Genre Choice for Film

 My partner and I had three genre options to choose for our short film. The three genres were crime, thriller, and drama. While discussing which one we wanted to pick we decided not to do drama. We didn't want to do drama because it didn't really focus on our pitch. After talking to my partner for some time we were stuck between picking  thriller or crime to be the genre that represents our short film. We both agreed that the genres had many similarities that could be used. After discussing it the genre that we choose to go with was crime. We choose this specific genre because our pitch is mainly about a crime being committed. Due to the fact that the genres are so similar we thought it would be a great idea to go with crime because with the crime genre we'll be able to include the features of a thriller movie on our film. For example, we expect our film to give off a suspenseful mood to the audience. We also expect it to keep the veiwers excited and keep their anticipation level extremely high throughout the entire film. While researching we found that a sub genre of the crime genre is a "legal thriller". We were inspired to choose the crime genre out of all three options because we realized that that would be the genre that would best be portrayed in our film. Our pitch was "A lady supposedly goes on vacation and when her house is broken into her body is found floating in the pool". At the time we thought the pool would be the best place for the lady to be found. Now we realized we most likely will have to change that part of our pitch. Neither of us have access to a pool right now. Since we don't have access to a pool we decided to say that the womans lifeless body will be found in a bathtub. This is not a big tweak so it shouldn't affect our pitch too much. If we are able to gain access to a pool when it comes time to film we'll make sure to keep a note of that. 

Genre Research (Thriller, Crime, Drama)

 A genre were going to explore is the crime or criminal genre. Common CAMS in the criminal genre include high and low angled shots, close-ups, extreme close ups, dolly zooms, dolly movement, and handheld shots. Common sounds in criminal thriller genre include soundtracks, diegetic sounds, non-diegetic sounds, ambient sounds, sound bridges, dialogue, and incidental music. Common Mis en scene in this genre include, lighting, actors, make-up, props, and settings (in mysterious places).  Common editing technical used in this genre consist of dissolve transitions, montages, fade outs/ins, cut aways, and jump cuts. Example Films include the movies “Rope”, “Dial M for murder”, and “The silence of the lambs”. Elements of the genre I like is the suspense thats comes from the conflict, the foreshadowing, and when the crimes are solved.

Elements of the genre that do not appeal to me are the fact that you can sometimes tell how the story will

end. I like to be surprised, and these type of films aren’t really suspenseful.
The second genre we’re going to explore is the thriller genre. A thriller is a suspense film the evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. Lightings used in thriller movies are key lighting, under lighting, and filler light. Common camera angles and shots in thrillers are high angle shots, low angle shots, canted angles, wide shots, and panning shots. Characteristics of common sounds found in the thriller genre, is dark and eerie sounds. The music starts in a slow pace at first whilst gradually speeding up the pace helping to create the tension and build climax.  Common Mis En Scene in thriller, weapons art the common props in fight scenes, which are commonly used to create tension. The thriller genre uses the elements of story(action), plot, character and setting. The story in thrillers uses tension and excitement to stimulate the viewers moods. Examples of this genre consist of Get Out, Taken, Seven, and Unknown. Thriller films are enjoyed because it keeps the audience at the end of their seats and build suspense and tension, it entertains the audience and engages them through the film.
Finally the last genre we're going to research is the drama genre. Common camera angles, and shots in this genre are long shots, close-ups, two-shots, and over-the shoulder shots. Continually, common camera movements include tilts, zooms, and dolly's. Characteristics of common sounds found in this genre are dialogue, sound effects, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Common Mis En Scene in the drama genre include, costumes, lighting, actors of course, make-up and props. Common editing skills used in this genre, to elaborate its stories are jump cuts, split screens, cut aways, and fade outs. Examples of drama films include, “The Godfather”, “Boogie Nights”, and “12 Angry Men”. Elements from this genre I find appealing are the serious presentations the movies are presented in. An element that does not appeal to me is the fact that throughout the film we have to worry about the main characters mental state. It’s not something I personally find interesting.

Genres I Would Like to Research

 Today we’ve chosen 3 genres we want to research. We chose these three by picking ones that are similar with our pitch. We wanted to place our film in a category that made sense. We chose the genres drama, crime, and thriller. We picked the drama genre because it involves a conflict between the characters. In this case this genre would relate to our pitch because the conflict would be between the people who are being suspected of murdering the woman. In our pitch a crime is committed and, it’s going to be solved. The crime genre has multiple sub genres. But most of the films and stories in this drama are about crime investigations. They generally don’t feature or show stuff that happens in the courtroom. The key elements  of this genre include suspense and mystery. This genre relates to our pitch, because it includes a criminal investigation. In order for us to figure out who killed the woman in our pitch a criminal investigation will have to take place. Suspense is also included, as we try to figure out who the killer is. Finally, the  thriller genre. This genre is mainly characterized by the mood it gives off. Known for the suspense it creates, excitement, surprise and anticipation. This goes with our pitch because my part and I would also like to create some sort of tension while telling the story. We don’t want viewers bored while the crime is being figure out, or when we found out the ladies dead . We want that little spin of suspense, And anticipation.

I think picking one genre to put our film under is going to be quite a challenge.

We have our pitch?

 

A lady supposedly goes on vacation and when her house is broken into her body is found floating in her pool.

Partnering Up

 Hey guys I'm back at it again. So today's blog is basically going to be about who I decided to work with. My teachers gave us the option to work by ourselves or work with a partner or group of people. Normally I would've automatically joined a group. However, due to covid 19 that wasn't the case. At first I was considering working by myself for obvious safety reasons. Then my teachers put out a list for all A level students to see to choose if they would like to work with anyone on the list. I was still leaning more towards working by myself until I saw someone's name that I knew. I saw the name Jasmine and I remembered I had a class with her freshman year and we worked together before. She was a good partner to work with so I decided to text her. After communicating with her the two of us decided we would work together. Instead of doing a group of 4 we decided to just stick to two people. With two people in a group we'll still be able to split the work. For example, since were at home one person will film at their house with their family members or friends as our film actors and the other person would edit and write the blogs. If we the covid 19 cases continue to decline then of course we will try to meet up with each other in person to film. Jasmine and I plan on brain storming ideas of what we want our film to be about this upcoming weekend. So far I've been considering doing a murder mystery or a domestic violence theme. I know I want it to fall in the thriller or horror category for sure. I haven't heard any of Jasmine's ideas yet. When I do hear them I might even have a change of heart. Nothing has been finalized yet but it will be soon. The sooner we choose an idea the sooner we can get started on planning out everything. I'm so excited for this I literally can't wait to get started !

Welcome Back Blog

I guess this is my welcome back to blogging. It's a new school year and I'm now in the A level AICE Media class. I can definitely say it's a big change but I'm ready to take on this new challenge. Last year covid 19 struck the U.S. so schools were permanently closed for the rest of the school year. After the shutting down of schools I had to complete my AICE Media project online. It was a challenge but my group members and I made it work. I ended up passing the class as well as the Cambridge test. My final grade was a B and I scored an E on the exam. I was beyond thankful for that. However, this year I want to do better than I did last year. I expect to have an A in the class every quarter and I expect to score at least a C or higher this time. Today my teacher explained what our final project was. I think this project will teach me many new things. I've never created a website before so I'm extremely excited about that. I've also never used Facebook before so using the app should be an interesting experience for me. I say this because most teens only use Snapchat, Twitter, or Instagram. I'm also excited about filming and editing this year. I haven't figured out whether or not I will be working in a group or not but as of right now I'm planning on working alone. I've had several ideas about what I want my 5 minute film to be on. Although, I have a number of ideas none seem to jump out to me. Hopefully I'll have picked an idea for my film by next week.

Audience and Institution Essay

The area of study that I chose was film. I will be assessing the importance of marketing in the film media area. In my opinion, marketing is an extremely important thing to do for a film to be successful. I feel this way for several reasons. The main reason is because marketing is required in order to attract an audience to come and watch the film. Without appropriate marketing production companies would have no source of income, which would mean that creating the film was a total waste of time.

As previously mentioned, marketing is essential for films in order to attract an audience. With the proper marketing a film will draw in a large crowd which will bring in more revenue for the production company. If a film has bad marketing, it won’t do well because if the audience doesn’t like how the film is being portrayed or how it’s being talked about then they won’t want to spend their money or their time watching the film. For example, the Marvel production company marketed the movie “Blank Panther”, which was directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Fiege and David J. Grant, by reaching out to the audiences that lie within African American community. The film made approximately 1.344 billion dollars in box offices after its release. The film was later released on Xfinity on demand, which is a way to watch movies at home. By doing this they also brought in money because people were able to but or rent the film from home. The film was able to gain this much money all because of the way it was marketed.

In addition, the main goal of film marketing is to properly promote the movie. The main way that film companies go about promoting movies is by making short trailers. If the trailer catches the audience’s eye, then they will want to see the movie when it comes out. There are also other ways that film companies endorse their films. Some of these ways include interacting with fans through social media (Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook etc.), making posters, or doing interviews with the actors of the film. Of course, those aren’t all the marketing techniques that are used but those are probably the most frequently used ones. Market campaigns are essential when it comes to drawing in viewers. The campaigns are meant to make the movie seem interesting. For example, in Marvels hit movie “End Game”, which was directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, they created an intriguing trailer which made fans want to watch the movie. The people that were behind the marketing for this film new exactly how to attract a large audience. In the trailer for the movie they included action as well as suspense and mystery which left the viewers in a state of shock and wonder, which is what you want to do. If marketing teams didn’t use any of these techniques, then people probably wouldn’t be interested in seeing the films that they are trying to promote.

Lastly, proper marketing is essential especially when it comes to the release of the film. Market campaigns are essential when it comes to drawing in viewers. The campaigns are meant to make the movie seem interesting. “Bad Boys for Life” recently came out and the marketing campaign for that movie was phenomenal. Posters were made as well as an amazing trailer. The trailer included comedy as well as tons of action. Things like this attracted many viewers which resulted in high numbers in the box office. After being in theaters for about 3 weeks the movie generated approximately 17.7 million dollars. All that money was made in three weeks now just imagine the amount of money that they gained overall, and this was all due to great marketing strategies. You will never actually know how well a film was marketed until the film is released out into theaters. Studies have shown that box office sales from the first week show how well the film was marketed. If box office sales were low, then that means poor marketing was done for the film and if the box office sales are high then that means the marketing for the film was done perfectly.

In conclusion, without film marketing movies wouldn’t be as popular as they are now nor would they generate as much money as they do right now. It is essential that films are strategically marketed, so that money can be made from the films being made. The whole point of marketing is to get people interested in the film which is why it is so important in the media area called “film”.

Question 1: Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.