Plan for This Week + Wandavision Spoiler (SORRY LOL I HAD TO)

 Hey y'all it's Soph!

    This week I want focus heavily on developing the entire plot and writing the script. My main goal for the script is to introduce the relationship between Valarie and Val, and how that impacts their persona. Since it is almost time to film, I'm hoping to finish the script towards the end of the week so that during the weekend, I can start the storyboard. Although, I still want to do some more research, specifically on camera movements and techniques that I could use in order to visually symbolize how Val isn't real, rather a figment of Valarie's imagination. What inspired me to delve into this research was episode eight of Wandavision, specifically the part when Wanda is physically going through her trauma, she visits the moment she created the hex, and the "alternate reality" she created is in black and white, while present Wanda is in color. I was fascinated with how color was used to make this distinction, and I'm hoping that I can recreate a similar, or inspired version of that scene. 

Wandavision Episode 8

Coming of Age Genre Research

    While I am still a teenager and don't know a lot about the world, nor myself, I felt that coming of age movies always had a message that I needed to hear or see. I was able to view pieces of myself in the characters portrayed on screen, and I felt comfortable knowing that I wasn't alone in my problems or thoughts. With my film opening, I decided to focus on the coming of age genre because I wanted to put characters on screen that I relate to, and hopefully other teenagers can too. 

What does "Coming of Age" Mean?

"Coming of Age" films, literatures, and videos demonstrate the emotional and physical growth of a character from childhood to adulthood. This doesn't mean, however, that all coming of age films or books start with the character being a child, rather it can also focus on the emotional progression or maturity that a character goes through. 

Origins of the Coming of Age Genre

First emerging in the 1950's with Rebel Without a Cause, which allowed for the new message of "finding yourself" to be the new anthem of the times. As for television, the genre arrived during the 1970's with American Graffiti, which later inspired tv shows such as That 70's Show and The Wonder Years. This growing genre eventually gave room to "teen soap operas", which highlighted individual mental and emotional changes within teenage characters, such as Gossip Girl and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.  

What I found interesting about coming of age films and shows was that the progression in character happened if the protagonist was impacted by another perosn. I wanted to experiment with this concept and instead have the development occur within the character, hence the inclusion of the imaginary character. While I won't be able to demonstrate a lot of character development in two minutes, I want use the opening as an opprotunity to foreshadow that happening, or establish the relationship of Valarie and Val. I would still encorporate the idea of personal growth, but it won't be dependent on other characters, rather Valarie's observations and how she incorporates them into her own character. 

Target Audience and Characteristics 

Considering that most coming of age films or shows focus on someone who is out of place, usually feels different, and is going through a mental, emotional, or physical change, this genre definetly caters to teenagers or young adults, but why? 

Coming of age films tend to follow a group of friends, usually escaping from problems in their life and searching for opprotunities, such as Boys N The Hood, or utalize characters that understand each other's trauma and experiences, such as Stand by Me and Super Dark Times. The most important aspect of a coming of age film or show that I recognized was that the main characters are young teenagers, which makes the story relatable. The problems faced within coming of age productions surround topics that teenagers and young adults face, such as relationships, family disputes, or drug/alcohol abuse. Therefore, the target audience heavily impacts the stories being told in coming of age productions, since the main goal is to appear as relatable and realistic as possible. 

Incorporating these characteristics into my film opening, I want to mainly emphasize on the idea of "finding yourself", and how other people don't necessarily dictate that for you, rather how finding an identity is a personal journey. 

Character Development

     The two characters in this film opening, one being in reality, while the other is imaginary, are going to have distinct personalities. The purpose of doing this is simply to demonstrate how the main character's true self is the imaginary character, while the imaginary character serves as the self-conscience and their perception of the world. 

Main Character: Valarie 

Valarie is a shy and timid person, she doesn't like confrontation and isn't able to share how she feels. Although, she is extremely observant, and is always looks at the smaller details before finding out the big picture. The imaginary friend that follows her throughout the opening is who she wants to be, as well as represents her views on the world. However, there is a figuritive, emotional wall that stops her from expressing herself, and letting that side of herself show. 

Valarie's style of clothes 

When imagining and creating Valarie, I thought of characters such as Carrie from Carrie and Pam from the Office because they are two individuals who have trouble expressing themselves, and throughout their respective tv show/film, go through certain emotional obstacles to find who they are. Although, Valarie's main difference between Pam/Carrie and Valarie is that Valarie is aware of who she is, she just has a difficult time expressing that to others, hence she is most comfortable on her own. 

The clothing that Valarie wears, which is usually long-sleeved, baggy shirts and pants, portrays how she is closed-off and maintains a lowkey lifestyle.

Valarie's style of clothes

Imaginary Character

"Val" style inspo

    This character is going to be who Valarie truly is, which is outgoing, quick-witted, and sarcastic. They are going to portray the best and worst of Valarie, as well as act as a support system for her. Although, their main flaw will be their indecision, especially since they are unable to give external advice, only what Valarie is thinking. I also decided that I wanted this character to not have a separate name,  rather them be called "Val", a shortened version of Valarie. This not only illustrates their opposing personalities, but it specifically highlights that they are the same person. 

"Val" clothing style is more colorful and spontaneous, which demonstrates how Valarie internally wants to be. 

"Val" style inspo

New Character Ideas + Group Meeting

 Hey y'all it's Soph!

In my previous blog post (Script Ideas +Schedule), I discussed certain ideas I had for the script, as well as how I wanted to convey realistic emotions. While I originally wanted to do a dream sequence, I've decided to maintain the concept of having an alternative reality, but instead I wanted that imagination to come from one character, rather an entire setting. Hence, I want this character to be an "imaginary friend" to the main character, and reflect their inner thoughts and emotions. The reason I made this change was because I connected more to the idea of having an imaginary confidant, as for my whole life I have been made fun of for talking outloud to myself. I will admit though, if you ever caught me talking to myself, it is a little creepy...it sounds like I'm having a full blown conversation with someone, and no, I don't whisper, I speak at a regular volume. I guess I can see where people are coming from....

Anyway.....

Creating this imaginary character provides the opprotunity to illustrate how the main character tends to deal with situations on their own, rather than confiding in a real friend or family member. This is something I personally struggle with, as I always bottle up my feelings and never express how I'm feeling at any particular moment, which is ironic because I am BOMB at giving advice...virgo sun and rising tings!

I was anxious when I first changed the direction and plot of the opening, but during class I had a group discussion with a few classmates and their advice helped me in figuring out the new imagianry character, as well gave me ideas on how I can execute the relationship between them. Rodrigo, for example, recommended me to watch the film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in order to learn how to use camera and editing techniques to distinguish between the imaginary character and the main character. Along with this, Luis explained how I should do the dream sequence, because that would allow me to introduce the idea that the imaginary character is someone that the main character saw in real life, and created an alternate persona in their mind of them. While I thought the idea was interesting, I'm afraid that it will be difficult to execute in two minutes, but I will definitely keep that concept on the backburner. Although, the key idea I learned through this group meeting was what my genre is going to be, and I decided that I wanted it to be coming of age because I want to focus on the emotional thoughts and journey of the main character, rather than it be a simple teenage film. 

Group meeting notes I took during class :)

Script Ideas + Schedule for This Week

 Hey y'all it's Soph!

    I haven't decided what the plot is going to be yet, but I have been thinking about a few ideas. The main concept I have is that the protagonist misses their friend, and has a dream revolving around their relationship. The reason this idea came to my head was because I recently gone through a fight with one of my closest friends, and at the time I felt alone. It was on of my darkest moments, and I thought that I should tell a story that I could relate to the most. I wanted to do it in a dream state because it would symbolize how the character is not over the situation, no matter how many times they feel or say that they are. I realized that pain doesn't go away sometimes, and dealing with pain takes time. Through this film opening, I wanted to emulate that feeling, and depict those emotions through the main character and their sub-conscience. 

    If I go this direction, that would mean I would have do more research on the specific genre this certain story would fall under, which I'm hoping to figure out this week, as well as start writing the first draft of the script. Despite those two tasks being the main priority, I also hope to start creating a storyboard. 

Expectations Vs. Reality: Teenagers

    Whenever I watch a film or tv show that targets teenagers like me, Hollywood tends to write us as if we only care about drugs, alcohol, and partying. Personally, there are only two main characteristics to my personality: watching the Office an unhealthy amount of times, and obsessing over the Hamilton soundtrack. Yes, I am seventeen years old and sane, but I can guarantee that what's being portrayed on productions such as Riverdale and D.U.F.F don't entirely represent teenagers today, only how adults think we communicate and act towards one another. When I create my film opening, I want to make sure that I properly represent and target the interests of those my age, and not repeat the trends of past productions that paint teenagers in a negative light. 

Literally Anything but Riverdale...

With most films and tv shows targeted towards teens, I found that they glamorize the life of being young, rather than focusing on both the positives and the negatives. For example, the Netflix film, The Kissing Booth, focuses on teen romance and the highlights of late night parties, but the actors playing these characters are within their 20's, and the experiences that they are being paid to portray most likely have not happened in real life. However, no production will ever miss harder on teenage representation than Riverdale, which does not have any characters that can deemed relatable. One of the central characters, Jughead, is supposed to represent an "outsider", and be this unique individual that rebels against society, such as how he uses a typewriter to write instead of a computer. Instead, his characteristics are dramatized, and seem as though they are mocking the difficulties of fitting in and finding a true identity. With plots that range from murder and crime, to starting a drug business in order to support someone's grandma (no I am not making this up...this was a real idea from the show), Riverdale has become a meme rather than representative, and from what I have noticed, has become the inspiration and backbone for negative portrayal of teenagers in the media. After viewing Riverdale, Iknow that I want my opening to reflect themes that teenagers will actually understand, and establish characters that teens can relate to. When I eventually write the script, I want to put pieces of myself into the characters, so that I can make sure they are authentic, rather than stereotypical like Jughead. 

Inspiration for my Film Opening

Besides Riverdale, there are some films that tend to capture modern adolescence, such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Watching from the perspective of Charlie, the film highlights how important it is for teenagers to explore and find their identity. It also portrays an accurate depiction of mental health, and allows teens to relate to the situations that the characters go through. Along with this film, The Edge of Seventeen is one of my favorite films, because of how I can see myself in the main character, Nadine. Having the feeling and knowing your alone can be painful, and seeing it portrayed on screen made me feel better about myself, and the problems I face in my life. With this film opening, I want to be able to emulate that same feeling, no matter what the eventual plot is going to be. I want other teenagers who eventually watch my project to be able to relate to at least one character, and feel a connection to the story. 

Coloring Within the Lines

Hey y'all its Soph!

As I continue to do research, I found that in order to separate fiction from reality, color is an important aspect for this. While I still haven't come up with the plot, I wanted to research ways in which I could use color to create an atmosphere within the dream that is different from reality. I noticed that the colors being used to distinguish characters from reality give context to the character's inner personality, as well as allows the audience to wonder about the plot, and feel further immersed into the situation. 

The Color White

    While white may be one of my least favorite colors, I will give it credit for being intricate in creating a specific mood. White can mean peace and tranquility, while at the same time can represent emptiness, dullness, and danger. For example, in my favorite film franchise of all time, Harry Potter, white is used to create a distinct reality during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. After Harry is killed by Voldemort, he enters an alternative world which is later identified by Dumbledore as King's Cross Station, except much cleaner. Being that Harry is with someone who he looked up to and respected, the white surrounding this scene can imply that Harry is somewhere safe, and the low saturation applied to the scene further insinuates that this "dream state" could be a futuristic, alternative reality, if Harry chose to stay dead.  

    White, while it has its positive connotations, it can also reflect negativity, such in Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. In the episode, "Cat Blanc", white is used to portray an alternate reality where the city of Paris, along with the rest of the planet, has been destroyed by Cat Noir, who had been akumatized (became a villan). Despite the usual bright color scheme of the show, the simple white and occasional shades of black and grey reflect not only the emptiness of his surroundings, but also Cat Noir's internal feelings, as he has lost all his friends, family, and the love of his life. His feelings of loneliness and frustration have impacted himself and the environment he surrounds himself in, hence creating a future that is coated in white and reflecting bleakness, emptiness, and emotional drainage. The white themed color scheme is not only present throughout Paris, but on his costume as well, matching with extremely light blue eyes instead of his usual green eyes and black suit. 

Color Can Be a Mask and a Connection

    By choosing a specific color scheme, it could impact the way the audience interprets the film or tv show, but I found it interesting how Wes Anderson used color as a mask, rather than as clear hint towards the message of the film. For instance, in The Grand Budapest Hotel, a bright, warm color scheme is used throughout the duration of the film, yet it contrasts and masks the dark themes being discussed. Despite using color as a facade, Anderson has also used it to associate the character with their internal problems, specifically with the color red. In Rushmore, Max wears a red hat and the red color is meant to associate with the trauma he experienced.

Making the Audience Feel

    

    Along with being a Harry Potter geek, I am also a fan of Pixar, and I was intrigued to learn how integral color was to telling their stories. Danielle Feinberg, who is the director of photography at Pixar, explained how important lighting and color were to animation, arguing that "lighting and color are part of the backbone of emotion". In the 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible's workspace at Insuracare is filled with dull colors in order to represent boredom and depression. As for WALL-E, Feinberg demonstrated how oranges and tans were used to illustrate the lack of life on Earth, and how the color green was not allowed until WALL-E found the single plant, which establishes a sense of hope for Earth's survival. Pixar's main goal when developing a color scheme is to create the key emotions needed to progress the plot, and most importantly, make the audience feel connected to the story being displayed in front of them. 

Why Color is Important to My Film Opening

When I choose my eventual color scheme, I want it to reflect how the character is feeling, and their impact on the setting. Although, my main goal is to make sure I make that distinction between reality and fiction, and how the dream world is impacted because of reality. With color, I am able to emulate how that dream world feels to the character, as well as transform it into a space that reflects the character's personality and thoughts. 

When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?

    I don't know if you could tell by the title, but I am a huge fan of Billie Elish's 2019 debut album, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go, which uses a mixture of percussion, strings, and even the sound of a dentist drill, to emulate her interpretation of nightmares, lucid dreams, and personal memories. While she leaves her fans room to interpret her songs, Elish gives a glimpse into her dreams through tone, such as how in "Bury A Friend", her voice is auto-tuned to sound eerie and the sounds of glass being broken can be heard,  symbolizing how the character in this song is experiencing a frightening dream. Her lyrics also aid in visualizing each song; for example, when she sings, "What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me? Why aren't  you scared of me? What do you know?", she is giving the perspective of the "monster", as well as the protagonist when she goes on to sing, "I wanna end me", which illustrates the character's desire to escape the nightmare. 

    How do we answer Elish's main question? Where do we go when we fall asleep? What do our dreams mean? Are they alternative realities? Is it a reference to a future event? How does our brain concept a story that is made of up tiny memory fragments and everyday thoughts? I wanted to explore these questions with my film opening, so today's blog will be focusing on the research I found about dreams, and how past films have demonstrated them on screen. 

Entering the Mind of Five Year Old Sophia 

When I was little, I once had a dream where I was stuck in a cupcake factory with a bunch of Disney characters. Did we break out into song? Yes. Did we eat a bunch of cupcakes? Absolutely. But, how does a random and imaginary dream suddenly come to my head? It most likely had to do with my current experiences, thoughts, and memories. At the time, I was extremely obsessed with Mickey and the Three Musketeers, which explains the singing Disney characters and Mickey Mouse being my sidekick, but where in the world did my brain get the cupcake factory from? This dream is an example of an illusory dream, which are dreams based off of incongruent and bizzare content that didn't exist in real time. However, those elements of the dream based off of real thoughts, experiences, and memories would be considered "authentic" parts of a dream.

Being trapped inside a random cupcake factory with Mickey and his friends wasn't the fever dream you would expect, as we go through one wild adventure where we have to save Minnie Mouse as she was trapped in a basement, and eventually end in one elaborate dance sequence. It was, and still is, one my favorite dreams because my brain somehow managed to keep me entertained in my own imaginary alternative reality with engaging characters and plot. Keeping this in mind, I wanted to incorporate a dream sequence within my film opening in order to keep the audience interested with the character and storyline. In order to accomplish this, I researched how dreams have been used in previous films to further the plot. 

Dreaming Illustrated Through Film

When it comes to using dreams in films, I noticed during my research that they are mainly used to symbolize the puzzle pieces to the overall story. For example, in Shutter Island, Leonardo Dicaprio's character, Teddy, experiences fragments of dreams and hallucinations that eventually piece together at the climax of the film. Other films, such as Rosemary's Baby, have used dreams to establish a sense of wonder. Through this film, for instance, the main protagonist, Rosemary, continues to have dreams that add to the story,  and sometimes wakes up with physical evidence of those dreams, but each dream still  leaves the audience to wonder whether it was real or not. Recently, I watched Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind with my dad, and I noticed that has Jim Carrey's character was going through the experiment, memories of his love interest would disappear, making it seem as though that his memories never existed, and they were simply dreams. By illustrating these "dream states" we learn about his relationship with Clementine, and how she impacted him both mentally and emotionally. Therefore, dreams can represent the inner most thoughts and emotions of a person, and how that impacts their relationship to the environment and people they surrounded themselves with. 

What's Next?

While I haven't come up with a plot line, I do know that I want this dream sequence to be a fundamental aspect in displaying who my characters are. By giving my characters an objective, I am able to use their thoughts and emotions as a way to keep the audience engaged in understanding and relating to the characters. My research also inspired me to use dreams as a way to leave the audience with a sense of wonder, wanting to know how the rest of the movie would occur. If I am going to create this sense of mystery, my next obstacle would be crafting a script that doesn't tell too much of the plot, and instead focuses on setting the characters' current state and thoughts. It is also important that I focus on technical elements as well in order to leave visual clues for the audience as to what the dream may mean and how it relates to the characters. 

Cited Sources

Shenoi, K. B. (2010, November 10). Dreams and films and dreams | Far Flungers | Roger Ebert. © Copyright 2021. https://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/dreams-and-films-and-dreams

What's Next?

Hey y'all it's Soph!

Before I begin the research process, I wanted to provide an overview of how I'm planning to complete this project: 

1. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!

    I'm going to follow my research plan that I layed out last blog, but also look into dreams themselves. I want to know how dreams work, what patterns appear in certain dreams, or common symbols that occur within a dream. If I can capture the essence of a dream, I can leave clues for the audience to ponder on and interpret. 

2. Storyboard the opening and sketch out where I would use certain technical and visual elements. 

3. Start production/edit

 

I haven't figured out how much time I will leave myself to do this, but I am hoping to know this after I finish storyboarding

P.S: This overview is not set in stone, but it something that can help keep myself in check, as well as remind me how I should complete each general task. The reason I made this schedule broad was so that I can leave room for modification when necessary. 

Alrighty! Let's get started!

Current Thoughts and Plans in my Head That Will Eventually Lead to a Film Opening

Hey y'all it's Soph! 

 I am so pumped to be able to create this project and illustrate the wackiest concepts that come to my head. As of right now, I haven't been able to come up with a plot, but I do know that I want this film opening to start as a dream. My main goal with this opening is to leave the audience in wonder, while allowing them to understand the character and their main obstacle. Before writing out this blog post, I was thinking of the plot for this project, but then I realized that thinking of the plot first was pointless, since I don't even know what genre I want to work with. I'm still debating between sci-fy, horror, or dystopian fiction, but what worries me is that if I go with a genre that is too complicated, considering that I don't have a budget, then my eventual plot won't make sense, and the whole opening will be thrown off. Therefore, I decided that I would make myself a research plan in order to organize my thoughts, plans, and information into one eventual, cohesive plot. 

 THE RESEARCH PLAN!! 

 

1. Decide on an offical genre - research previous films and tv shows that have used that genre/hopefully gain insipration 

2. Write out the plot (not storyboarding) - Name the characters and figure out their goals within the opening. Decide on how those goals will be visualized later when storyboarding. 

 

-As of right now, I'm playing with the concept that the protagonist doesn't remember their past life, and the dream that they are in makes up bits and pieces of that life without them understanding or knowing it. 

 

-If there were to be a secondary character, it would probably be someone who A) is trying to help the protagonist or B) is the antagonist 

 

3. Research technical/visual elements that can be used to progress the plot - find inspiration from other films/tv shows 

 

- I definetly want to research different ways to use color, as I want to experiment with it when trying to establish the difference between the dream and reality.

Music Marketing Project Pt. 2: Reflection

 

Jigsaw Youth Logo

    Researching the alternative genre was an easy process for our group because we were able to evenly distribute the work, and we had some fun while doing it. Shannon focused on Modest Mouse and the Shins, Bri worked on the Gorillaz and the history of Subpop, while I did the Arctic Monkeys and the history of Warner Records. While we did assign specific parts of the research to do, we still collaborated on the information we would find. The research that we did share would end up being mentioned in the presentation. 

    Once we finalized our research and choose "Night Running" be the song for our music video, we can to brainstorm the concept of the video. I immeditely knew that I wanted it to be filmed at night, and not only because of the title.  When I listened to the song and read the lyrics, I imagined that the character we would create would be running from something, but figuring out that something was what I needed help on. As we laughed and chatted at Panera, Bri mentioned the idea of the protagonist being a monster. Bri's simple concept of a monster was the key to opening up our imagination to the different possibilites we could have this "monster" be or look like. After another hour of brainstorming, we decided that the monster could be someone who the protagonist would least expect, such as a friend. Eventually we decided that the monster would be a concept of the protagonist's head, almost like their experience with the monster was nothing more than a dream, or what later became to be as paranoia. 

    Production for the music video was the most challenging aspect of the project. We split the filming process into two days, with the first day being focused on getting the running sequences of the protagonist, and filming the opening scene, while the second day focused on the car sequences and running shots of the antagonist. Since our video took place at night, we had to get creative with the lighting, hence we brought bright flashlights and a borrowed lighting kit to our location. Instead of using the equipment to simply light the scene, we wanted the lighting to add a deeper meaning to the story, so we had Shannon bring colored binder dividers and we would place them on top of the light. Each color would symbolize the immediate action happening within the video: red represented evil, blue illustrated innocence, which contrasted the orange's meaning of chaos, and purple demonstrated fear. In some shots, we would mix the colors, such as in the close-up shot of the protagonist spinning, we mixed purple and blue together. Along with the lighting, it was difficult trying to film scenes that required a stunt. For instance, the car chasing scene at the end of the video required Sophia M (the protagonist) to drive the car fast enough where I couldn't keep up, while Shannon had to keep the camera steady and hold the flashlight. The amount of times we had to re-film that one shot was exhausting, especially when Sophia M would drive the car too slow, or I would start running too early. We eventually got the shot, and ironically it is the group's favorite part of the whole video. 

Close-up spinning shot of protagonist - mixture of blue and purple light

    Once we wrapped up filming, I was tasked with editing and putting together the music video. In order to create that feeling of paranoia that we concepted at Panera, I wanted to make Sophia M's world seem imaginary the second she fell off the pad, which required me to use Adobe Premiere for the distortion effect. Along with the distortion, I wanted to demonstrate Sophia M's thoughts as she was running away from the antagonist. Therefore, I layered multiple shots together, including repeats of us chatting in the opening scene, to a close-up of my face turning red  to illustrate her retracing her steps, trying to figure out why her friend would do this to her in the first place. I also lowered the opacity of those shots so that they can be seen and contrasted with the close-up shot of her spinning. As for the lighting we did during production, I made sure to exagerrate the color a little bit during post-production, so that each meaning of the colors we used was clearly understood. Throughout post-production, everything seemed to be smooth sailing until my computer crashed, and I lost all the footage. Fortunetly, I was able to recover it, but I almost gave up entirely because I spent two days, one of which I stayed up extremely late, to finish editing. My favorite part though, despite losing my footage and crying profusely, was seeing the video complete, and watching our late nights of filming come together in this music video. 

Example of layered shots/opacity

Example of distortion

Fun Fact: Some of the shots included in the music video were bloopers, such as the shot of Sophia and I  laughing on the top. 
 

Once we completed filming, Bri and Shannon began the presentation while I was editing. Eventually, I completed the music video and joined them on creating the presentation, and our first obstacle was how we wanted to theme it. We wanted the aesthetic of our presentation to match that of our band, Jigsaw Youth. I wanted it to be a vintage space theme (pictured below), but Shannon and Bri disagreed, explaining how it was best if we did something simple. We kept the idea of cool-toned colors as demonstrated in the space theme, but what changed was Shannon's idea of using a puzzle piece for our logo. Along with creating a theme, we also wanted to make sure that our marketing strategy was able to reach out to teenagers. While we did include social media into our plan, we wanted ours to be different from the bands we studied, and thanks to Shannon and her AICE Business class, we were able to include guerilla marketing. We felt that incooporating zine interviews into our plan allowed us to reach a niche group of individiuals within our overall target audience. As we concluded our presentation, we had trouble deciding what our main selling points would be, and that's where I thought of allowing our puzzle piece logo to symbolize more, and instead represent our music rather than our band name. At first, Bri had the idea of each music video having a hidden piece within it, and once it is found, the code of that piece can be put into the website and a prize would be involved. However, I thought that would be a little complicated, and instead suggested that each music video is a continuation of a story, or a single piece to an overall puzzle, which would be Jigsaw Youth's album. 

"vintage space" inspiration

    Working through every portion of the project, while having stressful obstacles to overcome, was one of my favorites to do. The group that I was able to work with was diligant and helpful throughout all aspects of the assignment. We were able to give each other constructive critcism, and come to a solution that incorporated everyone's opinion. In terms of filming the video, I learned that in order to get the best shot, we had to be meticulous with where the actors were standing, as well as where we had to place the camera from beginning to end. Some of the shots shown in the video took a minimum of ten tries before we were able to get the perfect take. This project also gave me an opprotunity to re-learn how to edit, and being able to have creative control over the process allowed me to play with the program, and teach myself new tricks that I could use for the future. Researching how other alternative bands put together their brands gave us helpful inspiration when creating ours, while making sure we gave ourselves room to branch off from existing artists.