creating the perfect logo

 Ladies and gents! I believe I have made the best logo design for the opening film title!

                                                                      Low and behold!

It's pretty cool, right? Hell yeah it is. But before ending this post with just this logo design, I feel it's best to discuss why I chose the colors and font. So let's start discussing!

The use of soft pinks in the design link to the way I want my character to be portrayed as: sweet and gentle. I obviously also wanted the biggest text to be the title of the movie, and I decided to add the small "A Logan and Randall Production" text at the bottom of the title text just to make it look more complete and to give credit to me and Isa as the directors. As for the font of the text, which seems fancy and bold, I chose this because I felt that I needed to add some creativity to the title of the movie. If it was just written in the ordinary bold and all-caps, it would catch the attention  of the audience, but it would also seem pretty boring if it didn't have a unique look for the text. Therefore, I decided to go with an elegant text font to add my own spice to the title and to have it be more enjoyable for the eyes of the audiences for when they first see it.

Even though this may seem a little simplistic, I think that this would be the perfect design for our movie's overall idea and genre. I'm looking forward to going further in this journey for my portfolio project and I can't wait to see the results :).

in the mood board mood ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 It is time. Let’s talk more in depth about the main character in the story. Although I would like to talk about her in this blog, the only thing I can’t say is her name. It’s not a confidential thing or anything, it’s just that I don’t know who me and Isa will cast yet to play her (although I am thinking about asking Isa if she can play her). 

But anyways, I’ve created a mood board to kinda entail how I see our character’s personality:

So let’s talk about why I specifically chose each picture. I wanted to give our character a kind, innocent persona, because that’s exactly how I saw her when I first started thinking about the portfolio project. The picture of the girl smiling while close to the flowers and the girl in the white sun-dress standing in a grassy field is how I see the character being: shy yet sweet and caring. I’ve included a picture headphones as well because I also see her as being the “quiet kid” in the movie, both because of her personality and the fact that she’s the new kid. And typically, the kids at school who are seen as quiet usually walk around the halls with headphones on them, so I thought this picture would help paint our character as such. 

I also see this girl as very studious and carping for her grades. Therefore, I added a photo of the girl reading a book at the top right to indicate this.

For tomorrow, I’m going to create a font for the movie title. Not sure what I’m gonna go with yet, but I’m visualizing a nice soft-pink title font, so I might just go with that and run it by Isa to see if she has any other suggestions.

Till next time, guys. See ya😚!

bags and a brave, stupid new world

 I have very good news to talk about today ;)...

I was thinking about what song would go along with the opening. I knew that in order to pick the perfect song, I would first have to identify the vibe that I wanted it translate throughout the film. This particular vibe would be a cool, mellow feeling, which I think fits especially well with coming of age films.

Luckily for me, I often listen to coming of age playlists that I find in YouTube to listen to while I’m doing schoolwork. Most of the songs in this playlists have songs specific to the vibe I’m looking for. So, one day I was playing around with one of those playlists, trying to find that one perfect song for the opening. Suddenly, Bags by solo artist Clairo starts playing. This song carried the chill vibes I was looking for the second the first beats started playing. I thought, “I have to get permission to get this song. It’ll be perfect!” 

So I looked up Clairo’s record company and found out that it was called Fader Label. I looked up their contact info, found their email, and write to them to ask for permission straight away. After I sent the email, I was so anxious. I didn’t think they would respond soon enough because I thought that they might be too busy to respond. But I didn't need to worry, though. Someone responded the very day I asked for permission to use Bags!

Here is their response:

Yasmine, I know you can’t read this, but thank you queen 😌👆.

BUT, the good news doesn’t stop there! We found a title that fits our theme for our chosen genre perfectly. A title that beautifully envelopes how stepping into a whole new school really is. 

Our title will be “The Stupid, Brave New World.”

I know I know, I’m a genius when thinking about corny movie titles 😗❤️.

Let’s elaborate on the title, though. I wanted to use the word “stupid” to fill in how school might be seen for our character. Since this new school isn’t what she is used to, it has a big possibility of feeling somewhat weird or ridiculous to her. However, “brave” also comes into play because, as I have described in my recent blog, despite my characters feelings of insecurity and feeling like she will say something stupid, she still walks into her new school with bravery and purpose on her steps as she takes a deep breath in and has her back straight. And the “world” is, obviously, her new school environment. Friends, teachers, activities (maybe enemies 🥶...)

Overall, I’m really proud of how the movie is coming along. Can’t wait to see where this takes me. 

oh yeah, it's all coming together now

 Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the moment you and I have waited for. My research blog has finally arrived! 

With lots of reflecting and epic brainstorms, I have gathered some examples from specific scenes of past coming of age/comedy films that gave me inspiration for the vision that I have for my film opening, along with a past Portfolio project with the same genre as mine! 

Are you excited? Of course you are ;).

But before I show you my research examples, though, let's discuss some changes I've decided upon to spice up my opening. Initially, as you can view on my previous blog post about the opening, I wanted to start the opening with the main character darting through her room, trying to find an outfit for her first day of school. However, when I pitched this idea to my AICE Media teacher, she pointed out that that idea is a little cliché because many coming of age films have scenes that are exactly the same as that one. So, she gave me and Isabella great suggestions when we three met together and said that we should begin with the main character talking to her mirror, and then end the scene with a shot of her school, which has the camera slowly move to her looking at the school. Then, she takes a deep breath, and leaves the camera shot, indicating that she is entering her new school. 

Now, here we come with my research examples (yayaa!!) So, for the whole, what I like to call, "mirror-talking" scene, I mainly got my inspiration from a coming of age Netflix series called I am Not Okay with This (if you haven't checked it out, please do so, it's soooo good!) Anyways, there was one scene in particular that came to mind which inspired my idea- and that was the scene where one character, named Stanley is getting ready for a party and plans on asking his crush out in the party. Stanley practices what he is going to say to his crush named Syd in front of his mirror while getting ready for the party (he talk to his mirror in the video's time frame of 1:12).  When I first saw this, I thought it was both hilarious and absolutely adorable. But mainly, it was one of the many scenes from that series that gave me the best coming of age vibes. Therefore, I just knew  that I had to make a scene like this one. 

And as for the scene where the main character is staring at her new school, this was inspired by an opening scene from the hit comedy movie, Mean Girls (again, if you haven't seen this film yet, strongly recommended to have a good laugh!) In one of the opening scenes, the main character of the movie, named Cady, is shot entering her new school for the first time (time stamp for when this shot begins is 1:21). Cady is pictured throughout this shot looking around on her campus with a sense of wonderment, as if she's a fish that just splashed into a new pond. This is also something I wanted to do to paint the main character of my opening in this light. Cady, like my main character, is the new girl at school, so she definitely gave me many ideas for how to incorporate my character. 

My research will definitely not come to a halt here, though. I know that throughout me and Isa's journey of creating this film, we will stumble across new ideas and be inspired by other films.

pros and cons (part ii)

 So this will be my coming of age pros and cons rant. So far, I'm really loving this idea the most. And I'm definitely leaning towards this one. I'd have to run this idea and my final decision by Isabella, obviously. And since I want to reach a final decision by tomorrow, I want to finish my pros and cons for both openings, review them, and choose wisely. 

Ok, here we go, what I think would be great if we do a coming of age film opening, and what's kind of blocking me from choosing to do this...

So, first I'm going to list the reasons why I currently prefer to film an opening like this for the portfolio project. As you can tell by my recent post about the coming of age idea, the film won't have a lot of action taking place. I know that that might just sound like I'm taking a very simplistic idea, and that's why I want to do some research on coming of age films and be inspired by ways that I can give such an uncomplicated film a little spice. Another pro is that I think it will be more convenient for me and my partner to film this instead of filming such an action-packed scene i. which none of us have experience creating such a scene with. 

I'm just saying that since we both are beginners in the World of a Director, I think it would be a good first step for us to try something a little easier. 

However, let's talk cons. Shouldn't I challenge myself for this project? Sure, it will be an obstacle to film such an intense scene for the teen thriller idea, but maybe that will help me when I do bigger film projects? Shouldn't I think more outside-the-box?

The thing is that yeah, maybe I should give myself more of a challenge, but to tell you the truth, I see myself and my partner having a better opportunity with filming the coming of age idea.

The last thing I wanna do is film a movie opening that results in looking awkward, and I do feel like I will have that happen if we go along with shooting a kidnapping scene. 

I want to film something I can look back at 5 years from now and think, "Damn, this was actually really good." And the coming of age idea? I think that that's what's gonna have future me saying that.

So, yeah. Coming of age idea sounds awesome to me. Now all I have to do is run it by myself and my partner and see where the chips fall.

Can't wait to get started on the filming :)

pros and cons (part i)

 I've been debating for a while for what I should talk about for today's blog post. I didn't really know what else to say, to be honest. I already spoke a lot about my ideas about either doing a teen thriller or coming of age film opening and how I feel about them. 

However, even though my ideas are pretty solid, I still am not sure on which opening to do. I haven't reached a final decision yet, and me and Isabella's goal is to reach that ultimate decision by next week. So, instead of lying awake at night having this mental debate with myself, I thought it'd be better to make a pros and cons list for each opening idea.

Let’s start off with a pros and cons list for the teen thriller idea. Well, some pros I could mention are that the dramatic events surrounding the story of the dark figure trying to kill the girl will definitely grab the audiences attention. It will also have several interesting elements to include, and me and my partner can think of cool, out-of-the-box ideas for how to make this story more engaging. Also, I just think it’ll be super fun to make LOL.

However, it’s gonna be tough for us to film a almost-kidnapping scene/fight scene when I never really directed something like this before, and I don’t think my partner has either. Maybe it won’t be that hard to produce, but it’s definitely a new place for us to be at. And I don’t want the scene to look awkward or “fake” in a sense. Well, maybe we could look up videos on how to film such a scene, but it’s still gonna be very new ground for us to step onto- but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be impossible for us to film. 

Always try new things, right?

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with a pros and cons list for the coming of age film. 

I know, I know, y’all wanna see my research and inspiration (meaning what films inspired my ideas). That’s all gonna be posted next week, don’t you worry. 

See you guys tomorrow <3. 

perhaps i’m feeling coming of age?

 So yesterday you’ve read my teen thriller film opening idea. Well, today I’m gonna talk about my coming of age film opening idea. Which one I’m gonna decide to go with? Hard to say for right now. But I will definitely have an answer next week, so expect to see that!

Anyways, without further ado, my coming of age idea...

Film starts with close up of a bedroom wall. We zoom out of the wall shot to a sound of an alarm sounding off, when a young girl suddenly wakes up in a shock. She rushed to get dressed, grabs her backpack, puts her belongings in there, and stops in front of her mirror. She starts to practice what she’s thinking of saying to her new peers to introduce herself (didn’t mention this before, but she’s transferring to a new school!) 

“Hey!” “Whaddup?” “Hi, I’m new to the school! Can we be friends?” “Uh... ugh!” 

I think this would be cute and humbling to film, and relatable to many people who had to either transfer or go to another school because of graduating to a higher grade. 

Me and my partner, Isabella, will be thinking more in-depth about our two ideas. Can’t wait to see what we come up with! 

hmmm... i think i know what to do!?

 So, I think I have a pretty solid idea for my film opening genre! I was in a huge debate with myself about doing either a teen thriller opening or a coming of age one with my partner, Isabella. I would first like to talk about the idea I've thought of if we do a teen thriller. 

The opening will start with a teen girl getting dressed for a date she has during nighttime. She seems very excited and eager for the date when she's getting dressed. However, her emotions quickly turn for the worse when she is captured by a strange, dark figure when she is walking outside of her house to her car. She successfully escapes the figure's grasp at first and tries to make a run for it to her car. Until she unfortunately trips on her heels, struggles to get up, and is met again with this figure. She looks up to this figure, who pulls out some sort of knife at her. We end the film with a shocked look on her face. 

Here's a picture of my baseline for this opening idea:

Baseline for teen thriller idea.

So far, I think this idea would be pretty doable to film. It would also be perfect to grab the attention of the audience and make something unique. I did mention that I was also sitting on doing a coming of age film rather than this. But I'm gonna talk about that idea for the next post :). 

decisions, decisions

Ok, so with some careful consideration. I thinking about doing a film opening from one of the two ideas I've mentioned yesterday. More specifically, though, I'm leaning more towards the drug-experience scene. I think that filming this would be very engaging for the audience and very interesting to do research on. 

I'm not saying that I will for sure be doing my film opening on this story, though. But it is a thought that might become reality. If I work individually, I will definitely think more about this concept. But if I have a group of people to work on this project with, I will pitch this idea to my group members, and let the chips fall where they may. 

If I do go with the idea of filming the drug scene, I need a strong and clear vibe within the scene. I was thinking about having the vibe be... I don't know how to say this, but... for the lack of a better term, creepy/punk? I'm thinking different-colored lights flashing to indicate alert, a wide use of dutch angles, and loud rock music in the background. This probably doesn't make much sense written down, but trust me, I'll try to make this sound clearer throughout my journey. 

thinkin' out loud

So,  I gotta be honest here... when I was first introduced the Portfolio project by my teacher, I had zero clue as to what I wanted to film for my film opening. I mean, a huge project that required much creativity and skill fell right on my lap. Sure, I was (and still am) more than willing to make an incredible opening and expand on my creative ideas. I just don't yet know which of those creative ideas I will expand upon. However, instead of deciding to lay on my bed the whole day and not think of anything for the project, I figured, "why not brainstorm some random ideas I've collected and talk about them?" So, without further ado, let's brainstorm!

I had one idea so far. I'm thinking of creating a story of a wife who find out that her husband is unfaithful and seeks of a revenge plot against him and the women he was having the affair with. I was inspired by this idea by the music project I did, which also includes a revenge plot. I love dramatic films that grab your attention immediately, so I think that working on creating a film with such a captivating plot would be awesome for the Portfolio project. 

OR...

Maybe I can film a story about a group of teens trying drugs for the first time and one of the friends starts feeling uneasy and starts to hallucinate. While this happens, the film shows all of this unfolding right in front of our eyes, showing us how it truly feels to be under drugs. I would obviously have to do hefty research about people's experiences under drugs for the first time.

While I do have until April to submit the project, I must start working now. And have these brainstromed ideas come to life and think of something awesome and something that I can be very proud of. 

music and friends!

My music marketing team and I have not only made a great campaign for our Zero Effect band and filmed a really awesome video for the band, but throughout this process, we have bonded with each other so much. Everyone was super enganged in the project and we have really bonded a lot by brainstorming ideas, filming the music video, doing our research on our case studies, and oganizing the campaign. Ina nutshell, I really enjoyed spending our time together to make a project that we have ended up all being very proud of.

We made a groupchat where we branstormed ideas for the music video. From the plot, wardrobe, characters and their personalities, and the message we wanted to convey, we all spoke of different ideas for the music video and chose to do a mix of what we all thought would be cool. The film would be about a girl who sadly saw her girlfriend be shot and killed by an unexpected assasin (played by yours truly) while they were on a date. Right after we hear the gunshots, the girlfriend who survived is showing her grief after witnessing the death of her loved one. Then, she immediately turns this grief into anger. She finds the assasin's Instagram account, prints out a picture of her, and then fantazises a revenge sequence where she kills the assasin. Now, this revenge sequence wasn't gonna look like it's set in modern times, we thought. One of my team members decided on giving the revenge fantazy a twist and make it into a western, cowgirl scene where the girl and assasin wear cowboy boots and leather jackets, see each other outside at the same area of the fatefull shooting, draw out their own guns (which we decided to use Nerf guns for) and have one of those iconic western movie moments where they stare aggresively at each other until the former girlfriend shoots the assasin dead. The scene then goes back into real time and we see the girlfriend grieving about her loss once again. I know, this sounds absoloutely insane. But the end result for the video turned out great! We have decided to film all of this in Town Center. And during the filmimg process, we all finally met each other and had fun filming all the scenes and laughing at silly bloopers. Wanna see? Click here: https://youtu.be/yDlT3tGfbL0 We also worked on our marketing campaign. We listed important info to connect with fans such as mailing campaigns, merchandise, the band's social media and website (which we have made), and why eople should invest in Zero Effect. Wanna take a peek at this, too? Click here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xtI5MYwcOXw_m4FvhtaIw7kvZYnA92EQF4EAnaOkVkE/edit#slide=id.gb8bb8ec131_0_11

Then came to my group's presentation. We felt confident about our project and information we wrote, so we were very eager to go and asked if we could go after another group was presenting. When it was finally our turn to present, it honestly went great! We spoke clearly when it was our turn to present our slides, elaborated on some bullet-pointed sentences, and were enthusiastic throughout the entire presentation! Our teacher instructed us to post our own critiques about what we thought about the presenations and projects from the other groups. After class, I immediately went to see what my other classmates thoight about our project. We got very excellent feedback! eople loved how we were very enthusiastic and detailed with our presentation, which made me even more proud about my project. To reflect on my journey throughout the project I learned that there really is no "I" in team. We all put our heads together and thought of something so unique yet very engaging and great to tell a story with. We also collectivel thought of great marketing strategies for our campaign and how we want our band to present itself. When developing our own Cambridge protfolio, my team and I decided that since we worked great together on this project, that we should work together again on the potfolio project. I wanna us what I have learned and been through in this project to think more outside the box for my portfolio and not be afraid of being as creative as I can.