CRR

For my Portfolio project, my partner and I developed a promotional campaign for a short film, which spans across multiple different media spheres. Our short film One Flip Away is based on a teenage boy, Felipe, played by me, tosses a coin and is transported to random places. Whenever he teleports, he must do some nice things to get back home, but every time he tries, his efforts backfire in the humorous ways. The core message that the film tries to put out is that it is not always easy to be nice, especially in a world where being rude has become the norm. As previously discussed in addition to the film, we also created a promotional postcard and an Instagram page in order to advertise the film using different mediums. The products combine to reach a teenage and young adult audience that appreciates light-hearted comedy and real world situations that everyone can relate to. 

One of the most effective ways my project represented social groups and issues, was by highlighting the emphasis on normalized rudeness among the youth and the daily challenge of being nice. The film opens with a bunch of individuals ranging from teenagers to full grown adults. Flipping off the camera with voice over narrating how rudeness has become the default reaction. The sequence reveals the social issue that being, how individuals are so quick to act disrespectful rather than be kind. These real-life scenarios are blown out of proportion to create humor, with numerous attempts of kindness by Felipe that fail miserably, including holding a door open but unfortunately making someone fall or waving at the wrong individual in an embarrassing scenario.

(Danny)

As for the representation aspect, it’s shown through the mise-en- scene. For instance, the characters are the typical teenagers in real life settings such as a mall, the street, and a national park. Their outfits also match their environment. An example being with the character Danny, a tourist who’s visiting The Everglades for the first time, was wearing a green shirt and khaki bucket hat, matching the look like any other tourist. Felipe, on the other hand, is easy to notice with his bright red hoodie and jeans; this was on purpose to attract the attention of the audience, portraying his role as the main character. In addition to all of this, the cast is also diverse with actors who belong to various backgrounds. This variety of backgrounds makes teenagers of different ethnicities connect with the story without it seeming forced. 

(Felipe's hoodie)

The elements across all three products worked together in producing a constant branding perception. The most obvious connection is the red color borrowed directly from Felipe’s hoodie. My partner applied the red on the title of the postcard and the text and combined with neutral backgrounds to make the design clean and modern. The same font is used on the postcard, the Instagram post, and the title card. Even the penny plays a role in branding as it’s a repetitive symbol. It activates the teleportation of the story and is actually seen on the postcard and in Instagram visuals. Such repetitions of visuals like the red accents, the coin, and the same font help the campaign be immediately recognizable also providing it with the professional constant appearance  

(Post Card)

Going more in depth with the postcard. The front is dynamic, with the red title and small symbols giving hints as to where the teleport was, without giving the plot away, where as the back has practical information on the film festival screening. This appearance is furthered in the Instagram post with the same red and neutral color scheme. Put together, the film, postcard, and Instagram post support the same brand seamlessly. 

These products are effective in reaching the tar
get audience (teenagers and young adults aged 13-25) in a number of ways. The Instagram posts are highly sharable, that combine funny captions, emojis, and appropriate hashtags to make it look like it is a natural piece of social media and not just a random advertisement. Since the scenarios in the film are relatable, awkward social interactions, attempting to do the right thing and failing, teenagers can easily relate to Felipe and laugh and still get the message. 

The digital (Instagram) to print (postcard) campaign generates several engagements that will keep the audience interested and create an anticipation of the film. The humor tone in all the products reduces obstacles. Obstacles such as the audience not having to feel like they are being preached about goodness, rather, they are entertained and walk away with the theme in their minds. 

Our research heavily informed both the creative decisions of both me and my partner and how we used or challenged conventions. We studied short comedies like Skipped, which rely on repetition, escalation of awkward situations, and building humor through failure. This directly influenced the structure of the film. As in the short film before his successful act of kindness, Felipe fails a few times, and the eventual success is even more fulfilling. Contrary to most traditional narratives where the protagonist finds success within a very short period of time, our film takes a different approach, demonstrating that adopting to a new lifestyle is not easy and reinforces the idea that kindness can be achieved but not easily. On the promotional part, we investigated the way independent short films and comedy campaigns advertise themselves on Instagram. Posts such as behind-the-scenes and shareable funny videos were heavily influenced by other campaigns. 

Overall, the campaign for One Flip Away successfully blends humor and a valuable message about how even though sometimes it is difficult to find it, you will always be one flip closer to it. The film delivers this message, the postcard provides audiences with a memorable piece, and the Instagram post drives engagement within the digital sphere providing with a form of marketing especially when the target audience is composed of predominantly media heavy generation. All three aspects of the campaign play a role in achieving the film to be successful, all coming together to create a strong sense of branding. 

Links for the final project!!

 

Instagram- https://canva.link/d9808fmxte4ozoi 

Post Card- https://canva.link/ea0k1vunpa5kjx2 

Short Film- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tIyKoDTTJ0QIeqIcLosN_23nywlkAW4V/view?usp=drive_link 

Final reflection

 Guys this is one of the last blog posts, last blog post that I will ever do. Even though I should continue using it as a way to journal my thoughts, knowing myself I know I won't be using bloggers anymore. However knowing that this could be one of the last projects that I would have full creative freedom I can appreciate the opportunity that I was given within this class, I would enjoy it a lot more if it wasn't for a grade…  

Even though the project was predominantly stressful, I did have fun creating it. For instance, because of this project I was able to go to Miami during a weekday which is basically unheard of and wow I LOVE MIAMI, that's also why I chose Brickell to be one of the locations where I well Fellipe teleports to. I even got some amazing tacos right next to Brickell City Center which were amazing. But my favorite part of that trip was being able to meet and hang out with 3 new people making new friends that I would never have thought I would be friends with.

The project has made me become a more confident person in the sense of not caring what people think of me in public. I've always been some sort of a confident person but this project has definitely made me come out of my shell more. From all the stares that I would get from people in London and Madrid to all the tourist looking at me in brickell like I’m just a random influencer, I've learned to not care about whatever they think because like genuinely when am I ever going to see those people again, NEVER so might as well not care about what they think. 

The next two blog posts are going to be my links to me and my partners short film, poster card, and the link to our instagram page. As for the second blog post it will contain the ccr. It has been a blast I’ll see you guys will never BYEE!!

Instagram posts so far

(first post)

 Since we finished filming, we decided to move onto instagram as well as the post card. We are also working on the editing of the film but I’ll discuss that in greater detail in the next post. Let's start off with Instagram. Me and Adriana have been brainstorming ideas on what we should post since the 30 posts that we have to do. In the first post we decided to have me holding a penny but in pixelated form, looking like a character from an 80s video game. We decided for this to be our first post because it helps us establish a theme, that being the pixelated 80s game one. We also decided to do that same thing but for the rest of the actors helping us reach that goal a lot faster.

(merch)

Alongside this we also decided to dedicate 3 posts that contain the title card of the film. For example one of three posts would be one part of the title card, the other one would be the middle portion of it and the last one would obviously be the rest of it. We are also planning on pinning those three posts in order for the unity to not be disrupted from the other posts. Another post that we decided was to include a blooper from one of the scenes in Brickell posting it with hashtags in order to gain more traction leading to a wide spectrum of individuals viewing the video. 

One post that I thought was genius from Adriana was the one about merch, selling merch that looks like the hoodie that I’m wearing. The post includes indications that showcase that the hoodie is limited edition, which can lead to customers wanting the hoodie more since the hoodie might never come back. A thing I forgot to mention was that the same first post is also the profile picture for the instagram account. It was just too good of a picture to just use one time. 

 

We still have many insta posts to do but it should be fun, see you guys later BYEEE!!!!

Filming in Brickell and the Everglades

 

(Mr MIgue)

We have officially finished filming EVERYTHINGGGG, now time for the very annoying part editing. But before that let me tell you guys about how both days went. Lets start off with the everglades first, we needed an actor so I called in one of my good buddies Migue to help us film. He played a tourist who was trying to get the perfect picture to send back home but couldn't get the right angle, that's where I show up and try to help but obviously I mess it up (part of storyline) dropping the phone. Overall filming went smoothly. We used a variety of shots and retook a lot of them due to some people laughing. I’m not going to say any names cough cough Migue. Only issue we faced was trying to figure out where in the park to film as well as the main actor almost DYING FROM THE HEAT, I still don’t know why I decided wearing a HOODIE and JEANS was a good idea, I could’ve just worn a red shirt but it’s whatever I DONT HAVE TO WEAR THAT ANYMORE. 

As for Brickell, I was really excited mainly because it gave me an excuse to go to Miami. Adriana my partner brought two of her friends because we needed to film two scenes, one being obviously in Brickell City Center and the other being in “cuba” wink wink, in reality it was just a random street next to the marlins stadium. The reason why is we initially wanted to film in front of the stadium however there was an event going on and guess how much the parking was. If you said 15 your wrong, THE PARKING WAS LITERALLY $30, you're crazy if you think im spending 30 of my well earned money on parking for 10 minutes. 

Anywho going back to the City Center, filming was a little more complicated due to the sheer amount of tourists especially in front of the famous walls of the buildings. However we managed and filmed my scene with no issue, well breaking character was one of them. I can admit I was the culprit. As for filming in the so called Cuba we basically were driving around the stadium and found a house that looked exactly like one found in cuba with a chicken and decided it was the perfect spot to film. Unfortunately once we were about to start filming the chicken left, but we filmed it, made us cringe a bit but we pushed through and BOOM last scene done. 

I can FINALLYYY get a haircut. It's been SO annoying not being able to like my hair is actually turning into an afro, so this tuesday I will be looking fresh for the submission of the project. I keep updating you guys on the process BYEEE!!