Short Film Package

 My short film package

MOONLITE DINER

Link to short film:  https://youtu.be/Dg3NsRM8-jw

Link to website 

https://joaquinaort2004.wixsite.com/mysite

Postcard

(front)

(back)

CR Blog

 

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

The idea of our project was very much to do exactly this. The goal of creating this short film was to reach people that go through this and have them feel understood. The LGBTQ+ community, while receiving some representation, is nowhere near as represented as it should be.  In our film, we tried to be accurate and lighthearted. These issues can be very serious, but it’s nice to be able to laugh at our hardships, as to make them less draining. The main character, Cassidy represents bisexual adolescents that are so lost and confused. Jade, in this film, represents those who are figuring themself out. Jade sees a bit of herself in Cassidy and serves as an ally throughout her questioning. 

The “issue” we are discussing is more of a phenomenon. Every LGBTQ+ person has a moment when they start considering the possibility of being queer and it can be very overwhelming.  Not only do they have to worry about discussing it with their parents and friends but also, in many cases like Cassidy’s, people have significant others that get involved. We wanted Cassidy to seem strong, even while going through something challenging. We loved the idea of giving her a solid group of friends because everyone deserves to feel as supported and loved as Cassidy was. Cassidy ends up with Jade at the end, but it will probably not be the end of her journey in discovering herself. It’s a teen movie as well as being an LGBTQ+ film, which we are very proud of. 

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

The concept of Moonlite Diner works as a whole, not just a short film. We wanted to create something that could be heard of and respected on different platforms. The ultimate praise with a piece of work is a positive response from multiple types of audiences. We knew that, in order to achieve that, we had to be very present online. What worked best for us, as amateurs in the industry, was making noise on social media. The second we finished writing up the script and solidified our ideas, we started signing up. We created a new email and signed up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This would eventually help us reach new possible fans of the film and/or other film studios. We followed others in our class and kept up with their content. Ultimately, social media helped us come together as a brand and a group. It was great to learn about responsibility and overcoming individual obstacles.

All of these platforms are designed to seem pieced together and cohesive. We used the same colors for our website and postcard, both of which contain information on the film’s release and the directors. We also used the same photo for the main picture of all our accounts on the internet. This helped us establish a brand. This is important because it allows us to have something for people to remember us by. Even a familiar color can help me remember something, like an advertisement or a similar name to a movie. We picked the colors gray and red because the sign for the diner where the two main characters met is red.  Our social media also worked hand-in-hand with our website to promote. By setting it up this way, we tie it all together as a brand. 

How do your products engage with the audience?

All of these products, while creating a brand, also allow us to really get to our audience. We love being able to access people through social media. It’s a great tool that we had seen used by popular films in the past. I remember being able to make inside jokes with other fans on Twitter about certain movies and finding it great. It makes fans more excited about content because they can discuss it with others that also share this interest. We also made sure that all of our actors had social media, that way, they would be able to answer questions, post any behind the scenes that aren’t already on our website, or just goof around with fans. If fans enjoy the experience of one film by a studio, they are more likely to closely follow their work in the future. 

These products were made to be viewed by everyone, but more specifically by our ideal demographic. When discussing this with our group, my peers and I decided that we want our audience to feel related to, as mentioned before. This would mean that our target group of people is teenagers and the LGBTQ+ community. Through these products, especially social media, they can reach out and interact with the process of making this film. Our website even has a tab where they can contact us and see behind the scenes of our filming. This felt very appropriate and all the products were fun and interactive to make. 

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

The research portion was a long process for me. My group members and I individually searched information on the subject at hand. They took their time to understand queer stories and their impact on the world. I, being apart of the community, was able to share with them some of my favorite pieces of art by queer creators. We watched LGBT films and I even sent them some of my favorite queer literature. Through this, we were able to sort out typical conventions. This was something we were used to, especially with all the projects we did in our lower level Media Studies class last year. 

Gathering from this, we learned how to use and challenge those conventions we were so accustomed to seeing. One of the first conventions we spotted and utilized was the music. Many soundtracks to great LGBTQ+ films have a lot of queer artists. I was very fond of this detail and my group and I quickly decided that we were going to open with King Princess, which is one of my favorite lesbian musicians. We also paid close attention to wardrobe and gathered inspiration from movies like Booksmart, that are known for their LGBTQ+ characters. 

A convention we felt we were able to challenge in our short film was the typical build up to a quiet closeted (not publicly out as LGBTQ+). We started Cassidy, our protagonist, as this extroverted teenage girl with a boyfriend. We also made her bisexual. As someone who identifies as bisexual, I feel that we don’t see enough representation and it can be stigmatized to be “a phase”.

Re-filming

 

Welcome back! This time, we are going to be talking about re-filming. When Ben was editing, he realized that we needed to re-shoot. Luckily, it was only the ones at my house. Everyone made sure to look exactly the same as when we last filmed. I even made sure to not redye my hair. The first one we reshot was the scene in my bed. We had Amy and Matti set up in the shot and redid the scene. In the original filming, we talked too fast. The audio, in general, was not the best. After we reshot it, we watched ad listened a few times to make sure it was better. After we finished that scene, we went on to the bathroom scene. We cut off some scenes too short and felt more comfortable with redoing them. Some of them were annoying to have to do again because it was due to small issues and not bigger ones like the acting. After that, we redid the kiss scene at the end. It wasn't necessary, but we felt it cut off too quickly. Because this scene was funny to film, we could not stop laughing. We wanted to make sure we looked serious. Stay tuned to see what we do next time!

Designing Postcard and Working on Social Media

 Nice to see you again! We are all done with filming and editing (excluding re-shooting some scenes), and it's time to move on. The next step is a bit simpler. This week, we're just checking up on our social media. After that, we got to design the postcard. These things are all to promote the short film. Being on the internet and having a brand allows us to have a better reach. Designing the postcard was very quick and easy. Amy and I had fun because it allowed us to be creative. The website we used was great and made the process enjoyable. We did a horizontal postcard with designs on both sides. The front has a picture of the diner and the title, as well as the name of our production company. The back has a few pieces of information and a small "stamp" of a burger. We added a quote from the last scene of the movie, that we felt was very appropriate. Next to that is all of our social media accounts and under is our website. We want all of our information to be easily accessible. After doing that, we added some final touches to the website. I added some behind the scene pictures and finished the "Producers" tab. We are proud of the progress and hope to deliver more next time, bye!

How we’ve been affected by Covid-19

This year, I am in the A-Level Media Studies. Last year, I did AS Level and unfortunately, Covid-19 affected the end of our year. I am telling you this now so you know that Covid-19 has affected my time in Media Studies for two school years. This year for school, I am doing school online, so obviously some changes had to be made when doing school and working with a group to film/edit/plan. We all had to make sure before we agreed to be a group that our parents would be okay with us being together to film or do any other steps. It wasn’t too difficult to plan our film because we could do that over the phone. We all did certain parts of the storyboard and script and worked together to make the film fit all of our visions. The script was a little difficult to work on at separate times because we wanted to make sure we all agreed on it. To reduce the trouble, we made sure to read over it together after it was done and make changes together. The next thing was the storyboard, which was easy to do with the script. Filming was a little difficult because we had to make sure that the restaurant we wanted to film at would allow us with Covid-19 and social distancing. We also had to make sure that parents/families were comfortable with people being in houses. Luckily, all the parents/families and the restaurant were okay with us filming. In the restaurant, we wanted to film when it was less busy, however, because we did not want to have our masks on during the film. Editing was difficult just because we would not be able to all edit since only one person had the software. Ben did most of the editing, whereas Joaquina and I did most of the acting and planning. This worked for us because it highlighted all of our strengths. As you can see, because of Covid-19, a lot of changes had to be made. Because we’ve been living in this “covid world” for a while now though, we were able to make it work. I’m extremely grateful that my group was able to get together to film and that we worked so well together. Thank you for coming along this planning/filming/editing journey with me. I can’t wait to show you the final product.

Editing

At this stage, we can finally start editing. This is a little more difficult, due to our current situation. Amy and I chose the music for Ben to use. We emailed a few people but only two responded. King Princess's manager and Danger Incorporated's manager gave us approval to use their music. From King Princess, we would be using the song "Cheap Queen" and from Danger Incorporated we would be using the song "Diamonds." Although we had other songs that we wanted more, we were glad to get approval from any of the artists. The next thing Ben wanted us to do was tell him how we wanted the film to be editied. Joaquina and I both agreed that we wanted it to be editied similar to how many young adult/lgbtq+ films are edited. This means that there were little to no transitions. It also meant that the editing made the film look very smooth, with not a lot of cuts. Just like everything in our film had the conventions of lgbtq+ films, we wanted our editing to be the same. We hoped that even without the plotline, it was obvious our film was in the lgbtq+ genre. Through our editing, clothes, young characters, and dialogue, we hoped to achieve that. We also told Ben that when we watched the film, we wanted to feel a sense of contentment and excitedness for the characters. We told Ben that if he could do that with editing, it would be great. He said he would try to make it happen and that he had the same vision as us. It's great that our whole group had the same vision and was excited to see our project come alive. Ben told us that there would be no exterior shots because we did not have time, which was the only thing that we missed with the conventions. We're finally done with our film and I'm so excited, I can't wait for everyone to see it. Stay tuned on the next blog to see how Covid-19 affected filming, editing, and more. 

Starting to edit: Choosing clips

 Welcome to another blog! Last time, we wrapped up filming. Now, we move onto the editing portion. Due to Covid, editing is different from usual. We used to have time at school to film together and pick clips, but none of us are going to in-person school. We decided that we would find a way to make it work. We all went through and chose the clips which were fine. We got to look back on filming and how much fun we had. We picked the ones we like best and organize them into a separate folder. I liked watching the clips because it reminded me how fun filmmaking can be. We had a lot of clips that we had to shorten. Sometimes we film two takes in one video and had to crop it. This made it so that when it was time to edit, it would be quicker. We all decided that Ben would you most of the editing, that being his strong suit. It feels surreal to be almost done with the experience. We’re all very excited to see the final product. We are dedicated a lot of time and effort and are ready to start piecing together the final project. In the next blog, we will continue to edit. I plan on taking you guys every step of the way. See you next time!