Audience & Institution Essay

In the 21st century, the film industry is continuously growing and getting more popular around the world. For filmmakers to capture the people's eye, they're constantly using their marketing skills. Marketing is crucial in the film industry. It allows movie creators to promote their film before it comes out in theaters.

Marketing is essential for films to gain more potential viewers. Using marketing effectively will produce more excitement for the movie as well. Sometimes, creators would collaborate with companies to generate more hype.  For example, in the case study for Spiderman Homecoming, one of the marketing strategies they used was synergy. The movie partnered with a popular cereal to promote the film. One morning, I went grocery shopping with my mom at Target. We were in the cereal aisle and I noticed on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch box a label promoting the production of Spiderman Homecoming. Also, the Spider-man homecoming marketing team created merchandise before the movie came out. In stores such as target, the team created action figures so that kids can be thrilled about the movie. The effectiveness of marketing will benefit the outcome of the film because many more people would like to see it.

In addition, in the movie "Ugly Dolls", they promoted their movie by using posters and trailers including popular celebrities. In the article, "Ugly Dolls-Marketing Recap" one of the posters included "One set of characters features each of the Uglys against a brightly colored backdrop, with their name as well as the name of the star providing its voice prominently displayed." The colorful posters including the celebrity's names gain attention from the celebrity's fan base. In the "Ugly Dolls" case study, the marketing team also promoted the movie by featuring the characters in the movie tied with the musician using their voice. This marketing strategy helped the film because it included musicians/actors who are known and have a lot of fans. When I watched the trailer, I noticed a lot of musicians such as Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, and Pitbull. Each of these celebrities has large followings which attract more attention from their fans to watch the movie. Personally, if it weren't for me being a fan of these musicians, I wouldn't have heard nor watched the movie. This shows the importance of marketing because it can reel in many more viewers.

Furthermore, in a very known movie, "Black Panther" it was very successful due to their brilliant marketing techniques. Months before the release of the movie, I've been introduced to many advertisements for the movie. For starters, the marketing team used cross-promotion to debut the trailer of the movie. In the case study, they debuted the trailer during the NBA finals game. The NBA finals are known for having many viewers across the U.S tune in to watch the game. This was a very good technique every viewer that was tuned in was exposed to the trailer. In result, it gained much media attention and viewers. Not only that, the movie's soundtrack gained a lot of attention.  The soundtrack included artists such as Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Khalid, Swae, SZA, and more. One of my personal favorites is the song "All the Stars." The soundtrack gained a lot of popularity standing Number one on the Billboard 200. With the A-list celebrities involved it helped boost the hype for the movie. The effectiveness of the marketing they used to promote the movie allowed the film to make $361 million in its first weekend alone.

To conclude, marketing plays a vital role in the film industry. Marketing Strategies are essential for a film to be successful. A film should be advertised for potential watchers to try and realize it is coming out. The more viable the advertising procedure is, the more watchers the film is going to receive.

Extract Practice Essay- “24”

In the extract, “24”, the scene took place in an interrogation room. The director creates a suspenseful yet dramatic space between the two actors. The author is trying to conduct a tense tone between each character within the film. Therefore, displaying the true feeling and tone of an interrogation room. 

In the first scene, it opens up with a close-up of a woman in an interrogation room. the lighting in the room is very low which creates suspense. Eventually, the director uses the eye-line match to show the woman looking at the man walking in the room. While this is all happening, the director includes incidental music to intensify the scene. The director includes props as well. For example, when the man comes into the room, he drops a folder filled with papers on the table.  It leaves the audience questioning what is about to go on during the interrogation.   

In the next scene, the dialogue starts between characters. The topic at hand is a dangerous bomb that the woman knows about. The interrogator attempts to take control of the conversation to receive information about the bomb. As the interrogation continues, the director uses a shot-reverse-shot. The author's editing choice for this part helps the audience capture the passive mood coming from the actors.  

The directors use of camera movements, sound, editing, and misenscne was to create a sense of severity in the interrogation. The topic at hand was about a bomb, which the is a serious topic at hand. The characters dialogue about the bomb followed with the scenery and sound displayed shows that the director wanted to create an intense atmosphere appealing to the topic at hand. 

My Creative Critical Reflection Interview!

In this Creative Critical Reflection, I reflected on the start to finish of the movie. I created my CCR to be like an interview to make it more engaging. I also included inserts to make it more interesting. The CCR was interesting to make because I was able to show my editing skills as an individual.  

The Final Task!

From the beginning to the end of this movie, it brought my creative side out of all of the projects. I always wondered what it was like to create a movie and I'm happy that I was able to create one. Our storyboard was ten pages long of really good ideas. My group members and I collaborated on the movie really well. Luckily, we were all on the same page and we planned accordingly for things to go smooth. As a group, we were very impressed with the outcome.

A Very Fun Music Video!

The music video is one of my memorable moments in this class! Music is one of the things that I enjoy the most and to be able to create a music video to one of my favorite songs was really fun. It was a cool experience to plan out the storyline for the movie and actually filming it in the real world. It was my second project that we were assigned so far in the class and I was getting more comfortable with the editing software. As a group, we had a lot of fun creating the video.

My First Production: Nestle Commercial

 

  At the beginning of the year, I was assigned my first project. This project was the first time I was exposed to the editing software and learning how to edit. It was also my first time using a storyboard and creatively coming up with a story. Looking back, I learned a lot from the beginning of this class to right now. The commercial is a reminder of the progress that I made throughout the course.

Continuing the Editing Process

As the editing process continues, we worked on adding transitions to the first 58 seconds in the movie . So far, we had music, titles, and a movie title. We utilized transitions that were already on iMovie. For example, for the transition after the movie title we chose to do a dissolve. We also included a split screen. For the split screen we used a swipe for the transition. iMovie also had sound effects. They had a variety of sound effects to choose from. However, most of them were not needed for the movie. However, they did have a sound effect that we could use. We used the sound effect “Door Close”.

  For more insight, we looked on Youtube, for examples on how to use transitions on the software. We were interested on a few transitions. Some of these transitions were shattered glass, dissolve, black horizontal, and clock wipe. She also looked onto the sound effects that the software had to offer. After listening to a few, we were not intrigued by what they had. The sound effects were either exagerated or did not sound realistic. However, we came across one that we may consider which was the "Door close' sound effect. Due to the Coronavirus,  it’s been difficult to edit. We had to work together from home  because of social distancing. Luckily, we found a way to get all the footage from our own computers so that everyone will be able to edit.

Editing Day!

Today, we continued to edit our film. We transitioned to iMovie because of the unexpected closing of schools across broward county. Due to schools closing, we had no access to the computers that we previously edited our film on. This was a major setback because we had the editing process all over. We planned to split the editing so that everyone in the group can edit. So far, we were able to complete the first couple of scenes in the movie. We were very impressed with it but felt like it was kissing something. I searched on youtube for suspense background music. I found a perfect sound that would go great with the film.

Once I found the music, Kaliyah downloaded it so that we can import it to iMovie. After adding the music, it made the opening scene way more suspenseful. We were very impressed with the way the background music sound. Later, we added the titles. The titles that we added was the production company, title of the movie. and the characters names. Normally, movies would include these at the beginning. Luckily. iMovie was way more faster then pinnacle studios. We easily were able to add them into the movie and make any other changes. As a group, we watched what we had so far before we continued. Everything was looking good and we were able to move forward.

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A bit of a delay: Re-editing

  The original plan for our group was to complete the movie before spring break. This will allow us to start to prepare for our CCR that is coming up. However, things took a huge turn. Recently, we received news that schools will be closed for two weeks. We will be out for two weeks due to a worldwide pandemic. At first, we were excited about the news until we realized that it will cause a delay in our editing process. We would have no access to school computers. This would mean that we would not be able to finish where we left off because the movie is saved on the computer and we did not export it. Also, we would not be able to use pinnacle studios software without computers. I would say we were having a bit of a crisis!

   My group members and I came up with a new plan to finish the project. We decided to use another editing software. The software that we decided to use was iMovie. All of us were familiar with iMovie and decided that it was the best way to go. In fact, we each had access to the software. Since we have to work from home, Karin created a google photos account for our group so we can send any raw footage that we may have. Kaliyah had the flash drive with her so all she had to do was upload the footage onto iMovie. Luckily, we remembered the order of the scenes and which ones we needed to cut. We worked together as a team to try to get as much done as possible. It was very unfortunate that we had to start from scratch due to school closing. Hopefully, we make a huge comeback!

Another Editing Day!

Last class, we focused on adding the titles and suspenseful music. I found a variety of fonts to choose from for out titles. As for our music, we had to find free no copyright music. Today, we needed to cut some of the footage because the movie was past the limit. In total, the duration of the beginning of the film was over 2 minutes. Our goal was to get the film to at least two minutes on the dot. So, we had to shorten a lot of the scenes in order to get to that time. At some point, we had to make adjustments by deleting some of the scenes from our storyboard because they took up alot of the time. Kaliyah and Chad worked together on cutting the footage.

While Kaliyah and Chad were working, Karin and I started thinking about transitions to add into the film. We looked on Pinnacle Studios. For more insight, we looked on Youtube, for examples on how to use transitions on the software. We were interested on a few transitions. Some of these transitions were shattered glass, dissolve, black horizontal, and clock wipe. She also looked onto the sound effects that the software had to offer. After listening to a few, we were not intrigued by what they had. The sound effects were either exagerated or did not sound realistic. However, we came across one that we may consider which was the "Door close' sound effect.

Making Adjustments to the Film!

  After receiving feedback on our peer review sheet, we started to make adjustments to the opening sequence of the movie. One of the first things that we needed to add was titles. I searched on google for font titles. One of the websites that I came across was font space. On this website, they had a variety of different fonts that are free to use. It was so many to choose from! My group and I would agree on one, but I will later find a really nice one. Once we finally decided on one, I downloaded the font onto the desktop and then imported it into pinnacle studios. Now that we have a font, we were able to create our titles. Kaliyah typed the titles onto the film.

   Meanwhile, we also wanted to include background music. As planned, we wanted the music to play at the very beginning of the film. So, I searched the web for the suspenseful music to include in the film. We had to search for free music so that we wouldn't be copyrighted. The first place that I went to was Youtube. Some of the videos that we found were not what we were looking for. For example, some of the music sounded more heroic, or not as suspenseful. Karin joined in and started to look for background music as well. Eventually, I found background music that I think would sound good with our movie. My group members agreed! Now that we added titles and background music to our movie, our film is starting to look even better!

Peer Review Day!

After having three weeks to film, we put our movie together. Previously, we dumped our raw footage into pinnacle studios. We then arranged the footage into place and saved it as a new movie. Yesterday, as a class, we peered reviewed each other's draft of the movie. Mrs. Marchione paired groups together to review and give feedback on what we had so far. She provided us with a checklist to complete as we reviewed the other group's movie. On this checklist, it had everything that needed to be included in the film. Some of these requirements included an appropriate time limit, titles, whether or not te film told a story, and etc. Luckily, we had someone to review ours but we had no one to review.

I would say that receiving feedback from another group was very beneficial. It allowed us to make adjustments to the film to improve it. Unfortunately, we were unable to peer review another group. The person that we were supposed to review was absent on the day of the peer review. The next day we had class, he was still absent. I was looking forward to watching my classmates film. I was interested to see what genre they chose and their creativity. Since we had no one to peer review, we waited till the other group was finished watching our film. Once they were done, we read the feedback and continued to adjust our project.
Hopefully, we will still have the chance to review their film once they come back to class.

Filming Day 3

Over the weekend, we were supposed to finish filming. The original plan was to meet up at Damian’s house. At Damian's house is the garage that we have in our storyboard. The garage is supposed to be at the beginning of the film. The scenes at the garage are the only things that we need to film before we edit. Unfortunately, our bust schedules enabled us from filming. Kaliyah and Chad both were scheduled to work over the weekend. As for myself. I had to attend a community service opportunity for my extracurricular activity. However, when I returned home I was able to film myself getting ready. This scene included me in my room on the phone with Kaliyah and Karin.

In this part, I acted like I was trying to find an outfit to wear to a party. Then, I receive a call from Kaliyah and Karin (friends) that they are on the way to pick me up. So, throughout the scene, you will find me getting ready for the “party”. While acting, we tried to be as accurate as of the dialogue that we used in our dialogue and sound script. I would say we did a pretty good job utilizing the scripts so that we can make sure we use the exact sounds that we planned to use. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult to find the right angle. Meaning, I was able to show myself clearly. Also, I was able to get good lighting before the sunset. Once I was done, I made sure that the shots looked good enough so we can edit the next class. Hopefully, we can film our last scenes at Damian's house next weekend.

Filming Day 2!

Previously, my group mates carpooled to my house. Scenes 10-12 where filmed at my house as our second location. Moving along, we went to our next location which was Lesters diner . We called ahead to ensure that they will allow us to film inside of the diner. Luckily, they allowed us to film but we could not disturb others in the diner. So, we started to make our way towards the diner. Kaliyah drove all of us and we followed what was planned in the storyboard. Kaliyah, Karin and I remained in character and filmed us jamming in the car while we were on the way to the diner. When we arrived, Chad recorded us pulling up into the parking lot parking the car. Then Karin, Kaliyah and I proceeded to remain in character and followed the storyboard.

Once we were seated in the diner, we were asked numerous times about what we were filming. We explained to them that we were creating an opening of a movie that we created. The employees and the manager seemed very intrigued! They were all so kind to us especially our waitress. The waitress had no problem with us including her in the film and she was very understanding. Because of this, it allowed us to continue with the original plan seen in the storyboard. Chad continued to record the rest of my group mates and I were acting. We included footage of us walking in the diner to ordering our food. Eventually, we ate our food and walked outside to film the last scenes on the storyboard. The last parts on the storyboard were the kidnapping. We told the employees and manager ahead of time so that they wouldn’t believe that it was real. Thankfully, they were very understanding!

Filming Day 1!

Before the week started, we completed our storyboard. It was good that we completed our storyboard because we were able to check out a camera to film. Our filming day was set to be on January 17, 2020. Luckily, things went to plan and we filmed on that exact date. My group members carpooled to my house. Kaliyah picked up Chad first since he lives closer to her. Then, she picked up Karin and headed to my house. Upon arrival, I set up the camera to film the getting ready part of the film. This scene was recorded in my room. Meanwhile, Chad filmed Karin and Kaliyah talking on the phone so that we can create a split screen.

When I first recorded scene 6, the ringer on my phone wasn’t working. I needed the sound to work because without it my phone will not make the ringing sounds that we included in our sound script. I decided to restart my phone to see if it would help. Surprisingly, it did help and the sound started working again. Moving forward, I had to film three takes of the same scene because the lighting wasn’t right. We were filming around 5:30-6:00 so the sun had already started to set. Eventually, I was able to capture the scene in good lighting. The next scene that we filmed at my house was when kaliyah and karin picks me up. For this scene, Chad recorded me walking out the front door of my house to the car

Planning: Storyboard

This week we created our storyboard. Below are images of our completed story board. The story board contains the images of the scenes that we are going to do and shows what will be going on in the scene. This will help us tremendously. It will help us because it will be an easy tool to use when doing the film. We only will have to follow the story board directly as it is, which will help with the filming process. It will help in the filming process because we can just look at the story board to know what scenes that we are doing and to see if we forgot anything. This makes the story board a significant tool that aids us in making the film perfect. Also this makes us have more fun with the film because we know what we are filming and we would not stress on what we should do for the film. This helps us be able to make our film the exact way that we planned it. The story board is the most significant part of our planning process and it will help us make our film be more perfect.

Planning: Title Design

This power-point will help us remember the design more easily. We put the design in a power-point format in order to obtain the information better and to make it organized. The reason we did this is so that we can keep looking back at the text in order to either remember how we are styling our title or to make sure that we styled it in the correct way. In order for that to be the case we put all the information on how we are doing the titles and the different aspects of the title as well.

Planning Blog: Location,Participants, Health, & Schedule

This week, we decided to organize our location, participants, health and schedule. We created this by using google slides. Planning ahead is very beneficial to our group. We can always refer back to the google slides if we ever forget about the original plan we had before. Come filming day, we hope that things can run smoothly. For starters, we decided to set our location. It was easy for us to decide on how to start a film. We each came up with great ideas to start the beginning of the film in the garage. We also, researched diners to film at for the film. As the planning continues, we cannot wait to start our project.

Planning: Sound and Dialogue Script

This week, we created our dialogue/sound script for our film. We used google slides in order to create the script. In the script, you will see that each slide is title with the scene number. The information on each slide describes what is being said during the scene and the sounds that are going on. For example, we included the dialogue between the actors in the scene along with the background noises. We created the script carefully so that it can be accurate for when it's time for us to film. Creating the script will be beneficial on filming day! We will already have the plan on what the actors need to say and what sounds are going to be made. Now that we have a plan on the audio being used for the film, it makes us more excited to start the project! Hopefully, we can film less than two weeks from now.

Planning:Shooting Script

For the script we created a power-point that entails all of the scenes without the words. It shows what is going to happen in every scene and also the camera movements and angles. This power-point will be almost exactly what we are doing for the actual film. We plan to follow the script we created 100%, but we have also planned for any deterrent that may interfere for what we planned. The power-point of the script also shows the editing techniques that we plan to use for the actual film. This script is the tool that we need to help make our film a success. It will help us make our story board and also help us come up with ideas for the dialogue that will be in the scenes. Not only will it help us with the dialogue, but it will help us further illustrate our scenes on paper for the story board that we are going to do. With this power-point at our disposal, it will make planning and filming the rest of this film uncomplicated and less stressful to do. With this being the case I believe that it will make the film making process more fun and exciting instead of just something that we have to do.

Title Research: "The Conjuring 2"

They’re  29 titles that are displayed in the opening sequence. The titles range from producer to costume designs by. Images that are prioritized are of tape recorders, families, and houses. Also, crosses, damaged couches and beds, and a dead looking nun are shown. Some images are side by side of actors and pictures of the real characters. Since the movie is based off true events real pictures are displayed. The images create a sense of mystery and thriller. Most images are dark. This creates a suspenseful atmosphere. There's a happy family but damaged goods in some of the images.

Genre is reinforced through symbolic and technical codes by some of the images being black and white. It shows something has happened and there will be an investigation.

The film establishes an enigma by the footages used. The footages have no direct connection to each other. The opening sequence shows a couple of families and then a nun. The nun looks dark and scary. This could mean that the nun has something to do with the families. 

Strategies that are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience is by the suspenseful background and sound. Dark, lowkey lighting is used throughout the opening sequence. This creates a suspense that’ll interest audiences. Audiences that like mystery movies enjoy the inauspicious that’ll keep them on the edge of their seats. This creates a gloomy mood. 

An old projector showing film stock video footage is used. Each footage that pops up is a key element to the film. An example would be the families and the nun. The nun has to be connected with the family. Also, each footage was edited to have vignette. This creates importance to the photos. The opening scene was effectively created to produce interest.

Title Research: "Underwater "

They're 25 titles in the opening scene of underwater . At the beginning the titles start descending down the screen which correlates with the title under water . Those titles are just the companies that collaborated to create underwater and the title underwater. After the titles just start to appear on the screen in a smaller font ranging from executive producers to star actors . Images that are prioritized in the opening scene is the subtitles and words in a newspaper . An example would be "worlds deepest drill under construction" . This obviously makes the audience assume that a main plot of the movie will be the drilling being that it was one of the boldest worlds during the opening scene . Another image prioritized is the large map of the ocean . This tells the audience that the main setting will be the pacific ocean or the Marina trench because the camera begins to zoom into as the opening scene continues .  
The connotations that the images carry are a feeling of seriousness and suspense as well. It brings these feelings out by the images themselves. The images are different documents and facts that tell certain things that are important to the film. These images show some of the facts, but leave the audience wondering what importance the images have in the film. Not only does it have the audience guessing, but it brings out a level of seriousness cause of the different official documents that are shown. This brings out the importance in the film by the audience knowing that official documents such as those shows something significant happening. The genre is reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset by the director using different the titles as a way to represent the film. The titles are presented in a going down manner to represent that the film is going to be taken place underwater. This hints to the audience that the film will be taken place underwater. The title of the film also gives some hint to this as well. The director also hints to some of the details to the film in the documents shown by including statements like “under water drilling project”. This reinforces the mysteriousness of the film because it leaves the audience wanting more. 
The film establishes enigma from the outset by leaving the audience wanting more. It does this by having the documents have words on them that hints to the details of the film, but they move very quickly. This makes the audience want to know what the document says and leaves them wondering what hints does the documents give them. The strategies that are used to ensure the film appeals it’s targeted audience is the editing techniques that they use and the sound as well. The sound and the editing techniques make it seem like something is about to come out of the screen. These types of effects attract people who like to adventure and people that are curious. The images of the documents talking about drilling underwater also attracts marine life enthusiasts and people interested in the environmental factors of the drill. Technology was used effectively by the editing techniques and the transitions. The transitions were very fast portraying a sense of urgency for the film. This helped let the audience know that this was important as well. Not only were they fast, but the transitions were going downwards to connect with the title underwater, which enhances the suspense for the movie. Also, since some of the documents shown were newspapers it gives off the sense that the incident was so important that it was in the news. This is an important technique using technology because the audience knows that things in the news are major events that the world needs to know about, this means that if this was in the news then it was a very important event. Not only was it in one news paper, but the sequence shows that it was in many newspapers across the world. This makes the audience even more eager for what actually happened and in the process shrouds the incident that took place in more mystery. 

All of these things that I have said combined reinforces and enhances the mystery aspect of the film efficiently. 

Title Research: "The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo"

There are 29 titles displayed during the title sequence of the movie. The images that are prioritized during the opening sequence of the film are many dark images portrayed as being tortured. The shapes are shaped as human beings and you can see some of the features. Some of these features that you can see are the human mouth, eyes, hair, arms, legs and the rest of the body. Some of the torture things that you see are the people being bounded by a mouth gag, people being burned alive, and also eyes being burned. These images bring out the audience's curiosity. It does this by showing some of the torturing devices being used and having the audience wondering what is going to happen in the movie. It makes the audience wonder what leads to such devices of torture and it also has the audience questioning what the movie's details entail. Not only does it bring out the curiosity of the audience, but it also creates a sense of suspense through the way the titles are being displayed on the screen and the gory images on the screen. These things combined brings our the mystery genre of the film.

The genre is reinforced through the symbolic and technical codes from the opening sequence through the ways the titles were placed on the film and by the font the titles were in. The titles seemed to be slammed on to the opening sequence and were moving sort of fast like they were running away from something. This leaves the audience with a suspenseful attitude, thinking about what is going to happen in the film. Not only are the way the titles are placed giving a suspenseful feeling to the audience, but the font the titles are placed in is a font that would be the titles of newspapers. Mystery genres usually have something to do with finding out something through the use of news articles and then investigating it which gives the film this mysterious feel. The images are another way that shows the mysterious nature of the film. The torturing of the people show that there is going to be some type of crime in the film that will be investigated. This connects the font of the titles to the pictures showing that both of them work together in order to give the film the mysterious sense to fit the genre. Not only does the fonts and the titles play an important role reinforcing the mysterious side of the film, but the music does as well. The music works well with the titles and the images by enhancing the feeling of mystery from both the title and images.

The film establishes an enigma of the film by the images. The images of the film are very difficult to understand. They start with an eye burning and goes on to show people splitting apart and looking like they are screaming. This leaves the audience puzzled because they do not know what is going on in the film. Not only is enigma established by that image, but the image with the shadowed figure blindfolded has the audience questioning why the image is blindfolded and what purpose does this show in the film. The techniques that that is used in the opening sequence of the movie that attracts the attended audience are the lighting of the images being displayed and the music of the title sequence. The lighting the images are being placed in is a very dark lighting. This lighting causes a ominous feeling that attracts a more adventurous audience that would want to explore the things that the images portray.Technology has been used effectively by the different editing techniques used. The editing used includes the fastness of the images coming on and off the screen, the way the music goes along with each image moving along the screen. The effects of the eye burning and the people splitting apart also enhances the genre of the movie. The bodies melting away like candle wax and then re-emerging from the ground into a solid form give the movie that mysterious and suspenseful sense. It makes the audience wonder what’s about to happen in the movie. 

All of the these things that I have spoken about enhances and brings out the mysterious genre of the movie.

Title Research: "Get Out! "

As a group we watched the opening sequences to the movie"Get Out".They're 22 titles displayed during the opening sequences to the film. The titles range from executive producers to important actors .Images such as A white car driving away and the pictures taken by the camera  are prioritized during the opening sequence  .They are prioritized because they are emphasized on the screen by having a longer screen time . Such as the driving away of the white car uses about 40 seconds of the man getting in the car and driving away . While all the black and white pictures are emphasized because they're so many different versions . This makes the audience assume that they're from the camera showed in the next shot which will connect to something .Conclusions taken from these images is that in some part of the film they will become important to the plot of the film . The genre is reinforced throughout the symbolic codes by the images are all black and white or dark colors which makes someone try to figure out where the images would be placed during the film. The technical codes shown is the story being told throughout assuming that they're going somewhere and something might happen when they arrive . I assume that because the male charterer is shaving and taking a shower while the female is buying coffee and breakfast pastries .However in the beginning , the white car makes the audience assume that it had something to do with main character either packing something in their trunk then leaving . The genre is definitely reinforced because it makes us question everything that is happening . This film establishes an enigma because first it begins when someone gets out a car and then packs something in it and then drives off which makes the audience question what the person is actually packing . Another enigma the film is establishing is the question of , Where are they going . The strategies used is having the audience question their every moves . Such as the pictures all we were wondering was what would happen with those . I even wondered whether the white car was important or not . Maybe it was just there to throw us off the questions about the pictures . The technology use was efficient such as how far the camera was when the guy was packing the car one technology strategy was the camera being so far .We didn't know what he was packing however we assumed it was important . Get out titles were efficient because we payed attention to each title that appeared . The opening scene had me questioning the next scene.

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

While continuing the research on title sequences, we came across another website. This website was called "Watch the Titles". I learned how to navigate the website and where to go to find title sequences. This website was very similar to the "Art of the Title" website that we discovered. It had various title sequences from different movies. However, they included interviews from famous actors and included title sequences created by students. They also provided examples of title sequences used in video games. One cool thing about this website was they they provided title sequences from french cinema. On my free time, I watched those videos as well because I was interested to see what they were like in France. My group members and I have been researching title sequences so that we can create on for our film. On this website, we watched title sequences that were in the mystery genre. We utilized this website so we can get more examples of title sequences. I saw that many movies used sound and visuals in the title sequence to make the sequence more interesting. They also included the names of the cast members, production team, and etc. Now that we watched many example of title sequences and how they portray the genre of the film, we are excited to create one on our own!

Title Research: Art of the Title Website

The other day, we came across a website called "Art of the Title". On this website, it had a variety of title sequences from hit movies. They included movies from certain studios. For example, pixar animation studios. I realized that the website organized top ten movie title sequences through the years. For example, they had the top ten title sequences from 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Not only that, they also included title sequences from binge-worthy tv shows. One thing I liked about the website is that they included movies from different genres. While exploring the website, we watched multiple title sequences. Most of the title sequences were very interesting. The visual effects that were used added Title sequences are the opening sequence of movies and tv shows. Often they would include the title, key production, cast members and etc. They would utilize cool visuals and sounds to make it more engaging. I learned that the editors of the film will use music and titles that will help the viewers infer the genre. As for the mystery genre, we realized that the music would be suspenseful. The website was very beneficial because it gave my group members and I and idea of how we want our title sequence to be.

Genre Research: The Maze Runner

 The Maze Runner is a movie about young men who are trapped in a maze and have no knowledge how they got there so they work together to escape. At the beginning of the scene there is a black screen and all you hear is the sound of movement of a lift/elevator. The use of this diegetic sound is very effective because it creates a tense mood because there is no visual on what is happening. Low angle and high angle shots were used in order to make Thomas look weak and the surrounding characters superior. The POV shot used further on in the scene is effective in building tension. From Thomas’ point of view we see the speed of the elevator cage rising faster and faster, building more tension as the speed increases. This allowed the audience to see things from everyone’s perspective. Wide shit was also used to establish setting and emphasize Thomas being isolated from everyone else. The use of diegetic sound makes the film seem more realistic as the sound that is created both the audience and the characters can hear, such as when Thomas and the boys could hear the creatures from outside the maze. This allows for the audience to be able to relate to the characters surroundings and engages them further. Also, it makes the mood more tense and further dramatizes what is happening in the scene. 

When Thomas and few of the boys went inside the maze and got stuck in there for the night, low key lighting was used to make the maze appear dangerous and to build up suspense. Tracking shot was also used to follow Thomas as he was running around confused and did a 360 turn. A very wide shot was used throughout the movie to show everyone entering the maze when they had a chance. A two shot was used to show Thomas and his friend sitting at the campfire having a conversation. The lighting that was used was three point lighting, key point and also low key lighting. The transition between all three helped create mood for the feelings the characters were portraying. An example would be when Thomas ran into the maze, the lighting changed from three point lighting to low key lighting as the creatures came out to hunt. This effect gave the feeling of fear and horror during this part of the scene. Also, natural lighting was used the most through the movie because most of the scenes where outdoors. The Maze runner used scenes of nature as their Mise en scene. 

This movie was a great example of a mystery movie. Actually paying attention to the camera angles and movements create a deeper understanding of the movie. I understood why each aspect was used. This made me see the movie even clear. However, there were a couple of things I disliked about the movie. The use of low lighting was too dark that I sometimes couldn’t see anything. During our filming, I hope we film during the day so this doesn’t happen to us. We wouldn’t want to make a great project but its too dark for viewers to see. I did like the use of diegetic sound. It created a connection between the viewers and the characters.

Genre Research: Happy Death Day

The film Death day is a top example when it comes to the mystery genre. This film utilizes many of the conventions that we see in the mystery genre now. One of the many conventions that the film utilizes is the camera shots. In this particular film they use close ups to capture the emotions in the character's face. These emotions range from happy to fear. The movie also utilizes another camera shot convention called a two-shot. This shot will help portray the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist in fear while the antagonist comes off as violent towards the protagonist. Not only is the two-shot and close up convention used in this film, but they are the most used conventions in this film. Another convention that this film uses is the camera angle convention. This film does this by using an Ariel shot in order to show the girl being followed to her dorm from the party. This shot was used in order to produce suspense and engage the audience more with the film. 

This film also utilizes the movement convention. It does this by using a tracking shot. This is shown in multiple scenes. These scenes include when the girl was running away from the killer in the street and  on the stair case, when she was running to find the killer, and when she chased the killer. These scenes were used to enhance the film and show the transition of her fear throughout the film. She went to just being afraid, then to trying to figure out what is going on, and then chasing after the killer in order to learn the truth. The film also takes part in using the sound convention as well. This sound includes the dialogue that is used to figure out who the killer is. They show scenes of her speaking to students around the campus and her friends going through their connections to find out who the real killer is. Suspenseful music is also used throughout the film. The director utilizes this music in order to enhance the scenes where something is about to happen. This is used to engage the audience more aggressively. 

The props in the film was another convention that the film matched. The props in the film that was used was a mask that the killer wore throughout the entire film to hide his identity. This enhances the film by adding more mystery to the killer of the film, having the audience have more interest into the film wanting to know the identity of the killer. The killer also uses a knife to kill the main character. The costumes that everyone wears are causal clothes. The natural lighting that is utilized in the film is also meeting the convention as well by the dim light. This film was amazing and the plot kept me on my seats throughout the entire movie. The only problem that I had with it was in the middle of the film a lot started happening at the same time that threw me off. In our film we will not have so many things happening at once in order to make it the best film.

Genre Research: US

The movie "Us"is another prime example of a great mystery movie. This movie includes most of the conventions that we found as we researched the mystery genre. The movie Us has the usual camera shots represented in a mystery movie called a wide shot. It shows the back ground of the scene. This happens when the family is at the beach. The shot shows the sand, beach towels, and beach umbrellas showing that the family is at the beach in the beginning of the movie. The movie also follows the conventions with the camera angles. In the movie there are multiple close up angles showing the faces of the tethered. This was in order to create intensity in the film. When the tethered first showed up the camera angle went into a close up to show one of the main mysteries of the film. They also used the close ups in order to instill a little bit of fear and interest in the audience in order to keep them engaged with the mystery of the film.

Another camera angle that the film used to go along with the conventions was the Ariel shot. The Ariel shot was used when showing the house the family was running to when being chased by the tethered. This established a sense of location as to where the family was headed. Us continued to meet conventions by using tracking shots in their film as well. The tracking shots showed all of the characters in the film running away from the tethered. This shot was used the most because of the amount of running in the film. Not only did the film meet conventions by camera angles and movements, but they also met it by the costumes. The film had the tethered in prison uniforms which matches the genre precisely because in most mystery movies the mystery that they are trying to solve is murder and some of them take place in a mystery. Not only was the prison costumes a good match to the conventions, but the casual clothes as well. This is because the costume convention ranges from casual clothes to detective uniforms.

The lighting was another convention that the Us film captured. They used natural lighting for the film. This made some of the scenes dark and some of the scenes light because of the time of day. This is done in most mystery films in order to enhance certain parts of the film and in order to show that time is flowing in the film. The props in the film also match the conventions because they used knifes, scissors, masks and other killing tools. They used these in many scenes trying to kill the family and killing different people. The settings in the film match the conventions as well by some of the scenes taking place in the woods, dark places and everyday places as well. The film also used jump cuts between the tethered chasing the family members to show what happened in each of the scenes affected the other. The film also meets the conventions with the sound used in the film. The film uses a low scary sound in order to put the audience inside the movie and keep them on their toes for whats to happen next.

I love mystery movies like this. They keep me engaged with the movie and have me thinking I am in the movie as well. After watching it another time I was really able to analyze what was happening in the movie and the different shots, movements, camera angles, lighting and effects they were using to enhance the movie. I love how the movie had such a unique plot, because this plot was different from other plots I have seen before in this genre. However, I dislike how much information this movie left out at the end. It left me on so many cliff hangers to the point where I was kind of confused, saying what the point of all the twists were. For our project we will be sure to keep the plot good, but not too complicated to the point where we get our audience confused.

Genre Research: Get Out

Movies similar to our genres are easier to spot being that a mystery genre typically has a plot of solving a mystery.Some noticeable camera shots in the specific movie is the use of close ups . When a film maker use close shots it makes the audience focus on that subject.One of the films i focused on was "Get Out " Produced by Jordan Pelee.  A example in get out of a close up shot is when Chris face is zoomed when being hypnotized , this gives audience the ability to feel his emotions . Another camera shot Jordan Peele uses is the point of view shots . When we take the place of Chris eyes and see the Gardner running towards him . This also makes the audience focus on the gardener and have a curious mindset on what will happen next. Another aspect of this film is the use of low angles . Such as when Chris explains his concerns about him being uncomfortable and Georgina responds . This is also used to emphasize the emotions of Chris concern. However Movements in mystery genres tend to vary , However in this movie they're a lot of tracking shots. Such as when their in the car driving to their parents house . It made the audience feel as if they were driving along side of them. Another movement was the zoom as They closed into Chris face it felt as if we felt his emotions and hurt more and more.

Movies such as Get out tends to use the same editing strategies.One editing strategy i took note of is the jump cuts .Such as when the camera cuts away when Chris looks at something . During the scene of the Gardner running away the camera cuts away as he turns . Which emphasize the curiosity of why the man is running . Another editing strategy i saw was the insert of the pictures during his hypnotism . They inserted the pictures to show his memories . The sound of the movie had typical scary movie music . Which included the taunting sound of having the audience believe that something is happening .

It wasn’t many customs in the film . They were just everyday clothing and job attire . However the lighting played a significance in this film such as the darkness during the hypnotism which made us connect the dots during the hypnotism . Also the actors even tho they were plan regular people if the Maid and garner didn’t act in such way we wouldn’t have been curious of the workers. The close up of the maid showed the audience her make up which made the audience question her character. Another aspect of the film was is the props being used such as the axe or even the tea cup during the hypnotism. The setting made the movie which every different idea was in a different science which made us connect all pieces of the story together .

I love mystery movies , it keeps me on the edge of my seat . Get out especially kept me on the edge of my seat with the different camera shot tactics. Being that i learned about all the reasons why movie producers use different angles and shots it made it more easier after watching it another time . The movie became clearer as i understood the emphasize of the angles, movements , and sound and editing . However there are somethings that i dislike about this genre . I dislike how a mystery genre tends to have the same plot . I also dislike how the conventions tends to be a dark setting rather than a a sunny or lighter . Alot of mysteries happen during the day so for our project we will hopefully twist the conventions a little .

What Genre Should Our Movie Be?

Previously, my group members and I researched three genres. These genres were Crime, Mystery, and Musical. After researching all of those genres we decided to go with mystery. We went with mystery because when we were brainstorming ideas for the genres mystery was the best idea out of all. Not only was it the best idea, but the idea was rational. We have the tools and means capable of doing this idea more than the others. We also liked the different clamps and conventions in this genre as well. The movies that we watched that fell under the mystery genre fit well with our movie idea. In the mystery genre, they use close-up shots and naturalistic lighting. We felt like mystery was one of the best genres that engages with the audience. As people watch our film, we do not want them to get bored.

Genre Research Begins!

The first genre that we are researching is musicals. In common musicals, to show actors dancing, pan movement and tracking shot is used to keep up with the dancing. By using eye-angle, audiences can experience the actors dancing like front-row seats. The lighting is generally bright (high-key lighting) to create a bright mood. Also, cinematic lighting is used to show drama between actors. Bounce lighting is used to reflect soft light onto an actor. Wide shots are often used to show locations especially to show where actors are singing. In pop-themed musicals, subtle props such as flowers are used. In action-themed musicals, props such as swords and shields are used. In most musicals, costumes are used to match the mood of the scene and role of the actor. Sound elements typically used are ballad and live music. I don't like musicals where every scene actors sing. However, I do like the lighting used. It creates a happy atmosphere. With all these facts, this is why we chose this genre.  

Movies similar to our genres are easier to spot being that a mystery genre typically has a plot of solving a mystery.Some noticeable camera shots in the specific movie is the use of close ups . When a film maker use close shots it makes the audience focus on that subject.One of the films i focused on was "Get Out " Produced by Jordan Pelee.  A example in get out of a close up shot is when Chris face is zoomed when being hypnotized , this gives audience the ability to feel his emotions . Another camera shot Jordan Peele uses is the point of view shots . When we take the place of Chris eyes and see the Gardner running towards him . This also makes the audience focus on the gardener and have a curious mindset on what will happen next. Another aspect of this film is the use of low angles . Such as when Chris explains his concerns about him being uncomfortable and Georgina responds . This is also used to emphasize the emotions of Chris concern. However Movements in mystery genres tend to vary , However in this movie they're a lot of tracking shots. Such as when their in the car driving to their parents house . It made the audience feel as if they were driving along side of them. Another movement was the zoom as They closed into Chris face it felt as if we felt his emotions and hurt more and more.

Movies such as Get out tends to use the same editing strategies.One editing strategy i took note of is the jump cuts .Such as when the camera cuts away when Chris looks at something . During the scene of the Gardner running away the camera cuts away as he turns . Which emphasize the curiosity of why the man is running . Another editing strategy i saw was the insert of the pictures during his hypnotism . They inserted the pictures to show his memories . The sound of the movie had typical scary movie music . Which included the taunting sound of having the audience believe that something is happening .

I love mystery movies , it keeps me on the edge of my seat . Get out especially kept me on the edge of my seat with the different camera shot tactics. Being that i learned about all the reasons why movie producers use different angles and shots it made it more easier after watching it another time . The movie became clearer as i understood the emphasize of the angles, movements , and sound and editing . However there are somethings that i dislike about this genre . I dislike how a mystery genre tends to have the same plot . I also dislike how the conventions tends to be a dark setting rather than a a sunny or lighter . Alot of mysteries happen during the day so for our project we will hopefully twist the conventions a little .

Genre Research In A Powerpoint!

At the beginning of the school year, we were assigned a genre to research. The genre that we were assigned was crime. We looked at the common lighting, angles, movements, mis en scene, and sound. When we conducted enough information, we created a PowerPoint to present our findings. My group members and I worked diligently to design the PowerPoint. To enhance our PowerPoint we used pictures and videos. The project was interesting because we learned more about the characteristics of the genre.

Choosing a Pitch!

We narrowed down the three pitches into two. The first of those two pitches is, He met this girl thinking he was in love, the whole time she was plotting something sinister. Something he might not survive. We chose this pitch because we have a whole plan formulating on what we want to do. We want to have one of the female group members to trick someone, me, into falling in love with them while she plots with the other members to set me up. This is also a very rational choice as well. We did not want to do something too complicated that we can not finish within the allotted time. It is also the more rational idea because we can do this with the group members that we have. We also looked at other factor such as the props, costumes, make up and places where we were going to do the pitch. Looking at these factors and more we all decided that this was one of the top contenders.

The second pitch that we chose to do is, Someone who follows three teenage girls while getting ready to have fun at their first college party. One goes missing and now they can't find her. This was a very great pitch that we chose because it was a good one that we all agreed on. We combined our first round of pitches in order to make this one. We have a very solid plan that we have come up with and that we have decided is a very rational plan. We already have a location picked out, costumes picked out, and have the people we want int he film picked out as well. We have the ways we want to film mapped out and we know exactly where we want to go with the story. Knowing this makes it easier for us to make an opening scene to the film because we know what we want to do after the scene. This makes this one of the best pitch ideas that we can choose from.

After debating on which pitch was the best, we finally came to an agreement. The pitch that we agreed on was pitch number 3. The third pitch was, Someone follows three teenage girls while getting ready to have fun at their first college party. One goes missing and now they can’t find her. While deliberating, we found that pitch number three had the best ideas. We also felt confident with the pitch and the plans we had for the film.