Delve a little deeper

 The real question in using my research would really be the choice between whether I would interpret the sins explicitly or implicitly. I think I also need to refine the way I want to interpret my short film. I know I want to express my genre with more psychology and have that postmodern twist. However, I do know there is absolutely no way I could express every single sin in an implicit way for it to come across and not be too over the top.  It would be cool if I could develop the short film idea into a psychological thriller. 

If I could form that best friend who is foreshadowed to be ruining the main character's life actually part of the thrill, maybe? I really like my idea and I want to do what is possible and not too much where I try to fit everything that it just doesn't work. Last year I made the mistake with my production and the choice to produce an opening that just had too much for what was needed. 

So let's see what I can utilize and what I can do:

First, I need to develop my plotline effectively and find my character. The script needs to be written so I need to start with drafts in dialogue writing. 

Second, the idea of my piece will follow a devil on the shoulder. An idea I just thought of could be to change the position of having two opposing forces against the main character and conform to one. The voices inside the head can all be that character and I could do an audio effect to change the voiceover with a voice modulator and at the end have it switch to the real voice as the same people are talking. For example, "It was me ..... all along" type of idea. 

Third, I know what kind of look I want with lighting composition but I need to develop what settings I will shoot. 

Continuing I know my piece will rely heavily on the audio effects that I want to produce. My piece most likely will have its intended effect if I can properly make the audio effects to make the atmosphere. 

This next week begins my production plans. If I can find my character - producing a storyline with dialogue I can imagine happening would be beneficial. I have been looking at people to possibly work with on my production for all of the weeks I have been planning. Maybe I can take a trial run with a possible subject and see where it goes then commit to it. 

My biggest anxiety is the commitment to an idea or subject and it fails to turn into what I envisioned. 

stay tuned...

Lets Research Sin

Starting off I am going to do what I said in my previous posts regarding research. I will do some base research on sins than in my next post, I will delve deeper into what could be beneficial and deeper meanings.  I will take what seems beneficial in information for my short films. 

What I read:

• The seven deadly sins can be thought of as dispositions toward sin and separation from God.
• This idea would help my devil on the shoulder kind of aspect I would like to represent
• evil entails some good state of affairs that morally outweighs it.
•  a theodicy, an account of why God chooses to permit evil in the world (and why he is morally justified in so choosing)—e.g., that it is a necessary consequence of sin
• response presupposes that humans are indeed free, and it fails to reckon with natural evil, except insofar as the latter is increased by human factors such as greed or thoughtlessness. 
• “They’re called ‘mortal’ or ‘deadly’ because they lead to the death of the soul,” says Richard G. Newhauser, an English professor at Arizona State University
• "Vainglory is where we seek human acclaim.” - This refers to the pride
• avarice or greed shows up on all of the lists of sins -- a desire for wealth but for honors [and] high positions
• Sadness is closely related to envy 
• this can delve into the difference between realism and reality because they are so closely correlated.
• two types: joy at another’s misfortune and [the other is] sorrow at the fortune of someone else
• Wrath:  The Catechism says that “If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin.”
• Early Christian theologians understood gluttony to include drinking too much alcohol and desiring too much fine food, in addition to overeating.
• an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires
• melancholy causes “slothfulness in fulfilling the commands.” 
• transgressions which are fatal to spiritual progress
•  Pride is also known as Vanity.
• Catholic Church differentiates between two different types of sin: venial sin (forgiven through a sacrament) and capital sin (meriting damnation without reconciliation).
• Each sin is a particular way of failing to love God with all one's resources and to love fellows as much as self. 
• Lust: Obsessive, unlawful depraved thought, or unnatural desire for sexual excitement, such as desiring sex with a person outside marriage or engaging in unnatural sexual appetites
• Lust: Greed for Sex, Attention
• Gluttony: Greed for Self-Indulgence
• Envy: Greed for Possessions, Personal Gain
• Sloth: Greed for Avoidance
• Pride: Greed for Greatness
• Wrath: Greed for Revenge 

• Lust means they are too lazy to love
• Gluttony means they are too lazy to consider others
• Sloth means they are too lazy to do anything
• Envy too lazy to think about anything but money and personal gain
• Wrath too lazy to consider the consequences of their vengeful actions
• Greed too lazy to think about anything other than money and power
• Pride too lazy to understand that there is more to life than money and power
•  sloth is plagiarism. "In this Internet culture, cut and paste is so easy," 

References
Little, B. (n.d.). The Seven Deadly Sins and Where They Came From - HISTORY. HISTORY. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://www.history.com/news/seven-deadly-sins-origins

religion. (n.d.). Encyclopædia Britannica; Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion

Seven Deadly Sins. (n.d.). Seven Deadly Sins. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from http://www.deadlysins.com

Seven Deadly Sins - New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Info: Main Page - New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Seven_Deadly_Sins

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/12/elc-sins

In researching the seven deadly sins I was able to talk to coworkers around me and understand ideas and apply ideas presented. The way envy can be associated so closely with sadness was something that makes sense once I read the idea but I never formed that thought upon my own mind prior. Associations are quite important in understanding what the sins may mean and how this furthers my interpretations is very helpful. Just the idea of presenting similar ideas in different forms quite actually helped me. I even participated in a conversation on the idea of realism versus reality on the ideas I presented to them on my impression of envy as a relation to sadness. 

The next blog post most likely keeps the ideas I want to learn further in the introductions of sin representation. How I can even further these ideas will most likely be the interpretations I need to make. 

stay tuned...

Keep it going

 

We are going again...

• PARANOID - Award-Winning Psychological Horror Short Film 2021 - Mikael Roth Official
  
• The piece was shocking in the visuals displayed. However eye-shielding the scenes may require, the audio was quite amazingly created. The way the audio depicted the paranoia and how it compared to my idea was quite similar. Voices inside the woman's head became too overwhelming to the point we can see the feeling she is trying to transpire. I was not a fan of the composition of some of the shots.  The background grabbed my eye and the way the woman seemed too overexposed to the point distracted me from the point of the piece. Adding a visual effect over the piece could support and not dissipate from the feeling and communication attempting to be made. I enjoyed the audio usage made inside of the piece and will gather similar attempts in my own piece. There was even a voice-over to communicate the woman's thought which I could even do to make a narrow, but complex connection to the idea of the sin voiceovers to my characters' own voiceovers.  
• if the idea of the voiceover the sins controlling of my character are somewhat conflicting and create chaos with an addition of the character also communicating with voiceover. This can create a deeper meaning of the general insanity being produced. My idea can even develop to how the piece can strive to try to make my character into a devil with the sins, or devils on their shoulder, a simulated process at the end.
• that may have made no sense but it makes some sense to me and maybe I can refine it further to make sense. I just want to get my ideas out there and written and it can help me for future storyboarding. 

• Fear Filter - A Snapchat Horror Short
  
• To be scared of an idea I already had an idea of what it was is disappointing. I am glad that the piece was able to scare me. I am deciding whether the possibility I had both AirPods in played more of a factor or not. the audios of screaming were gripping and put me on edge. Stings playing in the background to make suspense were chosen quite well to build the atmosphere desired. I also enjoyed the beginning transition from outside to inside with a dialogue played to represent the female inside. Manipulation of lighting and the technical effects added quite a lot to the piece. I enjoyed the piece and how it was able to get me to jump. The composition of shots with subtle lighting and the end with the manipulation of shadow with the shadow monster was awesome. 

• JOLLY - Christmas Horror Short Film
  
• The plot of this story was not the best choice for the entirety. This piece did achieve its desired horror aspect and the Santa figure was quite creepy. Utilizing a dialogue with a character who doesn't have a mouth was done without any cringy outputs. I enjoyed the shots displayed in the piece quite immensely and they created the holiday time composition. How the production was able to create a character that isn't a real person develop the storyline without any actual mouth is done well. The voice was a good choice and the dialogue doesn't hold hesitation in any of the lines - sounded quite professionally done. 

From the first piece to the last piece - the featured pieces were quite different. I enjoyed the first one immensely due to how similar it was in the ideas I wished to present in my own piece. The 2nd and 3rd pieces composed shots so beautifully and I enjoyed watching them. Audio effects in all of the pieces, thankfully, didn't lack and draw attention away from their respected pieces. 

I wish to continue my blog by furthering my knowledge of the 7 deadly sins so I can plot more story ideas before furthering my research on the composition of psychological short films. 

 

stay tuned...

Story Drafting

 I got some inspiration last night when I was thinking about developing my piece where it made sense in how to differentiate the sins. I was thinking I could do something technological to present the sins. This would present the story as a technological reality but the sins are a part of my character's life.

The scene could play out when a weird sound goes off and it awakens my character to look to her arm or something and then she would immediately know what it means. They hear then see color, for example, green for greed, and they would out loud respond - "god I didn't need greed controlling me this week." 

After the sin is presented, if I can learn how to make special effects, there would be a diagram of which is lit up and how others are more shadowed than others. This could make the story function - that there is a sin or all of the sins coming out of nowhere and causing a character versus self to occur. 

I really want to dedicate research to just go into deep analysis of the sins and which I could present or how they can be featured in a known but tortuous way to the character. Since my piece is featuring these sins so closely, I need to find all faces they could present. Maybe in my research, I could even find out about the sins or ideas that can be interpreted as a sinful ideology but not one of the main 7 sins. 

Last year I did research on the sins and what the ideas behind them were. I focused more of my research to advocate for ideas of how the devil was presented. Sins are linked to the devil and I was able to research ideas of him and religious ideology or interpretations. To further the information I previously researched, I would need a more in-depth analysis of these different sins. 

I will continue to do short film research - and I have looked up more short films I want to watch - and also combining sources researching and explaining the ideology of sins. I eventually need to research software to see if I can produce the visual effects I had an idea of presenting and how I could hypothetically do that. 

stay tuned...

One Week In

 Ending my week off I see the things I may struggle with now and in the future. I need to find my character for my production to center around. To find this person, I need availability and ambition to experiment with the production. If I can see who will be performing the dialogue, I can idealize what would be a comfortable and fluid language that wouldn't feel cringy to hear. Developing the narrative needs more production and so does the dialogue surrounded. 

I am very interested in what I can do with the stings and other audio effects with this piece. I really would like to experiment and not go with the way I worked last time on my piece. The way I filmed my piece without audio - that I then had to create all in post-production was difficult. I should plan very intricately before I film to pick locations where any dialogue wouldn't be interrupted. I remember one of the pieces I watched for research had a voiceover to fix a lack of dialogue and the match-up of visual and audio was distorted. Even with group projects, I worked on this year, my partners who edited and attempted audio match-up failed to do so properly. 

I decided to talk my storyline out with a peer because I was already forming doubts about my short film topic. I was thinking based on the research I did on short films, I could change part of my storyline to adapt to the ideas I liked that were presented. The short films I watched under the psychological genre contributed to creating horror themes. Creating a new idea isn't something I want to do, but creating themes of suspense and horror would be dually beneficial for what I want to create.

A development I started to create after talking today was an idea of furthering my storyline lines of sins to motivate the main character to illegal shenanigans. The postmodern twist I still want to create is the simulation aspect. The simulation is created by a second character, which would pose as a best friend, to control these malicious thoughts that the sins produce. I could adapt the lighting and the compositions of the shots to follow the genre characteristics of horror films. I like the look of those tinted shots that

compose the shot with dark tints. I included a couple of shots that produce shots I admired very much when doing my research. 

With my film opening last year I did purchase an app that can manipulate lighting and focus as well as the color of the shot. 

During a class Halloween competition, a group I was part of produced a quick horror short story. During that time, I was able to utilize this app and manipulate the shot favorably with more of a reddish tint. 

a shot from the Halloween competition

Anyways, a week into my Cambridge portfolio project I have made a process in the short film storyline. Knowing what is needed to keep the process going is good but I am struggling already concerning a subject and how I want to work to develop this piece. I did decide on another plotline today to create that postmodern twist. I do plan to have more posts regarding research to gather inspiration and develop more aspects of this project.  My next post will most likely research other short films like I have done previously to develop further themes and plot narratives.

stay tuned...

More Short Film Analysis

 After watching those past films and analyzing them, I would like to continue my research and view more short films. The feelings created with the last pieces developed differently, and I want to achieve that. Creating a proper storyline will hopefully set me up for success for that. I could even decide to create my piece without my subjects knowing the entire storyline. A limited subject could create the proper atmosphere required in my piece. 

• Somnium | Psychological Thriller Short Film
  
• The psychological thriller short film really demonstrated different varieties of genre conventions. Of course, there was the suspense music and the dark subway-type scene with an ominous character in the distance - which was good additions to the piece. I disliked the beginning of the piece taking place in a school setting. The shots were too wide and the coloring just seemed almost amateur for the piece. However, progressively the switch of shots to different angles gradually made the piece better. There was a very cool transition at the school from entering a classroom to entering the next setting. I really enjoyed how the person who made the piece edited his shots together to create the piece he did. In the last sequence, where we see the character we have been following (like an out-of-body thing) see himself almost crash into a person, was a fast and cool transition. We saw both perspectives, and the transition to 'back-in-body' was not awkward. 
• GRIEF - A psychological Short-Film
  
• This piece seemed to start quite well. The audio effects started so well, but then when the piece began - it was quite disappointing. The dialogue was created quite badly because the doctor seemed so informal and seemed to lack quite what he was even supposed to say. The creator attempted to film without audio and input the dialogue in post-production and it didn't turn out well. The variety of shots lacked heavily and overall the piece was quite disappointing, especially with the topic attempted to be presented on the grief cycle. 
• DON'T LOOK AWAY | Horror Short Film
  
• I enjoyed this piece very much. The beginning was a little slow in the pick up of what was going on but once it began it developed so beautifully. I enjoyed the way the shots were taken, the light and composition, and the location immensely. The piece wasn't too in your face a little of the dialogue was a bit cringy but it all worked together to make the story and develop the piece in the way they did. There were shots with audio added that you can tell were made in post-production that sounds so great. Just a simple shot of the character putting their phone in and out of their pocket - the audio foley was sounded so natural. 

The variety that I am watching for research has been creating so many different experiences. The last piece I watched in the post I enjoyed immensely more than the other ones I watched. Even watching the grief cycle piece - I can take all the way that the piece was undeveloped and factor those concepts towards my production to achieve not making those mistakes. I want to search for more pieces to research and maybe if I can get the chance to watch a psychological film to gather more inspiration - I can do that. I crave more ideas to make my piece make a story that doesn't just follow a simple narrative.

stay tuned...

Short Film Analysis

 I wanted to review other short films to inspire ideas on what I would like to do with my short film. I am searching for videos under the psychological genre on youtube. I tried to do a postmodern search but the ideas are more the topic of what postmodern is and not short films

•    Annie's Lamp - [Short Film | Psychological Thriller]
• Watching the piece really wanted me to surround my piece with thriller background music. The piece itself was short and very well shot. Lighting, as well as the mise-en-scene, were well chosen to grab the eye. The green/blue tint that appears gives a thriller vibe that is good for the genre of the piece. I would like to manipulate tints as well as coloring to advocate for character voiceovers.
• Identity SHORT FILM (Award Winning Inspirational Short)
  
• This piece is really good about showing its message and working to develop the meaning throughout. I really enjoyed the almost chaotic audio in the beginning. If I could manipulate the voiceover of my characters to be surrounded by distorted audio - I feel like it could really come out cool. 
• Combining both audio aspects from the previous piece I watched for background music and the second piece for audio effects, the atmosphere of my piece can hopefully create the thrill I'd like to create.
• "Model Citizen" | Dystopian Animated Short Film (2020)
  
• This short film left a feeling at the end of it that wasn't quite pleasant. I wanted to find films like this animation that impact a feeling in the viewer because I wanted to reciprocate the same thing to my viewer. The emotions that this piece inspired left me in an unsatisfied but upset state. I enjoyed the work put into the piece and how the related ideas were late showed again and again but in different forms. Growing so quickly to care for the characters and the unfortunate ending was quite an emotion caused. 
• I have noticed this animation and the second piece I watched were both featuring face masks to create a societal similarity in their own narratives. I like the way each piece created this idea and manipulated it into its own fashion.

The feelings created by all of these pieces require time to really analyze and comprehend what was watched and the choices made. I was inspired by the audio effects and background music. The last piece created a reminiscent feeling with the music choice chosen and that perfectly manipulated the viewer to create the downward spiral of emotions desired to be created. 

I will be most likely continue with more short film analysis to see the technical choices made and see if this could help inspire production into my piece. 

stay tuned...

Start of a new week

 Late-night inspiration helped to direct the twist of my plotline more. If the character is surrounded in turmoil by all of these sinful voices in their head, what if it was controlled? 

Could I possibly foreshadow a character in the background and if the audience picks up on this background character, they could understand the possible foreshadowing occurring. This character could be disguised as a best friend at moments, then seen in the background at other moments. 

However, I would like to take a postmodern twist to create an idea that the reality being lived by the character in turmoil is one of a simulation. Question to the viewer again, what is real or what is not? I would to end my piece with an emotion in the viewer and create an unbounded interpretation. 

Why are there sins? Why is the character engulfed but only to themselves? Why were they chosen? Could these sins be a metaphor or allude to another issue possibly occurring? Who really is the character in control in this simulation?

These ideas are going to take a lot more time and concentration to draw out. However, before anything even gets close to being produced - I will need a storyboard, setting, character, dialogue, and time to film.

I do not want to have any of my shots to seem as if these feel rushed or the people taking on roles in my production be impatient or tired out by the possible rearranging of shots to get a perfect scene. There is a time limit and the scenes sketched out need to develop properly to create the feeling I would like to create. 

Upcoming materials I need to do : Research on short films with postmodern themes & research into psychological short films - possibly sketching out another idea/scene for my film.

    stay tuned...

Here We Go

Let's break it down...

 I have a lot of ideas sprouting now that I have an idea of a project I would like to produce. I would like to continue the idea of including sins into my piece and surrounding life with them. Through color/tint and voiceover work, I can differentiate my present sins. I have thought of a cover for a postcard advertisement or a poster. 

I could focus on a few sins (I have yet to choose) then make a prism with a color representation on top of the character of the piece. My short film would create that devil on your shoulder idea, which would be a struggle needed to overcome. If I went to focus on all of the sins it would be too complicated and require too many voices that would confuse the viewer. Understandably if I chose greed, I would make the screen tint green while the voice-over of that decided greed character talked. 

This piece may be a psychological drama but it would be character versus self. I would need to cast someone for this character because I do not think I could create the vulnerability I want so comfortably. This would be a dialogue-heavy idea and I have thought of a couple scenes to communicate the problem going on with the character.

A shot could include the voices in the head exploding and all talking at once and the host character cannot control the loudness. The closeup would switch to a third-person perspective and the dialogue of all of the screaming would go dead silent while we watch the character struggle. 

If there was a way I could make this piece change at the end with a twist that would cause the viewer to have a reality moment would be very cool. I thought I could possibly make the mom, the character/voices constantly screaming at the character, but that is too overused and I would like another original twist.

This piece will need research into psychological dramas so that is where I will begin my research and maybe I will be able to think of that twist. If I could also subliminally foreshadow - my piece would be phenomenal.

stay tuned...

Cambridge Portfolio

 Here we go with the Cambridge Portfolio again. This time A-level style!

I want to produce similar genre characteristics to my last year's project. To keep the same stylistic choices is most likely not going to happen. My production last year was quite limited and I would thoroughly like to change that. To expand upon the knowledge I have gained and learn from the past mistakes I have made is my goal. My decision as of right now is deciding between the documentary project or the short film project, however, the premise for both follows a similar idea. My idea is sprouting upon my AS-Level project of sins but actually expanding and producing a different product. It would follow a similar idea of daily routine but not grasp that same limited essence filmed prior.

As I stem upon my ideas and create progress, I am excited to share this journey right here on my blog.

Thank you once again and stay tuned...

The School Year So Far

While recently completing the film distribution project, another project that I worked on this year was a documentary project. Working with a group of my choice and quite skilled individuals, we produced a documentary called, 'Part-Time' which was a balance of student life. The idea sprouted from an idea of balancing academics with school and the variations of success and consequences it produces. 

Working at an Italian restaurant with one of our group members gave us the idea to utilize our work environment and manager for an interview in our documentary. We strived to have three people interviewed but there were unfortunate complications due to covid. The balance between a manager that hires high schoolers and college students to an actual working high school student became our story. Asking questions of success and why do students work surround our premise. Our b-roll got to see the two different types of employment services. 

I included our two subjects and a clip of a b-roll from a server at the restaurant I work at. 

• Learning from this project influenced me to choose a documentary option for my A-level project. However, the idea I am trying to produce could be better performed in a short film. 

• Moving forward with my experiences last year with the film opening Cambridge project, I want to not hesitate with the option I choose. So, currently deciding the form of my project is commencing and I will take this years' and last years' teachings to improve my output. 

I’m anxious but excited for this new project and what I will eventually produce in these upcoming weeks.

Stay Tuned...

Welcome Back!! -----> Film Distribution Project

Film Distribution Project

Media Studies A Level has been quite a year so far. We have done several projects that have explored new aspects and studies of media. The latest project we have done so far was the Film Distribution project. Media studies and creative writing teamed up to create a project together. Creative writing created stories for our class and we adapted those projects in a trailer/teaser distribution project. 

Of the four projects presented to all the groups, we had to choose one that we could best create. There was an option of dystopia (which is a genre I love deeply) but was very difficult to produce. I was glad another group chose the story and made a killer presentation. There was a mermaid fantasy on a magical island that limited us to a location that was a difficult obstacle. Then there were two romantic comedy pieces: one that was a period piece or a contemporary. With all of the great options, my group chose to make the contemporary romantic comedy in the two weeks we had. 

Our romantic comedy followed the plot that was a cliche of the jock and the nerd getting together. Opposites attract; enemies to lovers' ideas, which we strived to create. Luckily, my brother was a hockey player throughout high school, so I could utilize his clothing and gear. Finding our jock was thankfully easy and a willing helping hand to the project. 

Scheduling times for the whole group to be present outside of class was majorly impossible. Working on our grooves and doing what we could do independently occurred. I allotted time to work on the project to best support my group but assembling as a team was unsuccessful. To best help the group project, I worked around my school schedule to come into media studies to edit our teaser for the project and make up the other classwork outside of school. Unfortunately, my group cut the teaser I made and scrapped it together with a different one. I had a big difficulty with the project as I did not have a computer to edit the project on and I tried to do the most I could at school. It's quite sad my work was not put towards the collaboration of the project. However, the trailer came out not too bad and the presentation was themed quite nicely for our genre representation style choices. 

Learning from this project, I now know the necessity of a correct brand representation based on genre representation characteristics. Thankfully since the projects competition, I put together my own savings to purchase a laptop to work towards my Cambridge project.