5 films about technology

So today I watched yet another short film! My teacher recommended I watch "5 films about technology". It is very straight forward as it literally is 5 mini-stories that include technology as the main culprit for the conflict. I think the main thing I learned from watching this was really that you do not need to go all out to make a successful piece. I think Peter Huang did an excellent job of just making the most simple and mundane things in our lives into an enjoyable piece of art.

One of the things I thought was very interesting about the short film was the aspect ratio. The entire short film is seen in the square format. At first, I thought it was a very odd choice until I realized it was genius. It is a very simple yet subliminal reference to humanity's reliance on technology. Since many of us use our phones too much he made sure it was easy to watch on a phone by making it square.

I also really liked how each story connected to the next. While each story had a different focus point and comedic effect, each one had to occur before the next in order for the next story to happen. The abrupt stop between each film I also thought added comedic effect as I feel it left the viewer laughing and excited to see what was next. There was no excess film or unnecessary parts that were shown. It was all short and simple and achieved the purpose of just making the audience laugh.

I think what I need to take from this is that whatever my idea maybe it does not have to be a dramatic analysis of the society that we live in. It could just be a portrayal of something that we can all, unfortunately, relate to, as long as it produces a reaction or thought. Because in the end, I feel like that is what makes a film good. If it doesn't make you think, or it doesn't make you laugh, or if it doesn't make you feel SOMETHING then it didn't achieve its purpose.

Wake Up

So today I watched an experimental film named Wake Up. I was really excited to watch it because it is the first actual experimental short film that I have ever watched. So as I try to explain it keep in mind that it is an experimental film so it does not really have a linear narrative. It is basically a film about a woman who is locked up in a hospital and after finally escaping rediscovers her humanity amongst a world consumed by digital devices.

I honestly really loved everything about it. I think seeing this as my first experimental film is a great thing because it really did show me that experimental films are more of an expressive art form than anything else. There was no real structure to it but it all came together super nicely. It didn't need that much dialogue or conventional technical aspects to convey the message that it wanted to convey.

Something that I loved about the piece was the incorporation of sound. I think one of the key aspects of this film was capturing the emotions that the woman was facing as she escapes the hospital. The music that was chosen for her exit from the facility was such a fitting choice as it gave off a feeling of freedom and hope. Then the sounds of the typing on the keyboard and the whispers of the urgent-sounding responsibilities of the mindless people really created a deep commentary on humanity. It created this image of us being so blinded by our responsibilities and our screens that we can't even enjoy life.

They also played beautifully with the sound motif of the voices whispering "wake up". The fact that they introduced it in the beginning and brought it back at the end really brought the piece together and revealed the whole purpose of the short film which was to demonstrate her need and that of humanity to "wake up" and escape the digital reality that we have made for ourselves.

Experimental films

As we continue or project in the rather unfavorable conditions of this pandemic it has become clear to us that we need to branch out and look at all of our options. I realized that many times before our teacher and our fellow peers have suggested that we look into producing an experimental film. To be honest I was not entirely sure what that entailed. So today, I decided to research this genre of sorts and find out what experimental films really are all about.

In my search for information on the topic, I could not find many reliable or lengthy resources, most of what I found were short blurbs that barely served me with any real information. Then there was Wikipedia but according to most educators, Wikipedia is useless so that was not an option. Then I came across an article by the name of  "Experimental Filmmaking for Dummies: Why You Should Be Making Experimental Films". It seemed lengthy yet promising so I read it and I think I really understand what an Experimental film really is now.

First off I learned that me researching the genre in itself was ironic because defining Experimental films basically defeats the entire purpose of what they are. I learned that they are pretty much a type of film where there are absolutely no creative restraints. They are opposite to the more normal narrative films because they generally do not have a story or characters that they rely on.

The purpose of an Experimental film I learned was to express yourself, unlike Narrative films which are often dependent on technical aspects to determine their success. In Experimental films, it does not really matter whether the technical aspects were perfect but it matters whether or not you were able to successfully express whatever you were trying to express whether it has been a feeling an idea or a concept or practically anything.



Experimental film is also "an aesthetic and aural art form". This contrasts from that of narrative and documentary films because they tend to focus on making the narrative become a reality instead of using elements like music, dance, and visuals for the purpose of just creating pure art.

Overall, I think this is a really viable option for our project. In normal films that follow a narrative, there is often at least more than one location through which the characters interact. However, in an experimental piece, there are absolutely no rules! So I think my partner and I will definitely keep this in mind.

Website builders!

So now that we are stuck at home we decided maybe we can try and start building our website. Although we do not have content to put on it yet we thought we might as well start looking at the different websites that we can use in order to build our website.

First, we decided to look at GoDaddy which claimed to be a free and easy to use resource. I looked at the reviews and they all seemed to be pretty good. They stated that it is a trusted and well-known resource and that it is affordable and facilitates the process of building your own website. It also seemed appealing because they seemed to have online employees who are open to helping customers with any issues. This is reassuring because if we have any concerns on how to use GoDaddy we can easily ask. The only issue is that neither my partner nor I have ever used GoDaddy.

GoDaddy templates

Then we looked at Squarespace which was a really user-friendly experience because it provided the option to browse through templates without having made an account. It asked us a few questions on what we were looking to make and then it gave us some options. This was great because it demonstrated that it was a personalized and easy to use tool. However, we realized that Squarespace is not free. It only provides a free 14-day trial. This is a huge negative for us because we don't have a really big budget for this project so we rather use something that is free for us to use that also gives us quality results.

Templates Squarespace recommended we use

Finally, we looked at Wix which is another well-known and trusted website. It is free and also has really good reviews which state that it provides many features in order to personalize your website to the best of your ability. On Wix, we were also able to browse through the templates without making an account and really allowed us to get a feel for the type of results we would get if we used Wix. We thought it also seemed easy to use and was an affordable option. We also liked that it even offered a specific category of templates for film, which is super helpful for what we are planning to do with our website.

Wix Film & TV templates

Overall, we think we are going to go with Wix because it is the easiest and most affordable option. It provides templates specifically for what we are going to do which makes us believe that we will be able to get better results from using Wix. Moreover, I have had previous experience using Wix so I already know how to use it and I have never really had any issues with it. So overall we thought this would be the best fit.

More information!

So today we had a virtual meeting with my teacher to get a little better of an understanding of what the plan is with this project and how we will proceed with the class. Basically, she explained to us that for now our school is closed and until further notice, we won't be going back until April 15th. She also explained to us that our school will be providing free wifi and computers to anyone who needs these resources due to the fact that we will continue classes online on March 30th.

So basically this sent everyone into a frenzy.  All of my fellow classmates explained how this is stressing all of us out because many of us are reliant on other people who are unable to leave their house in order to complete their project. However, while it was a little stressful we were able to help each other out. Our teacher let us know that we do still have a little time to hold out and see if the virus goes away and maybe we don't have to rewrite our entire script. This is a good option because for now, we can just keep doing research and if maybe this virus leaves earlier than expected we can start filming in time to finish by the due date.

It is what it is

We were also given some advice from our fellow peers to look into more experimental films as we might have to dive into more creative ideas in these restricted conditions. Overall, I am glad we had this group meeting because it cleared up a lot of things. I think my partner and I are just going to work on research and other aspects of the project to try and hold off on filming. Having to rewrite the story is not ideal but if that is what we have to do then it is what we will do.

What will we do now?

So as the Coronavirus is getting more serious people are not leaving their homes. As I have explained before, this is starting to get to my parents and I didn't think it was that serious until it was. Basically, I am not allowed to leave the house for any reason unless absolutely necessary. I work at a grocery store and I am not even allowed to go there. I thought that I would at least be able to film with my partner at my house or hers because we know each other and are pretty sure that we have practiced the correct procedures and do not have the virus.

However, I was wrong. While my parents do not have an issue with meeting up as long as we keep a safe distance and obviously don't cough on each other or anything my partner's parents are not ok with this. My partner is not allowed to leave the house or have anyone come over. They fear that even if they know the person they can never be too sure that they have the virus because you don't necessarily show symptoms until about two weeks after you have had the virus.

So basically, we are at a crossroads, we are either going to have to cut the parts where the characters are at school or write an entirely different story. So that's fun and super great and cool I'm not stressed at all!

Hazel's outfit

Since we can't do much outside of the house we decided to choose Hazel's outfit. This is the outfit that she is going to wear for the majority of the short film so we wanted to make sure it was perfect. We guided ourselves with the idea that we knew we wanted it to be "aesthetic" and "quirky". Basically one of those hipster girls that say they have really good taste in music and go do their homework in coffee shops. So we felt that most of the girls that are like this dress in the 80s/ 90s style.

So we pulled out all the clothes that we thought fit in this type of style. We pulled out some light wash mom jeans, a flowy dress, a lot of patterned clothing (stripes, floral, etc.), and some really funky pink corduroy bell-bottoms. However, after looking at all the options we decided we wanted to go for something more toned down that someone would wear on any regular day. After all, we can't have Hazel looking like a try-hard she might frighten Lucas away. So we decided on the yellow shirt with the white sweater and the mom jeans. We also want to incorporate a lot of color into our project and we thought yellow would be perfect. We decided that it would be a perfect symbolization of how happy and excited she is over something so small and meaningless like a group project. Plus, picking all of these clothes out will probably be helpful in the future when we film the scene where she is deciding on what to wear.

The final outfit :)

 

  

Corona Time!

Happy Friday the 13th! So... the United States is currently under a state of national emergency because of the coronavirus. At first, you don't really realize all the things that a pandemic can affect... Until you get a message from your county saying that your school is going to be closed for the following week. THAT'S when it's a problem. This only makes my previous problem infinitely more difficult because now there is no way we can even film at school. My partner and I are going to have to recreate a classroom somewhere else because there is no way that we can do it at school. However, now I am a little bit more stressed because people are starting to panic and among those people include my father.  Therefore, leaving the house to go film this project is going to be its own issue. 

So here is what I think is going to happen, either I convince my father to let me leave the house, or we can try rescheduling everything. We primarily had planned to film this week and edit next week but I think that if it's absolutely necessary, we are going to do everything we said we would do later now. This includes making the website and the postcard advertisement.  It is very important for us to have an idea of what our project will really end up looking like before we make these so we would definitely do this after writing the script and storyboarding but I think it buys me a little time to try and figure out a way to escape my household. Or if anything I'll just make some arrangements so it could all be filmed in my house. I am not entirely sure how this is all going to work out but to be honest with you I wasn't really planning for there to be a pandemic this month. 

Running into problems

So we have been working on this project for a little while now and I feel like we are really behind. We were supposed to finish our script last week and we're just starting to write it this week. Yet, as we were writing the script we realized that we are going to have issues shooting the first scene. We wrote the beginning of our short film so it would be filmed in a classroom. However, we decided early on that we were going to use my partner and her boyfriend as the main actors. This seemed fine but the issue here lies in the fact that her boyfriend does not go to our school. We would need to find a teacher that would be willing to stay after school and we are not really sure if any teacher would be willing to do so. Then we thought that maybe we could sign him in through the office but after asking we realized that this was not an option.

So basically we have a few options. One- we could change the actor to someone who goes to our school so we can film while school is going on. The issue with this is that they may be unreliable and they won't be as easy to direct considering we probably won't know them as well. Two- we could find a teacher to stay after school so we can shoot in their classroom. However, this might also be an issue considering the classroom would be empty and it would be difficult to get background actors. Three- we could recreate a classroom in another place outside of school. The problem with this is that it would be kind of difficult to make this seem realistic. I think our most viable option right now is to ask a teacher because we already have one in mind and if anything we can shoot the scene strategically so that only the two main actors are seen in the shot. Hopefully, the teacher we have in mind is willing to stay but we will see how it goes!

Writing the script

So today we started writing our script! We were able to finish the first scene. During this section, we introduced the main characters and set up the plot for the entire short film. We started in the classroom, and we began with a short explanation of what was first seen on screen. This is when we introduced Lucas. We referenced our character development notes when writing this bit because we wanted to make sure it really captured the essence of the character. We wrote the script envisioning it being used as a tool for the actors. That way when our actor gets the script he can better understand the character of Lucas. We also are still unsure of who the actor will be considering we might have to recast but that is a whole other issue.

Then we went onto establishing the idea that they were going to be working on a project. In class, we had a lesson on scriptwriting and one of thing that my teacher said really stood out to me. She mentioned how we shouldn't "spoon-feed" our audience or have an obvious or technical dialogue. Instead, we should let the actions of the actors and the dialogue speak for themselves. At first, we did have the regular "So today we are going to do a project!" and we continued with the rest of the dialogue. However, this was BORING so we decided to change it up and follow my teacher's advice.

We thought: What is not overly evident but clearly demonstrates that there is a group project? So we thought we could just drop the audience in the middle of the action and have the teacher read off the name of the partners. It turned out much better because in this way we killed two birds with one stone 1. We made the dialogue seem much more natural and realistic 2. We established the fact that the two main characters did not choose who they got to work with. It was perfect! So then, we wanted to establish this idea that Hazel is a pretty distracted person so we wrote the script in a way that demonstrated this side of her. Basically, Lucas turns around to start the project and Hazel is completely confused about what he is talking about and also in awe that he is even speaking to her.

To accentuate her mindless personality and add satire to the piece we thought of a funny misinterpretation for Lucas's dialogue. In this part, Lucas states "Hey, so when do you wanna do it?" which Hazel completely misinterprets as a sexual innuendo. We thought this was a really funny way to establish the awkwardness between them and set the tone for the short film. We continued this tone all throughout the end of the scene as we continued to have Hazel act confused and frazzled to express her nervous reactions to any interaction with Lucas. I'm really happy with what we have I just think we need to write quicker!!! 

Story Outline

After we got all of our characters ready we decided to make an outline of our story. We wanted it to be separated into three sections like we had previously explained. It is basically going to be separated by the beginning where Hazel and Lucas first have an interaction in class together and then it will be followed by the sequence of her talking to herself while she is getting ready and it will finally end with them meeting together again and her finding out how meaningless and small the thing she was worried about really was.

Outline

So first we had to decide what their interaction was going to be. Since we  had decided that it would be more humorous for the story if Lucas was widely uninterested and unaware of the crush that Hazel had on him we thought it would be best to have their interaction be forced. Not forced in the way where it wouldn't normally happen but in the way that the purpose of the conversation was not because either of them had the purpose of getting to know each other but more because they just had to. So what better situation to put them in than a group project. So we decided this was the best decision for their first interaction. In this way, they would exchange numbers and it would set the scene for the following events. When we were brainstorming this we also thought it would be a really funny idea if we had her turn around and imagine/ daydream about him being super flirty with her only to have him snap her out of it and bring her back to reality.

The following scenes we wanted to start with her getting the message in the morning. This is the message that is going to start the conflict in the short story as she is going to overthink a million possibilities that could arise from it. We haven't decided on exactly what the message will say but it will be something along the lines of "Hey can we talk?" Then we wanted to express this whole mental discourse that she has with herself while she is getting ready to go to school. When I expressed this idea to my partner she feared that this morning routine would be too mundane and cheesy. She feared it would be the classic "What a beautiful morning time to get ready" ordeal. However, I clarified that it didn't have to be like that. We instead decided to take a much more comical and realistic approach to the average teenage morning routine. So we made a list of things we do in the morning even peeing, which might be controversial but I honestly think it is just a normal everyday thing that everyone does and it is not like we would show it in a perverted or obscene manner in any way.

Finally, we wanted to end it with them meeting at school. We have yet to decide exactly what he will say but we want the purpose behind the text message to be something super small and insignificant. We think by juxtaposing her overreaction with the meaningless reality behind the message will not only produce a humorous effect but we also want it to reveal the idea that often times humans simply do "blow things out of proportion" when we really have no reason to. Now we have to write the script and I'm really looking forward to it!

Character Development!

Now that we are building our actual story we needed characters! In my previous AS level project, I know that my group and I did not really spend much time developing the characters and I really wanted that to change in my A level project. I think it is only logical to take this step first as it will guide the rest of the story and especially the dialogue once my partner and I have a good idea of what the characters are like and their personalities.

So first we wanted to develop the main character's crush. First, we decided on a name. The name we decided on was Lucas. Now you may be asking yourself wow Elly what an original name how did you ever decide on picking this name? To which I would respond don't worry I am about to explain. So basically we first came to the agreement that we wanted the crush to be the most normal teenage boy we could think of. Not a nerd, or a crazy jock, or an edgy kid who rides his skateboard. We just wanted a plain old teenage boy, so he needed a plain old name. We thought Lucas was the best option because whenever someone envisions a Lucas most people think of a normal nice kid which is exactly what we were going for so after that we decided to develop his personality. Obviously, we wanted him to be normal so my partner and I thought of different characteristics that entail being a normal teenage boy. So then I thought of grades, which is in no way a defining factor of a person but I thought it would help us envision his aspirations and view of the world. So we decided Lucas is a B student because he cares enough to not fail but not to the point where it is his number one priority above anything else in the entire universe. We thought the way he dressed would also help us gain a better image of him so we decided that Lucas is the type to just wear good old sweatpants or jeans and a T-shirt. We also envisioned that it would be helpful to have a little bit of background on him as well. So we decided that he was born in Florida and was brought up by two white parents, again reestablishing the idea that we wanted to make the most normal teenager ever.

Lucas notes

The reason behind making him as normal as possible is because in the end the overall goal and punchline of the whole script for us, is that we want the kid to be unaware and nonchalant about everyone around him especially our girl main character. We believed that in this way it would make it more humorous and ironic the fact that she is having an absolute meltdown about a meaningless text message while he is probably playing GTA 5 at home drinking coke and listening to music. Or whatever it is teenage boys do these days. Then we really wanted to envision our character so we made a mood board of sorts to really try and capture his essence or vibe. So we headed on to Pinterest and collected a series of pictures that we thought represented our very own Lucas. As you can see we took inspiration from STRICTLY THE PHYSICAL/ AESTHETIC aspect of characters from movies and shows such as Mean Girls, PaperTowns, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and daybreak. We thought they each had pretty normal looking teenage boys so we paired pictures of them together as well as costume design inspiration.

Lucas Mood Board

Then we went on to develop our main character. We decided her name is going to be Hazel because it also just sounds like a nice innocent girl's name and that is what we want to portray Hazel as. But before really going into depth with her character development we wanted to make sure that we really hit all the important parts of her personality that we need to touch upon. So we did some research and we found a helpful website by the name of 33 Ways to Write Stronger Characters. The article provided us with various helpful suggestions. Among those suggestions included providing the character's flaws, goals, motivations, and fears. We also wanted to make her really quirky and just overall a relatable character. We even added random unique facts like how she has a strange affinity for soup. We also made it so she doesn't like books but she strives to do good in school. We explained how she has a fear of rejection and loneliness which I think really sets up the plot for the whole piece. We thought it was also really important to mention that she wants to fit in because this is another big motivation for her aspiration to be in a relationship.

Hazel notes

Then we decided to make her a mood board. For Hazel, we really wanted to go into depth into her more quirky side and explore the types of things she likes and her visual aesthetic. We included several pictures of inspiration for her physical appearance and costume design. After having done this I think we really felt more confident about the two character's personalities' interests and way of being.

The Actual Story

Today we were actually able to get some more time to share our ideas with the class! This was much needed because it is one thing to have an idea and it is another to actually make something of it. So my partner and I expressed our concern about how we had no idea how to or in what direction to take our story and we got some pretty great suggestions!

My notes :) 

One of my peers suggested that we should center our short film around a really petty fight that is blown out of proportion. They suggested that this could be very humorous and could work well for our piece. They suggested that the conflict could also be something really silly that could be taken super seriously. For example, a fight over a banana which the other person could be highly allergic to. My partner and I really liked this idea and it led us to think about how it could be comical to have the fight be between kids because we all know kids fight about the smallest things. And it is always quite comical. Specifically, we even thought we could have the fight be in between siblings as that dynamic also proves to produce a variety of endless arguments. However, finding actors that were kids, siblings, and good actors would prove to be a difficult task. 

We also were suggested ideas on how to portray the story. Someone suggested that the fake conversation could all happen in the character's head and they could eventually snap out of it and come back to reality. The problem with this is that we feared this might not be visually engaging if it is simply just an internal monologue. Then someone suggested we could instead portray this fake conversation that the character is having with themselves throughout their day. We decided we were definitely going to portray our story in this way because we think it is really going to be engaging and add more variety and depth to our piece. 

Finally, we were given one idea that led to the final decision of our story. One of my peers suggested that the character receive a message that reads "Hey can we talk?" and then have the character overthink the million possible things that the other character could possibly want to talk about. I think this idea really resonated with my partner and I because I think we can all relate to the feeling of being overly anxious about a text message like this. Often times, when we are texting the emotion and tonality of the conversation can be completely misinterpreted, and this is really a concept we thought would be fun to play with. 

My classmates even helped me structure my piece! They suggested that I divide the piece into three sections which we decided would be the conflict, the character getting ready, and then the end. It was also suggested that my partner and I pay close attention to composition and movement due to the simplicity of our piece. It was even suggested that we incorporate zooms as this could add a lot of value to the portrayal of the feelings of the character. In order to do this, it was suggested that we use an application called Filmic Pro as you can produce seamless zooms without the choppy visuals that usually arise from zooming in on a regular phone camera. 

Overall, I could not be happier about how much help my partner and I received from our peers. Even after class, I had someone come up to my partner and I and recommend we use party city table cloths to create a quirky background for our project. We finally decided that our story is going to be about a female character that has some interaction with a male character they have a crush on and then has an elaborate mental breakdown about the possibilities that can arise from a text message they receive from them. We decided on this because we thought this dynamic between a crazed teenage girl and a clueless young man would be really humorous and fun and we think it is something with which many people can relate to. I even thought of a witty title: "Out of Proportion". And I was thinking that the letters could be all crazy different sizes. Get it?... because they're blowing things out of proportion? So the letters are also out of proportion... hahaha. 

I DON'T KNOW IT'S JUST AN IDEA. 

Well, the point is we have a story and I am very pleased with it :) 

Finally chose and idea!

Today in class we had another Socratic seminar and my partner and I were finally able to share our ideas and troubles with the class. I had actually thought of several ideas but it was difficult to actually develop any of them because my partner did not seem to think any of them were viable. This is one of the hard parts of working with other people as oftentimes your ideas can clash with theirs. However, I was very open to the viable possibility that my ideas were simply not good. Either way, I knew we needed a third opinion so we could at least decide on something so this Socratic seminar was super successful in helping us make that decision.

Unfortunately, we were unable to have a full-length conversation about our project with the group because we were the last ones to go but nevertheless it still helped an immense amount! I started off by explaining where my idea came from. I was basically trying to think of regular mundane things that people do in their everyday life that I could somehow turn into our short film... AND THAT'S WHEN IT HIT ME. There are always times when someone insults you or someone makes you angry and in the heat of the moment, you weren't able to defend yourself. So you go home and you sit and you start coming up with random comebacks in your head. This led me to also think about when you come up with random arguments in the mirror... or is that just me? Anyways I was thinking: What could I possibly do with this idea/ concept? So I thought wouldn't it be funny if your mirror could talk? ... my partner hated it. They hated it because they had done a previous project where they learned the hard way that inanimate objects should never talk. This made sense so I accepted it and kept thinking of more ideas but I thought it was worthwhile sharing the thought with my class.

Notes and recommendations! 

I turned out to be completely right for doing this because my dumb idea flourished into something better! The class agreed inanimate objects should not talk- it is both cheesy and difficult to do. I was not really offended because this makes a lot of sense. But then, everyone started to agree that this was something that we all did. In fact, we all bonded over the fact that we all had experience in engaging in this silly experience. So my teacher recommended that we do just that! She clarified for us all for the millionth time that SIMPLE IS BETTER. Here I was trying to make a mirror talk when all I really needed to do was focus on the humor found in the foolishness of humankind! I was given a bunch of recommendations for shows and movies that would help me extend my idea including Donnie Darko, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Fleabag, and one of my classmate's AS level projects. Now, all we need to do is get to the real deal and think of the actual story behind this idea! But now I am really excited! I see hope! 

Stress and a little bit of inspiration!

So it is coming to the end of the second week of our Portfolio project and my partner and I have still not decided what idea we are basing our short film on and it is stressing me out a little bit because according to our schedule we are supposed to have at least chosen the story by this week. However, not all hope is lost because we designated the following week for perfecting the story, so I have a feeling we might have a little bit of time to find the story next week and still be able to perfect it in the same week. Not only this but in class, we have also started to engage in Socratic seminars to share our stories and build off of each other's ideas. My partner and I have yet to talk about our project in the Socratic seminar but I know we will on Monday so I hope this will help us decide what story we want to do. 

In the meantime, however, I thought it would be helpful to find other sources of inspiration to try and figure out what kind of idea we wanted to execute in our short film. To find such inspiration I decided to ask one of my close friends for any ideas that they might have and they recommended that I watch a music video for the song "Shelter" by Porter Robinson & Madeon. He explained to me that Porter Robinson & Madeon had contracted a Japanese animator to help them produce the music video and that it had turned out very well. Here is the music video:

I was pleasantly surprised by the video as I really enjoyed the story that the portrayed throughout it. Obviously, it is a little different from what we have the ability to produce since my partner nor I have any animation capabilities but I thought the story was really interesting. I know in a previous post I had expanded on how I wanted to execute a simple and happy story but I have realized that most of the ideas that I have are more complex than that. I would still love to find an idea that is short simple and happy but I am afraid that it is really difficult for me to think of any good ones. However, after watching this video I thought of the idea of creating a story in which a character has some self-realization or flashback after looking at a certain object or person. I think many people can relate to the feeling of reigniting a memory at random moments throughout the day and I think it might be cool to recreate this idea.