Genre research: Our final decision!

We have all came to a conclusion. Out of all the genres we could've chose from we narrowed it down to two. It was the comedy genre and the horror genre. We had a lot of discussion on how we would preform the task of an opening for a movie. We discussed our schedules as we wanted to make sure we had enough days to film what we needed. For the horror genre we were going to do the opening for a movie in which a doll was possessed. For the comedy genre we talked about showing the morning routine of us teens but portraying it in a funny way. We decided to pick the comedy genre because it would take less time to film and the audience can relate to it more.

Genre Research: different genres

                                            Horror 

The horror genre has been around since the late 1800's. The first horror film was released in 1896 by Le Manoir du Diable and was called "The Haunted Castle".

CAMERA

ANGLES: 

Birds eye or the high angle is often used; to make the object that is being looked down on seem powerless.

Tilted angle; adds dramatic tension to shots and could simplify a supernatural being.

Low angle; can show how powerful or scary the villain is. 

MOVEMENT:

Tracking; connotes movement to show if someone is being followed or watched. 

Hand held; used to promote a sense of reality which makes the audience feel more involved.

SHOTS:

Close up; used to see the reaction on actors faces and capture detail in an important scene.

Establishing shot; establishes the scary setting and can add suspense. 

C-Costumes are usually always involving normal attire as they are mostly all filmed around normal people in the real world.

L-Lighting varies throughout movies. It can range from red light, black and white lighting to dim lighting.

A- Actors in horror films are mostly always every day people with also supernatural beings included.

M- Makeup in horror films is makeup that will just help the actors appearance but isn't dramatic to where it stands out. There is also special effects however that can be used to show the injury's of people and enhance them to look supernatural.

P- Props used are usually nothing out of the ordinary, unless the film is centered around an object. For example, there's a movie that's centered about a music box that contains evil spirits

S- Setting depends on what the film is about. Normal settings count be a normal house or a old, worn down house that looks scary. 

EDITING

Suspense plays a big role when editing horror movies. Editors often use extended uncut clips to grow suspense and make the audience wait longer for whats about to happen. Fast pace editing is used a lot to build suspense as well. Cutaway is used to show characters reactions to the situations they are facing. Smash cuts are  used to shock the audience in the change from loud to quiet. Jump cuts are used to allow the the passage of time to show. Fade outs are used to give a mysterious feeling. 

ELEMENTS

Elements of the horror genre would be tension. The whole point of horror films are to scare the audience or have them feeling tense by the time they leave. Elements also use supernatural beings to promote the feeling.

EXAMPLES

Get out, Hereditary, The Babadook, Psycho, The conjuring, IT, Jaws and The ring.

COMMON SOUND

Sound often used in horror films are loud sounds which put the audience on edge, fast music which can help shock the audience, no sound whatsoever which creates an uneasy feeling and sound effects like footsteps, doors creaking and the wind are commonly used.

ELEMENTS I LIKE

I am not the biggest fan of horror movies unless i'm watching it with multiple people. However, I can appreciate the suspense it makes audience feel and just the over all theme of some scary films are interesting. For example, IT. I like the whole theme of the movie and how it wasn't strictly scary, there was some funny points in there as well.

ELEMENTS I DIDN’T LIKE
I have a problem with the sudden sound changes and the sound affects that are quick and loud. I just don’t like being scared.

                                               Fantasy

CAMERA
ANGLES:
High angle; To look down on a character
Low angle; To look up at a character
MOVEMENT:
Tracking; Used to show the action in the film as it's happening
SHOTS:
Establishing shot; To show where the movie will be taking place
Close-up; To show an important facial expression in the film

C- Costumes are a big part of fantasy movies. The costumes can range from tribal outfits to outfits that resemble wizards
L- Natural lighting and artificial lighting are both used and the movie can either be back lit, side lit or front lit
A- The actors are important too. There wont be just people in the films usually, there is most likely also mythical creatures
M- Special effects are used to make certain characters be known.
P- Props that are used depend on the movie. For example, in Harry Potter they have wands as props because the movie is based on magic
S- Setting also depends on what the movie is about. The settings aren't usually ordinary places

EDITING
Editing techniques include the element of surprise. For example, in Jurassic Park, the director edits together shots of actors reactions before what their looking at is relieved. This creates a sense of suspense that is usually included in fantasy movies. Cross cutting is also used to create the same kind of suspense and allow the audience to follow important dialogue.

ELEMENTS
A common element of fantasy is excitement, being able to be taken away from this world and getting sucked into another. Another common element is the idea of far fetched things. For example, wizards and zombies.

EXAMPLES
Some examples include Harry Potter, Aladdin, Hellboy, Star wars and Black Panther.

COMMON SOUND
Music in fantasy films is used to create the correct atmosphere and mood. The music signals what the scene is going to be about or what to expect. Sound affects are also big in fantasy films because props or action is usually in fantasy films. so the sound for the prop needs to be there to add a more dramatic effect.

ELEMENTS I LIKE
I like that fantasy films makes you think outside of the box by adding all of these super powers and abilities characters can do in movies. Rather than it just being a normal movie with normal people in it.

ELEMENTS I DON'T LIKE
I don't have any elements that I don't like from the fantasy genre.

Comedy genre research project

This is a group project that we did in our AICE Media class. The point of this project was to get to know a certain genre well. How we did this was by our teacher allowing us to pick random genres out of a random cup. We had to answer eight things about the genre comedy. The things we had to answer are in the PowerPoint above. We then had to decorate the PowerPoint and add pictures from comedy movies as well as GIF's that related to what was on the slide. This task helped us learn more about the genre and how it differentiates from other genres. It also helped us become better prepared for our final task which is also going to be within the comedy genre. 

Picking a pitch

We started our final task last class. This time we are making the beginning of a movie. It must be at the most 2 minutes. It has to be fictional as well, so no documentaries or anything non fiction. I am working with two of the group members that I previously worked with for the commercial that we filmed. We are not working with the third group member because he has a tight schedule so he will be working by himself for this project. We all feel comfortable working together because we worked well when we made the commercial. We had a problem figuring out which pitch to use so we threw out a couple of ideas.

Pitch 1: for the genre of the first pitch it is comedy. How we plan to start it is by opening with a fade in. We will first have one person from a mid shot waking up out of bed. They will get out of bed and start their morning routine. So we would just capture all three of our morning routines but in a funny way. After we are all ready for school we will call each other or start a three-way call. From this point on there will be three screens or the screen will be split into three. We will all be talking on the phone but you could still see all of us at once.

Pitch 2: for the second genre we decided to pick thriller. For this pitch we planned to have someone running as fast as they could to their car. The person would look distressed and scared. As soon as they got in their car they would lock it and look around and then quickly start the car. The next scene you would see someone chasing her or looking behind an object at the person. As they are driving the audience would see a second car behind them. The person would land at a house and go inside and lock all the doors and grab a knife and get to a secure spot. Then there would be some kind of major twist towards the end of the two minutes.

Out of all the pictures that we proposed, we narrowed it down to two. It was either the thriller genre or the comedy genre. We Looked at factors of both and the effort that we would need to put into both of them. We also need to make sure that we had the right amount of resources in order to project the film properly. We decided to pick the comedy pitch. We chose this one because it would be easier then the thriller pitch but it would also relate closely to our every day lives. It would also be more of something that the audience can relate to as opposed to the thriller pitch.

Start of the final task

Hello, my name is Madison. I love fashion and anything that has to do with fashion. I’ve liked fashion since I was little. So, all I asked for for Christmas was a mini body form that I could make clothing on and sketch books where I could trace clothing on models. I am also a big fan of music. I don’t think I could live without it if I’m being completely honest. I like a huge variety of music from jazz from the 1930s from Louis Armstrong to older rap Biggie Smalls. I’m also a big fan of the Beatles because there music has so much variety and weirdness. The group I’m working with is Ashely, Darren, and Blake. All four of us have previously worked on a commercial together so we know each other. This was a short commercial that we filmed about the brand Nike.

 I’m excited to work with them again because we had a lot of fun filming the last commercial. So, I know we’re going to work together well. I’m also excited to produce a good beginning of a movie to show people. I’ve always been into movies and how they film them so I know I’m going to have a fun time throughout the process. I’m excited to use the different equipment and become more familiar with it. For our first project; the commercial, we used the cameras our school provided so if we use those again then I will gain more knowledge. Im looking forward to just a being able to hang out with my group. On of the group members owns a drone so I’m excited to use it as well depending on what we do. I’m also excited to experience new environments. Depending where we film I might go somewhere I’ve never been before.

Pitch 1: three or four teens wake up on a school day. The camera angles are mid shots. The two minute video will go through their morning before they go to school and the different activities that they do. Then at the end they will all call each other on the phone and it will become a four way split screen.

Pitch 2: a zombie apocalypse is occurring. Someone is laying on a table being injected with a syringe. The person all of the sudden wakes up. They have pale, gloomy eyes and pale skin. The person tried to eat the person that injected them and they take off running.

Pitch 3: a possessed doll movie. Someone goes up to a garage sale and sees a doll. They pick it up and buy it. They take it home and it starts moving around the house. They then start noticing that. Weird stuff starts happening like knives in weird places etc.

Editing Blog

Today is December the 5th. We were told to do a blog about our editing process. What went into it & if there was any complications. Also the steps we took to editing our music video. We took different steps to do our music video then the commercial we did. For example, for the commercial we used iMovie but for the music video we used Final Cut Pro. Another difference between the two is that the editing process for the commercial was a lot more difficult. We had a lot of technical difficulties because of our software not working. This time we decided to edit the music video at home to avoid any of these complications. So one group member has the Final Cut Pro application on their computer and has dumped all of the footage into that computer. We had to dump film from the drone as well as film from the GoPro. To dump from the drone you have to take the SD card out and place it in an SD card reader that’s attached to the computer. This is the same with the GoPro, just take the SD card out  and place in the reader. We went through all the footage that we took. For each scene we chose which one we linked the best due to different factors like lighting etc. Atleast one of every shot that we took worked so we just went with it. Once the footage was dumped and we knew what footage we were gonna use we had to start editing. Since we’re not there to physically edit with our group member we’re going to either do a Group FaceTime or text in the group chat that we have. Last time we texted our ideas in the group chat cause we couldn’t FaceTime. The editing we got done for that day was editing out all of the sound in the videos. This was important cause we’re going to be playing the song “young, dumb and broke” over the video. So after we muted everything through the app we added the song over it. We didn’t have any difficulties with this. All I did was looked up the song on YouTube; I typed in young, dumb and broke then found the song from the original artist. Then I copied the link that was at the top. I pasted the link into a mp3 converter that I found on google. It converted the link to a usable link so we could put it over the music video. After this we just cut out parts of the scene that we didn’t need. For example, if an actor broke character during the scene at the end then we edited that out. We have to make sure once we’re all finished with our music video to convert it into Mp4 format so I’m keeping that in mind.

Filming blog

We didn’t film until the thanksgiving break started. We waited because everyone’s schedule wasn’t matching up. Someone had practice or too much homework. We also had to make sure one of our group members was able to get the equipment we needed. So on Tuesday we started filming. We were going to go to the beach to film on Tuesday but that didn’t work out. We decided it would be smarter to go to the park which included a few scenes in the music video. I wanted to get the filming done as fast as possible. The first scene we decided to do was the scene were we were sitting on the bleachers. There was no reason in particular why we chose this scene first, we just saw the bleachers and walked toward them. For this scene me and a member pretended like we were talking to give the sense of friendship. The scene was filmed using our group members drone with a camera built into it. The next scene we did was us laying in the field. The park had a big soccer field & no one was there luckly. So another team mate and I layed down facing opposite directions in the grass just looking up. The other member took about 4 shots. From the drone moving closer to us then going far away. Then we filmed the scene where coins were hitting the ground. Originally we were going to drop a variety of coins but we decided to just stick with pennies because we thought the viewer would get more of the “broke” concept from the song with just pennies. The last scene we filmed for this day was of me and a group member sitting in the back of my car. We opened the trunk of the car and sat inside of it. We pretended to talk during the scene because we weren’t sure what else we could do. The next day we filmed was on thanksgiving morning. We went to the beach at 9 because this was the only other time we could film; everyone was busy the other days. The first scene we filmed was in a Walgreens. I stood in front of all the chips. Then when we started rolling I grabbed all of the chips that I could see to make it look like there was not a care in the world. We had a little bit of a difficult time because people kept walking through the show. It wasn’t their fault though, they didn’t know we were filming. Then we decided to knock the scene of us driving in the car and replace it with me trying on bags in the Walgreens. We did this because we were already in the Walgreens and thought it was a good and more safe idea. Before we left the store we filmed one last scene. It was the scene of the sunglasses. I recorded a member trying on different sunglasses and looking at the camera. Then the three of us walked to the beach. Here we filmed a scene of a group member chasing me and splashing me with water. The another scene of me and another group member walking down the beach. One of the group members also took a few pan shots of the beach and sky. Before we left we filmed one last scene of one of the group members underwater swimming. We switched out some of the scenes because we thought they would be more convenient to do other ones. For example, we took out the volleyball scene and replaced it with another scene we took at the beach. We did this because the beach that we went to did not have a volleyball net.