*Camera man knocks on door*
*I open door*
Oh! Hello there! *looks at imaginary watch* You're early, come on in.
My name is Valentina Lesende and I’m super excited to reflect on my Aice Media Studies Project with all of you today. But first, some background information on the film itself!
“The Upside” is a 5 minute short film about a girl using her art and imagination to find the positive side of every problem she encounters. The film goes through her childhood, from elementary school to middle school to graduating from high school.
This short falls under the Children’s film, or Family film genres. Because of this reason myself and my partner, Nicolas Monaco, decided to target kids. They represent such an important demographic as the adult consumers of the future and it allowed us to make the feel-good movie teaching a positive message that we wanted. By focusing it on a dark-subject matter, such as separation from your family and the changes life brings but in a happy light, this short will be understandable and enjoyable for the parents watching the short with their kids as well. Now on to the questions!!!
-How do your products use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social groups or issues?
When it comes to social issues affecting children, they need to cope with the minor conflicts in their life to acquire the skills to handle the more intense, stressful situations later on. We highlighted some of these throughout the film in a light-hearted way for kids to understand.
Most children experience normal social pain. We showed this through the girl completely isolated on the swings, looking sad and alone as she barely swung. A nice girl then appears wanting to swing with her and the sadness goes away.
Moving on, middle school can be a psychologically demanding experience. A big one is insecurity and bullying. Since this is the age where kids begin dating, we used this to show her struggling with teasing and being hurt, but then getting empowered and finding that what she dresses or what she does shouldn’t be affected by other’s. Her insecurity disappears and these social issues no longer affect her as she sees that being alone is better than being with bad company.
Later on in life, the more intense experiences begin affecting everyone. I decided to show the first big conflict many people face as they enter adulthood - separation. I showed this through the main character leaving to college and separating herself from her family, but then looking back into her life to show the new adventures, new friendships, new independence, and other opportunities that will arise with it.
For this project, we decided to both embrace and challenge many typical conventions. Beginning with the short, it had 2-3 main character just as most do. Because of the target audience and length of the film it was definitely something we had to embrace. Speaking of the length, we kept it 5 minutes which (other than being a requirement) was something we wanted to follow as well to keep it short and interesting. However, we went against the common conflict being good v evil and made it more person vs. self and person vs. society as we tried to show the injustices life presents in a happier manner.
For the postcard, I used images from the film to create a sense of continuity, but differentiated the image by editing the opacity and brightness. I kept the postcard in a horizontal format as most do and used the most popular convention by including where and when the film can be found on the back. I also included a short overview to increase intrigue and curiosity in audiences along with the website and instagram for them to better connect with us and want to go watch it.
Lastly, my website! I chose to include a home page and cast and crew page as most do because I felt they were essentials in any short film website. I even included the social media too and made sure to highlight it so audiences wouldn’t miss it. However, I challenged many conventions as well. I chose to not have an about page because I added the overview of the film on the postcard shown in the website as well and felt it was not necessary when it came to this short since it would give too much away. I also added the short film because although I know most don’t to make profit, since it is the first production I used it mostly to get our names out and peak interests. I personally wouldn’t pay for a short from somebody whose work I haven’t seen before, so figured most wouldn’t either.
-How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
I wanted the different products of my production to work together to create a sense of branding, so I added some specific elements. Here, let me show you. Firstly the pictures on the postcard. I used these pictures from the film for audiences to identify it with the short. The picture from the back was also used both on the website AND the instagram for them to all work together and make it easy for viewers to tie them all together. I also re-used these two images for further identification with the short and directors.
Another thing I decided to play with was the color scheme. Because the film was created aimed towards kids, I wanted to play with bright colors and maintain the child and family mood. Starting with the short, there are several scenes shot outdoors and bright colors used from the notebook to the clothing. I also made green a very prominent color to make sure they all fit together well. When looking at the instagram, these bright colors are seen both in the posts and on the saved story, through the images themselves and the colors and stickers I used to edit them. On the website, the same colorful image is the first thing users see, then the green is further highlighted through the cast and crew page on the images, and the colors on the behind the scenes images and videos just top it all off. Lastly, on the postcard these colors are seen on the front, but since they were not bright enough and the back is black and white, I added stickers and made the words colorful for that pop of color it was missing and to make sure people can tell who the film is aimed towards just by looking at this.
-How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed as real media products?
My products engage with the audience in several different ways, some which I have already discussed. The young target audience is represented by the bright colors I incorporated in every product and enjoys the simplistic, fun content we created. Going even further, the genre tends to play on the possibility that imagination holds, which this short focus on and shows continuously.
But, when it comes to engaging with audiences I want to focus on something I incorporated heavily, which is making them feel as if they were a part of the production. On the website, I not only included behind the scenes images, but I incorporated video exclusives. Instead of making blooper videos which tend to be cliché, I made some small 30 second to minute long clips highlighting important moments in the production. From the longest and most intricate filming day I’ve ever had with Paz to every moment that working with kids got complicated with the repeated laughs, it is on the website to be viewed and experienced by others. I even went a step further and included my blog on the website, which I have not seen anyone do before, but felt it was the main component in bringing audiences along for the whole ride from day one.
The other main element I incorporated was the instagram page. I distributed it on the website and postcard as well and chose instagram specifically because it is the most popular social media platform for the target audience I chose. I used the account for people to better understand the short by seeing behind the scenes images and videos and feel better connected with the cast and crew. This exclusive footage also makes them feel further involved and intrigued, making them want to follow this product and my later products as well.
As for the distribution, I chose Sundance which “actively advances the work of independent storytellers” and is a big film festival to get the word out to huge audiences. I also put the short on the website for those who were unable to attend the festival to watch it online and get familiarized with my work.
-How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
Lastly, I wanted to show you some technologies I integrated. Starting with software, we used Premiere Pro to edit the short film because it allows us to play around more and do much more than iMovie. I used iMovie for the simple behind the scenes clips on the website. We used Canva to create the postcard since it gave us the freedom to create something unique and free. I used Wixsite creator to create the website and the app PicCollage to edit and photoshop the Instagram images , reviews, and postcard picture. Finally I used Blogger to create all of my blogs.
On to Hardware, we used my iPhone X camera to record all of the film and behind the scenes footage, iPhone headphones to get the audio recording for the outside scene with Paz since it was too far and windy, a tripod our teacher let us borrow to keep all footage stable, set lights for indoor scenes that were too dark, and a MacBook Air to edit the film, postcard, and website.
Of course, without using my online resources, I wouldn’t have been able to do my research, create my blog, get the sound effects, create the Instagram page, or even make the website.
Before I go I wanted to give a special shoutout to the actors and my partner. I hope you all enjoyed the short as much as I enjoyed making it despite A LOT of challenges.
Goodbye for now, it’s a wrap!!
