Outline

I've been told that I have a style. When it comes to editing and filming I love bright colors and fast-paced movement so I hope that when you read my outline, you see my vision. 

Before getting into the aesthetics and organization, here are some punctual updates: 

1. I spoke with the MAO teacher and he thinks it's a great idea. 

2. I texted the president of the organization.

He didn't seem too excited when I asked if I could do the story on him, so I guess I'm on the hunt for another subject. It's hard to convince someone through text so I plan to I will go to the competition, follow a few people around (I hope that I choose the person that wins the competition), and then ask the people if I would be able to select them as my subject for the documentary! I know it may seem like a long shot and like it's a random way to decide but I have faith.

The outline is basically done, but I’m running into a few problems deciding what to include. The task is to create a five minute excerpt from a regular episodic documentary and I know that if I made this a 10-20 minute episode, the information would be distributed differently. I’m not sure if I should cover all the topics that I want to cover in the first five minutes because I wouldn’t do that knowing that I have more time in the episode. Regardless, I wrote down all the topics that I wanted to cover. Whether I end up editing those into the final video I sent to Aice or not is a decision for another time.

Link to Google Doc with all Planning

Watch Trailer Here

Above you might see that I included a lot of B-roll of someone playing a video game. This might sound confusing, but this idea actually came from a docuseries I recently watched called “Picaro: El Pequeño Nicolas” or “Little Nicholas: Life of a Scoundrel” on Netflix. they portray the main subject's life through a board game. Every time a new topic or life event is introduced, graphics of a person playing are shown by moving Nicolas’s game piece or pulling a card in this hypothetical game.

I want to incorporate something like that into my documentary but instead of a board game, it would be a video game. For example, someone using a controller, a joystick, pixelated math, etc.

I need some inspiration

The process has fallen a bit behind but that's no problem, I think I just need some inspiration.

In my schedule, I said that I would create a social media plan on Saturday but that didn't happen so I'm making it now! Honestly, I think it might be for the better because now I know what components are necessary since we did a short lesson in Media Studies today.

Now, as we know, I'm creating a docuseries with various episodes following a single theme, and I know I want to develop an Instagram. Therefore, I began looking for examples of social media pages that I could take inspiration from. Of course, I went back to the "Abstract: Art of Design" docuseries we explored at the beginning of the year. I watched a few more episodes after watching two for the course and I loved the stylistic elements implemented throughout the entire series, as well as the stories being told. I'm getting off-topic though. Their social media is what I'm looking at right now. 

• 1st Media text: Abstract: The Art of Design (on Netflix)
• Social media tool: Instagram

Abstract: The Art of Design Instagram

Of course, their design is very abstract (I wonder why) yet organized since it follows the theme of bright saturated colors. I also noticed there isn't a real order to what is posted, it is spread out very well. There are a few pictures of the producers, but mainly artistic pictures that I consider to encapsulate the artistic elements of the documentary. I did notice that they include a few quotes from the series which is something I wrote down to include in my posts as well. Lastly, their "behind the scenes" information was very discrete. By that, I mean that they only posted a slate with a caption saying "That's a wrap" or a notebook full of ideas which I think was a very cool and interesting approach to it that I might include. Maybe with the math part, I can show someone's workbook.

I don't mean to get side tracked but when looking for other documentaries to research for the social media component, I realized that there are a lot of docuseries that don’t have social media platforms. I know that there are a lot of series similar to the one that I want to make, but when I went to look for their Instagram, it was nowhere to be found. Maybe it’s due to their more niche audience? Who knows?

• 2nd Media text: The Social Dilemma (on Netflix)
• Social media tool: Instagram

The Social Dilemma Instagram

I did, however, find the social media page for “The Social Dilemma”. This docuseries is a lot more serious and informational about social issues, more specifically teens' addiction to social media. Their Instagram is filled with calls to action and organizations helping the cause that they spoke of in the docuseries. Additionally, they included something that I hadn’t seen before, which was short clips of interviews with the subjects. There was way less of an aesthetic to this account compared to abstract the art of design, in contrast, it focused way more on the actual information being given. I’m no expert, but I think this was a distribution and marketing mistake on their part. Their target audience is teens therefore I believe they should’ve made a more aesthetically pleasing and engaging account.

• 3rd Media text: Worn Stories (on Netflix)
• Social media tool: Instagram

            My favorite social media account that I found was actually from a documentary that I haven’t watched but will watch now. "Worn Stories" is a Netflix stock series about clothes and the people who wear them (according to their social media). To introduce the brand, they developed a series of clothing items that are unconventional and displayed them captioned with different quotes from interviewees.

Worn Stories Instagram

Once the trailer was released, not only did the aesthetics of the trailer match the previous post, but it established a new era for the social media page. This "new era" included an introduction to every subject with a fun and colorful picture of them and a lot more video content from both the series and b-roll. I was completely engaged from the second I opened the page, and even though they don’t have a lot of audience interaction posts, I felt so drawn to the page that I wanted to watch the series right away. I will definitely take inspiration from the look of it.

Ok, now game plan!

I will definitely catch up on all the stuff that I missed out on last week and create a rough draft of what at least five posts I’d like to release in the next week, simply establishing the style that I will be creating sort of like how “Worn stories” did. instead of clothing items, I could use school supplies that each episode covers or trophies, to introduce the competition aspect. I know I'm sticking to the video game aesthetic, and I want to try to pick a color for each episode to distinguish the different topics being discussed in the docuseries. I know I want to make math purple. And no, I will not get into a debate about what color each subject is, I just want math to be purple.

More Important Decisions

I wish I had the time to make every episode by April 10th, but with my packed schedule, making a 5-minute excerpt for one will already be quite a challenge. The question is, which of the five episodes will I be making? For this, I made a Pros and Cons chart on each subject.

Contrary to popular demand. I am doing the Mathletes!!! Everyone keeps on telling me "You're so lame why would you do it on math" but I almost see it as a challenge. How can I make a math competition look engaging and intense? I also have never seen something like it before and I love making unique things. Coincidentally a close friend of mine was the president of MAO last year and when I told her the idea she, first, LOVED IT, and second told me that they actually have a competition the first week of March. If that's not perfect, I don't know what is. It fits with my schedule perfectly!

I got the phone number of the current president to see if I could interview him, but I also need to stop by the sponsor's classroom to ask if I can do this and film during their competition. I am so excited! I really hope they say yes, I can even pretend like I'm filming the math scene from Mean Girls. 

I will keep you guys up to date with the responses I get from the MAO community but as of right now, my brain is spiraling with ideas for B-roll and interview questions. I really need to organize my ideas and create an outline for what I'm going to create and how I plan on implementing the video game aspect. Things to keep in mind when continuing to develop the project:

1. You are creating a 5 minute excerpt for a longer documentary episode, Don't cover every topic (I'm thinking I'll probably pick the first 5 minutes of the episode)
2. Keep a consistent style for all the (hypothetical) episodes, in this case the video game 
3. Remember to make the social media page cause you have to post that periodically, 

I'm looking forward to working on this in the future and ill keep the blog posted with more updates, definitely more research coming soon.

Let the Competition Begin

 If the title of this blog didn't give it away, I have picked my topic: the race to valedictorian. Now don't get too excited cause that's actually not what I'm doing at all but a different idea branched out from that one and I have it completely fleshed out in my brain. 

I present to you the new episodic Docu-series... Race to First Place! (I think)

The name is still under the works but this series will highlight five elements/sectors/groups of our school that compete. You would think that teen athletes, mathletes, writers, drama kids, and scientists don't have much in common but they all aim for one thing in their own niche. TO WIN. The docuseries will explore why we teens strive for validation from a medal that says "first place", and how these competitions place a huge toll on our mental health but also serve as the push of motivation we need. I'll definitely get more specific in the outline but I am so excited to start making this. 

I almost forgot to mention my favorite part of this whole idea (and also the part that I can't quite figure out). The style or lens that I will be telling each episode through is as a video game, reinforcing the competition aspect in a way that is modern but almost playful and since it's a very unique style, it will connect all the episodes more coherently. This might not make sense to you, but in my brain, I know how to make it happen. What is really making me indecisive is what video game I should use as a metaphor. Should I make each episode a different game, or one for the entire thing?

Now that you're caught up on the idea let's create deadlines so I don't want to die the week before the entire project is due. I decided to make a calendar on Google Calendar specifically for this, that way I'll have to be reminded of where I should be every morning when I open my laptop.

Calendar Link

I also created a Google doc to keep everything regarding my portfolio project. For me, the colors on the calendar are the easiest for me to understand, but I also made a checklist for each week so I can cross out tasks for each week.

Google Doc Link

When given such a large project it can be difficult to delegate time, especially since the only concrete due date we have is April 10th, but hopefully, these methods will keep me in check when it comes to staying on top of things. It also helps that I am so excited to start this. there's obviously still a lot to figure out and flesh out but as long as I stay on time with my schedule and continue to be as motivated as I am right now, this project might just be the best documentary ever.

What am I going to do?!?!?!

After a long time of thought and reflection deciding which of the four options I would do, I have come to a conclusion.

Movie trailer ehh, not my thing. A short film could be cool but coming up with a story is very difficult. The music video could be so fun and I have friends that make music. However, I knew after making REMIX that documentary was my thing. 

In the first semester, we had an assignment to make a short documentary, so me and my partner created REMIX. This is probably my favorite thing I've ever made and after finishing it I started coming up with many more ideas for documentaries, specifically for the portfolio project.

Click Here to watch REMIX

Read this Blog if you want to know more about the process of making this doc:

Critical Reflection for REMIX Blog

Of the ideas I came up with, these are my top three:

1. Race to First Place- A docuseries about the different competitive areas of the school, and how everyone's goal is to have some validation telling you that you got first place. For example an art contest, Math competitions, Science fair, etc. I originally wanted to focus on the valedictorian and how taxing it can be in a class of over 1000 students, but I'm not sure if that's the best approach. That's a future problem to figure out
2. A Continuation of REMIX would sort of be the easiest choice to go with because I figured out a style to it. It would also facilitate the social media component because I'd already have another episode done, I would just pick another music genre.
3. The last idea I had was to tell the story of ghostwriters, and the episodic doc would be about different people who work for something they don't get credited for. I know a few ghost writers but the problem with that one is the lack of creative B-roll.

I really feel myself leaning towards the valedictorian idea, especially after consulting with my teacher. I listed the three ideas and she kind of gave me a similar but new approach to the valedictorian idea. I'm going to ask as many friends as possible what they think I should do because even though I'm working by myself, it's nice to get other's input. I'm also going to try and find some inspiration and lock in.

What I'm up to

Weekly blog posts are back!

We recently finished making a movie trailer and teaser for our distribution lesson. In this project, we were put into groups and assigned three stories that students from the creative writing class had made. The stories we got were...questionable to say the least, but we made the best out of it in the 10 days of production.

Along with the trailer and teaser, we had to make a real distribution plan for the hypothetical movie we would make. Red Thread was the story we chose, a coming of age narrative where a girl wakes up one day and has a red string tied to her pinky that leads to her soulmate. See the distribution plan and final project for yourself in the link below. I am honestly very proud of what we made, but I'm not sure I would want to watch this movie if it was real.

Red Thread Distribution Plan and Trailers

As that wraps up, we begin the landmark project of media studies: The portfolio project.

For context, the portfolio project is one of the components of the final Aice evaluation, a long-term commitment to a single production with various elements to it, one video, one digital, and one print. The fun part is that we get to pick what we want to make. This, to me (the most indecisive person in the world), is also the most terrifying part. Finishing the trailer and teaser means that we have technically practiced doing every element of the Media Studies A-level portfolio project:

• Music Video
• Movie Trailer
• Documentary
• Short Film

Now it's just time to pick which one I will be devoting the next 9 weeks to making.