The Making of a Movie

Ahmet

Katie Stout

Katie Stout Katie Stout Tomas Bellavia

MEET the editors

Rebeca Gonzales is a freshman at LASA High School. She is excited to write about the processes of casting and costuming for movies. She loves cooking, hiking, and playing lacrosse. She is also fluent in Spanish and English. After graduating, Rebeca hopes to move to New England to attend college and study law. Her favorite movie is About Time, but she also loves binge watching a good show.

Ahmet Yakay

is a freshman at LASA highschool. Ahmet is originally from Istanbul, Turkey. He can’t wait to get to the actual magazine making and making a cool design for the magazine. His favorite part of the day is coming home after school to his dear cat, Sunny “Kitten” Jack. Along with playing with Sunny he likes to play soccer and use his computer for video games and homework. He is quite the musician and can play the guitar and piano.

Lyra Siano, a freshman at Lasa enjoys many hobbies, including longboarding, skateboarding, and baking. She is the Vice President of the chicken club. She also enjoys hunting for mushrooms and making spore prints from them. Quite the animal lover, Lyra has a pet bunny named Hester, 3 cats, fish, and previously had chickens. She likes lots of different movies, but her favorite is Pride and Prejudice and Tomas Bellavia hopes to have a fun and a memorable experience in Ezine this semester. He enjoys reading and playing sports. Some sports include basketball, ultimate frisbee, and water polo. In fact, Tomas is a water polo junior olympian. He hopes to attend college after LASA and major in either law or computer science.

Katie Stout is a freshman at LASA High School. She plays flute in the marching band and did competitive dance for 6 years. Due to her background in fine arts, of course she is in charge of the Movie Music portion of our magazine. Katie’s favorite movie is Princess Mononoke, but in general, she adores all Studio Ghibli movies. After high school she wants to go to college and study something to do with science. She would also love to travel more and possibly study abroad.

Letter From Your Editors

Dear Reader, The Making of a Movie magazine was created in order to teach and educate people on the topic of filmmaking and its components. Each step focused on throughout the magazine was explicitly chosen out of interest and its crucial importance throughout the movie industry. We hope that through this magazine, you can gain a similar interest in the movie industry as we have. We hope you enjoy our magazine’s articles, infographics, and design. Now sit back, relax, remember to silence your phone, grab your popcorn, and we hope you enjoy Making of a Movie.

Gonzalez - The Making of a Movie

By: Lyra Siano

A rockstar, a lifeguard, a teacher, a chef! I mean, Barbie went to the moon before Neil Armstrong did! With over 180 careers, plus a wardrobe anyone would be envious of, Barbie also remains humble and kind enough to impress a Disney Princess. She was an executive back in ‘63 when a woman’s main role was to be a wife and mother, and has encouraged children to pursue their dreams through a fun combination of charm and style. Yet, it hasn’t always been this way. She has long represented an extremely unrealistic expectation of women that can cause a negative body image for girls who grow up thinking that’s the body they should aspire to have. “I think

it’s also associated with some level of “perfection” which isn’t cool. Our society puts so much pressure on people to have unattainable looks, the differences between us all

esteem issues and heavily influences how girls believe they should look and act. When you think you should look like a disproportionate grown woman (who may or may not be missing her lower ribs) at age 4, you may end up with a lack of self-confidence and confuse your self worth with your self image. It can lead to eating disorders, especially if you have other negative external factors.

should be celebrated,” said Producer Janice Smith. This makes sense considering she originated from a provocative German doll used as a gag gift for men. Being gifted a Barbie as a toddler and growing up wanting to be her potentially creates some self

The dolls weren’t the only problem. Although not a product of Mattel, the popular Barbie Girl Song by “Aqua” has some questionable lyrics that are sexist and push forth the idea that a female cannot function independently,

“You

“Our society puts so much pressure on people to have unattainable looks, the difference between us should be celebrated”

can brush my hair, undress me anywhere… Make me walk, make me talk, I can do whatever you please… I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees.”

However, Barbie has come a long way in empowering young women and moving away from encouraging

materialism and vanity. When speaking to the producer of the animated Barbie movies, Christopher Keenan said, “You know there was a time when I wouldn’t even buy a Barbie doll for my nieces because she stood for things that I didn’t believe in. When I joined Mattel there was a real

shift going on from a brand and product standpoint, to move away from being about consumerism and fashion and all those things only and to really embrace this idea of empowering young girls. It wasn’t just to aspire to be rich and beautiful. It was to aspire to be anything, to believe in

yourself.”

Barbie is incredibly popular still and has multiple outlets including shows, games and of course toys.

Oscar Perez put it well: “It’s a cultural staple that finds new ways to reinvent itself through different mediums.” In 2020 alone, Mattel made $1.35 billion dollars solely off of Barbie dolls and accessories.

Barbie has been around since 1959 and two and a half times more Barbies are sold annually than babies born in the US. That’s one Barbie being sold every three

seconds.

Barbie has begun using its widespread influence to speak out. On Barbie’s youtube channel, the company has taken massive strides in taking on anything from feeling depressed, to the tendency for young girls to apologize too much. Barbie has become more of a character and less of a doll. She has more depth and experiences things like bullying that are more relatable for viewers. On her vlogs she has discussed racism and is a confirmed LGBTQ+ ally.

“...for the first time in my lifetime, parents were writing about Barbie being a positive role model for their daughter.”

Christopher Keenan also said, “It really started to shift the way people were perceiving Barbie in content, where, for the first time in my lifetime, parents were writing about Barbie being a positive role model for their daughter.”

Despite Barbie’s negative and tumultuous beginning, she has grown into an icon and character worthy of idolization. Oscar Perez also said, “As a corporation it’s made sure it sticks around. Barbie has been able to

“Barbie has been able to be forward thinking in its approach to diversity and representing women in different fields/professions”

be forward thinking in its approach to diversity and representing women in different fields/professions.”

TYPES OF PRODUCERS

Executive Producer: oversees all other producers, helps with budget/financing, less involved with daily aspects of a production

Associate Producer: scheduling, table reads, etc.

Co-Producer: anyone who helps push a project forward

Line Producer: creates budget, manages staff, deals with different every day challenges on set

Supervising/Development Producer: guides project through different stages, will often become or work closely with the Executive Producer

Coordinating Producer: help all the teams of producers on their given projects

Consulting Producer: works on reality show or live television and contribute to the host’s intro and outro and the show’s overall tone

Segment Producer: works on reality show or live television and specifically create new segments

PROCESS OF

THE SIMPLE 5 STEPS TO CREATING A

MOVIE SCRIPT

The first step in costume designing consists of reading the movie script. This step is beneficial because it lets a designer comprehend the atmosphere and language of the movie. This understanding will support the designer in understanding the characters excellently and provide insight into the characters’ development.

The second part of the costume process is speaking with the movie’s director. This step is paramount to the process since it assures the designer’s understanding of the director’s ideas. However, the director may contradict the costume designer, which signifies it may take a while for ideas to meld, and the writing team may need to reexamine concepts to accommodate the designer’s ideas.

TEXT ANALYSIS MEET WITH THE DIRECTOR SKETCH COSTUME IDEAS BEGIN CONSTRUCTION

The third step concentrates on taking the designer’s ideas and placing them onto paper. This comprises finding fabrics, creating color palettes, and sketching. A required detail is the several iterations of a costume the designer will make. This step ultimately begins rounding up the visions of the costume in order to initiate construction.

Once the design is approved, the designer may begin the construction of the costume. This step is the most critical since it involves the physical creation of the design. For the costume to be assembled, the designer may have to resketch the concept when recognizing that some designs may be too tricky to sew, some details may need to be more attainable to create, and even the drawing needs to be more precise to the specifications. This step also includes costume fitting. This implies tailoring the clothes to actors’ bodies and making distinctive accommodations to the movement in scenes. For instance, an actor may need to do a flip or take off a jacket. Both of these scenarios involve altering the design.

OBSERVE FINISHED COSTUME ON SET

Once the fashion designer has finalized the costume, it is time for the finishing step. This stage is the time to witness the costume being utilized on the set. This step provides perspective into the costume’s performance and appearance and permits the designer to see the costume in the scene with surrounding props, scenery, and other elements. Another important aspect is the lighting. Whether a scene will be shot inside a studio or outside in natural lighting is essential to the costume’s appearance. If any of the following criteria present issues, the costume designer must repeat the previous steps to improve the outfit. Another example of an event to observe a costume is the dress rehearsal. However, seeing the costume on set may still propose concerns and ask for modifications to be made to the costume. Overall, these first steps are essential to the costume process. In addition, the process is crucial for the outcome of a movie. This is because the costume produces the psychological experience of the story and brings the characters to life, sometimes even using the correct explicit period and style.

Photo provided by Jazmin Aldaz.

MAKING WORDS INTO LIFE ON SCREEN

By: Rebeca Gonzalez

Making movies consists of extremely important and difficult tasks. For the specific part of taking a character to form words and making them into a real person there are two very important parts. First, casting, then costume.

The process of casting is a crucial part of movie making. Having such pressure and effect on a movie, the process is highly demanding and requires resilience. Because many actors begin at a young age, this

uncovers the question of the effects casting has or the lessons learned throughout.

Julianna Phillips first gained interest in acting at the age of 3. Her curiosity arose from her love of television shows, specifically Disney. The shows featured young actors, which reflected Phillips as she wanted “to be like the kids Isaw on Disney shows.”

When she first approached her mother about this interest, Claudia Ortiz, she was asked to refrain from auditioning until

the age of 5; this was because Ortiz believed that if Phillips still held onto her interest in acting, it would indicate authenticity. However, in an unprecedented turn of events, Phillips adopted a more significant interest in modeling, unlike the Disney shows she grew up watching. She would eventually prefer to participate in modeling rather than films. This is a result of the casting atmosphere within Austin. “Austin is still kinda growing in the industry and they wanna do many modeling print ads, and are in more demand. More so than films,” said Ortiz. However, both movie and modeling casting place importance on looks and appearance, which makes the possibility of getting casted extremely low due to it’s competitiveness.

Phillips began the process at the age of 5 with an idealistic view. “I thought I would be getting big offers right off the bat,” she said. This expectation was soon met with the burdensome task of callbacks. Which Phillips said would produce many nerves. Casting can often need more than the step of follow-up or feedback entirely. The process also needs more consideration for children.

Regularly, children and adults are treated equally throughout casting and are taken through an interchangeable process. “She’s been walking into rooms with these adult strangers and auditioning and they go through the exact same process. And what we’re talking about is two completely different individuals that are experiencing that

environment in two very different ways and of course responding to it equally,” said Ortiz. With such a demanding process, Phillips is forced to balance her time acting with academics. “She is a freshman in high school so she has a lot on her plate. And she hasn’t been as excited about any of the projects recently. I would say at the very beginning she was trying to figure out what it was for her, and towards the end of elementary, she was just really enjoying it and thought it was really exciting to see herself in commercials,” says Ortiz.

In addition, casting can become tiring. Since actors are asked to spend hours preparing and waiting for a role, this could lead actors to become impatient. Moreover, especially for younger children, it can be very eyeopening. Too long, hard, and does not receive direct validation. “But there’s a lot of waiting around. When you’re at a casting call you could be there waiting for 30 minutes to an hour. But the audition itself is five minutes or less. But once you’re actually in the project it will take all day. From early morning to late at night for a 30 second commercial. Eventually, she got kinda frustrated with it and towards the end would prepare and bring books or assignments,” says Ortiz. Yet, with such an arduous process, casting can teach important lessons to actors. Especially Phillips, whose experience in casting taught her crucial lessons that adults and even fewer children fail to ever realize.

Nevertheless, acting was not full of negative aspects and results. Landing a role can be a gratifying experience. However, the most successful role may be less delightful. For instance, Ortiz says, “She did this role that was only airing in the eastern coast and I saw her be very joyful through the casting process on site, that was actually shot here in Austin, and she just loved it. And then it went through the eastern seaboard and so we started getting all these calls from friends and family seeing her on the commercial. So, I think that by far was the most fun for her.” Overall, casting is complex and can sometimes be an impossible process. Nevertheless, it can teach many lessons. For Ortiz, it taught her lessons on communication

“It’s definitely helped her in a lot of perspectives. Being more self aware, reading people’s social cues, so yeah there’s definitely been benefits for her. Which is really the only reason I continue to support her because there’s also the other side of the casting process of the numbers game. So, you go to ten auditions and maybe get one job. That can be heartbreaking for a kid. ‘Why am I not landing every single role?’ So you start criticizing yourself but even in that as she grew older she realized ‘it’s not about me and I can’t take it personally,”

as a mother: “To allow her to feel bad feelings and not to jump in and protect her from everything and then just really ensure she can communicate instead of just shutting down and hiding feelings that aren’t super positive in the process. That’s probably my biggest take away from that.” In addition, for Phillips, the casting process taught her lessons surrounding social cues and well-versed etiquette: “The casting process has definitely made me realize the importance of first impressions because when auditioning it is important to be respectful and seem invested. That way you’re more likely to get another job from them.”

However, casting a character is only half of the process when making a character come to life. In fact, costume designing and casting are the yin and yang of movie making. Casting takes the character and finds them, whereas costume designing takes the story and fits the character. There are countless steps and variables to consider when creating a costume.

Jazmin Aldaz first gained interest in costume design

during her childhood through classical dance. “Being exposed to a discipline like dance makes you familiar with the whole theme of costumes,” she said. The professional designer explained that there was never a specific person who inspired her to enter the industry, yet she gained interest from the people around her, such as her mother and sewists during recitals. “And I have to say that I have a strange relationship with clothes. The manufacturing processes fascinate me. For me, it goes beyond how the costumes look but what they represent as an article. That seems very interesting.”

Aldaz participated in small yet insignificant projects throughout her college career. “In fact, I started making design suggestions for the dance performance during my last years before moving to Monterrey. What kind of skirt to wear, variety of colors. However, I do not see it as creating designs,” she explains. Her first major project was in 2009, which was set around the 40s and 50s circus. However, Aldaz explains how period films can be the most challenging

to work with, especially since creating a 100% accurate costume is challenging: “When designing period or era costumes, you need more time to do proper research. So, you often have to justify your design decisions with character development and make reference-era garment pieces that correspond to the story timeline.” Period pieces are an actual example of the importance of costume design. explains Aldaz.

Since costumes act almost as a backbone for characters and how they are depreciated on the screen, sometimes the result seen on the big screen is different from the desired conclusion of the designer. This could invoke the most regret a designer can feel. “Most of my regrets have to do with things you see at the end of the film shooting. After editing the movie, you see things you had not noticed before on the screen,” says Aldaz.

However, the errors on the screen are not the most horrific a designer can encounter. “Many times, you have a small team because of budget constraints. We (the design department) cannot be everywhere, and those

Photo provided by Claudia Ortiz

“I seek to push so that they recognize the importance of the designer’s point of view. In the endm we are the shell of the actor.“

mistakes happen, like continuity errors. Those are the most terrible ones. However, I rarely mention the budget issues because, at the end of the day, I am responsible, no matter what. If it’s a wardrobe error, it is a wardrobe error, period,” explains Aldaz.

In order to avoid errors, the costume design process constantly focuses on reworking and improving ideas and sketches. However, the process begins with understanding the plot and the story you bring to life. “The first thing is to read the script. I tend to do 2 to 3 readings. I read it the first time to understand it, without judging, without starting to... anything, you know, I just read it to buy the story, you know? It is here that I look at whether I connect with what I am reading,” says Aldaz. “Afterward, a slightly more technical reading begins, locating aspects such as the number of characters and some fundamental elements within the same script that refer to costumes.”

Once Aldaz understands the story, she will begin creating more depth in the characters. She will begin writing certain aspects of the story and their corresponding connections to fashion within a script to understand what she needs to create. Each small aspect of the characters is incorporated to give life.

Aldaz emphasizes understanding the character for her process, and sometimes she will even go the extra mile to give the character a more assertive

personality. She explains this additional step within her process and the question she asks herself: “Sometimes I even make wardrobes for some characters. It does not mean we will see them on screen; nevertheless, they help define what a character will wear in a specific situation. For example, if a character attends a wedding, what suit will he wear? Or on the beach, what swimsuit?”

This step is crucial to give the character life and is worked out with the director. Occasionally, actors will provide information about their character? building. This step is optional, since it depends on the amount of time Aldaz has. Time can often vary between the number of costumes a designer is asked to produce. When it comes to lead characters , Aldaz explains, “Many times; it is not necessary to do costumes from scratch. Some wardrobes

are designed, and others are styled. I insist, rarely, unless we get into the era or fantasy themes, it is necessary to make some pieces, but usually, they are just adjustments and focus on specific images. The numbers range from six costumes for a half-length film to over 100 just for the main characters. I mean, it goes much higher than the number.”

Regarding supporting characters or background characters, Aldaz describes these costumes as color palettes from the movie. Aldaz does not aspire for fame, recognition, or even success. Instead, she explains, “I aim to be constantly involved in projects where they value the designer’s vision and see that department as a fundamental part of the film or theater project aesthetics. That’s always been the goal, to be seen and heard. .’”

Photo provided by Claudia Ortiz

Yakay - The Making of a Movie

Let’s a movie.

By: Ahmet Yakay

Editing a movie can be considered one of the most important components that goes into the making of a movie.

Without editing, you would have a bunch of footage that you would think were made by children. Editing truly makes a movie look better than it would look if it was happening in real life. It maintains authenticity, while elevating the best parts of it.

Editing is a procedure where footage is shot, then collected and processed by a small group of people. Without editing, a movie cannot be made. It is mainly done within a studio or from home. Editing can be a pretty long process. You have to organize your footage, cut unnecessary

parts, and arrange them in order. It may be simple at times, but overall is pretty difficult. It depends on what you might be editing.

Cutting and arranging a video consists of individually trimming clips and recombining them, this process is simple if you know what you are doing. You can stop here but the results would be terrible. Just imagine watching 25 hours of scrambled up

“And editing videos is mo re of the ey es. Does it look good? Does this ma tc h? Y ou need t o be able t o see and answ er those questions .”

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footage in random dialogue. So, we move into sound effects. Sound effects and music can really amplify the emotion in the movie. Music can instantly change the genre of a movie. When someone is being chased by the killer in a horror movie, you

A pictur e tak en of Jeff Roth at a bar in Fr edonia, A Z, of a scene in the Buck skin .

Picture provided by Jeff Roth

would need music that fits it. In contrast, if you put a happy beat then you would think the killer and the victim are playing tag. It wouldn’t make sense if you put cheerful music in a scene of a graveyard or jumpscare sound effects in a kids movie. It is underestimated how the sound of a movie matters as much as the visuals.

Special effects and visual effects may be confused sometimes. They are closely related, but completely different. Special effects are the effects that are done on set. These effects can be a huge fire in the background or even a plane crash. Visual effects are done in the editing software, to make something that wouldn’t be possible in real life. Making a monster that wouldn’t exist in real life, or a magic place would be great examples. CGI is also pretty similar to VFX. Computer Generated Imagery can be used to make something that doesn’t exist in real life just like special effects, but it is fully computer generated. CGI can be used in animations when the scene is too difficult to create. For instance, Avengers Endgame is a movie that would not have been possible without these steps. Following these steps, we have color grading. Color grading is changing the colors, adding shadows, and removing shadows which are all extremely important to make a film look good. Color grading makes movies look better than it actually is in real life. Color grading is something that movie makers should really invest in.

A close up picture of a MacBook Pro keyboard. Picture taken by me.

The of an editor.

However, editing wasn’t always the way it is today. Back in the day, you would manually cut and combine tapes together. “The biggest shift in editing was the jump from analog to digital. Editing used to be done on two reels and you would literally splice the footage with a razor blade and tape the frames together.” says Jeff Roth, an American video editor. There was no such thing as CGI or VFX or SFX. The only thing you could do was cut and arrange.

Editing in general could get difficult from time to time. But it’s certainly a fun and rewarding job. Lyonga Micheal Justin Mushaga, a video editor in Cameroon, says “I got interested in making films, but I didn’t have the money to hire people to do most filmmaking jobs like editing, so I decided to learn a bunch of skills and edit one of the ones I fell in love with. So I decided to make a career off of it.” Just like any job out there, it isn’t easy. “The best thing to do

for a beginning editor is to get as much time in the chair as possible to edit as much as possible because the more you do it, the easier it is, it’s like anything that you practice like an instrument, sport, or a craft.” says Steve Hullfish, an American video editor. Editing a movie can be costly and difficult, but it is a big portion of the whole process. Just imagining what the final result would look like without any of these steps.

“The

Picture of a video editing workplace provided by Lyonga Micheal Justin Mushaga

The filming of Buckskin Picture provided by Jeff Roth.

ANSWERS

9 POINTS OR LESS: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 10-19 POINTS: MOULIN ROUGE

Congrats! You got Phantom of the Opera! You might be dark and brooding, but something tells me you have a secret soft spot for romance. Maybe you enjoy opera music? Maybe you like art? Maybe you just enjoy the general vibes of the movie? Regardless, you’re pretty chill.

You got Moulin Rouge! You’re sassy! You love to sing and you love drama even more. You love romance, but you might love heartbreak, too. I’m sensing a love of art and writing. Just me? Okay then. Anyways, Moulin Rouge is a meaningful and drama-filled movie that everyone loves.

20-29 POINTS: THE SOUND OF MUSIC 30-39 POINTS: THE LION KING

You got... The Sound of Music!!I have a feeling you love the classics, as well as history. I feel like it’s safe to assume you don’t like to yodel, but I will assume that you love musicals and theatre. You’re kind, smart, and you’re fun to be around! You got The Lion King! Something tells me you might really like Disney. ‘Hakuna Matata’ is a phrase you live by, and for good reason. You’re so fun to hang out with. Kind like Simba, and silly like Timone and Pumba.

40-48 POINTS: MAMMA MIA

Mamma Mia!! An absolute classic. Something tells me you might love ABBA... Me too! You love romance and comedy, and probably 70’s music, too! Or maybe you just love the vibes of Greece. Either way, you’re super cool!!

The of

By Katie Stout Magic

There’s an aspect of movies that you may never have thought about before. A vital part that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. That part? Music. Although it may never have occurred to you before, music plays a massive role in the viewing experience

Music

of a movie. Music can address themes, give insight into a character’s thoughts or state of mind, set the tone, give a sense of time and place, and so much more. Music immerses the viewer in the story and the world in which it takes place. Music can

almost feel like its very own character. For instance, in the movie Jaws, you almost never see the shark, but the iconic melody tells you when it is nearby. Here, music tells the entire story. But, how do iconic movie themes, like Jaws, come to be?

Making of a Movie -

Photo courtesy of Sam Lipman

“It starts with the directors,” says film composer, Sam Lipman. The directors discuss “the what, the why, and the where” of music. The ‘what’ is what music and instruments will be included. What purpose does the music serve? This is what they call the function of film music. The ‘why’ is the purpose it will serve: What is the point of the music? Does it set the tone? Reveal the hidden thoughts of a character? The ‘where’ is where the music will be. Will it be here or there? Will there be a lot or a little? After the directors have decided on those key things, the process can go one of two ways.

The first possibility is that the directors want music written just for the movie, and they hire a composer. The directors tell the composer what they decided and what they want to be written. The composer does some sketches, or sample pieces of music, and sends them back for feedback. The composer will continue amending the music until the directors like it, and then hires an orchestra to record it. This music is made for the soundtrack and tells the story the film wants to tell. “It’s just meant to exist in the background and subtly

push the emotions of the story or whichever part. It’s like another character in the film that sort of hangs out behind the scenes,” says Lipman. The second possibility is that the directors decide that they want a pre-existing song in their movie. At that point, they hire a music supervisor, who not only helps choose music, but also obtains the

majority of these cases, the song will be referenced in the dialogue throughout the movie. Other times, the director will have an idea later on that gets included. Most of the time the decision happens during the editing process. “Editors bring a lot to the party here,” says Music Supervisor, Meredith Stein, “They will put temporary music into the edit when they start cutting the movie. Songs that they think help to tell the story. That temporary song pull can often trigger an idea for the director and the creative process starts that way. ” Meredith Stein is a production supervisor at a film and TV

legal rights to use the music. A music supervisor tracks everything music-related down to the millisecond. The process of selecting music differs between projects and directors. Sometimes, a certain song is written into the script at the very beginning. In

the

“the role of music, even the style of music has changed a lot in the history of films. However, the role of the music plays hasn’t.”

Company. She has many different jobs and responsibilities within the company, but one of the big ones is music. Once final selections for songs have been made, the music supervisor first must find out who owns the rights to the songs a director wants. Finding these people involves a lot of tedious research. There is no database of songs and their owners, so music supervisors have to do a lot of searching to hunt these people down. “You really have to become a detective. And the process is never the same. Each

project varies so much that you start from scratch every time,” said Stein. Another difficult aspect of the process is the fact that every song has at least two legal owners. One person owns the master/recording license, or the recording of the band or singer. Another person owns the sync/ publishing license, which is the lyrics and composition of the song. In some cases, multiple people or companies will own the sync/publishing license. The process of getting these licenses can be very long and complicated. “It is always a difficult process, and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get the song you want,” said Stein. In those cases, they will hire a film scorer, such as Lipman, to write a song similar to the one they wanted but couldn’t get.

The way music shapes a film depends heavily on the director. Some directors like big, dramatic music to go with big, dramatic

scenes. For instance, in Top Gun, the directors included anthemic and patriotic music to drive the military themes of the movie. Other directors prefer for music to be subtle and quiet in the background. Sometimes a director will have music that works against the drama of a scene. For instance, in the movie Platoon, in a scene where a character is dying on the battlefield, the background music is a calm, lullaby-type song. “Music should never be too obvious. It should always compliment the scene, but never take the full attention away,” says Lipman. Music impacts not just the viewing experience of a movie or TV show, but your everyday life, and you probably don’t even notice it. It can shape the story, invoke feelings in the viewer, and so much more. The real hero of the story is music.

FROZEN IN TIME FROZEN IN TIME

By Katie Stout

Over time, as movies became a more popular way to convey stories, books have fallen from the popularity they held before the time of movies. This could be because many popular novels have had movies based on them. Although that is very common, the existence of movies has allowed there to be books based off of movies. I had the pleasure of talking to an author of this type of book and asking her a bit about the process.

Mari Mancusi has written many books, both on her own and in association with Disney, but some of her most popular books are Dangerous Secrets and Polar Nights, both Frozen spin off novels. These novels, and most novels based on movies, start with the editors and the film team having meetings to figure out what they want from the book. They decide what the book will be about and discuss the loose storyline they’d like the book to follow.

At that point, they find the author who they want to write the book and give them the notes from their meetings, as well as some concept art. In the case of Dangerous Secrets, they also had to give her the script of Frozen 2, since the movie had not yet come out. The author then takes the film team’s notes and ideas, and expands on them to write a synopsis, or an outline of the book. At that point, it gets sent back to a representative from the film team, who reviews it and adds their notes. Then, the author makes changes to the synopsis and sends it back. This repeats as many times as necessary until everyone is satisfied with what they’ve come up with.

Then, the author has to actually write the book. They have to stick very closely to the original synopsis because that is what was agreed upon, so even if they have a good idea while writing, they can’t use it. “It’s a lot different than when I write my

own books. In my own books, I can kind of go off on my own. Even if I started with one idea, I can go in a completely different direction. It doesn’t matter because I’m the owner of the book,” Says Mancusi. The author has to keep the characters consistent in the book to how they act in the movie. With such a well known character, fans would be confused and upset if they suddenly started acting completely different. However, in Mancusi’s case, she was able to include some creativity in coming up with a character’s inner dialogue. “We only see in the films what they’re saying out loud, we don’t know their thoughts. So, you have to make sure that their thoughts are consistent with their dialogue and their story, and if you really knew Anna, would she really think like this? Would this be how she interpreted a situation?” She says.

Another place Mancusi was able to include some of her own thoughts was in answering questions that weren’t touched on in the movies. She was able to use her creativity to look at the Frozen world and answer said questions in a way that she thought fans would be interested in. Another thing that affected Mancusi’s writing process was the music of Frozen. The music is very moving, and has lots of storytelling in it, so she listens to it while she writes to help immerse herself in the world of Frozen. However, despite the fact that music helps to tell so much of the story, she was not allowed to use any lyrics in the novel, since they have a different copyright. Instead, Mancusi had to find other ways to reference these impactful songs. This goes to show, music not only impacts the viewing of a movie, but also the entire universe that a movie exists in. Music shapes nearly everything in so many ways, you just have to be on the lookout for it.

“you can control your stories, you can give them a happy endings and you know

The Perfect Movie Marketing Campaign

Big or small, every movie needs a marketing campaign. Here’s what you should prioritize to make the best marketing campaign for most movies!

Social Media

Even though every movie company uses social media it still is underrated. More than half of the population is on social media media and most importantly posting is completely free. You can post anything forrom trailers to short ads. You should put the most time into this

Trailers

Making a good trailer is very important. You can put trailers anywhere and having a trailer will draw a lot of attention to your movie. Trailers might seem like a lot of work but a lot of movies make trailers by using scenes that don’t make the cut.

Commercials

.

Commercials are great because everybody watches TV. Even though more and more people are using streaming services it doesn’t come close to the amount of people who watch live TV. But, commercials are very expensive and they take a lot of time and creativity, which is why they are so down

4

YouTube Ads

Although this falls under Social Media and Commercials, YouTube ads are great for multiple reasons. It is easier to target a specific audience that you think would be interested in the movie. It is also really good for it’s price, but the downside is that many youtube ads are skippable and short.

Actors

5

Get your actors into it. Ask them to make posts in social media and accept interviews about the movie. Also spending more money on casting can actually help market the movie. People are more willing to watch movies with actors they know are good.

Posters

6

Although posters might be a little out of date, having a cool poster to post online or to put around town can do a lot for a small movie. It’s relatively cheap and if you make it eyecatching enough it can draw in a lot of customers.

A great example of using a movie poster and using social media adds.

https://bettermarketing.pub/what-6-key-elements-makea-successful-film-marketing-campaign-sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-2e9964578e74

https://www.spintadigital.com/blog/promoting-movies-through-social-media-platforms https://www.nfi.edu/film-marketing/

Sources from: Jeff Gritton

Alexis Brodey

THE MAKING OF A

TRAILER

By: Tomas Bellavia

Trailers are one of the most unrecognized yet important parts of a movie. A good trailer can captivate an audience and draw them in during the release. A bad one can ward a potential audience off. Trailers can be the

difference between a successful and lucrative opening day versus a failed one. But, making a good trailer isn’t an easy task. You have to find a perfect balance between spoiling the movie and showing the audience what to expect.

To get an idea of how

intricate the process is we need to take a step back. A trailer usually comes out 4 months before opening day. The trailer making process starts as far as 2 years before the trailer is released. This is before the scenes, the music, and the script are finalized. The producers have a

Bellavia - The Making of a Movie -

good idea of what they want the movie to be but they have barely started executing their idea. Most producers will hire a trailer making company or hire people to make the trailer. They tell the people what they are trying to do with the movie and the basic plot and give them everything they have made so far. “They

give us pitch presentations of what the movie is about, and all these lofty goals, and what the vision is and they explain the story’s beginning, middle, and end” says Alexis Brodey, a professional trailer maker. From there, they have to figure out the target audience.

Audience is the key to making a

good movie, a good marketing campaign, and a good trailer. You need to identify who you want or need to appeal in order for the movie to be successful. You need to realize that some people won’t like your movie, and you shouldn’t waste time and money trying to get them to watch it. If you are making an animated movie you probably want to target a younger audience. If you are making a horror movie you want to target young adults. If you are making a sports movie you want to target athletes. The trailer is the same. You want to make the audience feel connected to the trailer and “hook” them. It’s not

You have to boil it down into digestible story points so that you can advertise it with the tone”

-Alexis Brodey

very hard to find an audience, but connecting to the audience is where it becomes difficult. Then you want to find the tone of the movie and implement it into the trailer. If it’s lighthearted then you don’t want the trailer to be

adding the story to the trailer:

“We’ll come up with a bunch of different approaches and we’ll think of different ways until you get an opening. The way you get into the story is really important.” But, you can’t spoil

intense. Finding a consistent tone and mood is key to making the viewer intrigued, as well as giving them a better understanding of what the film is about.

Once you figure out these important things you have to start implementing the story. Brodey talked about her process for

the movie. If you give too much away nobody will want to watch the movie. “So, you have to figure out how to tease the story enough to make people want to be like, Oh, this is an interesting story. I want to see how it ends.” says Jeff Gritton, another trailer maker, when asked how

to not give too much away. A common mistake is some movies make trailers unrelated to the actual plot and story to avoid giving anything away. It’s not a bad idea but you still need the audience to see what the movie is really about. Some films will use scenes that aren’t in the final movie to avoid giving too much away. But, you don’t want to put too many scenes that don’t make the final cut because that will mislead the audience into thinking the movie is something it isn’t. A common mistake is some movies make trailers unrelated to the actual plot and story to avoid giving anything away. It’s not a bad idea but you still need the audience to see what the movie is really about. Although it’s a fine line, it’s one you can’t fall off of.

After that, they start adding the scenes. Brodey describes her process on starting the scene selection process: “we’ll come up with a bunch of different approaches and we’ll think of different ways that you get an opening, like the way you get into the story is really important. And we’ll also work with the editors and they’ll just come up, they’ll watch the movie and pull scenes that they think are really interesting and sticky ways to start.” But you can’t forget one of the most important rules, to not spoil the end. As Gritton says, “The simplest way not to give away the end is just don’t use anything from the end”.

Additionally, you don’t want random scenes. You want scenes

“You have to decide what’s the target audience for this movie then you gear your marketing towards those people”

-Jeff Gritton

credit: Premium Beat

of moments that show you what to expect in the movie. You want to show the main characters and their certain characteristics that make them who they are. Movies with a higher budget will sometimes shoot scenes that are for the trailer only to not spoil anything and to get more in depth with the characters and their personalities. Movies with a lower budget can do something similar by using outtakes from the actual film. If you upload or make multiple trailers, you want each one to be different in some way but still have the same tone and mood.

Once you have your perfect trailer or trailers you need to get it out into the world. You should recruit everyone on the team to share and post it. The trailer affects a lot of the movie’s success because it essentially recruits the audience and majorly affects a movie’s opening day which is generally the day movies make the most

money. Trailers aren’t an option for movies anymore. If you want a successful movie it’s imperative to have a trailer which makes making one a very

difficult process. It’s one of the most crucial and effective ways of marketing and advertising a movie. It is the window to your movie and should shine light on it.

This table by IMBD shows the top highestgrossing opening days. It also shows that opening day makes up around 35% of total earnings.

Acknowledgements

We want to thank everybody who helped us on this magazine. We couldn’t have done it without you. Special thanks to those who we interviewed that gave us in depth knowledge on our topics, including: Christopher Keenan, Janice Smith, Oscar Perez, Jazmin Aldaz, Julianna Phillips, Claudia Ortiz, Jeff Gritton, Alexis Brodey, Ben Schwartz, Steve Hullfish, Jeff Roth, Lyonga Micheal Justin Mushaga Sam Lipman, Mari Mancusi, and Meredith Stein. Thanks to Ms. Zamora for your guidance in Adobe platforms. Much appreciation to Ms. Powers and Zeke Simeloff. We had a great time making this magazine and we hope we were able to teach you about movie making. Always remember, you’re the main character in your own movie.

Sincerely, Lyra, Katie, Ahmet, Rebeca, and Tomas Graphics: Front Cover: Katie Stout Inside Cover Pages: Lyra Siano Table of Contents: Katie Stout Meet the Editors: Tomas Bellavia Letter From the Editors: Rebeca Gonzalez Back Cover: Ahmet Yakay

The End