Group Meetings

In today’s class, Mrs. Stoklosa put us in groups to discuss and get constructive criticism about our projects. I was in a group with Selene, Daniel, and Ace. I loved hearing about their projects and the ideas they have. Through these group meetings, we each gave each other feedback and ideas as to how to proceed with our blogs and our projects.

The group! (I’m on the left, Ace is in the back, Selene is on the right, and Daniel is holding the camera)

We each took turns explaining the plot of our film opening and showing our blogs as well as what we have elaborated on so far. When I explained the plot for Lost in the Pages, Daniel said it reminded him of an anime subgenre I had never heard of called isekai. Isekai is when a character is suddenly transported from their world into a new one, which is exactly what my film is about. Some animes that fall into this subgenre are Blood Blockade Battlefront, Overlord, and The Rising of Shield Hero which is the show Daniel mentioned to me. The Rising of Shield Hero is about a boy who is transported into a library book where he is tasked with joining the four cardinal heroes to save the world. He is betrayed and loses everything and has to try and gain it all back. It’s intriguing, however, anime isn’t a genre I particularly enjoy. I may still watch a few episodes or clips to maybe get some inspiration and make sure I don’t replicate its story too closely. Selene also mentioned a children’s book they read that reminded them of Lost in their Pages. The book is called Story Thieves by James Riley and it follows Owen seeing his classmate Bethany come out of a book in the library as she tries to find her father. Owen promises not to tell anyone as long as he can travel into his favorite book, but doing this could expose Bethany’s secret and ruin the book. It is the first book in a five-book series. I think this concept is cute and is targeted to a similar, but a likely younger audience. I didn’t realize the “lost in a fictional world” trope was so popular and I now have new inspirations that could help me develop my project. 

 

While discussing the project, I mentioned that I was struggling to come up with how I wanted to portray the ending in regard to special effects. I heard Selene mention something about leaving the book open at the end and Ace mentioned a bright light/fade-to-white type of transportation which caused me to come up with an idea as to how to end the film’s opening and incorporate the film’s title in a different way. With their ideas, I decided that instead of magic surrounding Delilah as she’s transported, it’s going to be a bright light that’s going to increase and turn the entire screen white. When the white light fades, Delilah is gone, and the book remains open. My original plan had the book closed with the title opening but I decided the title is going to be shown as Delilah grabs the book from her dresser. This is much easier than what I previously envisioned and I like it much better. Ace also suggested I show some of the fictional world at the end, which I may do if time permits.

This group meeting was a success! I got very valuable information and it was awesome to hear my classmates' ideas. It was great bouncing ideas off of my peers and I would like to do this again, later in the project process.