceived as a more masculine concept, I think it would be a perfect thing for a woman to represent. 

    Fitness is also a trend that is starting to really take off recently, which will give this film more of an appeal to women with similar aspirations.

    Like in Legally Blonde, people think less of her due to her cute femininity. I was hoping to go for the same vibe by having men comment discouraging comments on the main characters posts. Instead of letting this deter her, she will use this as motivation to keep pushing and working towards her goals.

    I'm still having trouble deciding where her love interest will fit into this puzzle, but I still have time to think on it.

    Week one was a great learning experience, especially about time management. I plan to focus more on the research in week two and make the most out of the time I have.

Starting the Plot

     Now that I had all the elements of the film somewhat thought out, I had to start thinking of how I'm going to piece it all together to get my idea across. I began by looking up the basic plot outline of a rom-com with a very helpful and easy to follow source. 

    This was a helpful start, but I want my film to have more than just the romance aspect. I want to represent the message that women can do anything a man can do, while still maintaining their flirty/feminine side. 

    I think I will include a very minimal love interest introduction in the film opening, and devote the rest of the time to what the character is trying to accomplish. I have a few ideas in circulation for what I want her to accomplish, but I haven't completely decided. 

Character Research

     Making a character requires a lot more effort than I expected. It's not just deciding how they will look, but thinking why they will look this way, and how will this reflect their inner personality. 

    The main character is definitely going to be a female. However, I had to decide what makes her stick out from the rest of the women in order to get this empowering message across and show that you don't need to fit into the classic "standards" to succeed. 

    I tried to find common physical characteristics of empowering women, but what I ended up finding was so much better. Instead I found a website that explained the qualities that these powerful women share. So I decided to build on this and made a mood board with colors that represented confidence, intelligence, and approachableness. 

(This is just a rough draft, but includes most of the colors I want to represent on the main character.)

    Considering the film is going to be a rom-com, there has to be a love interest. Although the romance most likely won't be able to be caught in the opening of the film, everyone knows a rom-com when they see one so I figured the love interest must be discussed. I'm still deciding how he can add to the theme, but I think that will become easier once I've settled on a plot.

Start of Research

    This week has been very busy and stressful for me with school soccer states during the week and club soccer during the weekend. I haven't had much time to work on the blog, but I finally was able to start some research. 

    Beginning with the genre, I thought of an underrepresented group to showcase. I decided that women are a good group to represent considering it's something I can relate to and use my knowledge to create. I want to go for a more light-hearted and not so intense approach to empowerment. Here are some films that I think achieve this:

    All of the films I found that fit my description ended up being rom-coms, a mix of romance and comedy. I found this perfect since some of my favorite movies are rom-coms and I have plenty of background.

The Beginning

     Starting these projects have always seemed to be the hardest for me. My brain just goes blank, and I never know where to begin. With this being said, I have no idea what direction I want to go with for my film opening. I plan to channel all of my thoughts and ideas into this blog.

    This week I plan to research different genres, watch lots of film openings, and make a list of various underrepresented groups. Once I have this sort of "base" for my project, I can begin deeper research and a more accurate planning schedule. 

    This entire process is already stressing me out. However, I'm so excited to see where my ideas take me and I'm glad to have a place where I can express my thoughts, concerns, and keep track of my process from start to finish. 

Music Marketing Project Reflection

        For our music marketing project we had the bluegrass genre. Since the listeners for bluegrass tend to be older, our group was not very familiar with its elements. This led us to do a lot of research, which was the basis of our planning, production, post-production, and presentation. 

                                                                   Research

            After picking our song out of the three we were given, we decided to do some research on the artist of that song, Nathaniel Rateliff. We looked at all his socials, his website, and public interviews. We also found related artists under the same genre, researching them as well, in order to compare within the same category. This allowed us to form our target audience and get an idea of the “feel” for our music video. 

                                                                  

    

                                                                   Planning

                                                                

            Now that we had an idea for our brands theme, we began the planning. We decided on a southern, farm vibe for the brand since our target audience was older, white, males and females. This meant we had to find a filming location and props to go with the theme. Once we found a spot to portray the proper mise-en-scene, we had to assign roles for the video and find people to fill in the missing ones. We planned this all out, bouncing off each other’s ideas, on one document that was shared amongst the group. 

  Production

            After having our outline, we began production. We all met at the film location in the early afternoon so that we could capture the sunniness to add to the farm lifestyle. The costume was very simple with mainly jeans, boots, and simple tops. We used props like a guitar, farm animals, a truck, and an old swing to add to the elements of bluegrass music. Several shots of each lyric were taken from different angles and positions so that we had a lot to work with. Since we worked with children it was a little challenging to get them to do exactly what we had in mind, but it ended up working out great and adding to the family-friendly appeal. 

Post- Production

 

            In our post-production process, we just put all the clips together and edited them in one project. We had to select the best takes we got and put them together in a way that created a story. We also had to incorporate the shots of the singer since it was a promo as well. Since our story was two people reminiscing on their old memories, we used a shadow effect on the flashbacks so that the audience is able to clearly tell what is happening. 

Presentation

 

            Our last step was making and sharing our presentation. We gathered all our information from the case studies including our target audience, genre elements, similar artists, and marketing techniques. We also created merchandise for our brand by incorporating our original ideas into the bluegrass theme. For example, we made one of our merchandise items to be a trucker hat which is not a common item to see for artists, but reaches our southern, outdoors, target audience well. Finally, we practiced presenting this and made sure we were familiar on the topic so that we could confidently speak about it in front of a group.

 

            Overall, this project required a lot of research and planning. I learned about new genres I would’ve never listened to before this project and learned how to find balance within a group. I believe this will help me with the pacing of my Cambridge portfolio since it was a long project, and it was up to us to create a schedule to keep ourselves on track.