Final Project

 I am happy to present, the final project for Teddy:

Click here for trailer #1

Click here for trailer #2

Click here for the Instagram page

or visit the page @teddymovie2021

Final poster:

Critical Reflection

 Within the two trailers for the Thriller film “Teddy”, different portions of what the actual film would include are revealed, both with the intent to create suspense. Through recurring motifs, sounds, and symbols, the products create a cohesive feel for Teddy, the film, to attract a curious audience.

Within the film, the main character, Jane Doe, is a victim of kidnapping by a middle-aged white man. Many of the covert details represent the typical demographic of those who are kidnapped, and those who kidnap. With the use of the name “Jane Doe” for the main character, a name typically given to people whose identity has yet to be confirmed, it is almost to say that the situation that she is in could be anyone. However, depicting a teenage girl, dressed in casual clothing, represents the demographic of those who are typically victims of kidnapping: females over the age of 12. Additionally, as reported by NISMART, 71% of kidnapping occur in outside areas, such as a park or the woods, also accurately represented within the trailers. While many of these statistics are not overtly represented in either the poster or the trailer, the social media page for the film of Instagram highlights a “Resources” story that includes infographics and resources to learn more about this issue nationwide.

The social media page has also been an integral part of creating a consistent brand. Towards the beginning of this process, I created a specific color palette to focus on consisting of blacks and greys for the darker tones and yellows for the lighter tones. This color palette is consistent within the Instagram page as well, most notable when you first visit the page and see the grid view of all of the posts. There is a stark pattern alternating between black and white photos, and more yellow-toned photos, creating almost a checkered pattern. Additionally, this is represented within the poster as the main image is black and white, and the title color is a yellow-tan tone. Being that the title is the only part of the poster that is that warm tone, it is meant to stand out from the black and white image and the other white texts. Finally, arguably one of the most time-consuming portions of this project for me, was color grading the trailers in order to highlight the cool-toned yellows and greys within the set and costume. By sticking to a consistent, simple color palette from the beginning, they have become representative of the film as a whole, allowing for cohesive branding of the film.

Moreover, many aspects of the final project were meant to be seen as direct communication with the audience. Especially with the target of a Generation Z audience and fan base, creating different ways for the products to seem interactive was integral in keeping their attention and intrigue. One way this was done was through the voiceover narration of the trailers: by having Jane’s voiceover speaking to Teddy throughout both trailers, it is almost as if the audience feels that they are being addressed, taking on the role of Teddy. Dialogue between the kidnapper and Jane is extremely limited, not only to create suspense behind the character of the kidnapper but also to highlight Jane’s direct communication with the viewer. Additionally, taking advantage of the many interactive features on Instagram, a social media platform popular within the target audience, helped enhance the sense of intrigue. By introducing the cast as “Meet my family”, rather than “Meet the cast”, and the use of leading questions in many of the captions furthers this idea that the products are communicating directly with the audience.

Notably, many decisions made for this project were formed on the basis of research. I initially wanted to pursue the fantasy genre, but upon researching many conventions, such as the use of CGI, I realized that it was not within my reach at the moment. Once I narrowed it down to the thriller genre, it was much easier to mold a story from those conventions. Inspired by both Room and Split, Teddy delves into the psyche of victims of abuse, kidnapping, and other traumas, representing how one would cope in those situations. The title also reflects these tropes, as one-word titles focused on a main theme or symbol within the film are popular within the genre, hence the name “Teddy”. Research upon the posters for these films also heavily influenced the one for Teddy, as they were simplistic and featured a dark vignette around a close-up image of the main character. Other posters that express this convention include the one for the film Us, a thriller by Jordan Peele. Research within the Thriller genre also helped in choosing the correct music, especially since the Youtube Music Library allows you to search by mood or genre. Knowing that I needed to find an ominous, suspenseful, slow song to be in the background of the trailers helped narrow down the search to just two songs until I was able to pinpoint the perfect one. Within this project, research into case studies especially aided in the process of capturing the essence of a thriller film, consequently resulting in a final product that is more in line with conventions rather than challenging them.

Finally, understanding the target audience was the hidden key to this project. Once I was able to pinpoint who I wanted the film’s audience to be, it was much easier to work around it. For example, I knew that I wanted the audience to reflect my own demographics: Gen Z, curious, female, and mature enough to have the discussions the film touches on. Understanding the behaviors of this target audience especially, such as understanding that many have extremely short attention spans, aided in many decisions: length of the trailers, length of the clips, how to make the Instagram page more intriguing for the audience, etc. Research was the driving factor within the entire project.

DaFont = DaBomb Cont'd

 It comes that time again to do the tedious and almost disappointing task of finding a font. I say disappointing for one reason: the categories on dafont.com highlight the worst bunch, which always makes it much harder for me to look for fonts. However, I went in with two ideas:

The first idea was to just go with a simple sans serif font, like in the poster for Room

My second idea was to go with a sketch-like, etch-like, child's handwriting font like in the poster for Orphan

Once I started looking through the fonts for both categories, I narrowed my search down to a few options:

I also knew that I really wanted to be able to mimic a classic movie poster and find that really skinny, tall font that is used at the bottom for credits. Thankfully, the research process was not too extensive as I soon came across this Quora forum that detailed exactly what font I had in mind: Univers 39 Ultra Thin Condensed

Testing them out

Personally, I don't think I could have made a sure decision just by looking at the pages for each font. I had to see it for myself. I downloaded each font and quickly put the title on the poster shot, going between fonts to see which one I liked the most. For some reason, as much as I thought that this idea would be the one, I hated the handwriting-type fonts. I could not get them to look right or to emit the vibe I wanted to. But when I got to the sans serif font, I tweaked a bit of it and loved the outcome. I am proud to present the final poster for Teddy:

Determining Target Audience, and What That Comes With

 I realized as I was editing that I need to narrow down on how long I really want my trailers to be, and who I want them to be for. I am honestly astonished at myself for not researching this sooner, now realizing that this is one of those hidden keys to creating a good piece.

Beginning with the Target Audience

Of course, it could begin with who I want my audience to be: people like me! I love watching psychological thrillers, so naturally, I assume that many who fit the same demographic as me would as well.

• Gen Z - ages 6-24
• more mature, narrowing the age down to 16-24
• short attention span
• Female, but I wouldn't exclude males or nonbinary people from this film
• Philosophical interests
• Enjoys other genres like horror, sci-fi, dystopian, suspense

However, this has some contradictions with who the main target audience is for psychological thrillers in general.

• some can 18+ due to disturbing images and topics
• The average viewer of 35-50 years old
• Equal amongst socioeconomic classes
• Most avid lovers are females over 35

Now to find a middle ground of both categories, my intended target audience would be:

• ages 16-35
• enjoys other genres like horror, sci-fi, suspense, and even action
• more aimed towards females as there is less action within the film

What this Means

I think the most notable consequence of this target audience would be the attention span. Generation Z is infamous for having one of the shortest attention spans. In relation to my project, this could be a major obstacle. One of the main ways to create suspense within a film is to play with speed, typically going extremely slow in the beginning and then riling up to a climax, a technique I was hoping to incorporate into one of my trailers. However, this may not bode well with the short attention span of my audience. I think the main way to counteract this would be by ensuring that the trailers themselves are not too long as well, allowing for much of the film's details to remain unhidden, creating that suspense while satisfying an insatiable audience. Typically, trailers range from around 1:30 to 2:30 in length, so my goal would be to not exceed 2 minutes in either trailer. 

Diving into DaVinci

 As I begin to use DaVinci to edit, I am finding that I actually have to research how to do a lot of things. I thought it might be self-explanatory because many of the blogposts I saw when researching editing software noted that DaVinci is perfect for beginners and is really easy to learn yourself. However, when it comes to color grading, I have absolutely no background experience. I decided to google some tutorials and here are the ones I found extremely helpful:

Movie Poster Research

Movie posters, in general, tend to attract the audience in a similar way that a trailer does. The poster contains iconography and a brief introduction to the characters in order to attract a target audience. When it comes to movie posters in the Thriller genre, there are a few key aspects.

For the iconic thriller The Shining, the poster features the two main characters, with the actor's name highlighted at the top. The iconography of the knife not only allows for both characters to be in view but also to indicate that this specific film falls under the "slasher" genre, popular at the time of the film's release. Posters like these typically exploit color theory to elicit certain feelings and allude to certain aspects within the film. Within this poster specifically, there is a major contrast between the cool-toned blue and the warm-toned red, both significant to the piece, representing the cold forest and blood respectively. When it comes to my movie poster, I also want to be able to allude to certain portions of the film. I find that many of these posters "look cool" at first glance, but as you watch the trailer and the film, many of the covert details becomes part of a clear wider picture. Some other thriller posters that have similar characteristics include:

Mnay of these posters seem to follow a template of: main character profile, key names on the top, title at the bottom middle, sometimes a release date below the title, and some extra credits at the very bottom. When it comes to the editing and composition of these pictures, there also seems to be a big of a oval vignette around the character's faces to highlight their face and create a suspense of the darkness behind them. The main image I was thinking of using for my poster is:

I think it would definitely need some editing to highlight the same features as the examples, but I think the composition of the image matches the emphasis on the character's face.

Finding an Editing Software

 As of right now, I have been using iMovie simply to piece together clips, finding out what I need to shoot later today and what parts I enjoyed. However, I did want to venture out into color grading, to exploit a certain tone and color palette within my shots, and iMovie does not have this feature. My other options include:

Adobe Premiere Pro

Arguably one of the most popular options, Premier is part of the Adobe suite and is known for its sheer power within the application. There is so much to learn about Premier, which is intimidating, but due to its popularity, there are also a lot of tutorials and resources to learn the basics. Using Premier would be a big step up from iMovie, and I have heard great things about it. Typically, I would have to purchase Premier as part of an Adobe suite package. Luckily, my dad really enjoys venturing out into these different editing programs, and he has Premier already. There are also a few people in my class who used Premier last year and have chosen to use it this year as well. I think the major drawback would be having to spend the extra time to understand the complexity of the program. But, a major plus would be that there are just so many resources available for Premier throughout Youtube, blogs, and elsewhere.

DaVinci Resolve

This particular editing software I did not know about until a classmate mentioned using it for years. DaVinci is a free downloadable editing program that also has more features, including the ability to play with color. While there is a paid version for extra features, I think this blockade would allow me to be more focused in my research on how to navigate this specific software. Similar to Premier, there are a few resources and tutorials on how to use certain features, especially those deemed for "beginners". Many blogs and question forums argue that DaVinci is amazing for beginning editors and filmmakers. One drawback would be that DaVinci is supposedly not as memory efficient as other software, but I am not entirely sure to what extent this is. Since my project is not a full-length film (yet), and I do not really use much of the memory on my laptop, I do not think this would be a problem for me. 

Final Cut Pro

I remember Final Cut Pro being mentioned all around Youtube when I was in middle school. This was around the time that lifestyle Youtubers would create "How to become a Youtuber" videos, showing what tools they used to produce their own content, and Final Cut Pro seemed to be a common thread amongst them. This is another program that my dad has used, so payment would not be an issue, but I do not recall him enjoying the software. Similar to Premier, FinalCut is notorious for being complicated because of how many features are available within the program. However, due to its popularity, there are also a lot of resources on how to do beginner techniques and simple features. One major drawback of Final Cut that I do not know I would be able to get past is how much stress running the program would put on my old-ish Macbook Air. I have seen some videos in which Final Cut has given up or crashed mid-project on a more powerful desktop Macs, so I fear for my own project.

I think I will begin by downloading DaVinci, especially since the "paid" version blockade would stop me from going down a wormhole of researching each and every feature. DaVinci also seems to be the most simple option of the three I was considering, and my main goal is to venture into color grading, a feature in the free version. I will begin this weekend, most likely Saturday after work, with editing the final draft with the new shots. 

First Filming Day Recap

The first day of filming went extremely well. I feel like I got most of the shots that I wanted to get for the trailers and we were able to use the room without any disruptions. However, as I am reviewing the footage that I have, I think I may have to gather some additional footage as I fear that there may be a lack of variety once I begin editing.

I have already asked the leasing office if there is any problem with me using the room another day, and they responded by saying that I only had to be careful during the day. I think I will begin editing on Monday to have a clearer picture of what I do have, what I want, and what I may also be able to utilize for the social media page.

We did also do a quick photo shoot to gather some still images for the poster and Instagram. I think with a little bit of editing tomorrow, I will be able to create my first post for the social media page. Recently, I have just been trying to get some family and friends to follow the account to make it seem more active. One thing I am curious about, however, is if a random person will follow the account with the idea that the film is actually in professional production, and not just my project. I think towards the ending of the project, I might put a poll inquiring about this specifically. 

Creating the Social Media

One minor, yet still important, component of this project is also creating a social media page for my film. Initially, I saw many examples of creating websites for the film, however, I personally have never searched for the website of a film. I have looked for the Instagram of one. Especially with all of the new features Instagram has added to the platform recently, I feel that many of these can be utilized extremely well with the promotion of a film. 

One feature, for example, would be the IGTV where I would be able to post videos that exceed the typical one-minute limit. With this, I would be able to post teasers as well as the full trailers. Additionally, I think I will utilize the story's features to introduce and tease some aspects of the project. One idea I had was to create a story highlight about "meeting the cast". With stories, I would also be able to get feedback from the audience about certain aspects of the project, similar to a test screening.

The Instagram profile is linked here, and the username that I was able to use is @teddymovie2021

Storyboard/Script

As you may remember, in my initial post about storyboards, I found a few online programs that allow you to storyboard and connect each frame to a piece of the script. I also thought that these sites would be perfect to use with the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil, but I was wrong :( However, I did already have the notability application, so similar to how I did my storyboard last year, I simply drew it on regular paper. Also, I did really enjoy being able to connect the script to the storyboard frames so I made my own version of it. Without further ado, here is my final storyboard/script for one of the trailers.

Quick Update

I got approval from my building to film there! I was only allowed Friday of this week to film, which works out perfectly since I have no school as well. On Friday, I also hope to have a small photoshoot with certain poses that I would be able to incorporate later into other portions of the project, like the social media page and the poster. 

Also, today I will be going to a few thrift stores with my friend to find some extremely distressed clothing. My hope is to find an XXL tan, blank T-shirt because I really want to keep a consistent color palette. While I do have a lot of stuffed animals myself, none of them are extremely distressed or at least do not look that way, so I will also be looking for that prop as well. I am extremely excited to get moving along with this project. I can not stop envisioning the final version in my head, I can't wait to make these visions a tangible reality.

Setting the Scene

From the beginning, I knew I wanted a project that would allow me to film safely, either alone or with one other person, so naturally, I thought that filming in my room would be perfect for this project. However, as I look around my room and look at my vision for the trailers, I do not think my room is the best place to film.

My vision revolves around Jane being in a completely empty room. Even if I were to completely empty my room, just the presence of the carpet flooring ruins the coldness I want to portray. 

My sister actually suggested that I film in the garbage room at my dad's apartment building sometime late at night. Surprisingly, the garbage room is a massive garage and the dumpsters only take up one small portion of the wall. The rest of the room is open concrete, and at night there is only that yellow fluorescent lighting. Today, I am going to ask the leasing office if I have permission to film there as long as I do not disturb anyone. I hope I get the approval because it is honestly the most accessible and fitting setting!

Shot List for Today

As excited as I was, I am not content with using Boords for a storyboarding tool. I do have all of my ideas down, but now as I am reviewing to post it, it looks more like a shot list. Without any pictures of any drawings or existing shots, there is no other way for you to create a true storyboard. However, I do have another idea that will hopefully suffice. My dad does have one of the iPad Pro's with the Apple Pencil that he uses for work, so if all goes well, I will be able to use that to finalize a visual storyboard by Wednesday at the latest. However, I did want to still share my shot list to help give an idea of what my ideas are. I have a feeling this might change as I do have another group discussion in class on Wednesday, but I think it will be fun to show any drafts as well as final products within this blog. So, without further ado, here is my shot list:

1. MPAA Rating Screen
2. Extreme close-ups of bruises on her body and tears on her face
3. Pan around the room to show the emptiness
4. Extreme close-up of Teddy
5. Wide-shot of Jane with Teddy and talking to him
6. Black screen flash transition to indicate a change in time
7. POV shot of Jane Doe waking up
8. POV of Jane looking around the room
9. Mid-shot showing Jane bang on a locked door and crying
10. Close-up on a speaker to show the source of a male voice
11. High-angle shot of Jane
12. Montage of Jane around the room trying to find things to do
13. Close-up of the appearance of Teddy
14. Close-up of Jane talking to Teddy
15. End Screen

This is only for one of the trailers, but my plan for the second one is to reveal different aspects htorugh the voiceover and dialogue and emphasizing different portions of each shot. 

Beginning to Storyboard!

As I mentioned in my planning post, I am trying to minimize how much paper I use. One activity that I used a lot of paper and pages in my journal for was storyboarding. Not that I consider myself a perfectionist, but I tend to get extremely obsessed with my handmade drawings being perfect, which resulted in a lot of ripped-out pages from my journal in my trash can.

I remember last year, in a discussion with my fellow classmates about our projects, that one person used an online storyboarding tool, but sadly I can not remember the name of the tool. With a quick Google search, I was able to find a few free ones!

1. Canva

I love Canva, but I never thought about using it for storyboarding! I used it last year for some of the graphics in my project, so I am extreme,y comfortable using this tool. I think the way that this article is thinking of using is by using the slideshow or presentation feature and their free stickers of people and objects. This option is also free, but I do not exactly see myself using Canva for storyboarding, it seems extremely foreign to me.

2. Boords

Oddly enough, the article is from Boords and is promoting other storyboarding tools, but I do find that respectable. This option is free, web-based, and the interface looks very easy to use. I did open up an account and 'begin' a project just to see how it looks. One of my favorite features already is that it allows for notes on the image that connects to what the action, sound, lighting, and camera would be in the shot. I love how detailed it would allow me to get with the storyboard, in comparison to what my hand-drawn storyboards look like. 

3. Plot

This tool is similar to Boords in the way that interfaces look simple and easy to navigate, but the features are different. This tool allows you to still draw your scenes and connects your images to certain parts of the script. The screenshot is not from my own project but from the video on the initial page on their website showing the tool, but I think it shows the main features extremely well. One aspect I especially like is that it connects to the script and the full script is then to the side with footnotes to each image.

I think that I will begin with Boords, as it seems more simple, but as I finalize my screenplay, I will use Plot to have an extremely clear image as to what I want each of my trailers to look like. Hopefully, they work out!

Color Schemes

I absolutely love studying color and color schemes in films, especially regarding color theory. My initial thoughts on color schemes in thrillers is that there is a lot of dark, cool-toned colors, to imitate the impersonal and cold personalities within the film. However, I also find that cool-tones can at times be calming and nurturing. The duality of the cool-toned color palette is what attracts me to this genre and to incorporate it into my own project.

Pinterest has been an amazing place for finding inspiration and analysis of color schemes in certain movies. Here are some examples that attracted me.

I think I subconsciously mimicked a cool-toned palette when creating the mood board for Teddy.

The little circles in between each image highlight the most dominant tone and color in the connecting images.

A tool I enjoy using to create color schemes is Coolors.co!

While the mood board was a small exercise in investigating what colors I want to highlight, this scheme will be much more finalized and fine-tuned. The goal in creating this is to create a consistent tone and pattern between the social media page, the poster, and the trailers themselves, for consistent branding.

One tone I wanted to add because of its versatility is a red one. Not only for the pain and hurt that will be extremely clear in the trailers, but also the passion and love that precedes the timeline. 

Quick Update and Apology

 Hello,

I come bearing bad news :(

As you may have noticed, there were no blog posts at all this week, and it is my fault. I was trying to use the scheduling feature on Blogger but I accidentally clicked the wrong dates. I was so convinced that this week ended with the 20th, but I was wrong. Rookie mistake, so I have heard.

All of the blog posts that I meant to be posted this week will be up soon. Looking on the bright side, I have time to revise and tweak any mishaps within them to provide better quality posts!

Sorry again!

Organizing the Next Few Weeks

My major fault at the beginning of this project that I have yet to mimic from my last project is organizing and setting deadlines for myself. Especially with all that is going on right now (preparing for exams, end of the third quarter, college decisions, work, and regular schoolwork), I have found myself slacking on maintaining deadlines for myself and organizing my posts.

First to step to this: laying out what I need to do and my strict deadlines.

To-Do: (in no particular order...yet)                        Major Deadline: whole project due Apr. 12

• storyboard and screenplay
• beginning filming
• poster
• social media page
• editing both trailers
• further research
• critical reflection

To organize my deadlines, in my effort to reduce my paper usage, I will be trying out Todoist.com. My dad recommended it to me, and he is the pinnacle of organization and time management in my eyes. Another thing to note, similar to last year, the timing of this project coincides with my spring break, so I have decided to utilize that extra time to begin filming and finalizing editing. A major difference between this year and last year is that I now have a job, which definitely poses some obstacles to the idea of "free-time", but these deadlines will definitely be ever-changing whether it be due to work or other limitations.

Here is a small snapshot of what is to come for the next week regarding blog posts and project progression. I hope to escape the major research phase as of next week in order to get ahead of the game. Of course, this is subject to change, but I am very excited about being organized and planned again, and to use Todoist for the first time!
 

Spotify Playlist!

 I did this with my last project so I feel that it is fitting that I do it again. I made a Spotify playlist! For this one, I wanted to capture more of a 'vibe' and less of a story. I also made a mood board which is the "album cover" of my makeshift album for the film. The songs are subject to change, but like last time, the order is important. So if you want to give it a listen, I suggest in order, but the songs are all good so either way works. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55qidQJaaNIs0jGbWJnLWo?si=tq_FZO_IT-anEGZ5FSkvbA

Split Trailers

 Continuing my research, a friend reminded me of the film Split (2016), where three girls are kidnapped by this one man with 26 distinct personalities. While I have yet to watch the movie - it is definitely on my bucket list now, even more than before - I think the trailer might also give insight on what to do for my project.

Split (2016)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

One of the main differences between Split and Room is who the focus really is on. In Split, the focus is the kidnapper himself, and less on the victims. This is heavily portrayed in the trailer as the scenes that are not of the kidnapped and the man are about therapists and DID experts discussing his condition. Additionally, more is revealed about the man than of the girls. Since I am tasked with two trailers, reviewing this one gave me the idea of having two distinct trailers with distinct focuses: one focused on the kidnapper and one focused on the kidnapped girl.

Another difference I saw between this trailer and Room's trailer was that Split's trailer seemed to give more footage from the beginning and middle of the film, and less of the end. This is more of a conventional choice, as I mentioned in my last post. Another option for my project would be to have one trailer focused on the aftermath and one focused on the beginning and middle. However, since there is not really an escape in my story or clear aftermath, I do think that this option is much less likely. For now, the working plan is to have one trailer focused more on each of the characters. 

Room Research

 As I mentioned last time, the idea for "Teddy" came just as I rewatched Room the other day, so I think it is fitting to segway into more research regarding this specific genre and beginning with Room.

Room (2015)

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

Focusing mainly on the trailer for this post, I would like to point out a few features that I found interesting. Typically trailers feature footage from the beginning and middle, and very rarely from the end. However, this trailer really focused on the aftermath of what happened and showed fewer clips of their experience in "Room". I think this is mainly to create the suspense of what actually happened while the main character, Joy, was kidnapped. I also noticed that the trailer initiates with a short monologue coming directly from a portion of the film and the footage shown was extremely unclear and shaky. Once again, I think this is to create the feeling of suspense but also of isolation and confusion that the characters most likely felt when they were trying to escape. 

Since my film does not end in escape and freedom, I do think that my trailer will focus mainly on the conditions of the kidnapping and less on the aftermath. Similar to how this trailer created suspense, I plan to include a variety of shots, some much less clear than others, to create a similar feeling. Additionally, I loved that the trailer began with the voiceover of a short monologue, so I think I will incorporate that into my trailers as well.