Sunday, April 18, 2021

Portfolio Project 2021:CCR

Hello! Here is my CCR for my project The Art Of Manipulation. Enjoy!

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION :

The film, The Art of Manipulation, is a piece that strives to convey the complexities of women, particularly those who weaponize their femininity and sensuality to obtain whatever it is that they desire. Women that live this lifestyle are either admired or ridiculed for their actions. The film explores this grey area as the lines between right and wrong regarding this topic are blurred at times.

Since this film utilizes the femme fatale trope and is a crime comedy, films like The Hustle, Ocean’s 8, Gilda, How To Marry a Millionaire, and Heartbreakers were researched and deeply analyzed to gain further insight into the trope, the utilization of genre conventions, and the artistic direction taken for each production. 

In the researched movie posters the women were the focus of the poster, they all wore gowns or revealing clothing and they were all standing. The Art of Manipulation’s movie poster possesses an intimate atmosphere as both subjects on the poster are laying down close in proximity and the camera is positioned in a way that allows the viewer to feel closer to the characters.  Having the characters lay down as opposed to standing up was meant to portray their social status and wealth. Laying in money and expensive jewelry depicts the success of Azlynn taking money from men and representing the upper class.

One convention of the crime genre is the usage of low-key lighting and shadows. In The Art of Manipulation’s movie poster, a neutral background was used since the films that were researched utilized solid colored backgrounds like white, black, gold, etc. This was done to create a contrast between the dark satin sheet and the sparkly gowns worn. The picture for the movie poster was taken outside during the daytime to capture the natural sunlight. It was decided to go against the genre convention regarding lighting because of the nature of the film. The film is discussing a dark topic because it is a crime film but the use of comedy is meant to lighten the discussion. The use of high key/ natural lighting is continued on the social media page and the trailers as low key lighting was not used at all in the shots and shadows were not incorporated into the project overall. This again was done to maintain the light-hearted comedic aspect of the film as well as the visual aesthetic of the film throughout all of the mediums used to promote the production.

The target audience of my film is females between the ages of 15 and 35. Due to the actions and topics discussed in crime productions, the audience has to be mature enough to handle the content presented. The rating of my film is also PG-13 but the recommended age for the youngest age of our target audience is 15 years old. Keeping the target audience at the forefront of my mind helped me create relevant content to post on Instagram. Since the film is geared towards women in Gen Z, Millennials, and those a little older than millennials, all of the social media posts had to be cohesive in telling a story but also engaging the audience. 

One way to improve the sense of cohesive branding within my production would have been utilizing the red and black color combination frequently. I used these colors in the fonts and in a few of the outfits that Azlynn wore in the trailers but that was not enough to make the viewer automatically associate red and black with the film. Having a definitive color scheme and sticking with it would have definitely helped create a stronger sense of branding.

Video teasers were posted because they’re short, effective, and get the point across to the audience. With a wide range of ages present within the target audience, there had to be a balance between what would capture and maintain the attention of Gen Z and what Millennials and older viewers find interesting and not too childish. Finding this balance was a struggle initially, but researching The Hustle’s Instagram page helped with conceptualizing the posts and captions for The Art of Manipulation’s Instagram page. The captions on the production’s posts incorporated funny and relatable captions, the film’s digital release date, and the film’s hashtag. I incorporated all of these marketing strategies into my posts to ensure that the audience was captivated and engaged whenever they interacted with a post related to the film.

Female viewers can appreciate this film because it symbolizes taking back one’s power and owning that power. The body positivity movement, the women’s rights movement, the abortion debate, and the push for legal rights for sex workers are all centered around the control of women and their bodies. It could be argued that a topic like the one discussed in this film is not empowering because it’s focusing on women who manipulate men out of their money but there’s more to this narrative. Azlynn embodying the femme fatale trope and using her femininity and charm to provide for her and her sister makes it challenging to classify her as the bad guy. 


Her behavior is not being condoned or commended but in a fictional narrative, especially during the current political climate, it can be healing. Both male and female viewers can feel empowered after watching this film. The most notable aspect of this film is the level of relatability it possesses. Male viewers that belong to a lower socioeconomic status can feel empowered as the message is about obtaining wealth by taking it from the rich, like the plot of Robin Hood. Female viewers can feel empowered by this film because it’s focusing on women uniting to accomplish a goal.


The first group being represented is women.  In the films that I have researched throughout this entire project, most of them have 2 female lead characters. That's powerful in terms of female empowerment because it's demonstrating unity amongst women. Crime films are often male-dominated but there are no men physically seen in my production which was done deliberately. Other groups represented in this production are African Americans, siblings (sisters), and the upper class. Positive representation of all of these groups was of the utmost importance for this production.


This project has been a whirlwind of emotions but it was an unforgettable experience and I’ve learned so much from this project about myself and media. There are many aspects of this film and project that I wish I could go back and improve. The quality of the content within my blogs, the editing of the trailers, the overall time dedicated to this project, and other things. The movie poster and Instagram page are the strongest aspects of this production, in my opinion, but more could’ve been done to strengthen the connection between those mediums and the trailers. There is always room for growth and improvement.



Portfolio Project 2021: Official Film Promotion Package

Hello! Here is the final movie poster, trailers, and the link to the social media page for my film The Art of Manipulation! Enjoy :)

Social Media Page: https://www.instagram.com/theartofmanipulation_/

Trailer #1: https://youtu.be/rEVPasytpTk

Trailer #2: https://youtu.be/dRKTOyuYYfw


Movie Poster: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K_lWSFnzwkISw49y7B-3gmAnrL2nrX3o/view?usp=sharing


Portfolio Project 2021: Final Remarks

 That’s a wrap!

Hello everyone! I just want to share my relief and joy with you all! I'm pretty sure that Dr. Seuss once said "don't be sad because it's over, be happy because it happened" and I'm honestly feeling really happy right now! I'm happy because I was able to get through the challenging times that I had during this project and I held on long enough to finish it. I'm not going to lie and say that this project was easy or that I gave it my best 100% of the time, but I did it. I am so proud of myself and my peers as I know that this year has been by far one of the most stress-inducing, depressing, and anxiety-fueling years of our lives. I have never felt so lethargic and unmotivated. But given the climate of our world right now, I am proud of the fact that I managed to persevere and make it to the finish line. I realized a lot of things during this project, procrastination is never a good idea, it's okay to be unmotivated sometimes because you'll eventually get back into the groove of things and trust in yourself and your abilities. As a creator, I am my worst critic and I am always hard on myself. I tried improving this aspect of my creative process by taking mental breaks, introspecting, and assuring myself that I'm not alone. This class was the first AICE class that I ever took so completing this part of the assessment is bittersweet. Senior year did not go as planned but we made the best of it. It all feels real now and I am so excited to be moving on and continuing studying media in college. Finishing this project was definitely a challenge for me because of the lack of energy I had but I survived and that is all that matters. Thank you! See you in the next blog!

Friday, April 16, 2021

Portfolio Project 2021: The Movie Poster

Hello everyone! The movie poster is coming along great! I posted on my Snapchat asking people to vote between 3 sample movie posters that I designed and this one won by a landslide! 


I'd estimate that around 20-30 people slid up and said that they like this option compared to the other 2. I agree, this one was my favorite design too.

One of my friends Valeria was sweet enough to design some concept ideas for the movie poster which I really appreciated! She took the time to design these movie posters so I thought that I would give her a shout-out on my blog and thank her for being amazing!



I am beyond grateful for all of the people that voted on which movie poster to choose! It would have been a really hard decision if I didn't ask for people's opinions so I'm glad that I did that. I'm love the way that the movie poster came out! See you in the next blog!




Portfolio Project 2021: CCR Planning: Representation

I wanted to answer this specific question in a blog because I just wanted to get my ideas out so I don't forget what I want to say in my CCR.

Why is representation important?

Representation is crucial in my opinion to any form of media because it is supposed to reflect aspects of our lives. Accurate representation is meant to connect and create a sense of relatability between parts of a production and the viewer. 

Who are you representing in your film?

In my film, I am representing a few different groups. 

The first group being represented is women.  I tend to use the theme of female empowerment in my film productions because there's a lot that can be said about women and their experiences in society. In the films that I have researched throughout this entire project, most of them have 2 female lead characters. That's powerful in terms of female empowerment because it's demonstrating unity amongst women. I've never watched Endgame but I assume the concept of women coming together to manipulate men out of money is similar to marvel superheroes uniting to defeat a common enemy. 

The second group being represented is siblings, more specifically sisters. Siblings are typically shown in media having either a really close relationship or a broken relationship. It was important for me to include this sibling dynamic into the film's concept because it contributes to conveying the theme of female empowerment but it portrays a positive sibling dynamic. My sister and I are close in real life and we're told how rare our relationship dynamic all of the time because we actually get along. In this film Azlynn and Aurora are sisters but they're best friends, just like Aneesa and I are. I wanted to reflect our relationship as sisters in this film through Azlynn and Aurora. I know that not all siblings have healthy relationship dynamics but for this particular piece, I did not want to represent a negative sibling dynamic even though those types of sibling relationships certainly do exist. In all honesty, I don't think that my sister and I would have been able to act like we didn't like each other, it would've been hard to film if that was the case.

The third represented group is African Americans. There are plenty of comedy and crime films that include African Americans but a lot of the times the characters that they're portraying are stereotypes or they're made to be the butt of the joke. There's no level of class 

The last group represented is those with a higher socioeconomic status. Regardless of Azlynn obtains money, she still has a lot of it which makes her and Aurora members of the upper class. 

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Portfolio Project 2021: Photoshoot Behind The Scenes!

After I grabbed all the jewelry, the money, the black satin sheet, and the step ladder, it was time to shoot! It was super hot outside today and of course, the sun was out and there were no clouds so it is safe to say that we were all burning up during this shoot. I asked Lucy to take footage and pictures during the shoot so that I could use them in this blog and post them on Instagram. Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look into the photoshoot we had for The Art of Maniupulation's movie poster! 





BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE:

BTS Footage Part One: https://youtu.be/PBkAY_gsOP0


BTS Footage Part Two: https://youtu.be/4yaXl7gHLTA



Today was fun and I'm so excited to see what the final movie poster is going to look like after I add the film title and release date. It's going to look amazing after I finish editing it, I'm so excited! See you in the next blog! 


Portfolio Project 2021: Movie Poster Shoot Part 1

 Hey everyone! A few days ago I asked my friend Lana if she would be able to help me with creating the image for my movie poster and she agreed! She's an AP Photography student and I've seen her work and it is absolutely phenomenal, she's genius-level talented. She came over to my house today and brought all of her equipment that she was going to use during the photo shoot.


But we needed a ladder which I didn't have so I called my neighbor/ friend Lucy and asked if she had one that we could borrow. She had a step ladder! After I told her that I needed the ladder for a photoshoot I was doing for my project, she wanted to come over to help as well. I told her that we needed some jewelry pieces as well for the shoot and she brought some over so thanks Lucy!


There's never a dull moment when I'm with my friends or my sister. They definitely keep me on my toes but they did help me out a lot today by giving ideas, positioning us while we were shooting, managing the props, and assisting with other things that I needed help with. They're all awesome and I am so glad that they were willing to help me out!


Check out the next blog for behind-the-scenes content from this shoot. See you in the next blog!