Storyboard and Schedule ideas

            For our cast, we wanted to use good representation. We have considered a casting call because we want a good actor for our opening, but depending on how our scheduling works out it might be easier to use one of Shreya’s friends who is in drama. While a casting call seems like a logical idea, it takes time to plan and you’d have to pick a location and the school might not let us hold an afterschool event without certain forms being filled out. Anyways, our main character is a girl who is at least 16 years old because she can drive. I need to discuss dates with Shreya but we are tentatively setting next Sunday as our potential start date for production/filming.

            Something we haven’t discussed is mise en scene and how things like costume design and lighting and color would affect the piece. For color at least I know that i want the colors to be present but definitely less saturated in the beginning. But in regards to the other techniques I haven’t thought about it. I want our main character to be somewhat kiddish, like on the cusp of maturity but not quite there yet, she is still naive. 

These are all topics that I will have more definite answers on in my next blog post. What I really wanted this post to be about was the storyboard. I  completed the first half of the storyboard and I think it is representative of what we want to accomplish with this piece. I’ve included my storyboard below, please don’t make fun of my awful drawing skills. (I know Van Gogh is probably weeping at this)

           

Plot Outline

In my previous post I alluded to my next post fleshing out the plot, so here it is, my plot summary of the entire film!

            Dinah is struggling to cope with her best friend’s recent and sudden death from a tragic accident. The film opens with Dinah revisiting their favorite place to spend time together, the beach. Her voiceover begins and she explains the importance of the place she is in. Dinah is numb at this point, her pain still raw and unforgiving. She leaves the beach and gets into her car and subsequently arrives at the house of the deceased friend, Alice. While going through Alice’s belongings she gets nostalgic and flashes back to fond memories of when she and Alice were together and having fun. 

            While she is at the house she has a harrowing encounter with Alice’s mother, who has become an alcoholic in the wake of her daughter’s death. Alice’s mother, Dorothy, is enraged when she finds Dinah going through Alice’s things. Dorothy berates Dinah for being a bad friend and accuses Dinah of causing Alice’s death. Her husband comes and pacifies her and politely asks Dinah to leave. Distraught and upset, Dinah leaves the room and walks to the front room. She discovers Alice’s notebook under the shoe rack after her keys slid under the rack while she was on her way out to the door. She tucks the book into her bag and leaves.

            At home, Dinah begins to read the journal. Alice’s voice over begins as she describes her new found friendship with Dinah. Further reading reveals that Alice was not always honest with Dinah and that in the beginning she became Dinah’s friend as a joke. In the last few entries, Alice describes her genuine love for Dinah and how much she valued their relationship. Dinah begins to cry and angrily rips out the first half of the book and burns it. 

            The next day, Dinah announces her intention to have a memorial for Alice, held at the beach. Her parents help her plan it with materials and money. The memorial is decided to be taking place the following friday at the beach. Unexpectedly, Alice’s old friend group offers to help set up the memorial. Due to this kind gesture, Dinah tells her parents they do not have to take off work to help her since she has a group of people to help her. The group of girls volunteer to hand out the invitations but they don’t hand them out. Instead, they inform Alice’s mother of what Dinah is planning. 

            The day of the memorial arrives and Dinah is waiting for her new friends to show up, but they never do. Alice’s mom arrives and apologizes for her previous actions. Together they set up the beach memorial and are the only people in attendance. Dinah confesses her true feelings about Alice’s friends and Dorothy confides in Dinah that she thinks one of Alice’s friends is responsible for her falling into a ravine. Dorothy reveals she conducted her own investigation of Alice’s death and discovered Alice had evidence of her old friend, Tiffany, using and selling drugs. Desperate Tiffany chased Alice through the woods hoping to steal her phone, but pushed her into a ravine instead. 

            Dorothy brings Dinah to the trunk of her car and reveals she has kidnapped Tiffany. Together they fill Tiffany’s pockets with stones and begin to drag her to the ocean. The film ends with Alice’s voice over saying “The tides wash away your sins, the tides roll in and out, the tides have brought me peace”.

            A super huge portion of the opening is reliant on flash back so we need voice over narration to accompany this. Similar to "The Help" we want “Tides” to be emotional and to tell a story. Our idea was to keep the opening shots relatively simple and become more complex with the composition as the movie progresses. Overall we want to utilize mise en scene and editing to the best of our abilities. We believe that these methods will yield a successful project. 

The Beginnings of a Plot

While we were planning our story, we realized we could not brainstorm a functional plot for an entire movie. We know what is usually included in drama movies, but we wanted to try to make our film have common themes without being too cliche. Does that make sense? We were surprised at how quickly our brains turned to mush. All we could come up with was a romance drama about a girl who is in love with her best friend. How original right? Nothing more needs to be said. We tried thinking of serious plot lines but they either came out too sad or unconventional. 

Anyways, we had intense writer’s block, and all we really knew is that we wanted our cast to have good representation and we wanted the plot to be interesting enough so people would like it. After our rocky start we were shaken and did not believe in our creative skills so we consulted some online generators to flesh out our characters and plot. This was a massive mistake!! Though highly entertaining (because of it’s outrageous and stupid story/character) and leading us to almost change our genre to comedy) these generators did not help our outline at all. 

We got our final idea and in my opinion the most conventional idea that we had come up with by essentially having a ‘eureka’ moment at home. I immediately texted Shreya and we fleshed out the plot the next day in class. Basically we want our plot to show the story of two best friends and how one must cope with the other’s tragic and unexpected death. We want to establish the background and show their close relationship with flashbacks and voice over narration. In my next post, I will delve deeper into my plot outline and what are technical aspirations are for the film opening.

Film Openings

The opening of the film “Lady Bird” is a great example of what we want to accomplish with our film opening because it establishes the characters' relationships and sets the tone for the rest of the film. Obviously our opening will not be exactly the same, we want to incorporate techniques and shot composition used in the opening in our own project. After the usual run through of various production companies, the movie begins with a close up of two characters sleeping in bed. Lady Bird/Christine and her mother are physically only inches away from each other, but what this proximity could represent is the close emotional bond that the two share. This is further emphasized by their identical reactions to the ending of the book they were listening to on tape in the subsequent car scene. The relatively plain and monotonous surroundings allow the audience to really focus on the characters movements and conversation. The dialogue between Christine and her mother became combative as they argue about Christine’s future and what she should do for college. Christine gets upset and throws herself out of the car. The next scene shows her bright pink cast among a sea of uniformed students in church. This is supposed to show how Lady Bird is unique and stands out in the world. This is reinforced when all the students are going to take communion at the altar. Lady bird folds her arms and receives a blessing instead showing she wants to be different. Overall this opening does an amazing job of establishing the main character and setting up the conflict in the plot, which  is Christine’s future. This coming of age drama is something we want to emulate. 

The opening of the film “The Revenant” was designed to establish the background of the main character. The entire opening dialogue is in the Pawnee language because the main character has adopted this language since his family speaks it. It begins by panning left over the main character and then his wife and child. A voice over starts telling his son to stay strong and be brave as footage of tragedy silently plays. It is assumed that he is the voice over and that they have persevered through hardship. The subsequent scene of father and son silently hunting a deer establishes their close relationship. This scene also establishes the time period as their clothes and weapons are in 19th century fashion. It appears as if the main character, Glass, will have to again survive hardship because this is the theme presented in the opening. This opening did not have one especially long scene, instead it is mostly a series of flashbacks with a voice over. Our opening will not be as violent as this one, however this opening does a good job of representing the time period and establishing setting which is something we would like to accomplish as well. 

The purpose of the opening of the film “Life of Pi” is mainly to establish the background of the main character, Pi, and the circumstances that set the plot into motion. The film starts in what looks like a zoo and the opening credits play over a montage of various exotic animals including a tiger, monkeys, and a zebra among others. The montage of animals cuts to a closeup of an older man who we learn is the main character. An interviewer, off camera, asks him about where he grew up, and Pi launches into his story. This establishes the process of the film, how it goes back and forth between present day and the past. While major plot points are not revealed in the opening, the audience is introduced to a wide range of characters who become important later on. Our film opening will also include some background, but we also want to include present day stuff as well. This opening is a perfect example of exactly how to do just that. 

Our Genre Decision

               A few days ago, me and my partner, Shreya, chose our genre for our portfolio project film opening. After much deliberation upon what was/was not feasible based on our skill set and what we have available, we chose….. drumroll please….DRAMA! Although at the beginning of the year we wanted to make a magazine, we came to love the different aspects of filmmaking. I am excited and nervous about starting this project because I know it needs to be done well but at the same time I don’t know how well our opening will turn out. Anyways, the point of this post is to introduce this genre to anyone out there who doesn’t fully understand drama and explain why this genre will work with our ideas.
              When I think of “drama” what almost immediately pops into my head are romantic sob fests that toe the line between what’s plausible and implausible. However, that is just a tiny pinprick of what drama really is. A drama is a complex or intertwining plot based on the actions and interactions of the characters. While action movies focus on world ending disasters that one hero saves us from, drama focuses on the relationships between, not just people, but everything.
                The purpose of a drama is to make the audience feel something, which is why my previous example of a romantic epic is misleading. Romance movies elicit a specific emotion among a specific target audience but dramas can also make you feel anger or loss. Character development is essential in drama because they are the basis for the entire story. The character must be someone the audience can empathize with, feel sorry/happy for, the audience needs to connect with the main characters, otherwise the film has no purpose and will not perform well.
                Another important convention that drama films have is a dialogue heavy script to further the relationship between characters through conversation. Conflict is integral to the formation of a plot in a drama or any genre for that matter. But what makes drama unique is the various forms that conflict can take, for example conflict can be internal like when a character is struggling with their feelings/personality or conflict can be external and driven by the actions of opposing characters.
                We decided to conform to the conventions of drama because of the relative freedom we have in creating a plot. Shreya and I knew we wanted to have an element of tragedy in our story and drama fit the best for our plot. We will include the aforementioned conventions in our project to encompass what a drama needs. While some artists seek to challenge conventions, our main objective is making our ideas known.

Music Marketing Campaign

A. The genre we picked for our music marketing campaign was rock. The target audience for the rock genre is an age range of teens to middle age people, about 14-50. The rock genre is different from other genres like pop and rap because of the themes that artists choose to illuminate with their songs. Hard hitting topics like depression, violence and dealing with mental illnesses are pretty much commonplace in this genre. We wanted our artist to embody this archetype but also remain a positive influence on the target audience. This genre relies heavily on touring/music festivals and live shows in order to gain publicity. The target audience is more likely to purchase vinyl records of albums as this goes with the rock aesthetic and nostalgia is a key element to rock. 

B. We researched two famous rock bands to gain inspiration and insight into how a band can generate interest in their music. In this genre we noticed recurring themes that made artists successful. 

Our first case study, the Foo FIghters have been a band for over two decades and are still going strong, having retained a loyal fanbase over the years. We found that because Foo Fighters have been around for so long, nostalgia marketing is a key part of their strategy when it comes to selling merchandise and records. 2020 marks the 25 year anniversary of the band being created, and band leader, Dave Grohl, has hinted through social media, that special releases and new items would be released accordingly. The band also interacted with their fans and gave opportunities for fans to be involved in band decisions. For example, they held a video contest where fans could make music videos and submit them for consideration and one video would be chosen as the winner. Other methods like doing a contest where a fan could win a free personal performance also generate interest. Through their website, the Foo Fighters were able to publish clues so fans could decipher where a secret performance would be held, this also creates buzz. Live shows are important since it allows fans to see the band in person, and concerts are a part of the rock genre. Live shows were promoted on the website and through social media like Twitter and Instagram.

Our second case study, the rock band Cage the Elephant, is a popular rock band that is slightly more recent than Foo Fighters. We used this band to research for our project because we wanted to learn more about how a band that began in the more modern age can thrive and survive the streaming battle. We discovered that Cage the Elephant uses talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel to promote their music. While many people do not watch the show live, clips of the performance are posted on YouTube which can make the music more popular. Cage the Elephant also likes to communicate with fans through a newsletter that fans can sign up for through the band’s website. The band uses the site to promote shows and merchandise and also provide links to their various social media accounts. Platforms like Instagram and Twitter are used extensively to inform fans of what the band is up to and where/when the band will be performing live next. Clips of songs and music videos are also posted on social media to drum up excitement about upcoming releases. The band also delves into themes of sadness and heartbreak with their songs, further playing into the genre conventions. 

C. While we were creating our band, Riot of the Roses, we really wanted to emulate what our case studies had done so well, which was fan interaction. We believed that by developing a strong bond between the artist and fans early on, we would be able to sustain interest in the band for a long period of time, We created special hashtags like #FINDRIOT to include fans and give them a chance to see the band perform live if they could follow the clues and discover the secret location. We also wanted to create a special fan club that people could join to show their support for the band. We believe that by having an organized fan club we could actually generate more interest since the fan club would make the band unique in the way it interacts with fans. The Home Of Rose Nation or THORN for short was created for this purpose. Fans can post using the #THORNTHURSDAY in order to promote the band and their music. These hashtags are also ways we used social media like Instagram and Twitter to publicize our band. In the media, people with mental illness are being portrayed more regularly, but this has been a constant in the rock genre for decades. We wanted to continue that tradition by sending out positive messages with our fans.

To promote the band, we decided that distribution should reflect the wants and needs of the target audience. This means less focus on CDs and radio play and more vinyl records and streaming platform deals since that is what is trending in the genre at the moment. We made our new single available on vinyl so that fans who are a little more old school can still enjoy our music. We also wanted to promote a message with our band which could also help grow the fanbase. We chose our name, Riot of the Roses, based on the different colors that roses come in and rioting in a sense against what people expect from a rose. We wanted to show people that even though someone may look pretty on the outside it does not mean they’re okay on the inside, so our name is about the roses fighting back and taking control of their lives. Different colors of roses represent different feelings, for example yellow is friendship and compassion. We wanted to give fans the opportunity to buy band merchandise in the color that best matches their personal message, or what they want to put out into the world. 

D. We created a variety of merchandise so fans could purchase specific things they want. We have a water bottle, a tote bag, and a fan club t-shirt. This merch is supposed to help fans connect further with the band and also promote the band by using the products they buy. Not only does this free advertising benefit the band, it also generates a second revenue stream.

E. Throughout this process I learned just how difficult it is to really become a truly successful artist in the music industry. It takes a lot of work and effort to make a small impact. I learned that social media and merchandise is quickly becoming the greatest marketing tool for artists now. Filming and editing a debut music video was difficult and our video was far from perfect. Our whole message as a band is spreading positivity and acceptance but our video was about a girl getting revenge upon those who looked down upon her. We wanted to show this as a cautionary tale of what NOT to do. In hindsight we should’ve included a still at the end with a bullying prevention hotline to make the video come together and relate to our theme more. I learned that knowing who the target audience is inside and out is extremely important and relevant information regarding where the genre is going is important too (more vinyl less CDs). When an artist debuts, companies have to make sure they will be successful so the project will make them money. This project really showed me how the music industry is based on what consumers want not entirely what the artist wants to do.