I think now is the right time to start the planning process. I have got what my plot is going to be and I know what the characters are. Now, the next step is to start the storyboard. I think this should help me when I film the movie, but honestly I am not too worried about actually filming the scenes, it is more about how to put together multiple shots and alternating shots as well as the right filters and music in the post-production process. I have only edited once before and that was also for this class and I did not get a good grade on that project either so I am not very confident in my editing skills going forward. That is more of a cross that bridge when I get there, for now I am going to focus on my next task at hand which is the planning.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Rough draft Storyboarding/Check-in
Friday, February 26, 2021
Group Discussion
In class, our teacher randomly sorted us into groups and told us to share our ideas about the project. We all discussed our projects and I got some good ideas about what other people are doing and I plan on using that for my film. I thought that the meeting was helpful and in the future when I develop my project, they will be even more helpful. Even thought everyone else did different genres, I found things to inculcate in my own opening. I was struggling a little bit on how to shoot my kidnapping scene, but I figured it out after the group discussion.
The first most important thing I was told to do had to do with the camera shots. I told them my plot for my opening where someone gets kidnapped and their briefcase containing important stuff is stolen. The people in my group told me that the best way to capture the scene would be through close up shots instead of wide shots. The close shots I am thinking about are a close shot of the briefcase to signal to the audience that it is important to the movie. Another close shot is the shot of the person being stuffed into the trunk of a car to properly set the tone of the film. In the process of the struggle between the person with the briefcase and the kidnapper, I will try to use alternating close shots because it will accurately show the kidnapping in a dramatic way.
The second thing I learned from our talk was the time when music was playing. One person said that for their entire opening there would be no dialogue and only music playing in the background. I am thinking about doing a similar thing for the kidnapping part of the opening, but I am not sure yet. I think I will end up doing something where the music is playing lightly in the background, but there is still volume of what is going on in the scene. I think a scream would help to set the tone, so putting music over that would be effective. However, a fast-paced beat in the back would help to raise people's adrenaline, so it is something I would want in the background of my opening.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Setting discussion
The setting for an action film is very important. Imagine if The Dark Knight took place in Carmel, California, the film would not hold as much weight. The setting contributes to the themes, mood and tone of a film. For my movie opening I need to find a setting that is fit for spy film. My opening is going to involve two parts. The first part will be someone with a briefcase getting kidnapped which would be one of the hooks of the opening as the audience would want to stay to find out what was in the briefcase and who did the kidnapping. The second part would be where a man gets a text from an unknown number about how his services are needed and then the opening would end. This would provide a second hook, where the audience would want to stay to find out who sent the text and who the person is receiving the text.
Monday, February 22, 2021
Preliminary plot/ sub genre conventions
I think I have settled on a sub genre for the movie opening I am creating. I will be creating a spy movie. I am anticipating that the movie opening will have the main character introduced and he is being told what his mission is. I am going to have to find the proper tools to do that and I have yet to determine whether this spy mission is part of the government or an independent one. I also need to determine the setting of the mission.
Spy movie conventions
A spy movie usually has a main character who has to accomplish an objective like shutting off a bomb or rescuing a person while having to deal with the villain who is trying to catch and kill the spy. The main character has to usually have a scene where they sneak around, but since I am only doing an opening I do not have to worry about that. Spy movies have to same concepts as action movies in the sense of good vs bad and the villain is usually some evil country or corporation.
Friday, February 19, 2021
Action Character types
There are many types of characters in an action film. However, because I am simply doing a movie opening I will only explore specific types of characters that might be used in my movie opening. A character type is the mold a character fits in and what his likely responsibility is in the movie and his role in the movie. Specific character molds are present in most movies, but like I stated above I am only exploring characters that I might use in a movie opening.
The first type of character type is The Hero. The Hero is the protagonist of the film and has the responsibility of fighting the villain. The villain can come in many different shapes or forms. It could be a natural occurring thing like an earthquake or an animal like a shark or it could another human. The Hero is the one most movies have a focus on and their story is the most important because that is the hook of the movie and a character you have to set up in a way that the audience will want to root for them throughout the movie. The Hero needs a good backstory and reasons why the audience should feel sympathy towards him.
Example
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Target Audience and Representation
The target audience of action movies are generally kids aged 15-40. This is because the younger generation is the one that typically likes the adrenaline rush they get from action movies. The target audience is very important when making a movie opening because you need to incorporate things that the target audience enjoys. In my case for action movies, the general target audience is 15-40, so I am going to need to create something that grabs the attention of people in that age group. Another sub-genre I was considering doing was Spy action film which also has a target audience of 15-40, so there are certain elements I need to incorporate to fit my audience. The most important adrenaline booster in action movies are stunts and action sequences like car chases, since I am doing a movie opening, I do not need to incorporate those major action sequences. I can use smaller action like a small fight or a gunshot, but more importantly I need to find a way to make an opening that shows that in the film there will be action sequences. The dialogue and camera shots in my film are going to have to hint at adrenaline boosting scenes further down in the film.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Action movie film openings
Action movies are movies where people are going in to watch expecting to be entertained. A good action movie opening must have something interesting right away, something that makes the viewer want to stay. There has to be some sort of plot, where the viewer is asking what happens next without giving away too much of the movie. Another essential part of an action movie opening is the fact that there does not have to action, the opening is setting up for the climax which is where all the action should be. The opening should merely set up the action not necessarily include it. This is perfect for me, because I can create an opening that does not need action which I can do even with my limited capabilities. Another essential part of an opening is to introduce the main character and make the audience want to find out what happens to him and root for him, otherwise they will get disinterested from the start.
Examples
Monday, February 15, 2021
Action introductory research
At this point, I have decided I want to do some sort of action movie. It took me a lot of deliberation but after running through some basic plots I decided given the circumstances, an action movie would be the best way for me to move forward. Action is a very encompassing genre with many sub genres like sci-fi, superhero, spy, martial arts, disaster and many more. Obviously given the circumstances as well as the resources on hand any movie involving superhero's or sci-fi is likely ruled out. As of right now I think a movie opening to a spy action film would be best or a combination of a spy and buddy cop action film. The first step is to research.
In general action films are films that are usually very fast-paced, high energy and have many stunts. This comes into play usually in the thick of the plot of an action film, so I do not really have to worry about stunts since I am doing a film opening where I am most likely going to only be introducing the conflict. The fast-paced movie is meant to stimulate the senses of an audience and boost their adrenaline.
OVERVIEW
As stated before, action movies are very encompassing so this leads to the fact that the genre can have many different types of plots and conflicts. Usually their are five plots in action movies: Escape, assassination, revenge, oppression and kidnap. An escape movie plot is usually where a main character is trapped in some sort of location and has to break free like in Die Hard. An assassination plot where the main character has to track down the villain and kill or capture him like in Hitman. A revenge plot is where something happens in the main character early in the film like their loved one is killed or kidnapped and they spend the rest of the movie trying to get back at that person who caused their pain like in John Wick. An oppression plot is where a group of people is under the rule of more powerful people and they have to fight to escape that rule like in Avatar. A kidnapping plot is when either the main character is kidnapped or someone they know is kidnapped and they have to either escape being kidnapped or they have to save the person who has kidnapped like in Taken. The most important thing for me is to pick a plot that allows me to be creative and create something I like while also within the limits of my capabilities and the extra limits set by COVID.
The most common aspect of all action movie plots is the necessity for very fast-paced scenes that boosts adrenaline. These scenes are very important and to create them directors and their crew use many techniques to achieve this. Without these techniques, an action movie would not be successful and would not be a good product. When I create my film opening I will focus on using these techniques to create my film.
The editing in action movies is unique and is one of the major reasons why action movies seem so fast-paced. Firstly, during a fight scene or car chase, there are usually many cuts that are quick and show different angles of the conflict occurring. These quick cuts helps to further encapsulate the chaos that is going on. This helps to build-up excitement and tension during the fight which boosts adrenaline. Speed ramping which is when shots are sped up or slowed down is also another technique used that builds up tension and excitement.
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Genre preliminary discussion
This is the first post of my project. I have already run into my first issue of choosing a genre for my film opening. Obviously, just by virtue of being a high school student I am limited in my ability to make a movie opening, further complicating matters is the COVID situation. I have no siblings and the obviously due to COVID, I do not want to ask too many people for help with my filming, so I am going to need to fund a genre that not only uses limited amount of people, but also a limited setting because I do not want to go to many places. Right now, I am torn between an action movie and a horror movie. I feel like the opening for either of those movies can be limited to one or two settings and can be fit to accommodate fewer actors than other genre's might.
I think there are benefits to both. A horror movie would only need one setting and I can create an opening where whatever horror monster I come up with claims its first victim and the audience will be introduced to the horror movie. On the other end, with an action movie, I can set up the setting and also use a limited amount of characters and in the opening I introduce the main character as well as introduce the audience to some of the plot. I feel like Horror would involve less setting and actors, but would take more expertise to make so after I research I think I can come up with an apt decision.
Moreover, when deciding between these two genres I am going to have to consider is capability and the products I have. Is it possible for me to create an effective horror movie without the high tech instruments movie makers use? The same question goes for action movies too. The first thing I am going to do is research other low budget films and see which methods are plausible given the equipment I have. This will be the biggest deciding factor in me picking one genre over the other. Moreover, I will need to look around my town to see if there are any parks or streets where I can film in an atmosphere that would fit the plot of my movie. If I cannot find a dark and gloomy place, then maybe horror is not the way to go. It is an interesting question, but one I am looking forward to answering in the coming weeks through my research.
Friday, February 12, 2021
First Aice Media Project Post
This project is very unique even compared to any project we did in class. For starters, due to the fact that our class was online the whole time, I did not make any new friends or acquaintances with whom I could film with. I am going to have to do this project alone, which is different than any other project this year. Moreover, this project is a combination of all the projects we have done. We did a project where we had to create an entire atmosphere using only Foley sounds, something this movie opening is going to need to have. We also did a project creating a music video, which basically made us create an atmosphere without any character dialogue. This project in essence combines the two projects into one project, except this project is worth a lot more points.
I anticipate this project to take a lot of creativity and be much harder than any other project I have down. There are so many factors I need to consider and COVID makes it a little harder. I think that with enough research and being on schedule will give me a product that I like. I think that with enough planning an preparation I can make a piece I am happy with. The blog is also an interesting portion of this project that I have never did anything like before. I think it is good and will help me in the planning process.
The biggest thing I learned from the other projects we did in this class is the importance of planning and how much easier it makes the rest of the project. I normally did not plan in other classes and even after the first couple projects I did not plan. However, eventually after the first couple of projects I learned to plan and on the music video project, the shot list my group created helped immensely with the filming process. The biggest takeaway I took away from the projects we did in the class was the importance of planning and that is the one thing I want to inculcate in this project.
Friday, February 5, 2021
Music Marketing Blog Post #2
The project was very smooth in all stages. First before doing anything, we had to pick out a song. All the group members decided on Mountain at My Gates after listening to it. We all decided based on the assignment, the lyrics of the song would allow us to be most creative. Next up we had to research the marketing strategy of other bands or artists, so we picked 4 that were all in the rock genre. There were 8 total rows we had to fill, so each person was assigned 2 rows.
Next, we had to start the filming process. The most important process in filming is the planning. We first came up with a storyline and then within two class periods we discussed what shots were best for this storyline. We all chimed in and took the best ideas and made a document of shot lists. One member of our group who was the best artist used to shot list to come up with a storyboard which further helped to film the video.
Next we had to film the video. We decided it would be easiest if one person gathered everyone they were in contact with and filmed the video due to COVID. The video filming date was set, however the work of the PowerPoint was still left to be done. There were 5 requirements listed, so we each person got 1 requirement and one person got 2 requirements. We created a Google slides and everyone put down their requirements soon after. Their was some confusion on the first requirement and whether or not that referred to our band or case studies and after careful reading of the instructions around 10 times, we deemed it referred to case studies.
We all asked questions when needed and helped anyone who needed help. My aspect of the PowerPoint were the case studies and the samples. Everyone felt the best samples to do were social media account and merchandise, so I created new social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram and took screenshots to put on out PowerPoint. I used Wix to create the homepage of the band and used whatever pre made templates they had. The merch was made simply by pulling off a blank hoodie on Google and going to PowerPoint and pasting the logo our group made on top of it.
I learned a lot from this project. The first thing I learned was how to split a major media project in a way no one gets too stressed and this way ensures everything will go smoothly. I also learned how important planning is. The shot list and plot creation was very detailed which made it that much easier to film it. The planning of the PowerPoint also allowed everyone ample amounts of time to do their part. For the Cambridge Project, this is helpful because I will put more effort into the planning portion of the project instead of rushing into creation like I normally do for other subjects. Also, I learned that the less I procrastinate, the easier the project will be in the long run. Since, our group finished the planning and the division of work so quickly, I was able to space out my time spent on the project which made it less difficult and stressful.
Movie Opening post
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