Translating Pictures to Words

     A good friend once told me that a good script should also be a good read, which is why they prefer not to include directions such as shots, cuts, or behind the scenes actions in it in order to avoid breaking the immersion. Now I agree, a script should be a good read. But I WANT TO WRITE THOSE DIRECTIONS! Whenever I have an idea I like, I always try to write it down somewhere before I forget it. Which is why, whenever I write a script, and I'm immersed in my own train of ideas. I always get the urge to write down the directions for those ideas.

    For example, in every script I've written for informational videos,  I always write down the composition of the shot, the movement of the camera, and the edits being made. It helps me get a better sense of the whole this way. I can translate everything that is going through my mind into words. Which is why it pains me whenever I try to write a script without those directions. I can only do so much describing the environment and actions of the characters. I need to describe exactly what the camera is showing, and how it is showing it to us. What if I forget it? What if I look back at the script and can no longer visualize the film in the way I did before. What if I can't visualize it at all. 

    Now there are solutions to this problem. I can always create a shot list to refer to while filming, that way I still have the shots written down somewhere. So for this script, I decided to challenge myself, and avoid writing any sort of behind the scenes directions, what is read is what the audience knows. I'll admit, this was quite the challenge for me. I ended up splitting up the time between writing a script and writing a shot list since the ideas were flowing at the same time. However I think I've come up with something that works pretty well as a stand alone read. 

Take A Gander

Scheduling Is Hard When You're A Busy Person

     While many people may be starting to film their projects within the coming weeks, Tai and I are very much so stuck in the rut of trying to find an adequate amount of time to do so. For context, the level of work we have (specifially for a class/club we're in) takes up a majority of our time already.

    For both of us, there are a set list of responsibilities we have. We're both participating in a competition that has us practicing for 8+ hours every weekend. Thats almost a whole day we could be using to film. Additionally, we're both part of a class that has us making an almost weekly 20 minute show. While Tai has to make a video almost every week, I am one of the people actually producing the show so both of our time is taken up by either video production or having to manage everyone making a video. Remember that competition I mentioned before? Yeah for about five days we go all the way to Long Beach, California. and thats about 19 days away from today. So that almost a whole week where we can't film at all. Keep in mind this does not include the regular school work we both have. 

    So heres the solution. We'll spend this time heavily planning the film, making sure we acquire/make every prop, making sure we know where and when we're filming, and making sure we have actors, and equipment secured. We will also make sure exactly which shots we need to get and how we need to get them, making sure we have a storyboard, shot list, action list, and script. Actual production. will take place during spring break. Neither of us have plans of traveling with family and it is the only true extended free time we have. Spring break cuts it close to the deadline of the project, which is why we're heavily relying on making sure the planning is solid enough to speed up the production process.

I really hope this works.

Making My Life Harder

    I have a love hate relationship with storyboarding. For starters. I love how useful they can be in terms of providing a visual aid for the film. However, I hate how tedious it can get especially when there are certain elements of the background that are important and therefore need to be drawn. I love how easy it can be to film when I already have a storyboard but I hate how easy it can be to underestimate how much time a shot will take up depending on how many actions are in it. So when creating the storyboard for this opening, I was faced with the question of how detailed do I need it to be?

    I settled for a middle ground… initially. I often underestimate my ability to rationalize overworking myself. Story boards don’t need to be drawn perfectly but in my eyes, it it’s not perfect, it’s not good enough. Now I’m starting to sound like the characters in the opening. At one point. I took a break. There’s was a YouTube video on my feed that related to the opening. It was called “Why Artists Are Never Happy”. It caught my eye so I watched it, and it helped provide some insight into the character of my film opening. What if the old artist never did receive that first place award. Or maybe they did but they were so  blinded by their own perfectionism that they couldn’t even see it as a first place award. I thought the concept of seeing what isn’t there was cool. And I was reminded again of Black Swan and how the main character began hallucinating herself becoming a swan as the
y become more and more obsessed with perfecting the role. It got me thinking, what if the old artists paintings had all won first place? What if it was solely their own inner turmoil that kept them feeling inadequate?

    This ended up helping the overall development of the storyboard seeing as I could use little bits of set design to give away more information about the charcter without expicitly saying too much. I ended up being able to finish the first minute and a half or so of the film openings story board. Whilst there are a few set details that still need ironing out, at least we have the basics down. Ironically this also helped sooth a bit of the perfectionist attitude I had towards creating the storyboard, which ultimately helped me move foward at a faster pace.

Money Is Scarce and Inflation Is A (insert not nice word)

    You would think that an artist like myself have an over abundance of art supplies at the ready. We’ll you thought wrong. You see my walls may be lined with painting after painting but my art supply collection is quickly diminishing. Which means, if Tai and I want to make a bunch of paintings in order to cover the walls of the set, we’re going to have to buy supplies. You don’t really realize how expensive something is until you’re forced to buy a lot of it. And as someone running on the salary of a jobless high school student, this isn’t the most ideal situation to be in.

    So the plan became, come up with a budget. Find the cheapest art supplies on the market and guesstimate how much of each we’ll need. The first step was to figure out what we did have. Tai has 5 small canvases (it isn’t enough to cover a wall but it will minimize costs a bit) as well as paintbrushes we can use. She also has a tarp we can use to protect the surface we’re painting on. I also have paintbrushes (granted they are a bit beat up). We both have paint palettes to put the paint in and I have a miniature easel. Now we need to figure out what we don’t have.

    I started with paint. Because the artist characters do canvas painting, theirs really only two options of paint: Acrylic and Oil. Now I love Bob Ross but I also love not being broke and paint being dry in less than 2 days so oil paint was off the table. Acrylic paint can be found in many different varieties. It’s quick drying and easy to work with which will make the process of creating the paintings much easier given that it’s two amateurs trying to make professional looking artwork. If we were going for professional grade paint we’d likely be spending about 5 bucks per singular tube (you heard that right). So definitely not professional grade. Packs of multiple paint tubes exist (thankfully) so we decided to find one that both had a decent variety of colors while still staying cheap. You would think a retailer like Amazon would likely have a cheap set but to our surprise we can get a set of 12 paints for $10 at Micheal’s (most paint sets on Amazon are above $15) Item #1 has been added to the cart.

    What good is paint when we don’t have something to put in on! Which is why the next thing on the list is canvases. We know we need at least two big canvases for the painting being focused on in the opening. You see a funny thing about canvases is that they are usually real pricey no matter where or who you get them from. I checked the Micheal’s website first since the paint was cheaper there. And the lowest price i could get on a 16” x 20” canvas was about $13 not including tax which means if we wanted to get two we’d be spending about $26. At first I sighed in frustration and defeat. But then I thought about checking Amazon again. And worth a shot it was because I was able to find a 11” x 14” canvas that was only $9 which means if we wanted to get two, we’d spend about $18 (that’s $8 dollars less than the original price). On top of that, the canvas comes in a pack of 3 meaning we’d also get two smaller canvases included in that price, ultimately lowering our spending! So item #2 has been added to the cart bringing our total to about $28.

    So canvases are expensive, and at the moment we have about 11 canvases (8 small ones and 2 big ones) But it we’re really trying to cover the walls, we need to think of a way to get paintings up without canvases, and what better way than mixed media paper! It’s thick, and durable so it will withstand acrylic, and it should be easy to stick to the wall (an issue we’re gonna have to resolve with the canvases) I know they definitely sell it in sketchbook form so the goal is to see how much of it and how large we can get it for a price that is doable. So I checked Micheal’s website. There’s I found that the cheapest pack included 15 sheets of 9” x 12” paper for $13. Not bad but could be better. I checked Amazon and low and behold you can get 60 sheets of the same size paper for $12 bucks which is definitely a better value. Will we need 60 sheets? Probably not, but every dollar counts. Remember we’re running on the salary of an unemployed high school student who is also trying to save up for college mind you. So 60 sheets it is, and with that our 3rd item added to the cart bringing our total to $40. 

    There is one non essential item that would be ideal to have but isn’t entirely necessary and that is an easel. Tai found one for about $19 on Amazon which is surprising cheap given that most retailers sell that for prices in the hundreds range. It’s still not decided whether or not we’ll get it but if we do, it would bring us to a grand total of $59. Now that´s cheap, considering how much we get out of it, but is it high school student cheap? That’s debatable. At least we have an idea of how much money we’re spending on the film.

  

They Say Use What You Know

     As someone who loves to delve into anything art related, and as a very passionate person, I tend to find myself hyperfixating on anything I create that I mildly care about. I'll end up spending unnecessary amounts of time on creative projects, for school or otherwise, that could be perfectly adequate with just a smidge of effort. Obviously, not everything I end up doing has to be a passion project, but my brain somehow always finds a way to convince me otherwise, and as you can imagine, it has led to quite a mouthful of disappointment.

    However, taking this perfectionism in me into consideration seems to be proving useful, especially for fleshing out the characters in this film opening. I find I can take my own behaviors and use them to flesh out the characters in this story. For example, whenever I'm hyperfixated on something, I tend to completely neglect other areas of my life. So, for our main protagonist, we could use the quality of their living environment as a clue as to how focused on their art they are. They could probably have a messy room, with water cups, some with paint some without scattered around. Some snack bags could also be present to show they don't generally leave their room to eat very often. 

Pinterest Inspiration #1

    Another behavior of mine that could fit the main protagonist would be the act of surrounding oneself in what they're passionate about. Therefore, the artists room could be covered in their artwork as well as the artwork of the artist they admire(the artist that died). They could also have posters of this artist with pictures of them and even newspaper and magazine clippings. I feel this will help demonstrate the passion and borderline obsession the artist has for what they do. Since this artist is new, the color grading of the shots could be warm, and vivid, to display the freshness of this artist.

    Another piece of inspiration I can take from my personal life is the burnout that comes with being an artist. For me it feels like everything I make during these periods is never good enough, or is of the worst quality. For the deceased artist, I want to show that this is the period of time their stuck in. The same aesthetic can apply, but instead of newspaper and magazine clippings, the room could also be decorted with pictures, for every time they've received an award for their art, within these images, less and less people accompany the artist, showing the audience that this obessession has negatively affected the relationships the artist had. The color grading for these shots could be blue toned and muted to show how this artist has lost the joy they get from their once passion. Maybe the awards glitch in between the real first place awards, and the fabricated second and 3rd place awards, to show the artists own view of their work.

Pintrest Inspiration #2

    The last piece I feel I can take from my personal life is how demotivating it can be when art becomes an obligation. I find the moments I'm being the most artistic are the moments when I'm not obligated by any means to do so. But when it becomes obligated, at a certain point, I'm no longer creating because I want to but because I have to. We could portray the deceased artist in this way. Their art has become a necessity now that they are in the public eye. Their audience expects them to create therefore the artist is forced to do so in order to maintain their career. This would be the catalyst to their self destruction. Because of how dependant they are on the art they make, when they decide to quit and destroy their artwork, they also end up destroying themselves.

Painting I Made In November

    This mise-en-scene is gonna be a hassle to put together but I think we'll manage it. The plan right now is likely to plan a day where Tai and I can create these paintings that will plague the background. The artists artstyle will be abstract because: One it's easier to make 10+ paintings when your not trying to be precise and two because the abstract art style can convey a lot with the little it leaves to the eye, letting us convey this artists state of being through basic color combinations and shapes. It also leaves it up to the audience to interpret the paintings and avoiding something that may be too on the nose. 

I LOVE Watching YouTube

    YouTube is quite the safe space for me. I tend to find myself getting lost in the many videos the platform has to offer from "Sleep Is Just Death Being Shy" to "Maxwell the cat dances in 360." While this range of content seems rather wide most of it tends be centered around anything film related (and cats (just kidding (not really though))). So, what better way to research what I'm doing than by watching the openings of films I'm inspired by! So I did just that. (spoilers for Black Swan and Whiplash ahead)

    The first opening I watched was the one for Black Swan, the film by Darren Aronofsky. Immediately I noticed the void, and spotlight on the character looks very similar to how I envisioned the opening shot for the film opening. These 2 minutes are a one shot that shows us the main character Nina performing a segment of the ballet Swan Lake. The camera fixates on the precision of her movements telling the audience that Nina is a very experienced ballerina. It also hints at the flaw she spends the entire movie battling with, her perfectionism. It is what lands her the role of the Swan Queen but what also eats away at her as she tries to dance the Black Swan. Then the camera moves where we can see her facial expressions which show she's completely immersed in the character of the Swan Queen. It gives yet another hint to the audience that this role is a big deal for Nina, which is another reason why she strives for perfection. Once the evil sorcerer enters the stage, they have a back and forth where the sorcerer turns into a crow. The sudden transformation tells the audience that this sequence is not based in reality. It also sets up how the story will bend reality, making the reader question what is truth and what is fabricated. As the two characters spin, Nina's white dress changes to feature feathers. She also now adorns feathers on her hair, indication her transformation into the White Swan. Basically, the opening of the film tells the story of the movie setting up Nina's arc into becoming the White Swan and suffering from the same deadly fate. But the opening ends with Nina's transformation, so it leaves the audience wondering, will she become a direct parallel to the White Swan of the ballet and will her story end the same way?

   In Whiplash, the opening starts with 40 seconds of a drum roll. The sound becomes more and more intense until it stops, and we see the drummer in question at the end of a long corridor in a practice room. The frame within the frame makes him look offcentered. Almost perfect, but not quite, which hints at his similar struggle for perfection. It tells the audience the main character's goal. The camera begins to slowly push in as the drummer starts playing again. The only sound heard is his drumming, yet another cue to the audience as to what this movie is about. It also points at the characters hyperfixation on the instrument, nothing else takes up his mind. His movement is frantic and as the camera continues to push in directly into the practice room, the drummer stops suddenly, looks up, and begins to apologize. The camera cuts to a reverse shot of a man watching him play. The man steps into the light. This sets up our second main character. It tells the audience that he is observant. The little headroom he is given in the frame also tells the audience he is powerful, which is furthure reinforce by the drummer (Andrew) having to look up at him. Because he is the only person that distracts the drummer, that also shows us the importance of this second character who we come to know as Fletcher. On top of that, we have their wardrobe. Fletcher is dressed in black, yet another symbol of his power. Andrew is dressed in white, a symbol of his purity. He is a young, up and coming musician who's looking to make it in the music industry, not yet tainted by it's toxicity, a hint of what the movie might be about. The shot-reverse-shot sets up a power imbalance between the characters, something that drives the plot of the entire movie. The reduced lead room that Andrew gets in his reverse shows he is struggling to get through to Fletcher. As Andrew plays what Fletcher asks of him, the camera pushes in on his face, he's begun to immerse himself back in his playing. But this immersion is broken again by Fletcher slamming the door. He comes back, and we see Andrew get hopeful, but Fletcher grabs his coat, and leaves again. The last shot is a wide of Andrew looking longingly at the door. This entire sequence sets up the entire plot of the movie. It introduces our main characters, their conflict, and leaves the viewer with the question of will Andrew impress Fletcher. What will he have to do to acheive that goal?

    After analyzing these two film openings, it's given me a better idea of how to structure mine. I'll definitely take some inspiration from black swan for the opening shot of the void. Since my story is about history repeating itself, I feel that shot will need a bit more visual imagery to show the artist being consumed by their work. Maybe I could have the artist hold a paintbrush or finish a painting. It also helps me back up the idea of the artist being covered in paint. I also want to take the idea of becoming what you fixate on. I want the new artist to have a fixation for the work of the old artist, and I want to allude to the fact that this new artist might be going down the same path of destruction. I'll also take some inspiration from Whiplash's set up of character dynamics and conflict. It gave me the idea of having the artist have an opposing character that represents what the artist is against, and pose the question of whether or not this character will help or harm the artist. I also want the opening to set up the new artists own struggle for perfection with their own art piece. Maybe through slow zooms into close ups like Whiplash uses.

I'm excited about this!

Music Is The Muse

       It's been a while since I had really sat down to listen to music. Life's many responsibilities seem to be getting in the way more often than not, and being a senior with an impending case of seniorities is not helping. But I've been driving on my own a lot more recently, and the car is the perfect place to really listen to music, especially when the drive is simple on a route I've taken millions of times before. People tell me it's a bit odd to think in pictures, but when I listen to music, pictures are all that come to mind (I'm a safe driver I promise). Like I mentioned in a previous post, a specific song I was listening to in math class is was sprung up this idea for an opening. Same thing happened this time. I was listening to the song Baby Hotline by Jack Stauber, and the picture that came into my mind was it's accompanying music video (original I know).

    I was more specifically reminded of the effects used on Stauber himself in the video. For example during the timestamp 0:22 of the video there are some scratched out effects he uses. I want this opening demonstrate the whole films more formalist approach, and if it's going to be about an artist then why not use some form of mixed media? Now, I might be a little over my head with this(not really knowing how to animate and all) but it could work! I see this character of the new artist who idolizes the past artist to already have a lot of their life consumed by the art they create. So I can see this type of effect being used to demonstrate how this artist blocks out what they see as a distraction to their work. I guess it's time to look up tutorials on exactly how to do this. 

I'll get back to you.

       In other news remember when I mentioned Flightless Bird by the band ROAR? Well my partner Tai and I were brainstorming during the school lockdown on Monday and we decided to go on a limb and ask this artist for permission to use the song. 

    This is not what I was expecting on a monday morning. Wow, a band we've been fans of for four years now is letting us use their song. Just wow. So Tai and I were flabberghasted to put it lightly. Anyways fan behavior aside, the entire morning, we had thought up of how exactly we wanted to use the song. The idea is: At the start of the opening, you'd hear the slow eerie tones in the first minute of the song (we'll probably use about half that minute) Then, when the artist is tearing down their artwork in frustration, that's when the swell will start. We also had the idea to include the music as a form of diagetic sound towards the end of the opening with the new artist pausing a record player. We might need to do some mixing of the song to get the right parts at the right moments but I think this could work. 

Not Doing Math In Math Class

    STEM classes aren't really my thing and while that might explain why I'm in AICE Media Studies, it doesn't say much about why I'm in a pre-calculus class. Which is why during a "math study hall" day in the class, I took the opportunity to do the exact opposite. While listening to music I brainstormed ideas for potential film openings when a song came one and an image appeared. The image was of a person in a spotlight, others around them celebrated in the neon light but this character in the spotlight seemed unhappy. It got me thinking. Why would this person be unhappy?

    

    I've always loved the idea of finding the devil in the details. An idea that had been plaguing my mind recently is the idea of achieving great success and seeing nothing come from it or having to sacrifice yourself for it. Stories like Black Swan and Whiplash come to mind when I think of this idea. A tortured artist so engulfed in their craft that it consumes them whole. In Whiplash, the main character practices and plays drums to such an extreme extent that their hands begin to bleed, but regardless they keep playing. He doesn't realize the tole this obsession begins to take until it's too late. There may be so many instances where everything is telling this character to take a break, but his actions for most of the movie are completely led by his blind perserverance to succeed.

    I've also marveled at films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Opal and how they demonstrate running away from a painful but real situation. Specifically in the short Opal by Jack Stauber, the little girl we follow builds up a fictional idealistic reality for herself as an escape from the real world around her. She chooses to ignore her main source of suffering until she can't deny it anymore. 

    I feel this character in the spotlight is unhappy with what they've let themselves become. Chained to their passion, their creations, their talents. Unable to let themselves live freely to decide for themselves what to do with them. But the truth is, they always had a chance to decide. It just so happened that these decisions led them down an unfavorable path. What they've used as an escape from the world around them is now the very thing chaining them this world. They've run out of time to pretend. Now, a new, young, and naive artist will look up to this character in the spotlight with great admiration. The film opening will pose the question of will they suffer the same fate.

So that's what I spent my math class doing.

And So It Begins

     The portfolio project. A project I had been waiting for the whole year. A project I started brainstorming back in september. It'd be ironic saying I didn't have an idea, given how much time I'd spent thinking about it. But a week before the start of the project, my mind was drawing a blank! I had talked to a friend in A-level who mentioned he hadn't gotten an idea until 3 weeks in and I feared I'd land on that same boat. Luckily while procrastinating homework in my math class, an idea dawned on me. I was listening to a song called "Flightess Bird" by an artist called ROAR and an image appeared in my head. It was colorful yet something about it was eerie, and the slow zoom onto a character who looked out of place got me thinking. I immediately wrote this idea down before it left my mind, and I began to listen to this song on repeat, specifically the opening of the song until right after the  first crescendo. I ended up spending the whole class period developing this idea. I mentioned this idea to my friend Tai and we decided we both wanted to work on it. Throughout this whole week, the idea never left my head, further solidifying that this is what I wanted to make my film opening. 

I really hope this works.

Planning (I'm Bad At It)

 Music Marketing Recap

    After a short 3 weeks of working on this project, there are many thoughts I have about the planning and execution of our marketting campaign. The planning was rough, which is likely why we ran into a few problems during the execution. All in all, I feel we were able to pull through and make the best the situation. 

    As my last blog post mentioned, planning didn’t exactly go so smoothly. The story board for the music video was finished the night before filming and the filming schedule was created the morning of. The idea was: A disoriented drug addict bounces in and out of their high, unaware that the behavior is affecting the relationship with their now sober partner. To my surprise, filming went pretty smoothly. 

    Once everyone had arrived at the designated meeting place (my house) we began our journey to the first filming location (there’s 2). We scouted out the wilderness (Markham park) for a good spot to set up. My own habit for perfection made it difficult to decide on this location, but we eventually settled for a spot near the sports arena (disk golf course). I tried to make sure we followed the map (storyboard) as closely as possible to avoid getting lost (needing reshoots). We were working on people's time so it was important we tried to finish the filming proces as soon and as efficiently as possible. All of the outdoor scenes were supposed to represent different stages of the character's addiction as their drug addiction slowly begins to eat away at them, as well as the characters high slowly becoming an unsafe and unwelcome place.

    After we finished our treck through the woods (filming at Markham Park), we continued our journey to the second (and final) filming location (my house). It was the ninth hour (about 3:00pm) of our day and one of our actors was in dire need of heading to his abode before sundown (He needed to be home by 5:30pm). So we decided to prioritze his footage first. While we filmed him lip-sync to the tune, another group member went to the market to trade (buy props at Publix). 

    

    These shots were meant to serve as the Promo portion of the music video, showcasing who the artist is. We used colored lighting for the whole of the indoor shoot in order to present 3 different ideas: The addiction or the controlling force of conflict, the intervention or the force trying to gain control of the addiction, and the middle ground or the act of seeking help and listening to avoiding the need for said intervention. Their colors would be red, blue, and green, respectively. The singer, would be tied between them all, drawing from his experience with addiction and recovery. 

    

Eventually our fellow ally (group member) returned from her journey (Publix) and bestowing upon us necessities and luxeries (props and popcorn chicken). We feasted and bid farewell to our fallen soldier (one of our actors had to go home). We resumed on the task at hand, getting all of the shots we needed with out other actor who was also being summoned away (his parents wanted him home). These series of shots involved a push and pull between the drug addict and the person staging an intervention. The drug addict would mainly be coated in red light while the partner was covered in blue light. There as a green light covering both of them, symbolizing the middle ground of the situation. 

  

    With red being a color associated with violence, we gave the drug addict explosive tendancies and a short temper. We also felt this would help represent what a drug addiction, specifically the withdrawals, can feel like and how they affect ones behavior. The blue light, which is sometimes associated with both intelligence and sadness, was used to also demonstrate their partners state, which was feeling powerless in a situation where they know a person needs help. Green, which is often a color associated with nature and rejuvination was utilized to symbolize the middle ground between the extremes and the potentially healthier future it could result in. The colored lighting was also utilized to create a feeling of overstimulation, making the environment the drug addict is in during withdrawals feel less welcoming, which would give them the motive to keep using. 

    Filming was just about to wrap up. We had lost another man (our other actor needed to go home) and once we crossed out the last square on the map (storyboard) we rejoiced!

    Now at this moment we'd all felt it was going swell. My fellow ally(group member) would take home the scraps of our creation (the footage) to begin piecing it together (editing). Then they handed the project file to me. I, being the perfectionist that I am, began my portion of the edit, making my life more difficult with my painstaking meticulousness. But allas, perfection is an impossibility, and there were more than enough mistakes to have made me wish we had had more time. 

    There were a couple of worries on my mind during this process. Number 1: do we have enough footage to fill the 4 minutes? (we didn't). Number 2: Are we representing our characters well? (thats debatable). Number 3: Is this going to make any sense to anyone? (hopefully). As I edited I realized the story we filmed was not exactly the story we planned, and seeing it all put together made me realize that the extra time in pre-production may have been necessary. I also may have been a bit over my head with trying to portray the more complicated concept.

    

    I finally finished the edit, and my group had already started piecing together the presentation. With the outline we had created for our campaign, we developed it in further detail with the presentation. In hindsight, we probably could've avoided the wordiness of our slides. We also probably could've done a little more planning for the nitty gritty bits of our campaign, like how the artist would maintain his campaign after the single is released. While I've always understood the importance of planning, I feel this project has helped me realize just how much of it is necessary to create a good product. If I had worked on fully fleshing out the story before diving into the story board, it would've made our video a bit more cohesive and easy to understand. If we had dedicated more time to researching our campaign we would've had a more structured outlook on not just the plan, but the presentation. I'm not bad at planning, I'm just figuring out how to do it still. I plan to take this knowledge with me when we start the film opening.