Portfolio Project Schedule

 Below is the schedule me and Alejandro plan on following for the next 2 months to complete our project in the most organized and efficient way.

Week One:

-Select project route

-Brainstorm plot/soundtrack ideas

-Settle on choice for genre

-Watch short films for inspiration

-Complete blog posts
 
Week Two:

-Further develop story/outline of plot

-Research thriller genre conventions

-Watch more thriller short films for inspiration

-Research desired techniques to implement within the short film

-Write/Start recording 2 pieces for the soundtrack

-Complete blog posts

Week Three:
-Complete rough draft of script

-Research social media pages for similar short films

-Research more desired technique to include within our short film

-Begin storyboard

-Meet with other groups in class

-Find actors and reach out to them

-Create Instagram page

-Complete blog postings

 
Week Four:
-Finalize storyboard

-Settle on shooting locations/get permission to film

-Finish 2 pieces for the soundtrack

-Construct/find needed mise-en-scene elements

-Film opening sequence

 
Week Five (Spring Break):
-Finish filming the short film

-Begin editing

-See if soundtrack pieces work well with the video component

-Post to social media

-Research similar short films and brainstorm ideas for the front and back of the postcard

-Finish blog posts

 
Week Six:
- More editing

-Rewrite/Rerecord any soundtrack songs if necessary

-Find SFX from online databases

-Rough draft postcard

-More social media postings

-CR research

-Complete blog posts

Week Seven:
-Finalize editing/Soundtrack

-More social media postings (Edit potential teasers/bloopers)

-Finalize postcard

-Research for CR/Begin writing CR

-Complete blog posts
 
Week Eight:
-Last touches to short film

-Final social media posts

-Finish writing CR

-Reflect on project as a whole

-Post all components to blog

I really want to take advantage of the free time of spring break to knock out the most intimidating part of the project - filming. Not only does doing so ensure the filming gets done early on, but it also leaves us with a lot of time to edit the project and designate proper time to fulfilling the other project components. I've never really edited an original narrative of this length so I want to make sure I give myself enough time to learn and adjust.

Additionally, I made certain I left time for the whole soundtrack thing because, as I discussed in my last post, something I really hope to do in this project is create an original score. The approach I think would work best is settling on a mood/tone and then writing 2 instrumental tracks and scripting to fit this tone. By knocking out the soundtrack early on, I have more time to write new tracks or change my approach altogether if I feel it doesn't necessarily work.

I didn't use this last year what are you talking about

 

A Level Project Thoughts and Deliberations

Hey there. Remember when I told you guys that I'd be back on this blog during and after the documentary project? And then didn't say anything for like 2 months? Well I'm actually back now! 

This week is a very important week, as it marks the official start of the A Level Portfolio Project. This past week I've been thinking constantly about what route I could possibly want to tackle for the next 2 months, as each route is so separate from the next yet interestingly challenging. However, after a few days of deliberation and finding who I think I'll be pairing up with this year, Alejandro, we're definitely leaning towards making a short film.

Our instructor has been going over each individual project choice in class and even showing us past project examples, which has been pretty awesome. Alejandro and I both share a very strong interest in music and we've been sharing some songs we like throughout the year with each other, so we know one thing for certain - music must play a huge role in this film, whether it be through the narrative or soundtrack, or both. Over the past few months, I've gotten super into media where stuff just happens. Sure stuff happens pretty much all the time. You could listen to a Bon Jovi song and argue that stuff is "happening", even if it isn't because it's a Bon Jovi song for god's sake, but I mean media that's just as eventful as it is immersive and sticks with you long after you consume it. A film that perfectly captures what I mean is the 2017 thriller Good Time. This movie was insane. Every plot point in this film could probably be expressed in like 4-5 sentences, but it's just so immersive and raw each plot point occupies like 30 minutes of the entire film.

Within the short film, I can see this style of immersive and intense plot as well as raw dialogue being influenced heavily by projects like this. Additionally, while Ale and I both hold a deep love for music, a significant obstacle I also ran into last year is the enormous task of getting permission to use the songs we wish to use. Therefore, something I've been contemplating for a while is scoring my own short film. While this sounds like an enormous task - creating a short film and also scoring it - not only will lit let me carry out a specific vision to a greater extent, but it also adds a unique aspect to our project that not many people will have attempted before.

That's pretty much all we know about our future project so far. While the plot is still in the air, we definitely know the approach we're going to take, which I think will prove to make our project all the more stylistic and reflective of the vision we wish to bring to life.