Creative Critical Reflection A Level

Below is the link to my Creative Critical Reflection for my AICE Media A Level project Feel Again:

Creative Critical Reflection - https://youtu.be/FnoxORLSM0k

Final Project Film Trailers, Website, and Movie Poster (Feel Again)

Below are the links to the different components of my AICE Media Studies A Level project Feel Again:

Trailer #1 (Movie Theater Trailer) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5fT3ApGAVo

Trailer #2 (Social Media Trailer) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qEjPIT6K0

Film Website - http://feelagainmovie.weebly.com

Film Poster -
 

Website

     

Probably the one of the most time intensive parts of the project... THE WEBSITE!

Taylor and I did a lot of research + I utilized what I learned from my Post Modernism marketing and advertising lessons and projects in order to create a comprehensive and beautiful project.

Websites we utilized for research are the ones as follows:

• http://www.focusfeatures.com/nocturnalanimals
• beforeifallfilm.com/
• http://www.edgeof17.movie
• http://melaniemartinezmusic.com
• https://www.universalpictures.com/movies/get-out
• http://lionmovie.com

    

       One of the trends that Taylor and I noticed was how the home pages on all of these sites were very 

scrollable (which means there is a large home page section with a few other links/tabs above on the top

of the home screen). I understand this trend, as it mimics the scrolling nature of the worlds top social media

sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., being an entirely scrollable format. It makes the consumer feel 

like it resembles the sites the normally use subconsciously, thus why Taylor and I are noticing this major

trend.

     So for our home page, we included a main image flag at the top of the page, listing the film title, rating, and 

release date. We wanted the site to be user interactive and relate to post modernism aspects of hyperrealism 

by making the consumer become all encompassed with the website. I created a Spotify playlist that would

be updated on the site weekly which is a great way to market to Gen Z and Millennials as it is the fastest 

growing music streaming site next to now emerging Apple Music. All I did was add songs we believed would fit 

our film, copy the embedded link, and put it on our site.

      Many home pages utilize a quote like "See more below" or "Discover the movie below" which entices the

consumer and lets them know that the site is scrollable.

      We included both of our trailers on the home page as they scrolled down, put social media links and bars 

on the top and bottom of the website, and finished that page off with a little "Mini Photo Gallery" with a block 

quote which would entice our consumer to want more visual stimulation in the larger photo gallery tab at the 

top of the page.

    Tab two was the photo gallery tab, so for this one I created an Instagram like feel by creating three photos 

per row of photos. Taylor and I didn't love the discombobulated and all over the place photo placement of some 

of the movie website, while we loved the format of Melanie Martinez's music website (We found it interesting 

how a music artist's website is very similar to a movie's website). Thus, we believe the cleaner more Instagram-

like ascetic for the website would be more visually pleasing. And because it is the "Photo Gallery" we both 

included our film poster on the home page and the photo gallery tab.

    Tab Three "Something Special" is inspired by our post modernism marketing techniques learned earlier this

year. Sometimes people in our generating (really all the time) hate to be marketed to directly and like a 

little bit of mystery and self discovery. This discovery want makes the user feel more in control of their

content, thus makes them feel like they are not being directly marketed to. The something special tab

features a movie bloopers video we compiled which puts a human behind the actor, which not only helps 

branding but makes the user feel connected better to the actors and production of the movie, like they're

are real people, teens, behind the making of it all, creating brand trust through that post modern concept.

      Tab four "Seeking Help" we thought would also be imperative to add to our site. Our film deals a lot with

teenage drug abuse, and many movie websites include things like donation areas to causes that have to do 

with the film and recourses that go along with the films narrative, so we created a blog posting (feels more 

personal to the consumer) from "Team Feel Again" that supported seeking help from teenage drug abuse

along with the resources, websites, and phone numbers to find help. Not only does this resemble conventions

of film websites, it makes everything feel more heavy and real to the consumer, getting them trapped in this

little bubble website for our film (Once again hyper realism and post modernistic marketing strategy at use 

here).

    Tab five "Contact" included an area for people to directly contact the creators and actors of the film through

a fill out form I created. The names of the actors and producers were listed on the left with a cute little inside

fact joke or description of the person working in the film, making the people viewing the names like they are

real people and maybe make them want to research the name to find out more about them now that they 

know some strange or random thing about them. This enticement of the consumer and making the consumer

feel more attached to the film and the people who make the film creates the films own universe where

people want to research more about the film and the names behind it. Making it all feel human and not 

directly marketed to the consumer as stated by Gen Z and Millennial post modern marketing tactics.

I utilized Weebly to create my website as it is free and comes with so many great templates to create a beautiful

and cohesive website. 

The color scheme we used was inspired by the film's poster which was dark green, yellow, and white.

Here is our link to the site!!!!!

http://feelagainmovie.weebly.com

Hope you enjoy!

-Ash

Movie Poster

        Hello world! I am currently now on SPRING BREAK! Thank the lord! This has been amazing as it has given me the perfect opportunity to relax and take more time to finish up some of the last things for my project. Today, I write to you about how Taylor and I created the film poster for our two trailer film.

      We ended up utilizing a website called Canva.com which features a plethora of ways for us to create different computer generated designs. Taylor and I are both in Student Government and have to create engaging social media blast posts for our school all the time, so we are both pretty well versed in the website.

     I already did research on film posters from last year's AS Level project I created Red Room when I created a film poster for that film opening. I looked at everything and below is the main list of conventions that I followed with Taylor in order to create the film poster:

1. Must include film title.
2. Main Actors names are always highlighted.
3. Usually involve some sort of tag line that goes with the vibe or plot of the film. Can even be a quote from the film.
4. Bottom is used as a listing area for listing directors, film production companies, actors, listing website (did not include a website URL last year because I did not have to create one for that project), film release date/area, and film the film's rating.

Here is a link to the post where I did research on a lot more movie posters from last years project:

http://apmmedia.blogspot.com/2016/04/my-films-poster.html

Because we did a drama film however, we wanted to look at the conventions used in many drama film posters, since last year I did a horror film I was going for a totally different look.

Movie posters in the Drama genre Taylor and I really loved ascetically included these we researched: 

(Before I Fall 2017)

(Get Out 2017)

(Nocturnal Animals 2016)

      With Drama films we found, like with the first Nocturnal Animals film poster, they don't usually have to fit in with conventions, as long as the image or poster looks visually enticing and dare I say dramatic (teehee).

     Taylor and I loved the second Nocturnal Animals film poster as well as the Before I Fall one, and used those film posters as creative inspiriting for our own.

      We wanted to imitate the layered photo effect from the second Nocturnal Animals poster with the cutting edge and choppy look from the Before I Fall poster. 

      Taylor is really great with Canva, I call her the Canva Queen, so she actually taught me a ton with the building of this poster. She taught me how to layer photos on top of each other through transparency editing. Then through many templates and research I found a way to create a PG-13 symbol to add onto our film poster which made it look very official. We then chose a color scheme for the film poster which we will also use on the website (Dark Green, light creamy yellows, and white).

     Through many drafts and lots of editing and redoes, we finally came up with the final product. Ready to see it! Look below and feast in the magical awesomeness that is our film poster for Feel Again!!!!!!!!!

Whelp! We hope you love it! Many hours went into this! We really love how the forest photos we got in the background look like they are growing into her and how the bottom is layered with both the beautiful dock shot we got with the spilled bottle of red prop pills we created.

Next Stop, the film's website!

See ya then!

-Ash

Trailer #2 Is Edited & Complete!

I stand in front of you today a humble man... BECAUSE TAY AND I JUST FINISHED TRAILER #2!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHASDFGHJKL":!!!!!!!!!

      This trailer was our social media based trailer, which means that it needed to be a bit different than our other first trailer. Here as some basic differences in how our second trailer is different than our first in both target audience and portrayal on medium.

1. Our movie trailer could be a little over two minutes no problem (average movie theater trailer is 1:30-2 Minutes), while our social media should really be 60 seconds or less due to the faster consumption of social media and the limitations that some platforms allow like Instagram strictly limiting video lengths.
2. Our social media trailer needed to attract your attending in a snap, so by providing a intense and beautiful shot to start of (we were inspired by the Nocturnal Animals trailer beginning for our opening scene with the extreme close up of the eyes). Social media is always about what is the next thing that will stimulate the consumer and make them want to actually stay and consume something, and we accomplished this with our trailer beginning.
3. We included a ton of face paced editing in intense bursts to create a more hectic feel we believe that would broadcast to a more thriller drama or intense/psychological drama about drug abuse.
4. Unlike our first trailer, we really don't give almost any of the plot away (Once again inspired by Nocturnal Animals and also Ghost in a Shell). With social media, you always want to leave the consumer wanting to consume more, thus it is important with social media trailer advertisements that we don't give everything away, that way they become invested and then watch the film's full movie trailer. That is how you hook a consumer and gain more views.
5. We included a lot more intense and almost angry voice overs compared to the more soft and lost feeling portrayed in the first trailer.

It is obvious to see that both trailers are based off and from the same movie, but they correspond to totally different audiences on different mediums, thus broadening our viewership audience as a whole (SMART!)

Like the first trailer, I created a Youtube Thumbnail for the video to better advertise the video on the internet (especially important when people will be seeing the thumbnail first everywhere on social media, so we took some extra time for this one. FORESHADOWING- It is similar to the film poster we are currently creating... but more on that later! I can't give all my secrets away yet!)

Check Out Trailer #2 Below!!!

Next to tackle is the website which is currently in production and my film poster which my teammate Tay is having a major role in because she is a photoshop Goddess!

-Asher

Trailer #1 Edited and Done!

Whelp! The title really says it all! Taylor and I finished editing and published our 1st of two trailers. The first trailer Tay and I finished was the Movie Theater Trailer and it looks glorious.

     Being that this trailer is being featured in the movie theater, our audience is going to be more genre driven as stated in a previous post, so we included more intense (but still not to deep) electronic synth dramatic music and ended it with a royalty free emotional piano song we found from a Youtube artist.

     One of the hardest parts of the entire project was trying to find good music to put in our film. We tried many sites, but in the end my friend gave me a great recommendation that without our film would have probably been not as good. The Youtube Audio Library literally saved us from having to use bad music, because we actually found quality tracks and many of them to decide between.

***Something Random***

(Personally I utilize iMovie to edit all my films as it is really easy to import all the media from from phone onto my computer and start editing right away through the airdrop into iMovie process, plus I've used it now for two years and it is what I am most comfortable with)

     For this trailer being the movie trailer, we stuck with the normal film conventions of having more dramatic and emotional scenes to appeal to the viewer. The editing isn't necessarily fast paced except for some of the beginning sequence, but it defiantly isn't slow, so it is in that nice little middle area we want it for the most part.

      We did a lot of sound editing as well in order to make the volume flow better at points where when we filmed the voices or background noise seemed too much or the music was competing with the commentary or voiceover. 

      Overall, this trailer really represents what we wanted it to represent for our first trailer being a drama being broadcasted in a movie theater, and Tay and I would love for you to check it out below!

     I also utilized Canva to create a Youtube Thumbnail that better represents the current genre conventions of how movie trailers are featured and viewed on the video streaming site. This would help the trailer garner more attention visually from simply the video's first impression image.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5fT3ApGAVo)

Now we are already onto working on Trailer #2, the website, and the film poster... who knows what is next?!?! Well, Tay and I know... you don't.

-Asher

Filming Day 3

     As much as I do love filming, I am very thankful that I am finally done shooting and I can finally blog about my third and final day of filming (Total Filming Hours for this Project 17-20 hours).

      The final film shoot took place at my school (Cypress Bay High School). The school has a massive campus, so there were tons of different areas for us to film, however, being a trailer we were shooting for we only chose a select few locations we believed would be beneficial for our project.

Locations within the school:

• Niche in a hallway to use for conversation
• Long Hallway to get long take walking shot
• Classroom scene (Including taking pills and student interaction).

      I honestly thought this was going to be the most simple filming day out of all of them, but filming at school came with a plethora of challenges I seemed to have forgot about before I filmed.

One - The sound Issues! People at my high school can be absurdly obnoxious and loud, so when we started filming in my teacher's Study Hall Class we forgot about how annoying it would be to try and edit out all the background noise. So to try and be smart about the situation, Tay and I asked the class if they wanted to be a part of our film, and many did, which meant that they cooperated with us. Did I actually need or take shots of all of the students. No. But hey it was a great way to shut everyone up and get out shots done. 

      The sequence of shots that took place in the classroom involved a lot of action matched of a paranoid Nora finishing her work very quickly as she sneaks a pill into her mouth. For this scene to make it look even more sketchy we placed pills in an old mints compact and got some interesting close ups and extreme close ups of this. And to make it look like she was taking a pill (we really weren't going to have our actress take a pill in school) I shot her at an angle where you saw more of her profile of her face at an angle, but it came out looking very clean and realistic and looked like she literally took the pill in class. This is one of my favorite strings of shots I have collected in my high school career as they all flow so easily into each other with some simple editing and it gives off such a sketchy paranoid vibe.

Two - Class Changes! We'd be filming an intense scene and everything was going amazingly until the period would end and the bells would ring and a mob of people would flood the halls. Thus, our shot and scene would be ruined or halted many times as bells and angsty students traveled around class to class photo bombing my shots (God I Hate People My Age).

Three - Security! Even though we had my actress approved to come in, security would be constantly coming up to us, so that got a bit annoying during a beautiful shot when you'd get scared with someone screaming behind you, "Where the hell are you students supposed to be!" even though it was both of our free periods (eye roll).

Here are some snapshots from the school shoot:

We also recorded many different voice overs from Megan to overlay many of our shots and scenes during out more intense social media based trailer.

Now it's off to editing!!!

-Asher

Filming Day Two

(With how amazing day one of filming went, I feel like I am living on Cloud 9. Everything so far is just really going swimmingly and the photo above just represents my overall state of mind right now)

Day 2

        Before we started filming, Tay and I scouted out a local nature park Markham Park by just driving around it and marking areas we thought that would be cool to film. What a beautiful location it really is. After looking around, our actress Megan met up with us and showed us some of her favorite places to film.

      It was this structure you could climb up that was right on the lake and overlooked everything. It was breathtaking. So we set up base there, and got tons of shots up there. The main goal and tone of the nature scenes was to be a more sobering effect on the viewer, so Megan adjusted her acting style accordingly.

ALSO! Just have to mention how amazing Megan's fashion sense has been thought our entire project. All I have to do is tell her the my idea for the sense, the vibes I want to be perceived, and possibly colors, and she pulls together magic. Honestly I am working with a fashion designer for my project and it is GOALS!

      After that, Megan told us to go into an area she said that was really a great place to shoot, but the sign near the path said "No Trespassing." So... we trespassed anyway! #DoItForTheShot

     Once we got into the area, it was beautiful! There were multiple paths and lots of shaded areas filled with burnt branches and decaying trees. It felt like you were stuck in the middle of the forest thousands of miles away from civilization. We attained a plethora of shots here. Here's a little sneak peak:

     After going deep into the woods, we ended up going to another lake location where we could get close to a beach looking area, also the shots came out looking very different compared to the other water ones. Maybe I'll only use the footage from one of those shooting locations but as of now I think it is good that I have lots of differing footage to chose from.

     Finally, to wrap up the day, we went onto a dock with a warning "Alligator Infested Lake" but hey... #DoItForTheShot

      The water was really murky and green and even reflected some green light, and the old rickety dock created a beautiful juxtaposition between old material and Megan's high fashion sense. It all came together magically even though it was kind of scary standing on a breaking dock we should probably have not been on. But wow was it worth it. Little Behind the Scenes for ya right here:

And that is a wrap of Day Two! I really don't want to post a lot of photos on here of the actual filming because I really want my final product to be a surprise to all of you. So until then you will just keep getting little tastes.

-Ash

Filming Day 1 + Film Poster

     YAAAAASSSSS! We started filming and it is GLORIOUS!!!!

Day one went really well. From now on, most of my posts are not going to be research based, but more discussion and production based as I am now in full swing in actual project creation

       We started out the shoot in my guest bedroom where I needed to redecorate it to make it look more like a teenage girls room. So I added in lots of props like wall art, pens and pencils on counters, stuffed animals, a more purple color scheme for the room, photos, flowers, and a Himalayan salt lamp (the red/yellow/orange light it gives off is just beautiful and great for ambiance). 

We shot many computer and work driven shots here, as most high schoolers typically do work in their rooms and on their beds. 

We shot a lot of shots over time with the intent of having a lot of footage so we wouldn't feel pressured having too little.

(One of the shots from our filming in the bedroom)

Creating Our Own Addie

     Taylor and I needed to actually create some of our own props for the film, so what we did was buy vegan pill capsules that can be filled with anything. Addie is usually portrayed in real life as a red or orange pill, so we simple bought some red sprinkles at the store, and individually filled watch capsule.

     As for the prescription bottle, I have many stored in my house, so we took the label off an old one and simply filled our own home made sprinkle Adderall pills in the bottle. It actually looks really sketchy and good the end product was fantastic.

Next Shots:

1. We shot also in my dining room, as the room is positioned in a very long fashion and provided us with the ability to capture some really cool perspective shots of our actress working frantically.
2. We turned an empty room in my house into a therapist/psychiatrist room by moving in a couch and some pillows. And too make it look even more real, we printed out fake psychology and doctor degrees and put them up on the wall. This gave the sense that it was a real phycologists office through prop and mise en scene.
3. After that we shot at the park. We shot a lot on the swings and actually would place both the tripod and our actress on the swing, that way the shots were not only in motion, but they looked smooth and really unique. We figured this out just through experimentation. Sound wasn't an issue even though we were outside because thankfully no one was at the park and it wasn't a windy day. Hallelujah!
4. Inspired by the Psycho shower murder scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjhOhH-V3E) which was actually the first ever film analyzed in AICE Media, we wanted to make our actress look naked without actually showing her naked bits. So like in Psycho, we inferred her taking off her clothes at different angles that made the viewer assume she was unclothed. We did other shots of her chest and up and even utilized the steam of the shower to help us cover up her body from the glass screen. Taylor and I are both very excited for you guys to see the shots from this scene as they came out incredible!
5. Outside Shot: Outside my house I have little lights that surround the entire perimeter of my house, and the way they barley lightened up my actresses face was fascinating. It looked dark and sad and even a bit creepy, but the face and position of the shot just felt so natural and worked so well. As of now this is my favorite shot (Did this one at night).

        My partner in crime Taylor is a photoshop goddess, and utilizing the iPhone 7's newest camera feature called Portraits Mode/Depth Perception, we were able to take some pretty cool looking shots that we can use for our film poster. Here is one of the many shots we got:

We decided to better split up the work, so that Tay would create the film poster and that I would create the website. More done in less time. Simple.

Here is a clue for the next time we shoot... we get one with nature.

-Ash

Chicken Biscuit (Defining Our Two Trailers)

(DISCLAIMER: This post is inspired by my amazing partner for this project, Taylor, who loves chicken biscuits and wanted one of my posts to be titled as such... so here it is. The chicken biscuit really has nothing to do with the rest of the post's content... so... yep.)

 As a part of our project, it is Taylor's and my job to create two different trailers that we will broadcast in two different ways (audience wise and medium wise).

Trailer #1 (Movie Theater Trailer):

1. Trailers displayed at the movie theaters and at film festivals are usually 1:30 to 2:00 minutes. These platforms are suitable for a genre-driven audience who are interested in the characteristics and conventions used in the film. This audience is commonly described as “movie-goers” because they tend to go and see films at these platforms rather than streaming them or watching them at home. Therefore, one of our trailers will be more geared towards focusing on the drama and that one will be presented at these locations.

2. Film festivals and Movie Theaters are a great way to advertise the film because most likely the audience is going to come back to see more films. Our trailer will be displayed at other drama movies that are released before our film so that the same audience is exposed to it. This is commonly how previews are organized at movie theaters and at film festivals- they are displayed before the same genre so that the same targeted audience comes to see it.

3. Indie films do not have that must of a disadvantage as very popular, and wealthy franchised films because it’s about marketing and how well the trailers are produced. Trailers are also typically released within 100 days before the film.

Find more info on Movie Theater Trailers and how they are cut here: http://filmmakermagazine.com/37093-first-impressions/#disqus_thread 

Trailer #2 (Social Media Trailer: Instagram/Snapchat/Twitter):

(https://www.slideshare.net/simdam/codes-conventions-of-a-film-trailer-47051528)

1. Trailers tend to be 1 minute in length, as social media users tend to be more quick with their consumption decisions. Also, some media platforms such as Instagram regulate the video lengths that can be broadcasted on their application (Instagram allows for videos to be 60 seconds or less). Thus, our social media trailer will be a 60 second trailer.

2. What is nice about social media is that you can broadcast so many different trailers and types (full length, shorter, teaser, etc.). Unlike TV movie trailer commercials  which on average are 30 seconds or less, social media's like Twitter and Snapchat allow for longer full length trailers for a fraction of a cost, as TV costs big bucks to feature commercials on differing networks while social medias cost no money to create and post on their own pages and are not expensive when advertising when compared to TV.

3. Snapchat it is especially important as advertisements on snap usually feature a teaser trailer that, if chosen by the consumer, can be "Swipped Up" to view a longer length trailer, making the consumer feel like they are in control with what advertisements they see (all relates to marketing to Millenials and Gen Z with creating brand loyalty and advertising without advertising). Snapchat to us is an incredible resource and totally relates to all of the postmodernism marketing techniques/conventions we learned earlier in the year.

4. Examples of social media trailers that have been very successful with variability that relate to the conventions just listed:
Ghost In A Shell - 

(https://twitter.com/GhostInShell/status/847845938148159494)

Atomic Blond-

(https://twitter.com/atomic_blonde)

Before I Fall-

(https://twitter.com/BeforeIFallFilm)

Until Next Time Lovelies!

-Ash

I did some damage... Oops... 🙃 + Props (Mise-en-scene)

   

     Okay! So I am going to be headed off to college soon, and because it is my goal to achieve a BA in Media eventually, I know I am going to need to buy myself some equipment.

     I have always wanted a tripod for filming, and so I saved up some money, and will my Media teacher's recommendation. I bought myself my first ever tripod! Ahhh I'm so happy you don't even know!!

     A tripod will allow me to have more steady and concrete looking shots. My shots will look more professional and be easier to edit as I won't have to take into account human motion/error while holding the camera.

Here is the link to the tripod I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KP473Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also! I ended up also buying an attachment for my cell phone as it is the only device I have with me to film. In college I will have access to better filming equipment at Indiana University. But for now, my iPhone will do and I have shot all my other films in high school with my phone, so it'll be no different than before.

Link to the attachment: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EYFV6FY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is a major step up from my filming quality from my last year's project "Red Room" where I was literally using books and chairs to act as a stabilizing structure for my phone. You have no clue how many times the structure would fall or fail... it's PTST.

BUT NOW! I have equipment that will make my projects/products look better, plus I feel more like a professional and why not boost my ego and make me more confident 😈.

Now moving into props. Here are some of the major props we will be incorporating into our film. 99% of the props used are things Taylor, Megan and I already had, but we did have to buy some things:

-Art for walls (add cute high school room ascetic)
-Messy Desk
-Laptop
-Himalayan Salt Lamp
-Cute Backpack
-Different trendy high school outfits (we will be working with Megan on the costume design aspect to create a more organic high school feel)
-Cell Phone
-Artificial Tears
-Placebo Pills (this was a hard one to find)

When it came to finding fake pills it was not easy. You see, even though our actress Megan won't be consuming the pills when we take shots of her taking them (we'll have her just act like she is swallowing them), she is a vegan, thus I needed to find Vegan fake pills.

   Many fake pills were made with gelatin, which meant there were vegetation but not vegan, but after countless hours of research (I'm serious it took me forever to find the right shape and type) I found the correct fake placebo pill. The bottle says vegetarian, but the ingredient list specifies that it is vegan.

     I learned from this process that your film is nothing without a happy and well supplied actor, and so we made it work!

Here is the link to the pills I found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017GUH42I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
Whelp, that is all I have for you now.

Next week I will be posting about how and what we are doing for our different trailers and also... WE BEGIN FILMING!!! WOOHOO!

Bye bye,

-Asher 😘💗🦄

Shots Shots Shots 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼

 Taylor and I have planned out our entire lists of Shots we want to take and scenes we want to set up for our trailers. They are not in any particular order.

     Taylor and I have compiled a list. Some shots will be used in one of our trailers, and other shots will be in the other, and some may be used in both. It is our job to create two different trailers that will reach two different audiences. Taylor and I already have complied our ideas for each trailer and know how we will be broadcasting these differing products over specific media platforms.... but all will be revealed with good time. Probably later this week is when we will come out with the research for how we will be presenting our two trailers.

Until then, here is a photo of the lists of shots/scenes Taylor and I will be shooting. We will be utilizing all of the locations discussed in my location post with descriptions of the types of shots we will be taking.

The best part, our actress is prepared to do all of them.

Check out our full list below. Most shots are going to relate back to the drama conventions study I did in a previous post with some exceptions of how we defy some conventions. Take a look!!

See ya next time,

-Asher

Casting and Problems With High School Representation

Well, Taylor and I have been on the search for a while now for an actress who will be able to be in our film, and we finally found someone who we think will be perfect for our film.

      Her name is Megan Vitko, and she is a graduated senior from my high school. She is so beautiful and free spirited and has exactly the look, feel, vibe, time, and expletive we are looking for in an actress.

This is Megan:


     Megan is also going to school for fashion and even is the president of our school's fashion club. She is perfect for providing that modern high schooler fashion forward ascetic Taylor and I are trying to achieve. That way, not only Megan looks like a high schooler because she is one, but our target audience consumers will be able to relate more to her fashion wear and age wise.

      Taylor and I have identified a major problem that many drama and high school teen movies are facing now a days. THAT MOST OF THE ACTORS ARE LITERARILY SO OLD AND LOOK NOTHING LIKE HIGH SCHOOLERS. Seriously, it's so frustrating being a high schooler looking at films that portray us looking like college or late twenties people.

     Taylor and I will not stand for this. New shows coming out on Netflix like "Thirteen Reasons Why" and older movies based on high school like "High School Musical" who poorly portray the average high school student are no more. 

THE FOLLOWING ARE HORRIBLE REPRESENTATIONS OF HIGH SCHOOLERS IN HIGH SCHOOL BECAUSE ALL THE ACTORS ARE PROBABLY ALMOST IN THEIR THIRTIES OMG SMH!

     Taylor and I appreciate movies more like "The Edge of 17" which portrays actors that actually look my age are what we want to go for. That is how you gain consumer trust and how you generate better responses from Gen Z and Millennials.


     Megan is so down to get this thing going, and so Taylor and I have a ton planned for all of you.

Until next time,

-Asher

A New Perspective

   The following are two personal interviews Taylor and I conducted with two different people who were willing to be open with their Adderall usage. Unlike in our podcast with Julia Brilliant, the following people are not using the drug for medical or prescribed reasons. The identities of the interviewees have been kept out for this blog and will not under any circumstance be disclosed.

Person 1 Interview:

• So why do you take Adderall?
• “I want to do well in school. I started my junior year, I work about 30 hours a week, and it is all just really stressful and it helps me.”

• Do you feel like you do better overall in life with Adderall?
• “Yes. Definitely. I don’t need sleep so it cuts that out. I’ll maybe sleep a few hours a night, but not usually. I’d say I get four hours of sleep per week. So everytime I get tired I just take another one.”

• What is it like being on Adderall?
• I can become very stimulated. I get paranoid. My heart rate increases so much. It curbs my appetite so I don’t need to eat and take time to do that. I feel just very paranoid like everyone is watching me. I’m walking in the hallway freaking out like shaking. After two days of not sleepy fully I just break down and cry. I just take a really high dosage.”

• What dosage do you take?
• “I take a 45 mg or a 55 mg depending on what I can buy or is available. I think some people take 10 mg but I need more. They are about $10 a pill. I get it from a dealer.”

• What’s the biggest difference on and off Adderall?
• “I get very focus to the point where it consumes me. Like I could be on a math problem for an hour or I’m focused on a dot on my paper for like an hour. It did hurt me on a test but Adderall usually helps me on my tests when I finish them.”

• Are you going to continue using it?
• “100%.”

• Do you feel like you are addicted?
• “I don’t know... pretty borderline.”

• If you were to stop how would your life be affected?
• “I don’t think it I’d be affected that much. I mean I remember things better on it but I think I’d be fine. I mean I only take it for school.
• “Are you worried about the potential health risks and side effects?”
• “Sometimes. Like if it curbs your appetite like that’s not healthy. Like the way it affects me is not healthy either... so... oh well.. That’s what the school system does for you.”

• “How did you start taking it?”
• My friend introduced it to my my junior year and it helped me in school and I just didn’t stop.”

Person 2:

• When did you start taking Adderall?
• “I started at the end of junior year for AP and AICE Exams.”

• When was it first introduced to you?
• “I can’t remember exactly, but I know it was from my friends who took it.”

• How many times have you taken it?
• “Only about 12-13 times.”

• What is the milligram of each pill”
• “I take 25 mg, extended release, which lasts about 6-8 hours.” (Keep in mind that prescribed Adderall is only 10 mg and is not extended release.)

• How does it make you feel when you take it?
• “Everyone describes it as extreme focus, and yeah that’s what it is, but it’s more like you can’t stand to not be productive. Like for me personally, I feel good and I feel happy when I am productive and when I can achieve something with my time. Like when you’re on it, you can’t stand to just be sitting there and doing nothing and being unproductive, you need to be doing something.”

• What does it feel like when you’re on Adderall and you’re doing nothing?
• “It feels like, for me, that it is a waste of time and energy.”

• Are you worried at all about the side effects?
• “Like Addiction? No, because it’s not like if you just take something once or a couple of times you’re going to get addicted.”

• Do you generally do better in school when you take Adderall?
• It’s doesn’t necessarily mean that I get like miles better test grades because I take a prescription that I’m not supposed to be taking, but it just makes me feel better that I can be productive and focus better in school on stuff that I need to learn and be a more successful person doing so. I can do the things that I want to be able to do, if that makes any sense.”

• Do you want to continue using it in college?
• “Umm… I mean obviously you’re immediate thought is yeah, yes I want to because it would help a lot and it would help me focus on the things I need to do. But at the same time, it’s like what are you gonna do? Are you gonna go out and convince some random doctor in your new city to like give it to you.”

• Do you normally convince your doctor to give it to you? Or how to you get it?
• “Oh, no, no, no, I don’t do that with my doctor. I get it from my friends.”

• Adderall is usually referred to as a studying steroid, do you feel like that statement is true?
• “So the thing about that is, as least for me, when I think about steroids in sports is that is changed your physiology, without any extra effort you get better results that you normally wouldn’t get. With Adderall, you need to put in the exact same effort and the exact same mind power and motivation into that to get the results you’re looking for.”

• So how do you feel when you have a lot of homework and studying to do, but you don’t end up taking Adderall?
• “For me, it takes me a significantly longer amount of time to do anything because I am constantly getting distracted and I get distracted very easily, like I’ll look at my phone every couple of seconds.”

• Do you usually feel motivated?
• “Yeah, but it just makes me happy to have that extra boost to my motivation. I think you have to be a special type of motivated to want to take a drug like this.”

• Have you ever got to the point where you are too focused and end up spending too much time on something?
• “Yeah when I was doing a lab last week, like it had to be perfect. I was in that mindset where it had to be perfect, even though it took me a substantial amount of time. And sometimes I’ll get caught up on a problem on tests and realize that now I only have 10 minutes left for 20 multiple choice questions.”

• What are some of the side effects you feel on it?”
• “It completely curves my appetite to the point where I have no motivation to eat. Like I don’t eat when I’m on it. Usually I’ll binge eat when I’m not on it because I’m bored or because I’m not doing anything. So it completely takes away that distraction and motivation to want to eat.”

• Are you scared of the side effects taking a major affect on your life?
• “No, because at this point I know that I’m not addicted and I know that I have a certain cap on what is appropriate for me to ask for and how much to take. For me, it’s not like I have a constant supply that would make me worried.”

• Is all of it even worth it?
• “I guess not. It’s not like, at least for me, where a lot of people spend a substantial amount of money on a pill or something like that. But money aside, if I were to get addicted I don’t think it would be worth it. But at this point, I think it’s worth it in the amount that it is.”