Audience and Institutions Essay

4.) Discuss the impact of funding on media products.

Nowadays mass media seems to aim towards one goal, profit. Whether that be blockbuster movies, youtube videos, or the news. Media is heavily reliant on ad revenue, private backers, and audience reception; all of which dictate how much money that product will gross. All types of media are seen as an investment, stakeholders invest their money and trust the production to make back on their contributions, and more. The effect of this relationship has affected the actual media product itself, leaning towards the interest of the stakeholders.

An introductory example would be the fourth installment of Hasbro’s franchise’: Transformers the Age of Extinction. This movie cost around $210 million dollars and grossed a total of $1.104 billion dollars. The reality is that $800 million of that came from overseas, with the majority coming from China. It’s quite interesting that a solid chunk of their profit came from one country. This is because the movie was orientated towards the Chinese market. Basically the second half of the movie takes place in Hong Kong and is the prominent backdrop for the action sequences. Scenes where it apparently has no value to the story rather than to promote Chinese brands and celebrities is rampant. China has recently had an economic boom like we’ve never seen before and with the government slightly loosening their grip on businesses, there's opportunity for profit.  With that comes a new new untapped market that the studio can profit from.

The hotly debated topic of media and its authenticity is prevalent these days. However, it is important to note the interests that are leaning and dividing platforms left and right. Most local national and local news organizations rely on non public funds to run their platform. These backers have their own agendas and push their beliefs onto these organizations where they then distribute that information to the masses; resulting in the lack of bi-partisan journalism. It’s well known that the more people you have watching, the larger the audience to profit from. The added urgency to accumulate as large of an audience base as possible leads to polarizing and simply disingenuous news articles and headlines. In the age of the internet of things, news companies feel the need to be the first to release breaking news. This can lead to objectively false or unverified information permeating the news cycle. A systematic effect of how news media outlets are financed in the status quo. 

Youtube is another platform that has been affected by how the organization is funded. Youtube creators make their money from ad revenue that Youtube establishes by making deals with other corporations seeking to insert their ads on the site. With Youtube being the second most viewed site on the internet and boasting around 2 billion users, it’s understandable why corporations want to advertise to that audience base. The issues arise when corporations start to pull their ads from certain creator’s  videos that they deemed inappropriate and not following their company's persona. Youtube has wholeheartedly backed their stakeholders whether their claims were justified or not in an attempt to save their revenue stream. In response, Youtube enacted strict guidelines to what can and cannot be posted and set an algorithm to prioritize the content they deem fit. Effectively, many Youtubers have been demonetised and their channels flagged for insignificant breaches of Youtube's absurd content policy.  Numerous content creators have criticized Youtube’s ad policy and how it’s disabling their audience from watching videos that they’ve subscribed to. 

As I reiterate, the way media is funded undoubtedly affects the content they produce. Unlike publicly funded institutions like PBS or the BBC, the majority of mass media products are funded by private means. The media companies effectively give up their autonomy and follow guidelines set by their shareholders for the fear of losing funding. It’s up to the individual media organization to find the balance of abiding to investors, and creating genuine content that they want to exhibit to the world. 

TEA Extract Essay: Game of Thrones

This is the practice essay I did for the extract of Game of Thrones

Watching the Game of Thrones extract I gained the sense that the director was trying to build suspense throughout those scenes. I am a Game of Thrones fan and finished the Game of Thrones series so I had extensive knowledge of the lore in the show. Since I’ve watched the show I know that the product is drama, a long drawn thriller meant to put the audience on the edge of their seats wanting to see what happens next. Hence, the purpose of each scene is meant to further the story through suspenseful narrative. In this extract, the director aimed to build suspense through camera shots, movement, editing and sound to further the narrative. 

The first scene is an aerial shot of a ship moving across the ocean with diegetic sounds of birds and the waves crashing. This establishing shot sets our characters as somewhere far away, they’re traveling to a place that far away. The scene then cuts to a two shot of our protagonist with a determined look on their face as they approach their destination. The camera zooms into an eye-line of the two characters as the scene zooms outwards, and pans to reveal a giant statue set above them as they enter the harbor. The camera goes into a wide shot and further zooms out revealing how minature the boat is compared to the statue and the city. Supporting this feeling of grandeur is the score in the background invoking the sense anticipation for what’s about to come.

After the establishing scenes, we move to the two protagonists waiting inside the bank in which they have a meeting. The camera shows a medium two shot of the characters with Stannis Baretheon pacing around while sir Davos is standing still. The shot then jump cuts to a wide shot of the two men alone in the gigantic room. A shot reverse shot is seen in this moment of conversation between the two men as the camera shifts to show when each man is talking. Sir Davos is trying to by time by small talking but a reaction shot of Stannis’s piercing stare silences him.  During this time there is an observable lack of sound in the room, only diegetic noise; this is meant to heighten the anticipation of the scene. 

Suddenly in the midst of waiting, a group of bankers appear as a tracking shot follows them to their seats. Most of the shots from here on are made up of wide shots and medium close ups to show when one is talking. Cross cutting is often used in this scene between the protagonist and the bankers as both are awkwardly staring at each other while making conversation. The continual cross cutting and shot reverse shots is overlapped by Stannis’ failed attempt at convincing the council to fund his usurpation. It comes down to sort of ex machina where Sir Davos gives a persuasive speech to convince the council to think otherwise. Along with this filibuster, are quick camera cuts to the dialogue of Davos and the council, to close up of Stannis’ face staring at nothing with the backdrop of Davos and the council faded in the back. 

In general, the aim of the directors in these scenes, as I reiterate, is to lead the audience on a suspful trail towards confrontation where the protagonists have to find a solution for.

TEA Extract: Game of Thrones

This was apart of a practice extract I did for Game of Thrones in preparation for the AICE paper component.

Film Final

CCR

This is our critical reflection video. Since Covid-19 has quarantined us in our respective houses we relied on filming on our cellphones from home. We each did a question from the CCR except for Preace as he had internet issues. Dividing up the work made this component much easier than doing all four different CCRs for each person. Also contributing ideas flowed between the group to help us answer the questions to a better ability.

Mid-Term Music Video

We did our Mid-Term music video project on the Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis song 'Thrift Shop'. When assigned this music video project we knew immediately that this was the song we're going to do since we've discussed this previously. Going into the project, we knew that we had to find a proper setting to conduct our shoot. My partner Preace said he knew a little thrift shop that we could visit and ask to film since it fit the aesthetic of the quaint thrift shop. We asked the shop owner if we could use his store as the set and surprisingly he agreed. Actually we had to locations we filmed at: the local thrift and a Goodwill, we didn't ask permission to film there more like we starting filming and they didn't really say anything. 

Commercial

This is my AICE Media commercial me and my partner did for Gatorade. This was our first project of the year and we could choose which brands we made a commercial for and we choose Gatorade since we knew the formula for Gatorade commercials quiet well and could replicate it effectively. The normal conventions for sports drinks focus on showing the audience how the product improves performance. We aimed to do just that by showing the improved performance. Since this was our first project, we were just starting out how to use effective camera angles and edit the footage. Alas as time went on, we got better at all things film related.

Production Halted

As many of you know, the recent Covid-19 outbreak has stopped numerous activities and disturbed daily schedules. Not only has the virus recently intruded into the state of Florida, but school has been suspended for a week. Now public health officials are cautioning us to not catch and spread the disease by social distancing. Social distancing is the term used to describe the process of lessening  the contagion possibility by keeping humans home and as far away from each other as possible. This process is aimed to slow down the infection rate and allow our healthcare system to adequately care for those suffering from critical to severe Corona symptoms. Due to this, filming, editing, and meeting up as a group has been difficult as going outside of one's home is only meant for a must-need basis. Prior to the shutdown due to the virus, we had planned to re-shoot some scene coming off from the peer review we had done weeks back. In some scenes, especially the two shot car ones, the lighting was not the best and we wanted to fix that by scheduling another filming day. Instead, schools suspended for god knows how long, and we are advised to self quarantine. In reality, the best thing we can do from home is try to reedit the footage from home. Trying to sharpen the cuts and transitions is a must. Designing better title cards is another aspect we can work on. All in all, these past couple of weeks have been a hassle and a drain on productivity. We hope that this pandemic blows over or at least we're able to mitigate and contain it in the states so that normal daily life can continue.

Filming Blog: Reshoots

For today’s blog I will be detailing what we did after our last blog, the peer review. Initially going into the peer review and submitting our product for viewing, we knew that it was not the best or to say, final version of our film. We really wanted to reshoot some scenes to get better quality ones. When the other group looked at our film, they also noticed some minor issues in our film. For example:

Just.a snapshot of the car crash scene above reveals some issues. First, interior light in the car is quite an eye sore in the scene. The brightness of the light not only takes away attention from what’s going on in the scene, but is also desaturating the focus of the camera. Another aspect that we would like to improve in our scenes is the acting or more specifically the line composition and delivery. We found that the dialogue of the film could be better if we would have prepared more and written an in-depth script to memorize off from. This is not a huge flaw since acting isn’t that important to the quality of the final product, in this type of film, but more fluid dialogue would only improve the film. We plan to continue our reshoots. For now, we’ve been talking about how we could can our music selection for the film. However, that’s for the next blog.

Filming Blog: Peer Review

Earlier this week we were instructed that we'll be peer reviewing another groups project. The template (shown below) was meant for us to jot down how the other groups project is turning out. We had to make sure that their film followed the basic criteria for the project and also added in constructive comments on how we thought of the film and if there could be any improvements. The initial viewing of the other groups project left us quite confused. Like many other student films, including ours, the filming technicality is there but the plot is not always so vivid. A first impression of the other groups film gave off the idea that a girl with premonitions of a grim future, tries to prevent that from becoming reality. At first we didn't really understand the premise. It seemed a little convoluted. However, after watching the film a couple of times and conversing with the other group we understood it. We suggested that they re-edit their film since the quick edits and seemingly non-sequential, or rather confusing cuts, made the film convoluted. Despite that, they most of the criteria for the film. They used proper lighting, varying camera angles, and executed the title slides properly.    

Filming Blog: Progress

We haven’t been able to film anymore than we did earlier this week due to schedule constraints. I have to go to work, so does Nyaria and Katie has practice throughout the weekday. We did however, goes over the shots we captured during our initial shoot. After looking through my cameras playback function, I found that we took a lot of takes and most of the shots we had were bloopers. It really shows how much work and refining is needed for a final product. Some of the funniest bloopers were from the murder scene where the “killing” shot took multiple takes due to us laughing. In spite of the craziness, we compiled a shared google drive and file on a USB to save our work. I remember my previous project with Preace, we couldn’t email the footage to each other because it was too large, so we uploaded it to a google drive. We plan to continue filming this weekend. My partners should be free and ready to film this weekend as our deadline is coming fast. One of our peer editing deadlines is due later next week, and we want to finish before that time. Filming may be the most difficult part to plan due to availability, but editing may take up the most of our time. Well, let’s see how filming goes this weekend, until next time.

Filming Blog: Day 1

Today we finally filmed!  After almost a week of delays we finally got some of our initial shots. We had arraigned to meet up at Nyaria's house after school to film. We choose her house because she a dinning table needed for our date scenes. I had driven my other partner, Preace to her house and when we got there, my partner Katie had brought an unexpected guess, Lucas. Lucas was a kid Katie would drop off from school daily and he tagged along to help and watch us film. Previously, the girls had already planned their outfits while I just simple changed into a dress shirt, very simple. Nyaria however, had to go to work at six, an essential time for our body bag dragging scene as it was nearing sundown. To compensate, we decided to do some of the scenes instead like the date scenes. The actual filming was pretty fun as we had a good time, laughed and shared ideas to make the scenes even better than planned. I remember setting up the camera on a tripod at just the right angle so both parties were shown in the two shot. The funny thing its that we never really delved deep into the specific dialogue for our film. We knew the general message we were trying to invoke, but it turns out that precise dialogue is preferred so we know specifically what to say. It turned out great though as the lines seemed to have came out of us smoothly. A shot that was rather well choreographed was an over the shoulder, following shot that I might say, was pretty well shot as it turned out stable.We ended up wrapping up our date scene but we knew we still had much more left to film. It was nearing 5:40pm when we finished filming, just in time for Nyaria to go to work. So, we wrapped up the shoot, gathered our cameras, tripods, and etc and headed home, waiting for the next filming day.

   

Nyaria on the left, Katie in the middle, and Preace slumped over as apart of a scene.

Filming Blog: Bad Weather

Due to bad Floridian weather, we did not end up filming this past week. We had planned to film our initial scenes this weekend but torrential rain ruined our plans. Even though we did not film we had ample time to further plan and gather our resources. The unexpected rain could have been a setback, but actually it gave us valuable time to compile our costumes, props, and finalize our scripts. We will take this time to plan out our project more. Some of the key props we need includes: fake knife, string, fake blood, etc... The customers we have planned consists of everyday outfits and street wear except for one scene where we have to dress like we’re going on a date. An issue that we had talked about dealing with our projects stems from who’s car are we going to use for the interior car scenes. We made sure that we would film the car scenes in the safest way possible and limit moving shots whilst in the car. Eventually, we decided on using Katie’s car since it’s a Benz and would look much more prestige than my Toyota. Sadly we couldn’t film this past weekend, but the setback allowed us to refine our production more. We are excited to film this coming weekend though as the weather seems to be clear and we hope to get as much video content as we can. I will be posting more updates on our project as we go along.

The view of the weather this past weekend, it’s started to pour soon after this photo was taken.

Storyboard for Final Project

Today we finalized our storyboard for our final project. Since nobody is that good of a drawer, Katie did all of the drawings as she drew the best. We did help her with the captioning and ideas though. The storyboard ended up being ten sheets of draft paper and encompassing 56 shots. Uploading those pictures to our blog was difficult since the pictures would format weirdly or be oriented the wrong way in the blog. To elevate that problem, we just placed the scenes into a slideshow and uploaded that; just like our planning blogs from before. The next step in our project is actual filming and we have some filming days scheduled already, let's hope we make the most of our time and get the shots we need. 

Planning Blog: Title Design

This is the second blog I will be uploading tonight. The title design is essential to the whole aesthetic of the film. In every movie I have seen, the opening title sequence is always done in a way that intrigues the audience. The opening scene and the titles associated provide clues into the story or theme of the film. Doing the slides in the blog is a team effort. We all contribute to the slides and the information in the slides. Again, uploading the slide to the blog is always the same, copy link and upload, the process has become quiet repetitive.

Planning Blog: Logistics

The production of a film takes a lot of time and coordination. That is why it is essential that a team must establishes a plan and schedule for pre-production, production, and post-production. Creating a slide to show our logistics as planning is beneficial for our organization and it easily compresses the information for not only us, but the grader as well. Implanting the slide into my blog is quiet easy as I have done it before and it adds an added factor into our blogs.

 

Planning Blog: Sound Script

Below is my groups slideshow for our sound and dialogue script. It turns out that writing dialogue that makes sense and is not cheesy is quiet hard to do. Every line has to have a purpose to the storytelling, as the movie is only 2 minutes long. Matching non-diegetic sound to the actions that are occurring in the scene was also a lengthy process. Never mind the technology and SFX impediments, adding sound that is viable to the storytelling is essential. Finding the right score, or 'soundtrack' to our film was also important. To fit the mood of a murder thriller, we wanted music that had an ominous tone to it, but interlaced that with a peppy, montage-like score for the murder crosscuts.

 

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

Above is the google slide presentation of our shooting script for our final movie project. After we slide was finished, I went over some notes on how to embed the slide into my blog. Since prior attempts to insert slides into Blogger failed, this new approach finally work and was a relief since now we do not have to screenshot every slide card and upload it. Working on the slide was not that hard since it was a collaborative effort.

Title Research: Dr. No

The final movie titled sequence I watched was Dr. No.

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 28 titles in this title sequence.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
Images prioritized are the image of a gun barrel, old technology light board, and silhouettes if people dancing.

What connotations do the images carry?
The images give a connotation of suspense and danger with the many images of a gun barrel scoping the target. The blinking lights make the movie seem very technologically advanced.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
Genre is reinforced through suspense with graphics of guns and dark backgrounds making it suspicious. This leaves the main character seeming to have a darker backstory.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
 The circles moving towards the right in the beginning are a subliminal message of a scope going across the screen preparing to shoot at James Bond.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
This title sequence entices the audience with its bright colors on the dark contrasting screen. They make the technology look new and exciting to appeal to a younger adult audience.

How has technology been used effectively?

Technology was quite effective in making this title sequence. They were fond of animated graphics then fade into the real people at the end. The director uses a POV shot with the barrel of the gun looking at James Bond. The entire theme was also scored with a unique theme.

Title Research: Charlie's Angel

The next movie title sequence I watched was Charlie's Angels.

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were 23 titles in this title sequence.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The image of a woman's silhouette is emphasized in orange tones. In addition, the sneaking around and danger aspects of spying are also shown in clips along with others that are more comical.

What connotations do the images carry?
These images make a connection that these three girls have a bond like no other when they fight crime.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
Genre is reinforced through the fight scenes and the teamwork portrayed in brief clips between intense graphic changes of bright orange and red.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
An enigma is created with the orange printed dividers that create movement towards the clips inserted towards the side.


What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
They use young actors and silly clips to help engage a young adult audience.


How has technology been used effectively?

Technology was definitely effectively used to edit and make this sequence engaging. Editing consisted of inserts and innovative mix of graphic and video clips. There was also a full song scoring the title sequence. Camera shots were tracking shots to show movement and medium close ups to show off certain actors.

Title Research: Se7en

The second title sequence I watched was Se7en.

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 27 title sequences in this movie.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
Images shown in this opening scene are of dead bodies, police reports, scattered newspaper articles and a razor blade.

What connotations do the images carry?
The images give the impression that this movie is going to be a bleak, psychological thriller that probably focuses on a murderer as evidenced by the police reports, classified dossiers, and pictures of corpses flashed around the title sequence.   

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
This genre of thriller, especially a murder mystery thriller, the notion that the serial killer is multiple steps ahead and always eluding the authorities is a common motif in these type of movies. It seems that every image that flashed before the screen has a symbolic meaning to it. The sequence where a person seems to be weaving a bunch of papers together with a needle, seems to be a calling card of the murderer.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
To show the narrative of this movie, the title sequence sprinkles in clues and evidence from the supposed murder case. In doing so, just the opening sequence tells a story, the background to what’s going to happen in the movie.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
Presumably, those who watch this movie are fans of thriller/mystery movies. To catch the audience’s attention, the title sequence depicts gruesome murders, interwoven between shots of someone cutting out newspapers and conducting research on the murders. This aesthetic of a grimy, ambiguous setting for the movie, intrigues the audience into watching.

How has technology been used effectively?
The editing in this title sequence consists of purposefully choppy edits; almost like a T.V losing signal effect in its transitions. The names of producers, actors, and staff are shown in creepy lettering and flashed before to the screen as to invoke an uneasiness. The whole sequence as a whole emotes the feeling of fright. 

Title Research: Hostage

The first movie title sequence I watched was from the movie ‘Hostage’.

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
 There are 29 titles in the sequence.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

Pictures of heavily armed police and swat members surrounding the house are shown in cartoon style black and white still frames as accents of red are in the background and bleeds into some objects for detail or importance.

What connotations do the images carry?

The images presented in the sequence imply the notion of high stakes. Just from the images alone, one can tell that the police are moving into action and something is causing this disturbance. The title ‘Hostage’ is well complemented by this title sequence as it shows a hostage situation taking place.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre of Hostage, which is a Drama/thriller, is expertly conventionalized through the black and white filter placed on the title sequence as accents of red slip in to provide depth. Images of swat teams lining up at a door and snipers posted up throughout a block gives off a sense of suspense to what would happen next.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The film establishes an enigma by using a transition that goes from the still framed black and white to the actual start of the movie. Anyone watching the title sequence will be intrigued to what happens next. Does the hostage get away? Does the swat team successfully infiltrate the house with the kidnapper? The answers to these questions are answered in the movie, but the title sequence catches the audience's attention and tries to hold it.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

To keep the audience interested in the movie, the opening scenes have to build suspense. They cannot reveal too much of the plot to the audience, but they still have to earn their attention.

How has technology been used effectively?

The title consisted of animated still shots of buildings, police and the house that they’re surrounding. There are a lot of pan shots that move up to display the title content on the actual buildings. Zoom ins and dutch angled pans are used to display the producers, actors, editors, and etc. Fades are used to transition from frame to frame showing the audience how the swat members are set up waiting for breach and entry into the house where the hostage is held.

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

Continuing my title research, I went on the site www.watchthetitles.com to further analyze title sequences from professional films. The site looks like this:

This website seems a little bit better designed and flows better than the previous site I visited, Artofthetitle. The transitions effects on the main page videos are quiet impressive and displays a variety of film genres. Another aspect that I noticed that was different about this website than the prior one was it had interviews with the designers and producers of the movie they were in. I just found that to be an added value towards the website. In general, this serves as a simplistic view of different movie title sequences and I will be using both websites thoroughly to conduct research on them in relation to my final project.

Title Research Art of the Title Website

I had done research on how films make their title scenes and how they place importance and display information through the title sequence. I first looked at the website www.artofthetitle.com to find title sequences to analyze.

This is what the website looks like and first impressions of it looks pretty decently made. The URL is a secured connection so that's a comforting sign as I won't get any viruses. Just taking a look at the homepage, I can see numerous media titles that they have the title sequences under. Also, you can choose what genre of titles sequences you want and different designers of those titles. Using the website was fairly easy as you just click on a video and it plays, much like YouTube. What I'm really surprised about the variety of title sequences they have. not only do they have the blockbuster movie title sequences, but they have indie, and short film titles too. Overall, this website is useful for looking at the different styles of title sequences that film studios use to sell their movie to the audience. 

Genre Research: Get Out

Get Out

CAMS: This movie is very visually stimulating. They characterize the main character, Chris as a very visual person. They use this to film the rest of the movie as Chris’ ability to observe and see is found to be quite important. Close-up and extreme close-up shots of his eyes tell a lot about the situational drama. Get Out also featured wide shots of the terrain to highlight the “plantation” feel of his girlfriend’s house as it relates to racial tension and unbalance. Flash pans create much of the drama when it comes to the horror aspects of the film.

CLAMPS: The costumes in this movie held a significance in illustrating racial imbalance. Costumes seemed to be normal clothes for most people but the black “workers” at the house seemed to be dressed in clothes that resemble what they might’ve worn in the slavery time period of America. Makeup was kept simple other than some special effects to make Chris’ eyes red watery and in pure terror. The actors needed for this movie needed to be able to show a lot of emotion through facial expression as that’s how the characters were seen developing. Props included travel items (for their road trip) and other household items. The scene was a modern “plantation” home that featured fields.

Common Sound: One of the more pivotal scenes is when Chris is hypnotized. Missy’s voice drones through part voice over as you see Chris in cold fear. Dialogue is also very prevalent in this film as Chris tries to figure what to listen to as he’s in such a strange “frozen in time” place. Lastly, this movie has some significant scoring that helps to introduce characters and their backgrounds.

Common Editing: Editing in this movie made the audience feel suspense and fear. These action parts were cut very fast together with short clips to make it seem as if you didn’t know what was coming next.

Elements of a Thriller: This film was definitely more than a horror film, in fact it was a thriller. This movie not only scared you but, it also made the audience think ethically about racial injustice and then illustrated that injustice with creepy characters and historical setting.

Positives:  I enjoyed the complexity of the plot in this movie because it was not only frightening but challenged your brain too. The director didn’t take the easy way with a “monster” but took a concept and made that more frightening than ever before.

Negatives:  I didn’t like some of the random “scary things” that occurred that didn’t align itself with the racial dilemma that the characters are experiencing. (The deer running in front of the car out of nowhere.)

Genre Research: A Fall From Grace

A Fall From Grace

CAMS: The premise of this movie is  to get a woman who was viewed as guilty of a crime, with overwhelming evidence against her , to be seen as innocent. So much that the woman who was accused of the crime ,at first, wanted to confess about the crime, and  plea guilty for the deal of a lesser punishment. The camera angles, or rather the camera work in general, isn’t anything special, and the quality of the film could honestly be better. The film looks like, based on the quality, a YouTube video rather than a film. There are a few establishing shots, eye-line matches though, but overall, one can   see the overwhelming low quality for a film at this caliber. 

CLAMPS: The Costumes were basic clothing , normal everyday people would wear; nothing that stood out, same goes for the characters in the film, except for one who seemed to be a little psychotic. The lighting was for the most part the same throughout the movie, even when  there where darker parts, like when it became night time, overall no significant lighting effects, apart from this one scene where fireflies were edited in; which, goes hand in hand with the acting. In this particular scene the second main character, was supposed to act as if the fireflies were around them, and that they were grabbing one which did not look believable. The acting as a whole seemed forced, and unnatural  in some scenes, where you could tell the actors were not good at presenting certain emotions. Also, there was a background character who made their pretend eating to noticeable. Furthermore, there was no makeup that seemed out of the ordinary. the only makeup that was seen was what normal women would wear to “enhance” their looks in the real world, and (in the movie) it was most likely used to make one of the characters look a certain way , as they went from a beautiful woman , to a prisoner. The props in the movie were mainly items one would expect to see in a certain area, or on a person, for example, the 2nd main character wearing handcuffs in jail, and her husband who was a photographer that would have a camera with them. The scenery, was almost  ALWAYS, constricted, and felt as if there was no freedom to roam, like a play. For more than half of the movie, they were always in a small room , or building.

Sound:  The sound in this movie played a big role and eased the lack of essence in the characters/ actors. The non-diegetic sound, which was music, helped set the tone, or mood for certain scenes, and at some points saved certain scenes, like when Shanon/ Maurice acts angrily towards his wife Grace, though he does a good job of acting tender or friendly, which was amplified by the non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound was incorporated into the non diegetic to try and make things suspenseful; which, this movie did not execute well for the first hour.

Editing: The editing was honestly average to subpar, and looked low quality, along some frequent parts in the movie. The cuts, sound bridges , and things of the like were okay, Though when it came to special effects, like the firefly scene with Grace and Shanon/Maurice, it did not look like professional work, though it could be due to a low budget.

Elements of Genre: Elements of the thriller genre mainly focus on building suspense. The wonder of “what happens next” to a character keeps the audience hooked on the story. To effectively have thriller, the audience must have to know a possible end goal of what the protagonist is journeying up towards. The addition of time sensitivity helps push the pace and anticipation of the film. Finally, the story must progress in difficulty for the protagonist. Increase antagonistic forces must be presented for the audience to stay intrigued in the plot. 

Positives: 

• The movie’s message resonated with a lot of women, and could be used as a sort of, source of empowerment.

Negatives: 

• The acting felt unnatural at times
• Some effects were low quality
• The scenery changed frequently, though felt like being in a box.
• The plot was predictable.
• This movie takes way too long to get interesting.
• A fall from Grace, did not do a very good job of portraying a Thriller.

Genre Research: Parasite

Parasite

CAMS: The premise of the movie is to highlight class diversity. The director, Bong Joon-Ho, marvelously uses different camera angles and shots to create a splitting camera composition. The poor Kim family is shown to be consistently lower in camera angles, than the rich Park family. Establishing shots of the Kim family show them living in destitute and the direction further embraces the poverty by showing the Kim family through shaky flash pans and distorted camera compositions.On the other hand, the rich Park family is shown through wide angles, to display their wealth, and elegant transitions whenever their scenes shift. Shot, reverse, shots are also prevalent and used to parallel the two families’ socio-economic class. In dialogue, the Park family is almost always shown in low angle to give the sense of superiority to the audience and other characters in the film.

CLAMPS: The costumes for this movie is fairly basic. The characters wear regular, age appropriate clothing and give off the perfect suburban city vibe. Obviously, the park family dresses in more expensive clothing than the Kim family, whose clothes are slightly ragged. Lighting in this movie is discriminatory, here’s why. The Kim family is portrayed to be living in the slums of South Korea, so the lighting has a hue of mustard yellow to truly encapsulate the dirty and mangy environment they live in. The Park family, however lives in a mansion who lighting directly deifies the Park family. The actors in this movie are all Korean and the movie is subtitled in Korean and directed by a Korean director. All in all, the acting in this movie is pretty spot on as the characters perfectly embody their character’s quirks and social normalities. No absurd amount of makeup is used unless it is used for blood or damage effects. Props in the movie mainly shows the wealth and poverty of the two families. The Park family’s porcelain and Range Rover are used to show their immense wealth, whereas the Kim family uses disposable and fairly second hand items and eat junk food. Scenery in the movie is the most impressive when displaying the Park family mansion. All the extravagant items and architecture accurately presents what the 1% would own. The Kim family, however, lives in a basement in direct line to fumigation, floods, and drunk urinators, all of which are used to paint the decrepit environment of the Kim’s.

Sound: The non-diegetic sound used in this movie are mainly eerie. In one scene where the Kim family discovers a couple living in the Park family basement, the scene is blanketed with anticipatory music before the reveal of the couple. In chase scenes, the score is upbeat and meant to parallel the distress the characters are feeling, with the audience. As for diegetic sound, it is interlaced with non-diegetic to further build the suspense of the scene. Sound is also essential in the story telling of this movie and events are preceded by a confirmatory sound effect.

Editing: The editing in this film primarily is meant to show the class division of the two families. There are parallel shots of the two families essentially doing the same things, but split in between to further emphasize the divide. Not until the two families converge, does the shots begin to distort as the two’s polarity starts to clash and is shown by frantic cuts and dramatic zoom ins.

Elements of the genre: Elements of the thriller genre mainly focus on building suspense. The wonder of “what happens next” to a character keeps the audience hooked on the story. To effectively have thriller, the audience must have to know a possible end goal of what the protagonist is journeying up towards. The addition of time sensitivity helps push the pace and anticipation of the film. Finally, the story must progress in difficulty for the protagonist. Increase antagonistic forces must be presented for the audience to stay intrigued in the plot.

Positives:

• The movie had an extremely interesting plot and theme of class diversity.
• The cast was completely Korean and this is good for international cinema.
• Almost all the scenes have symbolic meaning to them.
• Acting was convincing and moving.
• Structure of the story progression was unique.
• The ending was truly impressive.

Negatives: 

• No real negatives except that one needs to understand Korean or read subtitles to understand the movie.       

Genre Research: Bird Box

Bird Box

CAMS: The movie features many pans to show scenery. Bird Box also likes to use close-ups and extreme close-ups to show the morphing of the character's eyes when they see the "monster". This movie also uses wide shots to show the aftermath of the "monster" hitting initially. Then it is followed by low angles to show bodies on the ground and how lifeless the scene is after disaster hits. Medium close-ups and close-ups are used to show reaction, especially fear. Throughout the film, they use a POV shot where the camera is covered with a blindfold. Over the shoulder, shots were also prevalent throughout to show vulnerable conversations between people. Lastly, throughout the film, they cut back to the river with an aerial shot to show how long the journey is on the river.

CLAMPS: Costumes are normal everyday clothing but some people are highlighted in a more blue-toned outfit to show the significance of their characters. Lighting is very bright because the outside is very important to highlight as it accounts for all the deaths in the movie. Actors are all very diverse with different personalities to show the end of the world unlikely opportunity that these people would ever meet. Makeup is very natural or in the later scenes they emphasize how dirty the people are from being out on their own for so long. Props include blindfolds as they hold a deep significance to the plot. Additionally, there are other normal survival props for the plight they face in the movie. The setting is barren California with some post-apocalyptic houses and other infrastructure.

Sound: This movie featured many examples of diegetic sound in outside scenes like wind, leaves rustling and water rushing down a river. Non-diegetic sounds are also featured like a whispering noise that is supposed to represent the presence of the "monster" in the film. In addition, birds chirping are also a significant part of the plot where if the birds go crazy with shrieks then the "monster" is present. The dialogue was used throughout this movie to illustrate the disagreements, pain, and spread of ideas in the midst of a disaster. 

Editing: Bird Box is full of many abrupt cuts between shots to add suspense and speed in scenes of action. This movie also features added text during the river shots to show how much time has passed. In the middle of the plot, they used a cross cut-in to show what's happening on the river and related activities in the past. Cut-aways show the build-up during the rapids scene. 

Elements of the genre:  This movie is considered a thriller because it displays scenes of action, drama, and fear. This movie shows characters to you and makes you close to them as they face the perils of this unknown "monster". Bird Box gives the audience a sense of uncertainty as the plot unfolds. There are aspects of terror and tension with certain scenes that are compensated by sweeter and more vulnerable scenes for character development.

Positives: I enjoyed this movie very much as I felt it was unconventionally quaint. As horrible as some of the scenes were with graphic tragedies the movie stilled ended with a happy and hopeful ending even though the main character truly went through it all and lost so much. I also enjoyed the cinematography of some of the shots with how beautiful they were. No shot was too over the top as it was simple but showed the truth to the characters shown. Finally, I enjoyed that they never showed the “monster” which added to its mystery and terror because you can never fully understand it’s capabilities.

Negatives: I did not enjoy some of the decisions the character's made in the plot as I felt they would've learned their lesson with some of the previous tragedies experienced. In the end, I feel that this was more of a personal issue and the directors added things like this to frustrate the audience in the spirit of a true Thriller. 

Final Sequence: Thriller

For our final project in AICE Media, our group decided our 2 minute intro to the film should be a thriller. The premise behind this is that thrillers are one of the easiest genres to film; production shouldn't cost much or be too difficult. In our prior blogs, we had chosen the pitch of Hit(Wo)men, a film about a two psychopathic girls who will go out of their way to protect each other, until tragedy strikes. Other pitches we had considered included romantic comedies and a horror film. However, in the end, we decided on the thriller but even that has some elements of a rom-com and horror in it too. In the end, we had figured a perfect blend of our pitches that collided into becoming Hit(Wo)men. 

Genre Research: Other Genres

Thriller

Camera angles, movements, and shots: High angles and birds eye shots are used to make the characters look vulnerable. Fast pans add suspense during action shots. POV shots can put you in the character's shoes as they go through their dilemma in the moment. Close-ups show emotion, vulnerability, and reactions of characters. 

Common costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, and scenery: Costumes usually fit the time period usually either present time or could be adapted based on location (ex. Space). Lighting is very contrasted. Some scenes may be shot with bright lighting to make sure the audience has a full understanding of everything that is happening or the scene while, other scenes may be casted in darker more moody lighting to add drama and suspense to the unknown, the situation, or the antagonist. Makeup is usually done pretty natural for characters. In addition, some scenes require special effects for injuries and gore illustrated on film. Props usually consist of  survival gear, new technology to defeat the antagonist, or everyday objects. The scenery is usually a type of post-apocalyptic abandoned scene. This can include empty houses, stores, shacks, etc. Actors are usually method actors, performers who can invoke a believable and emotional experience to the audience. Thrillers hinge on suspense, so the mis-en scene of the film has to focus on building anticipation.

Editing in Thrillers: All thriller films use fast and slow paced editing in their films. This is very good at creating suspense, tension and also conveying emotions and/or representing characters. Most commonly, thrillers use fast and slow paced editing specifically to create suspense and tension within a scene. Jump cuts for example, can be seen in the thriller genre due to their disorientating effect on a character or scene. Shot, reverse, shot is another editing technique used especially to show the audience something that the characters do not know. Another editing technique used is parallel editing; where the audience is shown what two characters are doing at the same time. One shot usually has an effect on the other in these type of shots. 

Elements of Genre: The main element of a thriller is suspense; putting the audience on edge through impactful storytelling. Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense as if one simply shows the audience a room full of people and it explodes, only shock is felt. However, when an audience is shown of a room full of people and a ticking time bomb is about to go off then,  suspense is built. Thrillers are meant to heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra- heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and even terror.

Examples of Films:

Get out, Ma, A Quiet Place, Glass, Parasite, Joker, Night crawler, Gone Girl, Bird Box.

Common Sound in Genre: Thrillers have eerie scores to direct the narrative of the story. The aim of the music is to keep the audience on their toes.  Silence is widely used to create tension to a certain scene. The non-diegetic music in thrillers is fairly repetitive, creating anxiety and agitation for the audience. Non-diegetic sound used to increase the tension and create a sense of pessimism, desperation and paranoia. Sound bridges are used to cut to another shot, without the action being interrupted, this is very important in a thriller as it allows the audience to still feel tension even when the action is no longer viewable. Finally, Dialogue is diegetic, and often the dialogue creates a very tense atmosphere.

Positives and Negatives of the Genre: 

Positives: 

• Suspense keeps the audience engaged.
• Eeriness of the genre is appreciated.
• Themes/story of this genre generally interesting.
• Uses a lot of camera angles and shots.
• Thrillers tend to be more story focused and not relying on sequels; story is self contained.
• Use of visuals and audio to invoke suspense.

Negatives:

• Genre not accepted by all, not as mainstream as action/adventure films.
• Story lines sometimes too complex, has to reveal all in a single movie.
• Actors have to be decent for the movie to have its effect. 

Horror

Lighting: Up lighting

• Silhouette- Shadows show movement of antagonist so the viewers imagination creates their worst fear.
• Spotlighting- Drawing attention to main focal point.
• Underexposure
• Prominent and projected shadows
• Shooting through objects and elements- Creates strange and irregular shadows.

Angles:  Bird eye (high angle): used to make the actor look vulnerable.

• Close up: used to see characters reactions
• Tracking shot: shows if a character is being watched or followed.
• Reversed shot: shows the consequences of a person's actions by using time.
• Long shot: used to establish the scene ( ex: how deserted a town is)
• Over the shoulder shot: Used to build suspension
• Reaction shot: To show fear after jump scare.
• POV shot: when character is running from antagonist.

Movement: Running from antagonist

• Choreographed fights (hand to hand and/or weapon use)
• Scared/surprised faces 
• Hysterical crying 
• Stunts (Jumping out of windows, dramatic deaths, vehicle chases)

Mis en scene:

• Sets with fog and dark lighting
• Strobe lights for added attack effects 
• Regular clothes costumes and set design to make things appear scarier because they are more realistic.
• Special FX makeup used to create realistic wounds and creatures
• Shooting Locations appear to be isolated and rural.

Elements of genre: Scary locations

• Spooky music
• Fear of the unusual
• The dark
• Fear of death
• Shocking plot twist
• Unsafe feeling

Examples: The Shining, Frankenstein, The Conjuring, Halloween, Scream, and The Blair Witch Project

Sounds: Suspenseful music

• Non-diegetic sounds (Ex: Monster noises)
• Sound Motif (Ex: Michael Myers from Halloween)
• Fear inducing score (Ex: Psycho shower scene theme)
• Screaming
• Silence (Bird Box/A Quiet Place)
• Emphasis on Diegetic sounds (door creaking, crows, wind, footsteps, Sirens etc.)

Positives: The fear of death until the end credits of movie conveyed by overall music, graphics, and special effects (Ex: IT). A shocking plot twist because it leaves the audience following one story which changes drastically throughout leaving you intrigued and sometimes confused on previous motives (Ex: Psycho's false beginning that grows darker throughout the plot). 

Negatives: Unrealistic plots and monster/creature effects: It takes away from the overall scary experience with improper Mis en Scene (Ex: Ghostbusters). Unnecessary blood for unwanted effect: Makes scene more comical and unrealistic (Ex: Kill Bill).

Hard to follow plots: We can’t be fully frightened when we do not fully follow along on with what's happening (Ex: Into the Forest).

 

Genre Research: Westerns

Prior to starting my final project, I had done research on the Western genre of film. Above is the PowerPoint I made detailing the conventions of the Western genre. From my research I had learned that westerns aimed to capture the feeling of westward expansion and mastering the wild west while still having a sense lawlessness. The setting of a western is essential to establishing the tone of the story. Whether it be a honorable sheriff that protects the town from the bandits or the haunted pueblo town, Western invokes a sense of fantasy and storytelling that aims to get the audience invested into the world of the wild west. 

Final Pitch

For our final project we have narrowed down two pitches. The first is called Hit(Wo)man and is about a jealous friend who goes to the extremes to protect her friend from a guy that she deems "unworthy". The second pitch we narrowed it down to was "235" a film about the aftermath of a nuclear disaster in a small town where investigators uncover a terrifying secrets pre-disaster that led up to the destruction. For the Hit(Wo)man pitch, we talked about how simple the plot would be. A woman goes to psychopathic lengths to keep her friend away from a guy due to her having secret feelings for her friend. Since the project required our product to be two minutes long, establishing the story and setting should be easy and the anticipation of what the protagonist is going to do would keep the audience engaged and wanting more of the story. Shooting of this production would not require a lot of makeup, costumes, or props. Establishing characteristics of the mis en scene of the film would be practical. The setting of the film would be regular streets and shopping centers that displays the outrageous nature of the protagonist by showing scenes of her sabotaging and stalking her friend. The second pitch is going to be an ominous interview of a nuclear disaster surviver who gets slowly convinced by the doctors to reveal the realities of how the nuclear disaster started. Opening scene of the film will invoke sense of ambiguity. However, after much debate and increased foresight, we decided that the premise of the movie is too closely correlated to the HBO show “Chernobyl”.