Distribution

Distribution

Hey guys!

As the days go on and my group and I slowly start to mend and adjust our old script into something new and attainable, we have also began considering the CCR questions into our planning process. One question in particular I found we could easily answer in our blog and explain why we chose these platforms in particular. 

The question we wanted to address was this: 

-How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Our product engages with audiences through the simple means of how it would appeal to them. As you can see in my previous posts, our new and updated storyline is based around a girl in high school during her summer vacation and how she is battling with wanted to be accepted into her dream school, NYU, as well as pursue her dream of becoming a dancer. We will appeal to audiences in their late teen years approaching early 20's in particular because, this time is typically when people start to want their dreams to become a reality. Often times, the decisions made during these years of a persons life will change everything. Our product will engage with audiences in the emotional aspect as well as the physical aspect, which I will get to next.

To physically be able to be something the audience can interact with, it would coincide with how we are planning on distributing our product. As our product will be a real media text, we have multiple variables to consider. Especially being a very new and unknown production company, with a small film and budget, we know our standards and where we can succeed and where we do not have a chance. Platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are no where near our reach, but that does not mean we do not have adequate distribution opportunities elsewhere.

After doing thorough research,  we have decided upon two main platforms to make our film available on. We selected Vimeo and Youtube. First, I wanted to do research to understand why someone would prefer Vimeo over Youtube or vice versa. I took to this website: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/youtube-vs-vimeo/ to understand the biggest differences, in particular from the point of view of someone who is looking to post and upload content on there. Some things I considered prior were: would time matter? and would I need to pay?

I found that there is not time limit for either site, that users can upload videos of any length. I also found that there are free versions of both websites, however by upgrading to the premium or pro versions, it would not cost our production company much given the benefits.

Vimeo:

After doing research on Vimeo, I found these to be interesting pointers about the website. From using this website, I was also able to understand the differences between Vimeo's basic plan and plus plan, which I plan to discuss with my other group members to see if they have a preference.

Youtube:

After finding some good information on Vimeo, I had to do research on Youtube to get an insight into their Youtube Red etc. On this website I was able to understand the differences between Youtube Red and Youtube Premium.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/youtube-music-youtube-premium-faq,news-27226.html

I was also able to see that there really is no difference on the uploading side of Youtube for their subscription. I presumed one platform would have a higher resolution or faster uploading time, however neither of these things are what set Youtube Premium and Youtube Red apart, it is more for the consumption of content.

New Storyline

New Storyline

Hey guys!

I know I have had a few posts regarding a 'new storyline', however this one is concrete and final. 

My group and I were back and forth messaging, brainstorming multiple ideas that would work given our circumstances of being in self isolation and following social distancing where possible. We knew that meeting as a group was out of the picture. We can one storyline that we really liked, but never went with and I thought I could include that just to show how much we were thinking out of the box to make this project work out in the best way possible. 

Here is our old new storyline (WHICH WE WILL NOT BE USING):

A girl, played by Janey, would be a nerdy and extremely tech-savvy student. The time would be during the Corona virus when everyone is in their houses. For the film opening, we plan to show shots of the empty streets and the majority of people are in their houses in quarantine. Also we want to incorporate news clips into the opening as well as explain the context of the rest of the film. Overall, the film storyline goes as follows: Janey hacks into China's computer base system and finds out that they created Corona Virus. While she is in their system, she also finds a cure, and ends up saving the entire world from the pandemic. 

That storyline was something we came up with amidst all the chaos of this week, but we decided upon something entirely different, which I will relay next. 

Our new storyline is completely leaving out the flash mob scene, which had entirely made up our musical theme we had before. We were trying to make a green screen work, but for many reasons we decided to abandon this idea. Now to create the flash mob would not work as we cannot meet and congregate a group of 15-20 people. We had examined the ideas of possibly using a green screen to 'simulate' a flash mob, but after some research and consideration, I found a green screen would not look professional given our circumstances. 

After looking on a website such as https://savageuniversal.com/blog/beginner-guide-to-green-screens/ and seeing the way some of the BASIC green screen photos came out, I decided this would go wrong quickly. Perhaps if my group was able to meet in person we could professionally handle the green screen, but seeing as this was not an option, was decided not to follow through. This are examples of how I did not want our flash mob to look by using the green screen :

 

So, we entirely abandoned this idea and came up with a new storyline as follows:

Our film will transition from a musical film to a drama film. Janey will be a high school senior and the setting will take place during summer, which originally was going to be during school but we had to tweak it since we have no access to filming at school. Mia, played by Janey, will be riding her bike home and as she reaches her house, she will check the mail. Here we will show that her letters are comprised of college mail, in which she particular looks out for NYU, her dream school, but does not receive any. Right before she enters her house, she removes her pins that were rainbow, in hopes of her mom not finding out and shaming her. She will say hi to her mom, which her mom will reply to in a hostile manner and be busy. She will go in her room and start checking her messages and mail, seeing if by chance NYU sent the letter electronically. She sees no mail and then begins to drift off into a daydream. The clip we will show is in my last post. She will snap out of the dream when NYU calls her, but we do not know what they will say.

Footage and Prep

Footage And Prep

Hey guys!

We have finally decided on our new and final storyline! I will post about it in the upcoming posts. For now I wanted to post about some footage that we already have that we are going to use in a specific part of the film.

This video of Janey dancing will be our footage for when she drifts off into her daydream. Originally, we were going to film Janey on a stage, in particular the stage in our auditorium at our school. However, due to Corona Virus causing us to social distance as well as school being completely closed, we have no access to the stage at any point in the near future. This is just one of the many modifications we had to make to our original storyline.

In this video we plan on tweaking it to make it seem more of a daydream, so it can easily be distinguished from reality. 

Here is the video before I edit it: 

We plan on editing the video to appear more of a dream and make it clear what Janey is daydreaming off to. I took some inspiration from this Snapchat filter, but wanted something more professional, so I did my research. 

So, I started doing research on what was available to me through IMovie and apps that are on my phone. I used this website to learn about the different apps that would allow me to add 'stardust' and white specks to my video: https://www.lukaskorynta.com/blog/dust-scratches-effect-lightroom.

https://graphicburger.com/dust-noise-overlay-textures/ on this website I was able to download a free template of how white stardust would look on a picture. 

On this Youtube video, I learned how to use an effect in Adobe Premier Pro to make a video appear to be dreamy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot1d3x5WmFw

After doing some research on apps on the IPhone 11, I found one called Snapseed, which allows you to play around with the way the image looks. I was able to add some filters and edit the picture of Janey dancing and I filmed it :

New Storyline

New Storyline

Hey guys!

Amid all the chaos happening right now concerning Covid-19, my group and I discovered it would be best to rewrite our storyline. After examining our circumstances which are self-isolation meaning no meeting in person with our group members until further notice when it is safe, we decided to make a new film opening completely. As we had everything in our planning process previously completed, it was difficult to grasp that all of that was for nothing, however looking at the bright side of things, now we know what software we want to use and what resources are available to us now. 

My group and I also came upon the realization that by not being able to meet up, everything would have to be virtual. This will pose some challenges I know this, however it is our only option. For now, school reopens April 15th 2020, but this date is tentative and subject to change in the coming days. My group and I are closely monitoring the Broward County website as well as keeping in touch with our teachers for any possible updates.

We wanted the new storyline to be something relatable and honest to what we were going through right now, since this Corona Virus feels as though it has overtaken our lives. It has changed the entire way in which we live. We no longer leave the house, see people outside of our family members, and no longer have our 'routine' of life. Life ultimately came to a sudden and unexpected halt and humans had no choice but to follow it. 

As each of my group members try to help in their own way to flatten the curve, we are all staying home as much as possible. Since our lives overturned, we thought why not make the film opening about just this. It is completely novel to us, but we thought that maybe this would be the perfect topic to cover. We started brainstorming on possible ways we would use the situation we are currently in to create a film opening. We came up with the idea of a documentary style film, in which we educate and entertain about this subject. 

As you can see, the documentary genre is solely used to inform the viewer of a particular topic. From researching this further, I understood that this could be a possibility for my group since we are living through a pandemic in which we are only 17 years old and yet still trying to understand the entire situation. We thought this would be a possible story to relay, especially being in the heat of it right now, we could get the best information and research on Covid-19 in relation to our film opening plot.

This is our new possible storyline that we came up with:

We would have three different people, Raisa (me), Janey, and Andrea star in the film. We would have the premise of the film be about how they were affected at the beginning of the virus and track their journey and process as they go through it all. We would touch on subjects such as how the virus affected their mental health by being locked up all day and also not being able to socialize as they did regularly at school. We also discussed covering how their health was impacted as well as their emotions. We want to include some vlog style clips documenting the process. A possible part of it could be have a researched state how the situation would only get worse as the days progress. 

Possible film titles could be "Living Through Corona" or "Corona First-Hand" or "Corona Took Us Over".

This is a tentative idea that we have not solidified as yet, however I will be sure to keep the blog updated as we go on. 

Use of Technology

Use of Technology 

Hey guys!

As you may know from my previous blog posts, Covid-19 has still put a halt on our production process. After our last virtual meeting with our teacher, my group and I have came to the consensus that we will redo our entire storyline, I will update you guys in an upcoming blog post. For now, I decided on focusing on what I could actually control, such as our technology. Technology has been a big part of our self-isolation and has also made me realize that I could figure out what software I would use to edit my part of the film opening, along other things. 

As I analyze my previous online tools that I used throughout the project process up until now, I see that I have implemented technology in almost any aspect I saw possible, without purposely doing it.

For editing I will be using IMovie on my MacBook Pro. IMovie has been my usualy go to editing software as I fully understand how to use it and the easy hacks behind it making editing flow better. Another main reason as to why my group decided on IMovie as opposed to a site such as WeVideo that we have used in the past is because we all have an Apple Laptop at home. Since we are in self-isolation and filming and editing will be equally split up among us three, it would be better for us to stick to one editing platform to reduce any further pixelates in our end product. Also on my MacBook Pro, as you can see in the picture below where I circled in red, there is a touch bar, which makes it so convenient to go through long segments of footage and find the specific second I need to split or delete. 

For creating our script we used Celtx.com, which is an online platform in which we can type up any screenplay or script. We had an account previously from our last screenplay that we had to write, so it was easy to create. Celtx is the perfect pre-production software that aided in our planning of our original script. 

For planning our entire filming process, my group and I used Google Calendar. We used this platform to digitally add and remove events and mix around our filming times as well as our production details of what we wanted done by certain days. Google Calendar was also helpful because I was able to create a calendar specifically for our film opening project and then invite my other two group members to edit and add events. It allowed us all to stay up to date with each others schedule so we could properly organize everything. 

To plan out and have every idea we came up with on 'paper', we took to Google Docs to save our work. Everything from the first ever planning we did all the way to the costume design and mood board ideas was done on Google Docs. It was the most convenient way since I was able to create a document and share it with my other two members. 

Another technology tool that we used for filming was our IPhone 11 Pros. Originally we had planned on using Janey's brothers professional camera for our film opening, however due to Covid-19 and self-isolation, we were unable to make this happen. The resolution of our Iphone 11 is perfect for our film opening. Here is some information on the camera for the Iphone 11 Pro and also an example of some basic shots I took on it to show the resolution and features. 

Here is me using the wide - camera angle feature:

Here is me using the regular camera : 

Meetings

Meetings

Hey guys!

It is becoming more and more difficult to plan and organize our project as the days pass. The amount of people that are frantically trying to get things in order and see that they and their family are prepared is overwhelming. Aside from this Covid-19 chaos, on March 18th, my teacher set up an online meeting dubbed "Our Totally Normal Online Meeting". In this meeting it was the first time we got to ask questions directly to our teacher and have her give us advice on how we should change our storyline, what Cambridge has changed on their end and many more things. This meeting definitely confirmed what I had presumed, we have to change our entire plot and storyline.

Here is a snapshot of the meeting presentation my teacher put together for us :

In this meeting my teacher spoke about updates concerning our specific school, our county, and what the superiors at Cambridge had released at the time about the virus. Within this meeting, there was a section in which students could pose questions for our teacher to answer, and as I saw all of them coming in, I realized it was not just my group that was stressed and overwhelmed with everything. Other students had questions very similar to mine. It was reassuring to see many were likewise counting on our Spring Break Vacation (March 22-March 29) to film and meet with their other group members.

During the meeting as my teacher was giving us information, I decided on jotting down some notes, so I could later contact my own group and discuss what changes should be made to our project.
Here is a picture of some of the notes I took :

With our project deadline being extended until April 12th 2020, my group and I have a bit more time to redo our plot and create a new film opening. We are still patiently awaiting updates from both our school, Cypress Bay High, and Cambridge. For now this is what I know, however the facts change almost daily concerning Covid-19.

I am staying up to date with websites such as https://help.cambridgeinternational.org/hc/en-gb/articles/360006532458-Novel-coronavirus-Information-for-schools-about-the-COVID-19-coronavirus-outbreak and https://www.broward.org/CoronaVirus/Pages/default.aspx , monitoring the entire pandemic closely and staying in touch with my group members as well as other students in my AICE Media Class.

Potential Title/Credit Fonts

Potential Title and Credit Fonts

Hey guys!

So, as you guys saw from my last post, we are currently in self-isolation and in a very strange situation due to Covid-19. This is very unfortunate to our entire production process and hindered the filming and producing we were planning on doing during the upcoming days. I had other blog posts planned out, however I had to change them and alter my posts that I had previously laid out.

Since I am at home isolated from my group, I was brainstorming things I could still do on my part to contribute to our production process, and that is when I came up with the idea to research and find fonts that I like and go with the 'vibe' of our genre. Since we will be having opening credits showing the title and actors, I figured this would be a good thing to explore. 

Firstly, I started by hand sketching some various ways to write our title, "Little Town". Here are some rough drafts I did on a white board at home : 

Then, I went online to a website called https://www.dafont.com where I explored the wide variety of fonts they had available to use. How it works on this site is you choose the font of your liking and download it. Then, you open the font and in my case since I am using a MacBook Pro Laptop, I opened the font in the downloads folder and added the font to my font list. In the program Pages, I was able to open the font and use it to create different phrases.

When selecting a font, since there were so many options, I explored the Fancy tab and selected 'Retro' and also tried out 'High Tide'. I also was able to play around with colors for our potential film title.

I will continue to brainstorm other fonts and ways to display out film title and credits. As always I will keep you guys updated.

Covid-19

Covid-19: Change of Plans

Hey guys!

This blog post was completely unexpected and not planned for at all. As you saw in my previous posts my group and I were going steady with creating our storyboard and script for our film opening. As you can see on our Google Calendar, that I posted a few posts ago, the upcoming week was allocated for our filming time. We had decided on what date we were going to film in school and then also decided on what date we wanted to film the flash mob scene outside of school. Unexpectedly, our school got cancelled until further notice due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Due to this outbreak, we are all staying home and practicing social distancing as well as self-isolation. 

My group and I completely had to change around our schedule, with much of it still in the air. We do not know when the next time we will be able to meet again is. This is scary as our due date is approaching and we had a set organized schedule of when and what we wanted to produce. Now, we are very unsure of the whole situation and hope to get back to school as school as possible so we can film and edit and continue working on our film opening. 

I will continue to update the blog as I know further news. For now, our project is at a halt and there is nothing we can do about it on our end. Time will only tell. For now, here is some insight into Covid-19. 

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/florida-schools-closing-for-2-weeks-to-limit-spread-of-coronavirus/67-6ca8bd62-f15e-4314-9d4c-082834e81d58

Script

Hey guys!

My group and I have curated a script for our film opening last class. Here it is:

We went onto Celtx (https://www.celtx.com) and had an account previously from our last screenplay that we had to write. In this script however, it was different from your usual script. This script was completely lacking in dialogue and instead had more direction and description. The only dialogue we were able to include was the ending of our short film where Mia greets her mom as she walks into the house. We tried to keep the script short and simple, as to not get over complicated with what we wanted. The purpose of having this script was to have an overview of the process that we would have while filming. 

I did some research on my own, prior to having the class in which we wrote the script to see if it was actually worth our time. I thought that instead of spending time writing a script that perhaps we should dedicate some time instead to planning other aspects of our production that appeared to be more important. 

As I did some research, I found out that in fact by writing a script, we are using it as a vital planning device. Even though our group did not have much dialogue in our script, I remember in our group meetings from a few classes ago, that some of the people were also making scripts, despite not having much dialogue and more action. This also encouraged me to have our group come up with a script. 

 
I went on these two websites : https://amifw.com/the-importance-of-script-writing/ and https://www.lawyersrock.com/what-is-screenplay/ and found some interesting reasons as to why having a script was important and valuable to our production process. Here is a screenshot of what I annotated and found useful towards the making of our script for “Little Town”. 

After doing my own research and reflecting upon the notes I took during my group meeting a few classes ago, I realized how important a script would be for our film despite the lack of dialogue.

Storyboard

Storyboard

Hey guys!

 Last class my group and I created our storyboard. Here it is (2 pages) :

By creating our storyboard it was seamless to get our ideas concrete and fully establish how we want certain shots to come out. For example our shot of Mia sitting at the desk while she drifts off to a daydream, we decided while drawing the scene, that we wanted to have a mid-shot instead of a long-shot. We decided on a mid-shot being better for this particular scene because we thought we would have to film after-school hours for us 3 to be able to film during the week prior to Spring Break. 

We decided on using Wednesday, which would be a B day at our school, and go at the start of the lunch that the three of us have together, A lunch. We planned on using Janeys’ third hour teacher, Mr. Petraitis’ room for filming, located in the 300s building. We are now focusing on a mid-shot because the classroom will be empty, and by just having the shot focused on Mia, this empty room will not be revealed in the film opening. We have to work around this obstacle and make it work. During this day, we have decided upon using this chance to film the first 5 squares in our storyboard, circled in pink here: 

My group and I treated our storyboard more of as a rough draft outline than anything specific, as we wanted a place to have our general ideas down on. Another reason as to why the storyboard was key for my group was because in our last project, which we created a music video dubbed “Trouble”, while we were filming the storyboard was there with us as an essential tool. The storyboard was just as important as the phones we were using to film. It guided us through our outlined shots and ensured that we would not forget anything minor.

By creating our storyboard, my group and I decided that the whole filming process would not be as hard as we presumed. We would need one day at school and then one day outside of school for the flash mob scene and that was it. I was overwhelmed before with thinking about all of the amount of time we would need to film and how our schedules, besides the fact that we mapped it all out on a google calendar, would be tricky still. 

I had done some research on my own before we created the storyboard in class and it helped sum up for me why storyboards are important to have. I used this link : https://elearningindustry.com/8-reasons-storyboarding-important-jumping-off-elearning-development

Here I took a snippet of a part of the website that I feel like helped me further realize how essential the storyboard was to our production process, especially due to the musical element of it.

Official Story

Official Story :

Official Storyline : 

Hi Guys!

We have finally decided upon our final storyline! I feel like I have updated and altered the storyline so many times, but since we have a difficult genre, we want to perfect the storyline so it all comes out professional. Last class we discussed two different storylines, and decided that one of the two would be our final plot and that we had to leave class that day knowing the plot. We also got input from our teacher and discussed it with her.

This is two drafts we created in class and wanted to choose from (we picked the one labeled ‘Daydream’ :

We weighed the pros and cons of both plotlines and then came up with the idea of including the flash mob as a primary aspect to our film. Here is a general breakdown of the plot.

Mia will be at her desk in class tapping her pencil on the desk and looking slightly uneasy and anxious. She will stare at the clock and slowly drift off into a daydream. The professor's voice will still be heard, and she will be speaking about college forms that are due soon for her class, the Seniors. Mia is daydreaming about performing on a stage and then wakes up as the school bell rings. She snaps back to reality. As she gets up to leave she has her earbuds in and this is when the music will begin. She is walking home in the street/sidewalk and here she is seen dancing and singing along to the song. The beat picks up as Mia is dancing and her neighbors join her, forming the flash mob. People driving cars, walking their dogs, and doing other normal actions will join in on the dance. After this scene ends, Mia is back to reality and then reaches her house, where she checks the mail only to find it full of college letters. She is about to enter her house as she takes off her pride pins, as she did not want her mother to see her wearing them. She greets her mom and then Mia walks to her room. 

Genre Challenges

Genre Challenges : 

Hey Guys!

As you guys know, my group and I decided on doing a film within the musical genre. This was especially different from any other group, and especially after having our group meetings I saw that no one else was doing anything as creative as we were. Most of the films were either comedy or drama. As we already stand out enough from choosing a different genre than the main choice, we are also composing our own music for the film. We fully wanted this film to be creative and express the side of us that we would be unable to through a more common genre.

As most musical films have flash mobs such as La La Land for example, we realized this would be difficult for our small group. Not only would we need fifteen to twenty people, we would also need them to be dancers in some form in case we create a choreography to go along to the flash mob scene. We wanted to include a flash mob in the part of the film opening where Mia is walking down the street. Janey, the girl who will be playing Mia immediately contacted her dance friends and so far about twenty of them have confirmed. Coordinating this flash mob will not be easy, especially since my group is deciding to use multiple cameras to get the best shots and the most shots, so editing is easier on us. We will try to be in the flash mob to get closer shots and overall make the scene as professional looking as we possibly can. 

Here is what a typical flash mob looks like: 

Another challenge we face is the soundtrack that we will be playing in our film. Our group decided on producing our own song and using that in the film, however this was presenting some issues as the song had to be perfectly matched to when Mia was singing it, especially during hectic times such as the flash mob. We decided on having the song be one person singing, and chose to only have to worry about matching Mias lips to the lyrics. This is much easier than matching the lyrics to other flash mob performers’ lips. Also, for us to get multiple singers to sing on the song would be too difficult and we did not have enough time for it. We envisioned a type of scene as this from High School Musical 2, however we realized it would be impractical and too hard to match all the lips to all the words. Here is a link to what we first envisioned, but had to alter to make reasonable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV50hD2thAc

Target Audience

Target Audience:

Hey guys!

As we further our research leading up to the next fews days in which we will start filming, we decided researching our target audience would be a good idea. Our genre is the musical genre within film and does not correlate with the typical cross of musical and romance film. Instead, we focus on the aspirations of a young teen that is trying to make it big time, but struggles with feeling like an outcast as well as living in a confined small town.

We found that our target audience would consist of young teen girls, perhaps a part of the LGBTQ+ community, or even teens to young adults that were faced with similar conditions growing up. The large amount of representation within our film would attract a wider audience. This film is for the aspiring young people that had such big dreams, but could not fulfill them due to where they lived. This film is also for the young adults that feel as though growing up they did not fit in and had more to offer. As you can see here, females tend to enjoy the musical genre of film by about 16%.

Also, the interests of our target audience should lean towards artistically talented people that are aspiring to be the best performer they can be, whether it is in the singing field, dancing field, or any kind of performing field. Their passions should be about dance and performing, as our film is widely based on that. There are typical musical genre films that our film would attract similar audiences.

One film in particular being La La Land, which was a musical based on two young aspirational adults that come together on the basic premise of following their dreams and doing what they love. This film also incorporates romance as the two face hardships to keep their relationship strong, however focusing on the musical aspect of the movie, the audience that is there for that aspect, would similarly be drawn to our film.

Our main age range should be about teens to young adults. However, since our genre of film is a musical and within that we use the element of Broadway as what Mia aspires to reach, we also attract those that enjoy Broadway. The common audience of Broadway is around 40 years of age. As stated in playbill.com, “The average age of Broadway theatregoers was down from 41.7 the previous season to 40.6. Though this is still, on average, above the general U.S. population, the number continues to inch closer to the median age.”

SOURCES:

“Film Genres: Musicals.” Research Guides, researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres/musicals.

McPhee, Ryan. “Broadway League's New Demographics Data Shows Continued Decrease in Average Age of Theatregoers.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 18 Oct. 2018, www.playbill.com/article/broadway-leagues-new-demographics-data-shows-continued-decrease-in-average-age-of-theatregoers.

“Musicals.” Film Reference, www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Musicals.html.

Group Meeting

Group Meeting -

Hey Guys! 

At the beginning of last week we had the opportunity to sit down with other students in a group and discuss our ideas of our film opening. My group consisted of six people and total, each with a different storyline, film genre, and plot. This was one of the most interesting discussions I had thus far about my film opening. It was different to be able to bounce ideas off of other students and get feedback. Also something I realized was as I had to basically give my entire storyline I kind of realized along the way as I was presenting my ideas what was ultimately realistic and what was not. Since that last group meeting our plot line has changed quite a bit and I wish I could get more feedback on our new ideas, however this is what I presented to my group.

I first directed them to my blog and had them go to my post labeled “General Outline”. Here I had them skim what I wrote as I relayed the plot of the story to them. As I finished giving my basic premise of the film, the group was enticed and seemed to enjoy the plot line. Also, they had helpful ideas, not just mundane suggestions. As I showed the group my mood board and my costume design layout, they immediately suggested that I check out thrift shops such as Goodwill, and one girl in particular recommended a specific location to me, I’ll include a picture here:

Another good recommendation I got from the group meeting was to try and secure a time slot to use our school auditorium (where the stage is) early on, because one person said the drama classes were practicing and rehearsing for an upcoming show. I immediately added this to my groups Google Calendar letting them know as well how urgent securing a time slot to film there was. 

I also got the idea of using the Gay pride pin to reinforce Mia, our main character, is gay. One person had the idea that I get a pack of multiple pins from somewhere such as Amazon, and have them in most shots, just to provide a continuity identity for Mia. After class was over I did some research and found these that I will present to my group to consider us purchasing. Here are the pins I found: 

Overall, the group meeting gave me great ideas for our film opening and I was happy to share them with my own group and also received good feedback from them as well.