Genre Research: Us

1. Common camera angles, shots, and movements in the film "Us":

 - Close Up: The close up shots were mainly used to show the reactions of the actors after something shocking happened.
- Long shot: This shot was used to show everything on the actors body from head to toe.
- Tracking shot: This track showed the characters being followed by the camera throughout the movie
- Over the shoulder shot: This shot was used to build up suspension throughout the movie
- Establishing shot: This shot was used to set the scene
- Low angle: This angle showed the floor view of the victims being killed

2. Common CLAMPS / "Mis En Scene"

- Costume: The costume for this movie is a red tethered jumpsuit that looks similar to what prisoners wear except it was red.
- Lighting: The lighting in this movie was based off the time of day. For example during the day the lighting was bright and during the night it was dark so the actors weren't able to be seen as much as they normally would be seen in the daylight.
- Actors: The actors in this movie played the role of the antagonist and the protagonist which is why this movie was so unique. They played both roles because there were 2 of the same families from different places. One of the families were able to speak and the other family couldn't speak at all, other than the mother.
- Make up: Make up was used to create burn marks on one of the actors faces which could be considered as a special effect.
- Props: The main prop used in this movie was a pair of scissors that was carried by the antagonist throughout the movie.
- Setting: The setting of the movie took place at an old cabin and a pier where the mother grew up as a child.

3. Common Sound

-Diegetic sound: The diegetic sound in this movie mainly occurred outside. For example, at night time you were able to hear the crickets outside.
- Non diegetic sound: Sound effects were added when things were blown up such as the car scene.
- Dialogue: There was conversation throughout the entire movie.
- Incidental Music: This type of music was added in the scary parts of the movie to create suspense

4. Common editing in the movie

Reaction shot- This was used to show the actors reactions to events that happened throughout the movie. For example, when the evil family revealed their faces this shot was used to show the families reaction.
Reverse shot- This was used to show the characters speaking to one another.
Eye-line match- When the mother would look at the other family this shot showed her reactions.

5. Elements of this genre

- There is ongoing conflict and multiple plot twists.
-There is a lot of suspense.
- There are a lot of things that got in the way of the family escaping.
- You get a huge climax.
- There's always a surprise ending that leaves you questioning everything.

6 and 7: Elements that you do and don't like

- Our group likes all of the elements that come with the thriller genre because you never know when and where something is going to happen. The feeling of suspense keeps us interested in the movie which is a good thing from an audience members perspective. If we had to chose one thing that we didn't like it would be the surprise ending because some endings are confusing and they take a while to understand.

Genre Research Decision Is Made

 The genre of the movie we will be creating the first two minutes of is thriller. A thriller movie is intended to scare by creating suspense. We decided this genre best fit our pitch because it's not a gory topic with nonrealistic characters. To be more specific, our film is about someone who kills people if they commit one of the seven deadly sins. We don't really clarify if this is a villain or a vigilante which leaves the audience to interpret this for themselves. Also, although we know what the motive of the killer is, the other characters in the movie don't which leaves them to be completely oblivious. This creates suspense about who the killer will kill, when, and why.

Genre Research Horror And Thriller

For more background on the differences between different genres, we researched two more genres: horror and thriller. Horror and thriller movies can usually be scene as very similar and in most instances they are. A lot of film makers make films that are both horror and thriller.

Horror- a film that is created to entertain by scaring the audience. Usually, horror can be gory which means LOTS of special effects makeup whether it's blood, gashes, etc.

Thriller- a film intended to scare with suspense.

Common camera angles, shots, and movements in a horror film:

1. Bird's eye view/high angle- these are usually used to show someone on the ground, possibly vulnerable to whatever is above it.

2. Close up- used to show the reactions of the characters.

3. Tracking shot- shows someone being followed.

4. Tilt- can signify a supernatural being.

5. Low angle- shows how intimidating a protagonist is.

6. Hand held- makes the film more realistic; ex. Blair Witch Project

7. POV- the audience is able to be scared exactly like the character

8. Over the shoulder- builds tension, can sometimes signify someone standing behind a person.

Common camera angles, shots, and movements in a thriller:

1. Establishing shot- sets an eerie mood.

2. Tracking shot- shows someone being followed.

3. Close up- used to show the reactions of the characters.

4. Tilt- can signify a supernatural being.

5. Over the shoulder- builds tension, can sometimes signify someone standing behind a person.

Mis en scene in horror movies:

Costumes- sometimes costumes can be very specific to the movie. What I mean by this is that if it's a horror movie with a supernatural protagonist such as Pennywise, the costume will obviously be a clown suit but the supporting characters may have on regular clothes.

Lighting- dark, eerie lighting.

Actors- actors usually vary but the most common thing they do is scream and fight.

Makeup- lots of special effects are used to add to the gory effect of the movie.

Props- whether it's used by the protagonist or the antagonist, there's always weapons used.

Setting- a lot of times in a made up town when including a supernatural being; sometimes secluded.

Mis en scene in thriller movies:

Costumes- usually regular clothes 

Lighting- dark, eerie lighting.

Actors- actors usually vary but the most common thing they do is scream and fight.

Makeup- can show dirt or bruises from being chased and fighting back.

Props-whether it's used by the protagonist or the antagonist, there's always weapons used.

Setting- settings vary; sometimes secluded.

Common sounds and editing of horror and thrillers:

1. Diegetic sound- when the actor is quiet and you can hear all of their surroundings.

2. Non diegetic- the sounds of weapons, sounds of supernatural being.

3. Sound Motif

4. Incidental Music- suspenseful music.

5. Dialogue

6. Cutaway

7. Eye- line match

8. Jump cut

9. Reaction shot

Examples of horror films:

IT (2017)

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

The Conjuring (2013)

 

 Ouija (2014)

Examples of thrillers:

Us (2019)

 

 Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

 A Quite Place (2018)

Split (2016)

Elements liked and disliked about thrillers and horror movies:

Our group as a whole enjoys everything about thrillers and horror films. Our favorite aspect of them are the ability to scare and create suspense. In order to do this, all of the elements listed in this blog must contribute.

Deciding Our Pitch

After talking it over with my group, we have narrowed it down to two pitch ideas for our final task. We decided it would be easier to do this by going over the pros and cons of each individual pitch. In the end, we decided to narrow it down to a pitch I came up with and a pitch my team member, Jahrvia, created. To refresh, the pitch idea I came up with was: All of the most infamous antagonists join together to wreak havoc on the world. The antagonists would include villains such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Penny Wise. The pitch Jahrvia came up was: A person (or group) kills people who have been listed for committing the seven deadly sins. The killer in this film would be a person that personally knows each of the people listed. 

In order to decide which pitch to use, as stated before, we explored the pros and cons of each pitch. First we started with my pitch. Some benefits to my pitch are:

1. It features classic characters that the audience knows and brings them together as one (almost like the Avengers or Suicide Squad).

2. Since people know of these characters, it attracts fans of all the antagonists, bringing more people to the box office.

3. With the same previous characters, as the directors, we have the opportunity to present a new hero or even join together the protagonists from each of the antagonists' movies.

Some cons to my pitch are:

1. Realistically, getting the rights to each specific character would be hard. It would cost a fortune and could take forever.

2. After thinking about it, it sounds a little too much like the movie and book series, Goosebumps by R.L. Stine.

3. Special effects for some of the antagonists would be very difficult to recreate since none of us are professional in makeup.

Next, we went over the pros and cons of Jahrvia's pitch. The pros included:

1. It was something we had never seen before.

2. We could get a message across in the opening credits easily.

3. The "killer" character could be seen as a villain or a vigilante which allows for complexity.

4. Not much special effects makeup is needed since these are normal human beings.

I personally couldn't think of any major cons to Jahrvia's pitch. 

With that being said, we decided to use Jahrvia's pitch about the seven deadly sins.

Start of Final Task

Hi guys today I will be discussing how far along I've come in this class as a student and also my final project ideas. I enjoy watching films but I never understood how they were truly made until I joined Aice Media. I entered this class not knowing what to expect. I'm glad that I chose this class. It has been extremely beneficial over these last five months. When I joined this class I wouldn't say that I was confused I was more so intrigued. I say this because I wasn't aware of the process that making a film requires. It's a long though out process that has to be executed perfectly. My group members are also apart of the reason that I've come so far. My group members for this project are Lauren, Jarvia, and Anishcka.
This class has taught me a ton of things. Before taking this class I never focused on camera angles due to me being unaware of what they were called. Now I can identify camera angles with no problem. For example, I learned about different angle shots such as a high shot or a trunk shot. I never even noticed the angles when I watched tv shows or movies but now I can't help but say what angle is being shown while I'm watching something. If I had to chose a talent that I am bringing to the group it would be brain storming ideas. I am really good at coming up with different ideas on the spot. For instance, when we filmed the music video last quarter I came up with the idea for the elevator scene at Sawgrass mall. With my brain storming talent along with other group members talents our final project will look amazing! I'm beyond ready to begin the filming process for this project even though we haven't made a final decision on what our original film will be about, but we do have a couple of ideas.

 

A pitch is basically a film encapsulated in 25 words or less, it's usually one sentence.

Pitch 1: All of the most infamous antagonists join together to wreak havoc on the world. This pitch falls into the horror genre because it's meant to scare the audience. The antagonists would include villains such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Penny Wise.

Pitch 2: A bridesmaid  is obsessed with the bride, her twin and she plans to kill her in order to take her identity. Thus pitch falls into the thriller genre because it is meant to create suspension and fear in the audience. The bridesmaid envy's her sister and will go great lengths to take over her life even if that includes killing her.

 Pitch 3: A person (or group) kills people who have been listed for committing the seven deadly sins. This idea is in the horror/thriller genre because it is a film that will induce terror in viewers. The killer in this film would be a person that personally knows each of the people listed. Therefore, the killer would have reason for murdering each person because they personally know that they've done it.

Music Video Editing Blog

My group has been editing our music video for 2 days. Thankfully, we didn't have any technical difficulty issues with the laptops and desktops in our classroom. We decided to use Laurens laptop because it has Imovie. We find it easier to work with Imovie because pinnacle studios held up our editing process when we were editing the commercial. Our music video isn't due until next Monday at 12:30, I think we should have this done by Friday or at the end of today. We began editing by dumping all of our footage into Laurens google drive. After all of our footage was dumped onto Laurens google drive we transferred it to Imovie. The transfer took a while because we recorded 75 takes. We should have enough takes to fill in takes that we might cut out. 

We used the storyboard to assist us with editing. Our storyboard included different types of transitions that we wanted to use for certain parts of the music video. The first thing that we did was look at the takes we recorded for the first scene. The first scene was recorded in Laurens living room. In this scene we were listening to the music and discussing how much we liked it. We didn't realize that our footage was so long so we ended up cutting a lot of the scenes. We did this so we would be able to add in other takes that we took. for instance we have tons of mall footage but we ended up not adding some of it in because of our time limit. Also, because we recorded in different areas and some areas looked better then others. 

We took the modeling takes that we filmed in Forever 22 and we split them up so that we could add more takes. So when one person walked down the runway the next scene would shot an establishing shot of stores that we went into. Our commercial can be up to 1 minute and 20 seconds. While we were editing we had to watch what scenes we added because some of them were too long. 

To make editing easier Lauren and I thought that it would be better for us to place all of the footage that we plan on using first. After we placed it and edited each take then we would go back and add on things such as transitions or time changes. By time changes I mean slowing down or speeding up footage. We sped up the walking footage because that wasn't something that necessarily needed to be seen. We slowed down the footage of Anishka modeling because it looked extremely well and it went along with the beat of the song. 

We didn't do a split screen because it wasn't necessary. The transitions that we added were: swipe ups, side swipes, etc. Filming and editing this music video was honestly a great experience that I will remember. I can't wait to film again.

Filming Blog : A day at the mall

Today I will be writing a blog about my filming journey. On Wednesday, November 27 my group and I met up at Laurens house around 4 in the after noon. I was the first to arrive, with me I brought my 6 foot led ring light. We thought it would assist us with getting good lighting for our music video. When I arrived at Laurens house Lauren and I decided to set everything up in her living room. A few minutes later Jarvia arrived. Jarvia was responsible for bringing the camera as well as the tripod with her. We set the tripod directly in front of the ring light and attached the camera onto it. Anishcka was running a little late because her mom took a detour so that kind of pushed back our filming process. Anishcka arrived to Laurens house at about 5 o'clock. As soon as Anishcka arrived she changed and we got straight to filming our music video.
Lauren connected her phone to the speaker and the intro to the song played at a low volume in the background. The first scene that we recorded was the scene of us talking about how good the song is. The next scene that we recorded was of Lauren and Jarvia singing the lyrics of the song while Anishcka and I danced around in the background. After we filmed all of the scenes that needed to be filmed in a living room setting we headed outside to record some shots of us dancing in the road. Three of us had batons in our hand while we danced around and one of us controlled the camera. After filming this scene we filmed shots of us walking/partying to the car. We also had the music playing in the background during this shot also. Once we finished filming all of the scenes that needed to be filmed at Laurens home Lauren drove us to the mall, with the supervision of her dad in the car with us.
We arrived to Sawgrass Mall around 7:15-7:30. We parked in the parking garage near the high end shopping outlets. We brought the tripod with us as well, even though most of the shots were going to be hand held. We tried to film a shot of all of us walking across the walkway but the security guard said we needed permission from the mall owners to film. After that we decided to go into the elevator and film an establishing shot of the mall from a high angle. We also did a pan shot of us dancing in the elevators. Once we finished filming the elevator scene I took the camera and filmed my other group members walking across the walkway and into the mall.
Before we entered the mall we saw some Christmas decorations so we decided to get some shots near them. There was a big snowball lit by led lights and people were able to walk through it so we recorded a scene of us dancing through the giant snowball. Eventually we made our way into the mall and recorded shots of us pushing Lauren on the shopping cart. We went into different stores such as Target, Zumiez, and Forever 21. In Forever 21 we recorded shots of us modeling different clothes that we tried on.
After we gabbed a bite to eat in the food court we made our way outside to the arcade. We filmed shots of us playing video games and shots of us playing basketball. After we did that we recorded a scene of us jumping off of a bench near a waterfall.
At the end of the night we had an idea to make our music video seem like a big weird dream that we all had. Once we made it back to Laurens house we filmed our last scene. In this scene we acted like we were shocked when we woke up from the dream. After filming a couple of takes for that scene we were done filming our music video. All that's left for us to do is dump our footage and edit our music video.