I love Rainbows - Coloring

Ever since colors have been introduced into film and video, the usage and importance of color theory as greatly increased. Obviously in black and white films, using the right colors wasn't very important, but ever since then, its importance has grown exponentially. 

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        Filmmakers use colors to incite specific emotions and feelings into the viewers. For example, by using a blue, green, or dark purple coloring over a sad scene, the emotional impact grows and affects the audience in a much more meaningful way.

        On the other hand, a sad scene in a warm and bright environment might be less affective towards the audiences empathy. At the same time this color scheme may be used to show a chaotic or action scene where a lot of things are being thrown at the viewers. This technique can also be used to portray an overall message or purpose of a piece through the tone being shown more prominently. This connects to my piece since I plan to take a warmer and more aesthetic approach to the piece rather than a bright, colorful, and playful approach. 

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        Using the example of the picture below, you can see that the one on the left has a somber and more sad tone. This is shown through the dark silhouette and the dark blue and green color scheme. On the other side, the feeling is more of hope and happiness. These feelings are shown through the yellow and orange color scheme and the brightness of the picture. As I learned in a mise-en-scene lesson last year, yellow color schemes and the overall usage of that color (in this specific hue of yellow) is typically used to show happiness and excitement.

        Unlike a lot of them, there is a large area of films that appear better with only one specific color scheme meaning that the whole piece is put together to present this one singular emotion or feeling. Obviously, there are many films that simply match their coloring to the feeling of each specific scene, but that isn't quite the approach I'm trying to take. This is especially due to my topic and the feeling that animals typically gives to an audience in comparison to a fictional story that may have a turn of events or a distinct tone in different areas of their film.

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How this research relates back to my own piece:

        For my piece I plan on focusing on colors that express the calming and warm side of pets. If you didn't catch it, I used the adjective warm in the last sentences because I'm going to be mainly trying to use warmer colors. This would include mainly orange, red, beige, and brown; however, because of animals close relation to nature, I will probably be including some green to fit in the naturistic aspect and side of the animals. My color scheme is also going to be on the dimmer side meaning not bright colors. I hope this color scheme also allows for a mysterious feeling to be integrated into it to further make the audience want to watch more and get attached to the show. 

        I don't really have much more to mention, but I did say in one of my earlier posts that I have started filming some B-roll of my own pets whenever I like a position they're in. So, to wrap it up I'm going to include a picture of one of my already filmed B-roll videos to further show my color scheme in actuality.

Thank you for reading!

-Dana

Social Media Research

I will be dedicating this blog to my introduction research for my social media page. Earlier this week, my teacher gave us a lesson on our social media pages and how to approach them. So, this blog will feature 3 social media pages that relate to my topic through genre or type. 

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Abstract - Art of Design (@abstractdesign)

Starting off, I want to go back to the example I've been using a lot so far: Abstract - Art of Design. I know I have used this documentary as a guide and model numerous times; however, I can't help but love the way everything in this episodic documentary works together. 

        The social media tool I will be researching for them is their Instagram page. The abstract does an excellent job of representing its message on this social media platform. At first glance, their page may look chaotic and filled with various random photos. However, after watching a couple of their episodes, you see how all the posts get shaped together to form the overall message of the beauty of all art. 

        Their posts also tend to follow a similarity between certain ones of them. For example, 3 of the posts on the right show the presence of a rainbow or a rainbow color scheme. The usage of this color technique is utilized to connect back to their message of art and creativity as well as to connect the color scheme back to their logo, which is also a rainbow (shown below).

        Some posts, such as the one on the top right, show snippets of their interviewees to lure the audiences into wanting to learn more about the individuals and their working styles (and pieces of art). In a past post, they also focused on an interviewee who had a very unique style and type of art which could further draw in a curious crowd. This also helps the documentary develop its brand as it continues to grow with the same type of content and messages. 

        The rainbow color scheme can also have an impact on that since the audience could begin to recognize or remember the colorful expressions of this account and become more interested in watching the actual documentary and learning more about art. Another technique the account uses to further promote its brand and lure in a larger audience is its variety of content. Yes, I vaguely mentioned this above, but the idea of using distinct pictures ranging from nature to cars to a futuristic-looking lamp shows the devotion to reach a vast span of audiences each interested in varying things.

        Wrapping it up on this documentary, I will be using this documentary social media page to inspire my own through the variety yet similarity. For example, this Instagram account made me think of a specific idea I could use for my own which would be a quote of the week (obviously a pet quote) or a pet of the week that I could feature. This also relates to the important topic of engaging with the audience of my account where I can choose one of my follower's pets to label the pet of the week. However, I also plan on posting a variety of other content that this account inspired me to create and post.

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National Geographic Documentary Films (@natgeodocs)

I know this is technically a whole company or part of a company; however, I can't resist such a perfect opportunity to mention National Geographic and its connection to so many good pieces I've watched in the past.

        Once again, I will be looking at their Instagram page to do my research. As shown on the right, many of their posts (a lot aren't shown) follow a similar color scheme: reds, oranges, and browns; basically filled with warm colors. For the posts that don't follow this pattern, they most likely follow or show a documentary that doesn't include those colors or is referencing or devoting a post to a person.

        Throughout their Instagram page, you can also see the grand magnitude of black representation. This can be related to the expansion and growth of their black-dominated documentaries. Along with that, they also utilize pining posts to show their most important postings or to show something by which they want to be known or represented. Most of their content is trailers/teasers or documentary posters for their upcoming or newly released documentaries. 

        Overall, their Instagram page does a very good job of developing their brand. Although they don't post very similar things to their main account, National Geographic is a company that is always looking to expand to every single aspect, so the differentiation of this content shows the brand representation at a large scale. Even so, they still resort to their yellow square logo to brand some of their posts and so viewers that happen to stumble across certain posts can immediately recognize that logo.

        Lastly, what I will be utilizing similarly to this social media page, is pining and the timing. I didn't talk about it above, but it seems as though this account posts once or twice a day on average. This shows their consistency throughout their postings. Obviously, I won't be posting that often, but the idea of constant and continuous posting is something I also want to develop and include in my own social media page.

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Our Planet (@ourplanet)

The last Instagram page I will be researching is our planet. I don't know if you caught on why I chose this documentary. Just kidding, obviously, it's because of the animal connection. Anyway, this social media page shows a grand variety of posting techniques that I think could largely influence my own postings.

        The postings on this Instagram page show the techniques that are used by Our Planet. They use a grand amount of close-ups and a couple of extreme long-shot high angles to further attract attention. This also creates curiosity and fascination in a post like the dinosaur ones. Most of the viewers who happen to stumble across those posts will most likely be confused and want to watch the whole video to see what it's about and how they created such nice technology and graphics to create a full dinosaur.

        Most of all of their posts are reels, meaning short videos. This allows the postings to provide more context, induce interest, and lure in a larger audience into wanting to watch an episode of the documentary. 

        On the other hand, they also take simpler and more calming approaches like the top middle and top right posts. The one in the middle is a small video talking about this specific type of jellyfish. The post on the top right is a whole video dedicated to stress-releasing and calming. This distinct approach can make many people consider 'Our Planet' to be an understanding and considerate company and documentary that may continue to mentally calm their viewers in certain episodes.

        Branding is very largely developed in this Instagram account. This is through their focus on animals similar to their actual documentary. The showing of distinct animals in each posting also helps them captivate their variety of viewers through their personalized postings. Overall, I'll be using various features from this social media page on my own. Some of these include the close-ups and cute animal pictures posted. Since my target audience is more likely to be attracted to the cuter and calmer side of animals, this approach could benefit me substantially. Lastly, I will be using a variation of postings to induce curiosity and the want/need for more in my audiences.

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Thank you for reading my social media page researching blog. Also, the reason I chose all three examples on Instagram is because that is what I plan on using for my own documentary. Anyway, thank you so much and I hope you continue to enjoy my process through my portfolio project.

-Dana

Importance of Interviews

This blog is going to be dedicated to the importance of interviews in documentaries. Apart from this upcoming project, I've only ever conducted 2 other professional-style interviews in my life: both being from my past documentary project. Since I've already talked briefly about my ideas for my potential interviewees, I am going to try to stray away from that idea and focus on different aspects of interviews more. 

        Interviews are structured conversations where questions are asked by one side and answered by the other (in brief terminology). According to a PDF interview article created by Harvard Kennedy School, documentaries rely on interviews heavily. They are used to communicate vital information about the documentary's topic.

        The way interviews are formatted allows the interviewees to share their firsthand or personal accounts of their experiences or ideologies. Interviews offer many distinct benefits for documentaries: credibility, emotional connections, and honesty, Not only do they provide realism to documentaries, but interviews also allow a more directed narration that can directly influence the tone and mood of the documentary, Their crucial role also offers better storytelling and allows for a greater connection to the viewers, emotionally and entertainingly. 

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        For example, I once watched a short 30-minute episodic documentary (a while back so I couldn't find the title) about natural disasters. The one I watched was about tornados and it included 3 distinct types of interviewee categories: scientists and meteorologists, victims of past tornados, and victims of the tornado that was being recorded.

        Considerable, this topic had a wider perspective and had more angles to be recorded from (unlike a topic like pets); however, these interviews also helped me understand more about the film. Obviously, I watched this documentary a long while back; however, looking back at it, I wonder how confusing the storyline would have been without the statistics, experiences, and stories that were being shared by the interviews.

 

        Anyways, relating to my topic, interviews are also going to be vital. As I stated in my vlog, I want to try and use the interviews to move the story and plot along on their own instead of relying on a voice-over or narration. 

        As I don't want to be too repetitive, I'm going to be ending the blog here; however, I have thought of a family member who may let me interview them on one of their family pets that helps keep them company. I will keep you guys updated on what answer I receive and I hope you enjoyed this short interview blog.

-Dana

Progress Vlog

I made this vlog to show my progress on my idea so far. Vlogs help me discuss and express my ideas more thoroughly. Hope you enjoy it!

-Dana

Documentary Conventions

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 In this blog, I will be talking about the conventions of documentaries and how I will be adapting them or turning away from them in my own documentary. I will also be explaining how I began to dive into the genre of documentaries including the introduction from earlier this year. Lastly, I will touch on the target audience for this genre and how that relates to my supposed target audience for my own film.

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Documentary Intro:

        Documentaries are special storytelling formats that are non-fiction. They typically are made to attempt to inform, educate, and entertain the viewers through real-life events, situations, and topics that range from largely varying issues. In order to fully capture the non-fiction and realistic feeling of this genre, documentaries use interviews, B-roll, and narrations to present and offer realism to topics. Documentaries can also have distinct pacing and filming styles such as hand-held shots and movement in the footage. Overall though, documentaries are very free with the content as they can range from historic events to scientific discoveries to the life of a celebrity.

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Although I have watched 3 documentaries, 2 of which were full-length documentaries, I will only be mentioning the last one. This is because the last documentary I watched for my class was an episodic documentary that relates closer to my own topic and conventions. If you want to learn more about my true first introduction to documentaries and see how the other 2 documentaries helped me understand this genre more click here.

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At the time when I watched this episodic documentary, my group and I were preparing for our own documentary project. This project was going to build up our idea and knowledge of documentaries to provide the option of a documentary for our portfolio project. This project basically gave us enough background and experience with documentaries to make the option available.

        Before my group and I dived into our own documentary project, our class explored this new type of documentary: episodic documentaries. Abstract, the only episodic documentary we watched, really stuck with me. Not only did it let me see more of the varying topics that could be shown in documentaries, but it also helped me get a larger perspective on documentaries in general.

        The episode we watched together in class focused on costume design and showed the creative and distinct aspects of this type of art. This project not only widened my perspective and view, but it also showed me the grand importance and role of B-roll and staged B-roll in documentaries. While we had briefly covered the topic of B-roll in our prior documentaries, Abstract's specific vision relating to the staged B-roll provided a whole new view into the application of this technical element. 

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My Conventions:

After briefly explaining my intro to documentaries once again, I'm going to be going over how this all relates to my film, specifically how it the conventions see similarities and differences.

A big typical convention of documentaries that I plan to stray away from a little more are hand-held shots. Hand-held shots are normally used in documentaries to force and apply a larger sense of reality and truth to the matter. Similarly to how almost all of my shots in my documentary project were still, I plan to do the same thing. I have thought of the idea that I could use hand-held shots to make playing, jumping, or having fun with the pets looks more like reality and exciting; however, I have decided to approach this topic with a more calm incentive instead of the more hyper and fun side.

On the other hand, an element that I will be greatly embracing is the interviews and B-roll. Although I do plan on including a voice-over/narration, I want my story mainly to be following the interviewee stories. This a big thing I wish I could go back and change in my documentary project: the relying of the narration to help the story flow and move along. For this project I hope the personal stories of their pets and helpers will allow the interviewees to guide the rest of the story. This will also make me able to match the B-roll with their stories instead of the narration.

        Something else that is extremely hard to not do in my opinion is selective editing. I have always not liked the idea of selective editing since you can completely alter what a person is saying; however, using it in your own projects to cut out any unnecessary topics or elements that may make the clips not flow with each other is always a help. Another thing I learned from my documentary project is to not make the selective editing obvious, meaning cut the sound when B-roll or something else is being shown so you can't see the person glitch or cut from one clip to the next.

Since I don't have many more main conventions, I'll jumble the rest that are necessary in 1 paragraph.

        Throughout my piece I hope to have a constant feeling of joy and happiness by using only bright clips in the daylight or while the sun is setting so it creates a warmer and more wholesome feeling and tone. I will also be embracing the idea of matching music with your B-roll, to develop your point of view on the topic, and to further set the warm mood of the piece. I also will probably be using some parallel-editing to establish connections between the interviewees and the pets.

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Target Audience:

Unlike specific genres of films that typically have a main target audience, documentaries have a very grand range. This is due to their create nature and widespan of topics they could cover. My specific topic is also kind of straying from the typical pet or animal documentary target audience.

        Normally, pet and animal documentaries are thought to have a younger target audience as the cute and funny aspects of the topic are attractive and interesting to younger audiences interests. Since my topic takes the more calm and collected side of the topic, the target audience would be a little older. This leads me to my own target audience (or at least what I believe it to be at this moment):

- All genders but mainly focused to women

- Ages 15-25 (teenager - young adult)

- Middle-class

- People who have or want pets

- Interested in pets and/or animals in general

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Anyways, thank you for reading my blog and keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming vlog on my storyline and progress for my project so far!

-Dana

Past Projects

I am going to be dedicating this blog to a review of my 2 latest projects, the film distribution project and the documentary project. I really enjoyed making both of these projects since it kind of felt like it was my first real taste at a more professional style project.

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Film Distribution Project:

    This project consisted of a 2 to 2-and-a-half-minute trailer and a teaser lasting 30ish seconds. We also had to make a movie poster that correlated with how we would be distributing the movie. This project was also very cool because we worked with another class called Creative Writing (of level 4 or 5) which gave us the whole story and idea we had to follow. As you know from my portfolio project last year, I like horror, so having a whole thriller/mystery story to create a trailer for was super thrilling and exciting.

A little background of the idea we had to create:

    1 of 2 roommates went missing alongside a bunch of other kids at their university. All of a sudden one night the missing roommate shows back up at their door out of nowhere. This raises suspicion and the other roommate begins to question the identity of the other and where she was this whole time. This leads to a little investigation until the roommate who had disappeared figures out that the other roommate is suspicious of her. Finally, the piece was supposed to end with the missing roommate killing the other roommate to cover up her tracks.

    This whole concept was very interesting to my group and I. Before starting anything else, we decided what aspects of the whole story we wanted our trailer to focus on and what else we may have to change in the script to adjust it to our filming abilities. Obviously, since we didn't have access to a college dorm, or anything that looked like one, we decided to switch the whole roommate idea to a sister idea so we could instead use a normal house. After this, we decided to focus on the mystery and missing aspect of the movie rather than the creepy and killerish aspect of it. This was also fitting to the materials we had at our disposal for the filming.

    Relating back to the portfolio project, this project is very similar to the film promotion project I would be able to create for the portfolio. Although I will say that the making of this trailer was probably my favorite and most enjoyable project to make, I still stand by my idea to create a documentary for the portfolio. The main thing that caught my attention when comparing my project to the film promotion project was the number of trailers we had to create. I know I mentioned this in my first portfolio blog posting but I will restate it vaguely. Making 2 different full-length trailers for the same idea/movie came with the task of creating a whole plot and storyline since both trailers couldn't be about the same exact sections of the movie. That in my opinion seemed like a lot of work, so I passed down on the idea.

Documentary Project:

    Saved the best for last haha. Anyway, this project consisted of a documentary that was supposed to last about 7 minutes about basically any topic we wanted. With this idea, we learned we needed interviews to support our ideas and B-roll, which was a new term for us at the time. I don't know why but ever since this project I've been in love with B-roll and the way it makes pieces flow so smoothly.

    My group and I decided a topic we could film and research at school would be the easiest so we wouldn't have to take up as much of our own time. So, we ended up coming up with book banning and its influence on teachers and school curriculums. 

    The reason I also think I can do better with this project again rather than the film promotion one is because of the mistakes I made. Since we had more time back when we did this project, we did a class or two of critiques where other students critiqued your work and told you things you could have done better. For this last project, we didn't have enough time to do any critiques face-to-face or very in deep, so I have less of an idea of what I could've done better (we did still do critiques, but I understand things better when it's a face-to-face conversation). Some of the things I got critiqued on for my documentary I didn't even know were something considered incorrect or not the best formatting.

For example, at first glance, the picture on the right seems fine right. Well, something I got told was that the subject should never be facing towards the "smaller" end of the video. After being told this, I felt like my eyes opened and I started realizing how weird it actually looked compared to my other interviewee who was positioned fine.

Anyway, overall I definitely liked creating the documentary a lot and with all the feedback I received, I think my portfolio project documentary will come out beautifully.

-Dana

My Hopeful Schedule

 I will be dedicating this blog posting to the organization of my project. Last year's portfolio project kind of went along with the schedule I created for it until the end when it got really chaotic; however, I plan to use my time this year and get through with as little stress and procrastination as possible.

I will organize this posting through weeks and mention first what I want to have done, relating to the actual filming, by that week, and then talk about the blog postings I wish to accomplish.

Week 1: (2/12 - 2/18)

Project: 

- By the end of this week I hope to have a more detailed plan of what I want to do (or at least a more specific idea of the topic or genre)

- I also want to make sure that if I do come up with at least one other idea for my project in case I decide that the way I am leaning to currently, will not work out.

Blogs:

- Even though I have already posted one, I want to have a total of 3 blog postings throughout this week, this being my second one.

- Apart from this schedule (which I have decided to print out and put on my wall), I will be making one more blog post talking about 2 projects I have done throughout this year that will relate to my topic or some aspect of my Portfolio project this year.

          - My Film Distribution Project

          - My Documentary Project

Week 2: (2/19 - 2/25)

Project: 

- By this week I want to have a solidified idea of what my project idea is (this does not mean it has to be concrete with everything in place, only that I know what and how I want to make my piece)

- I also want to try and research a bit during this week some documentaries or shows that relate to the topic and feeling I'm trying to portray, so I can get a more delicately formed idea.

Blogs:

- 3 blog postings dealing with the researching aspect.

          - Genre posting (conventions) + other films with similar or same genres + target audience

          - Vague idea of storyline, or "working with" my project idea/subjects

          - 'Why are Interviews Important' and dive into potential interviewees

Week 3: (2/26 - 3/3)

Project: 

- By this week I want to have my storyboard almost complete or create a list of shots I could use. This could also allow me to begin to film B-roll since getting the perfect shot may take a while.

- I also want to research music that will fit the feeling of my piece

Blogs:

- 3 blog postings on my research and incorporation of that information into my own terms for my project.

          - Color design and schemes (how I want to portray my film through the colors shown)

          - Background music 

          - My Brand (company or self)

Week 4: (3/4 - 3/10)

Project: 

- By this week, I want to have my storyboard completely finished. By finished, I mean that I want to have all of the shots I plan to take written down and how they would look. Including what cues in the music would fit right with them.

- Since I should have had some of the storyboard done by last week, I also plan on filming some B-roll this week in order to advance in the process.

- I would also like to have at least two interviews scheduled, so I can start getting the fitting B-roll as soon as possible.

Blogs:

- 3 blogs reflecting the ending of my grand researching phase and the beginning of my production phase. (3 of the 4 listed)

          - Finished storyboard and extra ideas for B-roll

          - Location scouting post

          - Music + B-roll post (including an ending paragraph about potential upcoming interviews?)

          - If an interview is conducted, one posting about the interview and how it went

Week 5: (3/11 - 3/17)

Project: 

- This week I want to have all of my planned B-roll finished being shot

- I also want to have all my interviews done by this week; however, if necessary, I can maybe push one back to the next week.

Blogs:

- 3 blogs all on my production process and troubles I may be having. If I have a class discussion, then include one of those as a replacement.

          - B-roll sum up, 'how I approached it'

          - Interview post

          - WILD CARD (I can pick anything according to how the process is going)

Week 6: (3/18 - 3/24)

Project: 

- This week I hope to begin editing my piece even if I haven't fully finished the interviews or haven't gotten quite enough B-roll.

- I also want to start researching for my social media page and my print component, the magazine spread.

Blogs:

- 3 blogs focused on components relating to research of minor topics and post-production (3 of the 4)

          - Post-production in general (not related to my project) research

          - Beginning of post-production

          - Social media page and magazine spread research content

          - Another interview blog if I did not finish the interviews last week

Week 7: (3/25 - 3/31)

Project: 

- By this week I want to have basically all of my video projects fully edited or almost done.

- I also want to research for my critical reflection essay to make sure I have all of the topics ready and begin to create it if I have time.

- Lastly, I want to be working on my social media page (hopefully done) and my magazine spread (working on)

Blogs:

- 3 blogs on post-production conclusion, and moving onto my minor aspects of the project (3 out of 4)

          - Ending of post-production

          - CCR research (gather all info into one blog so I can easily put it into an essay)

          - Social media page posting (hopefully finished one)

          - Work in progress magazine spread

Week 8: (4/1 - 4/7)

Project: 

-This week I want to get feedback on my final video portion and maybe alter it a little to fix mistakes or recommendations.

- Finish the social media page and magazine spread

- Finish or very final draft of my critical reflection

Blogs:

- 3 blogs mainly focusing on the final aspects of the project

          - Group meeting and how I changed my project because of it

          - Any issues or mistakes I encountered

          - Final wrap-up of my print and digital content (social media page and magazine spread)

Week 9: (4/8 - 4/10)

Project: 

- The only thing I want to do this week is wrap up my critical reflection and enjoy the peace of being done with the project

- Be happy with my final project

Blogs:

- 3 posting to finalize

          - Final post to talk about the reflection process of the whole project

          - Critical Reflection

          - Full video + social media page + magazine spread

Looking at this whole schedule makes me kind of nervous but hopefully, I'll get through it and be extremely happy with my final project! I can't wait!

-Dana

The Beginning of the End

 This is the very first day of my AICE Media A Level portfolio project. I'm so excited but also very scared. I'm going to be dedicating this blog to introducing this project and starting the brainstorming of ideas or topics I could do.

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Although I technically am still in between doing the documentary or the film promotion, I am basically 90% sure I'm going to do a documentary. 

    At first, the film promotion seemed like the easiest project and the one that interested me the most; however, I have come to realize that making 2 whole 1:30 to 2 minute trailers means I almost can't repeat any of the shots between the two. This also means that I would have to make a whole plot and 2 trailers showing distinct aspects of the idea. This overall seems like way to much work for me especially since making only one trailer for our past project (Film Distribution Project), which I'll talk about in one of the upcoming blogs, was already hard enough.

    Therefore, I switched my idea to a documentary. The idea of making a documentary seems very cool since I really liked when we did a documentary project this past year. The good thing about a documentary is that you can make it whatever you want and about any topic. I also like that whatever it is trying to represent is real, unlike a film or trailers where I have to make up a fake story. Documentaries are super fascinating to me and I feel like making one for my final project will make me love them even more.

    While brainstorming documentary ideas, I began thinking of topics that I could easily access in regards of filming locations and interviewees. My first idea, which I'm still considering doing, was cats. This idea spread from the fact that I have 3 cats that I can easily film and get information on. Obviously, just cats couldn't be my idea, so I made up the thought that if I made a whole episodic documentary, my overall topic could be pets. So, my documentary idea would be based around getting pets and be targeting people who want to get pets or learn more about certain ones but can't pick one. Although this isn't my complete idea, I believe that this is a solid idea so far that I could work through if I use it correctly. But, don't think this is my final project, because I might completely change my mind and pick a completely different documentary topic.

-Dana