Forced to Reschedule!

Hey guys, I’m back home after having to cut our competition trip short and it all feels like a dream. I still can’t believe that STN was cancelled and I’m now back in Florida. 

Earlier today, our superintendent held a press conference explaining what will be happening within the public school system due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

In all honestly, I truly did not expect this virus to create an outburst like this. Stores are sold out of hand sanitizers, wipes, water and even toilet paper! I don’t really understand the need to stock up on toilet paper but I digress. The superintendent has said that all public schools in my county will be closed for the next week in order to limit the spread of this virus and keep students and faculty safe. Soon after this was announced, the entire state of Florida’s public schools said they would be closed as well. As for my school, we have this week off due to this and the following week is our spring break, so essentially we have 2 weeks off from school. 

Many are taking this as a long vacation, however for Nick and I, we have no idea what to think! With our project’s due date rapidly approaching, our schedule must change. Nick and I planned to finish preplanning in class but now that we don’t have school for two weeks, we must figure out another way to work on this project. We hope to finish the script by this Sunday and then from that point on, we’ll start finding actors and begin filming. 

As for my Nashville trip, my parents are unsure of whether we will still be going or not due to this virus being spread. However, they would like to go due to the recent tornado that went through the city. Luckily my brother is safe and wasn’t affected by this disaster, but they would still like to go visit him. If I don’t end up going on this trip, Nick and I would have more time to work together but regardless, I’m always on my phone and can help him out whenever needed. Hopefully this virus soon starts to die down and operations can resume normally. For now, make sure to watch your hands and avoid large crowds! Until next time...

                                                                                                                                                            ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/

Sad Times :(

Hey guys ☹️ A week that was suppose to be filled with fun times and memories has ended much sooner than expected. As I’ve previously mentioned throughout this blog, my tv production program travelled to Washington D.C. for the Student Television Network (STN) Convention on Tuesday. Competitions were suppose to begin on Thursday, however while we were exploring the city on Wednesday, we heard the unfortunate news that the convention had been cancelled. 

The D.C. Health Department mandated that any event with over 1,000 people in attendance be cancelled or postponed due to the spread of the Coronavirus across the world. My team was devastated. We spent countless days since September practicing and preparing for this competition for it to be cancelled the day of registration! None of us really saw this coming. On Tuesday after our flight left Fort Lauderdale airport, our county banned trips outside of the state in order to limit the exposure to this contagious virus, but since we already left, we all thought we were in the clear. 

Personally, this was heartbreaking to hear the news about STN being cancelled. As a senior, this was my final trip and I wanted to end it with a bang, and quite literally, that’s backfired. I had the opportunity of being Executive Producer for one of our competitions and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. I just truly wish we were able to compete and show off what we are capable of. 

Since the convention was cancelled Wednesday night, we had to take the next flight back to Fort Lauderdale airport at 6:30am on Thursday. Although we were only in Washington D.C. for 36 hours, it was truly a memorable story that will live on forever since this is the first time they have ever had to cancel the convention.

Below is a short recap video of our trip made by one of my fellow seniors. 

Even though it’s still very upsetting to think that my last STN had to end this way, I will forever cherish the little time I had to spend with my CBTV family in Washington D.C.

              

Until next time... 

                                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

Postcard Research!

Hey guys! Before I leave for my competition trip to Washington D.C., I decided to do some research on film postcards since that’s another element needed for our final project. 

Postcards are typically used for short films by smaller productions. This is a simpler and more cost effective way for these smaller productions to promote their film. Typically, they are used during film festivals. It’s an easy way to share information and spread the word about an upcoming production. 

On the front of the postcard, usually the title, key art, film nominations, quote/tagline, website, and production crew can be found. The front of the postcard needs to be eye-catching to the potential audience and should make them want to watch the film. Positive reviews of the film could also be used to help entice the person to watch the film.

On the back of the postcard, usually one can find contact information of the filmmakers and screen timing times if used during a film festival. While doing some more research, one unique idea I saw was to add a QR code to the back of a postcard. Since today’s world has become the technological era, this easy process of scanning the code could make it an easy method to share and access the film.

Similarly to a movie poster, a postcard should reflect the theme of film. A similar color scheme, font, and structure should be followed throughout all the elements engaging with the film. If a film has a dark tone to it, the postcard shouldn’t consist of bright vibrant colors, it should be dark as well. 

There are a few elements (title, font, color scheme) that Nick and I need to discuss before we create our postcard, but once we figure those art, we can easily put one together soon. Wish us luck at our competition! Until next time…

                                                                                                                                                            ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://www.written-off.com/film-news/2018/2/7/julien-dubuque-international-film-festival-iowa

https://bikerumor.com/2010/10/13/londons-bicycle-film-festival-kicks-off-tonight-with-art-show/

Hectic Upcoming Weeks!

Hey guys! As Nick and I continue to work on the script for our short film, I wanted to let you know what will be happening in the upcoming weeks. 

Currently as I’m writing this blog post, I’m in the process of packing for the Student Television Network Convention (STN)! If you’ve stuck along with me for a while, this is the same competition I attended last year in Seattle, Washington. This year, the convention will be in Washington D.C. from March 10th-15th and Nick will be coming with me! While we are away, me and 22 other students from my tv program will be competing nationally to create an 8 minute news show in 8 hours based on a prompt they provide on site. This competition is known as Crazy 8 and I’m the Executive Producer for it! We also do individual competitions where we are in a group of 2-4 students competing in a variety of competitions such as sports highlight, psa, commercial, convention promo (which I did last year), nat package, short film, video tip and more! I will be competing in video tip this year with Alexa Podalsky, who is currently enrolled in AICE Media Studies AS. Video tip is essentially a “how to” based on a television/film prompt which is also provided on site. For this competition, Alexa and I have 3 hours to plan/film and 2 hours to edit. I’ve been attending this competition for the past two years and I can’t believe this is my final year as a senior. I can’t wait for this final experience, but I know it’s going to fly by so I’m going to cherish every moment. Hopefully we can come home with some wins under our belt!

Since Nick and I will be at our competition, we will be trying our best to work on this film whenever we get a chance. Nick and I have already planned to watch the entirety of the film “Stranger Than Fiction” on the plane ride to Washington D.C. Since we want to follow a similar format as the beginning of the film, we got recommendations to watch the entire film since neither of us have before. As for completing the script and start thinking of a shot list, Nick and I will continuously be working on that whenever we get a chance. I’m hoping to start the website while I’m in DC as well, but if not, I will definitely do that the week we get back! 

The week we get back from Washington D.C., we have our final week of school before spring break! Nick and I hope for those weeks to be our filming times! Although we are definitely cutting it close, I believe we will be able to pull through with it and give it our best effort with everything going on for both of us. From March 16th-23rd, Nick and I have dedicated most days to fully work on this project. On March 24th, I leave for Nashville, Tennessee with my family to visit my brother. I’ll be gone for a few days then but that week, we decided that Nick would edit the short film and I would continue to work on the website and collaboratively work on the postcard together. Although I won’t be physically present, I always have my phone on me so we can still talk about the project. If we run into any issues, we can easily call or text each other so we can fall back on one another. Nick rarely answers his phone though so I need to just make sure he’s more alert if one of us needs any help.

We have just a little over a month left till this final project is due!! Although we’ve been falling behind and some obstacles are getting in the way, I believe Nick and I will be able to handle them. Wish us luck in Washington D.C.! Until next time…

                                                                                                                                     ~rtmedias

Beginning the Script!

Hey guys! So Nick and I have finally started to work on our script! 

We decided to make an outline of the script before we wrote out the entire script just to make sure we fully understood the idea we created. Below you will see the outline:

Outline of Script

Show C1 go through a full day and loop. Their day would include them saying hi to C2. Once in the middle of the second day when C2 waves, go slow mo and rewind to show C2 go though the loop. To portray the loop, show oddly specific events that happen (3 times).
To introduce C2 either show them going through the loop OR show C2 cut into C1’s routine. Have C2 get upset and talk with C1 about how they want to stop the loop but C1 does not. Have C2 try to screw up C1’s loop in a way to break them from their routine and have C1 throw a fit. Then have C2 try to convince C1 to break the loop. Cut to the intro loop shot with the alarm clock.
Have C1 be meticulous with the way they plan their day. Have them count as they brush their teeth and have them have a stop watch for all the tasks they do daily.

The daily routine:

• Wake up
• Brush teeth
• Get dressed (show same clothes in closet)
• Show them put on their watch
• Make breakfast
• Get in car and go to library
• At stop light have someone scream at someone else
• Have them pull up to library and have someone almost drop a book but C1 catches it
• They read a book and then stop watch goes off
• Say hi to C2 
• Go to watch a movie 
• Go home 
• Shower 
• Go to sleep 

We also just started to create the script on Celtx.com. This is a free program which allows anyone to collaborate with others and create a script. Below you will see what we’ve done so far.

Nick and I are continuing to work on the script, however I just wanted to share our thought process thus far! Until next time…

                                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://media.giphy.com/media/XIqCQx02E1U9W/source.gif

The Time Has Come!

Hey guys! This is going to be a pretty short post but I just wanted to let you guys know that Nick and I finally have decided on an idea for our short film! 

We decided to stick to the stuck on repeat idea. Our finalized idea is to follow the day to day life of two friends. Both of these friends know that their lives are stuck in this continuous loop, however one tries to convince the other to break this loop. One of the characters is bored of knowing what will happen to them instead of living life of the edge and making decisions in which they haven’t done before. Neither of these characters have been able to truly enjoy life since they only follow the same schedule everyday.

Here’s the breakdown of how Nick and I were thinking of showing this story:

-act 1 (2 mins): establishing the loop between both characters/ they know each other are both in the loop (2-3 times repeated)

-act 2 (2 mins): Presenting conflict- why one character wants to break the loop and trying to convince the other to join

-act 3 (1 min): resolution- (similar to the film “Inception") alarm clock goes off at specific time, 6:45am, every morning/takes 10 seconds to turn off alarm, time ticking to 6:45:10am for the audience to wonder if they ended the loop or continued.

Essentially the ending would be up to the audience’s interpretation, however both of us really liked this idea. We finally have agreed on an idea which we both like and are starting to work on the script! Be sure to check back for more updates! Until next time…

                                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://foroalfa.org/en/articles/some-ideas-are-too-big

Brainstorming Part 2!

Hey guys! Nick and I have continued to brainstorm some potential ideas for our short film over FaceTime last night and here are some ideas we thought of. 

One of the movies we are most inspired by is Stranger Than Fiction. We liked the idea of the opening of that film and wanted to follow a similar path to show the repetition of the character’s lifestyle. 

Idea 1

We want the opening to be similar to the film opening of "Stranger Than Fiction” to represent the loop in our character’s life. This person is happy to be stuck in the loop since they are able to know what is going to happen before it occurs. Once that is shown, the character is broken out of the loop and wish to get back into it. We wanted the audience to interpret how the character fell out of the loop, however as we kept talking about it, we thought that the story might feel incomplete if we don’t properly portray it. This is the breakdown as to how we thought the story would be broken apart:

-act 1: establishing the loop (2-3 times repeated)

-act 2: loop breaks/conflict occurs (character wakes up late 6:46am, instead of 6:45am)

-act 3: resolution 

Alternate endings

1. We liked the thought process of this idea, however we were unsure about the ending. I thought of maybe having the character be in a coma and the character stuck in the loop would represent their day to day life in a coma. Once the loop breaks, it would represent the character waking up from the coma and how their life has a purpose. With this idea, we were thinking that the audience wouldn’t learn that the main character was in a coma till the very end, however as we kept discussing it, Nick brought up the valid point that it seemed cliché.
2. We also thought of just forcing the character to adapt to their new way of life as the ending. The character would be unable to get back into the loop and would be forced to alter their way of life. This was our back up idea in case we couldn’t think of any other storyline or ending. 
3. Another tweak we thought to this idea was if there was a specific object or idea which triggered the character to break the loop. The character would then have to figure out what the trigger was in order to place themselves back into the loop they are comfortable with. The issue Nick and I had with this idea is that it would be a lot to fit into a five minute short film.

These are just some ideas that Nick and I have narrowed it down to. Be sure to stick around for my next post to find out our finalized idea for our short film! Until next time…

                                                                                                                                     ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://media.giphy.com/media/1YhRc4YE5FeZKBWh2m/source.mp4

Quick Update

Hey guys! So as I previously mentioned, I got sick 😞. I got a flu shot, along with a few other shots, on Wednesday at my doctor's appointment and after that, let's just say it's been rough. Luckily, I started feeling a lot better Friday afternoon. However, since I wasn't able to go to school on Wednesday because of my appointment and then getting sick on Thursday, I missed a class discussion where we were able to discuss our film ideas and get advice/recommendations. I heard from Nick that he got some really good ideas from that discussion but with both of our hectic schedules, we haven't been able to meet up. Yesterday we both saw each other, however we were at a competition practice and then Nick had work immediately after. We were suppose to meet up today and try to finalize an idea but Nick had to finish up some things in order to register for college. Although we haven't been sticking to the schedule as much as we would have hoped for, we are praying that we can pick up the pace and once we finalize the idea, it should be a smoother sailing. As we are officially 9 days away from our out of state competition, things are still hectic, especially since we are both of the Executive Board of our tv program, but I believe that we can get the ball rolling as soon as we finalize an idea. It's grind time 😎. Until next time...

                                                                                                  ~rtmedias

What Goes on a Film Website?

Hey guys! Alongside with our short film, Nick and I also have to create a postcard and website for the film. I got sick yesterday and I wasn’t able to go to school today either so I decided to do some research on film websites. 

An easy resource that I found to build a website is through wix.com. 

Wix.com allows anyone to create a website for free and even provides some templates based on the purpose of the website. As seen above, these are just a few of the many templates they provide. However, before I even get into creating the website, what content is needed to promote the film through this site?

http://www.crazyrichasiansmovie.com/

https://www.backtothefuture.com/

The very first thing I noticed with both of these websites is that they have a pop-up page which immediately plays the movie’s trailer. This gets the viewer’s attention and shows them what the film is about. Within both the websites I found, they either have a slideshow of pictures or a short video highlighting some scenes from the film. These pictures/videos act as the entire background of the website on the home page. Typically, the title of the film is in large text either in the center of the page or somewhere highly noticeable. Also, the film rating (PG, PG13, R, etc) is normally shown on the home page in small text at the bottom left or right hand corner. Another element of the home page is that it typically has the production company’s logo included as well. 

Both websites have various tabs. Within the Crazy Rich Asians website, a synopsis, gallery page, and “buy now” tab are provided (as shown above). There are also two more tabs, “original motion picture score” and “songs from the film”, which redirect the user to different websites in order to stream or download the music.

Within the Back to the Future website (as shown above), the tabs include: "the movies", "the cast", "bonus features", “collectibles” and more. When researching both of these websites, it is evident that as time as progressed, websites have become easier to navigate and more engaging to the viewer. The tabs are located on a separate page on the Back to the Future website on a plain black background, as opposed to the Crazy Rich Asians website where the viewer could see the tab options from the home page or pull them from the left side if their screen is minimized.

Overall, the Crazy Rich Asian website was more engaging, but it was helpful to see what elements are typically used on film websites. This definitely helped me gain a better understanding as to what to include on our website for our short film. Until next time…

                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

What are Linear & Non-Linear Narratives?

Hey guys! As I discussed a few posts ago, Nick and I were thinking of doing an alternative narrative piece for our short film. However, some of you may still be asking what does that mean? 

I found a video, which I attached below, that thoroughly explains the difference between linear and non-linear narratives. The narrator uses cheesy jokes throughout the video, but it keeps your attention. I highly recommend checking it out!

Around the fourth minute of the video, Mr Tom starts to talk about non-linear narratives and that’s when he caught my attention. In one of my previous blogs, I talked about some potential ideas we had for our short film. Although we are still undecided, this video immediately reminded me of the idea Nick had about the person with Alzheimer’s. Specifically when Mr Tom was talking about the movie, Forrest Gump. 

That’s a really similar idea Nick and I came up with! We wanted to follow the parallel structure of a man/woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at a relatively young age compared to their life as an older person, however the beginning and end of the film would somehow relate to each other. By having it explained throughout this video, it helped clear up a few questions I had settled in my mind and also provided more examples of non-linear films as well. I found this video to be really helpful and I hope it helped you guys further understand linear vs non-linear narratives. Until next time…

                                                                                                                     ~rtmedias

Sources:

https://media.giphy.com/media/5aLrlDiJPMPFS/source.gif

A Thorough Introduction

Hey guys! Before I got too far along in this project, I wanted to properly reintroduce myself and give you guys a little update on my life. I also want to introduce my partner for this upcoming short film!

In case you guys are new here, I’m Rhea Thomas! That picture above, yeah that’s me! I’m currently a senior in high school and very involved in my school’s television production program. Last year, I served as the Vice President of Membership and this year, I have had the opportunity to be the President! I am also an Associate Producer of our weekly show, Aftershock. Since I was in middle school, my two brothers and I used to argue over who gets to use my dad’s DSLR camera when we went on family vacations. Being in fifth grade, I barely knew how to use it; however since my brothers wanted it, that meant I did too! Since I was little, I’ve always had a passion for media. I used to take my parents’ phones and record random videos of my dog or family members. I didn’t realize that these goofy videos would make me realize what I wanted to pursue as I got older. Throughout 7th and 8th grade, I was apart of the film program at my middle school and as I got into high school, I joined CBTV, my school’s television production program. If you would have asked me what I wanted to become in 9th grade, I had no idea and I never imagined I would become as involved in CBTV as I am. I just knew I loved the idea of creating these tangible memories and showing off my creativity which is what lead my to join AICE Media Studies AS last year. Over the past year or so is when I finally decided I wanted to pursue a career involving media in college and beyond. I’m so excited to be studying at the University of Central Florida for the next four years and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Right above is Nicholas Ramos, but I like to call him Ramos. Nick is also a senior in high school and is in CBTV. Nick and I have been close friends for about 3 years now and we met solely from our television production program. Nick serves as the Equipment Manager for our club, so we are used to working hand-in-hand. Ramos and I have competed in tv competitions together in the past and we will be again this upcoming April for a state competition. Although he is still unsure of what he wants to be studying in college, he knows he has a passion for both film and live broadcasting. I’m so glad to be working with him on this short film. Nick is insanely talented! Through our tv production program, I’ve seen what he’s been able to do in terms of graphics and even video concepts and I can’t wait to see what we can produce together. 

                  

Be sure to keep following me along on this journey of creating our short film together! 

                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

Brainstorming!

Hey guys! As you heard from my last post, Nick and I met up yesterday and began throwing some ideas to one another. From the start, we learned that we are both want to create an alternative narrative/nonlinear film, essentially meaning the some scenes wouldn’t be placed in order. We used the app “Notes” on our iPhones to sketch out a few of our ideas.

An example of a nonlinear film. This is a draft of how the film, Eternal Sunshine is laid out.

We like the idea of making the viewer think in order to full understand the story, instead of typical films that usually spoon-feed the story to the viewer. Funny enough, we started talking about some genres and the main one we both liked was the Psychological Thriller genre. If you haven’t been following me for a while, you may not understand that this is also the same genre in which I used to create my film opening last year for AICE Media Studies AS! Be sure to check out my film opening from last year :) 

Like I was saying before, Nick had a list of a few ideas he’s thought of over time and as he started telling me each idea, I would add onto it or come up with a few different concepts. It all started with the idea of “stuck in repeat”. This could either mean that the viewer feels as if the film is being replayed due to a nonlinear storyline or the actual characters themselves are stuck in some sort of warped time zone where they are constantly repeating their actions. This was the first idea that Nick told me about and the idea he had was that it followed a male figure who killed someone. The first and last scenes of the film would be the same, however the rest of the film is used to develop the story, and at the end, the viewer realizes the male figure is the one who was killed. Shown below is a sketch of the layout for the film. The yellow circle represents the connection between the first and last scene.

As we were discussing this, we thought that this “stuck in repeat” idea is typically leads to a death within a film and we wanted to do something that hasn’t been seen before. We discussed creating a more light-hearted version of the stuck in repeat storyline but we couldn’t come up with any ideas on the spot so we moved onto the next idea.

The second main concept Nick had was surrounding the idea of ignorance is bliss. Essentially, the story would follow a young man/woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease from a young age. However, they become more content as their memories fade when they age. I really liked this idea and as we continued to discuss this type of film, we began to think of how we might be able to tie in this idea with the first one of “stuck in repeat”. We thought of showing a person’s growth and development of this disease over their lifetime and connecting the first and last scenes together. 

We kept talking about the ignorance is bliss idea and we began relating it back to the film, Momento. Within Momento, the black and white scenes were in chronological order and the scenes in color were played in the reverse order. Then I thought of creating a parallel structure of Nick’s idea of the person with Alzheimer's disease. As shown below, we could alternate scenes between the young and older versions of that person and tie in that idea of being content as their memories faded at the end.

Although these ideas aren’t fully put together, these 2 main ideas helped us come up with numerous alternate takes on them which opened up our optioned even more. As of now, we are still undecided as to which idea we want to use as our short film but I liked our thought process. Comment down below which idea is your favorite! 

                                                                                                                    ~rtmedias

Scheduling!

Hey guys! I’m finally back and we are starting to work on our short film! I can’t wait to see what my partner, Nick, and I come up with! In the mean time, Nick and I have created a schedule in which we are going to try our best to follow. 

Both Nick and myself are on the Executive Board for our television production program at school so we have a packed calendar. I serve as the President and Nick is the Equipment Manager. For the next two and a half months, it’s super busy for both of us as we continuously have meetings, practices for upcoming tv competitions (This year we are going to Washington DC! I’m so excited!) and Nick also has a job. Between all of this, we managed to create time for us to work on our project together so it’s important for us to try and stick to the schedule as much as possible! 

Here is a look at my schedule till the month of April: 

February

March

April

As you can see on the schedule, Nick and I already started to brainstorm ideas at our first meeting yesterday! Be sure to stick around for my next post to see some of our ideas :) 

                                                                                                                      ~rtmedias