First Group Meeting

 Hello blog, I hope everyone is doing amazing! 

I am super excited to share that we had our first group meeting in class today! I was put into a group with 5 other students to share each of our plans for our own portfolio projects. At first I was very nervous going into it because I was scared that their projects were going to be much more far along with better ideas and better planning. However, it was very refreshing to see that my classmates were going through similar obstacles and indecisiveness. 

Right now we are all in our planning periods. This period is probably the most crucial step for our portfolio project. It has been very hard for me to feel confident in the choices I am making for this project as I seem to have lots of ideas to choose from. The planning period is very crucial because the decisions we make now set the fate for where the rest of our project is going to go from here. 

With that, it was extremely helpful to be able to bounce off ideas and brainstorm out loud with my fellow classmates. Not only was it very intriguing to learn more about their individual projects and their creative process, but it was very profitable to be given some advice and critiques. I also appreciated how everyone was approaching their projects in a different order; one of my group members is starting by choosing his music while another one of my group members is starting by creating a script. Also, another one of my group members gave us some advice to start by creating a shot list to plan out the development of our stories and to be able to visualize the project and its' plot. 

- Here I have a link to share some research about shot lists and examples!

In regards to my project, I started by talking them through my journey of deciding a genre. After I explained how I wanted to do action/romance, I introduced the idea of maybe opening with a flashback. After much deliberation, my group members helped me decide that I want to open my project with a shot of a door swinging open and the two lovers/thieves running out while the cops trail behind by just a couple seconds. Opening with chaos will help bring out elements of an action film while effectively grabbing the audience's attention. My group members also gave me some advice to really focus on the music for my project as music is a very important part of any action film. They also advised me to play around with sound, maybe siren sounds fading out as the opening shows a flashback to the couple in love and at peace before all the chaos. 

- Here I have a link to share some research of songs featured in action films. 

Overall I am very grateful that we were given the opportunity to discuss our projects in groups. This group meeting really helped open my eyes and show me much more possibilities to approach my project.

Developing Our Storyline

Hello Blog, I am thrilled to begin the planning phase of my project, which is one of its most crucial phases. I'll be talking about the plot that Helio and I will probably employ in this piece.

Because to the action genre of our movie, we must craft a compelling narrative that will pique the interest of the viewers. I found an article that gives us tips on how to approach the process of creating an action film's storyline. The article sums up four important tips; how to draw the audience in, how to keep the audience hooked, using action to establish characters, and how to create an element of mystery. We plan on using these tips to develop more thorough details of our story.  Throughout our brainstorming process, we encountered a lot of dead ends, but the article helped us come to a conclusion. Our ultimate choice will be based on a loving pair of robbers who are on the run from the law. 

Tips on developing action storyline

Last week when I met with Mrs. Stoklosa, she told me to check out the film Ghosted (2023) featuring Chris Evans and Anna de Armas. This film is a great example because it is an action film that contains elements of romance. This movie has the exact mashup we were searching for, and it also provides us with fantastic ideas for our own movie. We will avoid situations with large-scale special effects that we are unable to incorporate into our shots as some of the scenarios will be quite challenging for us to attempt. The ferocity of the gunfight parts kept me engaged, and I'll attempt to pick up some techniques from the other pursuing moments.

Our next step is to create a specific beginning, middle, and end to our opening. We will continue working on out story outline and hopefully begin our script by this week. I can't wait to continue sharing our journey with you all!

Thank you, see you next time!

Film Opening Approach

 Hello Blog!

Now that me and my partner have chosen to blend romance and action for our portfolio opening, we can now move on to choosing an official film opening approach. 

After doing more research for film opening techniques, I was introduced to countless new approaches. One technique that really caught my eye was using the flashback method. This technique can serve many purposes such as showing us a formative experience for our protagonist, something in their past that motivates them or haunts them. This technique allows the audience to be not only introduced to the main character, but also provided with crucial information from their past that gives context to the storyline to come.  I will need to introduce this idea to my partner to see what he thinks.

One thing me and my partner did agree on is that the audience wants to be entertained from beginning to end, and context is what gets them interested in the film.  We've created one storyline idea, but we're not sure if this will be the production's ultimate choice. My partner and I were coming up with ideas for a movie that would feature two lovers who are robbers on the run and trying to avoid being caught by the police by depicting a dramatic scene at the beginning of the film. The audience will be well-informed enough to understand the plot and begin to piece together the characters' motivations as the story progresses. 

Furthermore, we are thrilled to be moving forward and working together to develop the best possible project. But over the next several days, we have a ton of preparation ahead of us, which we will employ to keep moving forward with this adventure. 

Thank you blog, see you next time!

   

Difficulties with genre

 Welcome back blog!

Last week I had mentioned how me and my partner were leaning towards picking action as the genre for our opening. However, after much deliberation we came to realize that action might be a tough genre to execute for our project. Although action is a super effective genre when it comes to grabbing the audience's attention, it would be tricky to find all the resources to make an action opening. 

Most action films nowadays include big money shots whether it be with big explosives or cars flying off of a bridge. Action films can involve complex choreography, spectacular stunts, and special effects which can be challenging for newcomers to manage. 

Today in class we had meetings with our teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, to discuss our blog formatting. While in the meeting, I took the opportunity to ask her for advice regarding choosing the genre. She agreed with me saying the action would be a difficult genre to execute. 

However, I did not want to abandon the action genre completely. Therefore I asked Mrs. Stoklosa if it would be possible to combine two genres. With her approval, I presented the idea to my partner and he was on board. We decided that we wanted to do a combination of action and romance.

It may be quite effective to draw in viewers and establish the mood for an interesting plot by fusing romance with action in a movie's opening moments. This combination will allow for more complex storylines, stronger emotional connection, and well established tone. 

Genre Blending 

^ This article showed me the benefits and possibilities of genre blending!

Developing Project Schedule

 Hello Blog! Today I will be discussing further planning for my portfolio project. As this is a huge project, it is imperative to use our time accordingly and plan ahead. Something I have always struggled with is time management, so it is very important that for this project I have everything prepared ahead of time. 

I will plan at least three days a week where I can set apart at least an hour a day just to work on this project. This past week, my major focus was on the research aspect of this project. Now, that I have most of my research done, my focus for this week will be developing the story outline. On Wednesday and Friday, I will be working with my partner Helio to create a story outline and then hopefully we can get started on our script.

After we have our storyline set, it will be imperative to create a shot list and get started on our storyboard. We will then have to get together to discuss possible filming locations and a filming schedule. 

By week 5, the first week of March, it will be in our best interest to get started on filming in which we would have already developed our mise-en-scene elements. I think it will also be smart to edit as we go and not leave the editing process for last minute.

By week 7, we should have most of the editing done, so that by week 8 and 9 we can focus on creating our Creative Critical Reflection projects.

We have a pretty busy couple of weeks ahead of us, but I am super excited to put a lot of our time and effort into this to be able to be super proud of our final project!!

Choosing a genre

 Welcome back blog! Last blog post I mentioned how I was considering choosing action as the genre for my portfolio project. After deliberately researching different genres, the idea that action films have a powerful opening sequence that not only teases the plot and introduces you to the key characters, but also keeps you hooked to the screen from the very beginning, makes me feel more comfortable in choosing action. 

An amazing example of an action film opening is The Dark Knight (2008). This film opens up by introducing the villain which allows the audience to capture how intelligent the protagonist is and what he is a capable of. The film starts with a bank robbery scene by the Joker. The duality of the scene and the way that the other robbers mentioned the head robber, Joker, allows the audience to fully understand who the bad guy is in the first five minutes of the film. Viewers comprehend that he is cunning, vicious, and intelligent, and that he is in complete control of everything that occurs—he even has the ability to predict when the school bus will arrive and murder the final robber. This opens the film with a thrilling and startling tone demonstrating the Joker's caliber. 

Another amazing example of an action film opening is Deadpool (2016). This film uses the approach of introducing the film's tone by its strange dialogue with Dopinder, its humorous titles, and most importantly, a unique battle sequence that teases the remainder of the film which contains slow motion editing to an emotional song. The director uses the technique of breaking the fourth wall to help the audience make a connection to the protagonist. With the combination of violence, funny comments, and countless punches; the audience is aware of what the movie will be like and is hooked to the sarcastic tone that this movie offers.

Using these openings as inspiration, I plan to open up my action project portfolio by introducing a chaotic and entertaining tone as well as introducing a key character. I want my audience to feel the same blood pumping sensations and excitement that I get when watching action films. I really hope to hook my audience and bring an element of suspense to make the piece more enjoyable. 

Until next time!

Opening Techniques

 Hello blog, welcome back! I am beyond excited to say that I have started the research process for my portfolio project! Before starting my research, I was very lost on what I wanted to do for this project, especially choosing what genre to do. However, these past couple of days I have researched countless openings from a variety of different films and I found that some of the most iconic openings come from action films. Videos on Youtube really helped push me in the right direction and gain more knowledge on openings. 

These two videos really taught me more about what approach to take when creating a film opening. Choosing the action genre for my portfolio project will allow me to open with an action sequence to really hook my audience and grab their undivided attention. These videos mentioned different techniques to open a film such as introducing a character. In a film there is always a protagonist and an antagonist. Opening the film with the villain can sneak the audience into their mind and show us what they are capable of. However, opening the film with the hero allows the audience to make an emotional connection with the protagonist. 

Another technique could be strictly following the genre and opening the film by introducing the tone. The opening to the film La La Land is a great example of this. It starts off the film with a musical number which features the power of a crowd, the lyrics, excitement, vibrant outfits, and then throws the audience back to reality by showing what daily life in the traffic of LA is like. After the amazing musical number, the audience is introduced to the two main characters, which allows for the juxtaposition of fantasy and reality to connect the audience to the amazing genre of musicals. 

I am still not sure which technique to use for my opening as there are so many amazing techniques. I hope that with more research and the help of my group members we will be able to make a decision and agree on which technique to use. 

Stay tuned for more blog posts coming, to keep you guys in the loop throughout my research process!

Transition to Portfolio Project

 Hello Blog!

I am super excited to share the news that for the next nine weeks, I will be working on one of the biggest projects ever! For my AICE Media Studies class, we have been given the assignment to make a final portfolio project. This project will be focused on the titles and opening of a new fiction film. In a group, I will need to create a storyline and effectively bring it to life with all the media practices we have learned throughout the year. 

The past projects all helped guide us to where we needed to be to successfully complete this project. The first project we did was to help us get comfortable with all the camera shots and angles. We have done foley projects to help us gain knowledge on the sound elements in a film. Also, we have done other projects which helped us learn how to navigate editing softwares like Adobe Premiere. 

Additionally, for all the projects we have done this past year, planning was a major component. We have learned how to effectively plan ahead mainly using storyboards. The next two weeks are going to mainly focused on planning; choosing a genre, outlines, and developing the characters and the plot.

I can not wait to share my journey throughout this project here on my blog! I will be taking you guys with me on a rollercoaster of my creative process, through all my ups and downs, reflecting on my mistakes and talking through them to help me create the best possible production!

Music Marketing Blog

     As a group of four, we were given the task of making an artist with an entirely new brand. One of the first questions I had when facing this task was, what is a brand. After some research and discussions with my group members we learned that a brand is name, design, product, or service that has unique qualities and can be identified and distinguished from others in its' industry. 

    The music genre we were given was hiphop/funk with the song "Me and Your Mama" by Childish Gambino. Hip Hop/ funk is a genre that I listen to frequently, so I was very glad with our assignment. Childish Gambino is a part of RCA Records as well as Steve Lacy. I was given the task find research about RCA's history and Childish Gambino's marketing strategies, distribution practices, and audience interaction tools and methods. My partner also did research on Steve Lacy. As the second part of our case study, we had to research another record label company that shared the same genre. My group members did research on the company Aftermath Entertainment which was founded by Dr. Dre. We focused our research on two very well known artists, Kendrick Lamar and Anderson Paak. 

    The second part of our project was to make a music marketing campaign. In this task we had to create a brand new artist for the hip hop/ funk part of the music industry and create marketing and distribution methods with unique and innovative qualities. As our target audience is young adults ages ranging from 18-34, unisex, and avid hip hop/ funk listeners, we decided that having a strong social media presence would help us reach more people. We plan on having accounts on various platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube where we can post song teasers, behind the scenes footage, and clips of performances. We also plan to hire famous influencers to use our songs for their posts to help us promote or new artist. Additionally, we plan to take part in countless concerts and music festivals to help our artist make connections and hopefully meet new artists for future collaborations. We have a very active website baby funk website where you will be able to find our brand's mission statement, overview of what it is we do (make music, sell apparel, host music events), as well as our tour dates and tickets. 

    The third part of our project was to make a music video to launch our artist to the music industry. We created a storyboard of 20 slides to describe the love story of two individuals who come together in love, face some relationship troubles, and finally breaking up which leaves our artist Baby Funk in a funk as he is hung up on his ex. This story was inspired by the song used, "Me and Your Mama." My group worked together on creating the story board and then worked after school to film the clips. As I was the group member who is most comfortable using Adobe Premiere, I was given the large task and responsibility of editing the entire video. My strategy for editing was to just do the best I could with the clips provided and play around with video effects, audio effects, and video transitions. I made sure to include many transitions when moving from clip to clip to integrate a certain level of fluidity to our video. I played with the coloring of our clips to add to the 'funk' aspect of our genre. Editing was overall very fun and the final project was something we were all very proud of. 

    All in all, I learned so much from this project. Being able to look at distribution and marketing practices as a creator instead of student opened my mind to a world of possibility. I truly felt like I was working in the music industry world and creating a real brand. I learned how essential it is to plan ahead, creating a campaign, and a plan for distribution and marketing. Being able to practice more on Adobe Premiere will be something that will definitely be beneficial for future projects as well as really expanding my knowledge on the marketing and distribution side of media industries.