Sunday, April 10, 2022

It is here!!

 Hey guys! OMG what a ride it has been these past 8 weeks! I just wanna say this is probably the last time in a while uploading in this blog and honestly it's been such a wild journey starting this blog in November of 2020 when I was a Junior and now here I am, writing you this blog post as a senior and graduating in about 2 months! I hope you guys have enjoeyed watching my journey just like how I have enjoyed sharing my experience. Now without further or do... here's my short film "The Doll Game", my social media page,  and my post card for my film!

https://youtu.be/yqTUcjeMPLc 


(little disclaimer, when the short film exported from premiere it did some weird things like the screen size and a part of the audio in the beginning didn't sincronize, there are also some weird glitches and cuts it did as well as some things cutting up off due to time limit which sucks but hope you guys still enjoy) 

My Insta! You should definitely follow or else I'll send the doll to you
Follow Me! @thedollgameshortfilm



My post card!!




I wanted my poster to be black and white because it kind of gives that ghost-like and spirit-like vibe into the film. While researching some poster inspirations, I came across the ones from the films the conjuring and hush, which also inspires me why I wanted to do half the face of each character, it kind of shows like part of their lives being affected by the doll in the middle. The back lettering is red because it’s a well-known color to use in the horror genre and it also gives the danger aesthetic, as well as the dimly lit photo which helps give audience an insight of what they can expect from this short film. Also got plans to release it in on Youtube so there's more of a general audience platform where people can see it and gain more recognition.






Saturday, April 9, 2022

My CCR!!

 Hello! Welcome to my CCR! First of all, you're probably wondering why it's not a video this time, well it's not actually part of my project to make it a video but an essay this time, but that doesn't mean I'll make this essay boring, who do you think I am? Anyway without further or do... Here's my CCR!


My Critical Reflection

Hello my name is Paola Sirignano and I'm here to talk about my fabulous new short film, "The Doll Game", which is of the Horror genre and about these 2 best friends named Grace and Rosie. The film begins with Grace and Rosie having a Facetime call discussing how they haven't seen each other in a while and have plans on having a sleepover at Grace's house, at around mid conversation, Rosie mentions to Grace about a new game that surfaced on social media a few days prior which was called, "The Doll Game", and tells Grace they should totally do it at their sleepover, but Grace doesn't want to at first since she's the type of person to not want to mess with the paranormal. After their call is over, Grace starts having an inner battle with herself to either go with her gut and not do anything, or fall into her friend's peer pressuring tactics. In the end, she accepts and they do the ritual at around 3:00 am, since that’s what’s regularly known as the ghostly hour to put it fancy, then they chant the words, but nothing happens, or so they think.






I wanted to make this film a horror genre mainly because since I usually don’t watch horror movies, it kind of helps me break out of my shell to try genres that I typically wouldn’t watch but still make it creative. I even watched horror films to make this project so that’s dedication on my prt. What also catches my attention is how horror loves to play with lighting and their music to make a situation either scary or suspenseful, which is why, especially in my night scenes, I mainly used one source of light, which was the candles, kind of reminds me of an actual saenz and bring in the Ouija board or something like that, movies like Veronica seem to do that a lot, as well as my research that I did on the “One Man Hide and Seek” game, which was my main inspiration for this film. When doing the scene where the 2 characters are hiding in a bathtub mainly symbolizes that they’re in this sort of bubble of naiveness of being a teenager and doing stupid things, which is also why the shot seems so tight. Also this part where I kinda wanted the silhouette of the doll to show, which is kind of the moment where the characters are like, “Oh shoot we’re so screwed”, kind of going into the mindset of teens when they regret their actions as soon as they see consequences. 

That is part of the reason why I wanted my target audience to be mainly between 13-20 with no gender preference, although usually a typical target audience for horror are mostly men between 15-24 years old. My main goal with my story and my brand has a lot to do with what some kids deal with nowadays, which include peer pressure and not wanting to be seen as cowards in front of friends, as well as learning that some things they do wrong do bring consequences, especially at an age where they’re figuring out what type of person they want to be when they’re adults, and it’s ok to make mistakes, since my main goal is for them to learn from those mistakes, whether you’re a man or a woman, it happens to so many in so many shapes and forms. Some elements that help with my branding are mainly on the characters, since Grace is mainly the one that wants to do the right thing, but has Rosie, who kind of pressures and guilt trips her into doing things she might not be as comfortable with.

In order to connect more with my target audience, I wanted to use a platform which is heavily used, which is Instagram. Instagram is such a popular platform where so many kids in my target audience have a platform. I wanted my feed to be attracting, which is why I kind of started at random, with just putting the title of my film at the very beginning and built it up by adding some behind the scenes footage where even in the most serious of scenarios, it’s ok to have a good laugh sometimes, and it’s honestly just as fun to film bloopers than filming the actual thing, and the young audience love seeing bloopers, since that’s what I’ve seen where it builds an excitement to see how it went from a blooper, to the actual final cut. Honestly, I had such a good time filming this film, not only because I’m doing it with my best friend, even though there were definitely times of stress and giving up. 

It was definitely an experience to create all this on my own from my film, the script, the color schemes, lighting, sound music, editing, social media, page, and a postcard? I don’t know how I’m still alive to this day, but hey I pulled through, I was able to have more creative control and to be fair it was way better than the opening I did last year, we won’t talk about that. It definitely also taught me better technique on how to handle making horror, since watching films related definitely helped, kind of scarred my soul, but it helped. 

Lastly, I want to take a moment to thank some people, Rafi, for being an awesome co-star, even though you laughed so many times when the scenes were meant to be serious, also for being my cinematographer for a while, as well as my awesome makeup artist who made me look like a dead person. Also Jamie and Joey Ruth for being great moral support and were meant to be on the film, but sadly got scrapped. I’d thank more people but that would take forever so thank you to the ones that helped me through this journey and hope to continue creating in the near future. 

 

Thursday, April 7, 2022

OMG IT'S THE FINAL WEEK

 Hello! Hi! What's up? Wow it's actually the very last week of the portfolio project! Dang it feels like just yesterday I was doing my very first blog introducing myself as a Junior in AICE Media AS Level just writing stuff that was on my mind and my first post being about research about Action movies, which I still love by the way. But now, here I am, April 2022 in my last year of high school and graduating in about 2 months, thay's so crazy.

I just want to take the time to thank the people who take the time to watch every single blog, which in that case, I'm sorry I sound like a wreck in most of them, but it's ok, I'm still here aren't I? I remember while I was brainstorming on my short film I was like, I need to make it amazing, obviously not perfect because let's face it, I'm no Spielberg or Hitchcock, even they have made mistakes. Anyway, the point is, this blog made me see a lot from me that I never thought I'd see, such as starting a blog in the first place, making content on my own, even having the energy to post something multiple times a week, althigu there were times I was wondering if it was worth the time just typing random things in my laptop hoping for the best. But no, this blog taught me to be caught up with my work, as well as helping me organize my portfolio. I'm also very excited to show you guys my film, my page, and my post card, it took me about 8 weeks to get to this point so I can only hope you enjoey it, it'll be up sometime this week, since it's the week it's due so I don't have much choice anyway🤣🤣. Anyway, keep a lookout for that blog post, which will most likely be my last. Remember to stay cool and keep your eyes open. See ya next time! Bye!

Monday, April 4, 2022

Film Day part 2!!

 Hey guys! Good afternoon or morning or night, depending when you're reading this, for me it's afternoon so we're just rolling with it. Anyway welcome to like day 3ish of filming where we basically have finished all of the day shoots so yayy that's a huge thing out of the way. Now the plan is to meet up again tomorrow night to finish up our night shoots with our ritual and maybe the aftermath in the morning at around sunset since both sunrise and sunset look very similar. For the aftermath, it'll be a surpirse what happens like I said so we have to trust the process and you'll have to wait and see my finished product! I know it's a shorter update than usual, but I'm really trying to focus on this project mainly over anything else, so yeah hope you enjoyed and see you next time!






Sunday, April 3, 2022

Another Film Day!

 Heyy good evening, I'm saying good evening since it's night time for me so you'll have to deal with it. Anyway you're probably wondering, girl where in the world did you disappear to? Well a lot has happened since then, planning up my postcard ad thingy, left early from school due to an ortho appointment (which still hurts btw), and just dealing with school which is just the highlight of my day. Anyway, my friend Rafi was able to come over tonight and finally have the guts to do the ritual scene, which is the most important part of the film in my opinion, and we were able to film it! Obviously we're filming variations too, who do you think I am? Anyway, Imma show you guys some photos and I'm hoping we didn't actually bring a demon into my house because then my mom would actually kill me and I really don't wanna die, so enjoy my lil sneak peak before it goes into my social media feed.

Obviusly went with more of a darker vibe with these shots due to the mood and feeling I want to give the audience of both suspense and anxiety



It is here!!

 Hey guys! OMG what a ride it has been these past 8 weeks! I just wanna say this is probably the last time in a while uploading in this blog...