Planning Updates!

Hey again! So between my last blog post and now we have began scheduling our overall proeuction outline. Our story planning is going to have to wait until we all meet up again as in person talks are much better for that type of thing. We wanted to set up a set schedule of what we will be doing on what days until our opening is due on April 5th. Having a set schedule would relieve a lot of stress so we don't have to rush certain parts of the project and can give each section(filming, editing, storyboarding, etc) the best amount of time possible. However, our group comes across a roadblock(hopefully this isn't foreshadowing things to come). Oliver and I both work about 4 days a week at different jobs. Our schedules conflict a lot and we only get our schedules a week in advance so planning a month ahead is difficult. I'm not looking forward to having this talk with my manager so soon after taking a ton of time off for my last project.

I really want to focus on proper planning for this video. In our last big project in AICE Media Studies AS I worked with Oliver and Katherine again on making a music campaign for a new band that we created(Summary of the project here). My biggest takeaway from that project was the importance of planning, for the music campaign our planning was pretty lackluster. This brought about a lot of stress and rush nearing the due date of the project and I do not wish to ever have to go through that again. We are collectively going to keep looking at dates to figure out our schedule and I will write an update on that when I have one.

Film Opening Plot Ideas

In class today my group made a rough outline of our plot for our film opening project. Our current idea is about an artist with schizophrenia. One other idea we discussed was a darker drama about a boy being blackmailed online. However, with the idea being so common and us wanting to take a more lighthearted approach, that idea was scrapped. We were talking about how we did not wanted to have accurate as possible representation and did not want to make people with schizophrenia seem like monsters as a lot of the internet does. We ended up finding a TED talk from someone with schizophrenia that helped us out.

Watching the video helped reinforce that our representation mattered heavily. We are going to continue doing our research on the disorder to narrow down how we can advance the plot. My group member Oliver is going to be talking with his AICE Psychology teacher to find out more info and get reputable sources of information. That is all I have to talk about for now but by my next posting I should hopefully have more information on our production.

Drama Film Openings

Hello! While doing research I on my genre I went out and watched some drama film openings to see how other films of the genre did it. Here are a two of the openings that I watched and my thoughts on them.

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather's opening was brilliant! While watching the opening a few different moments stood out to me. The first shot's lighting showed the mans face in a skeleton like manner. This could be showing that he feels like he is "dead" and all out of options. I really enjoyed this film opening as it perfectly demonstrated the genre of drama by introducing characters in a modern setting dealing with their human emotions and struggles. The opening also gives a good amount of introduction about the characters. The Godfather is shown playing with his cat which shows his inner kindness. He is also shown in a position of power by the mise-en-scene of where he is sitting. 

Moonlight (2016)

In this opening the character and his environment are both introduced. The smooth cinematography shows the characters comfort with the world around him. A lot of the environment is also shown by the man begging for drugs and the small homes with the old cars in the driveways. The environment is shown as a low income neighborhood. The man running along the street as the supporting character says "go get em" also gives a greater idea of where they live. The camera circles a lot giving an idea of the relationships of all the characters. The supporting character is also seen as a drug dealer, furthering the low income neighborhood environment.

Drama Genre Research

For my end of the year project, my group has decided to make a film opening in the drama genre. To begin our planning I have done some research on the genre and here is what I have found.

Films in the drama genre typically focus around the emotional development of realistic characters. Themes in the genre genre revolve around real life issues and problems. Drama films strive to tell a story of human struggle, whether it be against others or against themselves. Some of dramas popular sub genres are period piece, tragedy, romance, and political.

Production Techniques

A lot of the production techniques that are used to deliver an effective message in this genre are based around cinematography and acting. The actors need to be able to deliver their lines believably and seem immersed in the world around them. Use of space is going to be very important during filming for this genre as it can tell the viewers a lot about characters' relationships with things around them. Closeups can also be used to give the viewer a deeper look into the character.

Moonlight (2016)

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Ford V Ferrari (2019)

Finished Campaign!

Hello! Just last week I finished a music marketing campaign that I worked on alongside my 2 group members, Oliver and Katherine. We picked the song "Night Running" by Cage The Elephant. For our project we created a new artist called "Super Cyber-Punk Space Cowboy Band" and an identity around them as a new Alternative/Indie group.

While researching our genre we came to the conclusion that our audience would wall under the 16-25 years old range and target people that would consider themselves hippies or that don't follow the norm based on other bands with the same genre. We followed the trend of using twitter heavily for marketing. During our research we found that 80% of Twitter users are millennial which gives presence for our target audience Cage The Elephant, another Alternate/Indie artist has 9,345 tweets and tweets around 3 times a day. We also found that bands in this genre do not focus as much on the individual and instead focus on the aesthetics and ideas of the group as a whole.

We decided to develop the brand of our artist by following in the footsteps of Cage The Elephant and having a large social media presence. We wanted to market ourselves as a relatable and trendy group that our target audience could feel at home with. We are using twitter as our main social media where we constantly post teasers, Q&A sessions, and interact with fans. Our Instagram will be used as a place where fans could see more of our aesthetics. They are able to see this through promotional pictures and behind the scenes of whats happening currently.  

We also created a website that will be used as our hub for all information. Fans can find our newest videos,songs, more information about us, and even buy merch. Our website includes links to all of our social media so fans can find more of our content as the press of a button. Our band is selling low cost stickers, patches and vinyl of our branding as that type of low cost merch is popular among our target audience.

Throughout the making of the music video I learned how important time management and planning shots are. For the marketing campaign I learned just how important social media is in gaining a wider reach and gaining fans. By using what we learned from our mistakes I'm excited to see how our portfolio project that we are starting soon goes!

Representation Analysis

Representation Analysis

Advertisement 1 - Tide

In the ad a white mother is shown talking to the camera complaining about her young daughter's tomboyish natures. The mother is represented as well off as shown by the nice house interior and also very feminine which is represented by the pink, white, and flowers in the scene. The mother also seems to be in her 30's. In the ad the mother talks about how she wishes her daughters tomboyish clothes(hoodies and cargo shorts) were ruined but tide saved them. At the end of the commercial the mother makes a snide comment about her daughter building a car garage with blocks. This represents the need for women to conform to a girly standard of clothing and mannerisms and being looked down on by others who decided to follow that social norm. Audiences viewing this may agree with the advertisements stance as many people still believe in the feminine social norms. The slogan "Style is a option. Clean is not." at the end may be used by the audience as fuel for their argument of women having the choice of wanting to be feminine or not.

Advertisement 2 - Axe

In this ad women in bikinis flock to a singular man spraying Axe body spray on himself. The women are all white and run to the man as if they are animals. The women are represented as being mindless and drawn to men. The male in this ad is represented as something valued highly by females that does not have to try to gain their affection. They are simply an object for him to choose out of many. The audience of this advertisement could be led to believe that Axe has a sort of "charming" effect on women that they find irresistible. This is a very toxic way of thinking as men could start to view women as objects that they deserve and have a right to.

Genre Research - Action

Genre - Action

Context

The action genre is typically defined by being very fast paced with lots of stunts throughout the film. Movies in the action genre revolve around a protagonist or group of protagonists going against one main antagonist. They also contain a large amount of fight scenes or action packed chase scenes or scenes where the protagonist is fighting time.

Captain America fighting his former self in "Avengers: Endgame"

The films in this genre also typically have a white male as the protagonist. The role is dominated by a few actors, some of them being Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, and Dwayne Johnson. In this genre females are not normally cast as leads and instead have a supporting role or are a love interest. In the films characters use a variety of weapons ranging from guns and knives to blasters and lightsabers depending on the world the film takes place in. Action movies can take place in any setting but the most common setting used is the modern world.

Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible"

Production Techniques

Action movies use a couple techniques to really draw the viewers attention. One technique used is high shutter speed. Using a high shutter speed allows the movements of characters and objections to become much more pronounced on screen. Films also use a lot of closeups and extreme closeups. This makes it much easier to make fights and other action seem realistic and also makes the final edit easier. Action films also use a ton of visual effects to make the stunts preformed seem as realistic as possible.

Before and after visual effects in "John Wick: Chapter 3"

Marketing

Action movie marketing is typically done by showing action scenes in trailers. Movie studios capitalize on people paying attention to fast things and show as much action as they can without spoiling the movie in marketing campaigns. Studios also make flashy posters with the most well known actors so people rush to see famous actors in new movies.

Films

                     Deadpool

The movie Deadpool is about a superhuman man who is trying to take revenge on the evil scientist who conducted experiments on him. In this film the protagonist is a white male(Ryan Reynolds) and there is only one main antagonist. The movie is advanced by gruesome fight scenes that all take place in a realistic modern world. The film is extremely fast paced and the fight scenes have loads of closeups adding to the mayhem, both staples of the action genre.

Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame is an action film in which the remaining avengers must find a way to defeat the main villain Thanos and revert the damage he did to the universe. This film has a lot of visual effects and fight scenes throughout the movie. The movie has non-stop action and includes fight scenes where the characters use both modern weapons and mythical devices to fight the enemy. 

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

John Wick (2014)

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The Terminator (1984)