Genre Research: A simple favor

The first Thriller movie I researched for this project was called A Simple Favor. This movie is a roller coaster of events and takes the audience to many different points. The first thing I will be analyzing is the camera angles, shots, and movements. For camera angles I noticed that the angles went along with what the character was doing. An example of this would be in the beginning of the film one of the main characters is opening her trunk. The scene cuts to a low angle and shows the character along with the inside of the trunk. Some of the common camera shots included in the film were eye level, over the shoulder, and two shots. The over the shoulder and two shots were used numerous times throughout the movie between the two main female characters. Camera Movements used in this film were long shots, close ups, medium close ups, and establishing shot. Long shots were used to capture the characters entire body and the entity of the character. The medium and close up shots were used to show the characters together in a scene but bring more attention to what the character was saying. The establishing shot was used to show the audience where the story was taking place in each setting.
      The costumes used in this movie varied. Stephanie, a lead in the movie, wore bright colors and outfits that were more kid like while the character, Emily, wore suits and luxurious clothes. The costumes represent each character's persona and their outfits in this film definitely reflect on who their character is. It seemed as though the lighting used throughout this film was meant to look natural and like the sun was providing the light in the homes of the characters. This movie targeted an audience older than 18 because it is rated R. This movie would bring interest to people who like mysteries and thrillers. For the make-up used in this movie, there was nothing drastically noticeable other than lipstick and mascara. Props used in this movie include an umbrella, a gun, a painting, and a few other basic props like plates or a bottle of alcohol. The setting of this movie changed a few times, however, the main setting of the movie was Emily's home which was in the woods yet, very expensive and big. Mostly diegetic sound was used in this movie. The editing of this movie is what makes it a thriller. Editing can change the way the audience will perceive the film so it is important the editing stays on track with the thrilling events going on in this movie.

Genre Research: choosing our genre

For our movie we mutually decided to choose the genre thriller. We believe this is the best option for our movie. We ideally want to produce something that will keep our audience entertained and attentive, but at the same time we don't want our film to be too serious. When creating a thriller, it's much easier to leave the film on an open ending rather than a finished one. The thriller genre will help us accomplish that. The genre now helps us make sure our movie is not too serious. We will implement suspenseful parts into our movie so that the audience will feel like they are searching for more after the film is over. 

Genre Research: Thriller & Comedy

       For the Thriller Genre, the common camera movements are, Low angles which are used to display power in a character, high angles are used to show vulnerability, and eye level is used to show tension between two characters. The movements traditionally consist of, panning and zooming because this generates tension during the film. In thrillers close-up shots are mostly used to create more tension, while wide and long shots are avoided because it takes away from the tension of the movie. The common costumes in thriller films are extremely diverse, but many films choose to use deep, dark colors so it can set more of a mood. The lighting is usually darker in thriller films, so low-key lighting is used throughout. The audience for thriller films are usually 18+ because there is violence, blood, mental illnesses, etc. Makeup is usually a minimum but on certain characters like monsters or nuns etc. use a lot of make-up. Props are a big part in thrillers because they can help create more of an eerie mood. In thrillers settings remain the biggest part because, they help create the tension because they use places like forests, old houses, and very dark areas. The editing process in thrillers typically consists of these major edits; jump cuts, elliptical editing, graphic matches, and fast/slow paced editing. Using sound in thriller films help create and set the mood for the audience. sound really does change the way a film is perceived. For example, in a quiet place, the director decided to choose sounds that are mostly diegetic sounds for the purpose of making the film more thrilling.  The elements of thrillers that I like are, the feeling of uncertainty, suspense, and how it makes you always think what's going to happen next. The elements of thrillers that I do not like are the terror scenes, I usually do not like "pop-up scenes" which are parts of a film where an object goes into the frame very fast. 

  

     For the Comedy Genre, the common camera movements are push/in out clips, perspective shots, but also most camera movements are just the most primary ones. The most principal movements that are being used are zooms, tracking shots and tilts. Zooms help show emotion in actors faces, tracking shots (in comedies) are usually running or car scenes and tilts can sometimes show costumes/makeup. The most common costumes in comedies consist of bright, bold colors. For example, in the movie Zoolander, extremely bright and excessively bold colors are used to produce an emotion about the characters. Lighting in comedies helps move the plot along, so using high key lighting is the best option. The audience for comedies is very diverse; some comedies are meant for families, but most comedies are also 18+ due to language, substances and many more. Props are used in many comedies because a lot of directors will use a prob as something that helps move the storyline along. Editing comedies is tricky because you do not want to leave any humor out, multicam editing helps ensure that they get each scene correct. Sounds in comedies are usually non-diegetic sounds, or sounds added into the film so that the audience can thoroughly understand what’s going on. The elements of comedies that I enjoy are, how it makes me happy and the laughter that comes from watching them. The elements I do not enjoy in comedies are that sometimes the storyline is often slow, and most comedies are very similar, just with different actors. 

Genre Research: Drama

This project was to do a power point on a genre picked randomly. My group mates and I got the genre drama. We researched everything there is to learn about the genre. We had to research and identify the common lighting, sound, music, and costumes for films in this genre. Along with the items previously listed, we also had to research the camera angles and movements commonly used in Drama movies. Some examples of drama movies include Jaws and Titanic. This was the first project my class was assigned. I think this project was a good introduction to this class. I still use all of the materials I had to use in the power point so in the end, this project was very beneficial. This project also allowed my group mates and I to be creative.

Picking the final task

Originally there were three pictures left to decide from. In this blog we will be narrowing it down to one. We have started by eliminating one idea to make our decision a little bit easier. We are getting rid of the second pitch, which was about two people racing on a beach when they discover a message in a bottle that contained a map to an unknown destination. Although this idea had potential, we thought it did not fit for this project and may not keep people interested enough.Two ideas remain.
      The first remaining pitch idea is about a women undercover who discovered some major news about an impactful person. This is a good pitch for the assignment because it will keep the audience intrigued for the whole two minutes. This is also more of an action packed and suspenseful beginning to a movie rather than a montage of somebody waking up in their bedroom or a comedy. This plot would also be a lot of fun to film. With this movie plot, there are a lot of impactful camera movements and shots that can be used to create and intense, interesting start to the movie. The only downside of this idea would be that there would not be enough time to have a backstory that explains why this person is impactful. Overall, this pitch would be very good to use for this project because it is action packed and will keep the audience wanting to know what happens next in the film after the two minutes are up.
      The other remaining pitch is about someone running away from authority after they steal something from a shopping mall. This could be a good pitch to use for the movie because it is also action filled. Since it is action packed, it will most likely not be boring or confusing. The downsides of  using this pitch would be that a person running away from security may not be long enough to last  the full two minutes. It would also be hard to find people to play the security.
      The pitch we have decided on is... the one about the person who goes undercover! The full final pitch is a women undercover who discovers some major news about an impactful person. My group mates and I feel we can do a lot with this idea. Filming with this plot will make it so the audience can follow along and stay intrigued for the whole first two minutes but still leave them wondering what happen next after the time is up. This idea also seemed like it could leave a lot of room for creative freedom. Overall, we are most excited about this pitch and we will began planning the beginning of our film.

Starting the Final task

     Hello, I’m Kelly and I go to school in south Florida. I’m very excited to be starting the final project. This is my first year participating in the class aice media studies. For my final project, I will be creating my movie with two of the closest people I know in my class; their names are Haylie and savanna. I’m only working with two people because we all feel very comfortable and confident when we work together. I’ve learned that it’s best to work with people you feel comfortable with because the final result will always come back great. I’ve worked with Haylie and savanna before and they always are very reliable, and have amazing ideas always.

     I’ve learned many things while in the class aice media studies. I know what my weaknesses are and what my strengths are. Of course I want to strengthen what I’m not as good at, but since this is our final project I want to make sure everything we do, we do at our best. I am particularly good at story-boarding and filming. I will probably film most of the scenes in our final project, switching between my group mates Haylie and savanna. Storyboarding is a very important part in starting a movie, we need to know what our plan is. I’m good at being creative and using all of the spaces on our storyboard outline. If my group mates want to do either storyboarding or filming I will completely let them. I will Remember to bring my creativity into this movie. I will also critique our project because since this is the final task, we don’t have room for errors. This is a group effort and I’m very excited to do my part!

     Now I will be explaining my pitch to you. A pitch Is a Hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is explain in under 25 words or one sentence. A pitch is sometimes described as an “ Elevator pitch.”It is called this because in an elevator you will be there for a short amount of time, which is usually the amount of time that it will take you to describe the pitch of a movie to someone. My group and I have three pitch ideas;
- A woman under-cover discovers some major news about someone she did not expect to find.
- Two People racing on a beach find a message in a bottle slightly buried under the sand, they open the bottle up and discover it has a map inside.
-A robber steals something from a mall which is unknown (the object) and causes a chase throughout a mall.

Editing: music video

         After filming this weekend, we had collected all of the footage that we needed to actually create our music video. My groupmate savanna is very talented when it comes to editing. So she can edit very fast and very well at the same time. While filming we made sure that we recorded enough footage so that we wouldn’t be short in any parts. Our main issue was that we wanted to record more than enough just because we all had doubts on weather it would be long enough. We also wanted to fit our schedule. We planned to film this weekend which is what we did. We also planned to have about 3 days to edit because our music video is due this week sometime thursday-Friday. So our timing was completely perfect.
        Editing our commercial was mostly done by our partner savanna. Haylie (who’s phone we used to film) sent all the footage to savanna right after filming, so that everything was already accessible. We used many programs to edit such as iMovie, our regular editor and more. But the most useful and convenient  program to edit on is iMovie. We decided earlier on what parts we would for sure use in our music videos and which ones we wouldn’t. I believe that we used the effect “zoom in” one of the most used for our music video. This was the effect we used when we zoomed into the name so that no scrubs could easily be seen. Another affect we used the most was the music choice. This was the option to place music over our clips. This was the most used because we were editing a music video, so obviously we need music!
        Some of the final things we did while editing were, adding final affects, cutting certain scenes, and adding particular scenes as well. While editing we had to always re-watch our music video so that we would see how everything would flow. It was easiest to just add or subtract a certain clip while watching it over. Editing is one of the most satisfying things to do because that’s when you see everything come together. When you’re filming you’re not sure how everything’s going to come out. But when you’re editing you clearly see everything coming together. One of the issues we came across was our commercial would end in a weird spot. My group mate Savanna kept editing trying to stop the commercial in a better spot. But every time we would edit it would keep ending in a weird scene. But then after a few tries we figured out how to end our music video in the perfect spot.