Screenplay

Exciting news! Amani and I came up with out film title! We decided our film would be called..."Happiness is a Butterfly." We thought this was the perfect option for our production since our whole character and plot revolves around this symbolic meaning. This title will hopefully leave our audiences wanting to know more about the film, and enjoy what has to come.

Film in the making!

Amani and I are going to begin filming very soon! All we need to do is prepare our script and gather any props we may need. I wanted to share the type of camera equipment we will be using to film our opening scene, as well as the editing software. 

We think our opening scene would turn out best if we utilized a professional camera instead of our digital devices. Amani suggested we use her Nikon D7100 camera. This will enable us to capture a series of clear close-up shots. By using this camera, it will make it easier for us to transfer over the footage to the editing computer. 

The editing software we will use is Adobe Premiere. This software system will assist in our editing capabilities. I believe this program will help with the manipulation of audio and visual effects. The application contains multiple added benefits such as filters, titles, and graphics. Since we are creating a coming-of-age film opening, titles and filters are imperative to the mise-en-scene of the genre, because it adds to the quality of the content. 

The Nikon D7100 camera:

Adobe Premiere logo:

Storyboard

Today in class, Amani and I worked diligently on our storyboard. We were able to use our outline to establish illustrated scenes for our film opening. This was surprisingly very fun to create since we used a storyboard website to digitally design the plot. This took us a while to finish since we had to carefully place each object into each box, and pick the color we wanted it to be. Overall, we really like how it turned out in the end because we believe it portrays our story well. We are still figuring out what our movie title should be since it is a very important aspect to our film. This is why we left the last box with the black background blank. Once we decide on the title we will be ready to start filming!

Here is our Outline

Yesterday in class, Amani and I constructed our outline. We brainstormed for a while to come up with our best option. At first, we wanted to begin the scene with Jess (our main character) in her room sitting with her origami butterflies. Then after contemplating for a little, we decided that it would be better for her character to be in the outdoors. In this case we will transition Jess from her bedroom to her secret hiding spot, which will be located near a lake. We really want to exhibit her strained relationship with her parents as well as her deeper connection with her grandmother through the origami butterflies.

Outline:
Starts off showing the origami butterflies all around her room
Transitions to the girl packing up her origami and a paper letter to go outside
She grabs her headphones and listens to her “chill beats” playlist while riding her bike to her hidden spot
Arrives at her spot
Continues to make origami butterflies 
Reads the letter and states that “happiness is a butterfly” and responds saying “what does that even mean?”
She steps on one of the butterfly and crushes it and says “that’s my life” (in sarcastic tone)
*Shows time lapse of the day and the girl in different places*
Phone bings
Girl looks at phone and sees 100 notifications from her mom asking where she is
Her mother calls her and she answers the phone
Mother is screaming at her to come home
She hangs up after a few seconds
Scene ends and title is displayed

So far this is the outline we are going with, but if there are any changes I'll keep you updated! The next time Amani and I meet, we will be creating the storyboard. I feel like our project is really coming together and I'm excited to begin filming soon!

Meet our main character!

Now that Amani and I have a definite plot we want to introduce you to our main character. Since our protagonist will be a teenage girl 16-17 years old, we wanted to make sure she had her own personal aesthetic. We really wanted to make her attributes similar to teenagers nowadays, making sure to stick with relatable content.

Our character will be named Jessica, but likes to go by Jess for short. She is known as the shy type within her friends and family. Jess likes to dress in dark colored clothing such as a dark pullover sweatshirt and comfortable black leggings. Her relationship with her parents is not the best. Even though she is grateful for them, she is not able to be vulnerable around them. The only strong relationship she has with a family member is her grandmother. Her grandmother’s letter will be a strong presence throughout our opening scene and connect her to the butterfly symbol.

Some of Jess’s hobbies include folding origami and listening to her favorite music. When she’s alone in her room at night, she likes to listen to her “chill beats” playlist on Spotify. This allows her to be in touch with her feelings. Overall, Jess keeps to herself and only allows a few people in. 

Jess's outfit style:

Jess's butterfly origami:

"Chill Beats" Spotify playlist:

There’s more to the plot

When Amani and I met last class, we finalized our plot and added an additional aspect to our opening scene. In order to portray and accurate coming-of-age film opening, we needed to make sure it wasn’t to cliche, but creative and original. Since we are using the idea of a teenage girl battling with depression, we wanted to make it more meaningful and not just a bland story. This will allow our viewers to understand the message on a deeper level. 

We decided to utilize a symbolic meaning into our opening scene to give our character a firmer story. My partner and I will use a butterfly as the symbol for the main characters depression. This will convey the message that “happiness is a butterfly,” meaning that happiness is fragile and not something that can be rigid. Our character will be shown living by this meaning, and using it to find her way through life. Our plot will revolve around her interpreting this idea. I think this addition will make our opening scene more abstract and artistic, leaving audiences’ questioning what will happen next. 

Target Audience

In a coming-of-age film, the target audience is usually geared toward those in their teenage years. The production of these films, tend to follow the main character on their journey into adulthood. Teenagers are able to relate to these protagonists, and compare their own life stories to the characters. When young adolescents sit down to watch a coming of age film, they want to feel as if they are apart of the movie and go through the entire experience. With that being said, I hope that Amani and I's film opening can demonstrate this tactic and leave audiences with a relatable feeling. 

Because our film opening revolves around a young teenage girl around sixteen to seventeen years old, we wanted to directly target those who would truly understand what the character is going through. This led us wanting to appeal to ages sixteen to twenty-five. We believe this age group may have experienced a low point of their life which allows them to sympathize with our main character who is struggling with depression. Mental illnesses such as depression are extremely prevalent in adolescences, and bringing awareness to this topic can allow other teenagers to not feel as alone. 

Starting the brainstorming process...

In class the other day, my partner and I were able to start discussing ideas we had for our opening scene. In order to do this, we virtually met with each other through Microsoft Teams and shared a Google document. This document was basically our rough draft where we compiled all our thoughts together. We began by figuring out the target audience of our film and geared our notions to young adults ranging from sixteen to mid twenty's. Within this process, we kept in mind the tips and tricks to make a successful film opening such as working with something you have experience in and the fact that aren't any strict rules in production, so we can be as creative as we want. We established a goal for our opening scene, where we wanted to leave our viewers wanting more. This is our main goal that we hope to achieve at the end of this project.

We currently have two main ideas for our scene. The first displays a teenage girl who is being forced to continue her ballet lessons from her parents. Because she is obligated to continue this sport, she very much dislikes, it causes her to rebel and disassociate from her parents. Since our genre is a coming-of-age drama, we thought this scene could capture her defying her authoritative figures by having a rebellious alternative side when no one is looking. Our second idea which we believe is our definite plan, is the storyline of a teenage girl struggling through depression and trying to find herself throughout the entire process. We want to illustrate the constant mental battles this teen is dealing with inside her head by using multiple camera shots and editing techniques. Overall, I feel like we are at a good start and I am excited to start mapping out our scenes so we can begin filming!

Why so dramatic?

 My partner and I have chosen our genre for our opening scene! After communicating with each other about what would be the best, we decided to work with the genre Drama. I believe we will be able to create a well developed scene, since teenagers are able relate to movies that incorporate dramatic aspects. We are determined to design an opening scene revolving around a coming-of-age theme. 

The genre Drama consists of multiple sub genres including but not limited to historical, romantic, and psychological. My partner and I believe that coming-of-age content would be a great way for us to explore our creative skills. I spent time to research popular coming-of-age drama movies, focusing directly on their opening scenes and how they are portrayed. 

Mean Girls (2004) is a popular coming-of-age film that includes a copious number of characteristics that teenagers can personally relate to. The opening scene of this movie contains the establishment of the main character and her social setting. This movie displays a young teenage girl in a new high school trying to navigate her way through making new friends, excelling in her academics and complicated love interests. She struggles with fitting in and ends up falling into the wrong crowd. This opening scene does an excellent job at showcasing her thoughts and opinions as she enters her new school for the first time. By focusing on the way she interacts with her classmates and teacher, viewers are able to make observations and judgements about her character, and how she will grow throughout the film. 

Easy A (2010) is another film that contains the similar coming-of-age attributes that I noticed in other movies during my research. This opening scene comprises of an upbeat yet serious tone. The main protagonist is clearly seen as the narrator of the movie, which can be inferred by the voice-over within the first few minutes. We can see the main character is a teenage girl in high school, who is sarcastic and clever due to her speaking style. The high school she attends exhibits various types of students and the groups they belong to. This is also where we see the main character's best friend who is portrayed as her trusted individual. This unique opening allows the main character to set the scene of her traumatic high school story which she is about to tell. This ultimately grabs the viewers attention, leaving them wanting more.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016). This opening setting is fast paced and comical. The language utilized by the character is exaggerated, making it seem ridiculous and worth laughing. It is quite similar to the other films regarding the voice over narration of the main character. The protagonist of this film is a shy and unpopular adolescent girl in need of relationship advice from her closest teacher. We can see the character abruptly rushing through the halls finding her way to her favorite teachers room, where she frantically rants about an issue that just occurred. The color choices in the main characters clothing shows how this teenager decides to present herself. This scene develops the start of the film and contains foreshadowing events which we later see unfold. 

Let's begin my Cambridge Portfolio Project!

 After many months of learning how to properly capture camera angles, color schemes, editing techniques, and more, I am finally able to begin my portfolio project. Before I begin this process, I have had to reflect on other assignments and figure out what worked and what did not. In order to be successful with this scene, it is imperative that I orchestrate a solid and elaborate idea. For my opening scene, I want to convey a feeling in viewers which will resonate with them. 

In order to produce a creative opening scene, I have to research genres that I can work well with. In the beginning of the year, I had an assignment where I had to analyze any genre of my choice, which I decided to go with Romance. I investigated multiple popular films that let me to conclude their similar aspects such as the representation of characters, the concept of eternal love, and the "happily-ever-after ending." Even though I feel assured that I can utilize this genre to its full potential, I want to remain open-minded. I will continue to research other genres and come to my final decision soon. 

I will be working with a partner to brainstorm and collaborate ideas to accomplish triumph for this academic challenge. I believe this project will teach me valuable lessons that will heighten my knowledge of film production and prepare me for a brighter future. I cannot wait to see where this project takes me and what I can digitally design!

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

My group has finally finished our music marketing project and I will say we have learned a lot throughout the entire process. When my group first received the genre "Rock," we were hesitant that we would not be able to create an eye catching music video. Due to our previous knowledge of old rock, we felt our age group would be naive to the concept of our song. After completing a music research chart where we compared two different record companies that promoted famous rock bands, my group felt more confident in the triumph of our video. We were given four diverse rock songs that we were able to choose from, where we chose the song 'Mother Mother' by Tracy Bonham. We had specific directions to establish a new artist or band and design their own brand. In this case, we went with a young and rebellious rock artist going by the name of Chastity. 

Due to the pandemic, virtual learning has been the only way we are continuing to receive our education, but it does not come without its pros and cons. In order for my group to brainstorm ideas, we had to collaborate over the internet through Microsoft Teams. This was a slight challenge since we had to converse through a messaging group chat where immediate feedback was not attainable. During class time, our teacher gave us periods where we would conjure up plans for our artist and video. After we discussed the specifics of our artist, we drew a storyboard to plan out our music video scene by scene. This consisted of twenty-eight boxes that illustrated how each scene would be shot according to the songs beat and rhythm.  

For our artist, we focused on how we would market and distribute to Chastity's target audience efficiently. Chastity's target audience would appeal from late teenagers to young adults. Since we wanted to attract youthful listeners, we decided to design social media accounts for our artist such as Instagram and Twitter. By using these accounts daily, Chastity will be able to interact with her viewers and stay engaged. These posts contained information about her new single and any updates she would want her listeners to know about. We also created Chastity a website that included her new music video, tour dates, merchandise, and a place to contact her. Creating a shirt with Chastity's album cover and promoting it through her social media accounts, allowed her to elevate her viewers and keep them attentive. 

Moving on to the production aspect of our project, we were able to film and edit within a week. Since we were not able to physically get together to film our video, we designated certain responsibilities to the four of us. Our music video consisted of a young girl (Chastity) struggling with gaining her independence after leaving her home for college. At the beginning of the video, Chastity is seen in bright colorful apparel showcasing her personality as respectful and reserved. Later on, she is seen in a dark sweater with smudgy makeup resulting in her character change. We filmed a copious number of close up shots to elaborate her facial expressions due to the intensity of the song. After all the scenes were shot, my partner and I were in charge of editing the entire video. We worked over the course of four days to arrange the scenes and include a defiant mise-en-scene presence. We also integrated editing techniques such as filters like black and white to represent flashback moments. We also used this filter to emphasize the downward spiral Chastity goes through in the song.

The last step of our project was putting together a PowerPoint to pitch our new branded artist to the class. We made slides that contained information about our genre, the artist, their marketing and distribution plans, and the meaning of the music video. We presented our detailed plan confidently to the class and learned from the critiques that our classmates formed. 

Overall, this project as a whole taught me many things. For instance, I learned how the genre, Rock is prevalent in our time today and can be utilized to create a deeper meaning for some artists. Working in a group of four allowed me to listen to others ideas and learn from what they had to input. By combining all of our notions together we were able to turn our song into an innovative storytelling music video. Planning and brainstorming thoroughly was an aspect I felt helped me truly develop my Cambridge portfolio and set me up for success with future endeavors. 

Examples of the marketing and distribution ideas we used:

Social Media presence-

Internet Presence-

Power Point slide: Music Video-