Jesse we need to GRIND !!!

Today was a very eventful day.  Clara, Virginia, and I were all finally able to meet up and discuss our creative vision in detail.  We met up at Virginia's house early in the afternoon, made some mate and brought out some snacks, and got to work.  We all divided the script into scenes and shots, and then Virginia and Clara (who both have a lot more expertise than I do in actual media production) took on the role of creating a shot list.  While they planned the composition and lighting of every shot, I took on the role of illustrating their vision in a storyboard. 

Although we rarely prepare for a film this much, it felt adequate to do here.  The three of us have extremely high hopes for this production, and we want to be as prepared as possible for when the filming days are finally among us.

ft. Joaco drawing

Although we were able to organize the entire script into shots, we only storyboarded the first act.  The second act, which will be made up mostly of montage sequences, will be much harder to conceptualize without first having all the footage that we want to include.  This is because the montage will include both Diego's own deranged TikToks, but also videos made by the "general public" reacting to his claims.  This is something that we plan to film ourselves, and possibly include cameos from other people in our class.  Additionally, we will be relying on the help of Andrew Dunham, a close friend of ours who is also a very skilled visual effects animator.  He will be helping us bring to life the social media sphere in the form of cool graphic sequences and animations.  Because we're still undecided on how we want this to look, we decided to set it aside for later.

We also decided that we want to use a lot of cool-toned lighting.  We want to give the impression that his PC is the only source of light in his dim room, and we'll be using blue, purple, and green RGB lights to emulate that.  Since we're filming soon, we might need to pay a visit to BECON and rent filming equipment.

The Script is Done !!!!!!

Hello all.  By this point in the project, we have fallen majorly behind schedule.  Due to so many scheduling conflicts, we haven't been able to fully sit down and work on this together, and we have all been extremely busy in our personal lives as well.  Regardless, we're not the type of people to give up that easily.  Instead, the issues have only led us to be more passionate and determined to make this work.

Here she is, so nice and pretty

Thus, I am very very excited to announce that Circus Monkey has been officially written!  This is a major step for us, both in the project and in our own work ethics.  Virginia, who is our resident screenwriter, feels extremely accomplished in having written this script.  This is one of the longest works she's ever written, and we all agree that it's also one of the best.

I'll save you all from reading it in its entirety, but I'll provide a basic summary.  The film will be divided into three acts; the first one will focus on developing the character and building up to the major point of conflict, which is, of course, the monkey-f***ing TikTok.  The second act will begin just as the video begins to gain traction, and it will follow Diego's descent into semi-madness as he becomes obsessed with this online persona and the attention he's been receiving (no matter if it's good or bad).  Finally, the third act will display how he is no longer getting the same attention, and how he feels the need to lash out and do something even more severe to be in the spotlight again.  The confrontation between Diego and his ex-girlfriend (who we've named Ericka) will also occur in the third act.

A lot more work still needs to be done.  We plan on meeting up soon to work on a shot list and possible storyboard, and then we will create a filming schedule afterward.  Keep an eye out for more blogs to come!

Brainstorming postcards

Focusing heavily on pre-production elements, it's come time that we start planning our postcard.  We've thrown around a few ideas for what we want to include, but the most likely option will be a vertical 4x6-inch rectangle with text emulating an iMessage chat.

This is a clever way of getting all our information across, while also staying true to the subject matter of the film: social media.  In class, I quickly sketched an outline of our composition, with the film name at the top, social media and film festival info at the bottom, and important names and viewing dates somewhere in the middle.

However, I fear that this is too limited, and the simplicity of it all will make the postcard appear unfinished.  On the other hand, we're cramming a lot of information in the front, which could make it look too crowded.

We still need to finish working out the kinks, and split the information more evenly between the front and back.  We also had another idea of making an illustration of Diego with a monkey being reflected on his glasses, but we would need to wait until we began filming, as we would need to get a reference image from our footage.

Graphics

Our production is very social media heavy, and this is a fine line to work through.  On one hand, we need to explicitly show the TikToks that Diego posts and the comments that he's receiving, but on the other hand, we don't want this to be too cheesy and teen rom-com-esque.  To combat this, we had the idea to include graphic sequences showing the comments pour in, and that way we can demonstrate the mixed reactions while also maintaining a pretty put-together feel.

Now, creating the graphics is a completely different beast.  We all had different ideas about how we wanted it to be done, and the more well-executed ideas required a level of Adobe After Effects knowledge that none of us posses.  Thus, we decided to appoint the help of a close friend of ours named Andrew.  Andrew is, quite simply, amazing at creating special effects.  I've seen a lot of his work, and his dedication and talent when it comes to creating graphics is phenomenal.  We've talked to him about helping us in this production, and he's excitedly agreed.

Now, the only thing that was left was to create a list of TikTok comments that we wanted to include as a reaction to Diego's first controversial posting.  Clara and I both worked on this list, drawing inspiration from our own experiences of witnessing the creepy things that people say online.  A few days after, I coincidentally came across a short clip from a documentary on online pedophilia while scrolling through Twitter.  The clip originally caught my eye, and as I watched, I made note of a graphic they used and I really liked.  So, we sent both the list and the video to Andrew, and we now await his response.

Giving Diego "Depth"

Diego is a chronically online douchebag who wastes away his time on video games and social media.  In order to create this character, we needed to give him a Twitter account.  This account would serve as a vessel for him to spew out his bizarre opinions once he gains internet traction, and it could also serve the purpose of characterization.  Being the resident Twitter user in our group, I took it upon myself to create an account for our fictional protagonist.

I titled the account "@diegofuego451," creating a perfect mix of nonchalant-ness and cringe.  To me, the username shows a level of consideration, but not enough to the point that he cares about branding.

Afterward, it was time to polish up the account and give it the appearance of a real user.  We decided to take some time today in class to do a mini "photoshoot" with Jack, and we used these pictures for both the Twitter profile picture and a promotional post on Instagram that will advertise the actors.  I wanted the profile picture to be a selfie where he's donning a goofy smile, similar to other pictures of nerdy boys I've seen around the internet.  We also had him mess up his hair a little, as the gelled-up look was too preppy for the character we envisioned.

After the profile pic was decided upon, we had to move onto the header.  This was where I hit a roadblock, as headers on Twitter tend to be either promotional, representative of a brand, or pretty much random.  I considered making the header a promotional advertisement of our film, but ultimately decided to simply make the account look as "realistic" as possible.  Since Diego is an avid video game player, I decided to build off of that angle to complete the page.  I looked up screengrabs of Call of Duty gameplay, and instead used that as the header.  This is still a very early version of the Twitter (and it will most likely be subject to change), but I'm happy with what we have thus far.

Here are some other photos that we took (including one of Virginia, as she will be playing Diego's ex-girlfriend), for your viewing pleasure!

Weekend Update

Hello again, my loyal readers.  This weekend, we took some time to catch up on small things that needed to be done.  After having divided the work, we realized that Virginia would write the script, Clara would post to the social media page, and I would create the postcard advertisement.

We are proud to announce that we now have an Instagram that you can all follow!  The account is named after the film, and we're gonna start posting over this next week.  For our first postings, we've decided to dedicate a post to our two major actors: Jack and Virginia.  However, this will need to be done next week as we need to take headshots of them during class.

For now, enjoy our early postings to the Instagram!

As for everything else, we are almost done with the script, and early versions of the postcard are being drafted.

Postcard Research Pt.2

Hello again.  Apart from already having conducted my own research on short film postcards, we also went over some more conventions last class.  I learned that the cards are size 4 x 6 in., double sided, and can be either horizontal or vertical.  They also include the title, key art, director's name, social media information, film festival/awards, and the the date, time, and location of streaming.

When looking for more examples, which there are very few of, I found several that include these key elements.  I realized that most examples feature a fully-colored character contrasting a dark background, which is something that we were planning for our postcard as well.

We had originally planned to illustrate a postcard featuring Diego's face in the dark, lit up by his computer screen, with his glasses reflecting the image of a monkey.  We thought that this would be funny, while also creating intrigue about the plot.  Yet, we fear that this focuses too much on the monkey aspect, and doesn't provide an accurate representation of the plot.  We also drafted an idea for a vertical postcard that imitates a phone, and we could use this to further present the social media aspect.  Updates to come soon.

And it’s name will be…

Hello all.  Since we won’t be able to film until Spring Break (or possibly until the week after), it’s really imperative that we get as much work done in these weeks as possible.  This includes posting to the social media, working on the postcard, and finalizing costuming and location.  But, in order to progress, we need one of the most essential aspects of the short film: a title.

The title went through a lot of changes from the start of the project to now.  At first, we were pretty determined on naming it “Liberal Dogma,” both because we thought that it would represent the incel mentality of wanting to commit bestiality, and also because it’s pretty funny. However, the title changed as our storyline evolved.  Virginia wanted the name to be associated to boyhood, and for the title to be something along the lines of “Boyish.”  However, Clara and I both agreed that the title should deal more with the social media attention-seeking aspect, since that’s really what the bulk of the story is about.  I drafted the name “Traction,” but we ultimately threw it out for being too vague.

Finally, we came up with the perfect name: Circus Monkey.  This title perfectly encapsulates the social media aspect, the need for attention and providing entertainment, and is also a cheeky little reference to the monkey.

After looking at some fonts to incorporate for marketing and key art, we decided that the Plastic Beach font was perfect.  The wonky letters show the distortion in the character's mentality, and also add an air of whimsicality, which is a nice touch.  Overall, I like that this font doesn't take itself too seriously, but still generates intrigue.

Filming Issues

Just like the monkey, we're f***ed.

Today, our group met up with Stoklosa again to discuss the film outline we created.  Surprisingly, she really liked the ending.  However, she had some critiques over other elements.  Namely, we had originally included a funny sequence where Diego opens PornHub, gets distracted looking at a picture of a monkey, and then first makes the connection between the mammal and sex.  We thought that this would create a cohesive connection between the two, but would also be comical and fairly light-hearted.  Stoklosa criticized this, claiming that the scene implies that Diego really does want to have sex with the monkey, and it discredits the idea that he's only stating this for attention online.

We argued against her claim, explaining that the tweet stemmed from a real thought, and that that then inadvertently sets off a chain of social media attention that he wasn't expecting.  We still want to keep the scene, but we might need to go back to the drawing board and make some changes.

However, the biggest issue that we realized is that we have hella scheduling conflicts.  Like, a lot of them.  Trust me.  There’s a lot.

First of all, Jack, our protagonist, will be starring in our school's production of Legally Blonde, which premieres this week.  This means that he won't be available on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Saturday is unavailable for us, and so is next Monday.  Additionally, Clara and Virginia will be leaving to California for TV next Wednesday, and they'll be gone until the following Monday.  By this point, it'll be Spring Break.  These conflicts really worry me.  The only days we would have available are Sunday (the 12th) and Tuesday (the 14th), which are also problematic.  There's a chance we won't be able to film on Tuesday since Clara and Vir need to catch a red-eye early next morning.  This leaves only Sunday.

However, I'm worried about filming part of our scenes on Sunday, and the filming the rest two weeks later, as there are several things that could change between then.  For example, Jack could get a haircut, the room could have things moved around, etc.

Therefore, I think that we're gonna prioritize filming over Spring Break and week after that.  This worries me, but I hope that we can use those weeks to make progress in other aspects of the project.

Costuming

Costuming is essential to the development of a character.  We want Diego's mental state to be apparent through the clothes he wears, and we planned to execute this through trashy, dirty, and old beat-down outfits.  As Clara described it, he's very "Shane Dawson big t-shirt."

I want it to be evident that Diego just doesn't care about personal style.  He doesn't care to be well-groomed or fashionable, and his appearance is just barely put together.  We want to convey this through the use of sweatpants and baggy tees, graphic tees with corny designs (think Walmart menswear), and clothes with holes in them.  For shoes, maybe some orthopedic running shoes, Vans, or Adidas Slides.  I'm basing a lot of what I want Diego to wear on outdated trends, lazy-day outfits, and things that people with no style would wear.  I want to dress him in bermudas or basketball shorts, a Gildan tee, and grandpa shoes.

I need to start thinking about what outfits will be associated with each scene.  As most of the production will take place in his bedroom, the outfits will be pretty trashy and require no effort.  However, we all agree that we want his appearance to get progressively worse the deeper that he falls into this spiral for internet validation.  His hair gets greasier, his clothes more stain-ridden, and his glasses filled with fingerprints.

In the scene toward the end where he encounters his ex, I want his appearance to be objectively shitty.  He doesn't necessarily look like he put no effort into his look, but rather he looks straight-up grimy and dirty.  By this point, he's really let himself go.

Casting

Casting is always one of the most difficult aspects of pre-production.  Finding people that match your mental image of the character is difficult enough, but you'd be surprised by how hard it is to find talented actors in a school with over 5,000 students on top of that.  Thankfully for us, we got lucky.

A few weeks ago, I worked on a project for this class with a randomly assigned group.  At first, I was a little doubtful, considering that I didn't know these two kids before, and I also don't like group projects, lol.  To my pleasant surprise, however, I ended up loving the entire creation process.  Amidst filming, I realized that Jack (one of my groupmates) was actually a really talented actor.  This surprised me solely because Scarlet and I are not, and we were the only other people acting in our movie trailer (featuring a cameo from Virginia of course, to no one's surprise).  Looking back though, I really should've seen it coming, considering that Jack's been in AMT since middle school and stars as the protagonist in essentially every school theatre production.  But then again, I've never really been one for musicals.

While filming the trailer, the group of us sat down for a second and just started chatting.  We talked to Jack a little about his acting and where he hopes to take his talents when he goes to college, and that conversation got my gears turning.  Earlier, Virginia and I had been talking about a potential idea for our Media Studies final short film - yeah, we were drafting the monkey-f***ing one.  While brainstorming, Vir and I were incredibly indecisive about who to cast.  We knew that she would play the role of the ex-girlfriend, but we were unsure about who to cast as the protagonist.  We ran through a few options, but immediately crossed them off the list either because they didn't look the part, or because we knew they wouldn't really be able to act the part.  Yet, while talking to Jack, we realized that he was absolutely perfect for the role.

We wasted no time asking him if he'd like to star, and he immediately said yes.  We've discussed the role in detail since, and I'm excited to start filming.  Here's the teaser for the project we worked on together, where he plays the serial killer: