The first social media post is finally going up. The fire image that I used in a previous blog post will be placed on the screen with a little warning that something is coming. For the hashtag, I think #menacethemovie has a nice ring to it because it's alliterative and catchy. The warm hue is in direct contrast with the darkness but it gives the mask an almost hellish look, which emphasizes the fear factor in my opinion. As far as story posts go, I want to do them to where they're continuous and spell out questions for the audience to put together, forcing them to ask the central question of the piece. It's what I think is a creative way to get them engaged in the content as a whole.
Since I'm behind I need to accelerate my timetable. The first teaser drops Monday along with the final word 'executioner for judge jury executioner, and it'll just be an introduction to the movie's villain killing someone before asking why the hero is necessary seemingly to nobody, forcing the audience to think about what the vigilante does and what they look like, since the mask doesn't make an appearence.
Since I have a limited time window I will be working on a very specific social media plan. Each day from Monday onward I will drop a post that gives the number of days before the trailers drop as well as a few teasers in order to hint at future production/sales opportunities. These will include the story post questions that follow after each other as well as a hidden cipher that spells out when the film will release in theatres. This will be done using a grid code that I've used multiple times and the boxes will be hidden rather obviously in the post, being in the caption themselves before the hashtag.
As far as following people, I have a small list that I want to use as part of this project.
These are the first six that I've come up with, and the number of accounts I follow will increase as I make further connections with people such as director styles or music composition similarities.
Today was not something I'd anticipated in my schedule. I'm a spoken word poet and today was the qualifying round for LTAB(Louder than a Bomb), a competition hosted by the Jason Taylor Foundation. I had no idea this was coming up until a few days beforehand and spent all of Monday night trying to rememorize the pieces that I was slated to perform during the competition.
Thus my social media has fallen further behind as a result of the tournament. We're most likely making semi-finals, which means that I will not be available most of the day on the day the project is actually due, something I need to take into heavy consideration when I'm finalizing my edits. I understand this is a short update but I grow concerned over the social media section because I know that it has been started late and that it will not reflect all of the work I'd done previously, instead of serving a different purpose of surrounding the film's trailer release with mystery and intrigue.
I understand this is a short update but I still have LTAB prep to do and I am quite stressed.
I will be making my first social media post Monday next week. I've looked extensively at multiple social media pages on Instagram for various films and have come across a few that will inform me on how best to proceed for this project. This is the list
1. Moon Knight. Disney does this thing with every new marvel show where they announce 2 weeks, 10 days, 7 days, then count down from either 5 or the 7 on the release day of the show. Now I won't be doing that for the actual piece because the release date for the film is not the day the project is due. However, I'll be adopting a similar style of post for when the trailer drops because the trailers are the last posts that we make for the film.
2. Batman: This account focuses more on the content of the film itself and relies on keeping that consistent energy throughout. This was done with the red text and overall aesthetic.
This odd video(ignore the voices) will be the framework for the first post, which will be the mask on fire in the darkness. This will be the first post announcing that something is coming, and I can't wait to open aftereffects to find out how I'm going to make this look even cooler then it already does.
Misleading blog title. I think our fight scenes turned out perfect. My villain actor, whose nickname amongst our friend group is Tic-Tac, and Daniel, had excellent chemistry together on set. Even I got a chance to wear the mask for some of the practiced choreography, and if I'm allowed to toot my own horn, I think that some of the stuff we filmed tonight looks really well put together. I'm glad the movement looks as good as it does. We also made use of actual impacts, such as the kick to the chest and uppercut in one of the later scenes. I had such a fun time tonight and I can't wait to see what else these guys produce with each other. I'm glad I rescheduled reshoots to work with these guys all at the same time because they have amazing chemistry as stunt performers.
There are so many things that have gone well in the two fights we've filmed, I think that overall they're going to work out for placement in both trailers. I'm very excited to see where the rest of this project is going to go.
I found my action-heavy music piece. This one is extremely heavy but still maintains that darker aesthetic. This piece was located on Youtube and after checking the creator's licenses and requests, I will be able to use it for the piece. This one will probably have limited dialogue or will need to be spliced because I do not think that there are enough places to naturally put gaps in it.
One thing is certain though. I will need to use two different styles of editing to make sure that the trailers each match the audience that I want them to. This one must be quickly paced, with flashing lights, quick cuts, and fast action. The other will need to hold shots for almost uncomfortably long periods of time, and give people a sense of dread because everything will feel like it's building to something. The tension will be mounting in both but the methods to get there will be different. I'm excited to reshoot and I am slightly concerned that not everything will be done in time(especially considering I'm behind on the social media page) but I think everything will turn out ok.
I have found the first piece of music for my trailers. Epidemic sound has become an extremely useful resource and has given me the ability to search for all sorts of music, which I have since begun to use for the project. As far as the underlying track I have two styles that I wish to achieve. The first trailer is going to be more subtle and psychological, focusing more on closeups and individual character conflicts. The second is going to center around more of the action or fight mechanics of the film. Since neither one of my characters has clear powers I'll need to convey their skills with wide shots for action scenes, which I've choreographed with my actors already. I'm splitting the trailers up in this way to achieve a wider reach to target audience. A show that is doing something similar at the moment is Moon Knight, which has released teasers that focus on the character's unstable mental state, as well as TV spots that showcase the absolute takedowns that he is capable of.
I say all of this because my first trailer track has been found. This is going to be the one with less action in it. The melody of the trailer has an eerie piano playing throughout and although it does get heavy, the lack of thumps and thuds throughout will give me room to mess with the audio so I can put voiceovers onto my work. I love this song it's fantastic.
Representation in the realm of superheroes has come a long way. Just look at the picture of the Marvel lineup at the bottom of this post. There are various things to consider when presenting anybody on a pedestal in these types of films because they are taken from fiction and capture our imaginations, forcing us to wonder what would happen if they were real. This is what makes casting for the hero, villain, and any major supporting character extremely important.
Hero: My hero is a Hispanic male, which was done completely based on an opportunity sample but can have profound consequences on my film as a whole within represented works. This is a departure from the archaic, Captain America archetype, which is a white man fighting for truth justice, and the American way. By making my hero of the younger demographic and a Hispanic American, I am placing the spotlight on those individuals and creating someone who is more connective with individuals of similar descent. Given that there have been pushes recently to cast/showcase more diverse heroes, I think this is an extremely appropriate choice for both the industry and the audience retention.
Villain: My villain is in a similar boat. He is also of Latin American descent, however, I am not playing him as a typical 'Spanish' villain. There are no drugs. Nothing crazy and ridiculously grand is going to be shown. This young man will be calm, collected, calculated, similar to the depiction of Russians or other 'evil' Europeans in classic action films. He will not have an exaggerated accent and will speak normally. This will be a departure from what we've seen in the past with powerful Spanish villains, with the most topical example(to my project at least) being Tuco Salamanca from Breaking Bad. I think this departure is interesting and one that could be grouped for commentary later.
This filming schedule is going to be miserable. Here's a list of conflicts:
1. My hero gets his wisdom teeth pulled out in the middle of the week, making him useless for the days that follow
2. My parents are taking me out of town for a few days. It'll be fun but I'm losing valuable time.
3. I am a poet, and we're competing in a state tournament with the school team the day we get back from break. My pieces have been written, but the choreography, memorization and overall preparation will take up quite a bit of time.
4. I have 2 tests and 4 other assignments due the first day of the fourth quarter.
5. My villain has a soccer tournament early in the week and if they win, I've lost him for most of break.
I love this website. Honestly, I'd end the blogpost there if I could. This site is fantastic in every way and the class has already found ways to access more music without using up free trial days, which for a project like this is precious.
The site has so many genres and events to choose from, all with different instruments and vibes that it makes you feel like you have access to a myriad of tools. Now I just need to pick something.
There are a lot of options when it comes to sounds and such that I can pick, and I need to solidify those noises and overall musical pieces so that way I can time shots in the trailer to the exact frame they need to be placed.
There are a lot of things I took from today's meeting. The most notable was that I need to discuss representation more frequently in my CR and in my project as a whole. This sprung up while discussing a classmate Nicole's project. She was struggling to find someone to voice God for her piece and I suggested that she look for a female instead of a deep male voice, which would make the search easier and also make an interesting aesthetic choice considering that God is most often portrayed as male.
Something I found reassuring was the overall difficulties with scheduling that people were having. I was feeling down about how my last schedule had played out and I was glad to hear most people were in similar situations, with the overall consensus being that all filming would need to be wrapped up by the time spring break had finished. I wanted to see how people were building their brands so I could start my social media page(I know I am behind but I was trying to figure out a structure for postings before I create it). One thing that the group helped me with is music because I need to continue fine-tuning the trailer and match it to a series of tracks so that way everything rings crystal clear.
The group meetings led me towards this new site called Epidemic Sound, which has free stuff to use, most of which are short snippets I will use for the teaser I'm posting next week. More on them in teh next blog post as I work with the software more.
Overall though the group meetings help me clarify a few things I've started doing so they can begin to come clearer.
what was filmed today is going to work and will be really good for teasers/trailers.
There's a simple shot of a knife, towel, and glass of water that in context makes the villain so much scarier because he's quite literally just finished killing someone and takes the rag(the inside of it was used to wipe off the blood but the outside is still clean) and the now clean knife and sets them calmly on the table in front of him. I think the overhead looks so nice and reinforces the cool and calm nature of the villain.
Shadows are my best friend. I was working on my garage and the moon/light we were using meant we could work with shadows on my garage and I think one of those shots turned out really well done too.
I have a super short 'villain teaser' that I plan to post almost instantly after I start the social media page on Monday. I've taken a couple decent photos of the mask but I want one that's flawless before I try to put the text over the key art(which is still going to be similar to my initial idea which I posted earlier)
Bad News:
I realized that I need to recast my hero for 2 reasons.
His head doesn't fit in the mask
He is not around as frequently over break and his energy doesn't really match the piece in the way I thought it would.
I couldn't get as much done over this weekend as I would've liked(nobody is around Sunday) and thus I'm stuck for the footage I can use for edits in class this week.
Overall the filming that was done went really well, and I think that I can place a lot of emphasis on characters because they are going to be driving the conflict. My biggest issue is going to be cleaning up audio because there are a LOT of voiceover lines I want to include but not a lot of places to put them atm or no good way to blend them together that I've found. Music will help but that's a next week/Sunday problem.
I work on Fridays and this has provided me with an issue for today. We were supposed to film a bit Friday and a bit Saturday, with Friday's shoot happening after I got home from work. Regrettably, that just didn't happen. For reasons outside my control our kitchen(I work at an Italian restaurant in the pizza kitchen) was much busier than usual and I was forced to stay a lot later then I usually do because we were so backed up in the kitchen. Thus the plans I had for this weekend have been pushed back as times have not worked out. Even now as I type out this blog post I feel terribly because I was planning on shooting earlier this year, with Spring Break(none of my guys are gone) as a time for reshoots and finalizing everything before I submitted the project. That's just not happening and it looks like I'm going to have to scramble to get more shooting done over break than anticipated. To prepare for that I'll spend class finalizing a storyboard for both trailers and I will send it to my actors so they know exactly what to expect and when, so I can get dialogue and voiceovers done as early as possible. This weekend will have to focus on what I already have and there will just be less time to film. Disappointing but something we can work around.
This weekend is my initial film weekend. I have secured two of my actors and will start filming this Saturday. There are a few things I want to work on but the villain is my concern. Morris Ferrero must be someone intimidating. Someone who does crazy things but with a calm sort of arrogance. He must be put together in every sense of the word. So I think most of this weekend's filming is going to be figuring out what works, what doesn't, and how I can improve from there.
There isn't much else to report aside from costumes. I plan on having my actor for Morris wear a dark grey dress shirt with darker 'jeans' to emphasize a casual yet practical look that still conveys class. Ive regrettably had to recast Morris, but I think my friend Tic Tac will do a much better job with the character, and he's been psyching himself up to emulate the overall calm that I'm going for. The villain has gained a sort of Gustavo Fring style to it, with the ruthless composure of someone who knows that they will do terrible things and who has no qualms about doing so.
Morris also matches Fring in costume(although is much less formally dressed) and I think taking inspiration from this Breaking Bad villain will help push some of the dialogue I was working with earlier.
I have started thinking about various ways to start a social media page. I took notes from a small lecture in class and plan on using those notes as something to base the account off of. I jotted these down quickly on what I need to do and spur of the moment ideas that I have.
There are various ways for people to look at how best to explore their social media growth and my focus will be on case studies that I have already taken stylistic and visual inspiration from. Accounts such as the one promoting the latest Batman film are recent and will be very prominent in this piece, because not only is the account extremely new, but also because it matches visually to the type of aesthetic that I'm trying to replicate(I'm thinking however, of leaning into blues instead of reds).
There are a few cool ideas I have for posts, some of which are hinted at the small amount of notes to the left. The signed mask is one that I think would look/be cool to have as an auction item. The mask is one of the iconic pieces of the film and I think that there is something cool about an auction or event centered around the mask. Another thing I want to look into is teasers, because as mentioned previously I had an initial script for a teaser, and now I want to actually film that section of the teaser and have it as one of my online posts. Once I get out of school and Instagram is unblocked I will create the page and make the first post, which will just be an image of the mask by itself. This image will establish not only the logo, but will also hint at teasers and other content to come.
I’ll be story boarding the trailer in class on Monday but I have at least an outline for where I want the plot to go. There needs to be an establishment of who the character is, something that indicates what kind of ‘hero’ we’re dealing with. There are two ways I could go about it. The first is a radio broadcast that starts talking about the hero in the third person, discussing their violent and frequent run ins with various criminal elements. The second is to show it in the opening of the trailer. I’m leaning towards the second and using other closeups to showcase some of the darker themes or traits. As far as story structure the trailer will follow this pattern.
1. Establishment with the main character in a situation where they are able to go about solving the problem. The example that comes to mind right away is stopping a break in or a drug deal, which would be easier to shoot in residential areas near my home.
2. Introduction to the character’s conflict, where they refuse to kill anyone. This can be done with voiceovers about not crossing lines, or by having them listen to broadcasts about their work.
3. The challenge. This will present itself as the villain, who I have decided to name Morris Ferrero, whose name is rooted in the Latin word for death(Morten) and ‘ferre’ which means to bring, so his name awkwardly translates to Bringer of Death. The villain will be shown escaping from prison(or still in prison), speaking to the hero about how their system is ineffective
4. Action while voiceover continues. There needs to be action to fill the space in time and having snippets of the main antagonist or protagonist going to blows is needed. There will also be shots of the hero doing hero work or on the chase, as music builds and the verbal challenge continues.
5. The voiceover will climax with the music with some kind of revelation and the rest of the trailer is hero struggling, losing, and being forced to reconsider their options.
6. Not sure what I will use for font or color for key art, but I’m leaning towards a few scary or dramatic fonts that will abruptly slam onto a black screen.
I’m thinking of having a villain trailer and a hero trailer, where one is the focus of each, but I know the hero trailer will focus on this kind of structure.
I've seen the latest Batman film. And I have so many things to break down. Here's just a massive list of things I liked and didn't based on mental notes I took tonight
There are a lot of shots that are placed with an extreme focal length, with the camera showing a limited perspective. The extra focus was something that added to the ambiance of a lot of the scenes, however, at times it was a little hard to see certain things because the focal length almost felt like something that was off or wrong.
There were quite a few times where because the scenes were so dark, lens flares were a little excessive and overused.
There were a few overhead shots, such as the one from the trailer with Batman using the flare, as well as a scene at the beginning of the movie before the mayor is killed.
The color scheme was also perfect. The Iceberg lounge is always full of red flares and strobe lights, the scene depicted above where Batman’s flare is the only source of light, and other masterful use of lighting makes the hero actually feel scary.
There are a lot of closeups to emphasize people with terror or brute strength, and even in masks there are scenes that feel more terrifying because of the closeups that were chosen.
His fights are fantastic and sets a high bar if I want to replicate any of it. That’s it. The fights were pretty perfect.
The darkness and use of shadows was perfect as well, with Batman quite literally walking out of the shadows on multiple occasions.
The voiceover work was good, with Batman reading over his diary throughout the film.
Overall the piece was a masterpiece and I loved it. There are a lot of things I can take from it to improve my own production.
Very exciting news: I have ninja stars! A friend of mine is extremely good at doing origami and I have moved towards making sure that all of my props look/feel realistic. This was something I struggled with a bit last year with the newspaper, and the fact that I’ve already secured a ‘realistic’ and plausible weapon is something that I think would work well. I plan on using these paper folds not in combat(because I have not choreographed anything yet) but as something to place near the hero when the opening to the first trailer appears. I’ve since learned how to make these and I currently have a couple in my possession.
This link has a great tutorial for the stars I’m currently working with that look like tiny buzz saws, something that matches the aesthetic and style of the hero I’m trying to build. I think it’s a really cool prop to toy with and one that makes people uneasy(a girl I know said I scared her while I was messing with one, just tossing it around)
This brings forth my next big prop. I want the first trailer to open with the hero sitting at a disheveled desk, scrolling through police chatter until he finds someone discussing an ongoing crime. I have a friend who is willing to let me use their garage as the location for this segment, and I think that there is a high likelihood that I could set up something that looks feasibly like a vigilante’s ‘home base’.
So this is the radio I’m talking about. Finding extra wires and making it look like a disheveled mess is easy(I’m not going to send a picture of my room for proof), and I think that if I play with the sound design and camera angles properly, I have a serious setup on my hand. I’m looking forward to shooting the opening of the first trailer soon, and I’ve started compiling other resources to make sure this part of the production works.
Very recently I've been seeing news about this new game titled 'Elden Ring'. I watched the opening cutscene while my friend played it the other day and it made me realize something. I need dialogue/voiceover work for the trailers. Now before I knew what the project entailed I had an idea for a teaser voiceover that would convey darkness and ferocity. It went:
"Everyone fears the monsters in the dark alleys...The monsters lurking under their beds... The monsters that lie in their closet. But no one ever fears the monster that lives inside them."
It felt appropriate, given that the main character struggles with the possibility that they may have to kill the villain or cross lines they didn't think they could, thus hinting at the 'monster' that they had yet to release or that they feared releasing. It was an interesting bit of dialogue and that's where Elden Ring comes in. Here's the cinematic for reference. It feels like a trailer of sorts which is interesting considering it opens the game.
It's very dramatic, but there are a few takeaways from it. One, that huskiness in someone's voice is haunting without effort, so I need to find someone who can do this with their voice because I love the sound of it. The second is that music is a must for these types of things and that I need to build music that rises as the tension does. Fortunately, I already have a list of dialogue snippets that I think would fit for this particular project, things that could be said as voiceovers that could come off as cheesy if they're done incorrectly but that could really hit if done properly. I'm going to see the new Batman this weekend but the trailer for that film does something similar with the Riddler, and I'm curious to see how it plays out.
But here are some of the snippets(the script hasn't been done yet but I'll work on storyboarding/scripting this weekend)
Potential villain lines:
"You're just a cat chasing rats. We scurry away the first time, but you'll never get rid of the pack,"
"Heroes are supposed to be shining warriors of light but you're in the dark just like the rest of us"
"Telling people to stay down doesn't work. You have to make sure they can never get back up,"
"You're not fixing the problem, just patching holes until they break open again,"
"If the system works, why do the police need you to do their job?"
Potential hero lines(it's hard to come up with cool hero stuff):
"I'm not going to kill you, because that would make us the same. I'll just make sure you don't come back for another round"
"The mask shouldn't mean anything to anybody. I'm just someone who doesn't want to watch people suffer"
