Important Elements

Background Information + Costumes!

Ayami

    She is the main character of the story, and also the person with ADHD. She has been struggling with ADHD since she was in elementary school, but was not diagnosed with it until the end of middle school. Once she was diagnosed, everything in her life made sense. She finally realized why she did certain things, such as always moving her feet, pace around, have a million thoughts in her head, never being able to concentrate, rambling and having a hard time talking, overthinking, and much more. Once she got diagnosed, she was given Adderall, a medicine to help make her life a little easier. However, the school that she goes to will not provide her with a 504 plan to give her extra time on assignments and tests, just because they see that she is not failing most of her classes. However, they do not see that she actually struggles so much when it comes to trying to focus while doing things. 

    She is part of a family of four, who are all Sri Lankan. Her parents are very strict, and care a lot of her grades. She also has an older sister in college, that is very successful and has always gotten all As and never really struggles in both making friends and doing good in school. Her parents do not really "believe in" ADHD, and usually just tell her to focus. Multiple people have tried to tell them that it is a real mental disability, but they still do not understand. Not only does Ayami struggle so much with her ADHD, but she is also under a lot of pressure from her parents in order to try and live up to the expectations set by her older sister. 

    Her costume while talking to her friend will be pretty simple and bland, in order to represent her not really being there in the conversation. This will include of a plain gray shirt and black jeans. However, during her thinking sequence, she will be in multiple colorful outfits, in order to represent her "colorful" mind. This will include of colors such as blue, yellow, and red, which are all primary colors. 

    I think Ayami shows good representation in my film opening. This is because not only is she a neurodivergent person, but she is also brown. I feel like there are not a lot of south Asian people shown on film, especially neurodivergent brown people. When they are shown on the big screen, they are often put into the stereotype of being the "super smart" person.

    The person that will be cast for this role will be my sister. I chose her, because she is also of south asian descent, which is a very important part of the character. Also, since there will be a lot of filming with the main character, I wanted to use a person that would be easy to reach, which is why I chose her.

Barbara

    She is the friend of Ayami, that is trying to talk to her about the homework assignment. She is not really a best friend of Ayami, and really only just met her. Since they just met, Barbara does not really know that Ayami has ADHD, which is why she is not really considerate in understanding why she does not listen to her. Barbara is the type of person that is very hardworking, and cares a lot about school. This is also why she does not understands why Ayami did not do the homework, since that is such as important part of her life. 

    For her costume, she will also be wearing a dull and simple outfit. Her outfit will have a brown color scheme. It will be included of neutral colors to show how Ayami is not really interested in Barbara, and rather tunes her out, even though she does not mean to. 

    The person that I will cast for this role will be my friend who I know from theater. I chose her because I know that she is an amazing actor, and she is a very reliable friend that I can count on for filming. 

Other Characters

    Some of the other characters that will be included at the end of the film opening will be Ayami's parents, some of her teachers, and also a few of her friends.

    The people that I will cast for these characters include of my parents, some of my teachers (Mr. McKnight and Ms. Van Buren, if they agree to be in it), and a few of my friends. 

Set Design + Props

Locations

    For the part of the opening where Barbara is talking to Ayami about the homework, they will be at the library. 

    Props for this part of the scene would be various supplies needed for studying, such as books, pencils, papers, etc. 

    For the various clips of Ayami's thoughts in her head, most of them will be filmed outdoors, such as locations like my backyard, Markham Park, Savanna Commons, etc. This is because I want it to be more colorful, and the nature will be able to do this. 

    For the flashback part for when Ayami was trying to do her homework, that will be filmed at my house at our dining room table. 

    One of the most important props that I will need is a large white cloth. This is because at the end of the opening, I want all the characters talking to have the same plain white background, in order to be uniform. This means that I do not want anything else in the background to be showing. 

What story do I want to tell...

    So now its time to find out the actual story of my I want to start off my story with the main character trying to talk to their friend about a homework assignment and other school related things. Then I want the main character to start to get distracted, and think a lot of different thought instead of listening to their friend. I will slowly show the main character get more and more distracted, and be more in the thoughts of their head. In order to show the distractions, there will be multiple short clips of the main characters doing other things rather than listening to the friend. These clips will be edited fast, and there will also be a different color filter on top of them. There will also be a voiceover on top of all of this, in order to show the audience the thoughts going on inside the main characters head. Then, it will suddenly cut to the friend trying to get the main character's attention, by waving her hand in front of her. The friend will then ask the main character if they did any of the homework. Then it will show the main character closing 

    Then, the main character will have a flashback to the night before, of when they were trying to do their homework. However, while there are shots of the main character trying to actually do homework, there will also be quick shots inserted to show the late time and also their bad grades. This will show how much their ADHD is not only effecting the way that they talk to people, but also its effect on education. There will also be multiple shots of the main character being very frustrated and mad at themself, for not being able to complete things the same as neurotypical people. 

    Then it will cut back to the person talking to the same friend from the beginning, to show that the scene in between was just a flashback. Since the last thing the friend said was "So did you do the homework?" the friend will now say "Wait, you probably did do the homework. I mean look at you, you look so smart." Then it will show a clip of the main character looking at themself in confusion. This will represent the bias that most people think that brown people are smart and don't have a difficult time in school or other things in life, just because they "look smart."

    After this, I want to try and turn the film opening into a short montage of things people have said to the main character, to show how some people invalidate their ADHD just for being brown. There will be a bunch of different shots showing people saying multiple things like "just concentrate", "You have ADHD? You don't look like it?" and other things similar to this. Although the context is not the same, I want it to kind of look like this video, where the people will be looking directly at the camera. This is because I want to make it seem like it is from the POV of the main character. The last shot will just be the main character screaming and being so frustrated and overwhelemed with all of these thoughts getting into their head. 

    

Cool Technical Elements!

     I want to use specific technical elements in order to represent specific parts of the story. For instance, I want to use color to represent the "real" and "fake" parts of the story. For instance, I want to use duller colors when showing the parts of the story that are part of the characters real life, and is actually happening. And when the character is having thoughts in their head, I want to have brighter colors, in order to represent the "colorful" and sometimes even crazy thoughts that goes through their head. 

    During the thinking parts of the opening, I want use fast editing while it is showing the character's thoughts, in order to show how fast the thoughts come and go, and how many things go through their head. Another thing that I want to do is have music playing faintly, because with me specifically, there is always a song playing in my head and distracting me. 

    I want the thinking sequence to transition from a scene where the character is doing something like talking to their friend. What I am imagining in my head, is that first the friend is talking to the main character, and the audience can hear what the friend is saying. Then, it will slowly transition into the thinking sequence where all the techniques elements such as the color and the background music. Also included with the music, I also want to put the sound of the friend still talking, but progressively getting quieter. I want to do this in order to represent the main character slowly getting more and more distracted, and getting deeper in their own thoughts in their head. Then I want to show the thinking sequence, which a bunch of random thoughts goin through the main characters head. Then it will suddenly show the friend trying to get the main character's attention. At this point, for the technical elements, I want the music to suddenly stop and the colors to suddenly change. 

Distraction Log (otherwise known as me coming to the realization that I get distracted by EVERYTHING)

 Ok so as promised, I made a little log of all the things that distracted me/random thoughts that went through my head throughout the day. I have am also going to list certain habits that I do that include of me being either hype focused on one activity OR being super distracted by something. 

- always a song playing in my head

- searching up random stuff and researching about it

- always checking my phone

- can get addicted to my phone for hours

- no motivation to get started on anything, so a lot of my time is spent staring into space

- looking at something for so long, and literally having no thoughts in my head

- replaying shows in my head

- always getting up and walking around for no reason

- listening to other peoples conversations, even if they aren't about me at all

- a lot of planning as to what I want to accomplish in the day, but not really accomplishing any of those goals by the end

- overthinking things I said throughout the day

- always moving in my seat (such as leg bouncing, or chair swirling)

Research, research, and MORE research

     So since I want to do a realistic film about the effects of ADHD on someone's life, I want the genre to be coming of age. Because not only do I want to represent the mental disorder as a whole, I also want to show how it specifically effects a person's life. And since I want the character to be a high school teenager, I want to show how people with ADHD experience normal high school things differently than everyone else. 

    In order to find things to represent that people with ADHD struggle with, especially as a teenager, I have to do a lot of research! I don't want to base everything off of only experiences I have, because people with ADHD all experience it in different ways. So in order to find out how people deal with their ADHD , I've researched a lot! 

    First of all, in order to gain more research I am going to try and keep a log of my focus levels in one day of my life. I am going to try and write down all the things my mind wanders to throughout the day, and then try to incorporate these things into my film opening. I think this will make my film even more realistic, because it will be based on things that have actually happened in my life. I will also note down how often it happens, in order to figure out how much my ADHD effects my life. 

    This is an article that specifically talks about different metaphors for describing what it feels like to have ADHD. I will not copy any of these ideas, but I think they give a good basis of some creative ideas that I can come with in order to figuratively represent the disorder. 

    This article specifically talks about what it is like to be a brown person with ADHD. One thing that really stood out to me in this article was this sentence: "in my family, admitting a diagnosis means you're admitting defeat- and that means missed opportunities." I think that this is such an important part of the article, because it shows how specially in Asian cultures, people with mental disabilities like ADHD are looked down upon, which is why they are usually diagnosed later on in life. This is exactly what happened with me, since I didn't get diagnosed until last year. When my parents first found out, they were shocked to find out that such a "bright mind" like me could struggle with ADHD. However, now they have become much more understanding and somewhat understand the struggle I go through every day with ADHD. This article made me realize that I really do want to do my opening specifically about the struggles of ADHD as an Asian. I think I want to show an Asian person that does not realize at first that they have ADHD, and the finally get diagnosed at the end of the film. However, that thinking is for the entire movie, and not just the film opening, so it might be hard to show all of this in just 2 minutes. 

    I just have so many ideas in my mind right now, and I feel like I need to narrow it down more, because I don't want to have too many things going on in my two minute opening. Right now these are all the ideas I have:

- Represent ADHD specifically in the POV of the main character with the ADHD

- Figuratively describe what it's like to be in the mind of a person with ADHD

- Show the struggle of trying to accepted by Asian parents, either before or after being diagnosed

- The invalidating feeling of parents, teacher, counselors, friends and more that don't think Asians struggle as much with ADHD

Character + Actors

    Ok so I've been trying to think of people that I could use for my project. At first, I wanted to use myself as the main character because I wanted to show an south Asian person dealing with ADHD, but then I realized that I didn't really want to actually be in my film opening LOL. Plus, I have so many resources for good actors, since I am in theater and have multiple friends there. Since I don't want to actually be filmed, I decided that I have a choice of many good actors that I know: my sister and my friends Barbara, Nicole, Martina, and Graesen. I think I might make my sister the main character who is struggling with ADHD, in order to emphasize the fact that Asians have a different struggle with it than other people. However, if that doesn't work out, I will have Barbara be the main character, even though she is white. 

    I know that I want to have my main character be the one that is actually struggling with the ADHD. The problem now is to fit other characters into the story! I know that I want to include a friend, so that I can show the struggle of even trying to pay attention with just talking to friends. I also think I might want to include a scene at school, with other students and maybe a teacher, to show how much of a struggle it is to keep up in school and do good in it. I'm going to try and limit how many characters I have though, because I want to keep it simple, since it is a film opening and not a full film production. I'm excited that I have a general idea of what I want to do! However, now the hard part is to actually figure out the plot of my opening. Eeek! 

    Something I already know that I want to include are actual realistic moments, that can also happen in real life. However, I also want to take an artistic route to my project to, and try to also represent ADHD figuratively. I found this REALLY cool video that uses a lot of metaphors to represent the mind of someone who has ADHD. It compares it to things like bouncy balls and carousels. I want to try and represent metaphors like this in my film opening, but I still have to figure out exactly HOW I'm going to represent that. 

*EUREKA* moment!

    I think that I might have found the perfect thing to do my project about! I wanted to do my project about an issue in society, but also have I always wanted to relate to it. Of course, there are so many big issues in society like food scarcity or homelessness, which are all very bad. But those are not really things that I know much about. Of course, with some research I could have learned more about problems such as those, but I wanted to do something more personal that could be applied to me, so that the project could be more meaningful for me. 

    But just a few moments ago I had an epiphany! I think I know exactly what I want to do for my portfolio project! Something that I have been struggling for a while is my ADHD. Most people are surprised to find out that I have ADHD, mainly because of the stereotypes that Asians are very smart and don't have a hard time doing work. After some research, I realized that this stereotype even has a specific name: the model minority myth. This is a really harmful stereotype for all Asians, and especially for those struggling to keep up with these high expectations, such as me. At first, I thought this feeling of not being understood by others was just felt by me, but then after more research, I found out that many other people feel the same way. I found this article that perfectly sums up how I feel every day. Even though I am not Indian like the girl in the article, I am Sri Lankan, so a lot of people assume that I'm Indian just by looking at me. Not only does this article perfectly represent how much I struggle to get basic things done because I loose concentration, but also the fact that I feel like no one validates my feelings. I always feel like people look over the fact that I struggle with ADHD, just because of the way I look. What makes it worse is that fact that I have inattentive ADHD, and not hyperactive. This means that my symptoms for ADHD are not visible to other people, which makes it hard for others to understand that I really struggle.  

    The moment I realized that I should do my project representing how it feels like to have ADHD, but have no one understand that I need help is when my parents told me what happened at the meeting that they had with the school today. Today, they had a meeting with my counselor to talk about my 504 plan, and what accommodations I should have. Before the meeting, only one of my teachers gave me extra time to complete my tests, which I truly appreciated. However, the outcome of this meeting was that I shouldn't be given extra time, just because I am in hard classes and have good grades. I think that it is unfair to be judged on these things, because just because I have semi good grades, it does not mean that I struggle to complete things every single day. So, in order to show people what it is like to have the mind of me, a person with inattentive ADHD, I really want to make my portfolio project about this struggle. So yea, THAT was my *eureka* moment! I really hope my project will be able to inform people that ADHD comes in all different forms, and that it shouldn't be invalidated for anyone. 

Starting the Project! (nervous, but also really excited!)

Last week we learned more about the portfolio project!! I knew that we would have to do this from the beginning of the year, and I can't believe its already time to start it! Honestly, when I first found out about it in the beginning of the year, I was a bit nervous. And now that we have more information about it, I'm even more nervous, eek! This project is so much different than the other projects that we've worked on this year, because there we are given so much more time to create something completely from scratch. There is just so much to think about, with all the brainstorming, planning, filming, editing, and more. But I have to take it one step at a time, and right now I'm on just approaching the project and my initial plans. For my project, I want to focus on something that I know a lot about, so that the project will be easier to execute. Right now, I have to do a lot of research before even starting the project, because I need help brainstorming an idea that I can execute for the project. A good idea is a very important base for this project, so I hope that I will be able to come up with something that will be good! And even though I am very nervous to start, I'm also really excited that I will be able to make something that is completely original!! 

Music Marketing Blog Post 2

Research

For our research, we found out more about the pop genre, because that was the genre that we were given. We researched about 2 different record companies that had groups or artists in the pop genre. This is why we picked Columbia records and Republic records. These record companies have groups and artists that include of Miley Cyrus, Adele, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Clairo, and much more. However, we decided to specifically research Beyoncé, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd. When researching these specific pop stars, we learned a lot about not only their history, but also the types of marketing that they do and how they distribute their music. This gave us ideas as to how we should market our music. For instance, one common theme that we saw between all the artists was that they all tried to be very close to their audience, and used specific marketing techniques to do this. For instance, Beyoncé has a very close fanbase, which she calls the Beyhive, who she gives a lot of special access to, such as specific songs or secret concerts. We decided to take inspiration from this, and do a special event for our most loyal fans, and called it a "graduation" event. 

Brainstorming and Planning

When we were brainstorming ideas for what our band's aesthetic could be, we struggled to come up with something unique, and not related to the original band. At first, we wanted to do a hippie aesthetic, but then we realized that it was too similar to the original band. However, once we came up with a name for the band, the brainstorming became easier. We decided to call the band Senior Trip, and have them be a group of teenagers that had just graduated high school, which is why they would be so relatable to their teen audience. Also, after we had come up with the name, we decided that we wanted the band to have a sort of outer space theme, which related to a "trip around the moon." The outer space theme also lead us to make up an idea for the logo, which was to make a rocket ship going around the moon. 

Production and Post Production

For the actual filming of the music video, my group decided that it would be good to film a video that related to our idea of a girl moving on from losing her friend. This is why we decided to use common locations, such as a home, around the neighborhood, and inside of a restaurant. For the post production, we wanted to make the scenes from the past, be like flashbacks and relate to what was happening now. For instance, when the girl was walking in the beginning by herself, we also included of her walking with her friend in the past. 

Presentation

For the look of our presentation, we also decided to do a space theme. We wanted to show people that was what our brand was like. We also wanted to keep our presentation without much words, and wanted to include more visuals and mainly just explain what we wanted to say through presenting. 

Reflection

What I learned from this project is that it takes a lot of time to come up from a plan from scratch. It took a lot of brainstorming to even beginning thinking of things that our band could be. It also took a lot of brainstorming to find out what our music was going to represent, and how to actually film it. Some aspects of this project that will be helpful for developing my Cambridge portfolio include of how to brainstorm an idea, how to be efficient with my time, and how to present my project clearly.