Short Film Package

 My Short Film Package

                                             Misunderstandings

Link to short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJDc3zNI1ms

Link to website: https://misunderstandingsm.wixsite.com/website

Post Card

Misunderstandings Critical Reflection

 How do your products represent social groups or issues? Our products represent social groups or issues in a number of ways. The first group we represent is the LGBT+ community. Our film follows a girl who is in love with another girl. This main relationship represents the L and B in the LGBT+ community. These two letters represent lesbians who are girls attracted to other girls and bisexuals who are people attracted to two or more genders. Our product represents both because both have to do with girls being attracted to girls. Movies barely have lesbian or bisexual characters especially those who are the main characters. Also, when there are lesbian or bisexual characters, they are often oversexualized or given no personality. Our product does not do these things and instead gives a proper representation. A proper representation is one that is realistic and writes characters as more than their sexualities which our product does. Our product also gives representation to other groups in the LGBT+ community which are gay and bisexual men. Our product also contains two boy side characters who are in love. They do not appear much in the movie, but they do play important roles. They, like our main couple, are more than their sexualities and have their own personalities. We also represent other social groups such as Latino, Black, and Asian people. Our main characters are all apart of marginalized groups who are also barely given representation in movies. The main friend group consists of the main character who is mixed with black and white and her two friends. One of her friends is Black and her other friend is Asian. 

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’? The elements of our production worked together to create a sense of branding by working towards making our product romantic. Our product is a romance movie with comedic elements so it should contain romantic and comedic elements. To have these elements we started by defining who the love interest is in the movie. Then we worked on what is the relationship between the main couple. We decided that the main couple would start off as disliking each other and then growing to like each other. We felt this would create the sense of romance as we see their relationship grow and change from hateful to loving. We also have a side couple which adds onto the romantic feel by giving a variety of romance. Unlike the main couple this side couple is in a relationship from the beginning and is always loving. This gives two versions of romance that further the branding we want. A main important thing is dialogue. How the characters talk to each other is key in building the romantic connection between them. It is also key in separating the romantic connections from the platonic connections. There is a difference between how the main character talks with her friends versus with her love interest. There is also a difference between those she dislikes and her love interest. With her friends there is light banter and casual conversations. With those she dislikes is quick snarky remarks. With her love interest though, she is a lot more gentle and caring with her words. She is nervous compared to her confident demeaner around others. 

How do your products engage with the audience? Our product engages with audiences by relating to them and inciting happiness. Our main audience is teenagers, so our product mainly relates to them. Many teens are a part of the LGBT+ community and our movie contains multiple characters who are also a part of the community. Since there is not much representation teens will be more likely to watch our movie and enjoy it because they can finally relate to the characters. It is important to be able to see yourself in characters because it makes them more likeable and gives you a sense that your normal. Many of these teens may feel like outcasts but our movie can bring them a sense of normality. This ties into another way our product engages by inciting happiness. Our audience will feel happiness when watching our movie because it does not reject them or make them feel bad for being who they are. When they see the many loving and thriving gay relationships, they will be happy to know they can also have a relationship like that. Our movie though is not exclusive to LGBT+ teens though. Heterosexual teens can also relate because it is still a romantic relationship at the end of the day. The movie is also funny too and teens love movies that can make them life especially during these rough times having to deal with school and a pandemic. Audiences can become invested in our characters because they see themselves being represented properly and can feel happy seeing a loving relationship. 

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions? There are many conventions in the romance genre especially since it has been done many times over the course of history. Our product follows the main convention by having a couple that consists of two main characters. Our product also follows conventions by containing side couples also. In a plethora of romance movies there is a side couple that may already be established or get together during the movie. Our product contains both types of side couples. Another convention we follow that coincides with the previous one is having side characters push our lead into confessing their love. We also follow conventions by having a woman be the lead in our movie. We go against the conventions in many ways though. The main reason is that the main couple or any of the couples are heterosexual. Many romance movies only have straight couples and no LGBT+ characters. If there are any LGBT+ characters or couples they are often pushed to the side and consist of white gay men. Our movie also challenges conventions by having our cast be primarily people of color. Our cast is very diverse and the two main leads of our movie are people of color. Romance movies generally feature an all white cast and it is rare to see any people of color. If there is a person of color it is usually one or otherwise known as a “token” person of color. It is even rarer to see a lead be a person of color let alone the whole cast. 

 

Editing The Scenes We Have

     After filming our next step was to start editing. One of our group members edits the footage at home while the other gives their input over the phone. Editing went smooth except for one problem with a certain scene. This scene was the three way phone call between the three main friends. The first problem was there was not enough silent footage to play while the others talked. This wasn't too big of a problem since we had so many takes that we could take footage from. There was another problem that was bigger than the first. The problem was with how we wanted to edit the phone call. I really wanted the phone call to be edited a certain way. The way I wanted it was where all three girls would appear on screen side by side. Although, there was a problem figuring out how to do it. The editing program only allowed us to edit a two way screen. We did some research to find out how to get a three way screen and tried using a different editing program. After trying a different program I suggested an idea. If we can only do a two way screen we can just work around that. I suggested we could do this by editing a two way screen with only two of the girls from the phone call and saving that. Then inserting that footage and editing another two way screen thus adding the third girl. This way it would look like a three way screen but in reality it was just two, two way screens. This ended up working and with a little editing to the size it looked natural. Editing overall went pretty smooth and fast.

Filming Majority of Our Scenes

    This past weekend we filmed almost all of the scenes needed for our film. After many failed plans, our actors were finally free to film. As previously stated we planned to film on the past Sunday. We had one issue that almost caused our plans to crumble. One of our actors who played a key role cancelled an hour before we were supposed to film. Luckily, we happened to have a friend who could come and help out on such late notice. We filmed all at one location but in different areas. My group member came early to my house so we could film the first scene before the others arrived. This is because we wanted to use our time wisely to avoid not filming all the scenes we had planned to. The first scene is our main character waking up to her alarm. We had to do a couple of takes for this because of little mishaps such as the background being to noisy or certain things were in the shot that weren't supposed to be. The next one we filmed was a three way phone call between the three main friends. We filmed each of the friends separately and planned to edit them together. We filmed the main character first since we had just filmed the first scene which also contained only the main character. Next we filmed the two other friends doing their parts of the phone calls. Then we moved on to the next scene which was located at the sidewalk. This scene contained almost every character and has an important part which moves the plot forward. This scene was easy and fun to film because it was just simple banter between the characters. After the sidewalk scene we filmed the last scene for the day which was the pool scene. We had filmed this scene last time but we decided to refilm it because the footage was too long. We would also have to refilm it anyways since the actress who was in the previously filmed footage was not in the new footage we filmed on Sunday. This scene was also pretty easy to film and went much smoother the second time filming. We really appreciated everyone coming to help and even got snacks from a nearby 7-11 as a treat after filming. 

When We Will Film Again

       As stated in my previous blog we will not be filming during break. However, what we consider to be part of the break is technically not the whole break. The weekend before school starts is technically part of the break but we don't really consider it because we have weekends off regardless. I clarify this because we will be filming the Sunday before school starts again January 3rd. I didn't want there to be any confusion because of my last blog. There was a lot of thought when we picked this date. Many of the reasons we chose this date have been explained in my previous blog. A lot of holidays happen during this break which would cause many schedule conflicts. Parents want their kids home to celebrate with family. Also, many parents work and will be unable to provide transportation during this time. We also felt a break was needed during these hectic times. We were initially considering two options, film the weekend before break ends or the weekend after. We decided the weekend before. While a break from school was needed these are also good opportunities to get ahead in school. We thought it would be better to utilize this time towards the end of break. Also, we still have time to film but would rather get filming done sooner than later. This gives us time for editing and re-filming. There are also reasons as to why our filming date is Sunday and not Saturday. Last time showed us that Sunday works better for the majority of our actors. Many of us have plans that can pop up on Saturdays like work or family events that we don't get much prior notice about. These events don't happen a lot on Sundays so there is more certainty on the availability of our actors. Also, Saturday is very close to New Years and we wanted to give our actors a little space for celebration and relaxation. This will be my last blog of 2020 so happy New Years I hope 2021 will be a better year.

Why We Aren't Filming Over Break

    We are not filming over break. There are many reasons as to why we will not be filming. One main reason is simply because it is break. Breaks are important in life especially pertaining to school work. In order to produce our best work we need to take some time off for ourselves. School is stressful enough in normal conditions but we now have the added on stressor of being in a pandemic. We realize our mental health is important and taking a break is important. Also, this is not just any break but winter break. Many important holidays take place during this break making it difficult to plan filming in the first place. People want to spend quality time with their families and so do we. Spending time with family is important and we would not want to put our actors in the position to chose us or family. Even if our actors did want to film their parents would most likely say no. This is because their parents would probably want them to stay home and celebrate. We understand how important religion is to many and would not want to put our project in the way of people's celebrations. Also, many people's parents still work during this break. Not all adults have two weeks off like us and instead have two or three days off. This would also cause problems when planning to film. Our actors would have to gain permission to go somewhere while their parents were at work. Also, our actors do not have their own cars so they would have to find their own means of transportation. This would mean a parent would have to get off work to take them, they would have to pay for an Uber, or take a bus. We don't want to inconvenience our actors or their parents so it would just be easier to film after break or the weekend right before it ends.

Editing

            We decided to look over the footage we have so far and start editing. Since we are not at school in person and it is break we had to edit over facetime. One of our members has the actual footage and the other member gives their input over facetime. While discussing we realized that the footage was too long. The dialogue was unable to be edited down without the quality also going down. This is because the dialogue was continuous and flowed together so editing it would make it choppy. We then had to make a decision of whether or not to refilm or try our best to edit. Since we still need to film other scenes we thought it was best to just refilm. Since the reason we are re-filming is because of the dialogue running long we will also be editing our script. The scene we are re-filming and changing the dialogue for is the pool scene. We are going to try and make the dialogue shorter while still keeping it realistic and funny. The scene is important because it leads us to the Dairy Queen scene which is the climax and resolution of our film. This also caused us to think about how we will transition between scenes. For the Dairy Queen and pool scene transition we plan to have it cut straight to the next one for comedic effect. For the sidewalk scene to pool scene we have something different in mind. We plan to have the girls walk into the camera, have the screen cut to black, and then cut to the pool scene. For the phone call to pool scene we have two different ideas. One of our ideas is a fade to black and a fade into the sidewalk scene. The other is basically the same thing only with the end of the phone call still going on. This is because the two friends hang up on the main character in the middle of her sentence. We are thinking having the end go on as the screen is black would add to the comedic effect but we are still unsure.

First Scene of Our Short FIlm

       The first scene of our short film is a three way facetime call. The three main best friends of the film are all in this call. Each of the girls is supposed to be in her own house because they are calling each other while getting ready for school. It has been a little tricky to plan how we are going to film this scene. Originally, we decided to have our actors film this on their own. We would share the script with them and have them record themselves reading their lines. Then, we would edit the footage we received from them into a three way split screen. The split screen would represent the facetime call. When we initially planned this, we knew it would be tricky. After filming though, we realized it might be harder than we thought. During filming our actors did not read the script word for word and somewhat fed off of each other. This would make them filming separately alone a little difficult. Our actors would benefit from filming together because the atmosphere is different with other people. Filming alone could make our actors uncomfortable and awkward which is not what we are going for with this scene. The scene is supposed to be fun and natural so we wouldn't want any stiffness. Due to these reasons we decided to think of another way to film this scene. Then we decided next time we film we will film this scene at our group members house. Since the actors will all be there anyways we will just film then. We will film in different areas of our group members house to make it seem like the characters are in different houses when in reality it is just our one group member's house. This also makes it quicker since we won't have to wait for our actors to film and send us the footage for the scene. We feel these new plans will benefit everyone and make filming go smoother.

Script Changes

    After filming we decided to reread our script. This was because our actors did not follow the script exactly. We wondered whether we should change the dialogue to exactly what our actors said during filming. We decided to leave this scene's dialogue alone until we start editing because we may end up re-filming the scene. We also reread our script because of the feedback we received from our actors. They told us the dialogue in the scene we were filming sounded a bit unnatural and this caused us to reflect on our script as a whole. After going over the first scene our group agreed we could do better. Certain jokes were hard to understand so we changed them to cater towards our target audience. Our audience is teenagers and more specifically LGBT+  teenagers. As teenagers ourselves we thought from the audience's perspective and that helped us. Our new dialogue is much funnier and natural. Teens can relate to these conversations as they are like the ones they themselves have. Apart from dialogue we also had to change other aspects of our scripts. One scene is set at a Diary Queen and involves all of our actors. Our group decided we should cut some characters from the scene for convenience. The more people in scenes the harder it is to plan them and this scene is very important. We also realized not everyone needs to be in the scene so it would not be hard to write these characters out. Instead of the three main best friends all being there we are just keeping the main character in the scene. The actors who play the best friends of the main character have tight schedules and are less likely to make it to filming than the other actors. This was another reason that prompted us to cut the two best friends out.  

Filming

      On December 12th we filmed one scene for our short film. We started filming at 11 in the morning. We got ready at our group member's house and filmed at her pool. Originally we were going to film a couple scenes, but unfortunately we could not. The other actors were unable to make it to film so we decided to just film one scene. This scene was originally set in the living room of our group member's house. We decided to change locations out of convenience and keep the dialogue the same. During filming though, the actors gave us input to help the dialogue sound more realistic. This caused us to change the script a little. We still kept the overall theme of our movie though. The actors read their lines and understood what we the scene was about. Then, they took that concept and added their own twist to make the dialogue more realistic. We appreciated this input because we want our movie to be as good as possible. We also felt though, that they didn't understand why the script wasn't as in depth. The dialogue had to be somewhat rushed and unrealistic because the film is so short. Since the actors made the dialogue more realistic the scene was longer than we expected. When editing we will probably cut it down or refilm if we have too. Also, the scene included the main characters doing homework, but we forgot to bring the supplies. To improvise we instead used pages of the actual script and a random pen to replace homework papers. Filming went well overall and we all had a lot of fun.

Cast Updates

           As stated in our previous blogs we have changed the filming date to Saturday, December 12th. Close to filming day we had a drastic change in our cast. We had first planned for about six people to show up to film. Unfortunately, our main actress who could not attend before also could not attend on the 12th. Then our side actors said it was not probable he would be able to attend either. We were sure our other side actor would be able to make it. We decided to plan that the two would not make it and we would work with our side actor who could make it. For this new plan we would have to change the script to accommodate the two actors being unable to attend. Sadly, we were very busy this week with other classes since midterms are coming up. This caused us to be unable to make changes for the script before filming so we planed to go off script and change it after filming. Another problem arised though, which made our filming plans do a total 180. Our side cast member mixed up the days and said he could attend because he thought filming was on Sunday. Since filming was not on Sunday he was unable to attend and was the only male cast member we had. We have two male characters so it would be harder to film their scenes. We, as a last resort, thought we could just have our remaining female actors dress up as the male characters by wearing hoodies and putting their hair a certain way. Our main actor also informed us they would be unable to come. We had planned on them not coming though, so it wasn't as drastic as our only male actor not being able to come. Luckily we got confirmation from one of our original actors that they could make it. Our group, plus her, and one of our group members friend who was willing to help were going to be filming on the 12th. That would make four people instead of six people filming. We went into filming with high hopes and trust in our plans even if made last minute.

Change of Plans

   Unfortunately, we have run into many problems trying to film. Our original plan was to film December 5th on Saturday. This plan had to be changed because of multiple reasons. At first one of our main actors was unable to film on the 5th. We decided that we should try to find a replacement actor instead of rescheduling. The replacement we had in mind informed us she could also not film that day. Our next plan was just to write out one of the characters and continue on filming December 5th with the remaining cast. Then, we were randomly able to get in touch with one of our mutual friends who was possibly able to film on our planned day. We then changed our plan to fit in the new friend who could film. This new plan would cause the filming time to become earlier at 11am because the new cast member had to work and another cast member had practice. With this plan we would have to alter our script to fit in the new friend since they couldn't stay long enough to be in the ending scenes. We also would have to switch around which roles the actors would be playing. Unfortunately, another problem came up where one of our group members was informed late of a babysitting job she had to do. The job was scheduled at the same time and day of filming so ultimately filming would have to be rescheduled. Luckily this will give us more time to plan and earlier notice for our cast members to plan accordingly to filming. Also, the main cast member who could not film on the fifth could now possibly film on our new date. The new date we have chosen to film is exactly a week after on December 12th. We have been recently informed that one of our actors who played a smaller role could not come. Our friend who we though could replace another actor could potentially replace this actor if they are able to make it December 12th. We also have another extra person there to help with filming who could possibly act if needed. We are trying to keep the same positive mindset we had last time and hope this plan for filming will work out smoother than the last.

Filming over Thanksgiving Break

       We did not film over Thanksgiving break. This pandemic has taken a heavy toll on daily life and causes a lot of stress. School is extremely important but we acknowledged that we needed a break. Balancing school, a pandemic, and daily life in general is hard and hurtful to our mental health. Everyone needs a break especially in these hard times so we decided to not film over break. We planned beforehand so our not filming this week wouldn't negatively effect us in the future. We plan to film this weekend on December fifth or December sixth. If not this weekend most likely the weekend after. We most likely will be able to finish filming for the whole film in one weekend. That would be the most fortunate case as we would like to start and wrap up within the next two weeks. This is because midterms and winter break are coming up. Midterm week is stressful and so are the weeks leading up to it. We don't want to use up all of our actors' time and our own as well filming. We are not going to rush though, we will take our time with this film because we care about this project a lot. We have run into one problem over the break though. One of our main actors has informed us she cannot film with us. We have been searching for a replacement and have one person in mind who might be available. We are still waiting for confirmation and are trying to remain positive. If the person we have in mind ends up not being able to go we have a backup plan. Our backup plan would include getting rid of one of the side characters and having the actor who was going to play them play the main role. We are confident things will go smoothly and that we can adapt to the changes.

Soundtrack Ideas

 Since we have begun marketing and finished our screenplay and storyboard we have begun thinking about which music we want to have in our movie. The move is very romantic and has comedic elements too, so we want a score that represents that. We want to use copyright free music too. This will make certain things easier than using copyrighted music. For example, we don't have to wait for an artist or a label to respond to us. With copyright free music we can immediately put the music in our film. However, there are other aspects that are more difficult with copyright free music. For example, finding the music in the first place is difficult but also finding music that fits with the tone of our movie is even harder. We do have experience from previous project though. For our end of the year project last year in AICE Media AS we had to find uncopyrighted music. From this project we even found a song we might include in this project. We were thinking of including multiple songs in our short film. By doing this we hope to make our movie more memorable and the mood more impactful. For the happier scenes we were thinking of fun pop songs. For the funnier scenes, usually banter, we might put overly dramatic music to emphasize the banter is ridiculous. For the more serous scenes maybe a more mellow pop or R&B. For the romantic scenes we were thinking of songs that evoke happiness and peace in the listener. We don't really have a genre in mind for those scenes as we think the mood is more important than genre. We would prefer the songs to contain singing to make the meaning more clear. However, we understand that with many copyright free songs there is hardly any vocals if any at all. We hope to find music that is fitting for our movie and believe our score will be beautiful.

Marketing

       

For our film Misunderstandings we had to create a marketing strategy in order to reach the public. We had to do many things. First we created a website. In order to do this we used a website named wix.com. We had many themes to choose from and it was really fun to make the website. After getting the base for our website down we decided to make social media accounts. One member made the YouTube and Instagram. The other member made the Twitter and Facebook. We used the same profile pics and headers to create a cohesive brand throughout our social medias. We then had to add the other important facts to our website. For the pictures we had to google things since we haven't started filming yet. We used pictures we thought represented love and happiness as we hope our movie portrays that as well. We then had to insert the pictures and roles for our cast & crew. We asked in advanced to make sure our actors had their headshots for the website ready. We also had to figure our release dates and where the movie would be premiering. We also had to make our own movie reviews. This was a little difficult since the google results for movie reviews is mostly kids worksheets. Finally we found a blank picture and was able to edit our own movie reviews onto it. We also had to write a synopsis of the film and film festivals it had already been shown at. Overall this was a really cool experience and we are very proud of our website.

Storyboard for Short Film

      We finished the storyboard for our short film. We were able to get a better picture of what our film will look like. Since we are in quarantine we did this short film together over the phone. One group member printed and drew half the pages while the other was on the phone helping and giving feedback. Then, the member who was giving feedback printed the other half and did the drawing while the previous drawer gives feedback. The storyboard also helped us if the weather is not our friend the days we film. Umbrellas easily fit into the film since high schoolers often go to school even in the rain, so we will just film in the rain. The beginning of our storyboard shows Alicia, the main character, getting up and looking through her closet. These first squares show the layout of her room and how her bed, dresser, and closet are all right next to each other. Then when Alicia's friends call her we at first see a split screen between her and Audrey. In the screenplay it is written differently but we decided to go a different way where Gen would not enter the split screen until she starts talking. We thought this change would emphasize the joke she makes and make the characters more memorable since they are not all introduced at once. They end the call and in the storyboard the screen goes black. In the screenplay this is not clearly written as it just says the call ends. We decided we should have the screen go black and then transition into the next scene. We thought this would make the next scene more dramatic and that's what we wanted. These girls are supposed to be fashionable and have all the attention on them so we thought the transition from a black screen to this next scene would emphasize that. In this scene the girls also meet Eric and Willow. These two groups banter back and forth and we decided it should be filmed in a way so that the audience can feel the comebacks. We thought close ups could accomplish that because then it feels as if the little quips and comebacks are being said directly to the audience. Also, there is a close up that shows Alicia in front making a remark while Gen and Audrey are behind her. This represents the power structure in the friend group with Alicia being on top. We put a lot of thought behind this storyboard and are glad we were able to get a clearer picture of our short film.

Planning Blog for Short FIlm

             We are planning on beginning the filming process for our short film December 5th. This date may be subject to change, but it is what we are planning on as of right now. We can get all the filming done in a day but if not we can finish December 6th or the following weekend. We have multiple filming locations. The first locations are three bedrooms. These can be filmed at the same time since it is the actor's individual rooms so they can film themselves saying their lines. The second location will be a sidewalk. This sidewalk is located near one of our group member's house. The third location is Dairy Queen located near Fort Lauderdale High School. We have six participants including the group members since we have six roles in our short film. Since Covid-19 is still severely affecting Florida we will try to be as cautious as possible. Most participants don't leave their houses a lot unless for school and none of them go to large social gatherings. The first scene is relatively safe since each actor can film themselves in their own house. The other scenes will still be safe to film since we will most likely be the only ones their and our group is only six people. These locations are also outside in open space so we don't have to be close to each other besides filming. We will also wear masks when not filming. Our props include skateboards, telephones, food, clothes, and backpacks. The costumes will have two opposite aesthetics. The three main friends wear more traditionally feminine clothes consisting of soft pinks, blues, purples, yellows, and greens. While the main groups rivals the "skater" kids wear baggy clothes or jeans consisting of darker colors like black. We are excited to start filming and have high expectations for our film.

Short Film vs Feature Length Film

     I watched both the short film and feature film 9. The short film was seven minutes while the feature film was one hour and twenty minutes long. The short film and feature film were very different but contained the same core elements mostly. The first big difference was that there was dialogue in the feature film. The short film contained no dialogue at all. Another difference was that instead of it being 5 who was attacked by the spider robot it was 2. Also in the short film the small spider robot had taken the souls instead of the main big robot. The feature film had much longer to further develop its plot and characters. In the short film it is not explained where the rag dolls come from or what exactly happened when 5's soul got snatched. In the feature film it is explained why the rag dolls are made and what happened to the world. The feature film also developed the characters more. In the short film we did not get to know 5 and 9's backstory or their personality traits. In the feature film we know how the characters met and what they are like. 2 is very smart and a skilled inventor. 9 is very righteous. 3 and 4 are very organized and curious. 7 is very tough and nice. 1 is selfish and blunt. 8 is somewhat of a bully and always agrees with 1. 6 is very artistic and knowledgeable. 5 is very smart and a scaredy-cat. The short film also did not give us any of the other rag dolls only 5 and 9. Personally I preferred the short film because it gave a more eerie and mysterious mood. I still enjoyed both films and think the plot and characters are very unique.

Research 9, The Feature Film

    Today I watched the film 9. The feature film 9 is based of the short film with the same name. I watched the short film yesterday. The feature film 9 is about one hour and twenty minutes long. The plot revolves around a group of 9 rag doll robots. The main character is 9. He was the last rag doll robot built. When 9 awakes he soon finds another rag doll robot named 2. 2 is taken away when they are both attacked by a spider robot. 9 gets hurt and is rescued by 5 who is also a rag doll robot. 5 brings 9 to where the rest of the ragdolls are living. 9 and 5 decide to go and find 2 despite the leader rag doll 1 telling them not to. When 9 and 5 find 2 they meet 7 who saved them. Soon after 2 is found he ends up getting his soul snatched by a machine that 9 fixed. 9,5, and 7 end up running away from the machine and go to a library to find answers. At the library dolls 3 and 4 help the rest find out what the machine is. 5 and 9 end up going back to where the others are while 7,3 and 4 refuse. 9 sees what 6, another ragdoll, is drawing. It turns out to be a key to the mystery of the machine but an argument breaks out over the machine. 1 and 8, who is basically 1's bodyguard, oppose to going back but the fight is interrupted by a monster. 7 comes along to save them but it ends up being 5,3 and 4 who end up rescuing everyone. After finding new shelter and getting attacked one again everyone goes back to where the machine lives to destroy it. 8 and 6 end up getting their souls snatched. This is when we find out their souls are in the machine. In order to save them 9 takes a piece of the machine as it snatches 1's soul. 9,7,3 and 4 end up releasing their souls into the sky to free them. The sound in the movie is good and I really enjoyed the diegetic sound. The voice acting and animation was also quite good. Overall I thought the movie was okay but it is not really my style.