Breakdown of Scenes

Opening:

Girl (16) is seen getting ready for an event (school, birthday, party, etc) establishing a shot of the room (with a calendar to show the date, 2005)  and surrounding area of where she is getting ready. Her phone keeps buzzing but she ignores it as she continues to get ready (show her picking her outfit, putting on makeup, spending a lot of time focused on how she looks to make it obvious she is getting ready for something special), but she is in a great mood- happy music playing. On her way out- she checks her phone and realizes there is an ongoing pandemic that might spread to her area. Once reality hits her, the music cuts out and she is shown in shock - cut to title. Credits on top of showing room / providing context and setting.

Overall: 

Begins with a girl getting ready for her birthday as her phone is blowing up. She assumes it is birthday messages from her friends and ignores it. She goes outside and it looks abandoned and gloomy. She walks out and gets locked out of her house, her mom yells at her to come back in and discusses the situation very seriously. 

Breakdown of Scenes:

1. Establishing shots- cuts of showing pictures, lamps, posters, extra details, etc. - potential animation, music 

2. Arm hitting alarm and turning it off. 

3. Getting clothes, outfit to get ready

4. Goes to bathroom (still not fully shown) and slams door

5. Door sound transitions to sound of shoes dropping and her half ready now

6. Clips of her getting ready with phone buzzing out of control

7. Acknowledges phone, turns the ringer off, walks away

8. Continues getting ready

9. Grabs stuff and is about to leave/leaving

10. Walking through her house to leave (news on in background) - sees stash of TP, lysol, etc.

11. Looks at phone (message from friend “turn on the news” editing)  -> sees abandoned looking neighborhood

Prop and Set Design

We did some research on what types of decoration, wardrobe, styling, and makeup were mostly used in early 2000s films. After this, we looked at items we had and items we thought of using to make sure that this film opening looked as realistic as possible. We made a list including items like:

• Establishing / context / room shots 

• Bring props:

• Tiny butterfly clips (link to clips) 

• Nail polish (pink)

• Trophies and medals 

• Jewelry

• Neon sign (moon)

• Magazines

• Stand alone mirror

• Throw/decorative pillows 

• Disposable cameras

• Pink bedding

• House phone/Landline

• Clothes (pink, bright,youthful)

• Diary 

• Bedazzled ipod

• Pen

• Calendar (dry erase board)

• Lava lamp 

• Pink fuzzy socks

• CDs / CD player 

• DS

• Happy birthday necklace

• Birthday banner / decoration

• Alarm clock

• After making sure that we had all of this and that my room was ready for filming, we set a date and time of when to get together to film. 

Shooting Schedule

We have started developing a shooting schedule to ensure that we stay on track. The filming of this project is expecting us to take about 3-4 sessions of filming. We have decided to film during the weekends as that is the best time for all of us.

Filming Session One: Room Day

Taking place February, 27th, 2022

What we will do:

We will record in my house. We decided that this was the best location to represent the main character Berkley's room. We have come up with props and other materials that we need as part of our prop and setting design and there will be another blog post specifically about that after this one. 

We will be recording the opening scenes- including the establishing shot that is showcasing her room and everything that makes up her personality to better establish Berkley's character. To prepare for the filming, we will be preparing props and the setting. For example, changing my bedding from grey to pink to generate the early 2000s vibe and to also fit the personality of the character better.

Filming Session Two: Outside Day

Taking place March 11th or 12th, 2022. (Tentative)

What we will do:

We are planning to record outside of Berkley's house in her neighborhood. We ran into a bit of an issue before, we were planning on recording in my house, but there is some construction going on inside that can ruin the shot. We solved this by recording in Berkley's neighborhood. Here we will be filming the other half of the film opening, where Berkley (the character) is shown walking out of her house and to school.

Filming Session Three and Four: Extra Scenes

Tentative Date

What we will do:

We will film any extra scenes that we feel are necessary to make this film opening successful.

Schedule:

Character

Character Name: Berkley Morgan or Berkley Summers

We are currently researching our main character. Her first name will be Berkley and we are in between last names Morgan or Summers. She is 16 years old, the film opening will showcase her turning 16. She is a female and is pretty well known in school, she isn't popular but has a good amount of friends. Her favorite color is pink and she is a dancer. She currently does ballet and contemporary dance. She normally has a really well rounded family dynamic, but due to her parents' stress of the up and coming pandemic, she doesn't really get acknowledged at home. She expects her parents to celebrate her birthday with her, but they are unfortunately too stressed about the ongoing situation and don't celebrate with her. She is the very cliche girl, but challenges the family dynamic that is normally represented in girly-girl early 2000's films, she is also hispanic. 

We also came up with an idea of creating the first 30 seconds or so of the clip being animated, to represent her happy nature, then when her alarm to wake her up rings- it turns back to real life. Showcasing her bubble of happiness bursting. This is doable as we can record the clip and then just go over the clip with an animation and drawing tool on procreate. 

Moodboard

I created a mood-board of the overall vibe of the film opening.

Here's a video of me explaining it:

Exciting Update!

WE GOT PERMISSION TO USE A FAMOUS MUSICIANS SONG!!!!! 

We decided to contact a few singers that had songs that fit the vibe of our movie. We decided to do this very early because I realized that it might take a couple of weeks for some people to see our message. Luckily the artist who made the song we were hoping the most for, was so excited to work with us and responded so quickly. Her name is Gatlin and she wrote and produced the song What If I Love You, this song has been one of my favorites for a while and I am so excited that we are able to use it. I was a bit weary that we were going to get permission due to the fact that the song has over 2 million streams on Spotify alone, but I am glad she was so willing to let use us her song.

According to Gatlin, the song is about getting over a relationship, and trying to act like everything is okay.  “I wanted the production to feel more uplifting pop because even in the situation I was trying to always stay positive to mask the feeling of being rejected.” We felt that this was reminiscent to our protagonist's situation, as she is trying to act like everything is okay on her birthday when she is surrounded by chaos. 

We would use the song while she is getting ready, as if it were playing on her iPod. The song will then stop, while the darkness of the pandemic begins, creating diegetic sound. 

Clip of the song:

This is some of the conversation that I had with her yesterday:

Plot & Aesthetic

     The film will be set in the early 2000's, specifically 2005. It will follow a teenage girl on her 16th birthday. The film will begin by showcasing her in her room, with a girly and bright color palette- mostly pink, yellow, purple etc. The scene will cut to different areas of her room, posters, cd's, clothes, and move towards her getting ready for her big day. With her phone buzzing non-stop, she feels excited that everyone is celebrating her (assuming that the buzzes are all texts from her friends and family). Happy music is playing, then her bubble bursts as soon as she checks her phone. As a connection to Covid-19 and the ongoing pandemic, she gets a news alert- stating that a pandemic is up and coming in other countries, and that it has a possibility to spread to the United States. She goes down stairs and sees her mom frantically running around, finding anything to use as a disinfectant. She starts to think that her birthday party might not go as well as expected.......

    We wanted to make a twist on the cliche early 2000's Clueless and Mean Girls Aesthetic, and bring in a modern concept. To ensure the success of this film we have researched two of the most popular coming of age films from the early 90s- Clueless and Ferris Bueller. Clueless follows Cher- a teenage girl- with the whole pink and girly vibe, and her life growing up. Ferris Bueller follows a teenage boy, and his life throughout high school. They all share the same vibe- upbeat music, and neutral with pops of bright colors. The clothing and makeup is all reminiscent of the 2000s era. 

Follow us along as we create a mood-board and come up with more ideas!

Genre Research

 COMING OF AGE

We have decided to go with the coming of age genre. 

Coming of age is a film genre that focuses on the psychological and moral development of a protagonist as he or she grows from childhood to maturity. This genre, which depends on discourse and emotional reactions rather than action and drama, emphasizes personal growth and progress. We chose this genre because we believe it is one to which we can most easily identify, as it is something we have experienced and continue to experience. Because we are teens in the midst of growing up, this genre is the most readily accomplished with the tools we have at our disposal. We also believe that this genre will be valuable to us since we are most aware about it and can create characters who are as authentic as possible.

Knowing how other teens act and interact with one another will make it simpler for us to present a realistic character that is relevant to others of the same age. The intended audience for this picture, like with every coming-of-age film, is mostly teens and very young adults. To capture the attention of this generation, we must guarantee that the characters are as authentic and relevant as possible. Among the most well-known coming-of-age films are Ladybird, The Edge of Seventeen, Paper Houses, and others. They all have a similar plot and depict the hardships that teenagers face as they try to realize their true selves and grow up. As we go, we must develop primary characters, their challenges, and how those challenges will define them in the future.

The Edge of Seventeen

Cambridge Project

    Hi! We are in the process of starting our Cambridge portfolio project, I am working with Paulina Lopez and Berkley Morris. In the process of transitioning to the start of this project, we wanted to make sure that we all have the same drive and motivation to work. We are all motivated people and think in the same ways, so working together will go well as we have the same dynamic. The process of how we organize ourselves, start the project etc. will all be documented here. 

Can't Wait! 

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

    The process of completing this project took many steps. The first step was to do research. For our research we conducted two case studies about two different production companies. Warner Records and RCA Records are both well established companies that represent artists ranging from The Strokes to Maneskin. After conducting the research, we were able to see how indie rock bands have become successful. After this we created a google document to brainstorm ideas, we started coming up with the overall aesthetic and vibe of the band. We made up a backstory for them and came up with ideas. We created a story of how the band originated and what their music is all about. After this, we came up with the name Tears of Jupiter. The overall aesthetic became a sort of beach and indie vibe with the use of browns, blues, and oranges. After this, we were able to create an executive summary about what the marketing would consist of, our target audience is teens and young adults and we will have a beach vibe. This allowed us to start coming up with ideas for our music video. Whilst we were brainstorming and coming up with ideas, we were able to start coming up with a plot for our music video.

     We came up with the idea for our music video to be about a love story, where two people meet in public, fight, and come back. The whole song is about overcoming a challenge and that is what we wanted to replicate through the video. We also decided to make it be a promotional video to show off the band. After coming up with the idea, we started drawing out the story hoard scene by scene to make the filming process more organized and simple. 

      I started coming up with marketing techniques, and we started creating our presentation on Canva. After brainstorming ideas on the Google Doc, we started to write about them in the Canva presentation. I started to edit the collaborations and sponsorships on photoshop. The ideas that we had were, a collaboration with converse, a virtual reality music video with oculus, and a t shirt collaboration with Kith. 

     The converse collaboration was due to the fact that converse and Tears of Jupiter share the same target audience. From a marketing standpoint, more people would be willing to purchase from a brand, if they have heard of it before. Converse would allow people to support the band but also purchase from a brand that they recognize. The collaboration with converse will also allow new audiences to know about our band, as the shoes will be available throughout stores. If a new consumer sees the shows and likes the look of them, they would be more willing to do more research on Tears of Jupiter, and may even become fans and listeners of their projects. 

     The next collaboration is with Oculus VR and Facebook, we will be creating virtual reality music videos to allow different types of consumers to be aware about our band. This is a new and innovative way to promote the music and create conversation surrounding the band. This is also another form of technological convergence that will give us more promotion. 

     The collaboration with Kith will allow people from the fashion industry to be more aware of the band and they will be held to a higher standard. Musicians that have collaborated with Kith in the past have become very well known in both industries and are held to a better standard. After coming up with these ideas, we started designing the presentation on Canva and making it look more eye-catching and appealing. We designed extra ideas such as a fake spotify account, a fake vinyl and limited edition vinyl for the idea of introducing our music to the vinyl industry. 

    After this, we started filming the music video. We came up ideas for the filming location and how we were going to do it. This process took 2 days, We first filmed in a hiking area, where we walked until we found a visually appealing area to film. We shot the last two scenes. The next day we went to Town Center. Town Center has a stage area and that is where we filmed the band scenes. After this, we went around the businesses and asked if we could film with them. Thankfully, they were glad to help us and even offered to set up a fake dinner table for the date scene. This process took about 5 hours. After this, we started editing and putting the clips together.

This will help me with the portfolio project because it taught me how we can stay organized. This project is a lot of steps and it will help me plan out how to get everything done on time. This will also help me come up with more creative ideas.