Planning: Getting approval for music

 

Last week, we went through the process of picking music. Now, we are onto the second part of the process. We have to obtain the right to use this music. This way, we won’t have complications when it comes to publishing the film. Because a lot of these artist are well known, most of them have managers. A way that people contact most artists are through their managers. What we decided to do, was email each artists’ manager and ask for permission. All it took was a quick google search. When we get that email, we have the thumbs up. We have not heard from the artists’ managers yet. We are getting slightly nervous. If they don’t respond in a few days, we will contact them again. If that doesn’t work, we have to find another way to input music. We really feel that this short film would not be the same without songs like these. This indie LGBT soundtrack would complete the short. We do have the back up options of the songs that we discussed earlier. We could include those, but we are hoping we don’t have to. Overall, we are just excited to start filming. I will update you when we get approval for our music.

Planning: picking music for film

         Now that we overcame the obstacle of picking the location, we have to pick the music. We felt that, for this short film, the music is paramount. We thought it would be good to have options to choose from. Each of us picked three songs. We made a playlist with them and listened to each of them a few times. We picked the four songs that we thought would fit the best. I really enjoyed the process. This genre of movie is something I really love. A lot of music I listen to comes from soundtracks. I chose Thunder by Roy Blair, Motion Sickness, and Homegirl by King Princess. I picked these songs because I genuinely enjoy them. Most of these are LGBTQ+ which I think is appropriate. We all sent our song suggestions to the group chat. We ended up taking a week to listen to the songs and then choosing. We picked two of my songs, which I was excited about. We also chose one of Amy’s and one of Ben’s. After listening we prepared to include them in our film. This project has become something inspiring to work on. Now that everything  is official, we are getting ready to film. 

Planning: Getting approval to film at Moonlite Diner

 

        We went into this process already knowing where we wanted to film. Moonlite is a well-decorated small retro diner. It's not far from where we all live and isn't big enough to be busy all the time. That was perfect for filming. Before we even started to film, we had to get approval. This process, we assumed, was going to have multiple steps. Our group member, Ben, called to assure that they had certain policies. After a few calls, he was able to speak to the owner. The owner explained that we had to go online and fill out a form, and email it to them. I went online and found the form. I emailed them a few times over the course of two weeks or so. After we didn't receive a response, we had to come up with another solution. Amy decided that, since she lives the closest, she could drive there and attempt to speak to someone about our request in person. The manager said that he would talk to the owner and call us back. After we didn't receive a call, we, again, had to call. Amy called one last time and was able to work out something with the owner. He asked us about our film and after we described it, he loved it. He agreed to let us film for free, as long as we take new pictures of the location. We were so happy to finally solve the problem of location. 

Social Media/ Marketing blog

        These past few days, our group has been creating all the social media. We need all these accounts to expand our reach. The more people that run across these accounts, the more possible viewers for when we release our short film. For this step, we had to make four social media accounts. We created a new email for the accounts, so everything would be organized. I made the Facebook account since I knew the most about the app. We came across an obstacle, regarding the name of the account. Facebook only allows users to name their pages real names. After I told the group, we all agreed that we could name it after the main character, Cassidy Jensen. I was also assigned to do the YouTube account. This was simple to do because YouTube is already linked to Gmail. Amy did the Twitter account. This setup was fairly easy, considering all she had to do was sign up with the email. Ben made the Instagram account. The last thing we had to do was put them all onto a website. We used a program called Wix and all worked on it. It only took us a few days and was a great tactic to create our brand. All we have to do is set up to start filming. We're definitely excited for the next steps. 

Storyboarding for film

We’re definitely moving along with our project. This past week, we finished the planning for the filming of our short film. We have done everything from pick a title to figure out location. We are so excited to be able to count the days. This week, we all helped piece together our storyboard. The storyboard helps later on when we have to worry about camera placement. We sketch out the overall look of the scene and any specific angles or movements. Because there are three of us, we were able to split up the pages so it wasn’t as much work. We each took on a few scenes and talked about how we envisioned the shots. It got us even more excited about getting ready to film. We tried to organize the scenes, so the more the audience watches, the more they feel for the characters. For example, the main character Cassidy is supposed to be set up as relatable for queer teenagers. To relay this, we had a shot of her with the love interest’s head on her shoulder. She had a shocked expression and it was clear that she was freaking out. This comes full circle with the genre of the film being LGBT+. We wanted to make a short film that accurately represents the anxieties of being “in the closet” and in a relationship. Not only is it an interesting thing to film, but it is something that a lot of the LGBT+ community go through. Recently, there have been a few LGBT+ films in the limelight. Only a few of those, although, are accurate representation. That’s why it was so important for us, and me especially, to tell a real story.

Planning for short film

 

        Since my group and I have already finished writing our screenplay, it's time for us to start planning. We have been provided with a list of things we need to have thought out. That is very helpful because it's easy to lose track of what we need. The first thing we had to think out was our schedule. As of today, we've set aside the days from November 16th to the 23rd. We chose these days because two of the members of the group might be away for thanksgiving. Also, with the holidays coming up, one of us might be out of the country, so we feel it's important that we film as soon as we can. The next thing we had to think of was the location of our scenes. The opening scene, along with a few others, takes place in the main character's room. For those, we are going to use my room, as it is most fitting for Cassidy's (the main character) personality. Along with my house, we are going to be using Aitan's house. He s a friend that will be one of the actors in the short film. We are also going to film at one of our local diners and following their protocol for filming. In between certain scenes, we will also be filming in cars. Besides our three group members (Joaquina, Amy, and Ben), two of our friends, Gleda and Aitan, have volunteered to be some of the main roles in our project. Health and safety is definitely the most important factor in filming this year, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We fully plan on wearing masks everywhere we go and avoiding seeing anybody, besides our families, the week before we film. Since we won't be needing to do any stunts for any of our scenes, we are mostly trying to stay safe from the virus. For props, we don't need anything specific, besides the phones that will be used in certain scenes and things for mise en scene, like the food, and decoration for the rooms (posters, furniture, etc.). The last thing we need to plan is the costumes, which we decided are going to be very casual and modern, with each outfit fitting the character's personality.