I have run into trouble.

 Hello. 

That was a more somber greeting than normal, I hope you noticed. It's because I am in a horrible mood, to be honest. So that idea I had, about the teeth? That wasn't even an idea really, just a bunch of small possible concepts I could work with? But it was all I had? You guys know what I'm talking about??

IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER!!! AT ALL!!!! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT???? IT SUCKS!!! SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!

I have come to some realizations. There are a lot of possible obstacles with this whole quirky tooth concept I had:

1. I do not have A CHILD!!! How am I supposed to create a cute little short film about losing teeth when the people who lose teeth are CHILDREN?? I am the youngest sibling. I do not necessarily have the resources to cast a child either. Most of my friends don't even have little siblings that I could even work with. 
2. How am I supposed to produce this? A tooth is SO SMALL. Like it's minuscule. What was I planning on doing? A voiceover for the super tiny tooth? Working with the distance of objects from the camera like they did in The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings? Who do I think I am??? Also, how is it going to move? Stop motion? A little string? Come on Juli. 
3. Following #2, this piece would really only work well if it were animated. Here's the thing, though: I do not have the time, NOR the talent, to animate. So there goes that. 

So, what have we learned here? 

This is a horrible idea and I need to trash it. I would say that I overestimated my time and skill set, but that isn't even the case. It wasn't blissful ignorance or confidence in my abilities. I was honestly just thrilled at the fact that I had somewhat of an idea, finally. 

Now, I must find another idea, soon. This is me right now:

Fun fact: This can be applied to this project AND my life in general! How super hilarious is that! 

It'll be okay though. I'm gonna figure this out. I promised you all a very cool project, and a very cool project you will get. 

Goodbye. 

brainstorming !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi blog! I have to say, things are looking slightly better but still not good enough. I can't help but think that my frustration due to the lack of a solid idea for my short film is not helping me. I just feel mad that I haven't struck a pot of gold in my brain and pulled out this incredible idea out of nowhere. Lots of self-doubt going on right now but trying to push past it because my entire blog cannot consist of self-deprecating humor. That would be mildly concerning for my audience.

Anyways, I've been doing some brainstorming! Yay! It's a stressful process, but I know only good things come out of it. I was talking to my dad about this project. He is a director, and unlike me, comes up with a lot of ideas for short stories in his free time. He just normally does nothing with them, as he can't execute every idea that pops into his head. (Luckily, my integrity is intact as I have forced myself to come up with an original idea.) I told my dad about my lead into the whole tooth idea, and we began bouncing ideas off of each other. I've always liked to brainstorm with other people, as I think that other people's ideas can always provide inspiration. 

So, something I really liked was the idea of shooting from the point of view of the tooth. This could be done with a lot of shots from a low angle, maybe including parents comforting a crying child, or a pillow being lifted off the bed as someone checks to see whether the tooth is still there. I think that could be cute. 

Or, I could go in the direction of the tooth fairy. Maybe the tooth fairy is this totally unconventional character (Think "Tooth Fairy" featuring Dwayne the Rock Johnson, 2010) 

I could also do a tooth waiting room! I also really liked this idea. Say the tooth is waiting to be accepted into whatever tooth database, and the receptionist is all like "Sorry, we have no records of blah blah" and the tooth goes into a total crisis because he suddenly apparently doesn't exist. I don't know, saying it aloud makes it sound a little dumb.

Maybe the tooth character is broken, and he is running around, trying to find the other pieces of him? Maybe this tooth is in a zoom call because the waiting room is not functioning mid-pandemic? Honestly, scratch that. I'm sick of pandemic humor. Those Progressive commercials are getting on my last nerve. 

The tooth in zoom call mid-pandemic.

My mom also kept all my teeth that I lost as a child. She insists this is not a creepy thing to do because "baby teeth are cute and she is my mom and wants to keep memories of my childhood," but it's giving me some weird vibes. But I could include a shot with that at some point! My dad suggested that sometimes it is easier to develop a story starting with its ending, but with all these possible ideas, it is hard for me to picture an ending.

I swear I'm trying you guys. Bear with me, please.

 

I have somewhat of an idea!

 Hello everyone!! I bring good news! I have been inspired slightly!

Okay so the past weeks have consisted of me racking my brain for any sort of creativity. Multiple times a day, I've tried drawing inspiration from the most random things, in the hopes that one would create at least a semi-decent premise for my short film. While I am not convinced this will be my final idea, I think I will just have to run with it because I have a deadline and I am getting way too far into this project without even having a plot.

So, my brother came down for the weekend to celebrate mine and my dad's birthdays. We were looking for some documents of his for his university when we found a bunch of old drawings from when we were kids and other old items to reminisce about. We found a letter he had written to the tooth fairy the first time he had ever lost a tooth. 

This led me to think about creating a short story about the tooth fairy. I think it would be super cute if I took this in a childish direction. Maybe "Toy Story" inspired, as in what happens with the teeth when humans aren't watching. I know this is not the most solid idea yet, but it is the closest to an idea that I have gotten. Any inspiration at this point has to be pushed along. I will be back when this idea is further developed. So far this blog is not as awesome as it could be, so my apologies. 

Group Meetings (except not really because I'm still alone in my bedroom)

Hi everyone! Hope your week isn't feeling as long as mine!!

It's my birthday today!! I am 18 years old!! Everything is good except I was expecting to wake up a year older and with an idea for my short film. Unfortunately, I only woke up a year older. I feel a lot like this:

On the brighter side of things, today we had our group meetings. I'm not attending school so I was able to do this from the comfort of my bed. My teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, put us in breakout rooms. I took notes from the meeting on my phone:

While it was kind of hard to share that much in this meeting considering I do not have an idea of what to do yet. It was kind of comforting to hear that some of my classmates didn't have an idea yet either, though. I feel better, especially considering that I know the less I force it, the better the idea will be. Obviously, I have to force it a little though, considering this project is due in like a month and a half?? That is so soon oh my god. I'm not even kidding just typing that out hit me like a bus. WOW. Okay anyways, I did learn some good things today! A classmate suggested a website called shortoftheweek.com. This should help bring some inspiration, I hope. I also got the idea of creating a pros and cons list when debating ideas for my short film. This will be especially efficient for me because I am insanely indecisive and struggle to find the benefits in almost every single decision I ever make. I also realized I need to focus on my editing, as I don't really know what I'm doing! I have a school computer that has Adobe Premiere Pro, which is a really good program that I honestly do not know how to use. Last year, I was not in charge of editing in my group. I used a program called WeVideo to edit my CCR, which was simple enough to use. My plan is to attempt to use Premiere and see if I can get a hang of it; if not, WeVideo it is. I am also planning on setting up a calendar for myself, mostly because I procrastinate sooooooooooo much. I think that will help keep me on schedule. 

Other than that, I spent most of the meeting battling my internal raging jealousy for my classmates that seemed to be much more prepared than I was. I'm trying not to start freaking out about not having an idea yet, but I am failing miserably. Hopefully my next post I will return with the most awesome idea that will blow your heads off. Ciao!! 

Stranded!!

 Hey guys! So remember I told you I was going on vacation? I came to North Carolina for the weekend with my boyfriend and his family to go snowboarding for my birthday. Honestly, I had a lot of fun. But I was kind of expecting this drastic change in location to punch me in the face with a huge, groundbreaking idea for my short film. Maybe like a cute little winter-themed idea? It is crazy how it didn't work this way and I still feel blocked. 

To make matters even better, I missed my flight! So, now I am writing this blog for you all on my phone at 1 in the morning, on the cold, cold floor of the airport. Perhaps I will make my short story about an idiot girl who arrives at the airport 10 minutes late and has to pay an extra $100 for a flight back a day later, only to end up getting murdered by her parents when she gets home. 

Just kidding! That is too morbid for my taste. I apologize if my blogs are a little boring right now. I promise I'll have an idea for you soon. 

For now, here are some obstacles I have narrowed down:

• I am leaning officially towards the fantasy genre
• I will probably end up being the main actor in my short film
• While I don't love to act, I know that it will be harder to find someone in covid times. I also don't want to have to rely on someone else; they could be a bad actor, flake on me, etc.
• I want to get my shooting done before the end of this month, hopefully. That leaves me with plenty of time to edit in case I am not good at it. 

Also, I think we have group meetings coming up in class soon. Maybe I will get some inspiration from my peers, or at least some tips I could apply later. 

Inspiration!

 Hello to all my beautiful and amazing blog readers! Hope you guys are having a good weekend!

So I bring some bad news. I am still uncertain what to make my short film about. It's kind of stressing me out because I don't want to fall behind, but I am staying optimistic. I'm currently freezing my butt off in the cold so I am hoping some inspiration is drawn from my misery. Most artists create their best art from pain! I will not be an exception. 

To keep me productive, I've been researching some short films. I still am not set on a genre either, so I decided to focus on short films that told a story well. Here are some examples:

If Anything Happens I Love You

This is a heartbreaking short film about parents who struggle with their grief after losing their daughter to a school shooting. While I wouldn't create an animated film, nor do I want to create a sad film, this piece tells a story very well. It creates an emotional connection with the audience, which is something I would like to do as well. (to a lesser extent- this is a sensitive subject) Even though it is short, through the use of flashbacks and a montage of the daughter growing up, they fit an entire childhood in the piece. The story is developed well and I hope that I can create something with a functioning timeline.

Piper

This is a really cute short film! It inspired me mostly in the fact that it has a super interesting yet insanely simple plot. It is just about a little baby bird trying to manage life on the beach, but you still find yourself super attached and drawn in. This showed me that my short film doesn't have to be this super crazy intricate idea, but rather something I know people will watch. 

Did you miss me??

Hi everyone!! It's been a while since I last posted for you guys. But I am officially back and ready to start my portfolio project for A level!!

So as of right now, I am a little stuck. I have decided I want to do the short film package, but I'm not entirely sure what my film would be about, or even what genre I want to do. This weekend I will be going on a trip to North Carolina to ski, so hopefully, my traveling brings some inspiration. 

For now, I am certain of a few things:

• I do not want to create a horror film
• I am leaning towards fantasy/drama 
• Maybe even a psychological thriller? This feels like a stretch, and I would only do so if I came up with a really good idea.

I am determined to produce something for you all that is 10 times better than my previous portfolio assignment. As you may recall, I dropped the ball a little. To be honest, I was struggling with my mental health and didn't prioritize this project the way I should have, and the pandemic did not help much. I decided to work alone this year because this way, I am forced to rely on myself only and I know that kind of pressure will only motivate me more. 

I am going to try to rack my brain for ideas for my short film. Hopefully, I think of something soon. I shall leave you all in suspense.