Social Media (Instagram)

A component of this project involves making a social media page for our short film. I found a few pages of the films I had previously mentioned in my genre research, they were great examples of what a social media page for a film should look like.

Bottoms social media page-

The instagram page (I made this collage so it could be seen together)

The Bottoms social media has many great aspects that could be a good inspiration for our page. They have many posts, a simple bio explaining the movie, and a simple username, making their instagram easy to find. They also interact with their fans (as seen on they're highlights). They have reels with clips from the movie to hook audiences with certain parts of the movie by giving them a sneak peak, which is something Corina and I have thought of adding to our short film before researching since reels are so popular. The profile picture shows the two main characters and so do the main posts, making it clear who the protagonists will be. They also repost fan art, again interacting with their audience. 

Booksmart social media page-

The instagram page

This page also has a simple username which is easy to find, a simple bio, and many posts. They also have reels posted of clips from the movie to hook audiences, so this is for sure something Corina and I will add to our instagram, since it's a common pattern in comedy films social media pages and they have inspired us. They have pictures of the main characters throughout the film to establish their roles, which is important, and they also have videos of the script and the characters saying it side by side, which is engaging and interesting because we can see how the actors made the characters come to life.

Corina and I will work on our social media logo today and tomorrow, we will begin posting this week. We both love marketing, so we are pretty excited!

Story rough draft

We have developed the main idea for our short film, though there are still details we need to add, here is the rough draft. Our protagonists will be named Kat and Cat, which derive from Katherine and Catherine, we found Katherine on this website and we thought them having similar sounding names would be funny. When Corina and I tell people we have the same name, they usually laugh because it's such a best friend thing to match, and the fact that it's our names that are matching makes it that much better. 

Our main characters have been friends since the third grade, they are in senior year and have theatre class together and make a pact to to get their dream girls (hence the lgbtq+ representation I've been mentioning). Cat likes a girl who is a bit on the mysterious side, she thinks she might be straight and that she wont have a chance. Kat likes a girl who seems to like her back, but she sorta leads her on in a way.

Though this sound a lot like a romance, there is a lot of characters that make this a comedy, for instance, a character will be that will be a bit hard on herself and overthink everything to the point where the best friends think she's a bit crazy. Kat and Cat are in a theatre class, and a lot of awkward things happen here (me and my project partner were together in middle school for two years, so we deeply respect theatre,  but a lot of funny things would happen in that class that have given us great ideas) so that will also be a big role into the comedy aspects. Kat and Cat will also be a bit girl crazy when trying to get their crushes, which will play a big part into the comedy aspect.

Last but not least

 I have done research on comedy with examples of the genre for my last few blog posts, there are two more pieces I want to discuss that have helped fuel my understanding of comedy.

Example 1:

English Teacher

English Teacher was recommended by my teacher, I gave it a shot and I absolutely loved this show. It is about a English Teacher who deals with all the crazy parts of being a teacher as well as his many different situations being a gay man, so this show also has lgbtq+ representation. The show mainly pokes fun at how high schoolers can be a lot to deal with, as well as some other things. The situations are extremely realistic but funny, which is an aspect I hope our short film can have.

Example 2:

Superbad

Superbad is a great and very beloved example of comedy. It follows two best friends through their second semester of senior year. Corina and I were obsessed with this movie when we were younger, we loved the punchlines and jokes, even over a decade later, this movie is so hilarious and funny. The differences in the two main characters made the jokes so much funnier, so that's good to keep in mind in case it inspires us, however, I think we want our characters to be sort of similar, but not the same.

Genre genre genre

In my last post, I discussed some examples of the genre we want to convey along with some comedy research about comedic timing. Since comedy can be hard to convey, there is a few more examples I have in mind that will help me understand comedy more profoundly!

Examples 1:

Booksmart (2019)

Booksmart is a great example for a comedy, it follows two best friends (we have been planning to have two best friends in our piece) on their last day of high school who have been "nerds" throughout high school and they go to a party to live the typical party scene. There is a lot of comedy throughout the film and it's great, though this piece is from a few years ago, it's just as funny as when it came out. It also has lgbtq+ representation, which is something our film hopes to have. 

Here are the best friends from the film!

Example 2-

Pen 15

Pen 15 is a show that follows two best friends in middle school going through the typical awkward phase that occurs during middle school. The show is very funny and the comedic timing is amazing, all the jokes are well played out and will have you laughing for quite a while. The dynamic between the two best friends is very realistic and they tell a lot of jokes about the people around them, which could be something that may inspire our film, since it helped make the show really funny.

Genre Research

When Corina (my project partner) and I began to think of our genre of choice, we immediately thought about a few movies we both absolutely adore. These movies have helped us understand the overall genre of comedy because these movies have great comedic timing, which according to this article is very important. Comedic timing is important so that the actual delivery of jokes is funny, we must work on this so that our short film can be funny. The following movies are great at this timing.

Comedy movie 1:

Bottoms (2023)

One of Corina and I's favorite movies is Bottoms, it is a comedy that surrounds two girls who are starting a fight club at school to get their crushes to join it. This film has romantic aspects (trying to get their crushes) but it is a comedy first, which is something that has inspired us since we want our short film to be a comedy with some aspects on romance. This movie is also big on lgbtq+ representation, which we plan to have in our short film. 

Comedy movie 2:

But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

This film makes fun of conversion therapy, how terrible it is, and how it does not work. It involves a cheerleader being sent to it but has a lot of comedy aspects, it makes fun of the ridiculous things that are done in the films conversion therapy and how they are useless. This film also represents lgbtq+ relationships and has aspects of romance, but again, it's main focus is comedy. Even years later, this film is funny, it has jokes that everyone could laugh at. It is a great example of a comedy that has aspects of romance.

Project schedule

 As we begin this project, we know we need to stay organized. Last year, i developed a project schedule to stay organized, which helped immensely. Since it's been a while, i found an article speaking about tips for making a schedule for a short film. It speaks about how though there may be obstacles, we must try and stick to the schedule the most that we can, which I agree with, for the most part, i stuck with my schedule last year, and I think if i hadn't I would've been a lot more stressed. 

I thought this image was very true to how life can go when you have a schedule, but, it's totally possible to stick to it. 

Anyway, here is my schedule for now:

2/15 to 3/9:

During this time, my project partner and i will be doing genre research, making our story board, script, and any sort of outlines. We will also make out shooting dates based on our availability and what we have going on outside of school. We will also be figuring out how we will go about the social media pages we must make. This time will pretty much the planning stage, which is really important so that we can make a good production. People underestimate how much planning can help a production, but it is crucial so that things can go smoothly.

3/10 to 3/30:

During this time, we will be shooting our short film, we will be taking weeks to do this since over shooting always helps when making a piece. We want it to be a comedy and have a very specific vision for this short film, so we want to make sure we do things right. We will also begin to edit during this time since that may take a while. Spring break occurs during this time, so we will try to use this time since we won't have school. I will also begin to research for my critical reflection during this time.

3/30 to 4/9: 

Here, I will continue my critical reflection research as well as writing it, I will finish the project and post everything to my blog!

Portfolio Project (project choice!)

 Hello! It's time to start my portfolio project, yay!! This is year I will be working with one of my best friends since the 6th grade, Corina (we have the same name, partially the reason we became friends). Corina and I have decided to partner up because we want to make a comedy short film (with aspects of romance). We have similar humor and like similar things (since we basically grew up together) that can help inspire our short film. We decided to do a short story because we had an idea for a story with a beginning, middle, and end. 

We also both want to study communications in college, therefore, we both love marketing, which we need to do for this short film by making an instagram and a post card for a film festival. We both have good ideas for this aspect of the project that align, so we are also very excited to begin this aspect of the project.

I found this comedy short film, which I found to be a really good example

Though we want our story to have some aspects of romance, we found this to be a really solid example of comedy, especially since that is the main premise of the film. I loved how this short film had a clear beginning, middle, and end, which is something my project partner and I really need to make sure is clear, and  may be difficult to do in only five minutes, but this example helps me understand how that can be done in a short amount of time. The short film aspect is perfect since we know we want to have a full storyline, we had thought about doing trailers but we ultimately decided this would be the best choice for us. I'm so excited to begin this project!