Title! (and social media creation!)

 As I've mentioned before, I'm an incredibly indecisive person. I don't know why I am this way, maybe it's the fear of settling on something when there can be something better out there, but I just don't have a good experience choosing. When it came to deciding on a title for my short film, this was no different. 

Initially, I just had no clue what I could possibly name it. My mind remained blank for what seemed like days. Eventually, the thoughts wandered towards the painting in my film and its inspiration. 

See blog post here

With the Weeping Woman in mind, I thought that it would be a good idea to name the film after the piece I will be painting. I began to think of variations and possibilities of what the painting could be called. I really liked how "A Weeping Woman" sounded with the W alliteration that creates a "wooshing" effect to it, guiding the progression of the phrase. I thought of maybe translating this into French, however, "Femme en pleurs" doesn't sound nearly half as good.

From there, I decided that sticking with a french name was a good idea as I felt it fit well with the aesthetics of the short film as well as the art style. Personally, when I think of famous artworks and artists throughout the ages, the ones that quickly come to mind are francophone artists such as Van Gogh and Monet as well as the vast amount of paintings created during the Renaissance. I also felt that the outfit I chose for the girl in the painting felt like a dress a french countryside woman would wherein her ville and around the campagne. Overall, the artistic aspects of the film felt very french to me and it is also a great opportunity for me to put the seven years' worth of french classes to use. 

Following this thought process, I thought of maybe titling it En Pleurs, or in English, In tears, but yet again this did not sound very pleasing to me. At this point, I thought that maybe I was just looking too far into it and that perhaps the reason it didn't seem pretty to me was that I know the direct translation of the phrase, so I turned to my non-french-speaking friends for their opinion. They said that thought having a french title is definitely the right decision and though it's a very pretty language, there was something off about this title which I ultimately agreed with.

After a couple more days of pondering I finally settled with Elle qui Pleure, or She who Cries. I feel that this title still embodies the original idea pretty well but it also sounds better to the ears when compared to the other options I had. Immediately after settling on this title, I began a factor of the project that I previously was very terrified about, social media.  

Elle qui Pleure Instagram

Please keep in mind that I only just now created the social media account so I don't exactly have anything to post (which is why the bio is incomplete and the profile picture is currently my cat as Instagram demanded me to pick something.) Though I don't have anything to post (as of yet), I am excited that I was able to start thinking and planning the social media aspect of the project earlier on than a lot of the media students last year. 

I already have a lot of ideas for posts, now I just have to push through and get started. 

Postcard

Now that we've (on a surface level) covered the social media aspect of the project, my mind has drifted towards worrying about the print component of the short film, the postcard. 

As someone who is completely new to the film world, I had no clue how much of an important factor postcard play within festivals. 

Coincidentally the other day, however, I stumbled upon two blogs from media students somewhere in the world that talked about postcards, their meaning, and provided some examples. 

This blog by Alastair Tupling provided me with this really helpful infographic below. 

The second blog, bye Kavya Maran, simply stresses the importance of including contact information within one's postcard.

After learning some basic information on postcards from these two blogs, I decided that I wanted to research more on the actual composition and the information that I will need to include on the front and back of my postcard. This is when I came across an article by The No Budget Report which goes into detail about the importance of postcards as well as the vital information film-makers should include in them. 

Anatomy of a Postcard by Mark Stolaroff

The author, Mark Stolaroff, mentions that the front of the postcard should be simple and eyecatching, stating "You don't have to crap it up with any other information". He states that the image is likely the poster designed for the film, and if not, it should ideally be a compelling image that portrays the short.

As for the back, the author mentions that he likes to think of it as a "Pocket Press Kit" and that one should cram it with a lot of information. However, Stolaroff clarifies that filmmakers have to ensure that the information included must be clear, concise, and organized. It should be easy to read and glance over. He states that for him, he prefers to divide the back into two halves and divide the information into sections. 

The first section Stolaroff mentions are the Title and that it should be bolded and easy to read. The second section is the Director's Name which is usually placed near the title of the film. 

The third section Stolaroff clarifies as the Synopsis. He states that "after the graphic font, this is the second most important place to compel your audience to see the film". The next section is the billing block, which could compel people to watch your film based off of the familiarity of knowing someone in it. The author also states the billing block is also important as traditionally members of the cast and crew would also be passing out postcards it is compelling for them to say something along the lines of "That's me! I worked on this film".

Another important section to include in your postcard is the screening times, places, and ticket information. This is important as it is, according to Stolaroff "the postcard's reason for being". Things to include in this section would be the day, date, time, venue, address, and ticket links.

Stolaroff also mentions sections such as including your website, press quotes, film laurels and awards, calls to action as well as social media links, and finally the contact information which makes the postcard as much as a business card for the film but also the director.

Back of a postcard example

Finally, Stolaroff also includes information such as how many postcards one should print (500+ as you can reuse them), sizing options (he usually goes for 6" x 4.25 as they fit in most pockets), and wherein LA he likes to print them.

Overall, I think I got a really good basis and understanding of what a postcard should include, and I'm excited to start designing mine once production fully begins. 

Social Media- The Long Goodbye

 The Long Goodbye is a short film that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Film of 2022. It shares the story of an immigrant family in Britain and the extreme consequences that hate speech and racism can lead to. 

Their Instagram

Like Coda, the short film I researched in a previous post, The Long Goodbye's Instagram handle also includes something that hints at it being a short film. For example, Coda's Instagram handle was "Codamovie", while The Long Goodbye's handle includes the word "short" in it. 

First Post

Unlike Coda, however, The Long Goodby's first Instagram post was made after it already gained popularity from festivals and was available for streaming. This decision is important as it completely changes the type of posts that they have on their Instagram as compared to Coda's Instagram which began posting on the first day of filming. 

Some of the content in TLG's Instagram that differ from that from Coda's include

Trailer Montage clips             Critic Reviews      

 Director Interviews     Stills from the film + director quotes

 

Though I think I am gravitating for an Instagram layout more similar to that of Coda's, researching this short film account provided me not only with a different perspective but also different ideas that I can try to incorporate with my own social media. 

Costuming

Now that we're nearing the beginning of production, I thought it was important to start preparing the costuming for the characters within my short film. 

Initially, I had planned on having a total of three really thought out costumes. One of the main characters in the modern world, another for when she's in the painting, and lastly one for the weeping woman. As time runs fast, however, I decided to only have a specific look for the weeping woman as I will be painting her and her clothing will be the identifying factor for when she appears in person rather through the painting. For the other two costumes, I'm choosing to limit myself within my own closet and the closet of my friend and star of my short film Maya in order to not complicate things. 

Since the beginning of the brainstorming process for this short film, I always had the idea for the weeping woman to wear something loose and floral. I imagined something very nature-y and cottage-y, something that a countryside girl would wear. 

I coincidentally found the perfect style of dress when I began to search for floral dresses. The puff sleeve floral dress, as it is called, perfectly encompassed the idea I had in mind. 

Puff sleeve floral dress

After finding the example above, I began researching sites where I could buy a similar dress that would also deliver on time. The best option I found that still fit my idea was this dress from Amazon.  

Amazon Dress 

There are a few things that I’m worried about, for example, the reviews were not the best saying things such as the material running thing and the dress being too tight. I’m also worried that though I did order it through prime it won’t arrive on time and production would be pushed back longer. But truth be told, as long as it looks okay on camera then, hopefully, everything will work out.  

Story Boarding (ish)

Welcome back! 

Sometime last week I decided to quickly sketch a storyboard of some shots I had in mind for the short film. Though I don't have the full narrative thought out and I didn't go super detailed with the shot selection, I just wanted to opportunity to organize my thoughts and make sure I don't forget ideas I already have in my brain. 

Messy Storyboard

There are a couple of shots that I definitely think play a larger role in my piece such as a close up of the painting. This is important as I'm relying on these shots to stay present in the viewer's mind as the subject in the painting will appear again at the end of the film. Another shot I think is important would be a midshot from behind the main character which depicts both her and the painting. I would also like to take a midshot facing the main character, almost as if it were a POV shot in the perspective of the painting. All these shots are vital to me because I think that the emotion and the relationship between the main character and the subject in the painting is key to the meaning behind the entire piece. 

Of course I still have much more planning to do before actual production but this is a small yet important step forward through it all. 

Social Media- Coda Study

Reader, as I'm sure you are aware, one of the aspects of A Leve's portfolio project this year is the management of a social media account. It would be an understatement of me to say that I am terrified of this requirement. Though superficially it seems like an easy task (our generation being incredibly active in social media that is), it is the idea of having to come up with individual content for posts that frightens me the most. 

Though I do feel that focusing on the social media aspect now is a mistake due to how early into the project we are, the brooding thought of having to eventually make one will not leave my head, and so, I felt as if it would be best to at least do some research to calm my mind. 

I initially began my research by looking through our teacher's website to find last year A level student's blogs as an example. I focused on the blogs which had the same project as I, short film. but after finding Instagrams where all of the (few) posts were posted on the same day I decided to venture off towards other projects. Unfortunately, however, I was met with the same results. 

I then decided to look into actual short films social media accounts. I did this by researching the current and past short film academy nominees. 

The first social media account I researched was that of a short film recommended to us in class called Coda. 

Their Instagram

First Post

Behind the scenes images 

Cast and Crew

Official Promotion Images

I think the most important thing to reflect on in Coda's Instagram was how they began posting on their first filming date. I like how the direction they took with their social media account was more of documentation methods rather than marketing since they began posting so early into the production. Throughout the account, they feature various behind the scenes as well as images capturing the life on sets such as the actors and the crew. Another thing I think is important to mention is how once the short film was released and accepted into film festivals, they began posting more marketing content such as official key art and posts related to the festivals they attended.

I think I'll leave the other short films accounts for future blogs as this one is already quite lengthy. Today's research, however, did help significantly with easing my mind about the social media aspect of the project as it has given me some inspiration as how I will be managing mine. 

Art Styles

One of the most important and time-consuming aspects of my project will be creating the painting of the crying woman. In order to be able to create a beautiful yet finished piece that I will be able to use when filming, it is vital for me to start painting it as soon as possible. Because of this, I have already conducted a series of research that will aid me in this process.

I began researching different art styles throughout the ages. Though I have an image in my mind of what I would like the piece to be, I thought it was important for me to explore multiple art styles. I came upon an article in Google Arts and Culture called The Portrayal of Woman Throughout History which showcases art pieces of women throughout history. 

It displays pieces dating from 40 century B.C (such as this sculpture of Venus) to as early as the 1930s (such as this photograph of a Migrant Mother). One piece, in particular, caught my mind: 

Venus of Urbino

Venus of Urbino is a painting by Titian which took four years to complete until it was finally finished in 1538. It is a prime example of a painting during the Italian Renaissance which focuses on human naturalism. I really enjoy the soft blending within many Renaissance pieces, however, like most pieces within this time, there wasn't a lot of focus on human emotion.

This leads me to research Baroque works. Like pieces during the Renaissance movement, Baroque also shares the characteristics of having soft features however its focus lays mostly on the capturing of human emotion. 

Josefa de Óbidos

Unknown

Cheers!

I refined my search by focusing on paintings that depicted upset women. Since I will have to model my subject, I wanted to research thoroughly the lighting and composition of paintings including crying women. In order to do so, I asked for help from my friend. classmate, and fellow art history student Aurea if they had any pieces in mind. Aurea nudged me into a good direction by giving me some examples of what to look for.

Taking this into consideration I began looking for pieces on my own until I eventually wandered upon the perfect painting.

A Weeping Woman

A Weeping Woman, otherwise known as A Study of a Weeping Woman, is a Baroque painting 1644. Its artist is unknown however it is commonly believed that the artist was a student of the renowned painter Rembrandt as the piece greatly corresponds to Rembrandt's piece The Woman Taken in Adultery. 

What attracts me the most from this painting is its composition. Out of all of the other pieces depicting crying women, this is one that is less dramatized as it captures a silent tear, which is exactly what I seek to capture within my piece. The composition shows just enough of the facial features to capture the emotion the subject is presenting while also displaying a good portion of the clothes she wears. This is important to me as the clothing the woman in my short film wears serves as a way to identify her within the piece. I also really enjoy how simple the background is, this shows me that the simple background I have in mind will not take away from the painting itself. 

This final painting will guide me tremendously with the creation of my own version of A Weeping Woman.

I've actually struggled writing this post for a couple of days, not because I don't know what to say but because I'm afraid of starting. I'm scared that once I do write this post, and I truly begin the whole process of creating, I will lose sight and control of my idea and that I won't be able to follow through. The idea itself isn't even that complex I'm just not very confident in my skills and am feeling a bit overwhelmed over the number of things I have to do, HOWEVER, there is no point to dwell on all of this as at the end of the day, I know I will do my absolute best in the project, so I'll just have to trust the process.

Anyways... without further ado 

The Idea! 

(Name has yet to be decided)

The short story begins with the main character walking around in a museum. She is young, holding a sketchbook or perhaps a museum guidebook, and wears nice but simple clothing. She is looking around her, glancing at each painting but one, in particular, catches her eye. She stands in front of it. It's a baroque piece with elements of romanticism of a woman crying. The woman is looking off to the side, a distinct tear is trailing down her cheek. She wears a light floral dress and though the background is blurry, it is clear she is outside in the day, surrounded by shady trees. 

The protagonist is absolutely captivated by this painting. She doesn't know what it is but something about her puts her in a trance. She absentmindedly reaches towards the painting, almost as if she were to wipe the woman's tear away. However, her trance is immediately broken when she notices paint trail up her arm, almost as if the painting itself was coming alive to encompass her. Suddenly, she is yanked in.

The protagonist slowly comes back to her senses. It's bright and her visions I a bit blurry but she can hear the sound of leaves moving against the wind and she can feel the sun kiss her skin. Her vision clears up and confirms that she is outside, however, the texture and the lighting of her surroundings seem surreal. It is clear that she is in the painting. She is no longer wearing her simple clothing either but instead dawning a more colourful look.

After walking around for a little the protagonist happens upon a tree. Within this tree there is a single apple, hanging from one of the lower branches. She walks closer and picks it, deciding then to rub her fingers against its skin as if cleaning it. She raises her hand from the apple and notices it is red and the spot she rubbed had faded in colour, as if she had rubbed the paint off of it. 

(Now here is where I'm not sure what other events would take place on)

Finally, the protagonist wanders into a clearing and there far away she recognizes the floral dress of the woman in the painting. She approaches her. The woman is sitting down on the grass and it is evident that she is quietly crying. Once she is closer, the protagonist kneels by the woman and by now it is clear that look-alike if not exactly the same, however, if she noticed she made no move to show it.  The protagonist slowly reaches her hand towards the woman and rubs her tear away.

THE END 

Why?

When brainstorming ideas of what to do in the project, I found myself drawing a blank. It was only until my math class when I was talking to a friend and fellow media student Nicole (you can find her blog here), that I thought back on my past portfolio project. 

Last year I had also decided to go with an art theme for the opening, choosing to portray an artist struggling with their imperfection. Art plays and has played a large role in my life since I was very young, so for me, it wasn't a hard decision to go with an art-based project.

Images from 20/21 AS film opening

This year the statement still stands. Not only did I coincidentally theme my blog this with art pieces (I swear I had decided on a theme even before thinking about the portfolio project), but I also have been involved in many art projects outside of my art class this year. Without thinking too into it, however, the idea of which will encompass my short film came to me quite suddenly and I haven't been able to let go since. 

I have decided to take this opportunity and this idea which suddenly arrived at me to talk about the importance of acceptance of yourself. Though (as of right now) this theme isn't overtly portrayed up until the end, I hope that its subtleness will allow me to have greater creative liberty when it comes to mise en scene and editing while also including a plot twist within the piece.

Though, as I said before, I am terrified of what is to come, I am equally as excited. I can not wait to see what is to come through this whole process. 

Brainstorming

Since the last post, I have come a long way in the brainstorming process. In fact, I actually had developed a full idea even before my Rough Start blog but I was just too afraid to bring it up in case I changed my mind. 

As of right now, I am deciding to stick with the short story package portion of the portfolio project. Though this is a frightening decision, the idea that I thought of has been growing in my mind, and the more time I spend thinking of the project, the larger it grows and the more attached to it I become. 

Here's what you don't see behind the scenes: 

I already have multiple blog posts in my drafts where I've been jotting down notes and things I've researched throughout these past few days. None of them are finished as every day I jot down any small concepts, thoughts, and research I may come through. At the moment within these drafts, I have a series of links, bullet points and various images. 

I've also begun writing a script since, as I've mentioned before, I'm more of a visual learner. The script has been allowing me to properly organize the scattered thoughts and images I have and see in my head of the short film I'll be developing. 

Now you may be wondering: What is this grand idea that you suddenly have from one blog post to another? 

Well, you'll just have to wait till one more blog post to find out

(P.S enjoy the small sneak peek on this post <3 )

A Rough Start

I am very anxious to admit that the start of my portfolio project has not been the greatest one. 

About a month ago my friend and I had agreed to work together and do the Music Video portion of the portfolio, however, yesterday they confided in me saying that they had a sudden urge and motivation to do what they are most passionate about, animation, and wished to do an animated short. Of course, for them, this is a great opportunity and they definitely should take advantage of it, however, it does leave me in a difficult situation. 

I don’t think I am capable of working with a band and filming a music video on my own, which means the original plan I had is out the door. This leaves either the documentary, short film, or trailer projects. 

Like the music video, I feel as if a documentary would be too challenging for me to do considering I would have to not only come up with a subject but also find an interviewee which wasn’t my strongest suit during the documentary project we had this year. 

Finally, we have the trailer and short film. Though I would love to create a full story with a start to finish I am a little worried that I won’t come up with a concept in time considering the time restraints I am in. I also have this concern for the trailer, though in this case, the narrative of the story would not have to be as developed. 

Since I am very indecisive and also a visual learner, I decided to jot down the main points of each project, my fears with them, and what I would look forward to if choosing said project. 

In conclusion, what I gathered from this process is that every project is going to have its challenges. After writing everything down I think I'm leaning towards the short film however I would like to brainstorm some ideas before committing completely.   

And so it Begins

The times finally here where we begin our portfolio project. However, before we can get back to business, I think a proper re-introduction is due. 

Hi, my name is Isabella and I'm a senior in the A level course of Aice Media. 

AS last year was an experience. There were many challenges I faced from not only taking the class online but also having little to no experience when it comes to media production. However, despite all of these hardships, I wouldn't change anything about it. Each project allowed me to grow immensely as a person. I learned things I never would have had the opportunity to learn without the class, our teacher, and my classmates. I also made many friendships that have only strengthened throughout the year. With all of these factors, it's no surprise that Media Studies quickly became my favourite class. 

(If you're interested in seeing my AS blog click here or the embedded link at the top of the right sidebar).

I am extremely proud of my film opening last year considering it was the first time I ever produced anything related to film (not counting the projects we had throughout the year but those I didn't work on alone). This year I can't wait to see how my project grows throughout this process of creating our portfolio. I'm really excited (and a little scared) but I'm glad I'm able to document my journey through here. 

Without further ado, welcome to my blog!

A Level Endeavors ~pt. 2

 Though I would love to write about my favourite topic we discussed this year (postmodernism), I feel like this blog would end up as a mess of scattered thoughts that even I would not be able to understand. And so onto the next topic....

Film Distribution!

One of the coolest aspects of the film distribution project was the fact we had the opportunity to collaborate with the creative writing classes. Each group of three in our class were randomly assigned four creative writing stories for us to adapt and distribute. It was meant to emulate the client employee dynamic where we worked for the creative writing student to bring their creation to motion pictures. 

While looking over the stories assigned to us, my group, Ella, Jireh, and I, decided that though all stories were very interesting and unique, it would be best for us to choose one which was the easiest to produce considering neither of us have too much experience in the field. With this thought in mind, we decided to go with a traditional high school rom-com where the nerd falls in love with the jock.

Within our project, we were assigned to do a series of materials such as two trailers (one of which being a teaser), key art (such as film posters), and finally our distribution plan in the form of a presentation.

We began by researching our genre, romance-comedy.  We looked at two movies, Isn't It Romantic (2019) and Overboard (2018). With these two case studies, we researched film conventions, stylistic choices within the key art, and distribution conventions. 

After researching everything we need, we began with our own planning. We used google docs in order to jot down any ideas we had for our trailers, distribution, and key art, as well as making a schedule for all of us to meet and film.

Brainstorming

Project Shooting Schedule

Then we began creating! I contributed mostly by making all of the key art, organizing the slides presentation, and filming the shots we were getting. Since the jock of the narrative is a hockey player, we thought it would be a fun idea to go to our local ice skating arena to film some scenes there. Alongside this, we filmed schools scenes in, well, school, and my group members came over to my house one day to shoot some scenes in my room as well take the photos for the key art,

Main Key Art

Protagonist Key Art

Love Interest Key art

We faced a lot of challenges throughout this project such as proper scheduling. Tho we did make an attempt to have an organized schedule, it was hard to balance the work schedule of two of the people involved in the production as well as schoolwork. I also believe we had a difficult time communicating as we were working up till the last minute before the due date, not exactly sure of what to do. Despite all of this, I am still glad I had the opportunity to once again work with amazing people and push my comfort zone when it comes to production.

Still from one of the shots taken at the ice rink

A Level Endeavors ~pt. 1

There have been many projects that I've had the great opportunity of working on this year in Aice Media A Level. All of these projects allowed me not only to grow as a media student but it's prepared me for the upcoming portfolio project. One of the projects I will be discussing from this past year was the Documentary Project.

Documentary!

The documentary project was to make a short seven-minute-long documentary on a topic of our choosing. My group, Maya, Nicole, and I, brainstormed a variety of topics such as interviewing ESE teachers and their experiences, before deciding on the topic of creative careers, its stigma, and the effects it has on those who wish to pursue creative careers. 

Our documentary was titled Don't Quit Your Day Job, and you can watch it by clicking the image below.

As mentioned above, our documentary aimed to talk about creative careers throughout all of its stages. We began our documentary by interviewing three middle school-aged kids who wished to one day pursue a creative career, such as acting and dancing. 

Nicole interviewing Samuel

We followed this along by interviewing three college students who describe why they chose their major, whether creative or not, and the challenges they are facing because of it. Katina, for example, is pursuing majoring in architecture. She describes her experiences of originally wanting to pursue computer science and what made her switch to the major she has now, mentioning that the arts have been and always will be a part of her and that she could not live without it. We also interviewed a student who originally wanted to pursue animation, however, due to the instability of a creative career providing a paycheck and her medical condition, she decided otherwise and is instead to pursue a career in the medical field. 

Lastly, we finished the documentary by interviewing two adults who recount their experiences growing up in and out of the creative field. David, the last interviewee, initially wished to have an immense career in music, however, today has not pursued that, he states that he has no regrets about where he is now, and poses the advice for younger creatives to "Not quit your day job".

We face many challenges throughout this whole experience. Many of which included organizing our time together as a group and, most notably, filming b-roll. We also had many issues dealing with video and sound editing which could all have been avoided if we had simply organized our time better. 

However, despite all of the challenges we faced, I am glad to have had the opportunity to not only do something I never had the chance to do before but also to work together with incredibly talented and creative people.