The Making of a Film Opening: Symbolism PT 2

 For the last symbolism post, I talked about how the main character's conflict manifest the nature of drama and drama films. Now, I'd like to analyze how important each secondary character is for build up of the story.

Dave Walker's Girlfriend: Emily

Emily is the forefront of Dave's subconscious decisions. She's the carrot, metaphorically speaking. Emily had a good relationship with Dave before he became famous. Ever since he did, he acted arrogant, narcissistic and materialistic, barely paying attention to the needs of his girlfriend. Emily eventually left him, and he was lost. What this essentially means, is that Dave's girlfriend kept Dave somewhat stable (despite all the mistreat and arrogant remarks he dropped in his path). In the beginning, the main reason Dave wanted to succeed was for egotistical reasons, like money fame and most importantly, to impress his girlfriend, and even other women. Although Dave's pockets were filled, his Soul was empty. And ever since Emily broke up with him, he was left clueless and lost. This in turn led to Dave finding enlightenment, which changed the way he acted and viewed life.

 Walker's Best Friend: James

James' success is a crucial part of Dave's upbringing. While James was leading a healthy, successful life, as a business man in a large corporation, Dave became Jealous and Angsty. Dave was still working at a 9-5 he hated, making music few people listened to, and eating greasy foods every single day. He was a mess, until one day his songs got viral. Dave's path to fame was the exact manifestation of how he felt during his friend's success. Although he had all the money, all the fans, all the beautiful women, he was still unhappy and tired. James was living the good life, working fewer hours and earning more money. He did what he loved, but didn't abuse it. All the hard work payed off in college. A lot of Dave's desire for fame is rooted from his jealousy towards his friend. Subconsciously, he wanted to prove to himself and his friend that he could be successful without being a hard worker in college. 

The Making of a Drama Film Opening: Set Design

Our film is in need of a stylistic, and aesthetically pleasing set design. From the beginning, we thought about what we knew, and since both my partner and I have knowledge within the music area, and have relatives that work in the industry, we decided to go with a story based on an upcoming artist/producer. When we began writing the story, we already had a good idea of where we were going to film. We decided to record the parts where our character is working on his song in my music room:

This is a drawing of what the main character's room should look like...

....And this is an idea of what we have so far:

The following is a drawing of what his 9-5 job's office looks like. We have yet to find a location for this. Once we do, we'll try and set it up as is in the drawing. 

The office is supposed to look very bland and uninteresting, to emphasize the character's sentiment when working for a job he doesn't enjoy. This feeling is contrasted thanks to the music studio, as it gives room for the character to fully express his creativity and artistry, which is also represented by color, sound, and props. 

We'll also add a picture frame of the people he loves on the desk, to give the character more personality.

The Music Genres in our Film: Alternative Rock/Hip Hop

When we wrote the plot for our film, we thought about many musical genres that would fit our main character's persona. Since our character is a producer, hip hop would have been the best music for the movie. However, we made sure he was also a singer. This allowed us to expand genre elements and find bands that the main character would take inspiration from. Our final decided genre was Alternative Rock, with elements of Hip Hop (A mix of both).

Bands and artists that would influence our character's sounds include Red Hot Chili Peppers, MF Doom, Ice Cube, Michael Jackson, Beastie Boys, Nirvana, 2 Pac, and J Dilla. 

Outline of our Drama Film Opening

 Our film opening has been remodeled over and over again. We've decided to stick to the following outline to honor the plot:

Scene One: Dave wakes up and gets ready for work with an expressionless. We show him putting on clothes, eating, brushing his teeth, etc. This is to exaggerate his unhappiness with his current life (before becoming famous), and contrast it with his persona while making music.

Scene Two: Dave is in his car and is driving with no clear expression on his face.

Scene Three: Dave is at work and he is zoned out, emotionless. His boss goes to talk to him because he isn’t working but he ignores his boss *the sound of his boss talking to him is drowned out as this scene happens*.

Scene Four: Dave goes to his girlfriend’s house and watches a movie with her, yet he seems unhappy. He looks at his girlfriend while she sleeps on him.

Scene Five: Dave drives home at night with no facial expression.

Scene Six: Dave works on a song and is not content with its sound, something is missing. Dave slams his table and that sound adds to the synced beat.

Scene Seven: His whole daily routine happens many times, all the scenes are slowly speeding up for a few seconds until the scene fades to Dave in his room.

Scene Eight: Dave makes the beat excitedly and falls asleep on his keyboard, which accidentally queues his song to play. *Title of the Film Appears in Bold Letters as soon as Dave hits "play"*

Scene Nine: Dave wakes up and gets through his morning routine.

Scene Ten: Dave wakes up, seemingly tired, and the scene progresses for a couple seconds before ending.

*In case this wasn't clear, each scene has a different foley sound that adds to the soundtrack of the opening. They all stack up together in a percussive rhythm, which finally builds up to the final song the main character is working on.

The Making of a Drama Film Opening: Symbolism

 We’ve considered a good deal of looks and backgrounds that may suit our characters to further highlight each one’s personality. There are a few symbolic elements, as well as stereotypes that we've included to make sure we appeal to the general public. Our plot is focused on the Character vs Self narrative, where our protagonist fights an internal conflict his subconscious created in order to find his destiny. In order to do so, we made him relatively young, and inexperienced, since these kinds of characters don't have it “all figured out”.

The film follows the character’s voyage through a new life. The character makes many mistakes, deals with internal conflict, relationship disputes, friendship tests, family brawls, and more. All of this is rooted in the lack of fulfillment with his life and unsureness of who he is and what he really wants. Dave Walker's self-esteem is portrayed by how he deals with his success, and downfalls. Dave is never really confident about the way he's moving in life and makes many mistakes. It takes a long time for him to learn from them, and he even adopts self-destructing habits.

Our whole plot owns the biggest trait of a Drama: Conflict. 

This conflict is best reflected by our main character Dave. His situation can be relatable to all kinds of people in different careers, and not only in the music industry. We see him evolve, fall and evolve in his career throughout the story. 

The Making of a Drama Film Opening: Characters

Characters: Dave Walker, Dave’s father, Emily, James

Characters: Dave Walker, Dave’s father (Pa), Emily (Dave’s Girlfriend), James (Walker’s My partner and I created four distinct characters that add more depth to the story’s plot in order to sustain a better film opening, which also allows us to show our main character’s inner circle. Our four characters are Dave Walker, Dave’s father, Emily, and James. Our main character Dave Walker was born and raised in Great Falls, MT. Dave lived on his father’s farm and went to school in the downtown area, where he met his best friend James. While studying and helping his father with the farm business, Dave developed a passion for music ever since he saw a street DJ make music out of old cassette tapes. He then learned how to play guitar, piano, drums, and sing. In high school, he got a job at a fast-food restaurant to earn enough to pay for his new music gear. During his time in HS, Dave also learned how to produce beats and started working on his own original music. He showed some friends and family, and they acknowledged his talent, saying her should pursue a career in the arts. After graduating high school he decided to go to Montana State University to study music production. After graduating from college he decided to move to New York to pursue a career in the industry he so loved. While living in New York, Dave met Emily, his long-time girlfriend from manhattan. Pursuing his career was more challenging than he perceived, so Dave was forced to get a 9-5 job at a sales company for artist merchandise and instruments, where he learned more about the field and made valuable connections.

Some of the other characters we created include Dave’s father, Emily, and James. James was Dave’s best friend and they met when they were in elementary school. He was always interested in computers and coding. He decided to study Computer Science in college and when he moved to New York with Dave he started working in a software company where he moved up in rankings and became the CEO of the company. Emily was born and raised in New York City, since she was a little girl she was very observant of the city, and in high school, she gained an interest in commercial photography. She would also take pictures of school events for the school paper, and of interesting, unusual sites around town. Predictably, Emily studied photography at NYU, which opened many doors for her. She started working for a big news company, which she became very sick of. Then she met Dave, and once they started dating, Emily started helping him grow his online image by taking photos of him for his social media pages. She learned much more about film and editing in order to help Dave make music videos, which she edited herself. Dave’s father owned a farm in Montana and worked on it for many years. He always supported Dave’s passion for music and encouraged him to pursue it. He also noticed Dave’s talent so he was certain that Dave could be successful in the field.

The Making of a Drama Film Opening: Plot

Our story begins with Dave Walker, a 22-year-old man who moves from Great Falls, MT to New York City, NY in the summer to begin his independent life post-college with his friend James. Walker has trouble situating himself in the city and finds his self-identity to be distorted. He dreams of becoming a successful artist but struggles to find a balance between achieving that and working for his 9-5 job. Walker releases a mixtape online that becomes viral and quits his job to sign his name under a big record label, while James becomes the CEO of a software company. Walker and James become distant and go two different career paths.

As Walker builds a more well-known name in the industry, he begins questioning his virtue and perceived destiny. Walker begins seeing the corruption around the music industry, and after his record deal expires, he decides to isolate himself in his father’s cabin in Montana for a long time. He promises himself to not make any music during his break, and instead, focuses on working for his father's farming business. He soon breaks his promise once he realizes he was not meant for that lifestyle and begins writing music again. His music becomes a success once again and decides to start touring around the world as an independent artist.

Walker faces many existential crises and battles the temptation of using substances to cope with his lack of fulfillment. Walkers recall losing his friends and family and not having called them in a long time, which he regrets. To make matters worse, Walker gets into a big argument with his girlfriend, who leaves him after. Walker becomes severely emotionally unstable at the end of his tour and crashes into a wall of empty desire, narcissism, and misery. He decides to take another break and rethink his entire career.

Nevertheless, Walker continues making music, without releasing it to the public, as a form of coping with his internal demons. Walker gets back with his girlfriend, and they both inherit his Father’s farm.

The Making of a Drama Film Opening: The Genre of Drama

 THE GENRE OF DRAMA

What is a drama film?

Drama films have you involved, and really make most reflect on the topic at hand. Generally, drama relies heavily on conflict. They are not light films, since they present difficult situations, most common in our society. One could use preexisting incidents or conflicts, or create completely original ideas to write their Drama, there are no restrictions. This type of film is created for those who love to immerse themselves in the lives of the characters and understand the feelings experienced by them when going through the conflicts presented. Titanic is the perfect example of a dramatic film. 

1997’s Titanic Poster

Who is Drama meant for and how is it best marketed?

Anyone really. Most of us can relate to different tragedies or conflicts, despite not having them happening to us in real life. However, in marketing terms, the target audience of Drama is very broad. Very frequently, Dramas are marketed to the female audience. Those that are targeted to the male audience are usually called “Guy Cry” and can be any collection of mainstream films. The reason for this is because Dramas attempt to focus on universal struggles, which seem to appeal more to the emotions of the female audience. Despite this, drama films are very broad, there is usually a mix in of other genres, making most drama movies not drama-pure. This enables the sub-genres to decide on the audience being targeted more often than not. The best way drama is marketed (and all movie genres to be exact) is through trailers. Having a trailer that gives us the core plot/story of the movie without spoiling the whole movie is crucial to hook an audience. Drama can use extra help from music and sound. Having an inconsistent, yet emotional and thrilling soundtrack play in trailers and openings can add on to the effect of struggle, and get viewers to wonder how this conflict will be resolved. And there it is, the answer to a good Drama is to make viewers question whether or not the conflict presented in the film will be resolved. This tension is enlightening and euphoric.

Beginning of the Portfolio Project

 As the title states, this is the first posting of the Cambridge Media Studies portfolio project. One of our tasks is to create a 2-minute film opening, reflecting many of the techniques we have learned in class. As of now, I will be working with a partner. Our initial plan is to get started on brainstorming opening ideas and set an agenda to start working on them. The approach we're taking is very strict so that we have enough time to work on the project, without becoming overwhelmed. As for the individual part of the project (the blog posts), I'll also be setting a fixed schedule to work on each blog every week.

Music Marketing Project

Band Logo

At the beginning of our music marketing project, we were separated into groups of 4 people. 

Then, we were given a genre and song, which would be the foundation for our project. Everyone’s job was to create a band/artist or brand for the music given to us. 

Our first task was to research information on record labels, genre and music marketing techniques artists and bands use to successfully become a stamp in the industry and place it in a music research chart. We found that many musicians – if not all of them – were using social media to promote their singles, albums and videos. Of course, this was expected given most companies and businesses rely on the internet to promote their products. It was clear to us that record labels now have a functional formula to market their artists more optimally: Social Media Interaction. We also found that a lot of bands use merchandise to sell their names, more often than their music. People buying merchandise from aesthetically appealing band logos and icons could lead to them checking said artists and bands’ music out. Although this isn't common, there's not a huge negative side. The labels who sell the merch are earning a profit, and are still marketing their bands; whether or not the consumers actually listen to the music. 

The Ruthless Merch

Anyways, we found labels used different methods to promote artists, regardless of the evolving music industry. Methods range from using basic social media outlets and billboard ads, to selling Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for exclusive products and free Virtual Reality concerts. 

Our plan was formulated into four different steps. Step one was to create an image for our made up band, which consisted of finding a color scheme associated with the genre of Rock (our selected genre), the face of the band, and the overall vibe (which was portrayed by colors, shapes, texts, music, and other things associated with the band). Step two was to define marketing techniques we would use, whether it was social media, selling merchandise, creating a website, etc. The third step was all about finding the bridge that connects to the audience, which was facilitated by social media, contests for prizes and exclusive band merch/music, and touring. Our fourth and final step was defining the distribution routes we would deem viable for our group – Our choices were CDs, Streaming services and Vinyl. 

The process of creating our brand image was relatively simple, we began brainstorming various ideas for the logo of the artist and what the music video should look like. We used the marketing information from the music research charts to help up along the process (i’ll add more to this later on). The whole group decided on a main theme/story that we liked the best, and we created a storyboard. The storyboard consisted of the main idea to the story, although we did change some small parts when we actually began filming the video. We decided on a name for the band – Which was The Ruthless – and the color scheme for the logo and websites. Our idea was to make the lead singer of the band play a boxer role in the music video. There were various shots of the boxer punching and training, which added on to the overall rock/badass look of our band. Our music video was heavily inspired by 80s boxing/motivational movies. 

Low angle shot of lead singer during the filming

We set a date and time to meet at the park to film the music video. We followed the storyboard step by step at first, but our music video editor changed things up, which ultimately made the idea more music video-like. Although the sequence of shots and symbolism of the video morphed into something different, the concept remained the same. 

Wide shot of front man playing guitar for the music video

During our post-production period, we managed to create various sources consumers/music fans could find our music and merchandise on. I was in charge of the website while the other group members worked on social media, merch and video editing. The website was supposed to give as much information about our band and our music as possible, without excessive visual information that could overwhelm site roamers. Firstly, we had an “about us” page that gave some information about who we were, as well as including our upcoming album date (promotion) and music video. Then, we created a tour and booking page for fans to buy tickets to our concerts as easily as possible. Finally, we added a contact page in case any artists, producers, labels, fans etc, want to contact us. For the social accounts, we also kept it very niche and simple to our genre. This included a red, black, gray and white color scheme, as well as multiple rock symbolism like: guitars, “rock on” fists and arrows. Our twitter page was more informational, while our Instagram was more promotional and interactive. Finally, we created exclusive merch with the band logo, and put them up for sale on all social media platforms, including our very own website.

The Ruthless' Twitter

Our final task was to present the marketing plan in class, and in my opinion, everyone had excellent, innovative and smart ideas. I believe my group did a very good job presenting, even though some of us were nervous at first. 

In essence, it felt like the whole project opened a path of understanding for me. Marketing is all about attracting a customer or potential buyers to their wants and needs as efficiently as possible. This project gave us a pretty good foundation for that. For example, while we were building a brand for our music, we thought about what the average rock consumer liked, lived, listened to, how they dressed, their average age range, and more. I also find it important to also understand marketing from a psycho-social perspective. Using marketing as a tool may aid some to get a job more easily, hire genuinely interested individuals for a business, resolve complicated relationships, make more friends, influence people (Dale Carnegie much?), and other human activities that require persuasion. Overall, this project was very interesting to work on, and hopefully more of these will come in the future.