Portfolio Project 2021: Inspiration For Plot Lines

Hello! This blog is focusing on the plot idea that I had for this project and how I'm thinking of tweaking it a little bit because I think it would be a nice addition to the story. I had two main ideas for the plot of my film which were about sisters that were bound to be separated because the oldest was going to college and a woman in the music industry fighting oppression and gender inequality. I have decided to go with the first option with the two sisters being separated but I'm adding to it. At first, I wanted to slightly combine the two ideas and have the younger sister in the first plot idea be a musician that has stage fright. I thought that shifting the focus of this idea would have been wonderful. There would essentially be two conflicts: her dealing with her sister's absence and embarking on her musical journey even though she has stage fright. Then I started thinking of how interested I would be in that topic and I realized that I would want to focus on one of the two concepts instead of trying to develop too many different things and cram them into one. I want this to be a cohesive piece but I also want to have fun developing the plot so I decided to make another change. This change was actually inspired by another student in another class!

For the film project, we had to collaborate with writers from a creative writing class. This one writer had the idea of one sister who was carrying out the bucket list that she and her sister created when they were younger. The one sister is in the hospital so she focuses on completing all of the tasks on their bucket list. I really liked this idea because I immediately began thinking of shot ideas and a way to incorporate this into my own story. This was an inspiration for me and this story and I think that this is what I want the story to encompass. The younger sister is upset that the older one is moving away to go to college so she decides that the summer before she leaves, they're going to spend as much time together completing the tasks on the bucket list.

I'm not sure if I have to ask for permission to use the bucket list concept because it was inspired by another creator but I'm altering it to align with my current plotline. I don't think it would be wrong because I'm not stealing her story, I'm using a similar concept. I'll try to get in contact with the writer of that story and just make sure that using that bucket list idea is okay, just for reassurance! I'll see you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Class Discussion

Hello everyone! Last class we had a group discussion with all of us and it was very nice! Our class period is small so the majority of us were able to share whatever it was that we wanted to discuss with the class. I enjoyed hearing the ideas of my peers and sharing ideas with them and making suggestions. It’s really cool being able to help other creators resolve issues that they are having and provide another perspective on the situation. I love doing group discussions because it gets me thinking about my own project and what improvements I can make. 

So what did I talk about during this discussion?

I honestly wasn’t sure of what to talk about when it was my time to go but I thought I’d ask them to give me feedback on the plot ideas I had and the possible genres I’d work with. It seemed like they really liked the plot where the sisters are separated because the oldest goes off to college. We talked a lot about that plot idea and how it’s not a very common perspective in film productions. 

Isa suggested that I watch the latest “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” movie which I’m not looking forward to at all. It was recommended that I watch this movie because the younger sister expresses her feelings about her sister growing up and leaving for college in the film. Since there aren’t many productions that focus on this topic, I’m going to have to get creative. The series is super cliche so I’m not thrilled about that but I have to do research! 

They all had really good ideas and helped me figure out which direction I want to go in. They also asked great questions regarding the development of the plot. How would their relationship dynamic be established and how would the older sister’s absence be conveyed? They gave me a lot of things to think about. With their suggestions I began thinking of ways that I can make the plot of my story cohesive. I think that this class discussion really helped me with finalizing my idea and thinking of this from different perspectives! I loved that class discussion and I hope we’ll do more!! See you in the next blog! 

Portfolio Project 2021: Plot Ideas

Hello everyone! Since my last blog, I've been able to think of some plot ideas that I like and have been pondering. I'm going to talk about some potential plot ideas for the film now! 

I used a plot generator to help me with inspiration and it kind of worked! The online website that I used is called Reedsy Plot Generator https://blog.reedsy.com/plot-generator/drama/  and it came up with generic plot lines but I added a twist to them. It was definitely a nice resource to use to help inspire me and come up with different concepts. 

                                                                        Genre: Drama

Two sisters that have a tight bond are soon to be separated from each other because the older sister has been accepted into Julliard (the college could be subject to change). They spend all of their time together and the youngest sister has to adapt to her new life without her older sister being there constantly. The film would be from the younger sister's perspective since, in most coming of age films about college, the focus is on the sibling that's going to college, not the younger sibling that stays behind. This is actually happening currently because my sister and I are really close and I'm going to be leaving for college in a few months. I like the idea of telling this story from her perspective because it's not conveyed in many productions.  

Genre: Comedy

A female music producer/ composer/ manager (one of these job positions) is constantly running into issues in the music industry as a female. The topic of gender roles and the treatment of women would be heavily discussed in this film. I love working with gender representation and female empowerment is a common theme within my pieces so I feel that taking this approach would be fun like it always is while still forcing me to challenge myself and look at gender from a different perspective. I love music so much but I've never incorporated the musical part of myself into one of my pieces so this would be a fascinating approach to take.

Genre: Mystery/ Thriller 

There's a new girl in town that has a lot of wealth but lives on her own and no one knows anything about her. She keeps to herself but seems to be fond of the quiet girl. She befriends her and weird things start occurring in the quiet girl's life. Mystery is such a cool genre and I love the editing elements of thriller because it's amazing being able to manipulate sound and audio components to evoke an eerie feeling within the audience. Filming and editing the trailers for this concept would be amazing and joyful for me! I know how crazy that might sound to some, but editing is my favorite part of the process of creating a production. it's like fitting pieces of the puzzle together and painting a masterpiece simultaneously, I absolutely LOVE it.

I'm happy with the plot ideas that I've been able to come up with so far! These 3 concepts are different and will present unique challenges but I'm ready to face any and all that may come my way! I like all three genres that I've chosen and think that any of these concepts will work well for this project. It's going to be difficult trying to finalize my decision but I'm excited nonetheless! I'll update you guys in the next blog, see you next time!

Portfolio Project 2021: Film Genre Considerations

Slow your roll Trin!

Hello everyone! This weekend I really took the time to reevaluate the direction I want to go in for this project. I felt like I was trying too hard to come up with an idea as quickly as possible instead of taking the time to really think about all of my options. I don't want to marry an idea the first week of brainstorming so I'm slowing myself down and trying to just come up with a few other ideas that I may want to consider for the genre and plot of my film. 

This blog is meant for me to get all of my ideas out and figure out what it is that I really want to do in terms of genre.

Genre Considerations

There are 3 genres that I'm mainly considering for this project: Comedy, Thriller/ Mystery, and Drama. I was contemplating having the film be a dystopian film because I liked working with the conventions of that genre during the film project but I want to work with a different genre for my portfolio project. For last year's project, I worked with the crime/ thriller genres and I honestly love that genre and I personally consume a lot of media that falls into those categories. Working with the crime genre again would be familiar to me since last year's production was in the crime genre but again, I want to switch things up and operate a bit outside of my comfort zone, but no too far out of my comfort zone! I don't want to drive myself mad! 

Comedy is a genre that I haven't worked with before and I think it would be fun to create a piece within this genre! I think comedy is a genre I've stayed away from because everyone's sense of humor is different and not all audience members are going to understand or even like some of the comedic moments or elements that are incorporated in a production. This is a major fear of mine because you not only have to worry about the viewer liking your production but they might not get the joke or the purpose of certain aspects of the production. 

The mystery genre is closely related to the thriller and crime genres because they usually go hand in hand with each other. The mystery genre is usually paired with one of those two other genres or if the film itself isn't explicitly identified as a mystery, there are still some mysterious and suspenseful elements incorporated throughout. I like mysteries and I enjoy watching them so working with this genre would be interesting for me.

Drama productions are typically paired with another genre like action drama, romantic drama, teen drama, etc. This genre is so broad and encompasses a large range of genres because drama films are meant to be serious and typically represent a slice of life by portraying the conflict a character is facing. The drama genre would work if paired with another genre that I would choose.

Once I figure out which genres I want to work with and which plotlines best align with those genres, I'll be able to start my genre research to better understand the conventions of those genres. I'll see you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Film Topic Ideas

What’s this thing about?

Now that I have an idea of which project I’m doing this is the fun but stressful part, figuring out a topic for the film. I figured since I was deciphering between the music promotion and the film promotion options I could have the best of both worlds and add musical elements to my film’s plot. 

I had the idea of the main character of my film being a girl that was a music producer that had autism but was adamant about keeping her diagnosis hidden. 

I spoke about this idea with Mrs. Stoklosa on Friday and she had similar concerns that I did. Portraying a mental disorder is hard and autism is especially hard because it’s easy to convey it incorrectly. I definitely have no intentions of mocking or misrepresenting the autistic community and that was my biggest concern as well, accurately portraying autism. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone by having a character “act autistic”, I wouldn’t be comfortable doing so. It’s a spectrum and individuals with a disability of any kind should not be labeled by their disability or portrayed in one particular way for easy identification in media productions but I digress.

After leaving the autism idea behind I thought about maybe having the main character have a mental disorder that is more feasible to depict like OCD. Mrs. Stoklosa asked a really good question. That question being “why does the main character have to have a mental disorder?” She brought up an excellent point! I was thinking of challenges and conflicts that a mental disorder could potentially bring into the main character’s life to spice up the plot but using a mental disorder isn’t the only way to do this. So instead of trying to convey mental illness in my film through the main character, I’m going to convey gender inequality and it’s role in society. 

Mental illness is a major aspect in many people’s lives and is apart of their stories but for this project it would make much more sense for me to capture the concept of gender equality. I know that with me choosing to focus on the topic of gender equality, specifically regarding women, I’ll be able to convey the topic more accurately.

Portfolio Project 2021: The options are endless!

Which project option have I chosen?

I was debating between the film promotion option and the music promotion option but after discussing the options with Mrs. Stoklosa, I've chosen to do the film promotion! We talked about the pros and cons of both projects and it appears that the film promotion makes more sense for me to do personally. With the music promotion option. I had a band in mind to work with but like Mrs. Stoklosa mentioned, scheduling would be a major conflict because we're all students in high school that have work, extracurricular activities, social lives, etc. so that would have been tough to sort out. I have a lot more experience with film production than I do with musical artist promoting. It makes more sense for me to do the activity that I'm comfortable with doing and know I can do well. 

This is the band Saving Herald that I was thinking of working with if I chose the music promotion. They're a local band here in Weston and they are incredibly talented! I know Maxx, the lead bass, because we were in marching band together and we became friends. I asked Maxx for his permission to use a  picture of the band in this blog posting because I didn't want to use an image of the band without asking first. I think doing the music promotion would have been fun but again, because of scheduling conflicts and other factors, it would have been extremely difficult to do the music promotion for this project. 

Portfolio Project 2021: We're back and better than ever!

                             And We're Back!

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen! It's almost been a year since I've last blogged and seen you guys (or anyone really because of the pandemic :/). the last time we saw each other I was an AS Level media studies student and now I'm in A-Level which has been a super cool journey. Last year's portfolio project was such a unique experience and blogging the entire process was my favorite part about the project. I love looking back on my old blog postings and reminiscing about where I was at those points in the project and thinking about how much I've grown and evolved since then. But that was then and this is now so let's get into this year's portfolio project!