Re-Edit Blog: Transformation

       After looking through the entire opening, we weren’t quote satisfied with the entire product. We decided to re-edit the entire opening of the movie. We saw that we didn’t have title so we had to add all the titles that was required. Also, we needed music for some of the background scenes. We had to search up various music which we thought would fit into the scenes so it wouldn’t be cringe. That took us quite a while since it wasn’t easy to find songs that would fit the scenes. Overall, we still ended up finding songs for now that we look could work with the scenes. Also, our scenes barely had any dialogue, so we had to make sure to add dialogue for some of the scenes especially the phone call scenes as we need dialogues so the viewers are aware of what is going on. We also had to edit some minor mistakes like trimming parts of a scenes so it runs more smoothly or just add some nice retouch to some scenes. 

          We had the re-shoot some of the scenes we didn’t like. We took notice of other peers feedback where the lightning and the quality of the scenes were very bad. Therefore, we had to make sure that our scenes were shot at a amazing angle so the lightning is great. Also, we noticed that our camera was very bad quality so we decided to rent out the school camera which is very high quality. We ended up using the school camera to take some amazing shots when we did out reshoot. At the end, we were all satisfied with the various improvements we made throughout the opening. We are sure that we will definitely be improving more of the opening along the way but we can definitely say that the overall outcome of the opening was much bette than the original we took. We also can’t wait to change the old scenes with our newly shot scenes.

Reshoot Blog: Wardrobe Scenes

     After looking through the multiple scenes we took the other day, we felt like some of the scenes aren’t good enough so we decided to reshoot some of the scenes. We had to set a convenience time for all of us. Fortunately, it was quite easy to set a good time since we are on a extended break so we didn’t have school and have more time to meet up. We had to go to mine house and go to Ashley’s house to reshoot our scenes. It was fine with my friends going to my house because my parents aren’t that strict with people in our house. For Ashley, we can only go to her after a certain period of time because she has family at her place which she doesn’t want friends coming over when she does have family. At the end of the day, we all settled on a convenient time for all of us.

              Ashley and Madison went to my house first. I was ready and already expecting them to come over. We started filming right away as we wanted to get this whole reshooting out of the way. Since the scenes are occurring in my bathroom and wardrobe, we all headed into my room which was organized since I was expecting them. We had Ashley do the filming as she is quite a good photographer. We looked at the storyboard again to make sure we were filming the right angles and actions. The whole process went smoothly as we are already prepared to shoot what is needed to be filmed. We then went to Ashley’s house. Her scenes are also in her room and her bathroom. We all just went straight into her room which was also clean since she was expecting us as well. I was the photographer for her scenes. Overall, we did an amazing job as everything went smoothly. The whole shooting process for each of us took roughly around 30 minutes. We always took multiple takes of the same scenes just in case one of the scenes didn’t turn out as good as expected.

Filming Blog: Our Final Day Filming

         We are only left with a few other scenes that we had to film together. So we decided to choose a day and time period where it convenient for all of us since some days each of the group members are busy with work or they have places to go. So, we all decided to choose Tuesday since all of us were not busy on Tuesday. We decided to film it after school since it very much more convenient because Madison has a car, and she is able to drop me off after we are finish filming. The setting we chose for our scenes was at a nearby elementary school since we aren’t allowed to film on our high school campus. We decided to drive to Wilton Manors Elementary because it was the closest to our school. So right after the bell rang, we all meet up at the front gate so we can immediately leave school campus and hop into Madison’s car and head to Wilton Manors Elementary which took about 5 minutes. Upon arriving, we saw a bunch of elementary students leaving the campus.

             We changed into our movie scenes outfits and we were all set to film. First, we looked over our storyboard to see what we’re were shooting and the different angles that it needs to be shot at. Once determined, we had the assigned actors get into position and we filmed multiple takes of the same scenes just in case, one of the scenes don’t look right or we aren’t satisfied. We did this for every scenes. The entire filming at the elementary school went smoothly without any interference or encounter with the staffs since we were filming outside of the school without any permission. Overall, looking back at the scenes we took, we felt like we did an amazing job as each scenes was shot at the appropriate angles and the dialogue was amazing as well. All the actors showed true emotions as well as natural acting so it made the whole scenes more realistic.

Filming Blog: School Scenes

      We had finished all the scenes that was filmed in our houses. We just need to film the rest of the scenes that requires to be filmed at a certain location. Therefore, we needed to plan a meetup at a certain area since we all are going to be filming at that certain place. The place we were going to film at was a nearby elementary that is near our high school. For our own convenience, we decided to choose a day we can all meet up and film without any complications. We settled on going to the nearby elementary after school today since we weren’t busy and all free. Since it nearby, we all decided to hop into Madison’a car and we would all just go straight to the nearby elementary right after school since it was so much easier. So after school, we met at the front gate by our school. We then just went straight into Madison’s car and from there, we just drove to the nearest elementary. It took around 5 minutes as there was an elementary school that is quite close.

      Now that we reached the filming site, we started to look at our storyboard. This is important as the storyboard tells us what exactly needs to be filmed. Once we figured out what scenes we need to film, we alright got our outfits on so that wasn’t a problem for us to change into any outfits. We got into our positions and had one of the group members be the shooting person. We took turns shooting depending on who needs to be in the scene. We all took multiple takes of the same scenes and in different positions and angles just so we can later choose the best take from the set of different takes. Overall, the filming went through smoothly without any complications. It took us around a hour so it was quite fast and efficient. Now, we just have to edit all of the scenes and put together an amazing opening of our movie.

Peer Review Blog

       During this time, we would review other group’s film. Overall, we were really excited as we are able to view other group’s creation while we are also excited to share our own creation. We felt like the beginning of our movie was well put and well done especially under limited time. We got into our own group and our peers movie was already set up. We watched the peers movie multiple times to fully understand what exactly was going on. At the end, we felt the movie was very good. What we liked best of the movie was the various different props through their opening of the movie. They must have spent a lot of time finding and placing each prop carefully for each different scenes. My group thought they did an amazing job as far as setting the whole background and the whole setting that was shown in the film. We thought our opening could be done better especially seeing the other group’s opening, we we were quite left in shame as far as our own props and background.
 
       Although their scenes were very nice and the background was great, our group did have a problem with the audio quality throughout the opening of our movie. We had quite a problem hearing the audio and had to lean closer to hear the audio a little better. This is the only suggestion for the group’s opening as everything else was very well done. They can equip a microphone or a better audio quality camera so it wouldn’t be such a problem hearing the audio. We are also excited to know what our peers think about our own opening. Their criticism would be very  beneficial for our group and would definitely improve the quality of our opening.

Filming Blog: Wardrobe and Bathroom Scenes

        It been finally my time to film my scenes as my other group members already filmed their assigned scenes at their designated location. My group and I have decided to film some of the scenes at my house. That means that the members of my group will be coming to my house for the filming.  Since my group members are busy most of the time, we all decided to agree to come to my house after school during the weekdays as Madison have work on the weekend while Ashley needs to go somewhere with her family on the weekend. We all decided to hop into Madison’a car since each of us don’t have a car yet so the only way to go to my house would be Madison’s car. There was a inconvenience filming at my house was because I live very far away from the school. That means it will be a long drive for Madison to drive us to my house which would take around 30 minutes. Luckily, Madison lives quite near me but Ashley lives far away so she needs to get a ride to drop her off at her house. Once we all arrived at my house, we began filming. Since in the other scenes, it always been Madison acting while me and Ashley did the filming, we decided to have Madison do the shooting of the different scenes while me and Ashley did the acting for these couple of scenes. The filming process was quite a ease as we were all prepared to film what needed to be filmed. We however, took a while to figure out the best angles for each scenes to maximize the quality of each scenes. At the end, I just handed Madison the camera as she will handle the SD card which she will dump onto the laptop when she gets the chance to. Overall, the whole filming process was a success and we look forward to finish filming the rest of the scenes.

Filming Blog: House Scenes

Yesterday was February the 23rd, 2020. This officially commended the first day of filming for the short film. We got delayed a week due to busy schedules like I mentioned in the last blog. But, Sunday was a perfect day that we all had free. I got off of work at four o'clock so we started filming around four thirty. I thought that filming would take longer but in all honesty it only took about an hour and a half. We decided to film my scenes first but for no particular reason. So, Darren and Ashley came over to my house and we started from the beginning. In this whole day of filming, my role was being the actor. So I was constantly behind the camera acting out the scenes. This proved to be a bit difficult because we're friends so we goofed off a little bit. I could not stop laughing when we filmed the second scene. This was when everyone is getting out of bed and I have to roll out. It was just funny to me and them so we had to do a few retakes for this scene. A problem we came across was space. When filming we had to make sure we could get the good angles and make sure that I was fully in the frame. This was difficult because the area of my house that we we're filing at was a hallway so it was sort of hard to get everything in the frame. Another issue that we faced was filming with my dogs. One of my dogs are male and doesn't like new people coming into the house. Darren is a male so this is self explanatory. For this scene I had Darren go to another room and had Ashley help me film this scene. This picture is from scene two where I roll out of bed.

Filming Blog: Planning the Filming

           Today is February the 20th, 2020 and I have yet to start filming. My group has very tight schedules. One of the members in my group has chess club and work after school. The other group member has to go to environmental club after school and volunteer. I work two jobs and have tons of homework to do. Just like everyone else. So, it's hard to find a good time to film especially after school. Our first day that we are going to film is February the 22nd 2020. I suggested we should film this Saturday because everyone is free for a few hours in the morning. The plan for Saturday is this; we film scenes one through five. However, then scenes won't be filmed for all three of us. We'll have to just film the scenes I am in. This must be done this way for a specific reason. In our film we each show our morning routines in our own houses. So, we're not going to go back and forth to houses. We live great distances away from each other so were only filming one group members scenes a day. This way we can make sure we shoot and also do any reshoots from the footage we just took to make sure we do it correctly. Scenes one includes a picture of the alarm clock with the sound of it going off. Scene two includes me getting out of bed then walking to the bathroom. Scene three includes me trying to brush my teeth. Scene four includes me walking back to my room then attempting to dress myself. Scene five shows me walking to my kitchen and saying hello to my pets. This picture is of my room of the setting that we will mostly be filming in on Saturday.

Storyboard

      We have finally came to the storyboard stage. In this stage, it all about the entire planning and guideline for every scenes in our opening. The storyboard is very important as not only is it a guideline for our script but it keeps us in check. We tried to be as specific as possible in our storyboard so we can mimic the storyboard as accurate as possible. My group is aware that there may be some additional scenes or new additional movements that may not be seen on the storyboard. This is very common as the storyboard serves as a guideline of what should be happening in each scenes. Since there was so many scenes in our opening and we had limited time, my group decided to assign each member to a specific set of scenes so we are able to get it done in a timely manner. Overall, all the scenes came out very nice and as expected. As some may not be as good as a artist as others, we were still able to tell what going on in each scene box as captions of the pictures are also provided below. We will be looking at this storyboard very time we film each scene so we know what is happening in each scenes. My group is very excited to begin our filming journey in the incoming
days
.

Location, Participants, Health, Schedule

For this blog we planned out the entire process of production for our film. It took a little while because had to ask for permission from our parents and administrative authority. Here we decided on our set locations, who would be participating in our film, health and safety concerns and a schedule which would work for us. It was very important for us to decide on a set schedule because this is what would allow us to construct our film. We discussed job dates, appointments, family plans and other reasons we would not be able to film and chose days which we practical and convenient to everyone. We also assured that throughout the filming process we were secure of our health and safety and relied on the support of trusted adults for monitoring us. For our locations we decided to film at our own houses because it was convenient since we had ownership to it and did not have to worry about asking for permission to film. We could use anything as props because they belonged to us. For our school we made sure to get permission from administration and for the bus stop we thought it was a good location since it was not private property and could be filmed on freely. Discussing these factors with my group assures us that we will run on schedule with plenty of time to make mistakes, fix them and adjust our film to make it the best it can be.

Title Design

For this blog we figured out our titles. This was a difficult and exhausting task because we couldn't make up our minds. Each of us wanted to be something that collided with one another. For example, two of us wanted to be producers or directors. We finally sorted everything out and came to a conclusion. For our titles we just provided the basic musts for a film. This included directed by, produced by and edited by. For our font we chose to go with something that can be taken lightly. Rather than something that is bold and harsh because that's not what the film is about. We chose it to fly onto the screen because we thought it would add a little touch of playfulness into it instead of it just appearing onto the screen.

Shooting Script

This is my groups shooting script for our final task. It is an outline what we will be done in our video. The script is divided by scene. We decided to include the shots so we would be better prepared when it came time for filming. During the time we were writing our script, my group and I were collecting props for the project. We were discussing how we would make it all come together. We still haven't decided when we are going to film. We still need to find out when all of us can find a day in which we can shoot the video.We will be focused on getting our scripts done so we have a sense of direction. By the end of this week we hope to get permission to film on our desired location.
Shooting Script Slideshow

Sound Script

          In these slides, it contains all the sounds and the dialogue that will be heard in our movie opening. The majority of our opening scenes will just be natural sounds rather than dialogue because there is barely any characters interactions. The opening of our movie mostly take place in each of the character's house and they are beginning their morning routine to prepare for school. Therefore, most of the sounds will begin from the alarm clock ringing next to each of the character's bed to the sound of running water as some starts brushing their teeth or taking a shower before getting dressed from school. Then, then the sounds of the opening will transition onto the outside streets as the character's begins heading out. So the noises of cars zooming by and the sounds of chattering students as they reach school campus will be heard in the background once they reach school campus. Dialogue will be heard between the characters as they began to see each other at the end of the opening of the movie since they begin meeting each other at school. So overall, that the entire sound script for the entire opening of the movie. There will be natural sounds and dialogue throughout the opening of the movie. There may be some additional sounds along the opening as the script is not completely accurate but the group will be sure to follow the script as much as possible.

Title Research: Eva

         During the opening sequence of the film there are titles displayed eighteen.  The movie Eva is about a programmer named Alex. He returns to his home town after ten years to work on a robot boy. He uses his ten year old niece, Eva, as his muse and inspiration.The opening sequence shows many images and varying perspectives of design. They are meant to mimic the behavior of interconnected elements inside a neural network. There is incredible detail in the images. Soon the neural elements start to transform into mechanical looking tools and objects representing the elements of the robotic child. The visuals of the neural network and the mechanical objects are connotative of the elements of the a robotic being. They do not contain the spiritual and emotional elements which make up the human brain. That is why the neural networks in the opening sequences develop into machinery. Through this the genre is also reinforced. Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as this one which would be advanced science and technology. The extremely delicate and intricate visuals show ideas which are far beyond our modern day technological platforms. To ensure it is appealing to the right audience the title sequence uses technology in motion demonstrating the futuristic elements of the genre. Through delicate and intricate details of the title sequence were made possibly through 3-D animation. This is a useful form of animation because it allows for movie designers to reproduce something that can not be produced in real life or would be to difficult to reproduce. 3-D animation is also used for efficiency. Sometimes designers find it quicker,cheaper and more practical to produce designs through technological platforms. With the use of technology the designers were also able to capture obscure angles and camera movements. Computer animation can also be more versatile when capturing certain views of something because their are no restrictions such as those found in real life. As a result their is a variation of close-ups, zooms, pans, and tilts which are produced from computer software are created.This can be used to enforce anticipation and excitement while also foreshadowing parts of the film or the main story line.

Title Research: Dunya and Desi

In the beginning sequence of the film Dunya and Desi there twenty-one titles displayed. The story revolves around two eighteen-year-old best friends who are experiencing their own personal crises which leads them to the same country on their own adventures. There is a pattern of feminine and girl imagines prioritized in the opening sequence. There are female products scattered all over the opening credits such as makeup, magazines and other miscellaneous items that would be found in a young women's room. This is likely representative of their age and signifies that they are still young and growing because it looks significantly of how an older women's room would look. There are also several photos showcased of Dunya and Desi. Many of their photos together are prioritized in the opening sequence because their friendship is what drives the plot. It is important to the development of the story line. The images are directly connotative in showing the audience that Dunya and Desi are best friends who play a big role in each others lives and that they are still maturing and growing together. The genre of the film is comedy. The messy and unorganized images can reinforce comedy. As compared to a horror or thriller the opening sequence is very playful and all over the place. To make its appeal to its target audience it creates a disorganized sequence which many people can relate to and find amusing. People are often satisfied when plot lines and characters are realistic and relate able to it's audience. The opening sequence was done with real props and a camera. This allows for traditional camera work such as zoom ins and zoom outs. The role of the movements in the opening sequence are to show off the titles. I think it was very clever for the designers to fit the names of the titles into objects in the room. The camera does a good job making sure that the titles are visible and stand out even though that they disorganized a bunch of other objects but focusing on the titles and making them stand out from everything else.

Title Research: Austin Powers

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There was a total of 18 titles in the opening sequence to the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. I watched the beginning sequence off of a website called artofthetitle.com The beginning sequence was a total of four minutes and ten seconds. These included the title of the movie along with who casted the people for the film, and who picked out the movie, ect.

What images were prioritized in the opening sequence?
 The whole beginning sequence was based around girls going crazy over Austin Powers. The opening scene starts with him walking down the street in London, England. Everyone is wearing crazy 80's clothing and they begin to dance. Austin proceeds to walk down the street while a big crowd of girls begin to form. He starts running shortly after this, trying to get away from them. He finds various disguises to conceal himself from the mob of women.

What connotations do the images carry?
The meaning of the opening sequence being the way it is which is women chasing him is to set up a basic knowledge of him for the rest of the movie. It shows that he's irresistible to some and that he's famous.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre is comedy for the Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery movie. Genre is reinforced through symbolic codes because it it shows in the beginning that the movie is going to be funny and light-hearted. The women chasing him is never serious, as he's always smiling throughout the time.
Every time he tries to disguise himself it's always in a comedic way, it's never scary or serious.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to it's target audience?
 The target audience for the movie is anyone from ages 13 through 50.  It's anyone that wants a good laugh but also likes crime involved as well. So the director keeps the theme of comedy throughout the film by adding funny gestures and dialogue throughout the film.

How has technology been used effectively?
Technology has been used effectively by using a variety of it that will enhance the theme of comedy.

Title Research: The Final Destination

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
The movie The Final Destination was the second movie we chose to research. There was a total of 21 titles displayed throughout the 1 minute and 29 seconds. We found this beginning sequence on watchthetitles.com

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The whole beginning sequence of the movie is based on humans getting killed in different ways. In the beginning the director uses an x-ray kind of vision to show the animations. He or she displays humans getting killed in multiple ways. It ranges from a person getting nails stuck in their head to someones head getting sliced open vertically. For the animations it's not always a whole persons skeleton being killed. The director uses blood splatter to represent a person being killed. For example, there's a scene in the beginning sequence where a train is coming and the audience can assume it hit a person because what followed was blood splatter coming toward the screen.

What connotations do the images carry?
The connotations of the images show that the movie following it is going to be scary or about death. The images show something that people are scared of which is death. This means the beginning sequence makes the audience feel scared or anxious.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The animations shown in the beginning sequence reinforces the genre through symbolic codes.
The images in the beginning give people that scared feeling which reinforces the genre. The director  made sure to include animations that go with the movie because it would not enforce the genre whatsoever if they showed animations of bunny rabbits in the beginning sequence.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to it's target audience?
The target audience for The Final Destination is anyone that is ages 16 and up. The movie leans toward people that enjoy scary or gory movies. The animations of people dying help to keep the audience engaged or actually want to see the movie.

How has technology been used effectively?
A bunch of different angles have been used in the beginning sequence which helps keep it less boring which will in-turn keep the audience entertained. The art of animation has also been effectively used. This got the point that the movie will be gory an scary across without it being too gory. Editing was a good part of the beginning sequence because it goes hand and hand with the animation. This just made the sequence more appealing.

Title Research: Watch the Title Websites

     

  For this website, we chose the title page named, “The Snow White and the Huntsman”.  In this title page, it quite basic as there is not much but just the whole name of the movie in bold black print. The background consists of a winter theme background as to resemble the winter theme since the movie is about Snow White. The title announces the identifier of your screenplay — no different than your given name that people use to refer to you. It’s important because a great title is also a key marketing factor of your script. It can win someone over right away or turn them off instantly. Not only that, a title page is important as it also gives many of the general information behind the film. The general information that goes along with that title, including the name of the writer(s) involved, their representation, and their contact number, are essential for networking and contact information. This way, viewers get a sense of who created the films and who the movie was written and acted by. Speaking on the main title page, my group would create a more vivid and colorful title page so it can catch the viewers attention better.

Title Research: Art of the Title Website

    

       In this title page named the "Carnival Row", it portrays the whole text of the movie across the screen. The background resembles a temple and it seems like a fairy shape right above the text. Titles play an important role in the marketing, reception, and even understanding of a film – they are often the first piece of information that a viewer is given. Since a title needs to be appealing, memorable, original, and encapsulating all at once, a good title can be hard to come by. Watching this title page, it attracts to the viewers which is very important as you want a attractive title page so it gets the viewers attention. Since we are creating a movie, we wanted to create a similar title page where we would have the name of our movie spread across the screen and we would have a related background in the back of our title. There were many other title pages on this website that appealed to my group but we still instead to decided to go with this one instead. The bold lettering and the dark background made our eyes catch right into the title. This is what we would like when we create our own title page for our own movie. We would want the viewer to understand what we will be portraying in our movie. We want the viewers to have a glimpse of what our movie will be about. 

Genre Research: Jexi

      Another movie we chose for our genre is Jexi. This is a comedy based movie which features Phil, who is the main character of this movie and he has a major dependency issue -- he's addicted to his cellphone. He has no friends and his love life is nonexistent. Forced to upgrade to a new phone, Phil soon learns that the latest model comes with Jexi -- an artificial intelligence life coach, virtual assistant and cheerleader. With its help, he begins to get a real life but as he becomes less dependent on the phone, Jexi starts to morph into a tech nightmare that's determined to keep Phil all to itself. The phone assistant, Jexi starts overriding the phones control and starts ordering Phil to do actions or else the phone will act up and potentially embarrassed or ruins Phil’s reputation in public and his workplace. As the movie plays throughout, Phil starts getting more used to his phone as he sees that it not as bad as he thought since the phone got him promoted at his job and also helped him get his first girl’s number. 

          My group really enjoyed this show as it not only funny but a lot of camera angles and editing techniques as used throughout the whole movie. Since the group project is focused on the opening of a movie, we watched the opening of Jexi multiple times as it was quite confusing at first since the opening of Jexi is just scenes of people walking around the streets, all staring at their cellphone so it got my group wondering what was the purpose of that other than the people in this movie is all addicted into their cellphone. However, as time passed, we gained a further understanding of the opening of Jexi, the purpose of the opening of Jexi was to show the audience and viewers that the main character is addicted to his cellphone and is not aware of his surrounding. This will eventually lead to the climax of the movie which is when Phil bumped into another person which caused him to break his phone and forced him into getting a new phone. 

           The movie really starts getting more interesting as Phil receives his new phone and starts interacting with his new mobile assistant known as Jexi. My group wanted to use similar scenes from Jexi to create a humorous opening for our own movie. We wanted to make a opening such as a scene from Jexi where we will have one of our group member open a phone box to act like they just received a new phone and the phone will get activated and starts voicing commands to the group member. This will freak out the group member and we will have the group member screeching and running around the room which will set the viewers laughing. We thought this will be a very creative opening for our project because not only does it cause a sense of mystery as to what will happen throughout our movie but it will also set a good laugh seeing our members in fear and being clumsy. 

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

        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.

Genre Research: Shallow Hal

        For this blog the movie being researched is Shallow Hal. The story revolves around a young man named Hal. With his father dying he took on to follow his dying wish which was to only date the embodiment of female physical perfection. Throughout the beginning Hal and his friend Mauricio only focus their attention onto physically attractive females til one day Hal has an unexpected run-in with a self-help guru Tony Robbins. Intrigued by Hal's shallowness, Tony hypnotizes him into seeing the beauty that exists even in the least physically appealing  women. I think this was a great concept for a comedy because many jokes and humor can be fit into these sorts of situations. I also think this succeeds as a comedy because it is bringing attention to something that often does happen in the real world which people can relate to. I feel as though comedy serves to make people laugh it is useful in making light of serious situations.
       
          Me and my group decided to take a look at the opening scene of the film since for our final task we will have to create a comedic one of our own. The opening scene starts out serious. It is in a hospital setting where a doctor calls over Hal's mother to advise her of her dying husbands condition. He tells her he is heavily sedated and suggests sending in Hal for a final goodbye is not a smart idea since his thinking and speech is heavily interrupted by the morphine. She pleads for her Hal to be able to say his goodbyes and the doctor complies. Then the scene cuts to the room where Hal's father, Reverend Larson, is speaking nonsense to the nurses tending to him. When the doctor enters the room with Hal and tells the nurses to give them privacy the comedic aspects start to emerge from what is initially interpreted as a sadistic and serious opening. Larson says "Tell her to come in" thinking Hal is a girl when told of Hal's presence at the door. He then starts to discuss his regrets on settling for less like when he married Hal's mother "Betty" to which then Hal corrects to be Mary. The comedic nature of the scene is emphasized when Larson starts addressing Hal in explicit and crude speech from his deathbed. As he is dying he is telling Hal to promise to settle for female perfection which in his view is a women with "a perfect can and great toddies". It is also funny because he is a Reverend and is telling Hal to take his advice because it will make him right with the lord when actually all the advice he had given Hal is the exact opposite of what he should do to be spiritually righteous. This opening scene drives the entire plot of the movie and Hal's initial behavior as a character who had decided to follow through with his dad's wishes out of respect.
         
         The movie really takes off when Hal meets the seemingly physically beautiful women Rosemary who is actually overweight and much larger than Hal. My group and I thought the cutting back and fourth from the scene and throughout the movie showing Hal's perspective and everyone else's perspective was very clever and funny. There is a pool scene where Hal has a canon ball competition with Rosemary. He taunts her saying she won't be able to make a splash nearly as big as him. Everyone else starts to fear when she gets on the diving board because they know she will make a ginormous splash since she is actually huge. Hal however is hypnotized and sees all "ugly" women for their true inner beauty which through his eyes he sees as very physically attractive. Due to this he sees her a small and skinny women who would have a small splash. When her splash is so humongous he is very impressed that such a physically perfect women could make such a ginormous splash when everyone is startled. The scene even zooms up to a little boy who was in the pool and landed in a tree because her splash was so big. This is such a funny dynamic and we will think out adding one similar to our project. We can have one contrasting perspectives where one of the actors interprets/sees something one way and then another person can see it totally the opposite way and then they will continuously bicker since they each think the other person is insane and wrong.

Genre Research: Mean Girls

         Another blog being researched from the comedy genre is mean girls which has become a movie icon over the last two decades. The movie follows the life of Cady Heron who was educated in Africa from a young age by scientist parents. When her she moves to the suburbs off Illinois she finally gets to experience public school and the gets a quick run down of the highschool laws of popularity from her new friends Janis and Damian. Finding herself in the hands of supreme popularity group dubbed "the plastics" who initiate friendship with her and encouraged by Janis to reciprocate for their own amusement, Cady finds herself entangled in a world of popularity which at first starts out superficial until she fully indulges herself into becoming a plastic. This is such a great comedy movie because it accurately describes what life is like for American teens. Of course a lot of the situations are exaggerated which we believe emphasizes the comedic aspect of the movie.

         The opening scene of the movie starts out with Cady's parents looking down. A low angle is used to show them talking down to someone small and young which would be assumed to be Cady. The audience however isn't aware yet of who Cady is until it is revealed she was sitting down on the porch stairs and springs up. Then the voice of Cady narrates over the movie talking about how most normal kids have their first day of school when they are five but on hers she is sixteen and how great life was in Africa until her mother acquired a job in the states. As she says goodbye to her parents and heads to cross the street she nearly walks into a rapid moving bus to which her mom reacts by screaming and Cady tells her she will be alright. This is act of surprise is funny because it is so random and pops out of no where into what seems like a very peaceful and wholesome scene of parents getting emotional on their child's first day of school. Later in the movie there is another scene where one of the plastics gets totally run over by a bus which was Cady's initial fate. It is such a strange way for an accident to happen in a movie and the way it is portrayed is what adds comedic flair.

         One of the scenes from the movie shows Cady and the plastics on the phone with each other. The two other plastics had enough of their clique leader Regina George who had been taking advantage of them belittling them day one. Cady decides to trick Regina into saying what she really thinks about Gretchen and Karen while having them on the other line. On screen the girls are all shown split in 4 screens. Our group originally thought we could include a split screen call for our movie opening and have something different going on with each person. Some of them could be super weird bringing the comedic aspect while another person is completely unaware of what is going on on the other line.

Genre Research: White Chicks

            In this comedy genre movie, it about two FBI agent brothers, Marcus and Kevin Copeland ,accidentally foil a drug bust. As punishment, they are forced to escort a pair of socialites to the Hamptons, where they're going to be used as bait for a kidnapper but when the girls realize the FBI's plan, they refuse to go. Left without options, Marcus and Kevin decide to pose as the sisters, transforming themselves from African-American men into a pair of blonde, white women. It a very funny comedy movie with right timing set with the right dialogue from the actors. 

           Throughout the whole movie, it occurs in many different settings. Since we are doing a opening of a movie for this project, we decided to look at the opening of White Chicks , the movie starts out in a drug bust. However, this drug bust was put into a humorous tone as this is a comedy movie after all. The two FBI agents were in a convenience store where they are trying to bust the ice-cream man who is potentially trying to sell drugs rather than ice-cream but little do the FBI agents know, it was the wrong suspect after they beat them up. What makes the scene more funny was the fact that the actual drug dealers came right in the store and they went into a whole gunfight after realizing they are going to get busted. Nobody got hurt but the criminals escaped. As a punishment, the director of the police department decided to task them with another job which was to be a pair of socialites’s bodyguard so they could snatch a potential kidnapper. The pair of socialites found out about the plan and was too scared to go so at the end, it was up to the two FBI agents to dress up like the female socialites which was very funny and basically throughout the whole movie, they must look and act like them till they catch the kidnapper. This is where the whole comedy of the movie is centralized. 

            My group was amused by how funny this movie was so we decided to use some scenes of the movie as inspiration for our movie opening. We thought of a great scene in the movie where the two male FBI agents was putting on makeup to look like the females they was replicating. We thought we can start our opening with the similar setting where one of our actor would put makeup on and there will be a knock on the door pretending to be one of the person’s friend, and this spooked the person putting on makeup, so the actor would start rushing and knocking over props purposely. This will leave the audience very confused as to what is going on in the rest of the movie and also serves a good laugh.

Project Pitches

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.

Starting the Final Task

          Hello, this is Darren. I’m currently 17 years old and I’m from New York. My parents are from China so my ethnicity would be Asian. I moved to Florida when I was roughly around 11 years old.
I enjoy playing soccer and volleyball since I played that sport since I was young. Although, I’m Asian, I dislike most Asian food as I grew up in a very westernized household so I didn’t each much authentic Chinese food and when I do, it didn’t appeal to my tastebuds. Both of my parents owns restaurants so that a great thing as my dad is a great chef. I’m in my junior year of high school and on my way to achieving the Cambridge Diploma, Fort Lauderdale High offers. For this project, I’m working with Madison and Ashley. I’ve known these two people for a while now and each of them are very productive in their own ways We have worked together in previous projects before so I feel confident we will do good on this one as well.

             I am very excited into making this new project as me and my group have many great ideas we came up with that we could pitch. Not only that, I’ve always wanted to make a movie so this is close to making a movie as we have to make a 2 minutes opening of a movie of our own. A pitch is a Hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is encapsulated in 25 words or less within a few sentences. My group and I came up with three creative pitches. Our first pitch is a comedy genre. In this genre, we would start the opening with 3 split screens of each of the screen of us waking up and being clumsy and we would finish the scenes with a three-way call from each other to go on a road trip. Our next pitch is is a thriller genre. In this genre, we will have the a actor running to her car as she is being chased by another person in a car as someone is following her inside a car. This will leave the audience in complete confusion as they wonder why is the girl running and who is in the car. The last pitch would be a horror genre. In this movie opening, it would off at a yard sale where a actor purchases a doll from the yard sale and later that night, the doll starts to blink and move once the family’s is asleep. Those are the three pitch ideas that my group have came up with so far.