Can't Help Falling in Love

     Music is one of the biggest forms to show feelings, emotions and thoughts in a film. It also creates atmosphere and establishes a setting and mood. Like I've previously mentioned, I want my opening scene to introduce a lot without saying or showing a lot which is why I want to closely choose what songs I will include. There's two parts of my opening scene where I want to incorporate music. The first one being when Ben and Naomi are dancing in his room and the second one is when Naomi is running to Leo's car and when they meet up. 

    For the part where Ben and Naomi are dancing, I want to use "La vie en rose" by Louis Armstrong. Luckily, this song is royalty free so I can use it without authorization. The reason I chose this song is because while I was writing this blog in class the song started playing through my earbuds and I think it will set the atmosphere for their slow dancing. 

    Since my whole project is inspired by my favorite things (shows, characters, etc) I wanted to include one of my favorite songs. "Cant Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley. This song will be used in the part where Naomi is running to Leo's car to meet up with him. I thought this song would be appropriate because although they know their relationship is wrong, they can't help falling in love with each other. There are many versions and covers of this song but I wanted to use the original Elvis Presley one because  of the melody and his voice. 

    I emailed "Graceland" which is the closets and fastest way I could get information about using Elvis Presley's songs and asked them if I could use it for the project and they thankfully got back to me in one day. They said it was okay for me to use it as long as I didn't publish it on YouTube or any social media which I don't plan on. 

storyboard

    For the next step of my planning process of my portfolio project I completed a storyboard to organize my ideas and each scene that will be filmed for my opening scene of "De Nuit". As shown, my drawing abilities aren't the best so i'm going to describe and go in depth for each of the shots. 

    The first shot is going to be Ben and Naomi dancing and laughing in slow motion in Ben's room to show their ideal relationship. A close up of Naomi's phone will be shown with Leo's text messages about meeting up and Naomi checking it and saying her mom picked her up. The setting will change to Ben's bathroom and Naomi will be looking at herself in the mirror fixing her hair and touching up her face. The next shot will be Naomi leaving Ben's house and running in slow motion to Leo's car who is parked a few houses down. A slow motion zoom-in of Leo looking out of the car will be shown and then it will go back to Namoi running to his car and getting in the car all in slow-motion. The last shot and conclusion of the opening scene will be Naomi and Leo re-connecting and will be a preview of their romance. 

Camera equipment

   

    When it comes to filming my opening scene I want the camera quality to be top tier. Since I can't get access to a production level camera I used my resources and thankfully my mom is a photographer. She was more than happy to help me film and let me use her camera. She has a canon EOS R6 which apart from filming I will also use it for the cover and any other pictures I have to take. I'm also going to use a ubeesize ring light for the lighting that my cousin offered. The good thing about the ubeesize ring light I will use is that it has different light and tone settings which I can use to manipulate the mood. 

Costumes

    In film, costumes are used to dig deeper into a character and their personalities. It also helps develop the setting and time setting of the film. For my film "De Nuit" I want the costumes to introduce the characters further and show their personality. 

    For Naomi, since she is the "It" girl at her school, I want her outfit to be very trendy and bright since she is always the center of attention and is the main character. For her opening scene outfit, she will first be at her boyfriend Ben's house hanging out and dancing with him. I want her outfit to show the comfort of being herself with Leo and the uptight image she keeps around Ben and everyone else.  I took inspiration from Paris Hilton's juicy couture tracksuit era for Naomi's outfit since Paris Hilton in the 2000s is a big inspiration for Naomi's character. Juicy Couture tracksuits are also currently very trendy amongst teens and young adults. This outfit option represents Naomi because it shows that she is always making sure she looks her best even when doing casual activities because she worries about what people think of her and wants to hide her home life to maintain her "It" girl persona.

   

    Next up, Naomi's lover Leo has a very manly style. For the opening scene, I want to embrace his manliness and also show the comfort and at home feeling he has with Naomi that he lacks when he's home. Therefore, i chose grey sweatpants and a grey hoodie for his outfit. The color grey symbolizes mystery and control which is the perfect representation of Leo's personality. Additionally, in modern culture, grey sweatpants are seen as a piece "bad boys" wear.     

    Lastly, Ben's outfit represents his put-together life all around.  He will wear a "preppy" outfit which will consist of a light blue sweater and khaki pants to show that even though he's at the comfort of his own home he still looks presentable. The color scheme of his outfit is very light just like his mood board to symbolize his softness and tranquility. 

more characters...

     This week is my biggest planning week where I will get most of the plot and character details down. I plan on storyboarding, casting, and location scouting. For today, I will finish introducing the key characters that will be involved in the opening scene of my film.

    I finally came up with a name and story for Naomi's lover. Leonardo who usually goes by Leo grew up in a similar environment as Naomi. His father was absent for the majority of his childhood as he left his family when Leo was 8 years old. His mom, who depended financially on Leo's father dated multiple rich men instead of searching for a job. Leo and his brother Blake would move from house to house and experienced a very abusive environment between their mother and her various boyfriends. Leo had a lot of anger and resentment towards everyone around him which translated into his own personal life. He joined the football team and was the captain of the team. He saw football as a way to let out his anger but that wasn't enough for him. In most of Leo's relationships, he was very possessive and controlling over his partners since that's what he had been around most of his life. No one ever taught him how to treat a woman since the only woman around him would allow men to control her. He also felt in his relationships, especially with Naomi, that it was something in his life he could finally control.

    I made a mood board to show Leo's aesthetic/vibe. His color is dark tones of blue. Leo can be compared with the ocean. Calm at first sight, but deep down it is scary and unpredictable which is why I thought blue would be a good way to represent him. He dedicates a lot of his time to football which is why I included a picture of football players. Additionally, I included a picture of a guy bleeding to represent his aggression. All the pictures I included in Leo's mood board are in black and white to encapsulate his mystery and darkness. 

     Leo is not the only man in Naomi's life, there is also Ben, her actual boyfriend. Like I previously mentioned in my "I got an idea..." blog post, Naomi was being unfaithful and having a secret relationship with another man (Leo). Ben is the complete opposite of Leo and his relationship with Naomi is also the complete opposite of her relationship with Leo. Ben plays lacrosse and has a great relationship with his parents. Him and Naomi have been together for 4 years and practically everyone knows they are dating, they are practically married. Ben is convinced Naomi is the love of his life and plans on spending the rest of his life with her, Naomi has other plans though. 

    This is Ben's mood board. As you can see his color scheme is the complete opposite shade of blue as Leo. I chose this shade of blue to represent his love for the sea and surfing in clear blue waters. I also chose this color because light blue usually symbolizes tranquility and stability. Ben is what keeps Naomi's life balanced from the insanity going on around her life at home and her secret relationship with Leo which is the complete opposite of her relationship with Ben.

    So far these are the only characters I plan on including on my opening scene. I'm still considering introducing Leo's girlfriend into the scene or if he's even going to have a girlfriend at all. 

de nuit- Title and font

     After having most of my plot idea, I thought it was time to create a title for my film. I wanted the title to sound romantic yet secretive and mysterious. I used random word generators, movie title generators and looked up attention-grabbing words that had a secretive/romantic meaning. I then had the idea to make the title another language and what language is more romantic than French. I got on google translate and typed many word combinations such as: "in secret", "secret love", "love at night" and many others until I thought about"by night" which translates to "de Nuit" in french. I liked the sound of it and how it's short and straight to the point. 

    The reason I decided on this title is because Naomi and her currently un-named lover's relationship only occurs in the middle of the night. Their love comes to life at night when they meet up in the lover's car after a day of pretending they don't know each other. 

    

    

    For the font of the title, I went on Canva and played around with fonts that were simple yet striking. 

I haven't fully decided on one yet because I'm waiting on the cover to see what fits best but here are some of my top options. I decided to mostly go with cursive fonts because they are simple but elegant. Since Naomi's lifestyle is full of exclusivity and eliteness, I wanted to show that in the title and the cover which im still developing. 

 

Creating Naomi

     As I've further developed my story, I started to brainstorm ideas for the character names. I searched up popular names, significant names; thought of names of people I know, etc. until finally, I thought of the name Naomi. I chose "Naomi" for the character because I remembered one of my favorite television shows 90210, my favorite character's name is Naomi. On the show, Naomi is perceived as this arrogant and narcissistic person but in reality, has deep-rooted issues that make her what she is. In my film, Naomi does a lot of messed-up things to those around her and is a pathological liar. This is because she grew up in a life full of lies and unfaithfulness. Naomi doesn't know any better than this and is repeating what her parents showed her to be normal. 

    When Naomi was younger, her parents were mostly absent, and when they were home, she would hear arguments all the time. Her father was mostly away on business and her mother would go out every night and have a different man over. This made Naomi think that's what love was about so it reflected on her future relationships.

I decided to create a mood board to show Naomi's lifestyle and aesthetic. She wears a lot of golds and silvers and is usually wearing a cocktail dress on her way to a party. My inspiration from Naomi came from "Serena Van Der Woodsen" from the tv show "Gossip Girl." In the show, Serena grew up a very privileged life but her father was barely present and her mom went through many marriages. Once she hit her late teenage years, she acted up by partying, cheating, doing drugs and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. Naomi and Serena have a lot in common in the way they grew up and how they act up because of it. 

Conventions of a Romantic Drama

         As I've been planning out my film opening for my currently untitled romantic drama, I decided to dig deeper into the genre. I want to research what makes a romantic drama what it is and why my film fits into the romantic drama genre. 

    A Romantic Drama explores the hard and complicated side of love. Although all romantic dramas are different, they all share the same principle. The main factor in this genre is an issue with love such as forbidden love, sacrificial love, love triangles, etc. My film will explore love in secrecy since it will consist of a love affair between two individuals in an unhappy relationship. They found true love and hapiness with each other, but face great challenges throughout their relationship.

    "In The Mood For Love" 2000

Wong Kar-Wai's film "In The Mood For Love" explores a story of two characters, Chow Mo-wan a journalist and Su Li-Zhen a secretary. They are both married but live lonely lives since both their partners work late hours and are rarely home. They are neighbors and spend a lot of time together since both their partners are away often. This film falls into the romantic drama genre because it explores a love affair. 

"Brokeback Mountain" 2005

Ennis and Jack,two shepers who develop a romantic relationship. The relationship becomes complicated because they marry their girlfriends. 4 years later, they meet again and frequently go on fishing trips together while each of their marriages fall apart. This is a romantic drama because their relationship becomes challenging and then have to maintain their relationship a secret.

    The target audience for Romantic dramas are typically woman from ages 20-50.  The tone of romantic drama films differ, whether the ending is happy or tragic, it aims to evoke strong emotion from the audience. The romantic drama genre of films shows the many sides of love and explores conflict in relationships. The reason i show this genre is because it is very interesting to explore and creates a strong feeling. 

I got an idea...

     The brainstorming for the portfolio project has taken over my thoughts. Every piece of media I watch whether it's a TV show, movie, read a few chapters of the book I'm reading, Tik Tok, etc. I try to take inspiration from it but always end up discarding the idea. On Sunday night, as I watched the new episode of "Euphoria" I got inspired by the love affair triangle between the characters Maddy Perez, Cassie Howard, and Nate Jacobs. Cassie, Maddy's best friend is in a secret love affair with Maddy's ex boyfriend, Nate. They sneak off at night to meet up and it drives Cassie into a manic and depressive episode. 

    For my film, I was thinking of doing a romance since I did my genre research on that and it's one of my favorite genres. I decided to add a twist to it and make it a romantic drama. I will take inspiration from Euphoria by creating a secret love affair where the lovers sneak off at night to meet up. The story will consist of a man and a woman that are in an unhappy relationship and have found happiness with someone else but are scared to call it quits with their significant other.

   I want my opening scene to say a lot about the plot but at the same time say nothing to maintain the secrecy of the love affair.  I'm excited to research the conventions of a romance drama and how I will make this idea come to life with different techniques.

    These are the scenes from Season 2 Episode 2 of Euphoria that inspired me to come up with the plot for my film. The pictures show Cassie running to Nate's car in the middle of the night after sneaking out of her house. My opening scene will consist of the woman sneaking out of her house while her lover waits for her to meet up. 

and so it begins...

Hi, I'm Elisa but i usually go by Eli (Ellie),

    The process has finally begun and i'm feeling excited yet very overwhelmed. I wouldn't necessairily consider myself a creative person so since I found out the portfolio project was starting I've been exploring many ideas. I want to create something that represents me and how my mind works. I'm thinking about focusing on a coming of age romance or a drama/crime film. 

    I'm looking forward to writing on my blog since it allows me to organize my ideas and reflect on the process. I enjoy writing and sharing my ideas and feelings with others so I think the blog will really help me stay motivated for the upcoming project. It also makes me feel like I'm Carrie Bradshaw so that also contributes to my excitement. 

    I can't wait to finally get started on this long yet exciting process and I hope you'll enjoy this journey along with me through my blog.

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

     This project has been my favorite so far as creativity was a big part of it. The techniques used in music marketing, and marketing, in general, go way above what I expected. My team and I put many ideas together that we have seen on social media and on movies and put them together to suit our band "Skelm".  We used WhatsApp as our main form of communication outside of class and made sure deadlines were met and opinions were heard. This project wouldn't have worked out if it wasn't for communication and teamwork. 

    The team split up the work once we got our main idea together to work efficiently. I took upon the social media portion of the project. I took inspiration from many big artists and mainly other metal music bands such as Korn and SlipKnot in order to fit the aesthetic. I created a fake Instagram for the band and once we had established the colors and logo I got to posting and creating the whole profile. Additionally, I also worked on the trends in marketing in the distribution of the presentation which was pretty challenging.

      The biggest challenge I had while working on this project was the trends in metal music. Since it's a very "mysterious" genre, I personally found it difficult to research how big bands marketed their albums since they already have a very established fanbase. I found marketing and pr companies that specialized in metal music and based a lot of the ideas used in our project on their marketing techniques. Another main challenge we had was time management. The day the project was due we had to connect on WhatsApp video chat and split up the work and assign each other the slides that we were individually going to present. Since we didn't follow our schedule, we had to do most of the hard work last minute and ended up crossing out some of the ideas we had due to timing issues. Fortunately, we finished right on time,

    When it came to the artistic side of the project (The logo, Music Video, Merchandise, etc), two of the team members took responsibility and certainly didn't disappoint. The merchandise and logo were just as we had planned. As a group, we explored a variety of fonts and color schemes and decided on a purple and black theme to differentiate our brand from already established ones that mainly use red. It all came together and each member's ideas were somehow incorporated throughout the video and campaign. 

    Lastly, I was a bit disappointed in myself when it came to presenting the band to the class since I got very anxious and nervous and forgot a lot of the information. I stuttered a bit and was trying my best to recall what I had researched previously and what was written on the slides, but the nerves came over me. I was sad to disappoint my team members as they also put a lot of effort into the presentation and knew their parts very well. 

    What I enjoyed the most about this project is definitely the creativity and communication that went into it. Everyone's ideas and opinions were heard and no one was afraid to disagree on something. I also enjoyed the learning experience as I didn't know how much really went into getting an artist/ band and their content out there.