Film Brainstorm and Idea Exchange

 I was not able to discuss the film this week with my illegitimate film partner, Sabrina Ares, but I was able to exchange a few simple ideas with someone else. Although I may have changed lanes since I last discussed the idea of filming the dementia film, my friend Nicolas Rivera and I once again exchanged ideas during a meet-up with our friend group today. I told him all about my new idea, and he responded with some criticism, as he was still upset that I had abandoned the original idea. After discussing it further however, he seemed to enjoy this new idea as well and gave me some of his ideas. 

I told him the new film was going to be called something along the lines of "Skateboards, Cars, and Monsters," to which he responded with the most obvious pun I didn't think of for some reason, "You should have them drink Monster Energy in the film as a wordplay to the title." I would still include the monster, of course, but he suggested that I have the characters drink this beverage in the film opening as it is a characteristic of the indie aesthetic, as many "alt" or "indie" kids enjoy the drink due to the energy it gives them, considering their stereotypical teenage sleeping habits. 

In addition to this, he suggested to change the title to just "Skateboards and Monsters," as a laundry list of a title may be overwhelming and too cliché, along with the fact it removes the necessity of having to also focus on the driving aspect of the film which would be difficult to film without special cameras such as GoPros, or having to capture driving footage from another driving car.

Possible Film Mediums and Styles for Opening

 Recently, I have been looking through my dad's old stuff and found some interesting items: a working cassette recorder and VHS camcorder. Perhaps I could use these in my film opening to authentically emulate the look of the nineties if I were to set the story in this era, although I would most likely only use the camcorder as cassette tapes are not used for filming. The advantages of using a camcorder would be that the story would be capturing the style of the era realistically, as well as giving the film opening a homemade look which is a common style/aesthetic in indie/coming-of-age edits on social media platforms. Since the film also takes on the subject of skateboarding, the camcorder would also be synonymous with skater culture as they are frequently used to record skate tricks and are prized vintage items. I may also buy a fish eye lens as this lens filter is also popular in the "indie kid" genre.

Breakout Room Discussion

 In lieu of face-to-face interactions which most of us have not had for almost a year, today in class we went into breakout rooms to discuss our film ideas, as discussion amongst classmates and friends is very important in the creative process. I was especially relieved to have been in a very kind and exceptional group of students. We had very insightful and helpful conversations concerning our projects, such as giving advice and even helping to develop our classmates' stories/plots for their film opening. The meeting also helped relieve some doubts and anxieties I had about the project, as I am working by myself. I was relieved to hear many of the other students in the breakout room were still very lost and unsure what they would do for their film opening. 

As we took turns discussing our film openings and our problems we're facing towards the project, it was my turn to discuss my "kool-kid" coming-of-age film idea. Many of them liked the idea of basing a film off of the indie aesthetic which many of us indulge in with social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. One important thing they told me however, was to make sure the style is complimentary of the film's subject, and that I should develop the film's plot before I speculate its cinematography style. Overall, the advice they give was to work methodically, and to not get too ahead of myself by planning shots which may change according to what plot I decide on. 

Later this week I will discuss the film with my friend Sabrina Ares, who is in another period of AICE Media Studies, although she has her own film opening project to worry about as well.

New Subject: Coming of Age Film "Skateboards, Cars, and Monsters"

 Yesterday, I finally made the decision to change my filming topic. I'm not sure exactly why, but the dementia idea made me feel very negative and I kept trying to push it aside in my head rather than actively brainstorm ideas or just in general. I want to make something positive and upbeat.

My new film opening is for a short film called "Skateboards, Cars, and Monsters," a movie about teenagers doing fun teenager things battling some spooky force of nature. However, this film is less reminiscent of a horror film, but rather a 90s teenage Halloween film aesthetic. I already have a few ideas for the film, and the most important factor being for the film to exude strong indie-kid Pinterest vibes.

Yesterday, I received permission from the indie musician Far Caspian to use any of his songs for my film opening:

"Hey Nicholas thanks for the kind words. Yeah, that's cool with me use whatever song you want!"

This new idea is making me much more excited than my previous one, even garnering much support from lots of my friends, asking if I need help or if they can act in it. I told my friends Sabrina and Cam about my new idea, and Sabrina was exuberant to help produce not only the film opening with me, but to possibly make a full length film after the project is done, just for fun. Cam recommended I watch films like Lady Bird for shot composition reference and others such as I Am Not Okay With This for genre research.

Although this new idea will be much more ambitious in terms of filming, I'm looking forward to it a lot more and I hope it turns out how I'm expecting.

Postponing Interview

 I was supposed to go conduct the interview at Covenant Living of Florida today, but due to complications I had to postpone it to Tuesday. Visiting hours are from 12-5pm, so I will most likely be visiting directly after school with my friend Nicolas Rivera who is helping me with the project. On another note, my doubt is starting to come back in regards to the dementia concept, I'm not sure if I'm feeling up to make a film on such a depressing subject, so I may change my mind once again to the coming-of-age idea which definitely makes me feel more positive. However, I will still conduct the interview tomorrow and see how I feel. If I still feel weary about the subject I after, I will discuss it with my teammate and see if we want to switch lanes. I do have several more weeks to plan and record the project, so maybe my mind will change. As of this moment though, I feel a sort of pressure in regards to the dementia project.

Dementia Research: Speaking to Real Patients

 Tomorrow afternoon, my friend and I are going to learn more about the disease and visit a retirement home to speak to those elderly patients who have it in person. We hope this will help us understand the psyche of those with dementia and help us to portray it properly in our film opening project. In addition, him and I are doing extensive research on the disease and watching various videos about the subject such as those provided by the Alzheimer's Research Center. To get ideas, I have also been watching a variety of short films about the disease on YouTube.

Next week we will start planning and brainstorming the project. Tomorrow when we go to visit the patients, we will simply be having conversations with them to understand their mannerisms, being as respectful as possible and not be too calculated about the subject.

Film About Dementia: Update

I'm not sure how I feel using my grandmother as a subject for my film opening about such a sensitive topic like dementia, so I will have to find another way to portray this in my film opening without using an elderly character. 

On another note, I am planning on working on this project with various friends who are not in my class, many of which are familiar with the album which is the inspiration for this idea. One of these friends, Nicolas Rivera, also really likes film and has wanted to work with me on a film project for a long time, so I see this as a great opportunity to do so. 

In terms of research and planning, everyday I'm diving deeper into the music hoping to get a greater understanding of the psyche of someone with this disease, as well as researching videos about dementia and resources describing it. I hope to represent this subject in the most appropriate and accurate manner possible, and if it turns out I can't use this as the subject of my film opening anymore, I suppose I will have to go with my Plan B which is some sort of psychological/cosmic horror film surrounding the "Backrooms." If Plan B is a no-go, I will most likely go with my Plan C and make a film opening for a coming-of-age film.

Film About Dementia

 While pondering in class today, I had the idea to not just make some abstract psychological horror film opening, but to do Everywhere At The End of Time justice and use it as a soundtrack in a film depicting dementia. I would film my grandmother and I would use her as a medium to represent dementia in parallel with the developing score of the movie. Although we're just supposed to make a film opening, if this were a full-fledged movie or short film, the film would surround the story of both the dementia patient and their caretaker. Although this may sound boring at first, the purpose of the film will be to depict the horror of this awful disease and therefore I would employ experimental filming techniques to retain audience attention and represent the disease through the visual medium. In addition to being a film about a meaningful and important subject, it would also be extremely easy to film as the filming locations would be mostly in my house or neighborhood as well as the fact that my grandmother lives with me. 

New Idea for Film Opening

The other day me and some of my friends faced a genuine scare, which I would not like to discuss in detail, but in short it gave me an idea for my film opening.

Recently, I have been listening to this album called Everywhere at the End of  Time by The Caretaker. In layman's terms, its a six-hour long album which simulates the development of dementia, probably one of the only pieces of work in the horror genre which genuinely chills me to the bone. Strangely enough, I almost find this album beautiful in a way. It's not much in terms of musicality, it mostly consists of slow ballroom music and contains no lyrics, but as you continue listening (about a couple hours in) the music starts becoming much more menacing in a subtle way. It starts slowing down even more, and some of the instruments start to stutter and go off-key. Later into the album, it slowly becomes more and more distorted until it's just static.

Some album cover art from the various "Stages"

Truly horrifying. The psychological horror of this album is truly admirable, and I would even say this album is somewhat cathartic, in the sense that its almost like a projection of your inner subconscious. I digress however, point being is that I would like to create a film opening which uses the introduction of the album as the background score; the opening to a piece of psychological horror. Shots would be empty and unmoving, with very little elements and subjects to contrast. The tone of the piece would be desolate, leaving the viewer with a feeling of loneliness, almost as trapped in a fever dream or alternate reality. 

I was thinking something similar in tone to these pictures:

Planning the Cambridge Portfolio Project

 Now that we have finished our music marketing projects, it is time to finally work on our big Cambridge assessment: the portfolio project. We're supposed to be making an opening for a fiction film, maximum of three minutes. I'm almost certain I want to make an opening for a coming of age film, I love that genre so much. I don't have a clear idea of what I want though, but I have been taking inspiration from a variety of indie films as I really like the aesthetic they have and their production. For example, I love the use of color in The Florida Project to reflect childhood innocence and coming of age,  while I like the stylistic choices of the movie Antrum (which is actually a horror film) which rely on visual language to communicate the story, such as the use of color, symbols, lighting, etc. I feel like I want to have some sort of flower field or corn field in my movie opening, as these are usually symbols for simple living which are the biggest themes in most coming of age films, in my opinion at least. I want my film opening to feel cathartic, almost.

Music Marketing Project Follow-Up

We may not have been the most creative individuals on the planet, but we sure did try to at least show off in front of our classmates. 

Our project started with the main goal of being original (quirky and different, if I may), using unconventional filming techniques and post-production editing to make our music video stand out. However, we realized that by following this dogma we would be faced with unnecessary stress, so we tried to keep things simple in regards to filming and composition and focused on our experimental storytelling. In the end, we decided to veil our lazy camera work through this storytelling and well-done special effects by, yours truly, Luis Rodriguez. I filmed the project within one day with the help of a friend outside of our group, allowing us to focus on our presentation and editing rather than crunching everything last second which we almost ended up doing.

Much of the ideas which influenced our music video came from our case studies and personal preferences. Our song started with these weird, glitchy vocals which we thought reminded us of the "techy," synthwave sound of the song Blinding Lights by the Weeknd (even though they sound nothing alike).  Falling into the R&B genre, we incorporated it into our case studies along with Khalid's Free Spirit, which sounds more similar to our song C'mon Talk by Bernhoft, and through this we were able to gather enough knowledge on the genre to plan our project. Focusing on the "techy" aspect to our song, we created a character/brand surrounding this experimentalist style of music called Neue, who would act as a personification of this R&B. We also made sure to not get carried away by this theme of tech and experimentalism, so in our presentation and music video we tried to constantly reference back to fundamental genre of the song by emulating and mentioning genre characteristics.

Examples of effects we used to match the experimental "vibes" of our music video were pixel sorting and data-moshing. Pixel sorting is an effect which essentially sorts pixels in a certain proximity in order of their color value such as hue, saturation, or brightness. It ends up creating an effect that looks glitchy and artistic. Data-moshing, as discussed in my previous post, is an effect which causes portions of a video to not change how they are supposed to, causing compression and superimposition of motion and video between different clips. This also ends up creating a cool looking glitch effect, which in combination with pixel sorting allowed us to tell our story with greater engagement and therefore reducing the labor of the project upon ourselves by using unconventional but easy film/editing techniques.

After all was said and done, we then worked on our presentation during the course of a 3-4 hour Discord call with my teammates, and to be honest, I was very surprised with how well we all worked together and did our part for the project/presentation. Everyone gave it their all in making our presentation as attractive and engaging as possible, and I believe we succeeded in that. We wrote a 4-page script before our big day to make sure we would not stutter and mess up the presentation (although that didn't work completely as planned), and we revised the aesthetic of our presentation multiple times to match the theme of our virtual band. It was probably one of the few times where a group project seemed to work cohesively and efficiently.

Overall, we were all very satisfied with the quality of our work when we finished, and I hope future media projects will be as cohesive as this one. Although in the beginning I was very stressed out since we had a week left to do our project, we eventually came up with an effective plan to tackle the project, allowing everything come together nicely. We believe our project goes to show that through cohesive teamwork and creative storytelling, you can make a simple concept engaging and original which will garner the attention it deserves.