Rehearsals!!!

 We had 2 rehearsals this week and we got so much done! 

In our first rehearsal, I had my actors listen to the song over and over again until we all became familiar with it. We had to cut this rehearsal short because we were all so exhausted after having a 5 hour rehearsal for our school show that same day. 

During our second rehearsal, we blocked the dialouge scenes and choreographed the dance! YAY! I am so happy with how the dance turned out. I, myself, am not a dancer, but I did have a vision of some movements I wanted in the dance. I communicated my thoughts with my dancers, who also choreographed the dance, and they definitely brought my vision to life, they're insanely talented and I'm sososososososooso thankful for them!💖

Here's some rehearsal footage!

                                                        Here's a sneak peek of da dancee hehe

We rehearsed in our school's auditorium!

My friend, Ashley, took some pictures of the rehearsal process

Me talking to my actors about some moves they should add to the dance

HASTA LA VISTA!- go eat pineapple and watch La La Land :)

Target Audience!

Understanding what the target audience for a film is, is sooo important! Understanding and acknowledging the target audience can help make a director imply certain factors that he/she/they know the audience will enjoy. If the audience enjoys what they're watching, they'll invest in the film, which will increase profits for the film production company.

Before solidifying my target audience, I did some research. I read a couple of articles (all links listed below) and I learned a lot about target audiences in film: Here's some things I learned:

• The definition of target audience does NOT include everyone, only a niche group of people
• To define the target audience for a particular project, ask yourself: What makes this piece different from any other pieces? What would make people choose this piece over other similar pieces?
• The target audience for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (a show set in the 1950s) was about 62% women.
• Creating content that people can relate to will attract more viewers.

The target audience for my film ranges from ages 13-80. Yes, this is a wide age gap, however, my film includes comedic and romantic moments, which are appealing to the youngers ages while also being set in the 1950s, which will attract older people as they lived during that time period. Moreover, older people might be able to relate to it. 

SOURCES:

https://red-rock-films.medium.com/how-to-uncover-the-proper-target-audience-for-your-film-bfbb101d078

https://decider.com/2020/01/14/marvelous-mrs-maisel-season-3-nielsen-ratings/

https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/01/marvelous-b2b-content-marketing-lessons/

Decided on a Title checkkkk

 I've been some thinking about what I should title my film... Many title names have crossed my mind but they've all been too cheesy and cringe yuck. However, I was able to narrow down my choices and now I'm deciding between these three:

1. Colored Tiles
2. Salt & Pepper
3. Cupid's Advocate 

Colored Tiles: the reason why I'm thinking of this name is because of the floor tiles at our shooting location; I plan on taking some shots of their shoes as they dance and the black and blue tiles will be visible.

Salt & Pepper:  the reason why I'm thinking of this name is because I want the opening shot to be of Geraldine putting salt and pepper in her food; I was also hoping that the salt and pepper would symbolize Annette and Ricky as they're both salty and their romance is spicy. Okay EW, I think I needed to type that last sentence to realize how cringy of a title that is.

Cupid's Advocate: the reason why I'm thinking of this name is because I like how it hints at how Geraldine loves pairing people up with each other.

After doing some more thinking, I decided to stick with "Cupid's Advocate" because I think that it describes Geraldine, the protagonist, perfectly. Moreover, I also like how it plays on the common saying "The Devil's Advocate".

I'm glad I finally solidified my title because now I can solidify and polish my script!!!! 

MUSIC IS DONE!!!!

Drum roll puh-leaseeee,,,,,,🥁🥁🥁

DA SONG IS DONE! oh yeahh😎

My amazing friend and composer, Alejo, finished the song! I have yet to listen to it because I'm in class, but I'm going to listen to it in a few minutes. Be right back.

Update: ok hello again, I just finished class and I listened to the song,,, WOW,,, just,,, WOW,,, Alejo really outdid himself with this one. He flawlessly created a song with everything I wanted in it: the sexy tone, the jazzy tune, the intriguing beat, THE SNAPS. I'm so so so sooooo thankful for having someone as amazing and creative as Alejo in my life. I cannot wait to feature his original song in my project! AHH! 

Now, I suppose you're all curious to know what the song sounds like, so I feel like I owe you guys a sneak peak of it (I won't be posting all of it now, I rather the rest be a total surprise), but here's a snippet:

Yup. That's all you get.... for now😏

Oh alright, alright, I'll give you another sneak peak, but of the lyrics this time:

I realllyyyyy likes these lyrics, they're not cheesy or cringy, instead, they create mystery and tension. Lovee them.

Well, this is all for now! 

HASTA LA VISTA!- go eat pineapple and watch La La Land :)

Rehearsal Schedule

Ok ok ok!

Progress is happening (slowly but surely):D

I talked to my composer today and he said that the music is almost done!! YAY! I heard a little clip of it and I became SOOOO excited AHHH! He also said that he will get it done by this Tuesday (March 9th, 2021) which gives me just one week to get together with my actors and rehearse. 

I created this rehearsal schedule so that I could feel organized and so that my actors are informed of the rehearsals coming up! Bella, Roy, Mrs. Lutwin, and I are all working together on our school's musical production "9 to 5" and we have rehearsals every day for this show. With that being said, the rehearsals for my film opening will be after our rehearsals for our show. I think I'm only going to make our rehearsals last about an hour and a half because we only need to choreograph 50 seconds of the song and we will also be very tired from our other rehearsal. However, we are having four rehearsals in total for this film opening project and I think that rehearsing for 6 hours in total will be more than enough time to rehearse. 

A visual of my rehearsal schedule can be seen below:

My goal is to finalize and polish the choreography and everything else by March 16th because we film on March 17th!!! We only have one night to film for about 3 hours max, so I want to make sure that we are completely ready to go so that we don't waste time figuring things out there.

HASTA LA VISTA!- go eat pineapple and watch La La Land :)

Oldies but Goodies

 Oh boy do I love music, it's the best thing ever.

Anyways, since my film opening is going to be a 1950s musical, I thought it would be appropriate to do some research on songs written in the 1950s. While I already know many 1950s songs (shoutout to my job-they play 50s on 5 Sirius XM every day...), I wanted to compile some of these in order to gain some inspiration. 

I ended up making a Spotify playlist that's FIVE hours long (playlist link is at the bottom of this blog) ... I literally listed every song that I remembered hearing at work (they never leave my brain UGH). As I created this playlist, I came to the realization that men are creeps. Yes. You read that right. Most of these OLD, GROWN men are writing songs about SIXTEEN year old girls (*cough* Sixteen Candles *cough*)... uhhh child anyways, so.... I also learned that most of the songs written by females are obviously about romance & love. After doing some more research, I came to the conclusion, that the song for my film opening had to obviously be about love since it will be playing while Ricky and Annette dance. I texted Alejo, my awesome franddd and the coolest composer, some songs that have cool beats that I would like for our song to include (or to include similar beats). 

The songs I sent him were:

• Fever by Peggy Le
• Who's Sorry Now by Connie Francis
• Teach Me Tonight by The McGuire Sisters

Soon after, Alejo sent me some videos of how the song was coming along and I got so excited EEEKKKKK!! It sounds so great and it's exactly how I wanted it to sound. I can't wait for him to add lyrics to it, so that it can be done!

"What comes after the song is done?" you may be asking yourself... 

Well, I send it over to my actors and ask Mrs. Lutwin (Geraldine) to learn the lyrics and I also send it to Bella (Annette) and Roy (Ricky) so that they can become familiar with the beats. After they feel comfortable with the music, then I will hold a rehearsal in which the three of us (Bella, Roy, and I) will choreograph their dance scene; I definitely want them to include some iconic 50s dance moves.

Playlist Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/21UQrJUHsuXCCrCH7FyEWH?si=BHz8t8VARNOrhz3mP4mJaw

Well, well, well, it's slowly coming together alright. Stay tuned for more updates! 

HASTA LA VISTA!- go eat pineapple and watch La La Land :)

Era Research

     Soooooo, the time period has been set. The film will take place in the (drum roll please🥁🥁🥁) 1950s! I've always been interested in this era and I'm excited to shoot it at Lucille's (a 1950s themed diner). I conducted some research on this time period to educate myself more and all the information I collected can be found below!

1950s:

Because of the development of televisions in the 1950s, less and less people went to the theaters since they preferred to stay home and watch shows through the TV. Due to this, there was an evident decrease in movie productions and releases. Nevertheless, in order to grab people's attention, the movie industry enhanced their entertainment services by making movie theater screens bigger and showcasing colored film. 

Likewise, some of the themes that are evidently present in most of movies made in the 1950s are:

• capitalism vs. communism
• good vs. evil
• drugs
• civil rights
• changes in love
• youthful rebellion
• violence and crime

    Singing in the Rain (1952)

     In Singing In The Rain, the directors, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, use a variety of techniques to highlight some of the most special moments in the film. 

  Lighting 

 -Pretty bright throughout the entire film 

 -Spotlight is used on Lina when she's singing on stage to make her stand out 

 -Darker light is utilized when Don sings "Singing in the Rain". However, lamp posts are evident in order to show that there's light in the dark (in this case, something positive that just happened to Don was that Kathy kissed him)

  Framing 

 -Long shots are used during dance numbers to show full body movements (for example, in "Good Morning") 

 -Tracking shots are used while Don sings "Singing in the Rain"

  Color 

 -The film is shot in color which makes it stand out from most of the 1950s shows/films since most of them were in black and white

 -There is an evident consistency of the usage of bright colors, which for the most part, represent happiness

  Music

-Music = the soundtrack includes many, versatile melodies, each which represent characters' emotions (the music of this movie is composed by Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown, and Lennie Hayton) 

 -Diegetic sounds = are used to make the movie seem more realistic 

 -Non-diegetic sounds = are example of this would be the songs in the film since in real life, characters don't break out into songs 

  Wandavision; 1950s Episode (2021)

    The new, hit Disney + series, Wandavision pays an homage to American sitcoms from different time eras. Moreover, the first episode of the show, takes place in the 1950s and the director, Matt Shakman, gets creative with the mise-en-scene of this episode in particular.

 Lighting 

 -Pretty bright throughout the entire episode

 -Darker light is utilized when Mr. Hart and his wife are over for diner; this is to show that it's night and the dim lighting creates intimacy during the dinner scene.

  Framing 

 -Long shots are used during the theme song as Vision carries Wanda inside their home 

 -Mid shots are used to show Wanda and Vision's relationship, specifically in moments when they're in the kitchen

-The episode ends with the screen closing in (in the shape of a circle) on Wanda and Vision as they kiss; this technique is used a lot with media from this time period

  Color 

 -This episode is edited so that it's in black and white in order for it to resemble American sitcoms from the 50s.

  Music

-The theme song, "A Newlywed Couple", is written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and it introduces the main characters and the town they live in.

-Diegetic sounds = are used to make the show seem more realistic 

 -Non-diegetic sounds = are example of this would be the charming sounds that goes off when Wanda practices her magic on objects

    The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel(2017)

 Lighting 

 -Pretty bright throughout the entire episode

 -Dim lighting is utilized during scenes that take place outside at night

-Spotlight is used when Midge (or other comedians )are on stage performing in order to make her stand out.

-Natural light is used during outside scenes that take place during the day (scenes in the Catskills)

  Framing 

 -Long shots are used during Midge's performances so that the audience sees her body language as she tells her jokes

-Low, side angle shots are also used during performance scenes

 -Mid shots are used to show Midge and Susie's friendship, specifically in moments when they're traveling my car or plane

-Close-up shots show Midge's relationship with her ex-husband/lover, Joel.

  Color 

 -The colors of this show are very bright and they are mostly seen through the costumes that Midge wears. I think that the reason why they have her wear bright colors is to represent her bubbly personality. On the other hand, Susie wears dull and plain colors which accurately match her personality.

  Music

-This show features some of the greatest hits from the 50s. Some of these songs include "Teach Me Tonight" by The McGuire Sisters and "Come to the Supermarket" by Barbara Streisand.

-Diegetic sounds = are used to make the show seem more realistic (feedback of the microphone)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singin%27_in_the_Rain

https://www.ign.com/articles/wandavision-opening-theme-song-lyrics-for-every-episode

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1i1abEjlMwX4LPH2lntiXu

HASTA LA VISTA!- go eat pineapple and watch La La Land :)