Project Components

The link to the short film, the shortened edit for you to grade: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YL7Pi9aMO82H0NfJ0c5phYTbdVVPzqAW/view?usp=sharing

The Postcard (Promoting the film screening at All American High School Film Festival):

front

back

The Instagram Social Media Page (Click on "Highlights" to see every story I posted, except for the Q&A responses which are in a separate highlight next to it):

https://www.instagram.com/theabnormalsfilmigsh=MXRpZGVsNTU2M3ducw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

The extended version of the film on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/_E9b9C8G16U

Critical Reflection

 On the surface, a pulpy retro superhero movie wouldn't seem like it has much to say about the world we live in. Even with the film's simplicity, I think there's an element of it that is very profound. Normally, when we think of superheroes, we think of traditionally masculine, cisgender and straight white men. Yes minority heroes exist in comics and film, but most of them are far less known, and often times their identity plays a focus in their stories. 

The Abnormals takes a different approach. Of the actors who make up the main trio of superheroes, one is Black, the other is a transgender man, and the other is a female. The film never addresses these identities, and what this tells the audience is that not only are these underrepresented individuals just as capable of fitting the aspirational roles the media often denies them, it does not have to define them. Astroknight, Cryptid Kid, and Showstopper are allowed to be superheroes without having to be labeled as minority superheroes. They can exist beyond labels and perception. This logic also applies to Blackout, a villain in the film. 

Blackout is an take on the sci-fi and fantasy dark lord archetype, however while many of those characters are men, Blackout is a woman. This shows how women in media don't have to be restricted to roles the idealize them, they can also show a dark and witty side, one that represents an aspect of humanity that is often considered undesirable, but through the character of the supervillain, becomes fun and magnetic.

Like the members of many superhero teams, each member of The Abnormals has a distinct color that represents them, which in this particular film is shown both in their hero costumes and their civilian outfits. Astrokinight is blue, Cryptid Kid is green, and Showstopper is red. This element of mis-en-scene gives an iconic and recognizable nature to the characters, which is reflected in the marketing. The character posters for the film, posted on Instagram, reinforce the color associations. The backgrounds of the posters and the individual character logos fit whatever the color scheme is of the character they represent, and this applies to the villains as well as the heroes even though their colors aren't as dominant in their costumes. Throughout the marketing materials posted to Instagram, blue and green are the brand colors. They're the colors used on the movie's logo, which appears on all posters, and the headings on the posts introducing the cast and director. 

This usage of color make all of the marketing materials feel cohesive. Additionally, all the posters following the initial teaser poster contain a spiral background, which represents the retro inspiration for the movie while acting as a symbol that brands the posts and acts as something an audience member can associate with the movie. The spiral, as well as the blue and green logo, appear in the movie itself and further establish elements and symbols that brand the movie. The spiral, as well as the logo and color palate appear on the postcard, the front side of which is a re-edit of the main poster. This makes the two objects feel related and shows that they aim for the same marketing purpose. In addition to all of this, each post on Instagram ends with #theabnormalsmovie which makes them all connected, and variations of films tagline, "This Spring, suit up", appear in the captions of various posts as well as on the main poster and the bio for the account.

The film itself engages with the audience with the audience with techniques meant to keep a high energy feel and keep the viewers attention. This includes the musical score, whip pans that highlight shocking or important moments, close ups that make the viewer feel more connected to the emotions and situations of the characters, and tracking shots that create a feeling of exciting motion while highlighting the importance of every character in the ensemble by showing them together. The music is primarily surf rock during intense moments like the suit-up montage, and synth during the rest of the movie, which is used to create emotions such as excitement, suspense, and mystery. Both genres listed are associated with nostalgia and a vintage feeling, something that is carried throughout the entire movie. Much of the film is a pastiche of classic comic books and superhero TV shows, shown through the heightened and campy dialogue and performances and the comic book inspired transitions between shots, like the wipes. In many ways, the film acts as a way for modern audiences to experience a kind of filmmaking that is no longer fashionable. The Abnormals is a movie that many would consider "uncool", and the inherit strangeness of a movie that is trying to be "uncool" is what makes it, to many, cool because of how it rejects modern conventions.

In terms of the social media, many of the posts were proceeded by stories that built anticipation for what was about to be revealed. There was also the Q&A, where I personally answered questions for audience members, and the villain video submissions, where I invited audience members to appear in the movie itself by sending clips of themself. These clips are only seen in the extended version of the film posted to YouTube.

I did a lot of research into the aesthetic of comic books, as I wanted The Abnormals to feel like a comic book come to life. One element of comics that made it's way into the story is how they often end on cliffhangers, which inspired the cliffhanger ending of the movie where Blackout returns for revenge and the team prepares for battle. I was also inspired by the yellow boxes that contain the text of a location, something that appears in the movie, panels that highlight the characters posed in a group, which influenced many shots of the main trio, and the way that comic books use bright and poppy colors.

Goodbye

This is it. The final post. No coming back in a few months, because by that time I'll be in a new place in my life. I can't stress enough how much value this class has head in my academic life. It's taught me so much about the world, the media I consume, and given me amazing opportunities to improve and demonstrate my skills. And on that note, I cannot be prouder of the The Abnormals. My passion project for months, it's such a pure expression of myself, my interests, and a conduit for my friendships and love for the all the talented people I know.

Goodbye, AICE media. I don't quite know where the road ahead will take me, but I do know one thing. 

It's time to suit up.

Q&A

On Friday I did a Q and A on Instagram. I got a fair amount of responses and answered some of the questions that evening and the others the following morning. This was really fun, as it felt good interacting with the audience. I went super in-depth with my answers, and hopefully people found them insightful and hopefully will enjoy the movie even more knowing some of the story behind it. I also hope that the numerous artists and filmmakers following the account can get inspiration from hearing about my process. Here are the answers to the questions I was asked:

Character Posters

 I made a series of character posters that I posted to my social media. This was an idea that I planned on doing for while and now that I have edited stills, I was able to crop out the characters from them to make these posters. It's important to me because I feel like this movie is an ensemble piece, and I want each character and actor to have their time to shine in the marketing. I gave each character a unique text logo, which is something you see a lot of in comic books when a character is seen for the first time. I kept the spiral pattern from the main poster as I wanted to have consistency with the marketing and it created a great affect visually, drawing the eye inward towards the character. I also gave each character a combination of two colors for the spiral. I needed to make sure that the colors matched both the character's costume and logo, while still contrasting enough to make the logo readable.

Lastly, I added the names of the actors playing the character and the Abnromals logo to the corner, to keep brand consistency and remind people of what this is all promoting. These are some of my favorite things that I've made for this project.

Sing a Song of The Abnormals

 Monday was a really fun day, because we wrote a song for the movie! Since the beginning I've had the idea of The Abnormals having a theme song, like any good superhero team should, and yesterday I hosted a zoom meeting with two of my friends who know a lot more about music then me so we could write it. I actually have written lyrics before. I do a summer program where we write original musicals, so I actually have a lot of experience with this. My two friends Jaden and Seth, who wrote the song with me, also do this program, and they both know guitar.

We started by discussing what the structure of the song should be like; we could go the route of a song telling the story of the film, a song that mentions the characters but doesn't tell a specific story, or a song that has nothing to do with the characters or story that just fits the vibe of the movie. We went with the second option. The idea was that it would feel like the theme song to superhero cartoon like Teen Titans or the 60s Spider-man show. 

Jaden and Seth did all the guitar stuff while Jaden and I did all the lyrics. We decided to structure it in a very simple structure of verse>pre-chorus>chorus>verse>pre-chorus>chorus>bridge>pre-chorus>chorus. For the overall song I was very inspired by the band The B-52's and their very bouncy 60s surf rock meets 80s new wave. Their song "Planet Claire" was one that I was thinking of a lot while writing. In general the aesthetic of the B-52's is something that was in my mind during the entirety of production. I just love how sincerely fun and goofy it is. 

We finished writing the lyrics during our zoom call and by the point Jaden and Seth had to log off. I then recorded the vocals on my phone to send to them to use as reference when they record and mix the real thing. At the moment Jaden will be doing the vocals. He really wanted to do it and he's a good vocalist so I think he'll do a good job. He also plays the character Toy Master in the movie, and there's something I like about having the villain be the one who sings the hero's song, especially given how theatrical the character. It's like the character made the song as a snide "are you happy now?" to The Abnormals. 

While all of this is happening, my friend Jake, who plays the character Agent Siegel, said he would be able to compose the score to the film. I had asked him before and he said he wouldn't have to the time to, but I guess things changed because he's the one asking me if he can do it. I sent him a rough edit of what I have for him to put music to. He's super talented on the piano so I'm hyped for what he sends back.

A Lot Of Social Media Stuff

A lot of stuff is happening in the world of social media for The Abnormals. First, I posted the first look images for the film last Wednesday, three stills that I felt would get people excited and most importantly make them want to know more. The last of the three gave my page's followers there first look at The Abnormals in costume, and the costume reveal is big moment for any superhero movie's marketing. It means things are serious now, like a message that says "yeah, get hyped, cause it's happening".

On that day, I also did something really crazy. Let me run you through my process. At the end of the film, there's a montage of footage of villains who escaped from prison. The idea was that this would allude to how comic books often end on cliffhangers while allowing more of my friends to have roles in the film. Now initially I was going to send a message to my summer break theater group chat, but I realized that that would exclude people from my school who may want to participate, as well as the people who don't frequently check WhatsApp. I would get the message sent to more people if I used Instagram, I thought. I considered that I should send it on my personal Instagram story, and that gave me an idea. What if I posted on the film's social media page, and made it a public offer? That idea is insane and also brilliant! Not only would I get more eyes on the post, I would be getting audience involvement and cultivating a fan base for the film. I made a post detailing how to film and send me a video that would be included in the film. At the moment I have received no responses, however some of my friends have said that they are interested. I love how this will make the movie feel even more like a community effort. Plus, if I am to get pretentious for a minute, I like to think that community involvement through the internet like this may be a part of the future of cinema. At least in my opinion, it should be. Imagine every movie has a call for people to submit art that will be shown in the movie, a call for any person to lend their voice to a computer generated character, a call for people to be credited for a digital double of themself that appears in the background, there's a lot of possibilities for this.

Lastly, today I posted the official poster for the film. I made it through editing a screenshot from the film, adding this spiral background that appears in the film itself at a few points that matches the green and blue color scheme I've been using, and added the tagline, release date, and the cast and director information. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I posted two versions of it, one with the credits and other info, and one with just the image and title. I did this because if for any reason someone wanted to save the poster to their phone, they should have the option to have a version without the clutter of text if they so please. Again, I'm really trying to appeal to young internet users and how they consume content, and one of the many things I know about them is that they like things that are to the point, hence the simpler version of the poster.

Editing Time!

 Alright so I have begun the editing process and I'm currently pretty far along with that. I'm mostly done with the line edit (putting all the clips in order and having them at the length they should be) and I've done a little bit of color grading. I'm really happy with how it's looking, and while a lot of it feels kind of awkward without music or sound effects, that will soon change. Making the line edit is actually fun because, and I know I sound like a broken record but it's true, I can feel the film I've been dreaming of for the past two months come to life. Color grading, on the other hand, is a tedious process that should be used as a military torture method, however it's nice seeing the visuals of the movie improve with a few clicks. As you can see, I split the line edit into three sequences, which makes it easier for me to organize and know where I am in the timeline.

Last Tuesday, I filmed the last clips I needed, which are the shots of the character Agent Siegel calling in to assign the Abnormals their mission. I filmed them against a green screen and added this background which I felt was properly retro and fit the movies vibe. Really, the main reason I used a green screen was because it would be really obvious that the Abnormals HQ and the office Agent Siegel is calling from are both just my house. I have a small house where all the walls look the same, that's why.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll discuss how I've been marketing the film on social media!

 

Cast Bios! I Have Them Now!

FINALLY after only a slight amount of pestering I got everyone to send my their headshots and bios! I'm going to start posting these tomorrow, and I'm also going to start editing. I will be so honest with you, I find editing to be really tedious and while there is enjoyment in it, I am not a fan of editing. Tomorrow I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and get this thing done. Anyway I'm not thinking about that right now because I finally have my cast's bios and chosen headshots! Like I said I'll begin posting these tomorrow, and I'll also probably be posting some behind the scenes updates throughout the week. I'm so excited, I really feel like I'm running a professional movie social media account.

Group Meeting 2 Follow-Up

 We had another group meeting! Like the last one, it was fun seeing what other people are doing and giving them advice. A lot of people are getting close to filming, so soon we'll all be on the same point in our project timelines. I certainly felt after the meeting that I'm where I need to be in terms of time. I showed some clips I filmed to the other people in the group and they all seemed to like them. I made the realization that this movie is weirdly hard to describe to people. Both in and outside of the group, whenever someone asks about it I say "oh it's about superheroes". Then when they ask for the actual plot I hesitate for a bit and say "This team of superheroes has to stop a villain from getting a gemstone." It's such a simple heroes vs villains story with absolutely nothing unique about it other than the the fact that someone is making something so simple and vintage in the year 2025 when it feels like it should be a cartoon short from the 60s. Of course that's the point, but it makes it hard to describe while accurately getting across the vision. The plot itself isn't what matters, it's the film's presentation and also it's mere existence. 

That's a Wrap! (Featuring Your First Look at The Abnormals!)

Ok so that title isn't entirely true, but what is is that I filmed nearly all of the film in one day! The only thing left to do is to film this brief video call footage with one person which will appear on the screen in the film. But I'm not thinking about that one shot with two lines right now because literally everything else is done! 

This morning, staring at around 10, my three actors Max, Sawyer, and Reagan arrived at my house and we filmed all of the indoor scenes at the Abnormals HQ, the ones that begin and end the film. Then my dad ordered pizza and we had lunch at around 12:30. After that, we filmed these brief suit-up montage shots against the greenscreen. Seeing everyone in their full costumes for the first time was one of the best moments of the day, made me feel like my vision was coming to life in front of me.

We then took another break after that and drove over to Tree Tops Park to meet up with Jaden and Lee, the other two stars, to film the forest scenes which take up a bulk of the runtime. We got there a little after 2 finished at around 4:45. When it came to the indoor stuff, we really had no issues. The outdoor scenes also went smoothly, however we did have to pause a few times for park goers to walk past and to wait for the sound of planes and cicadas to subside, which are both very common in that area for some reason. 

I think I speak for everyone when I say that we felt a little embarrassed hanging around this public park in our superhero and villain outfits, and yeah I think we got a few stares. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this here, but I'm autistic, and because of the social anxiety that comes with that I was kind of dreading this, so I just forced myself to not think about the passerby and just focus on the movie. I mean, we're actors and filmmakers, we're weird people. You see the general public making up stories and playing pretend as adults or even young adults? We're weird people, and that's cool.

I originally said I would make a shot list for this film, but I didn't have time. It still worked out though. I actually kind of prefer the method of improving and coming up with visual ideas in the moment. For example, I wanted to put some knick-knacks around my living room to make it look more like a superhero base, and I found this conch shell. I got the idea that when the character Astroknight turns on the TV to get the team's mission, he should do it in a cool, unexpected way. Thus, the secret mission channel is tuned into by spinning around the conch shell on the coffee table. I also allowed for a degree of improvisation with the performances. Jaden and Lee especially did a lot of these exaggerated moments that felt highlighted the campiness of those characters and the film itself. Sometimes I felt like they were taking it too far and had to ask them to dial it back, but regardless I loved what they did with those characters.

It was really fun blocking the scenes. I feel like I direct my blocking with a more theater-like sensibility than film, probably because I do theater and I'm very used to it, so if you were on set you would've heard a lot of talk like "form a line" or "form a triangle". Then again, maybe that is traditional in film and I haven't been on enough sets to notice it. 

One of the main reasons we were able to film most of the movie in one day is that I only did one take for most shots. The only times I did multiple takes were if someone messed up a line, if I messed up moving the camera, if an unexpected sound occurred, or if I felt like someone's performance or delivery needed to be tweaked. All of those things rarely happened, and I'm happy to say that a vast majority of the shots we're two takes at most. Some may say that this is a flawed method, while I say it depends on the director and the cast. I feel like the first take is usually the most authentic performance and I don't want to stress out my actors or myself with too many takes (looking at you, Kubrick). It saves time both in filming and in editing, because I don't have to endlessly watch the same clip over and over to see which variation is best.

Now is a good time for me to mention just how fun the set was. Yes we were making a film, which is work (something I had to remind my cast of a few times) but we were also hanging out and having a good time. By the time it was done everyone was feeling good and accomplished and was just as excited to see the final product as me, which makes me happy.

This is becoming a very long blog post but I'm just so excited about this movie! Now that it's been filmed, a massive weight has been taken off of my shoulders, and I have more than enough time to edit and do all the necessary marketing shenanigans. Today was an amazing day.