Blog Post #45: Risk Assessments

Since my film includes a few scenes where the actant could get hurt, I will be doing risk assessments to help prevent possible legal cases with them due to injuries on set. 

I cannot do a chart on blogger, so I will do a simple listing of my risk assessments. 

Risk: Collision with hammer

Who is at risk?: The actor

What can be done to avoid the risk?: I will use an adult crew member to teach the actor how to properly use a hammer without injuring themselves. 

Is the risk high, medium, or low?: Low

Risk: Glue chemical burn

Who is at risk?: The actor

What can be done to avoid the risk?: I will use an adult crew member to teach the actor how to properly use glue without injuring themselves. 

Is the risk high, medium, or low?: Low

Risk: Over-exposure to blue light

Who is at risk?: The actor

What can be done to avoid the risk?: I will use an adult crew member to teach the actor how to properly use a computer without injuring themselves. 

Is the risk high, medium, or low?: Low

Risk: Accidental injury due to the record player

Who is at risk?: The actor

What can be done to avoid the risk?: I will use an adult crew member to teach the actor how to properly use a record player without injuring themselves. 

Is the risk high, medium, or low?: Low

Risk: Collision with background actors

Who is at risk?: The actor and other actors

What can be done to avoid the risk?: I will choose a specific direction for each character to walk in to avoid accidental collision between them all.

Is the risk high, medium, or low?: Low

Doing this risk assessment allowed me to see behind all the risks that could possibly come with filming a short film. While they are all low risks, they're all very important in my eyes because I cannot have an actor sue due to the fact that I didn't prepare them for these small things. So, to prevent future lawsuits against myself, I am creating an agreement that my participants have to sign for legal purposes. 

Using ChatGPT, I created the perfect waiver to use on every actor in my film.

Here was what I inputted:

Here was what I got as a result:

Now, for easier reads, here is the complete waiver for my actors:

SIMPLE ACTOR WAIVER

I, ____________________, agree to participate in the production ____________________ and understand that acting may involve risks such as using props (including tools like hammers), equipment (such as computers or record players), contact with materials like glue, moving around sets, and possible accidental collisions with other performers. I agree to follow all safety instructions and use props and equipment only as directed. I accept these risks and agree not to hold the Director, Producer, crew, or production company responsible for injuries that occur during normal production activities, except in cases of gross negligence or intentional harm. If I am injured and unable to respond, I authorize the production to seek medical care for me, and I understand I am responsible for any medical costs. I sign this agreement voluntarily.

Actor Signature: ____________________  Date: __________

Printed Name: ____________________

Director/Producer Signature: ____________________  Date: __________

I will print this out and hand it to my actors to sign so that they can participate in my short film without suing me for personal damages or injury.

Blog Post #44: Fourth Instagram Post

Since my last Instagram post got a reply, I decided to make another Instagram post advocating for mental health in teenagers. However, this time I will choose a horizontal layout along with data on teenagers who are in the LGBTQ+ community. This post will have an impact on the awareness of my film because people interested in the statistics of this community will read my post and see that it's for my short film. They will then follow along for my short film development and allow others to discover my film. Also, along with this post, I will be creating Instagram highlights featuring the props that I showed in my last post. This highlight will be labeled with a singular emoji- the film emoji. 

To start, I will insert a couple quotes of my research with teenagers and mental health when compared to being in the LGBTQ+ community. 

From thetrevorproject.org, there is information from a U.S. national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people (a.k.a. teenagers). 

Some key findings from this survey were:

• "50% of LGBTQ+ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it."
• "Nearly half (49%) of LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-17 experienced bullying in the past year."
• "66% of LGBTQ+ young people reported experiencing recent symptoms of anxiety, including over 7 in 10 transgender and nonbinary young people (71%) and nearly 3 in 5 cisgender young people (58%)."

I believe that this information is significant to include in my instagram post because there is such a large amount of teenagers who go without treatment, and especially teenagers who are in the LGBTQ+ community. These are serious statistics based on just a survey alone, which may not even go over the entire community, so my Instagram post will express the mistaken beauty behind these teenagers and their mental health. 

Here was the original layout for the "brochure." 

Here is the finished product. As you can see, I changed the background image to a sunset, I added the information in from the trevorproject.org, and I even cited them. I also included the title of my short film at the top of the brochure. I believe that this neutral image is in a big contrast with regular brochures for LGBTQ+ mental health. Usually, they include pride flags and rainbows, but I wanted my post to stand out among the usual ones. 

Then, I uploaded the png to Instagram and chose to use the caption "It matters. They matter. You matter." along with hashtags to spread the word about my post. I feel like my caption adds depth to the post and it makes it emotional for audiences who understand the struggles behind the mental health when it's related to the LGBTQ+ community. 

Here are the stories that I posted on Instagram. Since Instagram only keeps these posts up for 24 hours, I chose to make a highlight featuring these props. 

Here is where I actually started to create the highlight:

Now, you can see these props on my profile immediately. I believe that choosing to use highlights for my process will help with gaining audiences.

Blog Post #43: Third Instagram Post

To give an emphasis on my film's elements, I will post something else on Instagram. In my Instagram post, I will display a small "sneak peak" of my film. Since the "get ready with me" posts are trending on every social media app, I will create a slideshow of small elements in my film. I will have different photos of props featured in my film which can help audiences piece together this small portion of my Instagram post, just like my main character will piece together their pic collage in the final scene. 

The props that I'm going to include are a laptop, pencil and paper, a hoodie, a hammer, and a nail. 

Here are the photos that I will be using in the slideshow along with the reasons as to why I chose to model them like that:

First, here is the photo of the computer. This photo can show the prop while allowing audiences to see that the short film is a work in progress. Being able to see the other elements on the laptop give audiences more of an inside view of what truly goes into making a short film which can make them feel like they may know more about it than others.

I chose to make this photo blurry on purpose. Since it's blurry you can see every element in the frame, but not up close. This can come off as a psychological effect since the last photo in the slideshow wasn't blurry at all. I want audiences to feel confused by the blank sheet of paper, but there's a meaning behind it. "You have to write your own story."

In this photo, I feature some of the clothing that will be used in the film, but there's a specific focus on the black sweatshirt. The different focuses can make the photo seem more professional, but the unorganized closet can make audiences understand that the main character is younger. The dark sweatshirt compared to the rest of the clothing can also represent the changes that will happen in the film because it goes from a struggling teenager to an accepting one.

This photo features a workbench, but the main focus is the rusty hammer and nail. I think the unorganized workbench creates a familiarity in audience members because usually workbenches aren't organized in a regular household. I included the part of the photo that isn't on the workbench to let audiences see that it's very cluttered as well.

Now, the caption on my Instagram post will be somewhat mysterious to keep these elements' true purpose from coming out. To peak curiosity, I will only include the date of the day that Instagram was actually released to the public. This date is "October 6, 2010." While I could type it out normally, I'm choosing to type it out as "10.6.10." which is a common format for significant dates.

Here is the overview of my Instagram post.

Blog Post #42: Post Card Recreation

So, since my other post card just wasn't living up to its expectations in my mind, I decided to remake it. My other post card did not have everything that a usual short film would have on it. This will only be a template for now until I insert the actual photo of my character and their surroundings into it. 

Here is my last post card: 

I feel like it would be okay if it weren't for the medals and the boring fonts, so when I remake it I will choose a bubbly font with less words in the short summary. I will also include the back side of the post card in this after more research on short film festivals and their actual awards.

What I mean by researching awards, is to find the actual images of the awards on short films. Usually, whenever a short film is good, they have awards from the specific film festival that the short film was featured in. For example, this image is one of the awards that could be seen on a thumbnail:

I think the most common thing about these awards is the leaves around them. Whether they're gold, black, or a different solid color, they're a symbol for high honor. This is what my film will be, so I am going to include these leaves in the post card instead of just regular awards. 

One thing I've noticed about most short film posters is the small text. This small text usually has all the credits for the smaller artists who contributed to the film. So, my version of this will be "Supervising Sound Editor GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Post Production Supervisor KAITLYN LUDINGTON Cinematography GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Digital Cinematography ERIC LUDINGTON Music Consultant GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Editor GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Production Design ANITA LUDINGTON Executive Producers BRAETON KOENIG and KAITLYN LUDINGTON Producer GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Story by GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Produced by GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON Witten and Directed by GENEVIEVE LUDINGTON"

I added so many "Ludingtons" into the text for a humorous yet eye-catching effect because it's not very often that you see an entire family working on a short film because usually families have their different interests. 

The process:

Obviously, this was the starting point which I have already explained.

Then, I decided to clear off all of the text on the image.

Here's where the awards come into play. I decided to use the Canva AI bot to edit the text on the awards to what would apply to my film.

I made some errors using the bot, but it was fairly easy to fix them due to the easy access that the bot has.

Unfortunately, the bot did not offer a remove background option, so I used a different website to remove the white background behind the leaves and text so that the award would be seamless. I used removebg.com for this step.

Then, to get a more accurate view of what a real review would be like, I used some reviews on IMBD.com from real users. I used the titles on their reviews for the most simplicity. 

The finished result: 

This is the finished result! I also included the short film title, along with the production name, credits towards the main character, and credits for the smaller editors and other workers in the film. For the background image, I will probably use one dramatic photo that is unreleased on social media. The photo will be a mid shot of the main character while a computer screen glows on their face. 

Blog Post #41: Second Instagram Post

For my second Instagram post, I'm going to use an advertisement. This advertisement will be for mental health statistics related to social media. It may seem ironic that it will be posted on a social media platform, but I believe that the word will be spread a little easier, and audiences will understand a little bit of what the film is actually about without the full plot being exposed.

Here is my reference for this instagram post while I make it:

While this is nothing special, I believe that this form of advertisement will have a more impactful appearance on audiences due to the information that it has inside of it. However, this is only inspiration, and I will not be using that much information on it since I want the advertisement on Instagram to be short and sweet- not too wordy.

To start, I'm going to find common statistics that social media has in relation with the mental health of teenagers. For a piece of evidence, I will use this quote from yalemedicine.org. "According to a research study of American teens ages 12-15, those who used social media over three hours each day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms." 

For my second piece of evidence, I will use a quote from hhs.gov. "Children and adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. And when asked about the impact of social media on their body image, 46% of adolescents aged 13-17 said social media makes them feel worse."

I will be using these quotes because I feel like they accurately respond to the situation based on mental health.

 So, to create this "flyer" I'm going to use Canva. I will show my process below.

Step one... find a good flyer layout. Check! This flyer uses the bubbly font that most teenagers would be attracted to.

So, at this point, I've replaced the main title to one more fitting for the instagram post. Then, I decided to delete the "Paguetes" because the website would not let me change the text, and I thought that the whole flyer would be too much for the human eye to read and still be interested in.

As you can see, I inserted the quotes that I chose earlier on and I changed the other texts on the flyer. Also, I needed another piece of evidence for my "hot take", so I used part of a title from a CNN article which was "Nearly half of teens say social media is bad for youth mental health."

Here it is: the finished product. This flyer did not take me long, but I feel like it will have enough of an influence on people to the point where it will grab their attention.

Blog Post #40: Storyboard Pt.2

Since I created my chart for the plot of my film, I decided to finish the rest of my storyboard. The second part of my storyboard does not have any drastic elements in it, but I believe that it accurately displays my film in the way that I need audiences to see it as. 

So, here is the overview of my storyboard:

From afar, you cannot see every element of the storyboard, so I will go over each scene individually.

Starting with scene 11:

This is scene 11, it depicts how the main character doesn't feel as much anger towards their own phone anymore because their surroundings are settling down. It also includes a close-up of the main character which I believe is important to the scene so that the audiences can understand the intensity of the scene- how it isn't too bad.

This is scene 12, it shows the main character turning off the record player. Them stopping this record player can show that they're embracing everything that's wrong with their life. I think that this scene would be important for the purpose of my film because the whole point of it is to show how teenagers grow and shape themselves individually. For this scene I would use foley sounds, which I will create in a later blog post.

This is scene 13, the music obviously turns off, and it continues from the last scene. There is a pan going from the main character to their parents, who are now less argumentative. I think that parental problems at home can usually reflect how a teenager acts in other places, so this will represent those situations that happen to some teenagers.

This is scene 14, it shows the two characters walking together. These two characters are actually the main character and their friend. I will use a handheld camera shot while recording the two characters walking together down the hallway. This scene will allow audiences to understand that the main character is finally stepping out of their comfort zone.

This is scene 15, it shows the main character at work in their seat. There's distant sounds of people talking in the room (I will use foley for this), and the main character will hum. This scene will represent their acceptance of society and how often it changes. 

This is scene 16, it shows the main character working with their laptop while their phone buzzes on the table. This scene adds depth to the short film, especially since audience members will hear the familiar sound.

This is scene 17, it will show a closeup of the main character deleting social media apps. This will make teenagers feel somewhat of an urge to delete their social medias as well, after seeing the affect that it has on younger people. This scene will then fade into the next.

This is scene 18, it will show the main character cutting together and piecing together a pic collage of nature and photos that they feel a connection to. This scene will spark a curiosity in audiences because all of the photos together in a pic collage isn't something that people usually see. 

This is scene 19, it will show the main character putting the pic collage against their wall. This will show the audiences just how important the pic collage is to them. Since it's hung up on the wall, it can resemble their own expression.

This is the last scene! In scene 20, it has a first person point of view paired with foley sound of a hammer hitting a nail. This scene shows the handiwork of the main character which may seem out of character for a teenager, but it will show their efforts to change as a person. Then, the scene will end with a mid shot of the main character, and then it will fade out.

Overall, I believe that the second part of my storyboard will take longer to show, but it will give my character a better backstory for audience members. My second part also show the climax and falling actions of the plot, which will allow audience members to feel relief when they see that the main character finally feels happy with themself.

Blog Post #39: Proportioning in Film

To proportion my film in a way that makes audiences feel every aspect of my film. Most films use a three act structure which consists of 25% setup, 50% conflict, and 25% resolution. Since my film is going to be 5 minutes, I need to figure out how to divide it into three parts like that. To plan out my film, I am going to be using a plot structure chart. 

Here is what the chart looks like:

Exposition: An exposition is basically the introduction of the characters and setting in the plot. For my exposition, I will be displaying my main character in their surroundings as they enter the school climate. The settings will be obvious to my target audience, which is mostly teenagers in high school or graduates. The exposition will start to show some of the main character's behaviors, but nothing serious will reveal itself until the rising action.

Rising Action: The rising action is what leads to the climax or the peak of the plot development in a movie. I plan to have the rising action be the main character's parents fighting and not understanding each other while the main character deals with the social struggles of being a teenager. What I mean by social struggles is the fact that social media has such a large presence, and cyber bullying as well. 

Climax: The climax is when the plot is revealed entirely. For the climax of my film, I will be showing my main character actually understanding themselves as a person which is when they start to change their clothing and how they project themselves towards people. 

Falling Action: The falling action is usually what deescalates the plot from the climax, which can bring audiences to a conclusion. The falling action in my film will be the main character actually calming down. They won't be freaking out over social media anymore, and they might even delete some apps that bring them down mentally. 

Denouement: The denouement is basically just the conclusion of a movie. For the ending, I want to include a scene where the main character does a pic collage of all the things that bother them. Then, they will hang up the pic collage with a hammer and a nail. The short film will then end with just the pic collage as the center piece while the video fades out.

Basically, I did this chart to understand how to fulfill the needs for a better and put together short film. This helped me develop the rest of my storyboard and it has given me a good idea of how to properly distribute the film into thirds while keeping the plot secure.

Blog Post #38: Makeup Designs

Since my film focuses on teenagers, I will use the most natural makeup designs as possible. To understand more about the makeup designs that I could be using for my film, I'm going to use an article from Stringline motion pictures. 

The article goes over why actors may need to have makeup on for the sensitive cameras or for their blemishes. It also goes over the "no makeup" look, which I need to learn about and take into consideration when I'm filming my short film. This look is to give off the professional face with no visible flaws, but it brings out the actor's natural features which can give them a more natural appearance. 

To create this look, makeup artists often use matte powders, matte foundations, and a neutral palette to pull off this look. While men's makeup is different than a woman's in film, the effects are still the same. Makeup artists color correct their skin, groom their facial hair, powder bald spots, and use eye drops to make their eyes pop.

The article also goes over the best products to use for a film which are concealers, color correctors, foundations, and powders. For concealer, the "Valerie Beverly Hills Hocus Pocus Concealer" is good for concealing imperfections of the skin. For color correctors, the "Joe Blasco Neutralizer" can be used as a tattoo coverup due to the strong effect that it has. For foundation, the "Make Up For Ever HD Fluid Foundation" was made for HD screens because of the medium coverage and blurred look that it has on skin. Now, as for powder, the best one is "Ben Nye Bella Luxury Powder" which ties up the rest of the elements.

Overall, these tips and tricks helped with my understanding of the film and they will help me create the natural effect that I need to create.

Blog Post #37: Props

To create a better film, I need to understand how to perfectly create and use props. Right off the bat, I want to use a laptop like in my storyboard, a phone, and even a brush. While these props may not seem like they're special, they will add to the naturalistic effect of my film. Since I want this to be an accurate film, I'm going to choose props that will display how a teenager functions.

Obviously, props can be anything. However, technology is going to be the most important prop because it has such a big role in my film. In my film, I will go over the negative effects of technology in teenagers because there is so much hate and negativity online that may encourage or disgrace people now, especially teenagers since they're growing a mindset. 

I will be using my regular devices because since I am a teenager myself, I figure it will be best to use something that my film's target audience already has. As for the surrounding props, I think that just a pen and a piece of paper should do just fine for a regular scene in my film, though. Of course, I plan on writing something down on the piece of paper beforehand so that it looks like the main character actually wrote something. I also plan on creating a cluttered area in their room. So, I can use props like blankets, stuffed animals, and even some trash like finished soda cans. 

 

I think that adding the element of "messiness" will show how a teenager's brain is- disorganized. All of these props will help me create the perfect film due to the fact that they're easily recognizable.

Blog Post #36: Styling Hair, Mise-en-scene

In order to get the entire idea of my film down, I need to learn how to style the hair in the way that I want it to look like. Mise-en-scene is a very important part of any film, so that's why I want to capture the audiences with an appearance that looks natural. I don't want to make it seem like my film is artificial, so I want to figure out how artists make hair look normal. 

Film artists often use a combination of hyper-realistic, custom fitted wigs with delicate hairlines, and expert styling. My main concern is with maintaining hair, though. So, to figure out how to maintain a hairstyle, I am using an article by Alicia Van Couvering. This article is called "Secrets of the Glam Squad: Inside the World of Film Hair and Makeup Departments."

Sarah Hindsgaul, who's a hairstylist that worked with the actors in "Sleepwalk with Me and Almost Christmas," had a couple tips for hair in film. She said that to cover up a bald spot, people should use keratin fibers. Also, a dry shampoo that helps with hair oils is Bumble. And for the most important part that I worry about the most, she said that to tame on-set frizz, people should use Tancho Tique styling stick. This product is usually anywhere from 12 to 22 dollars, which is a good deal considering how good it is. 

Overall, the styling of hair will be incredibly important for my film, so I will take Sarah Hindsgaul's tips with consideration.