Editing Blog

 Cheerful Christmas! We still have work to do, even though today is a holiday. I began the editing process for our film today. This is one of the most thrilling places for me. It's when you can see how beyond the storyboard the film would really look like. We do have a few scenes to reshoot, but we have wanted to start editing the stuff we already have. Having a head start is crucial because we don't know whether we are going to run into any issues while editing. Being ahead of schedule is helpful so we have time to correct things before the deadline if anything happens. I enjoy editing short videos and images very much. Until the date, time to patch it. I enjoy editing short videos and images very much. I come to the realization that editing short videos and photographs is very different from editing a short movie. When editing a short film, there is a lot of work to be completed. There are a lot of little things that need to be paid attention to by me and my wife to make our movie perfect. I have been doing a number of studies to acquire editing experience. I have learned a few things, but I will surely learn more. I'm already working on uploading to my machine a new editing app. The current software that I use is very sluggish, and when it comes to editing, it doesn't provide many choices. Mario, my partner, is a very good actor. Ever since we began working together, he has been showing me a lot. I think we're going to make a great team, and that our film is going to be acted and edited very well.

Re-Shooting blog

 Today, my husband and I agreed to re-film them. We concluded that we didn't like how certain scenes turned out after seeing the raw result of our short film. There weren't a few scenes turning out the way we planned, so we wanted to re-film and change them a little bit. We tried to re-film our scenes, but we agreed to delay it to next week as it was close to Christmas and both me and my husband were going to be out of town. I just wish we were able to film this week. I hate feeling like something is wrong with what we've done. As soon as possible, I want to resolve this dilemma and I will. In comparison, I also enjoyed what the other scenes were like. It turned out exactly as we intended, and I'm so pleased. I will begin editing them very soon. I'm not sure whether I can start cutting the scenes I want right now or wait for the rest of my script to be reshooted. It is good to get everything finished and organized for the process of editing. It's important to get a head start as well and to speed things up. Our film is progressing at a decent rate, so I don't think I'm going to hurry it out. The deadline is not that far off, so it shouldn't take us long to complete the last few moves. Overall, I'm very comfortable with things going on. My wife and I have been working together and it is paying off. I can't wait to get editing and start to see what the movie is going to look like. I think there's a lot of promise in our film and it'll look amazing. I will remember to keep you posted.

Social Media Blog

 We reviewed and followed all of the social media movies of our classmates today. On social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, we all build profiles. For our short film, we also built a YouTube channel. It was very cool to see all the various kinds of films and social media that our classmates had. I can't wait to see what the finished product would be like after looking at some of their films and reading a review of them. We decided to make sure they would attract a lot of interest as my partner and I built our accounts. Our accounts were very simple at first. In order to make our pages more colorful, my husband and I agreed to take photographs whilst filming to share on them. We got a lot of positive feedback after adding our photos, and I was very pleased with the final product. We have wanted to apply to our website the same ones. That was a brilliant idea, because it looked so much better on our website. With just our social media profiles and biographies, we thought the website looked bare before. That's why we came up with the concept of bringing to our website photos from our social media. We'll probably be able to take more photos and upload them when we finish shooting. We are almost finished shooting and we will make sure to launch the editing process when we do. Editing takes such a long time. My husband and I have to make sure that all is well cut and that the scenes pass smoothly. We also came up with the concept of taking photographs of our short film editing party. The videos aren't going to be as entertaining as our films, but we think it's important to show viewers all the steps that happen before a movie is finished. I'm very excited to be close to completing filming at last. I can't wait to get the editing underway. Editing is one of the most thrilling sections for me, and it's when you can actually see what the film could look like.

Filming Blog: We begin shooting!

 Finally, the day came! My partner and I got together after school today and began the process of recording. We went over to my house and immediately started filming. I was really happy that I could actually get things started. It was also really cool to see the way the movie looked on tape. In order to post them to our website and social media pages, I had my sister take a couple of images of me and Mario in action. I also showed some of the clips to some of my family members that we shot so that we could get some input from them. Today, we weren't able to film all our scenes. We wanted to make sure we had a good look at every scene and that made us run out of time. I'm happy we did that because I know our film's potential and I want it to be amazing. My partner and I are working as fast as possible to work out a date to finish filming. For us it is very important to finish shooting quickly so that we can get started with the editing process. We still have some time, I realize, but I don't want to be left behind. I believe we're on the right path and we're going to succeed. From our storyboard to the final product on tape, not many changes occurred. I was shocked because we used to make a lot of adjustments to our storyboard in my other projects. I'm happy that happened because I always felt that the only way we could make our short film was what we had in our storyboard. In general, I feel like today has been a success. We had a lot of scenes shot and a lot of photographs of the operation taken. I'm very curious about what will come next. 

Editing Blog: Our Editing restrictions

We have finally been able to schedule a day for filming after several changes in our plans. Tomorrow, my partner and I will be filming our movie. For our website and social media, we can film and take photographs. I'm so excited about actually getting things started. During Thanksgiving break, we were expected to film and edit our movie. We weren't able to film or edit during the break due to many last-minute inconveniences. Owing to the pandemic that is going on, it has also been difficult to get things done. My partner and I don't want to jeopardize ourselves and our families. Before, we were checked and waited for the results and that postponed the operation. It's disappointing we haven't been able to edit over the break. Without having to think about school, it would have been way easier for us to film and edit our movie. This week is going to be a challenge, but I believe we can do it. We will also take photos and recordings for our social media, as I described before. I think this is a very important step for our short film to be outstanding. Getting a strong website and social media allows the film to meet a lot of different people. A lot of focus is attracted to social media and that's what my partner and I are trying to do. It might not change much when adding photos and video, but it will make our website look more professional. I'm doing a lot of research on editing and editing instruments while we can't start editing our film. When it comes to editing, I am not very good, but I learn something new every day. I can't wait to film and get the editing process underway.

Filming Blog: Filming restrictions

 During the Thanksgiving break, my partner and I decided to shoot our film. We had to make sure we were safe because of the pandemic and our atmosphere was stable. We were both tested and were hoping for a negative result. The outcome came and we were cleared for filming. The issue was that my partner and I had a lot of extracurricular activities, even though we didn't have classes. We just had to film one day so we tried to do that on a Friday. It was all okay until a last-minute emergency forced me to go to another town and spend the weekend there. We then rescheduled it for the following Monday, but we were both asked to do stuff after school making filming that day difficult. Hopefully, at the end of this week, we will be able to film and actually get things done. We have a lot of plans to do what we do when we make films. Since we can't be together all the time, we're going to try to get as many things done as possible because of the pandemic. We are not going to do anything related to the film, but we are also going to do things to make our website and social media look better. We want to make films. We will take photographs during and after shooting, which will be shared on our social media and on our website. We're also going to get some clips from behind the scenes and sneak peeks of our film to share on our YouTube channel. I think this is going to be an outstanding addition to our project and will really set us apart from the competition. I'm very pleased with the way things are going for us. All we designed worked and made our project look successful. I'm so excited to start the process of filming and see what the end product looks like. I just hope we can get to the movies next week and start editing immediately. It's great to do it early so that we can get a lot of input and have time to fix the areas we don’t like.

Planning: Storyboard

The storyboard is one of the most important things a studio needs to do before filming their movie. It is a process that needs to happen, and to be done with care and attention because what is on that paper should be what will happen in the movie. Making this story board was quite difficult. Me and my partner are not very good at drawing but I believe that what we have down on the paper can be easily understood. This was a very long story board, I took us about 10 pages to complete it. That was one of the hardest parts because we needed to capture every detail that we had memorized in our heads and try to put everything down into the paper. The storyboard will help me and my partner a lot during our filming because we will probably forget some essential details and looking at the storyboard will help us remember to film them. I really enjoy storyboarding because it gives you a feel that your whole movie is coming together and it is actually happening. Me and my partner will try to film as soon as possible to avoid any inconveniences. In this specific storyboard I feel that we were able to keep a balance of keeping the storyboard under 10 pages while also trying to give enough information on the short film. In this particular storyboard we were able to really get each scene across better than any other storyboards we have done previously. However, we aren't sure on the text aspect. In this case we weren't sure how much we were supposed to put per text section. So, we decided that if there was no speaking in the specific box then we would just apply some sort of narration. This narration was different, in other short films or movies where there would be an actual speaker speaking. However, in this case it is just to describe the current drawn scene. In some cases we had to use both dialogue and narration in the same text area. This allows us to know exactly where the scene is and what the characters are saying. Other than that I feel that Mario and I are pretty set for the movie, this storyboard gives us an outline for what we will be doing throughout the film. I am very excited for what is to come.

Planning Blog

 We are approaching one of the most important parts of our project, Filming. Me and my partner already did all of the “boring” parts of this project and now it’s time to have some fun filming. Before filming we have to have a plan first. We will be starting to film during thanksgiving break. It will be easier to film then because we won’t have to worry about any other extra school work. We will also most likely not have any extracurricular activities during the break. We will most likely film at one of our friends house. She’s not in our group or the class but she is helping us with the filming process. She helped us last year to film our movie so we are looking forward to working with her again. Mario and Xavi will participate in the filming. We will most likely also add our friend Maya on a couple of scenes. We will make sure we are safe before filming our movie. During this pandemic it is very important that everyone is safe and are taking the proper precautions. We will be wearing masks the whole time. The only time we won’t is when the camera starts filming. We will be using some props. Most of the stuff we use is basic stuff that I teenagers have in their rooms and house. We will be using things like a video game controller, a bed, books, cellphone, papers, pen, pencil, backpack, a car and some other things. The characters in the movie will be wearing basic clothes that teenagers wear and people in the 21st century wear. We will keep it simple because we want to make this movie as relatable as it can be to the average teen. 

Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

 When I compared both it was actually pretty tough looking back at it. When you compare the animation quality the movie wins by a landslide as it has a bigger budget and it was made three years after. However, the short film has very impressive animation for the production crew, time, and budget. Story wise, the feature film had a lengthy and not that strong of a story line. It was choppy and was repetitive. The short film packed a lot of plot into the 7 minutes. Yet, it did it so well, the way they subtly introduced items and linked factors back to the beginning was great. However, it could've dome a little better on background, but otherwise it had an amazing storyline. Dialogue, honestly these were pretty even, even though it shouldn't. In the feature film there was somewhat smooth dialogue and it was pretty strong, there weren't really any kill quips or clichés. Yet, the short film has the ability to have zero dialogue and still have a smooth flow and great story telling. The emotion showed in the film was great, it was able to push its meaning very well. I do have to give the edge to the feature film. This is because it was still smooth and I can't say that a film with no words has better dialogue. Now, which has more weaknesses, I believe that the short film has a few holes in the plot, like how the beast got to the decoy and how they got to the point of post-apocalypse. For the feature I feel that it was pretty repetitive and they didn't do the bet with some characters, like number 2. I do have to choose one as the victor. I have to give it to the short film, it was to good. There is a reason that it was given a full film, its ability to give you so much info without any dialogue, and its only 7 minutes. It sent me to that world and let me live with number 9.

Research 9, the feature film

 Right off the bat, I liked how they introduced a creator to the creation. Then the movie transitioned to a new character we had not seen before, 2. I like the premise of his character, how he was kind of helped the upbringing of 9, but wow did he get a terrible story line. He was the second nicest to 9 but basically stayed dead the entire movie. Moving on with the topic I feel that since each of the numbers were a part of the scientist's soul they should each be connected to a certain emotion of trait. The movie would have been way better if they focused more on the scientist's past and how he decided to give each number that part of his soul. Furthermore, I  feel that the movie was a little to all over the place, like the random stuff they did all movie. Like when number 8 decided to use a magnet to his head to insinuate drugs. I do, however, like the several nods to the original short's scenes For example, the original beast, or at the end of the movie where 9 has 5's sack in hand at the grave, and the connection of the lightbulb to the soul collector. The acting was pretty good, but I do have a bias as Elijah Woods is one of my favorite actors. However, the script writing was pretty poor. The antagonists felt really repetitive I felt that throughout the movie I was bombarded with so many different robot animals. I did feel that the tension between 1 and 9 kind of directly represented the scientist's soul. At the beginning he loved his robot and was ready to do anything with it, but as he aged he realized that he should've realized the harm it would cause. Furthermore, it could also represent how he wants to be like number 9, selfless and caring, but in reality he was number 1 his whole life, cold and scared. They could've done a lot of things better, like the fact that number 7 just appeared at the perfect time every time. It is weird to have an animated movie be PG-13, and it was for unnecessary things too, primarily dead bodies. I didn't like the movie but I also didn't hate it. It wasn't better than the short, 6.8/10.

 

Research 9, the short

 I honestly liked the 7 minute film a lot. I personally prefer short films that don’t use talking over short films with talking (in terms of animated short films). I also enjoyed how it built the plot in such a short amount of time. Like how in the beginning where he is hammer the device he later uses to escape the creature. Also how the creature wears the skins of the siblings of 9 that it has killed. The animation was incredible for a solo made short film. Especially that it was made in 2006 it had better animation than movies created by Pixar, before 2006, like the original Toy Story. Going back to the plot, I really liked how the director introduced the half of the item that held the souls. By showing that number 5 kept items inside of him and when the creature approached number 5’s half started flashing. The director also subtly showed how the half of the soul holder was electric by number 5 and 9 illuminating a light bulb with it. I was a little confused on when the creature got stuck to the fake number 9 and how it was able to pull off with just a little effort. I understand that it is a short film but I would like to see at least a little back ground into the life or siblings of 9. I feel that that due to that lack of background it was a little difficult to connect to the main character. However, by number 5 protecting and dying for number 9 I could then begin to connect to the film a little more. I do feel that in the movie they will most likely add this needed background. Furthermore, I think that they will definitely add voice overs. This is because in modern day film it is necessary in order to succeed in the box office. I also believe that they will invest more into the the other numbers. Also by giving them their own backstories. For me I give this short a 7.5/10.

Genre Choice For Film

 Me and my partner ended up choosing the genre Coming of Age. This genre matches perfectly with our pitch and we really enjoyed researching it. Our movie will be about a teenager that is having problems at home and at school. This is a perfect Coming of Age movie because it matched everything we researched on. This genre wasn’t the one we were looking for in the beginning but after all the research it was the one that we were the most excited about. Out of the two other genres we researched Coming of Age is special to us because usually what happens in the movie is happening to us right now. When directing our movie will be very interesting because we know how adolescents feel about school and how stressful it can be. As a director I can add many things to the movie and details that have happened to me in my life. Me and my parter have watched so many Coming of age movies specially the ones listed in our previous blog. I am really excited to start working on this. We can’t wait to share the final project with you guys.  

Genre Research- All Three

Coming of Age:

In a Coming of Age film there is a common theme when it coms to camera angles and shots. One the most commonly used shots is the close-up. They use this because it shows the viewers the characters emotions and/or shows how the character is changing. Along with the close-up, usually combined with it, an eye level camera angle is usually used. These are used many times during these coming of Age films, this is for one main reason. They are repeated so that as the movie progresses, you can see how the character's emotions and reactions change. Another shot used is the two-shot. These shots are mainly used to demonstrate intimacy, like when your main character is talking to their crush. To accompany many of these two-shots the director also uses tracking shots so they can film the two walking around places like their school. Speaking of location, a large percentage of Coming of Age films occur in a school, or have to do with a school. Going back to the close-up shots, an edit that usually comes right after the close-up is an eye-line match. As I said before the close-up can be used to show someone's reaction to something, so you must be shown what they are reacting to. Two examples of films in the coming of age genre would be the movie It, and the film Little Miss Sunshine. Coming of age films are actually some of my favorite movies, like Little Miss Sunshine. In these movies you get to connect emotionally to the characters more than other genres. You also get to see them change as the perceive more aspects of the world. I also feel like I can relate to them much more as they fit my age range. There are also some things that I dislike about them, one of which is the clichés. However, these are only really found in lower quality films. Another dislike of mine is the common themes, this is relatively acceptable as the genre has some pretty narrow restrictions.

        

Epic:

In an Epic movie there tends to be a lot of aerial shots, this is so they can show the audience the extent of a journey. An example of this would be in a lot of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings shot where they show the entire group walking up a mountain. They also use long shots that show the extent of nature of the beauty of their environment. Additionally, in an epic film they use tracking shots to show a conversation through some terrain. In a film there tends to be 5 types of movement: The camera moves in relation with an object , The camera moves in relation to people, People move in relation to the camera, People move in relation with each other and other objects in a frame, Framing elements move in relation to themselves or each other But when it comes to epic movies you will see a lot of tracking shots to carry the conversation. Common sounds in an Epic Genre are Diegetic Sound, Ambient Sound and Symphonic music scores. Epic films can really be put into two categories, mythic/fantasy epics and war epics. In a mythical/fantasy epic you would be heavily relying on nature, using costumes that represent the time period or the storyline. The same goes for epic, but the costumes would be more of a rusty, torn look. You would also see maybe broken trees or devastated areas. Usually an epic movie tends to use natural lighting since they are filmed in nature. However, movies nowadays are filmed inside with green screens, so they have to create their own. There is softer lighting. What I really enjoy from the Epic Genre are the battle scenes and the music. The story is also great most of the time.

     

Romance:

The Genre romance is a very popular genre in movies and it attracts a lot of people with different ages. The romance genre uses many different types of CAMS, the most used are Long shots, Two shots, Medium Shots and Establishing shots. They are used to really give the viewer the idea that what they are watching is a love story. Sound plays a really important part on films with the romance genre. Sounds like Voice overs, diegetic sounds, non diegetic sounds and ambient sounds are used a lot during a romance movie. An example of that is when a narrator does a voice over to tell a love story or talk about the two characters that are in love. CLAMPS is probably one of the most important parts of the genre. Props like rings, flowers, clothes always show in romance movies. They are so important to really show what the movie is about. Lighting also plays a big part on the movie because it is very important to have a romantic lighting at a dinner or on a date, and that’s what the directors do when shooting a scene in a romantic movie. Cross cutting is used a lot in romantic movies. It usually works by cutting from two people that like each other and how they feel about something that happed in a scene. Straight cuts are used as well to keep the moving going. Examples of romantic films are Dear John, The  notebook, The fault in our stars. I really enjoy this genre because of the storylines are always great. The settings are always nice and the cities that they are usually shot are beautiful   

                                                      

The Genres We Are Researching

 So, now that we have finished the movie pitch, Mario and I will begin researching different genres. There are multiple reasons for this process. First, and probably the most obvious reason, is so we can correctly align ourselves with a specific genre. This will slightly shift our overall script, this will help us stick to one area and not go on unnecessary tangents during the film. Second, by identifying our movie with a specific genre will allow us to research common themes in the, sound, lighting, mis-en-scene, editing, and more. This helps sharpen our skills, especially in specific areas related to the genre we select. The first genre we we will be researching is, romance. We decided to select it because it does play a medium sized role in our film. During the film you will be able to see some shift due to the introduction of romance. It can also assist in many scenes, by this I mean the production of these scenes. Like when we research this genre we will be able to see certain aspects of lighting and angles. Even if we don't end up selecting this as our main genre we can still take parts of it. For our second genre to research we selected the coming of age geneere13. I am leaning towards this as the genre we should select for our movie. Mario and I feel that this best fits our movie. When researching we can improve the production and we can also edit the script so that it fits the genre and common themes better. Finally, for our last genre to research we decided on epic. We knew that this wouldn't be our final selection for the genre, but we did have a major reason, the camera. When shooting a epic you tend to have a lot of long and birds-eye-view-shots, which is one thing we really wanted to incorporate into our movie. Those are the three genres we will be researching.

My groups film pitch

You're a teenage boy struggling with mental illness, your grades, life, and parent's marriage are all falling apart, but you have to make it work.

My Project Partner

 Today was the day to select our partner(s) for the 5 minute film for class. Once the announcement was made that we were going to select our partners I knew exactly whom I wanted to work, Mario. We worked together last year and we did some outstanding work together. One example would be the commercial we did as a group, it received many great reviews. Mario brought so many significant ideas to the table last year. Like when he was able to find a way to align two shots together to keep smoothness. He also did so well when we worked on the final project last year, as he was the star of the film. Along with being the star, he was able to find the help me find the perfect angles and movements when filming. This year; however, he was in a different period then me. Luckily, my teachers told me that we are allowed to work with people in other classes. This also allowed Mario and I to add a person to our group. After looking through the people in the other classes, we weren't able to find a person without a group and someone that we wanted to work with. So like last year we will be doing our large project as a pair. Unlike other people, though, we have a leg up on the rest of the competition. This is because we have been talking about this since quarantine started. That along with my loves with films led me to begin writing the script for my own movie. I am only like three pages in, but I already know what the whole film will be, I just have to write it all down in the script. The only problem is that it has to be a five minute short film, and I was planning for mine to be a little longer, but we should be fine. This is why I am so anxious to begin this project with Mario, his ability to act and think of stuff on the spot with my love for film and technical abelites will show in our film. Now we have to start making our movie pitch.

I'm Back!

 Hey everyone, I am back, but this time I am taking an A level version of media studies. Already have a few ideas up my sleeve for this year, very ready to get started!

Audience and Institutions

Xavier Uribasterra

Audience and Institutions

ASSESS THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING IN THE MEDIA AREA YOU HAVE STUDIED.

There are many vital steps in the movie making process, one of these is the marketing. When making a movie the main goal is to turn a profit. So when marketing you have to find your key audiences and try to put out your movie to as many people as possible. The money making aspect is essential to allowing profit and maybe even making it into a global franchise.

One of the best movie franchises to do so is the Fast and Furious movie series. They have done so well, in fact, that they have released 14 seperate movies under the Fast and Furious storyline. They have done a wide variety of separate marketing tactics, like for Furious 7. During the distribution process the franchise teamed up with Microsoft Studios to make a special edition of Forza Horizon 2 in which you could race cars like them. This was key to one of the main objectives, grab key demographics, in this case it was the car loving audience. Along with the video game, the Fast and Furious was also able to put their movie out there by coupling it's premier with another. They had the same release day as the new IMAX laser projection theater, which allowed movie lovers that might not even like the Fast and Furious franchise to enjoy the U.S.’s “laser projection”. Creating it's own cross-media convergence This meant that they could gain a good size amount of viewers just off this coupling, boosting their revenue even more.

Another tactic taken by a different franchise was to expand their franchise to not only have a feature in another game, but to have it’s own full fledged game. When creating this game they took in many considerations, but the key take away was it’s clear target demographic,  children. By creating the game they could take the player into their own version of Jurassic World. This was vital to the popularity of the movie, because if you keep the game constantly in the kid’s mind, then when the movie is released you can grow their itch to see the movie. The distribution to the kids was well seen throughout their other partnership deals, like LEGO. Not only did Jurassic Park release their own LEGOs, they also released their own LEGO game, which created another example of cross-media convergence. This also allowed them to boost their revenue, just by these long term deals.

All of these marketing deals boosted interest and it boosted the overall long-term and short-term revenue. This allowed them to find their key demographics (even adding some more)  and allowed them to receive more exposure.This proved itself that videogames are a vital step to the marketing process as a whole. 

Extract Essay: 24 (TV Show)

In the extract, the author is trying to convey that the main interrogator, Jack, knows Nina, the person being interrogated, and that she has betrayed him in some way and Jack’s interrogation seems very full of rage. Overall, the author tries to make it seem that time is running very low, now the only person that stands in Jack’s way to save the world is Nina, creating a very suspenseful and a very intense scene.

The author does this many different ways, right off the bat in the beginning of the scene when Jack walks in and Nina realizes it is him, he uses a zoom on the camera as her eyes open. This is used to exemplify her knowledge of who this is or her surprise that it is him. They then just stare at each other for a good 2 seconds and she breaks off and looks away, showing that she knows she did something bad to him. This is then followed by some incidental music, which in turn builds up suspense as Jack moves without speech. Then soon after our first cut of the shot reverse shot shows a man in a suit looking at the interrogation. All of their costumes show the hierarchy of the situation, the suit is most likely the boss/superior of Jack, who himself is in comfortable clothing, showing how he is probably very laid back on the rules and is probably on thin ice at his work. Lastly, there is Nina, who’s ragged clothing and short messy hair represents a struggle or how she wasn’t captured very recently, as if she has been put in a holding cell for a few hours. Throughout this entire scene they use over-the-shoulder shots to make it feel as if you are there. These factors all lay down the background and setting of the extract.

The dialogue finally begins as Nina lays back in her chair and says her demands. This shows her confidence and overall calmness in this situation, she believes that she is in control in this situation. Then Jack retaliates in essence calling her selfish, as if that is what hurt him in the first place, her selfishness. This along with the high angle usage show that he holds the power in this situation. Nina then describes how there is somebody that she knows there that has knowledge of the bomb, that along with the clock from before tells you that it is a time bomb set to go off very soon, probably in  under 24 hours. So they then go on to talk about how Nina was offered a presidential pardon if she says where the bomb is, showing how she wants to convey her necessity to go to the location. Jack is now very angered at her attempt to control the conversation and push him aside, so he says she would, “ you would sell anyone and everything out to the highest bidder,” giving insight into how she probably got into the bomb situation at first. The table is now flipped by Jack in anger, and he yells how she needs to, “ Stop wasting his time,” that she has to give him a name. This sets in the suspense, his anger filled action accompanied with his screaming makes your adrenaline start pumping. This makes you go on the edge of your seat. Nina again begins to push Jack’s buttons and show how she is in control,essentially calling his bluff. She has been piling up this anger in Jack the whole time trying to make Jack snap, which it seems to have done as he sits down. This tilt down shows that they are now on a level playing field in terms of who is holding the power. 

Nina then says the catalyst, “ I guess you are going to just have to follow my lead,” this is probably an allusion to something said earlier in the TV show or that episode, maybe implying that they were previously partners on the force. Thispower shift lights Jack’s match as the built up suspense is all released into one adrenaline powered attack.  He rushes her against the wall and begins to choke and lift her up, stating that nobody cares what he does to her and that she will tell him what he wants. The look on the actors face after he releases her shows utter surprise as she didn’t really expect that from Jack, how he has changed in her eyes. She then looks at the suit/boss with an innocent look, as we all realize how she played Jack and how much they need her.

Throughout this entire extract the author is able to set up a setting using the camera, table, and chains, he is able to introduce these character’s relationship with one another. You as viewer, without any previous knowledge, are able to see how Nina has hurt Jack in the past, that this is what is making him extra angry. This all builds up suspense as the relatively quiet music gradually becomes faster and louder as he becomes more angry, until he snaps and sits down. Then you see her slickly say how she is in control and blow up the situation into an adrenaline filled scene, you feel like you are there with them. That is the vision of the writer to build the suspense and for you to feel like you're somewhat with them using different angles.

Music Video

Movie CCR

Commercial

Peer review

All I can say that I liked about this film was the first shot of the film. It is a shit from inside the car in which the camera is shooting into the rear view mirror and the girl’s pass by. Along with the fact that it is a good shot it also insinuates that there might be somebody watching them. Also the shot was the perfect length time wise. It was long enough to not lead you on, but at the same time it’s not to short so that you don’t really that good of a look at the shot.
From all the things I didn’t like was probably the editing,  it was very poor in the sense that there really wasn’t any at all. For about twenty seconds in the movie it is fully , nothing just black. Then there are like three scenes where they don’t do anything, all very unnecessary. It was also very long, standing at about four minutes all together.

Filming blog: The Shoot

We finally began the actual shooting of the short film. We had to make some major changes to the overall film, however. What we did is that we had to remove the father from the film completely due to schedule contrast. We out the spots with the mother and a little brother instead.
 We began filming with a handheld camera and a tripod which was working perfectly. We were able to shoot about half of the scenes in the movie with it. Then, out of nowhere the camera did not allow us to record. It was super weird because we would start recording and then it said that it couldn’t. We were able to find a temporary result, which proved quite ineffective. We deleted some of the extra scenes off of the camera and it actually filmed pretty well. Then the same problem arose again about 20 minutes later. Luckily, we had an extra camera on deck to film. We were very fortunate because the Tripp’s stand was able to connect to this camera, which was so helpful. When we inserted the SD card; however, the original shots from the other camera did not show up at all. This was pretty devastating as we had filmed so much of the film. Since we had already shot the previous shots we shot most of the scenes first try, which was pretty helpful. This turn of events actually helped us out better in the long run, all lost everything was different tech wise. The quality was much improved and the microphone on this camera picked up much more sound than the handheld did. The contrast is quite amazing when you look at the film. I’m pretty sure now the movie will come out better than we first thought it would.

Filming blog: The Wait

This is the first filming blog of the production process. My partner and I have still not begun filming. This is because we want to sort out all the kinks so that we can have a smooth film. One of these kinks is in the picture above. This is a screenshot of the email I sent to Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport (FLL). This email requests permission to film at the airport so if we went without their knowledge we wouldn’t be kicked out. They soon responded asking for more details into what we would be doing at the airport so that we could be approved. This makes sense as I was not very descriptive in what my group would be doing. So we responded with this:
 “ Good morning Ms. Arlene,

Our project is a 2 minute movie that is completely made by us. We have to film a short scene ( around 10-20 seconds) outside and inside of the airport. We won’t be filming with any big cameras or heavy equipment. We will just be filming with our phones. All we will be doing is filming a scene of a person taking out some bags and walking into the airport. Thank you,                       Xavier.”
I believe that we could get an email back to be a little more descriptive of what we’re doing. There is a chance though, that we could be approved by the airport very soon. There is also a chance that they would be redirected to FXE, or Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. This would be a pretty big problem as they were our first choice for an airport because they are smaller and our school has a good relationship with them. However, when we emailed them, we didn’t receive a response for a few days, so we emailed FLL. FLL responded in the same day, but FXE still haven’t responded. 

Planning Blog: Storyboard

The storyboard is one of the most important things a studio needs to do before filming their movie. It is a process that needs to happen, and to be done with care and attention because what is on that paper should be what will happen in the movie. Making this story board was quite difficult. Me and my partner are not very good at drawing but I believe that what we have down on the paper can be easily understood. This was a very long story board, I took us about 10 pages to complete it. That was one of the hardest parts because we needed to capture every detail that we had memorized in our heads and try to put everything down into the paper. The storyboard will help me and my partner a lot during our filming because we will probably forget some essential details and looking at the storyboard will help us remember to film them. I really enjoy storyboarding because it gives you a feel that your whole movie is coming together and it is actually happening. Me and my partner will try to film as soon as possible to avoid any inconveniences. I am really excited to start filming to see how it will look in the camera.

Planning Blog: The Safety, Setting, and actors

This is my presentation. It talks about many steps we have to take before we are completely done with our movie project. This presentation has all the information that we need to finish our project. It contains all the due dates for every part of our project including blogs. Some of the last due dates are estimated because we don’t have a correct one yet but most of them are accurate. I have tried to capture the best picture I could to show more of the location me and my partner will be filming on. For Participants we will be using the help of a friend that is not in our group but she will be playing a role in our movie. Me and my partner are both males and we needed someone to play a female and she offered to help us. We will also be playing a role in her movie as well. At the health and safety section we tried to write everything that could be dangerous in our filming process. It quite hard because we will be filming mainly indoors but we figured it out eventually.

Planning Blog: Titles

This is my presentation. It talks about the exact placement of each of the titles. It also talks about eh font, size, color, and insertion of each of these titles. These titles can be the silent killers of the project because if there is a poor transition, then it could break the flow of the movie. The viewer never notices how well the titles are inserted, they only focus on it if it obstructed their viewing ability. In this presentation I talk about how and when the transitions will be inputed. One example of this is when Recruit gets out of his car and opens the mailbox, this is a common title insertion as it is introducing the setting. This is probably the most important portion of the whole project, the titles.

Planning Blog: Sound script

This is my sound script. Sound is a really important part when it comes to a drama genre movie. Me and my partner made sure to have in this movie as many different types of sounds as possible because a movie like ours that involves war and drama needs to have good sound effects and sounds in general like music for example. Depending on what type of sound you choose and in what scene they come can change a viewers entire perspective in a movie. This movie will have Diegetic Sounds, Non-Diegetic sounds, voice overs, dialogues and a background music. Our group will be very careful when selecting sounds and music because most of the time they get copyrighted. I realized that writing a sound script is not hard and it is really fun to create ideas and implement them in your movie. I have also learned that you can’t write a sound script before you write your shooting script. Me and my partner will meet up tomorrow and email some music companies to ask their permission for the use of their music. Hopefully we will be getting a positive response and be able to add a good song to the background of our movie without getting copyrighted.

Planning Blog : Shooting Script

This is my Shooting script. This script plays a very large role in the way we plan and execute the movie. this is essentially the ground work of our entire clip. The selection of each of the shots can make or break your entire movie. I decided to choose certain shots that really make sure that the viewer can connect emotionally. Like when the sad music is playing and he sits down his parents to tell them about the letter. Or when he first sees the letter and the is a close up on his eyes to show his true emotion. In the script you can see how we also have a few shots that introduce you to who Recruit is and his position in the world. Recruit is a caring student that was devastated when being drafted to the war. These shots can tell you who the character is, how he is affected by his surroundings, and his emotions.

Title Research: 300

1.How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 4 titles displayed in the opening of this movie.
2.What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images that were prioritized seemed to have a focus on fighting. The weather was also important because it reflected a dark mood. Also the imagine of the skulls predict death which takes a big part in this movie
3.What connotations do the images carry?
The dark sky and clouds creates the idea that something sinister will play a part. The skulls foreshadow death in general.
4.How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The use of colors like red and black show that the film will be leading towards more violence than action.
5.How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
The viewer wonders to what the title is referring. Is it just a number? Does it have to do with a death toll? The viewers also wonder what significance the dripping blood in the title has.
6.What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
The level of gore attracts an older audience like teens and adults.
7.How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions, and editing techniques.
The font of the title makes it look like it was spelled with rocks, leading the audience to wonder the importance of setting in the movie. Editing and transitions were used when introducing the title of the film. Every time lightning flashed the color of the title would change or completely disappear. Also, the sound adds a sense of suspense and darkness to the title sequence.

Title Research: Star Wars

1.How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
2 titles are displayed during the opening of this film.
2.What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The stars in the background are a prominent image because they are a staple of the Star Wars saga.
3.What connotations do the images carry?
They chose stars as the background imagine because the movie is about space travel.
4.How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The Epic Genre is reinforced through the use of color and fonts. The colors shown, Green, Blue, Yellow, are typically used in Epic movies because they show fantasy and heroism.
5.How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
The outset of the movie causes the viewers to question what brought on the creation of the story. The viewers also have no idea who the main characters are or their purposes, they only know what is going on at the movie’s time period.
6.What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
The title of the film attracts young audiences like teenagers and young adults through the use of “wars”. This puts into the viewer’s mind that the movie will have some sort of action aspect. For all Star Wars movies there is always a small anecdote at the beginning detailing what the film is about. This appeals to audiences by forcing them to read usually leading to them becoming more interested in the film.
7.How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions, and editing techniques.
The title sequence has many editing aspects and techniques. You can see this when the anecdote is being played and it looks like the words are coming off the screen and going further away. Transitions are used when going between titles. For example switching from the production studio, to the anecdote,
to the name of the film the viewer can notice a fade/ dissolve effect from one word to the next.

Title Research: A Fistfull of Dollars

-How many titles are displayed during the opening sequence of the film?
Throughout the entire opening sequence I counted about 37 names and companies. The opening was in Spanish, so it was hard to count it correctly.

-What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
There was a heavy use of about three of the same snippets. These were: a silhouette of a man riding a horse in red and black, and a gunslinger drawing out his weapon in a standoff, this was also in a silhouette of black and white.

-What connotations do the images carry?
When the movie starts the music, the tumble weed drawing and the man on a horse give off the spaghetti western and action movie right away.

-How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
 Along with the sounds and actions described in the last question, when the gunslingers drew their revolvers there were gunshots made, insinuating a standoff has just occurred.

-How does the film establish an enigma from the outset
Before any pictures are shown, the soft whistle, very common in western action movies, begins. This is a dead giveaway of the genre and the enigma of the movie.

-What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
It wants to show the audience that they got what they wanted to see, a western movie. Not only that, but in the beginning they put Clint Eastwood’s name in big letters on the screen.

-How has tech been used effectively?
All these components come together to show you what the movie will be like. There will be gunslingers, tumbleweeds, face off, and killing. It paints a picture for everyone watching.

Title Research: Sky Fighters

As a group we chose to first research the opening sequence of the movie, Sky Fighters. My group got this title sequence off of Watchthetitles.com. We did this because one of the websites we researched didn’t contain any epic movies. So we decided to choose a movie very close. In this case, the movie Sky Fighters is an action and adventure movie. When we watched the opening minutes we counted about 22 titles in all, give it take a few. Right off the bat you find that this movie is about planes and jets. The images in the title sequence hold a quite shallow and literal meaning, nothing that can really be through different layers. Except for maybe that this is either a movie about building jets, recognized jets, or a heist including the high jacking of a jet/plane. In the beginning of the movie you can tell that it is an action and an adventure movie. This is because you have multiple different types of jets and airplanes banking and doing cool tricks as a show. In the outset the enigma is established right away with somewhat eerie music and then it transitions to some type of scan, probably military or hacker. After that it goes to army members standing around a war helicopter. The audience in this film are looking for some action and adrenaline rush, this is why they show all the plane doing crazy tricks and being quite loud. This satisfies the viewer because it is very Top Gun. The tech in the movie; however, sets it apart because it freezes the jet in motion and breaks it apart with holograms and examines the parts.

Title Research: Art of the Title

In this blog I will be talking about the website Art Of The Title. I found this website by doing some research about Title Cards on my own. I wanted to make sure my group and I were on the right track and doing everything correctly when the time of recording and editing our video came. When I opened the website I was really impressed with the quantity of different types of movies were there and all of them had different types of genres. I watched 3 different examples of titles and took some notes on it. I made sure I wrote down all the important things my title card should have. I also wrote down all the things that stood out to me like transitions and font sizes for example. After that, I went ahead and looked for movies with the Epic Genre. I found 3 different movie titles there and watched all of them. I made sure I payed really close attention to every detail in the video. The website is really easy to use and to find the movie and type of genre you are looking for. The website has many options of movies and genres so it is certain that you will find what you are looking for. Using this website I learned some things that I will definitely use on my final project. I learned that most titles don’t last very long, but are not like the end of the movie credits. You should be able to read everyone’s names that are in the movie or do something for the movie. I also learned that the directors name should never come first. The directors name always shows up at the end of the movie in the credits. I also noted that most titles for the Epic genre are usually designed to relate to the movie. The names should not cover the whole screen and the viewer should be able to read the names and watch the movie at the same time. This website helped me a lot because before I found it I didn’t know any characteristics of an Epic Genre movie title and what they are supposed to have. I will definitely use this website to make more research before I start working on my movies title.

Title research: Watch the titles

On this site there are a lot of different selections of films. Some of the categories are the following: feature films, tv shows, event titles, student projects, and more. It also included something that I didn’t expect it to, a section for video games and interviews. I didn’t really expect there to be video games included in a website that shows you title sequence. As expected; though, there were only two games that were options on the site. Along with those categories they also had a few student projects on the website. The main thing that I had to research was the opening titles for different movies. These could range from drama to comedy. As luck would have it there was such a large amount of movies there was probably every genre in there. So I decided that since the movie we are doing is an epic, it would be good to select an epic. I learned that they have, from the movies I looked at (most), they had no epic films! I could not find one movie that was an epic. So I decided to research to the closest genres to an epic, adventure and war. Luckily, there were a lot more of those movies. I also realized that the majority of the movies on this website were horror and comedies.

Genre Research: 300

The movie 300 is an Epic Genre movie that talks about war in the past, more focused in the city of Rome. The movie contains a lot of establishing shots since the city of Rome is so huge and the scenes take place in many different places like the coliseum for example. A wide shot is used in the movie to show us a little more of the coliseum. High and Low angles are also used in this movie. An example of a high angle is when a person is talking to the other on top of a roof and you watch the scene from the person of the roofs perspective. Long shots and medium shots are used a lot during the battle scenes to show the armor of the warriors. Medium close up is also used when one of the warriors screams in pain after getting stabbed. Close ups are also used in this movie to help the viewers to understand more about the emotions that the characters are feeling. Two shots and Three shots are used usually to show warriors getting ready for a fight or in the case of a two shot actually fighting against each other. Aerial shots were also used. An example of it was when we saw the coliseum by the eyes of a bird flying through. Over the shoulder shots were used a lot when characters are having dialogues. Zoom was used to show the reaction of a warrior after winning a fight. Diegetic sounds were used mainly when the characters were walking through sand or woods. Non diegetic sound was used mainly during fights to add sound to the swords and the noise they make and the crowd as well since we can see many people there but they are not real. Dialogues were usually used before the sword fights and after them. They were used a lot of time throughout the movie. Score was used many times after fights to announce the winner of them. Shot reverse Shot was used during some of the fight scenes where many fights were taking place at the same time. Jump cuts were used many times when there were dialogues to show both of the characters reactions and expressions to what was being said by the other. Reaction shots were also used sometimes, usually to show the reactions of the fighters that won the fights or to show the reaction of the crowd that was watching. I really like how this movie uses the Drama Genre to talk about war in the past and how it used to be back then.

Genre Research: Apocalypse Now

The Movie Apocalypse now was a movie released in 1979. It is an Epic Genre movie and it is also telling the story of some kind of war. This movie is perfect for our research because our main idea for this project is to make the begging of a war movie. There are a lot of establishing shots in this movie. Since there are many battles and all in different places, the movie does a good job showing the viewers where they are taking place. There are some high and low angles in this movie. An example of a low angle is when one of the soldiers drops his weapon on the ground and we can see him get executed but from the guns perspective. There are a lot of long shots in this movie, they show the soldiers fighting in the war or just getting ready for it. There is some close ups in the movie as well. In one scene we get a close up of the actor’s face, helping us to see his emotion. There are many Two and Three shots in this movie. One of them show the soldiers getting lined up for inspection and another showing them getting ready for a battle that was about to take place. I was able to see one aerial shot in this movie. In that shot we are seeing from a helicopter and we can see a boat filled with soldiers going through the river. Over the shoulders shots also happen a lot in this movies mostly during characters dialogues. A camera movement that we can see a lot is a Pan. It happens usually when the soldiers are lined up and the viewer is able to see all of them. Sounds play a big role in this movie. Diegetic sound is used many times usually when we can hear the footsteps and the helicopter and boat sounds since they were real and not special effects. Non diegetic sound happened many times, especially during the action scenes she bullets were being fired. Most of those shots weren’t real so adding the sound made the effect look more realistic. There is a lot of dialogue in this movie. They usually don’t happen in the action scenes but always before them when the general gives the soldiers instructions. Editing is used really well during this movie. A shot reverse shot was used during the fighting scenes going from one side to the other many times. Action match is also used a lot during this movie. Jump cuts are used many times during this movie. They used them specifically during the battle scenes when they want to show each soldier’s perspective of the war. Reaction shots were used as well to show the reaction of the general after the first battle was fought. There were many different locations used during this movie. Each battle takes place in a different setting. Costumes also play a big part in this movie. There are many different costumes and the details on them are on point and that is what makes the movie so great. Props also play a big role since there are a lot of guns involved in this movie. I really like how they make the effects realistic for a 1979 movie.

Genre research: Saving Private Ryan

For the next movie I watched Saving Private Ryan. This is a movie set during World War Two, where Private Ryan, Matt Damon, is lost during a battle. So a small group of men are sent out to look for him. They are led by Captain Miller, Tom Hanks. In saving private Ryan they have several different types of camera angles. Some of the best angles; however; were at the end of the movie. When Captain Miller is sitting on the ground shooting his pistol at the tank it is a medium close-up. Then once the tank blows from the airplane bomb it flash-pans to show the plane fly bye. Throughout the entire movie there is one main costume, an army camo, worn by every soldier. Since most of the scenes are outside they use natural looking light in the movie. The acting bye the main squadron we see is outstanding, they introduce us to the characters and we see their growth and for some of them, their deaths. In Saving Private Ryan the main props are guns, grenades, food, and at the end oil and socks.

Genre Research: Our Final Genre Selection

The three genres that we chose to research were, epic, drama, and horror. In an epic movie it most likely will be outside or have to do with war. Fantasy also falls under an epic film, like Lord of the Rings. We also researched the drama genre, this one is probably the most commonly used genre for most movies. Finally, we studied the horror genre. In this genre you usually heavily rely on the lighting and the score of the film, without those it isn’t a horror movie. Out of those three we decided to choose the epic genre, as it perfectly fits our film. However, it still is a drama in some sorts.

Genre research: Lord of the Rings

For this blog I chose to watch the movie Lord of the Rings. I have watched that movie before a long time ago, so I had to rewatch it again to remember the details. Lord of the rings uses many different types of Camera Angles, Movement and shots. Dragons are part of this movie and to film them, even though they are not real an aerial shot is used. This technique is  used throughout the movie since some of the action scenes at the end of the movie have dragons. Over the shoulder shot is also used many times in the movie when characters are having dialogues between each other. Since Lord of the rings is an epic film, a lot of mysterious places. That’s where the establishing shots come from, it is used a lot to show the difference places where the scenes take place. Long shots were also used sometimes during the movie. When they were showing the weapons that the movie characters were using, the long shot technique was used because to show the weapon they had to show the characters holding them because they were too big. Close ups were also used to express characters live reactions to the actions taking place. Camera Movements played a big part in this movie. Pan was used a lot in the movie to give the person watching a better image of what is taking place in a certain scene. Zoom sometimes in this movie to focus in certain things like jewelry or weapons. A tracking shot was used once throughout this movie when they had to follow a person going into a house, it helped the viewers to have a stronger understanding about the situation. Lighting played a big part in this movie. Depending on where the scene was taking place a different set of lighting was there. Costumes and makeups are probably what makes this movie so great. The amount of detail in the costumes of the actors is unreal and the perfection of the makeup is also there. There are many monsters and goblins in the movie and not all of them are special effects some are humans with makeup on and they look very realistic. There are many Props used throughout this movie but the ones that are most shown are the swords and other types of weapons. Sounds are also something that this movie has lots of. Many types of sounds are used, and Diegetic sound is one of them. When some characters are walking through the woods, the noise that they make when they step on dry leaves is natural from the scene. Non diegetic sound is also used a lot during the movie, but one of the most noticeable examples is when the dragon growls, the sound of the growl is added to the scene making it more realistic. Score! is also used at the end of the movie before the credits come up. In editing what really caught my attention was the the use of the flashback. That helped me to understand better the background of one of the characters. There was also a lot of jump cuts throughout this movie, specially during the action scenes. As an epic movie, Lord of Rings does not disappoint. It has that magic and mysterious touch in it that makes it a great Epic Genre movie.