Social Media Research

 Today, I’ll be exploring social media inspiration to help the development of our own. Romantic movies, especially rom-coms, have a heavy social media presence on platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram.

Let’s dive in!

Anyone But You

Instagram

On this platform, most of the postings consist of short clips. These vary from behind the scenes, trailers, or just the actors having fun with one another. Something almost al the postings have in common, is their cover. Almost, if not all of the posting covers have bold text writing layered over the video or picture. It can be inferred that this is done to visually engage viewers and lure them into the algorithm. 

The short videos also consist of trends going on in the social sphere. For instance, in one of the videos followed the asmr trend, in which people talk in a satisfying manner into a microphone. In doing so, the actors still present their romantic connection and theme, as they say they’re best pick up lines. 

This is a smart strategy in order to maintain the romantic feel, while still appealing to the targeted audience through social media.

Within the whole social media, there’s lighthearted, funny, and of course, romantic content. These kinds of postings, directly relate to the genre, as well as the targeted audience. Using all the techniques previously mentioned, the brand is clearly developed. 

In our films social media, we will be adopting the idea of following social trends. Since our target audience is teenagers and younger generations, such as Gen Z, trends on social media will further attract and grab their attention. 

The Kissing Booth

Instagram 

Description of types of posts: Very similar to Anyone But You, The Kissing booth also contains short clips from the movies or short teaser videos. Also very similar to Anyone But You, most of the postings on The Kissing Booths Instagram page also have bold text over to intrigue those who browse through the page. Some examples of these titles include, "Tomorrow", "watch now", and even a "then" v.s. "now".  There were a couple different techniques I really enjoyed both visually and interactively about The Kissing Booths page. First off, the creative content ideas for the short videos. In order to maintain engagement and not have viewers bored, video postings must vary. An example of a unique and formfitting idea was the "kiss counter". Not only does it show the most intimate scenes within the film, it's also interesting to see the chemistry progression of the characters. It definitely made me want to re-watch the film. 

An element of their social media that was very visually pleasing, was postings that matched one another to build a portrait. This allows viewers to get a gist of what the films are about. The color scheme and beautiful pictures within the collage, represent how fun, romantic, and possibly dramatic the films are. This isn't something I've seen in my research of other films, I really loved it!

The last element that was distinctive and I really enjoyed, was the highlights. This is the little section of circles right above the postings and under the bio. In the highlights, The Kissing Booth allows fans to connect with or engage with the page. Q&A's are asked, fans that follow the trend are reposted, etc. Interaction is one of the best ways to grab the attention of an audience.

he brand is developed very well, through the use of cohesiveness, colors that match the theme, enjoyable postings, attention grabbing text, and more. All elements pertaining to the genre are used and shown throughout the whole page. It also beautifully markets the films.

We will be adding a similar version of the highlights, as well as the text written upon the postings on our social media page for Love You to Lose You.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Instagram

 Personally, I was not a fan of the postings. All of the thumbnails were awkward close ups of the characters and a couple two shots of characters. The content within the postings consist of short videos with scenes from the movie. Sometimes, there's text on the postings, but not as much as the other two films. 

I don't believe the brand was developed to its full potential. This is due to the fact that the color scheme isn't cohesive and the postings aren't consistent. It feels like a bunch of different types of postings into one page.

Sadly, there's nothing within this specific romantic film movies page that we have found inspiration for. :(

Research movie #2

 The Notebook

The Notebook is said to be one of the best romance films of all time (in my opinion) so of course, we had to study it. 

Love at first sight, the main romance trope we will be using in out short film. There are MANY techniques, scenes, and elements within the Notebook that Mariana and I would like to use within our film. For starter, “love at first sight” In the Notebook, Noah attends the carnival with his good friend with no intention of finding his new love. After catching a glimpse of Allie with her friends, Noah finds himself deeply fond of her and does anything to get her to go out with her. He even climbs up a carnival Ferris wheel. 😱 Mariana and I wanted to do something similar in our film but in our case, Nati is Noah. They will be at the beach and while Howie is with his friends, she sees him with a love like glimpse in her eye. The only difference will be instead of Nati trying to get Howies attention, they will be brought to one another. 

Another element within the Notebook that will be used in ours is the obstacle of finding new people. In the Notebook, there is a point that the Allie and Noah divert from each other because of situational factors. (They both were going separate ways after school) Since they had to live in different places surrounded by new people, Allie and Noah were bound to meet new significant others.This obstacle is very similar to the one we wanted to implement between Howie and Nati. The fact that not only is Howie going to college, but he also already had an established significant other that Nati did not know about. In order to an achieve an attention grabbing film, there must be some sort of obstacles within.

A similar scene I had the idea of using because I saw it in the notebook, is the dancing on the road scene. When Allie and Noah are on their “first date” which is just the night they met, Noah takes her to do something spontaneous that she’d never done before. This is laying on the road until cars come. Stupid, yes. Romantic? Also yes (kinda). Later on, they end up dancing on the road together. This moment felt so romantic as dance is such a beautiful way to express, connect, and convey love. 

Since our story will be taking place at the beach, this scene will obviously be altered. My idea was to have someone playing music at the beach, maybe at a nearby restaurant, or maybe no music at all. Nati and Howie will be walking and similarly to Noah, Howie will introduce the spontaneous idea of dancing on the boardwalk of the beach. This was a formfitting adaptation and we’re hoping to find more. 

Regarding the technical elements of the Notebook, we really liked the color and visuals during the day

Example: 

It is so visually clear and vibrant, depicting exactly how love is supposed to feel and look. Pertaining to miss-en-scene and music, we won’t be using this film for inspiration, due to the fact that it takes place in the 40’s and we would like our piece to be more modern set in 2024. All the love, passion, language, and visuals, however, has been studied in order to strengthen our piece.

Research Movie #1

 WAVES

Due to the fact that romantic films usually have cliche storylines and scripts, the visuals are usually exceptional. This film has fantastic cinematography with beautiful color/lighting, rotation of the camera to give multiple character views in the car, images of the characters swimming in the gorgeous ocean, well framed shots, and more.Waves (2019) Is the perfect example of a film with beautiful visuals within the romantic film genre. This is a romance/sport drama that delves into the lives of two siblings. It begins with the story of Tyler, the older brother who is put under lots of pressure by his father and mother in law. The only thing that makes Tyler feel at peace and fulfilled, is his “goddess” Alexis. To film uses a multitude of elements to allow the viewers to understand this phenomenon. First off, when the two are together, the lighting of the film dramatically shifts. When Tyler is in his room, with his father, or at practice, the lighting is sad and the exposure is extremely low, to indicate unhappiness:  

When he’s with Alexis, however, the tone still remains blue, the hue is much more pleasing. Furthermore, the exposure is brighter, visuals are clearer, and the characters expressions are more in focus. EVEN AT NIGHT! 

It is further shown that romance plays a crucial role in lighting within this film, as these are the American shots but differ as one is with his significant other, and the other with his not deeply loved mother in law.

Not only does the lighting play a key element in this film, but also the shots. The film uses closer shots like medium, close up, and extreme close ups when Alexis and Tyler are together. Not only does this allow viewers to see the expressions of love, but also is symbolic of how close they are to one another. 

MUSICCC, my favorite part. Waves takes place in South Florida, mostly at the beach and homes. Majority of the film expresses a suburban lifestyle of teenagers experiencing young love. This is why the song choice, in my opinion, was absolutely perfect. The film contained music from popular artists amongst the teenage population today, like Tyler the Creator and H.E.R. This made the movie further reach their target audience as music is a big piece of connection and appeal.

When all the components are layered, a unique visually and auditorium appealing romance is created :)

How does Waves relate to our film?

Our film, like waves is also clearly about young love, instead ours in love at first sight. (Will be researched in next posting) We also find lots of inspiration in the shot ideas and lighting, especially since our film would be taking place at the film, like waves romance scenes did. Moreover, we will also be using similar music to the ones used within Waves. Slow r&b artists like SZA, Tyler the Creator, ASAP Rocky, etc. 

Since our film will also be taking place in south Florida, this film helps us achieve the suburban teenager feel through the potential b-roll examples, mise-en-scene elements, and even slangs used within the film.

We’re so excited to have come across this film to research and to adopt so many beautiful components to use within our short film :)

Genre Choice and Research ❤️

 ROMANCEEE

Mariana and I already knew our genre since we decided to do a short film. After speaking with our teacher, we realized our concept was a bit too long, more like a whole hour movie, as opposed to a short film. Now, we’ve decided to narrow down our idea, this will be spoken on in further postings. :)

This week, I’ll be researching the genre conventions of romance, as well as study specific films that I believe are similar/inspiration for our short film. 

GENRE CONVENTIONS: 

Each genre has their own conventions or themes, topics, situations, traits and more. When thinking of the romance genre there are very niche conventions, depending on the time of romance. For instance, there’s romantic comedy, romantic drama, romantic fantasy, romantic musicals, historical romance, etc. Mari and I have specifically picked romantic drama. This is clearly different than a historical or comedic romantic film.Despite the fact that they may have different elements, they all focus on one thing, love.

In order to achieve “love” romance films use a variety of technical elements, mis-en-scene choices, and situational approaches. 

Mise-en-scene: Beginning with costuming, romantic genres tend to have very cliche costume choices. The man is usually either smart looking (button down/professional) or bum looking or sporty (sweats + graphic tshirts) and the woman usually stays sophisticated (dresses/girly clothing). Women usually wear accentuation clothing, elegant, or “cute” clothing. This idea really depends on where the film takes place, as well as the development of the characters. For example, in our film, our two protagonists aren’t going to wear either of these things mentioned, however, they will still fit the convention. This is because the main character that is a female will dress beachy but still girly and the male sporty with his bathing suit and most likely a graphic top. 

For makeup, characters in romance movies usually stay neutral throughout. The only times bold colors such as red (which signifies love), is used, is when the protagonist is actually “ready” to go out. This goes for consuming as well. Red lip within romance films is used to give the female a sensual role. 

Technical Elements: 

Lighting- Lighting is CRUCIAL to set out the appropriate tone and feeling of a romance film. In romantic dramas, there’s usually a mixture of multiple lightings. The primary lighting used for romantic dramas, is natural lighting with warmer tones to convey softness and love. Like the notebook for instance. 

Lighting usually shifts from natural to lowkey/high key lighting, depending on the situation. The use of high key lighting symbolizes elation, boldness, and romance, of course, while lowkey lighting typically are used during scenes with rendition or dramatic scenes. The lighting of films acts as a way of communication, that’s why it is so crucial. 

Sound- All types of sound is important in romantic films. Diegetic sound of ambiance, for instance, of birds can make the scene feel lighter/calmer and happy. When layered with soft music, a whole romantic tone is set. 

Composition- shots vary throughout romance films, however, they heavily use close up shots in order to show the emotion and expressions between the characters in love.

Typical love tropes-

• Love at first sight
• Opposites attracted
• Forbidden love
• Love through obstacles
• Happily ever after
• Etc

We have chosen the love at first sight trope where our two main characters fall for each other immediately. 

 We’re so excited to further develop our story and implement some of the conventions mentioned. 

Our Idea :)

Mariana and I knew once we picked the idea of a short film, we would create a romantic story. We’re both hopeless romantics that enjoy rom-coms and dramas/romance movies. We’re also both familiar with the romance genre. Last year, I did a few romantic films for myself, as well as my classmates. Mari also has experience with films like these. 

So far, we’ve developed the story about 3-4 minutes into the film and a draft of the script.

Our concept for the romance film is about a girl being “reminiscent” of her summer break with her friends and new people that came into her life. It shows her at the beach enjoying her day with her friends, when suddenly, a group of boys go up to them and ask to play volleyball with them. Little did the protagonist know this game would change the rest of her break. A romance sparks amidst the game, and this spark continues throughout summer. With some minor conflicts, along with the climax, we’ve created not only an intriguing love story, but one that keeps viewers on their toes. 

Although we haven’t begun our research on genre, inspiration, and more we still have ideas of them all. For instance, a films aesthetic we believe matches our very similarly is waves. 

This is only one amongst the many films we’ll be analyzing to gain techniques and insight for our film. We’re still developing and planning ideas of mis-en-scene, color hues, transitions (audio and visual), etc. Finding films with similar concepts make the process much easier as we can learn from them. 

Since we’re still developing our story, we’re still stuck in names. We believe it may be smarter to create at the end, but here are some ideas so far. 

“Be There in 10”, “Feels like home”, “Love by the Sea”, “Love You to Lose You”. Although these are all form fitting, none of them give off the feeling we’re looking for, therefore, we’ll come back to the title further on. We’re so excited for the progression of ideas throughout this creative journey. :) 

TIMELINE/SCHEDULE

 In order to manage our time wisely and feel more organized, Mariana and I have created a reasonable timeline for our project. 

Week 1:

• Pick genre for our short film.
• Research genre conventions.
• Begin to develop the story.

Week 2:

• Continue to develop/finalize story!
• Create characters. 
• Create an outline/inspiration.
• Find similar media (more research).

Week 3:

• Storyboard our film.
• Begin to think about the other components.
• Research the other components (social media + print)
  
• Start thinking of our recording schedule.

Week 4:

• Further the research and plan
• Begin recording.
• Document how recording process is going.
• Elaborate on whether or not our decisions were smart.
• Start posting to social media. 
• Keep posting to blog.

Week 5:

• Further research and plan
• Continue recording.
• Start editing + documentation of the editing process.
• Speak about how hard or easy and enjoyable the process is.
• Continue posting to social media + blog.

Week 6:

• Continue editing.
• Start creating print component.
• Document print component.
• Continue to post to blog and social media. 

Week 7:

• Research CCR components and information.
• Continue working on print.
• Further social media postings
• Finalize video component.

Week 8:

• Build CCR
• Finalize print component.
• Post to social media.
• Post to blog.

Week 9 & 10

• Blog about the overall process.
• Final tweaks.
• Changes in decisions.
• Finalize CCR.
• Create project reflection.
• Post all components to the vlog.
• Post CCR.

THE NEXT TRANSITION!

AND we're off to a new chapter! We have just finished our film distribution project which prepared us for our final project. (This one) My group and I were assigned to three script writings in which we had to choose one, create a trailer, teaser, make a movie poster, and build a distribution plan. We were given multiple genres and stories, we decided to go with a horror story. Over the time span we were given, we created a successful movie trailer, teaser, movie poster, and distribution plan. This project directly relates to the new project being brought upon us, as it also contains the creation of various media forms, as well as distribution practices. 

trailer and teaser - Google Drive

Here are all of the options we were provided with for the upcoming project:

•  Work alone or with up to 4 people.

1. Music Promotion
2. Film Promotion
3. Documentary package
4. Short film package

 My first consideration was whether or not I wanted to work alone. For my final portfolio project last year, I worked alone. This is because I trust myself in the completion of all expected tasks. However, I saw how much fun all of the groups, as well as partners were having, which made me want to take a different approach this year. In A-level, I have a lot of close friends I've grown up with. One specifically is one of my best friends for about 5 years now. Mariana Sanin. We're very similar and usually like the same things. Our work ethic and attitude towards our assigned works are positive and we both strive to complete our works thoroughly done, and ahead of time. I believe we both have some negative habits when it comes to completion, as we are both very busy. This is where we will help each other. Another area in which we can guide each other upon is creation/creativity. She may have ideas for editing then I might, and I may have ones for the story's direction. Overall, I'm excited to work with a partner for this project! :)

 When Mari and I spoke in class, it was hard for us to choose between option 1 and option 4. This is because during summer of 2023, Mari and I wanted to make a music video together. This was going to be a music video for one of Ms. Lana Del Ray's songs. Sadly, our schedules during the break never collided, so we never did it :/ BUTT that's why option 1 had us so excited. We thought if we couldn't do it during summer, why not now. Well... I'll tell you why. Lana Del Ray is an extremely famous and award-winning female artist with over 13 million followers on Instagram. 

THE QUEEN HERSLEF (Lana Del Ray)

Although Mariana and I are still going to try, a response from Lana is very unlikely. This is why option 4 will most likely be the chosen option. Mariana has ALWAYS had a passion for short films. This I know because of how frequently and fondly she speaks about the ones she's done in the past. Since she's one of my best friends, I love to see her do things she's passionate about, especially when it's important to her. Regarding myself, I love creating storylines and potentially acting in short films. While Mariana has a deeper passion for off screen practices, I love the feeling of being on screen. This is where both her and I meet in the middle and picked something we both enjoy and will have a great time doing it together!