Flyer Research

I am researching conventions and layouts that a film festival flyer has. On this website, I found helpful information on what a flyer typically has on it. Here is the information I found most helpful:

This website was very useful because it listed what specific information to include, and even added visual examples to make it even more clear.

I have also been looking at different layouts that I like so we have different options to choose from. Here are some layouts I like and some I didn't:

I like the layout because it highlights the image and the subject. I don't like how there are a lot of different fonts because I think there are too many. The font choice for the title of the movie is very engaging and interesting.

I like the image because it is very evocative, but I don't like how the awards are on the front. I would have liked it better if they just left the director and title with the image.

I like the colors and text. I also like how they included a tagline from the film. I don't like the gray box at the bottom. If they had just left the picture normally without the gray or put that information on the back it would look better.

(Back of the first flyer) I like this layout because it is very easy to read. Everything is spaced out in a cohesive way. I also like the added touch of the QR code, and I think I want to include that in my flyer. I don't like the color of the flyer, or how small the contact information is.

Sources:

kavyamediastudiesa2. “A2 Media – Short Film.” A2 Media Short Film, kavyamediastudiesa2.wordpress.com/category/postcard-advertisement/.

Quincy Woo. “Us. Them. Me. at the Oregon Independent Film Festival.” Quincy Woo, Quincy Woo, 3 Sept. 2017, www.quincywoo.com/journal/2017/9/2/us-them-me-at-the-oregon-independent-film-festival.

Biscuit. “Julien Dubuque International Film Festival - Iowa.” Written Off, Written Off, 19 Apr. 2017, www.written-off.com/film-news/2018/2/7/julien-dubuque-international-film-festival-iowa.

Netflix Distribution Research

We chose Netflix as our distributor because it reaches such a large audience and has niche marketing, which works out because we are making a film noir. 

According to this website, Netflix reaches 93 million people, and is only growing. Netflix has realized that "Each show doesn’t need a mass audience—which is the measure of success for advertiser-funded television—but the service does need to provide enough value that subscribers continue to pay." Netflix can saturate their streaming service with tons of different kinds of content because of the large variety of audiences it reaches.

Furthermore, "Netflix has adopted what I call a 'conglomerated niche' strategy: It develops programs for a handful of—maybe a dozen—different audience interests. These include complicated serial dramas (House of Cards), action series (Daredevil), horror series (Hemlock Grove), and exclusive films starring a popular actor (e.g. Adam Sandler)." This is perfect for our film noir because it would not serve a mass audience because it is a film noir, but would do well on Netflix because of the broad range of subscribers.

The website describes Netflix as "an expansive library with many small nooks and rooms." This gives our short film the ability to thrive in Netflix's environment because it allows many productions to try to satisfy different people's tastes.

Even this website says that Netflix wants to "give people a wide variety of good content and [not] ask too much for it." The website also goes on to say that "Niche marketing has been a real strength for Netflix, producing original programming that its core audience could easily connect with and get excited about."

I think Pupa would be perfect For Netflix because it would provide a place where people will find it and easily access it.

Making the Website Part 3

I have added more items to the website. Here is a screen recording of the progress:

I keep starting each page so that Taylor and Joanne can go back and add more items to it. I have not added something to all the pages yet, but I feel like if we at least have the base work done we are in good shape. I am trying to make the website very interactive, so I made it so when you hover over the image it shows more information. I also want to make an interactive contact page, but I have not gotten around to it. I am going to have Taylor and Joanne help me do it.

I am still unsure about having the doll as the homepage background. Also, we need to shoot more pictures to add to the website (such as for the about page). I also need to add pictures and descriptions of the crew page and finish the cast page. I am happy that I at least have some ground work done. 

I am also unsure about the moving gray background for the other pages. I'm not sure if a black background would work better. Here are the backgrounds side to side:

I like how the gray background moves because it makes the website more interesting.

The black background is kind of plain, so I think I'm leaning more towards the gray.

I am happy with how the website is coming along, but there are still some things that need to be added. Once we finish the film, I also want to put it on the website.

Making the Website Part 2

I thought of the idea of making 4 character poster wallpapers to put on the website. It will add an interactive element to the website since they are downloadable and can be used as a wallpaper on your phone, laptop, etc. This is similar to how the film Avengers Infinity War created character posters to market the film. (Examples below):

The wallpapers will create hype for the movie. We are distributing the film on Netflix, so I dowloaded the Netflix font to put on the posters. We also chose the font Horror Sketch because we thought it would look best. Here are the wallpapers I made from the pictures Taylor sent me:

I got inspiration from these Netflix movie posters I found on Google:

I am using both layouts of having the Netflix logo bigger on top (for the wallpapers) and smaller on the bottom with the release date (for the website home page). 

Here are the two posters I put on the website so far:

 I added an interactive button to say download when you hover over the image, so it is easy to download.

I really like how the posters turned out, and I am going to work on the flyer next week. First, I have to do research for the flyer. I will make a blog post on it next week.

Starting the Website...

I started the website because we have to film after spring break now because everyone is very busy. I figured if we do the website and flyer while we wait to film, we will still be in a good place. 

I researched different horror movie websites to get some inspiration with our website. We are going to stick with the colors black and white because our film is in black and white. We will also probably add some red color too. My favorite website I researched was Annabelle Comes Home. It has a really cool interactive feature of when your mouse hovers over the page, a flashlight appears to light up the face of the Annabelle doll. Here is a screen recording of it:

I think that is a really nice feature for audiences because it is unexpected and very creepy. It also has all of the social media in the top right corner. 

Another website I looked at is for Child's Play. I like how it is marketing the Chucky doll as if it is real. Here is the home page of the website so you can see what I am talking about:

I started the rough outline of the website so Joanne and Taylor can continue it. Here is a screen recording of the website so far:

I just created the tabs and the text for the home page

More Problems with Scheduling & Film Noir Research

We have to film after spring break because we do not have time. We are going to film April 2 because we have no school because of testing, so we have the whole day to film. That would mean we have about 1 week to edit. Because of this, we are going to start the flyer and website and try to finish it before we have to edit. 

We have also decided to make it a film noir so we don't have to dye the doll's hair, and it will  add a stylistic element to the film. Taylor is also trying to find a way to use that song we want in the film. Hopefully she is able to, but we need to look up more audio to use. I hope that we are able to stick to this schedule and have enough time to work on everything. 

According to this website, film noirs have "An oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, dingy realism, futility, fatalism, defeat and entrapment were stylized characteristics of film noir. The protagonists in film noir were normally driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes."

This goes well with our film because our main character is suspicious and is driven by the human weakness of loneliness. Our main character also corresponds to this website where they describe a film noir character as "a loner, introverted, troubled, hard-boiled, pessimistic. He is not the conventional film hero, confident/exceptional/certain, but rather average and conventional, often is a war veteran or detective, and is defined by his ability to survive and restore normality."

Because "The iconography of noir uses dark sidewalks, rain-drenched streets, flashing neon signs, fairgrounds and carnivals (associated with madness in German expressionism), the city as villain dangerous/hostile, the border town or the casino, imagery of water and alcohol that represent merging and release rather than fragmentation and blockage." This means when we film the scene of Amber walking, we need to make sure it is dark and put a puddle on the ground to align more with the genre.

Learning How Adobe Lightroom Classic Works...

I have Lightroom on my computer, and I want to learn how to use it to edit images for the website/flyer. Lightroom looks like a really fun software to use, and photos definitely look more professional after using it. On the Adobe website, I found information lots of information on basically everything you would need to know about Lightroom. 

I made a screen recording to show all the resources I found on the Adobe website:

Here is the specific information I found especially helpful:

I really like how Lightroom has so many options to edit the photos. I am especially excited to play with the shadows to make our photos seem creepy.

This is very helpful, and I really like shortcuts because it makes me go a lot faster (when I use Photoshop and Premiere Pro). 

When I opened up Lightroom to see for myself, I noticed it also has many filter presets. With just a click of a button, you can make the entire image blue, red, black and white, vintage, etc. It seems overwhelming at first when you open Lightroom, but the Adobe website made things easier. I really like this resource, and I am ready to start editing photos!

Production Decisions...

Here is more of the storyboard that we have completed:

My group discussed all the props we need to get before we start filming. We have decided to dye the doll's hair to brown because we don't know anyone with red hair to play the part of the kidnapped girl. My group has been arguing if the doll needs to look like the kidnapped girl, and have come to the conclusion that it is very important to the story. This is because we want to make sure the audience understands what is going on. We also have to find the same shade of green the doll is wearing. Another prop we need is rope to leave hints for the audience that Amber has kidnapped someone. We have discussed the end scene in more depth, and have decided that we are going to need fake blood for the scene. 

In the end scene, Amber is shaking the doll and yelling "Why won't you talk to me?!" Amber grabs the knife next to her and continues to scream at the doll "Talk to me! Talk to me!" She then proceeds to stab the doll, and the scene cuts to the girl she kidnapped in shock holding the stab wound with blood pouring out.

We want the end scene to be dramatic, and tie in our main idea of how loneliness has driven our main character to do something pretty crazy.

While looking for good music, Taylor found a creepy song that we want to use, but are unsure if we can because of rights issues. Here is the link to the song:

https://youtu.be/fOjVjc5vJ6I

We think it will work well in the montage scenes of Amber doing daily activities with the doll. We need to look for more music, especially for the pivotal end scene. We also need to make sure we have lots of sound elements during the montage scene.

We are excited and ready to film next week!

Changes in Scheduling...

We were going to film the Panera scene today, but have decided to push all filming to next week. We felt like we were rushing to film this week when the entire story has not been 100% thought out. Next week we have more time to focus on it, and we need to finish the storyboard this week. We also are going to start planning out the website, and we already have an idea for the flyer. For the flyer, we are going to have a picture of Amber and the other half of her face will be the doll. We are going to use Photoshop to edit it because since last year I know more tools that we can use. The doll arrived on Monday night, and Taylor says it is definitely creepy. Its eyes move when you put it down, which is perfect for one of the scenes we are planning.

I have also been looking around my house to find the locations we discussed in our storyboard. Here are some pictures of the locations we are filming at my house:

Here is the answering machine we are using.

This is one of the hallways we can use for the close up shots of Amber.

When we film the Panera scene, we want food that looks very organized and perfect looking. We were not sure which meal at Panera will look the most neat, so I found images online of Panera food that has the look we talked about. 

I like how this is played out perfectly with the fork and knives, and how clean and neat it is.

I like how neat the salad looks and how the chicken is laid out.

Sound Research

I am doing some research before we start filming the Panera scene tomorrow (we switched the date instead of Monday because Tuesday works better). The doll is not coming until later this week, so we are going to film the majority next week. After we film the Panera scene we are going to start editing it, and start on our website/flyer. I am excited to start filming!

I have learned that sound is vital to any production, especially thrillers. I have researched some ways we can incorporate some sound elements to set the mood of our film. Here are some sounds we can include (from this website):

I also researched  how to mix audio in Adobe Premiere Pro. I found this YouTube video on how to mix audio with an effect on Premiere:

It was very helpful and it actually showed where to go on Premiere Pro, so I visually saw how to do it. The sound quality is very important, so I want to prepare beforehand so I don't have to worry about it.

Problem Solved...

As I mentioned in my last blog post, we have had trouble remembering what we want to include in our storyboard. I made a plot diagram so we could see how our story is laid out. This definitely helped me understand our story from start to finish better, and I think it is a good reference for us to look at. Now we have an entire outline all in one place, and it is a helpful visual representation. Now I feel better because I am not second guessing the sequence of events, and I think we can make the storyboard even faster now. Here is the plot diagram:

I remembered making these in past classes, and I thought it could work for our project  In my next blog post, I will have information about my group filming the Panera scene, and a finished storyboard. I am ready to start filming so we can begin the other components of the project more in depth. I am also going to research more about Lightroom because I have it on my computer, and I want to use it for editing some of our production pictures for the website and flyer. 

Continuing the Storyboard and Font Choices

Here is the next part of the storyboard:

We are trying to come up with a variety of shots to make it more interesting. I really like that we included an over the shoulder shot when Amber picks up the doll. We are going to finish the storyboard on Monday, and we are filming the Panera scene Monday after school. We have to film the rest on Tuesday because I think that is when the doll is supposed to arrive. I am going to brainstorm more shot ideas. We know we are going to use a pan to show how the doll is actually a kidnapped girl. We have also planned out some scenes to show how the doll is Amber's only meaningful interaction that she has. We are going to have Amber doing work on the computer and the doll is there, sitting on the couch together, and eating together. We are also going to plan another scene to make sure we have more than enough footage. After we establish this, we are going to show the doll seeming to act on its own. We are also including a scene where the doll blinks. We haven't included these in the storyboard yet.

Honestly, it is kind of confusing remembering the exact layout of our story. I think I need to make something that has more of a detailed outline of our story than just the plot summary. In my next blog post, I will try to find a solution.

We all decided we don't need a script because the only dialogue is the voicemail, but we are recording that after filming. The most important item to get done is the storyboard because we are filming next week.


We also researched some font choices to use for the flyer and credits. We used dafont because it has so many good choices for fonts and they are free to download. I used dafont for my AS level project. Here are some of our favorite fonts that we found:

I really like the Horror Sketch font because of the spacing between the letters and how it transitions from thin lines to darker lines. My second favorite is the Horror Hotel font because of the waviness of the letters and how dark the lines are.

Starting the Storyboard

Here is the start of our storyboard:

We are filming at Panera for the beginning scene of Amber eating out. We wanted to begin with this to establish how she is lonely and does not go out with people. This is especially going to be shown in the long shot of her just sitting by herself with lots of people conversing around her.

Then the rest of the shots are at my house, and we still have to work on the script and exactly what the voicemail message is going to say. It is going to be from her mom, and will convey how Amber purposely lied about having something to do and not going on the college tour with her mom and sister. 

We are planning on starting filming on Monday 3/11 and depending on how long it takes to film the Panera scenes, we will start filming the scenes at my house. We will probably have to film the next day too, but it just all depends on how long it takes. There is not a lot of dialogue in our film, so writing the script shouldn't take that long. We are going to use a lot of auditory techniques to create the tone of the film instead of having it dialogue driven.

We are also ordering the creepy doll this week. Here is the doll Taylor found on Etsy:

It is supposed to come in 1-2 business days, which is perfect. It definitely has the creepy factor we are going for. It is also cheaper than the other dolls we were looking at.

I feel a lot less stressed about everything, and I really like how our storyboard is coming out!

Goals for this Week

This week, I want to complete the storyboard and the script. My group and I were very indecisive last week, which made us lose time because we were still going over the plot summary. This week I want to really focus and make sure we get both the storyboard and script done so we can start filming as soon as possible. We need to leave time for editing the short film, creating the website, and creating the flyer. When we created the 5 minute documentary this year, we did not give ourselves enough time to edit, so I think we have definitely learned from that mistake. We did not have enough time for little details and to make sure the documentary was perfect. I want to give ourselves enough time to make sure we are happy with our short film.

Tomorrow, we are going to be working on the storyboard and my goal is to finish it before Thursday. On Thursday, I want to work on the script and finish it. I really want to film either this weekend or sometime during next week. I have to talk to my group about what days to film, and it also depends on how long it takes us to make the storyboard and script. I think we really need to make sure we are not coming up with 20 ideas and not being able to pick one, like how we did with the plot summary. We definitely know we are filming at my house, but we are probably going to film short scenes in 1 or 2 other locations. We also need to find a creepy doll, and I think Taylor may have found one online. I think we are making the final decision on the doll tomorrow. We want a creepy porcelain doll. I also found this one online if the other doll doesn't work out.

This is a porcelain doll and it is definitely creepy. I think it works well for what we are going for, and I found it on Amazon.

I am definitely ready to start the production process!

More Research...

I have been researching more about loneliness to learn more about it, and why our main character (Amber) is trying so hard to combat it.

According to this website, "people rate love, intimacy, and social connections as contributing to their happiness above wealth or social fame." Also, "Just as physical pain protects people from physical dangers, loneliness may serve as a social pain to protect people from the dangers of being isolated." I think it is interesting that loneliness is described as a "social pain," because if it is painful to be lonely it would give some kind of reason for Amber to kidnap someone to try to feel better.

I took pictures of some of the key information I found on thrillers from this website:

These techniques are very helpful and we definitely have to include them when we storyboard. I am very happy that I found this website!

I also did some research on The Boy movie that my peers suggested during the group meetings. I watched this youtube scene from the film:

Some techniques that stuck out to me are:

• fast paced editing
• shadows under the door
• close ups of the protagonist
• diegetic sound of the phone ringing
• non diegetic sound when the list is shown
• non diegetic music to build tension

The beginning scene especially creeped me out with the boy just sitting on the bed paired with the non diegetic music. Next blog post will hopefully have some of the storyboard and any updates to the plot summary.

Sources:

“Accepting Loneliness.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201301/accepting-loneliness. 

JasonsA2Media Follow. “Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 10 Sept. 2013, www.slideshare.net/JasonsA2Media/codes-and-conventions-of-the-thriller-genre.

“Accepting Loneliness.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201301/accepting-loneliness. 

JasonsA2Media Follow. “Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 10 Sept. 2013, www.slideshare.net/JasonsA2Media/codes-and-conventions-of-the-thriller-genre.

“Accepting Loneliness.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201301/accepting-loneliness.

JasonsA2Media Follow. “Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 10 Sept. 2013, www.slideshare.net/JasonsA2Media/codes-and-conventions-of-the-thriller-genre.