Outline of film opening

So I wanted to create a film opening that shows the true combination of a dramedy, with that, I'd also like to focus the opening on introducing the main characters of the film. That being said, below is the outline of the story of the film opening.

Intro: We want to showcase a scenario where two teenage boys are cleaning up after a party as one of their parents is arriving home. It will begin with one character being rushed into cleaning the whole house in a comedic fashion.

Later, we want to introduce the next main character who is flirting with a girl, this is done to hint at future plot situations that accentuate the dramatic side of a dramedy.

By the end of the film opening, we want to complete it with the parents arriving home outside of the frame which opens curiosity to the audience as it doesn't reveal what happens after and how the parents react.

Finding the proper font

Finding the right font for our film opening is essential for setting up the vibe of the story. Being a teen dramedy, we wanted to have a font that doesn't scream one specific drama.

For example, horror usually has a font that emphasizes blood or something scary.
                                                    
Romantic movies tend to follow the stereotype in their fonts that accentuate the sense of love in the text, which could vary from using pink texts or cursive writings.
                                                     
These examples show what we don't want. Having something simple yet a little child-like is something we are striving for. Ideas of what fonts we are looking at can be found below this text.

Shooting (film) Schedule

My partner and I have been continuing to brainstorm regarding what our film opening is going to be about. Although we have ideas about the story, we have a clear understanding of what our shooting schedule is going to be.

Essentials for successful filming

º At least two times every week

º Acquire the proper supplies for filming (tripods, props)

º Allow for the correct timing to be filmed, such as knowing whether we need daytime or nighttime 

This list has been made on my notes which (obviously by the title of the list) shows the essentials for successful filming. Filming for at least two times a week is something my partner and I are striving for, and even if we are at a figurative "roadblock" regarding our attitude towards filing on a specific day, we at least would meet up with each other to share more ideas and proceed with our portfolio project.

Acquiring the proper supplies for filming is needed for our filming. Tripods will give us the ability to give steady shots which would be more professional for our project. The proper props for specific scenes our what we absolutely need before thinking of filming.

Knowing when we are filming is required for specific scenes that the time of day is essential.

Change of plans

During the first semester, I was keen on being alone for my portfolio project. Being an individual allowed for my ideas to be freely worked on alone without anyone interrupting my style of thinking. As the second semester came along, I have realized that my technique would be positively assisted if I had another mind working with me. My partner and I would be able to bounce ideas back and forth which would result in a final pitch that my partner and I would both agree on which would make a great film opening.

That being said, researching dramedies would still be beneficial for our portfolio as we decided to create a project that is that particular genre. A teen drama is what we are going to create.

Teen dramedies rely on teenagers dealing with relationships such as their friends and families. These certain situations that the young characters go through allow for a certain type of comedy to play through as their problems don't typically be considered as real-world problems.

                                                           
                                                           The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Breakfast Club is a perfect representation of a teen dramedy as the plot introduces five completely different characters who try to pass time in detention in their highschool.

Even though teen dramedies tend to have plots that seem as if the problems presented wouldn't affect the character's actual life, me and my partner Alessandro would like to include elements to our film as if it had both adolescent problems and real-world situations because we'd like to represent a teen's life as if it were real life.

Film Openings - Dramedy

So today I started to research film openings related to Dramedies and I realized that they tend to begin the story of the film, for example like establishing the setting or introducing the main character in a light-hearted fashion.

                                                 
                                                  Mary and Max (2009)
Mary and Max is an interesting film that's considered to be an animated dramedy. The film opening of the scene introduces the setting of the film by panning throughout the town that would eventually show the main characters interacting with.
                                                  
                                                  Wild Tales (2014)
This movie right at the beginning gives the audience the realization of the style and tone of the movie. As the plane is about to hit the bystanders, the scene pauses and mysterious music begins to play followed by a sequence of animal pictures. This can have the audience infer that the movie will have sort of a goofy/random vibe to it as the title shows how tales would be told which talks about different scenarios.
                                                  
                                                  Juno (2007)
Juno gives a perfect representation in the film opening on how dramedies are supposed to be. The film opening introduces the main character first in a dramatic scene, then cuts right to her being in a comedic situation where she's complaining at her dog.

Overall, I learned how I could introduce the character for my opening scene in an interesting fashion which would show both the dramatic and comedic side of the film which would ultimately introduce the genre.

References
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls064936057/
https://youtu.be/ukEuYflhF2M
https://youtu.be/XSRWMW2_MQo
https://youtu.be/OLREFnFNVUg

Genre Research - Dramedy

Dramedy focuses on pulling elements of drama and comedy to become its own genre for tv shows or movies. It doesn't rely on one of the two mixed genres, in fact, both genres are supposed to balance each other out which essentially makes a great story for film. For example, a story would most likely be told to show character development with real emotions and actions that lead to a consequence. Inner conflicts are involved which are told in a dramatic fashion, however, the backbone of the situations and events that are being played out tend to show comedic tendencies which can vary from jokes being told by the characters or awkward situations which ultimately leave the audience to laugh at what's going on in the screens.

Reference
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Dramedy

My Music Marketing Project

My music marketing project allowed me to dive deep into the music genre R&B. Being called rhythm and blues, the genre uses trendy sounds (rhythm) with soulful vocals (blues) which together blend to create music that is very interesting to listen to. Because of the lyrics that generally speak about love for someone or something, it tends to gravitate towards a younger audience.

The target audience is from the ages of 13-25, with that audience leaning towards females because the lyrics talk about love. Not only that, however, the stereotypical male R&B artist enjoys to wear clothes and presents himself in a "sexy" fashion which would appeal to the genre's target audience. That being said, these successful artists have the proper knowledge in understanding the trends the audience are interested in regarding the marketing side of their music.

A very well known R&B artist by the name of Khalid would use his social media to promote his upcoming albums and music released in order to appeal to his audience who are proven to be on social media a lot. In regards to digital distribution, artists like Khalid and Bryson Tiller tend to release their projects on all streaming platforms and heavily advertise their songs on those platforms as a result of their R&B audience pushing towards using smartphones as their main consumption of media such as music, which is why people don't typically witness artists of this genre focusing on selling tangible products that have their songs such as vinyls and CDs.

My partner and I for the project decided to create an artist who is based around the R&B genre, and follow the trends famous artists typically do to market their songs and albums. Our artist was named Hooded Angel, which was inspired by the genre he is based upon since R&B can be correlated with upcoming artists singing about their story and past. We came up with a back story that fits with the genre. Our artist who lived in the projects decided to sing about his life, which gives a reason towards why his name is the way it is. Even though research showed the heavy trends of the genre such as giving off a "sexy vibe", the genre allows for artists to use their talented voices to reach out to an audience and intrigue them to tell stories about their past, which is what our artist did. Since we took a different approach to our artist, we decided to correlate him to the beige color since it represents pureness and coolness which matched perfectly with Hooded Angel.

To promote his music, we decided to create a website that allows his audience to easily go through everything that had to do with the artist, such as streaming platforms which allowed listeners to hear the song, and which social media platforms had an account run by our artist. It also aided in representing his brand and promote his song.

The three social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter were all used to market his persona and music. We chose these apps for different reasons which all eventually aim to the same goal, which was to successfully market the artist. Instagram was used to promote his projects and interact with his fans, a twitter account was made to allow Hooded Angel to speak freely about what was going on in his mind which was intended to attract fans, and finally, a Facebook account was created in order to allow the artist to stay away from being limited to being a local artist because the app was internationally popular.

The music video was overall very fun to make, and it was interesting to generate a story that would match with the lyrics of the song that was provided to us by our teacher. The criticism that was given back regarding the project was very essential to growing as a creator in film and marketing pitches as it gave valid feedback from our fellow classmates. Although it was simple enough to follow trends in R&B marketing, my partner and I now understand that a truly successful marketing pitch would be to take risks and not always follow the rules on how to create something successful, as someone or something who stands out from the rest can truly become popular and triumphant in the real world.

References:

http://ellenwhightsa2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2013/04/r-target-audience-research.html

https://official.fm/rb/

https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/music-marketing/