Sunday, January 26, 2020

Genre Research: Black Panther

As the end of the school year comes to a closing, so does all the classes and assignments. For Aicemedia, the final assignment has been started as of the new year. The Aice students have been instructed to do an opening of an original movie that we have created to be submitted to Cambridge for grading. Before we can get to that part, everything has to be planned out and done step by step to ensure the final project is done accurately. There will around 30 or more blogs to help groups or individuals plan and look back on when necessary. This blog will focus on a selected movie from the genre my group members and I choose. The movie selected is Black Panther. The movie focuses on an African American male who has to rise to the throne of Wakanda and ensure the safety of his people and the whole world in general. Although he has faced many dangers, he shows determination throughout the movie and his will to sacrifice himself for the good. The science-fiction/ fantasy film was released in 2018 and produced by Walt Disney's Marvel Studios. It became a very popular movie and made millions of dollars. The movie image is inserted.
First, camera shots, angles and movements in this motion picture include (but aren't limited to ) over the shoulder, long shot, establishing shot, medium shot, low angle, dutch angle, tracking shot, and zoom. The over the shoulder shot shows a sorrowful moment as TChalla's father slowly kills his brother who stole and gave Vibranium to an enemy of Wakanda. This shot gives a personal view and shows that there is some relationship between the characters. There is also a medium shot of two female characters, Nakia and Okoye, hugging from the relief of one another being safe. A low angle in this is W'Kabi blowing the horning to initiate a meeting for the different groups in Wakanda. This angle shows that W'Kabi must be highly ranked because the individuals to whom he was blowing the horn to is placed below him. For movement, a common shot done in this film is the tracking shot where men are riding horses quickly as they follow the Wakanda spaceship to its landing. This might have been implemented to show that something is about to be uncovered in the movie and it allows the audience to anticipate what will come the same way the horse riders are. Next, elements for the mis en scene within the movie are costumes, lighting, actors, makeup, props, and sound. The clothing choices for the people of royalty are somewhat bright garments dressed with gold jewelry. This style showed that the characters such as TChalla’s mother, was wealthy or had great influence in Wakanda. African warriors whether men or women wore skin tight armors in the production and paired it with pointy sticks that matched the outfits. The makeup in the movie in the movie goes hand in hand with the costumes such as the face paint used to indicate war ready people. Micheal B. Jordan’s character had bumps that looked like braille to show how much fighting he was involved in.  The actors in the movie portrayed their roles excellently. Thoughout the movie, TChalla did his part in leading as the ruler of Wakanda despite the adversary he faced. Lupita Nyong’o, who played Nakia the young spy for Wakanda. Nakia fulfills her role of being a caring being who will risk it for those she cares about when she helps many girls captured in the movie escape.
     Moreover, the lighting in the movie consists of a mixture of darkness with minimal light in certain scenes. An example is the scene that shows how Vibranium is decreasing quickly in Wakanda and will have a great impact on the society. During this scene the darkness gave a gloomy mood and showed me as the audience, a sense of defeat among the fictional place. However, the little light left glowing from the Vibranium showed that there was hope for the people of Wakanda. The props used in this film consisted of spaceships, guns, swords, and even horns. This help make the fighting scenes more exciting. The sound in the movie were a lot of diegetic and non diegetic. The fighting scene between two future kings of Wakanda had diegetic sound which was the water swooshing and falling in the background. Non diegetic were the sounds coming from the fake Black Panther car used. The editing done in this film were cross cutting, fade ins, match cut, reaction shot, and shot/ reverse shot. The common elements of genre in this film were advanced technology, fictional locations, and saving humanity before it’s too late. To finish this blog, something i didn’t like in regards to the elements of the genre was the fictional location. Being that this movie focuses solely on African/ African American people, I wish it used a real civilization to base the film on. On the other hand, the element of genre I appealed to was saving humanity. I often enjoy happy endings and thanks to TChalla and those who helped him figure out how to stop Vibranium from going scarce, life on Earth.



Genre Research: Divergent

  As the end of the school year comes to a closing, so does all the classes and assignments. For Aicemedia, the final assignment has been started as of the new year. The Aice students have been instructed to do an opening of an original movie that we have created to be submitted to Cambridge for grading. Before we can get to that part, everything has to be planned out and done step by step to ensure the final project is done accurately. There will around 30 or more blogs to help groups or individuals plan and look back on when necessary. This blog will focus on a selected movie from the genre my group members and I choose. Moreover, the movie chosen is Divergent. This is a science fiction movie released in 2014. The movie depicts a society with people separated into groups based on who they believe themselves to be. However, one girl discovers that she can't be subjected to one group because she is made up of all of them and this causes a war. Below is a photo of the movie:

https://www.google.com/search?q=divergent&sxsrf=ACYBGNTcxBtpfhi8VC1tYFlmX7J6ur1WRg:1579985455058&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip8LG-0J_nAhXvw1kKHT4tC2kQ_AUoAXoECBoQAw&biw=1399&bih=798#imgrc=oDcgyNFOAfNRQM:




    In addition, the movie consists of different things that make it what it is. Camera shots and angles in this film are close-ups, medium shots, long shots, over the shoulder shot, high angles, low, and even point of view. The angles keep the audience watching, for example, the CU of the head of Beatrice (the leading actress) hooked up to the machine in the room makes viewers anticipate the thought of something bad happening to the hero. The low angle where Beatrice is repeatedly punching the punching bag with force is purposeful because it gives the idea that she is preparing to fight the war that's coming and she's doing so by training hard. Several movements in the 2014 released sci-fi are tilt, pan, zoom, bird's view, and tracking shot. The bird's view showed the large auditorium of people ready to choose the faction they believed they belonged to in society. The tracking shot allowed spectators to feel as if they were escaping with the group of fearless adolescents who didn't want to be controlled for the rest of their life. The pan movement that takes place in the gym within the film, shows people training to improve before the leaders trying to force people into groups form an army to stop any interventions that might prevent this. Besides these angles, shots, and movements, Divergent has other components such as the mise en scene.
     First, the costumes within the show vary. Everyone is dressed based on who they are and what they must represent in society. The Abnegation who were selfless wore gray outfits that were somewhat oversized and very plain. This showed that they didn't care for much and were fine with being bland because they were self-denying. The Dauntless was fearless and represented this with blacking clothing that showed skin or was tight. The fact that black is often associated with bad made this easy to understand what they were trying to portray. The lighting in the show was sometimes a dark setting or one that was luminous. The dark setting in the scene of Beatrice and her lover, Tobias(a.k.a. Four), embracing each other is significant as it brings the audience to believe that the duo might be separated because of the fight among individuals in society. The well-lit scene of Tris being tested based on what she might fear is important because during the movie, I discovered she truly doesn't fear anything making it a good thing for her. It was a good thing for the leading actor because it gave her the boost of knowledge that people controlling society couldn't do as much as they thought they could. 
     In addition, the actors play do an important part in this film making. Leading actress, Shailene Woodley, constantly shows why she's divergent(being of all groups in society) whether she's defying the scientists who force her into being of one personality or helping selfish individuals like her brother. Her mother in the movie does a great job of being selfless which is the trait of the faction she belongs to. She fights alongside her brave daughter, but eventually takes several bullets and dies for the greater good. The makeup in the film is kept at a minimum, but there are realistic looking scars when the characters get hurt or tattoos to enhance the rebel trait of the Dauntless. The props used were guns for fighting and needles often used to inject truth serums or initiate mental testing for possible divergents. The sound in the movie mainly consists of dialogue, score, or incidental. Dialogue is plenteous because it is a movie and the characters are constantly thinking of different plans. The score in this is mainly for action scenes like when Beatrice is put to test in her mind and has to perform a numerous amount of wild tasks to survive. The incidental music identifies that thing such as fighting is going to take place or death and even bring one's heart to rapid beatings because of anxiousness. Furthermore, the editing in this film help piece together the film.  There are fade-ins, shot revere shots, and eyeline matches. In the film’s genre, common elements associated with science fiction are speculation on the future of mankind, the affect of new technology, and fictional places and societies. In conclusion, what I didn't like most about the film was that there wasn't any recognizable songs because they were mainly instrumental. However, I liked the costumes such as the Dauntless faction outfits because I love the color black and the mischievous side it brought out of the individuals. 



Opening Sequence Blog

The genre of our opening sequence will be Science Fiction. At first, we were going to do an action opening sequence. However, action opening sequences aren't the best when it comes to grabbing a viewers attention. After discussing with my group members we came to the conclusion that Science Fictions are the best way to grab a viewers attention. Science Fiction opening sequences always make the viewer intrigued and have an urge to know what will happen next. We know this because of all of the science fiction movies that we have watched for example Alien Covenant and Life. No other genre makes a viewer as intrigued than science fictions.

Action and Thriller Genre Research Blog

Action

Common Camera Angles:

  • Aerial Shot
  • Close up
  • Medium Shot
  • Long Shot
  • Deep Focus
  • Dutch Tilt
Common Mis en Scene: 

  • City Setting
  • City Lights
  • Lighting and shadows
  • Costumes 
  • Makeup
Common Editing: 

  • Skip scene
  • Insert
  • Cutaway
  • Eyeline Match
  • Cross cutting
Elements of the Genre: 
  • Fighting
  • Stunts
  • Eplosions
  • Explosives
Film Examples:

  • Avengers
  • Spiderman 3
  • Ironman 2
  • Mad Max
  • John Wick
Common sounds in action films: 

  • Explosions
  • Screams
  • Gunfire
  • Crowd
  • Police Cars
  • Vehicles
Elements of the genre that I like:

The element I like about this genre is the intense feeling that you get at the climax of the film. I also like the different props used throughout the films such as fake explosives and cars.

What elements of the genre do not appeal to you?: 

The element of the genre that I don't like is the lack of on-set action. The use of cgi has taken over almost all of the movies that we watch today.



Thriller


Common Camera Angles:

  • Establishing Shot
  • Close up
  • Pan Shot
  • Two Shot
  • Depth of Field
  • Over the Shoulder Shot
Common Mis en Scene: 

  • Props; knives, weapons and more.
  • Crowd of people.
  • Lighting 
  • Costumes and makeup
  • CGI
Common Editing: 

  • Cut
  • Insert
  • Fade
  • Jump cut
  • Shot Reverse shot
  • Cross cutting
Elements of the Genre: 
  • Conflict
  • Villains
  • Bridging tension
Film Examples:

  • Get out
  • Us
  • Gerlad's Game
  • Glass
  • Bird Box
  • Jaws
Common sounds in thriller films: 
  • Screams
  • Gunfire
  • One on one combat
  • Police Cars

Elements of the genre that i like:

The element I like about this genre is the excitement and tension that you get during the film. I also like the costumes and makeup used in different thriller films; they make the movie more exciting.

What elements of the genre do not appeal to you?: 

The element of the genre that I don't like is how thriller movies don't include as many characters compared to different genres such as comedies or actions.

Friday, January 24, 2020

Genre Research Powerpoint










In this project, my group members and I researched a specific genre (dance) and made a power-point based on the different elements of it. As showed in the pictures above, we added various elements including common lighting, camera angles, and common Mis en Scene.

We also included five common elements of dance; body, action, space, time and energy. Then we added examples of dance films; Stop The Yard, Honey, and Dirty Dancing. Lastly, we added the common sounds in our genre which include, Hardcore, techno, base and electric.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Narrowed down Pitches

After discussing with my group, we came down to our 2 best pitches. At first, we had a couple pitches that were decent. The first pitch we had was a girl who was coming home from work and noticed a car following her. This would have been a thriller. However, none of my group members drive so it would have been more complicated. So, we came up with another pitch. This pitch was more of a horror. In this pitch, a girl is in her home, and she notices things in the room moving around. As the girl tries to see what is wrong, she is confronted with a killer. Me and Freya came up with this pitch. However, Joaquina didn't like this pitch.

We needed to come up with a pitch that we could all agree on and work with. Therefore, we kept on discussing. We thought about different genres and sub genres like horror and suspense that would help come up with a good pitch. After a while of discussing, we decided to watch a few short horrors on YouTube to get a better understanding and inspiration for our pitch.

We watched a few videos to get inspiration for our pitch. Finally, we got back to discussing. It was difficult to come up with our pitch. We needed to come up with something that we all agreed on and that was actually doable. If Freya liked a pitch, Joaquina didn't like it. If i liked a pitch, neither of them liked it. This took a while. After discussing and thinking through our ideas, we finally narrowed down to our final pitch. The pitch we came up with ended up being a thriller/crime. My group and I agreed that it was a good pitch. The pitch was: A girl is coming home from dinner with a man. When they get to the house, they get in bed together, and the girl ends up seeing suspicious things in the home, leading to the man killing her. This was the best pitch that was thought of, so we used this one.

Start of the Final Task


For this project I will be working with Freya, and Joaquina. At first we were going to work with Jeo. Jeo then decided that he would work by himself because it was easier for him. My group and I discussed different ideas and pitches for our project. At first, Joaquina wanted to do a comedy. Me and Freya told Joaquina that a comedy wouldn't work because the video has to make the viewer want to feel anticipation. This wouldn't work with a comedy. Thus, after discussing some more, we came to the conclusion that we will be doing a suspense/thriller. We will be making an opening to a movie in which I will be the killer and Freya will be the victim. These past few classes, I have learned many things.

One thing I learned was what a "pitch" is. A pitch is a Hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is encapsulated in twenty five words or less. Usually with one sentence. I also learned about audiences and institutions. The institution is the companies that make films. The audience is the people that watch the films. I learned about conglomerates and subsidiaries as well. A conglomerate is a large parent company which owns a range of smaller companies, while a subsidiary is the smaller companies owned by a parent company. Concentration of media ownership on the other hand, is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organisations control increasing shares of the media. Finally, I learned about the Big Five. The Big Five (Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Colombia, and Paramount) are the top movie studios.

My group and I came up with a few pitches. We discussed a few of the pitches and picked the best ones. We came up with our first pitch; a girl is going for run, she sees a person following her so she turns. The girl looks back again and is still being followed by the same person, so she decides to start running faster and when she takes a turn, she runs into the stalker. Our second pitch was a crime/thriller, which is the one we decided to use. A girl is coming home from dinner with a man. When they get to the house, they get in bed together, and the girl ends up seeing suspicious things in the home, leading to the man killing her. After taking a long time to come up with our narrowed down pitch , we finally got it. This was the best pitch that was thought of, so we used this one.