Script

 Today in class, I developed my script. It felt a little off since I barely included any dialogue. This piece mainly focus’s on visuals and the quietness creates a serious tone. At the end, the baby crying signifies the reason of the quietness (the loudness) will soon begin. Since there was a lack of dialogue, I made sure to include some shots, transitions, and of course, the actions of the character.

Stoyboard

    

Today

I created my storyboard for the opening credit scene. It was difficult for me to start. I wasn't sure if I should show the whole process of my mom going home (Getting in the car, walking out the building, driving, etc) as it may have taken up too much time. I had to find a smart alternative to quickly jump to her going home without showing a whole extensive process. I made the transition from her opening her jobs door to exit, to her opening her home door to enter. 

Although this took off a lot of time, I still had to remove more of my idea. I choose to remove the phone call from the daughter. I really liked this idea, however, the audience already knows what i'm insinuating without the phone call. (I'm guessing from the group understanding) I already include the picture of the mother and daughter, as well as the baby crying at the end. I'm confident these two elements will be enough to deliver the meaning.

My storyboard includes lots of long shots in the beginning to focus greatly on the setting and how small the main character is in it, not only physically, but meaning wise. The sequence of long shots also convey the emptiness the main character is feeling. The remainder of the opening mainly consists of close ups and medium shots so the audience can feel closer to the characters feelings, such as stress.

 

The Visit

 

After

the group discussion took place, I decided to go visit the places I would film (on the same day). Our destination was Broward College. At first I was a bit skeptical it was nice, however, it did not have the look I wanted to project. My mom actually went to this college so she knew the way around. I was starting to lose hope because I only found one place I would possibly film at. 

This is an open hallway by the restrooms and bookstore that I thought looked very spacious. There are lots of window looking doors and bland colored areas. It looks rather clammed in the drawing since I’m not the best artist, however it will be shown in the film.

It was a good start but wasn't good enough, I need to begin with more than one shot for the working portion of the opening. So, since my mom knew the way, she took me to the art and science buildings.

We started at the building of arts. Since i'm going for an empty, isolated, boring setting, the art building contradicted a bit. There was art pieces and sculptures all throughout the area. Lots of different lightings, just a little too upbeat for my liking. There was this one beautiful hall that was a bit more low key than the rest of the area. I was thinking about adding but the feel of it was too different from what I had in mind, so unfortunately, I had to say no to the art building.

The pretty Hall :(

The next and final destination we visited was the science building. I was hoping it would contain the elements i'm looking for and be similar to my mothers past job. Thankfully, it did! The science area was very dim and monotonous. It really matched my color scheme, most of the area was dark blue, gray, and some browns. Every part of the building was clean and simple, exactly what I wanted! 

All in all, 

I found 6 locations to film. I will make the most of these places by shooting them in different shots and angles. They won't take up too much of the films time since I still have to film inside of our home.

 

Group Meeting

 

What we did today:

In class today, we got the chance to get into groups and share our film opening ideas. I was in a group of four people who all had very diverse ideas. Every genre varied and my classmates included lots of imagination into their approaches. We went around the circle each expressing our ideas and things we were unsure about.

My Idea (with some evaluation):

Once the circle got to me, I gave an overall summary of my idea. I proposed both of the ideas I had. 1- Mother throws papers to introduce her past self. 2- Mother throws paper to introduce her daughter, and how she got where she is today. The group all agreed that the second idea was much better and that they would understand instantaneously. I  also asked for advice on where I should film since my original location since my original plan didn't work. Some suggested that i abolish the work portion and start with her at home, while others said to go to a hospital or a college like I said. When we all elaborated and I further explained why I believe the part that shows my mom at work is so important in conveying the message, they all decided that including the work part is the smarter thing to do. 

Something different:

I've thought about almost every aspect of my film opening, except how I would have the wording displayed over the visuals. Whether the title should come out at the end or in the beginning. One girl in the group said she liked the idea so much she had already envisioned everything. She told me she saw the title sequence at the end of the opening layered on top of the baby crying and the black screen. I was thinking of doing either a black screen or a clip of me now. I'm still unsure, but the fact that she already saw it that way makes me want to follow it, it's a good idea.

A Little Bump In the Road

 Soo...

We've come across a little problem. I was planning on filming in my moms building which was perfect. It  had the similarity to the show Severance, spacious and utopian. However, due to natural causes, my mom has decided to let go of that job. Now I must find a new place to record that still gives off this empty feel while still looking like a place of employment. 

There aren't a lot of public places that possess these elements, so I had to go with a public community college. Using the correct lighting, shots, and angles, hopefully I can create the illusion that she's in a professional workspace. 

I'm planning on visiting the Broward College today February 23, 2023 just to see the campus. I searched up the interior of the college to see if they had any areas that were spacious and there were! Now my mom and I just have to visit and ask for permission to film.

Now worse case scenario, I would have to change my idea at tad bit. I would probably take out the job part and begin with my mother at home. The storyboard I will create would be for my first idea, since it's the preferred. 

Schedule 

 

Once I visit (February 23), if I find places in this campus, I will create the storyboard of the setting and shots. For filming schedules, I'm planning on filming during the weekend February 25/26 and the following week (earlier in the week, most likely Monday) on my free time. I'm going to try to film the college part all in one day to make things easier since we'd have to drive there. I'm attempting to film everything in about 1-3 days so I have a good amount of time to thoroughly edit.

Filming + Editing Plan

Hey everyone...

Filming Plan

For the majority of my film, I've decided I want to film at my moms job. This part of the film opening will demonstrate her hard working quality, while also illustrating the emptiness she feels. Since she works at a robotics innovation center ( Stryker), a mass portion of their establishment is off limits/confidential, therefore I had to ask for permission. I emailed my mom a draft to send to her manager in hopes for a good response.

Thankfully, they said they would allow me to film in some areas! For the remainder of the film opening, I will film in my mothers apartment. Since the film is the embodiment her life, I would like to make it as realistic as possible, while still being symbolic. 

Editing Plan

As for the editing of the film, I'm beginning to learn some new things to higher the quality of my production. Even though we've done some projects using editing platforms, I'm still somewhat new to editing and definitely have not mastered it yet. Before this class, I would edit using I-Movie which I now know is not the best pertaining our projects. If you use it correctly the production may be successful, however adobe is much more efficient and recommended. 

At first, I was a little skeptical about using adobe, as it looks very confusing to use. Throughout this journey, I plan on watching video tutorials to enhance my editing expertise. I'm thrilled to take you all on this moving journey. :)

Film Research

 To give myself and viewers of my vlog a better idea of my aim for this film opening, I researched some films that contain some elements that I plan on using within my own. 

Honorable Mentions:

The Florida Project

 Miss Juneteenth 

Example #1: Spanglish 

There aren't many movies representative of the struggles single moms have to go through. After some research, my favorite representation was from the movie Spanglish. Although the genre is different (romantic comedies), it perfectly embodies the concept and conflicts in single parenting along with drastic changes in life situations. The movie Spanglish is about a single mother Flor that had just moved to America from Mexico with her daughter. At first, they didn't live in the best area, however it was comfortable since there were families of the same culture. Later on, Flor found a job as a house maid for an upper class family. This situation is a lot like my mothers she went from Budapest to hialeah(little cuba) to Weston(suberbia). They both did everything in their power to do what was best for their children. Flor and my mother both possess great integrity and are extremely hard workers.

The similarity between the two situations being presented throughout the film gave me various new ideas to implement. One example that I may use but i'm unsure about is the voiceover from the daughter.

As for the composition and editing, the show Severence does an amazing job of displaying the kind of visuals I would like to follow.

Example #2: Severence

Severence is a show about office workers who have had their memories surgically separated between their work and personal lives. The show consists of many tight long shots, focusing more on the setting than the characters. The setting is a reflection of the characters lives, a lot like my idea with my mothers.

The color scheme is also very important to understand the theme of the show. The blues and grey represent the blandness and order. I will also be using this within my opening.

Character Background

 Who are my characters?

My film opening will only incorporate two characters. The mother and the daughter. I've decided to do this to bring more intimacy and focus on the main character (the mother). I believe when there's too many things/characters to focus on, the attention is drawn away from the main character. Only selecting two characters and one main character also matches the genre of drama since dramas are usually about one person's complex life story.

Since my story is personal, I will be using my mother and I to play the roles, as I believe we will feel and potray the emotions best.Although the lives of my mother and I aren't completely the same as the ones I've created for the storyline, it is similar in some aspects.

My Mom ( Diana Szabo): She will be playing the role of the hard working single mother, which is my main character. 

This moodboard helps to illustrate the mental state and loop Diana is in. The color palette and everday life help to convey the emptiness/cycle she's living and the unorganied materials at the bottom are not so much a reflection of her organization skills, but more her mind. It is important to see visuals of objects in a character's life that hold deeper meanings. For instance, the way only work clothes are shown emphasizes the fact that she's always working. 

The second character is myself (Natalia Szabo) I decided to name her my middle name Angelina. Angelina has had it much easier than Diana has due to the fact that Diana works extremely hard for her to have the ideal life.

As you can see, Angelina's life is more vibrant and also looks more costly. This moodboard introduces one of the conflicts or problems that will be shown in the opening. Her color palette and things she enjoys are displayed as more full and "fun" in a sense. 

P.S. I'm not a brat people, I promise I'm just building more drama off of my situation :)

Opening Genre

 Drama

After applying my knowledge on genres, drama is the one my film opening would fall under.

Drama Background-

The drama genre is exactly like the name, dramatic. It usually tends to rely on the emotional development and aspects of their characters. Setting and visuals all work together to build a more climatic plot. The plot plays a tremendous role in drama, as well as developing dramatic themes. These themes are usually about conflicts happening within the characters life. They're often taken from intense real world issues. Some examples include drug addiction, poverty, racism, and many more.

Drama Target Audience-

Due to the fact that drama contains so many different subgenres (tragedy, romance, historical, heroic, melodrama, opera, tragic comedy, etc) the target audience varies. Most of the time, dramas attract people who like to feel emotions while watching a film and enjoy complex story lines. What I like about this genre is that the targeted audience is whomever the piece is trying to reach. The audience is meant to empathize/sympathize with the film. As for the ages, drama is most popular for the older teens and adults.

Drama Films You May Recognize-

Why is my piece a drama?

As i mentioned before, the central principle or the core to the drama genre is creating a fervent story for the audiences to engage with and relate to. My film opening is about a single mother and her struggles. Now I don't want to give it away but that is the main focus. According to my research, there are about 11 million single parent families in the U.S, with 80% of them being single mothers. This just shows how many women or even men relate to the situation that will be displayed throughout my opening. I believe single parenting is a very serious topic that fails to get attention in society today. That is why i've decided to create this drama piece :)

Resources:

https://amplifyxl.com/target-audience-for-drama-films/ 

https://singlemotherguide.com/single-mother-statistics/#:~:text=According%20to%202022%20U.S.%20Census,were%20headed%20by%20single%20mothers.&text=Of%20all%20single%2Dparent%20families,were%20born%20to%20unwed%20mothers.

Let's Do This

Planning my Opening 

So...the time is approaching, my creativity must arise. Last class, we spoke about our film openings. All the techniques and elements used to create an audience luring film opening. Prior to this, we watched a Ted talk in which Andrew Stanton, a major creative source in Pixar, spoke on what he thinks is important in achieving a successful story. There were three things Mr. Stanton said that influenced my ideas and approach to my opening. 

https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story?language=en

1. Use what you know and draw from it
2. Evoke Wonder
3. Every character has a spine

Pre-Planning Thoughts

Before hearing this, my mind was all over the place and I was truly struggling to generate an idea. There's so many stories that could be told. There are so many genres to choose from. I decided to use some of the things Mr. Stanton said, starting with "Use what you know and draw from it."

I live in Weston, Fl the town where life resembles a bubble. Every family knows each other and a large majority of the population is wealthy. The houses are beautiful and spacious, don't even get me started on the cars. Although I live in this what you'd call suburbia, this doesn't mirror my mother and my lifestyle, at all.

The Spine

Diana Szabo, my mother and my main character has always had a tough life. She was born in 1987 to a strong Cuban women who immigrated to Budapest, Hungary. At the age of 9 years old, they decided to move to Miami Florida on their own. My grandmother did not know the language or anything about America so my mom was mostly on her own. My grandmother also was not very financially stable which meant the school she went to and neighborhood she lived in was not the best. She felt extremely racially discriminated and out of place....until she met my father. Now we all knows what happens next, adventure, love, hate, and me of course. She had me at the age of 20 fresh out of high school. This is when she knew she wanted a different life for me. My mom currently lives paycheck to paycheck for me to go to an amazing school and live in a safe neighborhood. To be surrounded by what she wish she had, regardless of the miserableness.

The big Idea (s)

Now for my idea for the opening. The opening will focus on my mother as I mentioned before. I had two ideas for the stories route, both under the drama genre.

Idea 1

We begin with my mom at her job. She works in a very spacious area, hinting emptiness in her life. There will be multiple shots of her doing different things at her job and then she closes and goes home to her one bedroom apartment. Once she's home, she checks up on her daughter. Shortly after, she unwinds and looks at all her bills and papers. She throws the bills in a frustrated manner and they meet with a picture of her when she was younger. There's a large zoom into the picture, the screen goes black and we hear a school bell ringing.

Idea 2

Idea 2 would also begin with my mom at her job. However this time, t's a Saturday night, she's busier, and her daughter keeps calling her. When she finally picks up the phone, it's her daughter asking her for money because she's out with her friends. Mother goes to her account with Zelle and there's not enough money, but she sends what she has. When she gets home she's alone (a lot like her younger life). She begins to look at the bills all frustrated once again, but this time when she throws it by a picture of her and her daughter. We zoom into the picture, the screen goes black, and we hear a baby crying. 

As for a title I'm still not sure, all I know is it will probably have the word life in it :)

Music Marketing Reflection

Music Marketing Project Reflection

Violet Hart

Background:

Creating a music brand from ground zero can be a rather extensive process, however, correct research, creativity, and the ideas/input from diverse minds, all work together in producing a successful brand.

The genre we received for the Music Marketing Project, was rock/heavy metal. Our approach to this project was very organized and divided. We decided to begin our process by doing some background research on the rock/heavy metal genre, along with some artists in the genre. We made sure to know the origin, targeted audiences, performance types, usual marketing/distribution strategies, and the different conventions within the genre.

Artist’s background

For the artists, we decided to research artists that have just started to grow their platforms/brand, and artists that have already developed their brand and have became globally famous. We did this so that it would be easier for us to create steps and the processes listed above for our artist. The artists that were researched include Kaleo, John Harvie, Bon Jovi, and The Imagine Dragons. Although almost all of these individuals come from different generations, they all carried out intelligent marketing strategies to attract their targeted audience and further grow their brands. Some strategies every artist had in common, was the inclusion of a website and social media. All of their websites offered apparel (T-shirts, hoodies, etc.), tour dates and tickets, information about upcoming events (like festivals), biographies, and connections to their streaming services. Fans now have an easy way to acquire information about their favorite musicians and to purchase great goods thanks to the use of websites. New audiences not only receive this information but also have the opportunity to learn more about the performers. Additionally, social media is a very common medium that millions of people utilize today all over the world. Therefore, it is a clever and convenient approach for artists to market to their intended audience. Social media may not only enlighten fans but also draw in new ones when their profiles are recommended as a result of their algorithm.




















Developing Our Brand (Violet Hart): Music video Portion


Following our investigation, we started to incorporate our new insights into our concepts. We were handed the Tracy Bonham song "Mother Mother."




The song has a strong sense of rebellion, like many others in the rock genre. A girl being sent away from home is the subject of this song in particular. BonHam recounts her actions and what her mother might make of them. We had a different idea of the story we wanted to tell in our music video. The song will be about a girl who runs away to follow her goals, we agreed. The justification for this is that it produced a better story for the artist and a bigger target audience. The target market is women between the ages of 14 and 25, who are most prone to experience rejection from family members or society as a whole. It is admirable that our artist has the courage to put everything on hold in order to pursue her aspirations.


We selected purple and black as the primary colors for the style and aesthetic of our music video and brand. Boldness and disobedience are shown by all of them when taken collectively. The promotional/storytelling music video we created features these colors extensively. Different views and a number of jump cuts are used in both halves of the music video to tell our story. Additionally, constructing a well-produced plot and music video was made easier and more clear by establishing a music video blueprint or storyboard.


















Planning Our Brand:




Our brand's marketing plans are designed to increase the popularity and commercial success of our artist. As a source of information and inspiration, we mainly drew from the case studies we completed on other musicians and rock businesses. We also made extensive use of the knowledge we gained from in-class lessons. For instance, as I previously indicated when discussing other artists, social media is one of the best available marketing tools, therefore we set up accounts on a variety of platforms. (Instagram and Tik Tok). We used technical and cross-media convergences, such as products(merch), rage room, and other advertisements with businesses, to the principles we learnt in class. Our brand is introduced to a larger range of audiences thanks to this technology.






























Marketing and Prodcution Steps of our Brand:







The strategy we chose to employ for the development of our artist consisted of three steps. Our first step is to begin performing at different gigs to get exposure. Some of the gigs include local restaurants, small festival/ event performer, and concert opener. Most of the following gigs will contain flyers to let the audience know who is performing and where you can find more information about our artist. Our second step is signing with a record deal company. For this artist in particular, we chose to sign with Elektra records (represent Kaleo and John Harvie from our case studies) Elektra records is a record label of wide variety of artists, that has also represented some of the most famous rock artists such as Queen, AC/DC, and Metallica. When Violet has gained some notoriety and is prepared to reach a large audience, our last step is to release new songs, participate in interviews and meet-and-greets, and release her debut music video. These activities will be followed by the release of merchandise featuring Violet's new music. Naturally all of the steps mentioned above will be followed by and contribute to the expansion of her website and social media platforms.We decided to take these actions in order to develop our artist's audience and to enable her to engage with them. We considered using a TikTok account as one of many things that might be a nice method to communicate with them. In the present world, a lot of people between the ages of 14 and 25 (Violet's target group) rely on that platform as their primary social media source, thus by truly matching her audience with her brand, that inclusion guarantees that she will gain a following. Additionally, everything went as planned during the production of our song video. The components we used to better tell her tale and give it more meaning











Presentation:

Since everyone in our group knew what they were enthusiastic about in relation to the research, producing our presentation was time-consuming yet easy to carry out. We had our strategies and steps thoroughly prepared and knew how we wanted to present our artist, but we wanted to make sure that our audience also understood the goals and ideas we had set for our brand. Also, the concepts we came up with to make sure our artist was successful. After determining who was going to present what, we practiced our slides in order to fully comprehend our subject matter so that we wouldn't need flashcards or the slides to explain our brand and the steps we took to establish it. The slides could have been divided more evenly, but I think we did a nice job of maintaining a pattern with the colors and information within our slides.







Reflection: I discovered and realized various things during the process of working on this project. One of the most important lessons I took away from this experience was the difficulty of starting from scratch and ensuring someone's success. Also, creating a whole person with an intriguing story to engage audiences. I realized that it takes a lot of thought and work to build a brand from ground zero, however, if you plan meticulously, it becomes much easier. It was important to understand the notion of a person as well as our target audience. Without knowing who they are, it is almost impossible to build a successful brand. As I mentioned before, the use of planning and careful decision-making was extremely helpful, and will be helpful for many components of my Cambridge Portfolio. For instance, having a plan or an outline when brainstorming will help you profoundly analyze your ideas and see how they can be efficiently developed. Different elements of film (mise-en-scene, shots, angle, composition), marketing (social media and websites), and cross convergences (ads and merchandise) all play an extremely large role pertaining the growth of an artist. Additionally, time management is also an exceedingly useful technique when developing a media project, in this case a brand. A video and project can be improved overall by using a schedule/agenda to assist you in knowing how much time you have to brainstorm, plan, script, film, and edit. Overall, this project was absolutely advantageous, and taught me how to create something of high quality. It allowed me to understand the development and process of creating a flourishing brand, regardless the sector of media.