Cambridge Blog Post #5

 Today in class, me and my group had a more real world talk today. We talked less about the actual project, and more about the materials that we would need to complete it. My group and I want this film opening to look as good and as professional as possible. That is just not an option, if we are using something like a smartphone camera. So, all period we decided to do our research on different things like cameras, and editing software that we feel will be adequate for us to do our best work.

Max, our director, told us all about a camera that is able to use 55mm lenses. Apparently, it is good for getting extremely crisp shots. This is extremely helpful, as not only does it give us beautiful looking shots, but the lenses itself are described as "ideal for compressing perspective and taking portraits or closing in on details". For this film opening, we want people to see as much detail as possible. If you do not have a good camera, then your film will suffer. This is exactly why we spent so much time talking about this, because even though it may not seem like it, this is honestly something that can make or break our film.

We also talked a lot about the different editing software's we could possibly use. There are a ton of extremely good options to choose from. Some of the most famous ones are ones like VideoStudio and Visio Standard, but we will be using what we think is the most famous one of all. That would be Adobe Premiere Pro. Adobe Premiere Pro has many options that these other editing software's do not have. When my group and I talked about it, we all thought that it would be most beneficial for us to use that software, especially since our groupmate Max, as well as myself, have past experience using the program. I can speak from experience when I say that the program is very high quality. It has never disappointed me in the past, so I do not think it will disappoint this time.

Overall, while today we did not talk much about our actual project, I still would consider the day a success. Decisions like these are extremely important to a project like this one. Obviously, no matter what we use, we will still try to make the best film opening possible, but having these types of tools at our disposal really means that we can make our project the best it can be. Next class, I believe we will be having a conversation about the films in our chosen genre that we are inspired to do this film by. I know that it will be an interesting conversation to have, as there are so many good options to choose from for inspiration.

Cambridge Blog Post #4

 Today during class, my group and I finally came up with the genre that we want to use for our film. It is a genre that has been done a good amount over the years, but we feel that we have an idea that is different from all the others. The genre we chose is not one singular genre. It is in fact a combination of two famous genres. Me and my group could not be more excited about it. The mix that we have chosen is marketed toward people our age more than it is an older crowd. Although, people of any age can and will be able to enjoy what we are putting together. We think we are gonna flourish, when we base our film opening on the genre of: Horror-Comedy.

Horror-comedy is a perfect genre for us to do. For one, on a personal note, it combines two of my favorite movie genres. I know a ton about both, so it will be a lot easier for me to get invested in the story that we are currently working on creating. As for the project itself, me and my group were thinking about something that could appeal to a mass audience our age. At first we thought about doing a drama. Then, I thought about how even though there are great dramas out there, none are really marketed to kids our age. Then we thought about romance, but none of us are really fans of that genre, and in terms of acting, we did not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. None of us are professional actors, and we were not sure if anyone in the group could really do well with that type of material.

The reason we chose horror comedy is because both genres have made a huge impact on teenagers' lives over the many years. Movies like Superbad, and 21 Jump Street have been some of my favorite comedic movies for years. Movies like Saw, and The Purge, have also been horror franchises that have made a huge cultural impact on this generation of teens. So, my groups thought on synergizing the two genres, so that we would be able to reach a larger audience who may like one genre but not the other, as well as those who like the famous horror-comedy genre films. My group and I are very excited about the genre we have chosen. Our next real step is to analyze some of the famous films within the genre, and see what worked in them and did not work. We can learn from their mistakes and do better. I just hope we are able to do the genre the justice it deserves.

Cambridge Post #3

Over the weekend, A group of friends and I talked, and we decided that we would work on the project together. Max and David are their names. Even though we happily agreed to work with one another, until the day you truly start to talk about the project, and formulate ideas together, you never truly know how it is going to go. Often times people have creative differences about what they would like to do with the content being assigned. So I was a bit nervous that that would be the case here. To my surprise though, we all actually worked really well together.

When we first got in the meeting we all started to talk about the experiences that we had with a project of this scale before. Max said he was a good editor and director, but not an actor, David said he was a better actor and drawer than he was a director. I said that I was a better writer and actor than I was an editor or director. It was important for us all to figure that out, so that when the time comes, we feel comfortable in the positions that we are in for the project. If one person better suits one role, then we give them that role. Because if they can do it better than another, our project is all the more creative and enjoyable.

My group today also spoke about topics that were important to the overall execution of our future filming, which is that of location. We spoke about where our families would be comfortable with us going in this Covid era, how packed of a place we could and should work in, and, what we would just overall be comfortable with. Sadly, this project is happening at a tough time, where are resources are a lot more limited than they once were, and we spoke about how in the worst case scenario, we would get the work done. Me and my group also managed to narrow down our list of genres to choose from for our project. While we have not quite decided yet, I figure that by the next time I post here, I will know with 100% certainty.

Overall, my day today speaking with my group was extremely successful. We talked about a lot of important things that in the end will be integral to our project. I would consider it to be a very productive day for our first time truly talking about the project. If most of the days we work on this in the future can be as productive as today, then I think we are going to be in good shape. I can only hope that it works out that way.

Cambridge Post #2

 

After long consideration, and if my partner agrees, I think that the genre of film that I want to base my film opening on will be that of drama. There is a ton that you can do with the genre of drama. For one, it could be set anywhere. It can be about almost anything as well. You do not have that type of freedom if you were to choose something as simple as comedy. With drama it's all about getting across the message that you want to tell, by showing and not telling. You need to be very subtle in drama’s because unlike other genres, this one is not supposed to be all up close and personal to you. It is for those reasons that I have decided to go this route. But I do know that it will be tough, and a large part of it will have to do with appeal to my target market.

With drama’s, you really are cornering a much more niche market, then if you were to do an opening based on let us say comedy. With dramas, you are really tapping into the 18-50 range, and that is a very wide variety of people that you will be able to sell your movie to. It is also a big help that personally, I have been a fan of drama’s my entire life. I cannot explain why I like them so much honestly, but it has always been a genre that has fascinated me. I have always wanted to learn more about them. Maybe, this is my chance to do so. When I begin my research for this film, I know for a fact that I will have to do a deep dive into this genre, and what makes it so special in the first place. It is going to be an exciting venture.

I am definitely going to have to think about what techniques I can use for editing this type of project when the time comes. Maybe I can use a black and white filter over it. Or maybe I can film in dark lighting to give me the effect that I want. When editing, I am going to have to consider all of this and much more, in order to try and perfect my project. The tiniest details can make it all the better. I honestly cannot wait to see how everything will play out. If it is done right, then I think this Cambridge project will be my best work yet.

Cambridge Post #1

For this upcoming Cambridge portfolio, I know that I am in for some serious and challenging work. This will be different than any project or blog that I have created thus far. Before, it was mostly talking about simple subjects, like how a type of genre needs to be marketed to consumers, but this is on a whole new level. I will be working on a film opening. If those opening minutes don't hook an audience member in, then you as a director, writer, actor, producer, even a caterer, have failed at your jobs. Even if someone is not a fan of the genre you are basing your film on, a well made film, can make any critic change their mind.

Personally, I am keen to many different genres, which is why picking one to use for my film opening has been such a difficult task. Whether it is Quentin Tarantino directing something as violent as Kill Bill Volume 1, or something as light-hearted and fun as Sam Raimi directing Spider-Man, I am able to find joy in every type of genre. When I do end up choosing the genre that I want to base my opening on, I have to be careful though. I need to make sure that I am not copying, or trying to do an homage to a film based in that genre. Not only because that is not allowed, but because as a creator, I want my work to stand on its own. I do not want what I make to be compared to any other film, because I did not make it for that specific purpose.

I have to say, I am very excited to get started. Obviously there is a lot to figure out before filming begins. I first need to come up with what genre I am going to base my opening on. Then, I need to figure out whether or not anyone will be working with me or not. If someone will be, will we be able to agree on the genre? Will I have to make a compromise? Will I be the editor of the project or will my possible partner be able to help? I have all these questions and many more racing through my mind right now. It may get complicated, but if I start to figure out the basic things soon, then I think that the pieces will start to move to the right places. I will just have to wait and see.

Music Marketing #2

 For your second blog post about the Music Marketing Project you will describe and reflect upon the full process involved with this project.  You should be sure to describe and discuss research, brainstorming/planning, production, post-production, and presentation.  

Your final paragraph should include a reflection of the project as a whole.  What did you learn?  What aspects of this project will be helpful when developing your Cambridge portfolio?

This blog post discuss, in depth, your entire project.  Therefore, it will be a longer posting.  Be sure to include examples from your project.  

Here, submit the URL of your blog.  

For my group's music marketing project, we put a lot of time and effort not only into making the music video itself, but researching about the history of alternative music, and the famous bands and record labels that fill up that space. In order to find out information about how they advertise, and what they do to get their name out there, we had to go to the source itself. These types of bands often have websites for themselves, in order for people to be able to find out more about them. This is where we were able to take a bulk of our information about the respective bands from. Once we found out the information, we had to sort through, and make sure we wrote and talked about the most important parts of their brands. Once that part was done, it was on to brainstorming ideas about our music video.

Although I am extremely proud of how our video turned out, I must confess that the road to get there was not very easy. When we first started throwing around ideas, I remember that many of our members disagreed on how this video should be done. Some thought the video should have a large element of humor, while other members thought that the video should be a little bit more serious. It took us several hours on a Saturday afternoon to finally be able to come to an agreement. We did so by thinking of the bands we based ours on, and how they have done things in the past. Once we thought of that, we all started to get more in sync. Now, even though we had a video idea, shooting it was a completely different beast all together.

For this music video, we only had one day to shoot it. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the group members hectic schedule, it was either this one day to film, or no film at all. It was nerve racking, and there were times that I was not sure that we would even be able to finish it. This is especially because so many things could have gone wrong. For one, we ordered props online, and we were afraid that they would not come in time. In the end though, they ended up coming the day of the shoot. We also had to go location scouting in order to find the best places to shoot, and that takes a while, so we were cutting into our precious hours of daylight that we needed to film. Now luckily, we managed to get it all done. Although, production doesn't just refer to the filming itself. It refers to the things around our band. Our very talented group member Isabella offered to build our band their very own website. So, she had to make sure the site not only looked professional but something that could be made for a popular band, and that people would visit. 

Post production was arguably one of the hardest parts of our project. After the filming finished, it was a sigh of relief, but the work wasn't done yet. My group sat for several hours, and talked about how we should approach the editing process of this. Should we use lights to give the video an extra color pop? Should we try to incorporate sound effects? Is it possible for us to edit it perfectly to the beat or will the video be a little off? All those were real questions we asked each other during this process. For one, if your video doesn't sync up to the music, then you have screwed yourselves over completely. If the video is too dark, but your video is lighthearted, then that is also a conflicting area. We had to make sure all the small problems that we had got fixed, and after a couple hours of playing around with our editing tools, we finally figured out the plan. So, the editing process started, and when it was finally finished, it was time to present everything to our peers.

For the presentation, there were a couple of factors to consider. We wanted to make sure that we were upbeat, and were able to have a good flow for the presentation. Our main goal was to avoid awkward silences and dull moments, because that takes away from not only the presentation, but the overall project. We also wanted to make sure that the actual presentation slides that we were working with were organized well. We structured it from talking about our band first, to what we will use to market them, to then showing the video. I think this was a smart move, as we want people to get to know who we are first, rather than us just show them a music video and explain afterwards. I think because we took these steps, we were able to be a lot more successful.

Overall, I would consider this project to be successful. I was glad to not only see my work hard on the project pay off, but I managed to learn a couple of things as well. For one, I was never much of an editor, but I actually learned a lot on this project about the different techniques that people use to edit something of this caliber. I also learned about a lot of the tricks of the camera, due to me being behind it a lot of the time. I think in terms of when I start my Cambridge portfolio, the fact that I now know different tips and tricks for editing and filming will help immensely. It is going to make my future a lot simpler, now that I know what exactly is expected of me, and the fact that I now have the tools to fulfill those expectations.

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Music Marketing #1

 

Researching for this project was honestly a lot harder than we anticipated. Because of the nature of the research, me and my group often found it difficult to look up specific topics like the history of the respective bands, as well as coming up with and brainstorming ideas for our music video. While we managed to find out the information eventually, the reason we had so much trouble originally is because many points of that information is not readily available to the public. So, we had to get creative around how we would search for that information. For example, instead of searching who represents our band currently, we had to search up who represented our band back when they originally started making music.

Another challenge of the project was writing information about some of the case studies. We were able to find a lot more information on this area than the history of our bands, but it was still a challenge, but in a way that could be considered good. All these bands have been around for so long, and have accomplished  so much, not only in their careers but how they market themselves, that it was extremely hard to choose what to write for each study. When researching, we had a debate where we talked about which facts were more important to include in the chart than others, as well as how those facts would integrate with showing how the band markets themselves. In the end, we all managed to finally come to the agreed upon list, and I was just glad that we all came to see each others ideas and integrated them into the chart. As you can see from the example below I was very heated in what I tried to get across, and I was not really thinking at the time about an important part of the selected bands marketing.

A large challenge that we faced during the creation of this project, is coming up with a fun and creative way to make our music video. The challenges ranged from not knowing what we wanted to do for the music video, to trying the figure out the practicality of filming. Now, as we live in a world that is being overrun by Covid-19, we had to come to a challenging agreement on whether or not we wanted to meet with each other in person to get this done, or complete it virtually. The music video idea that we came up with took many hours of talking with each other, because we all really wanted not only what was being shown on screen to fit with the song, but also tell a certain message that audiences of all ranges could understand. I personally think that we have accomplished just that with our video idea. The planning process overall was a beneficial one, and it is an underrated step in many types of productions.