Audience and Institution Practice Essay

Discuss the impact of funding on media products.

Having a lot of money put into or backing a film does not mean that it will succeed. There are many movies that have a low budget that still make it big, but there are also mega budget films that flop. Yes, money means better CGI, makeup, costumes, and some higher production value, but what really sells a movie is the storytelling, plot and characters. What does it mean to "make it big"? Usually it's how much money the movie makes versus how much it cost to create it, where in this case, the amount made exceeds the cost.

One movie that immediately comes to mind when thinking about the contrast between the cost to make a movie and how much it theatrically made is El Mariachi, an action film. It cost $7,000 (estimated) to make and on the opening weekend in the USA it made $312,528 as of the 28th of February 1993. That's already two more digits, but its overall gross in the USA comes to be $2,040,920, according to IMBd. Almost 300 times returned. This is a massive output compared to the input, making this movie successful. When I looked up exactly why it was so good, the critics from rottentomatoes.com said that it was due to the seamless editing, the good story telling and plot, along with the stunts. It cut out all the "fluff" and its low budget helped make it seem more realistic and engaging.

In the end, storytelling wins. El Mariachi had done something no one else had done before. Another low budget success would be The Blair Witch Project, a thriller. The Blair Witch Project also had done something that no one else had done before; it was a "found" film. From IMBd, its budget was $60,000 (estimated) and it made $1,512,054 on its opening weekend in the USA, July 18th, 1999. Its gross in the USA was $140,539,099, which is impressive, and worldwide it made $248,639,099. Thats almost 4,150 times returned! These two low budget movies go to show that you don't need a lot to make a great movie.

A movie that can go further to prove this point is the fantasy/action movie Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix had a lot going for it. It had the name of the X-Men series behind it and the main character was an actress that had a large following from Game of Thrones. The creators probably thought they would get a lot out of it, so they put a lot into it. Their budget was $200,000,000. But it "flopped." The story wasn't good enough, the acting wasn't good enough, and the CGI also fell flat. That cost the movie money. It made $32,828,348 its opening weekend, June 9th, 2019 and it made $65,845,974 total in the USA. Only the worldwide gross gave them profit: $252,442,974, according to IMBd. It got 1.26 times returned. Much less impressive than the 4,150 from before, but not much can be said to compare those two numbers. as it depends on the initial budget.

Of course, there are good movies that had a large budget and still "made it big," as it were. The movie Titanic is a great example of this. It also brought something new to the table, with it being a fictional story set during a real event. It had a good story, good characters, and good story telling. From IMBd, its estimated budget was $200,000,000, its opening weekend in the USA was $28,638,131, as of the 21st of December 1997. Its gross in the USA was $659,363,944 and. its cumulative worldwide gross was a whopping $2,194,439,542. The return was almost 11 times that large cost.

The total amount of money spent doesn't guarantee the total quality of the movie. Funding impacts movies in a lot of ways, but it's not all there is to making a good - or bad film. Most, if not all the times movies are watched, enjoyed, and shared is when the movie has good characters, plot and storytelling.

Practice Extract Essay

Practice Extract Essay - Breanna C. - Period 5

 The director's purpose in the extract from ”24” was to create a tension between the characters, along with a tension between the organization some characters are working for and some sort of terrorist threat. The director wanted the audience to feel the tension. As for the genre the director is working with, it seems to be some sort of cop drama. Throughout the extract, the audience learns that there is a bomb set to go off, and a lady who was a part of setting it. This lady seems to be in an interrogation room, and she is then interrogated by a guy who doesn't seem to have his emotions under control. Whether these two characters have some sort of personal past is unclear. These two do not seem to like each other, and keep pushing each other to act out, which the guy eventually does. There are other characters watching these events from another room.

The extract starts off with the guy entering the room the lady is confined in. Inside of this room there is dramatic lighting, having the characters stand out with this contrast. At first, there isn't anything explicitly telling the audience of the tension rising, but there are a series of other things that do. There are close-up shots of the two characters, creating a claustrophobic feel. The guy is also standing, and when the camera faces him, it is from a lower angle, while the opposite is true for the lady. This shows that the guy is towering over her, trying to elicit fear. But the lady does not fear, despite her predicament. She stays calm, always watching the guy. The background music is low and sparse, but the notes heard set the mood to be serious and dangerous. Immediately, the scene is set, and the lady starts off their conversation.

Both of them are fighting each other, but the lady is the only one that keeps her cool. The camera almost looks as if it is handheld, constantly and shakily zooming in on the characters and their expressions and reactions to what the other character has said. The scene cuts to show there are people watching these two, and they are worried for what can be assumed to be their fellow employee, the guy. The guy paces and his footsteps and heavy breathing only show more of how angry he is. The guy continues to threaten the lady, flipping the table as a show of his frustration. The lady only mocks him. At this point the audience is unsure if the guy is going to act further on his anger, as he sits down. The camera is constantly going back and forth, giving no rest for the audience. The music steadily rises as the lady smiles at him in victory, putting him over the edge. He attacks her. Pushing her chair against the wall and chocking her throat. A split screen shows the observers going to try and stop the guy, all the while the music is at an all-time high that you can barely hear the threat he gives the lady on her life.

 All of these things - the close-ups, the low/high angles, the zooms and shaky camera, the rising background music, the heavy breathing and quick footsteps, the constant back and forth, the dramatic lighting and threatening acting - they all serve to create what the director's purpose was: to create tension.

Eden CCR

This is it, the last post on my blogger! In this one I will be posting a Critical Creative Review of my project Eden. I did this entirely by myself, so there was a few bumps doing it but I got it done. (I took the camera out to record, but it didn’t have an SD card in. I then put an SD card in, but it was too full. I finally got what I need on the sixth attempt.) I tried to make it interesting, but I’m not sure how it ended up, and I’ve been staring at it too long. I used a lot of content from the creation of the project, and I used a neat little split screen to show myself interviewing myself!

We were supposed to make this video between 10-15 minutes long, and originally my script ended up being closer to thirty minutes, so I had to cut it down a lot. Final time is six seconds 12 minutes! It was interesting doing the entire process myself without any help from my group mates. I didn’t expect to learn anything new, but I did! When I was recording my two different sides, I had my Mom say the lines of the other person so I could keep time. I tried to make it two different personas, but it was really awkward just staring at the wall/backyard.

It was fun getting to talk about some of my thought process about the film, along with answering the provided questions. I even added a question about what I liked and didn’t like about the film! Unfortunately, I didn’t add much music from my film, and instead I went with a different song as background music. I did do a lot of visual editing, though. I made these little videos on my iPad and inserted them onto the CCR for the questions. I showed what I was referencing on screen, and I took some pictures on some of the items I was talking about. I also inserted some photos from the internet, although they’re low quality and I really should have done a better job on those. I also added some text and the like. And then I compressed it down so I could post it! Anyway, here you go! My CCR for Eden:

 

Our final project! Eden

This is it! This is the biggest project we did this year, and it was fun. When I heard about this project at the beginning of the year, when my teachers were going over the plan for the year, I was so excited. Throughout the year I was brainstorming ideas, although loosely since I didn’t know any of what the criteria was for the project. We were constantly preparing for the project on the horizon. My group mates and I decided we would work together the whole year, and I’m glad I got to work with them. We might have had our bumps, but we all worked together for this to be done. We learned a lot about filming and editing for our videos, and this is the final project we got to put all of our learnings into.

There are things I like about this project, and things I don’t like, but I’m glad that we got to do it. It’s sad that we couldn’t do some things, like reshoot in the park or sit together to edit because of the coronavirus. But despite the things in our way, we still completed it. This video isn’t the best, but we got to put all of our own ideas into it and basically make it from scratch, so it has a special place for me. I’m definitely saving a file of it. So here it is! Final name for the project: Eden. I’m sure you know enough about it already from my previous posts, so I won’t bother repeating myself. Please enjoy! (Unfortunately, the quality isn't the best due to me having to post this on blogger.)

 

Our Music Video!

This is our music video! It was the the second project we did. It was with the same group. Looking back at it, there are some things I'm painfully aware of, but there are other things that time had me forget. Coming back was almost like seeing it for the first time, and I really liked it. The details we were worrying so much about during the process turned out great. There were things that still irk me a tad(like some shakiness and the camera bag in a shot), but overall I am happy with how it turned out. Anyway, here you go with our music video for the song Sunkissed by Khai Dreams:

Our commercial video!

This is the first project that the class did! I worked with the same people throughout the year, Madelene and Josh. So, of course, we did this together too! This was our first taste of what we would be learning this year, and it went great! It definitely prepared us for our next projects, as well as excite us. We only had a limited amount of time for this project, and it was the only one done all in class. We had a good time filming, but our editing process was done on IMovie(never again). It was good! Overall, the pans were okay, the zoom was a little shaky, our song was a great match, and our acting wasn’t that bad! Anyway, here you go!

COVID-19 Effects

The corona virus has effected this project in some ways. When school was canceled, we still had reshoots to do. Sydney, our other actor, and my group members came to do so. We made it as quick and painless as possible. When we all had to stay at home, only Madelene could come over as she lives nearby. Soon enough, I had to do the editing and we conversed over the internet. Once I had the list of things we wanted to do, I did them myself.

After that, Madelene dropped off a flash drive in the mail. I downloaded the finished product to her, along with the song file that was in our film. She came later to pick it up. Unfortunately, the quality was too high for sending it digitally, so I had to compress the video down. I sent that to both of my group mates so they would have a mobile compatible version.

Our group is lucky to have been okay with social distancing. I can imagine how this could have turned out badly. Not only has the production of my class’s film projects been stopped, but film industries across the world have also stopped production. Now all that is left for my class to do if they haven’t already, is review this final project and create a video on it. Thankfully, this is individual, so I don’t have to worry about my group mates while we can’t work together.

Here is a picture of the files on my flash drive showing the finished video:

Finished Product! Re-edits

Our project, our two minute video, is finished!

Once the reshoots were done we looked through the ones we had to replace from the original shots. Then we looked at our options, of the new shots to use as replacement. We had a few, like the inside shots and some messy pans. There was one we had to replace due to a continuity error. We had quite the scare when some of the files wouldn’t load for us to edit, including sound and effects. We managed to fix it and get it back under control. Once we placed them all, down we went through the process of cutting the edges of so they would fit in perfectly. After that we made sure that the shots kept the same consistent lighting through filters.

Now, with having our new shots, we added more, special visual effects! We masked a filter so some parts were more noticeable than others, and although it isn’t perfect we decided to keep them. We also stumbled upon some layering effects and made the part where I pass out more disorientating. Along with that there were many filters added to add to the chaos, gradually fading in. We also made it get more green, as that was the evil color in our movie.

As for sounds, we found some better sound effects to use and played around with it. There are many things that I would’ve like to make better, however. It is unfortunate that we couldn’t redo the shots in the park, and I would’ve liked to reshoot them. In fact, there was one shot that was entirely useless to the story and video, and I wanted to get rid of it. But, my group members decided to keep it. Along with that there were some edits that weren’t smooth or subtle enough for my tastes, but we don’t really have much time left and we are happy with our final product.

Here is a picture of our screen when nothing would load, when we thought we would have to edit again from scratch:

Music Confirmation!

We were able to get confirmation on the usage of the song “What” is real? and we are very happy and very relieved! We weren’t sure if we were going to get a reply from the artist we had contacted - Mike Gordon. We had many songs in mind and had sent a few emails out to people, and the song “What” is Real was merely a placeholder at the beginning. It was hard watching the video without music, as nothing really flowed and it was a tad awkward. So I went through what songs were on the computer and added it. I didn’t do much in the beginning to edit the cuts of the video to the song, because I wasn’t sure if we were going to use it. Now, though, we have made things match the song, like when the singing is and when the titles fade in and out.

In the end, the songs lyrics are great for our purposes, and we got kind of attached to it. We had hope that someone would reply, and when Mike did we were relieved. Nobody else had or has. My favorite edit we did to correlate with the song is when the title “Eden” shows up and the song says “What is real?” It feels like a perfect way to set the stage for our movie, alas, we are only making the first two minutes. The song definitely helps hide the strange things happening in the background, and show a sense of normality before it’s all ripped away.

Here is a picture of the conversation we had. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the whole thing on screen for a picture. I started off with telling him my purpose for emailing and the details of our project that he probably would like to know. Then I asked him, as seen in the picture, and he replied saying he was on board and would ask the other writer of the song. He eventually gave his confirmation and then I thanked him. We talked some more like what his band was called and if he would like to see the finished product. Anyway, here in the confirmation that we could use his song in our project:

Back at it again! Reshoots

It was quick, the reshoots, as we had already done these same shots before. It was only two hours or so, but we got a lot done. I contacted Sydney, our other actor, and she was available, along with her dog. We all got together, and each of us got the equipment we needed. I made sure to have the same clothes and props as before. Sydney did as well. It was a smooth affair.

The shots we redid were purely for continuity’s sake. Whether it was the lighting or the puddles, we reshot shots that were out of place. There was only a few where we needed to redo the pans. As we had already taken these shots a dozen times over, it was quick and easy to do again. I jogged a lot. Of course, we made sure to have a water break.

Unfortunately, we were unable to reshot the shots we wanted to set in Snyder park, nearby. The park was and is closed due to the corona virus. There were a few I sorely wanted to reshot, but we have to stick with what we have, less we want to completely redo it in another location. But what we have is good enough for us, and we can only perfect it more during editing.

When we were done, we dumped all of the footage on our flash drive and went through them. We half-heartedly added them into the film, as we had a whole other day planned for re-editing. Here is a shot we retook and placed in:

Finishing Touches! Editing

Not much was done that day, but we did perfect the little things. We had all went and gathered a multitude of sound effects, which we all went over. The sound effects were for different things, like dog barking or a woman screaming. We went through almost 200 sounds to find things that we thought would work. Eventually, we placed them in our project and edited them accordingly. Some of them were almost out of place, so we edited the volume or we faded it in to be effective.

At the time, we weren’t satisfied with what we had, so we kept looking on lots of royalty-free sound effect websites. We timed some effects with the visuals and some with the song, to make it flow better. Other things we did was going to the cuts between each shot and editing it frame by frame. We did this so it looked like multiple angles were filmed at the same time. We did this by, for example: cutting one shot mid-step on my left leg, then starting the next shot - from another angle - mid-step on my left leg. This made everything flow way better over all. This also made our action match match better.

Some other things we did were do minor filters on our shots, to make them all look like they were shot with the same brightness and saturation. For the inside shots this helped a lot by brightening it up so it was easier to see. In the forest, we made everything more saturated to make it look more magical and different from the previous setting. This was a technique we got from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. That was all we did that day, and the next step would be reshoots. We got a finished product to have for our peer review. Here is a picture of the screen with some edits, showing some sound effects we put in:

Sound and Titles! Editing

We came back again to edit another day, and our goal was to add the titles. We went through what we have previously said about what our titles will be and tried to follow it as closely as we could. The program we are using doesn’t have the font we previously mentioned so we had to go with a similar font that we liked. With that out of the way, we changed it’s color to black, as most of our two minutes had a lighter background. We put the first title into the establishing shot and then used that as a template for the rest. We gave a short amount of fading in and out to each title, but the length of it on screen varies. It’s unnoticeable for the most part, so we were okay with it.

Some of the titles we played with its placement, of where it looked better. Other ones we changed the perspective and made it look like it was lying on the sidewalk or up against the wall. On one of the titles, we made it come in in three different parts as the camera pans, which is pretty cool. Of course, for the parts where the text needed to be white, we changed it to white. Otherwise, the only neat thing we did to edit the titles is when the title of our film comes up, “Eden.” We made it big, to stand out. We played around with its fading in and out. Eventually, we added a glow to the back of it so it stands out even more. And, we changed our agreed upon storyboard just a tad by putting the actors names before the title. This is so the “Eden” can appear right when the neighbor disappears across the street.

The other thing we got done after fine-tuning the titles was the main background music! We went through a lot of songs. The many people we have contacted haven’t replied yet, so we used one that was already on the computer, just to have something there. It’s called “What is Real” by Mike Gordon. We timed it coming in according to the screen when I turn up the music, which is something we planned for. We also had it sharply fade out when I take off my headphones. We timed it just right so when “Eden” shows up and the neighbor disappears the song says “What is real?” The song was a great help to fill in that blank void where we wanted sound, and the video works great with it.

We also added in a track of white noise which slowly builds up until the part where I pass out. We tried playing around with white noise some, but we thought it would take too much time to do at the moment, so we set it aside for a future edit. At the end when our characters end up in the forest, we also added some royalty-free music. Over all, the titles and music made it go smoothly, now all we had to do was fine-tune it and add in sound effects!

Cutting it Down to Size! Editing

Once we had all the filming done, we dumped all of the footage onto a computer. We separated them into the different days and locations and went through all of them. We would watch it and determine its quality, and if it was good or one we liked, we placed it in another folder. There were about three or four takes a shot, so we would compare the takes with each other and choose one or two to be the final take on that shot. Once that process was completed we took the new folder and ordered it in chronological order, according to our storyboard. Then we went through and got rid of the lesser duplicates.

With our now finalized shot list, we dumped that into our editing software: Final Cut Pro. It was about five/six minutes long including all of the extra parts. So, we went through each shot and deleted the filler beginning and end of each one, cutting down the time. We weren’t focusing on making it perfect at this point, but only getting the bulk of what we needed there. Once we did that, the video was about three/four minutes long. Realizing that even with the blank spaces cut off, we were a little worried. So, we went back and through it again, this time a little more thorough.

We focused on exactly when we wanted there to be a cut, if only to shave down time. In one scene, we decided to have jump cuts, as the part we had was unnecessarily long. In that scene, I was supposed to be panicked anyway, so it made sense to make it look like I was rushing. We sped some things up and cut things so meticulously. We were very happy when we got it down to 1:59. A lot of time had passed when we got it there, and our time together was coming to an end soon. So we decided to only do a few more edits.

We wanted to get to sound and titles that day, but we planned to do it another day. The only sound we really edited was the only line in our project, “Wake up!” We liked the visual of one take but the sound from another, so we deleted the unneeded video and audio accordingly. We got it how we wanted and it looked good! For a work in progress. The only other thing we edited was when my character collapsed. My group mates sped it up a little to make it look like I was falling more realistically then my controlled acting. Otherwise, that is all we got done that day, and we anticipated the next time we could get so much work done!

Finishing up Filming!

Although we didn’t have Sydney, that was okay because we still needed to get the rest of the shots. We went in the same order as the film, back a block away from where I live. It wasn’t raining, so that was great. We made sure to have someone supervising us while we filmed near and on the street. I had to do a lot of jogging, because we took each shot at least three times. One main one(sometimes more), one for good measure and one for good luck.

I directed what I had envisioned, and Madelene took takes with her own ideas. We got me from multiple angles. I tried to look like I was enjoying myself on the run, putting my acting skills to use, as I was supposed to be on a routine run through the neighborhood. I wore the same outfit as before, and I made sure to hold my phone the same way, put my hair up the same way, and also wear my glasses instead of contacts. We took breaks as it was hot outside, but we got it all done in a few hours.

One of the few difficult shots was: when I was running on a long stretch of sidewalk, in the background there is a person who just disappeared, their ball bouncing as if dropped. This took some playing around with the timing. One person held the ball until just before they got on screen and they had to run away before I caught up to them. We switched out the people and the timing a lot, and we ended up getting a decent shot.

Another one was where the camera had to turn around. The thing was, there was a flag in the way, so Josh had to hold it down, and then right after I passed him he had to get out the reflector on me. This was where I really had to act, as I was supposed to be panicked about my dog whose barking just got cut off. We did this one multiple times.

Then there was inside. Getting the lighting was hard, and would have to be helped with editing. Most of it was easy, and we had to plan out where I would go so the ca era knew where to follow. One of the most anticipated shots was the Dolly-zoom. We needed to have a lot of assistance for it, and we did it a lot as well. That was the last shot of the day and we all were pleased with what we had accomplished.

Here is a picture from the ball scene mentioned above, with Josh holding the ball and myself telling him that he had to move one I got to the red plants off screen:

Second Filming Day!

We had rescheduled to one day to get all of the shots with Sydney on Sunday, because she wasn’t available on Monday. It was raining on and off all day, and we shot during the breaks. We made sure to have an umbrella over the camera just in case. We even shot some takes with the actors having umbrellas, but we probably won’t use those. There was cloud coverage the whole time, so if we want to keep continuity, the takes in the neighborhood will have to be reshot. Sydney’s dog, Lily, did a great job behaving while filming. We tried to use the second floor of Sydney’s house to get an establishing shot, but it was either raining, too many trees in the way, or in the wrong direction.

Once there was a pretty stable break, we did our best to get all of the shots that Sydney is in. When we finished filming the street shots, we took a quick break. We packed water, the reflector, and an umbrella to take with us to the second location: the park/forest. We picked Sydney up from her house(she was dropping off her dog) and headed to the park. My mom drove us there. Once we got there we took a short walk to our previously determined location and started getting a feel for it. We took some practice shots to see what worked and what didn’t. Once we got what we had planned for, we decided to improvise some takes. We have multiple options for our last few shots, and when we edit the best one will be chosen. It might even stray into the horror genre more than what we had originally planned.

I mostly directed what I wanted Madelene to do as the camera operator and Josh as the reflector holder. I also acted in all of the shots taken, and led Sydney on what we would be acting like. Here is a picture from the corner that I took of Madelene, Sydney and her dog Lily:

Day 1 of Filming, Raincheck

Our first day of filming was canceled due to the rain. There wasn’t enough of a break to be able to take our equipment out and film without worry. We immediately made new plans to accommodate this change in schedule. We moved the hours we planned to film to Monday instead of Saturday. Unfortunately, one of our main actors, a neighbor of mine, had conflicting plans that day. We decided we would take all we could on Sunday to make up for this, focusing on the shots she is in. To prepare for the next day, Madelene came over to my house so she could get used to the camera. I taught her some of the settings and how to focus and the like. She would be the main camera-operator. 

When the rain lightened up a little, we ventured out down the street with umbrellas. Of course, we didn’t take the camera with us in case it got wet, but we did take our phones so we could have camera reference. This street is the one that most of our film would take place. We did this so we could understand what angles and the like we both would want. As reality is different than the meager drawings on the storyboard, we quickly aligned our visions for what we would film, where, and how. I, as the director, told her what I envisioned, and she added her own details. Once we returned, we went over more details on the procedure of what we would film.

Once we finished that, I went and chose the costume that I would wear for the filming. I made sure to go over the other costume with the other actor via texting. That was all that we could do that day. Here is a picture of the rain outside, though the camera had a hard time capturing the rain:

Our Story Board!

This is our story board for our project. Each box is 3 seconds long, with 24 total boxes. At first we were going to have 6 seconds per box, but we decided to change it to capture more detail. The titles are in order, according to what we researched previously in title research. When doing the storyboard, we made a checklist of shots to use, as we progressed through we checked them off. In our storyboard, we have three characters, and 2 are featured: Jane and Rose. The two of them are set apart by their hair styles so we can know who is who when filming. The storyboard also describes where they are in relation to the streets we are filming on, so it is very clear. Additionally, camera angles, sound and acting cues are written into the note section for each box, to reference easily. The process of creating the storyboard was simple after doing it three times before this. We already had the scenes planned, so all we had to do was split them into 3 second intervals. First, Jane is shown to be jogging along, starting up her music. Then, passing a corner, she waves at her neighbours: Rose and her parent. The camera follows Jane across the street, but not without showing the neighbours disappearing, and tracks Jane to her house. Inside her house, Jane is then transported to a forest, and Rose is there as well. The two minutes ends with their reaction to the forest. Throughout the whole sequence we will try our best to subtly convey that something is wrong, using the white noise and smoke in the background.

Our plan for Health/Safety and Title Design

Safety was simple with this project. After the music video, we now have experience with these details so planning for possible missteps was easier this time around. Title design was a new one, though. There are many aspects to titles, which makes this process take longer. Sites like Watch the Title and Art of the Title really helped with knowing what to plan, like spacing and font. Currently, we haven't decided where the titles will appear on screen, this will come with the storyboard. Generally, everything we have planned has room to change and grow, but we hope that this is a solid base for our project to at least work off of.

Our Locations, Cast and Schedule Planning

Our first location is the house of one teammate, who has given consent for us to film there. We will be filming some of the streets, but mostly the sidewalk. In order to keep as many cars out of the frame as possible, we will be using specific angles to their best effect. We will also be filming the driveway, and inside the friend’s house. We will be moving the cars in the driveway, and clearing some things from the front door to get a cleaner shot. 

The second location is a nearby park. It is close to our first location, so it will be possible to film everything in one day because the commute is so short. The park is public, so we are allowed to film there, but we still plan on asking permission. We have a specific location at the park we want to film at, but if that space isn’t free then we have scouted out other possible places to film.

Casting was an easy process for this project. We have three characters who need actors, and one actor will be from our group. We kept the cast small because we wanted to keep scheduling conflicts to a minimum. As a backup plan, we have an understudy for Rose. The actor for Rose’s parent isn’t truly determined, but it isn’t the most important because the character isn’t the main focus of the film.

Scheduling was still difficult, even though we tried to keep the people involved with the project to a minimum. The actress for Rose might have to leave early into filming on Saturday, but time for this was built into Sunday just in case that happens. Since the weekend of filming will last 3 days, we might even get to start the editing process right after filming! Getting this project done quickly is important because we won’t be able to edit in class, only watch and take notes on ways to improve.

Shooting Script

This is the shooting script! This is everything that we want to achieve each scene. Each scene is it’s own slide and the same scenes from the sound script. This includes more then just sound. It has lighting, dialogue, and the type of shot. We didn’t want to have a lot of dialogue, but there are a few lines. Most of this will depend on the acting skills of our actors. Editing is also included in this, and while there is some visual editing, most of the effects will be with the music and white noise. We also  will most likely have to change the specific angles and shots themselves, like the ones that require height or movement. We will try our best to stick to the script!

Sound Script

This is the sound script! That means that this will show all of the audio we plan to use. Of course, things might and probably will change. But this will be what we are trying to align to. The sound includes diegetic sound, background music, sound effects, and we will be messing around with white noise. Some examples include neighborhood noises, sizzling, dog barking, foot steps, and at least three different songs. I have contacted one of the artist for a song or two, though they haven’t replied back yet. Otherwise we have a friend that makes songs to fall back to. And royalty free music, though I’m not sure if we can find the right fit. We also have some tracks for the white noise.

Edward Scissor-Hands Titles

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were 25 titles in the opening of this film. Each one had thin, wide spread lettering, titled at different angles and spinning lightly. The opening sequence was three minutes long.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? 

There are many things that get a few seconds in the opening, and, to be honest, I think that the main priority was the credits. Otherwise, it would be these little bits of important story items that we get a glimpse of. Some examples include hands, statues covered in cobwebs and cookies(to show the shapes that were made into with cookie cutters, key word made).

What connotations do the images carry?

With the opening shots focused more on the credits, the main shots are meant to complement them. Each shot is filled with referenced from later on in the movie, and so to a first time watcher, it is less important and provides a background for the titles.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Each image is desaturated and, old looking and mysterious. It starts as if entering an abandoned place with old, almost human looking machines at work. Then there are random flashes of cookies, the contrast putting emphasis on the shape, like how the cookies were created to be like that. Then there are these two, flesh bearing hands, which is most likely a reference to the non-flesh bearing hands that the main character has. Then there is an old mans face, asleep or dead, lying down. The three minutes end with snow falling and an epic castle in the background. All of these shots add to the creepy mood of the movie, and the things pictured in each shot establishes it as fantasy.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset.

The shots in the film hint at something bigger, but never shows the audience the whole picture. This leads the audience into wanting to know the rest of the story, to understand the meaning of the shots from the opening.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

This movie is most likely aimed at an adult audience. It reaches this particular audience by being simpler, and more barren with its opening credits and shots. Focusing on the titles can further interest older audiences because they would know the actors and producers, so they would most likely become more interested since the director is well known.

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

For it’s time, the movie uses fading transitions and close ups to keep the opening’s flow. The music is erie and also connects each shot.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Titles

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There are 33 titles in the opening sequence, each fading in and fading out slowly, with a fancy font with gold coloring. The credits lasted 5 minutes.

What images are  prioritized in the opening sequence? 

The creation of the Wonka chocolate bars are the prioritized shots. Their process of creation, the machinery, and the golden tickets are the main parts of the opening.

What connotations do the images carry?

The machines and dramatic lighting create an ominous and foreboding feel. Every movement is calculated and perfect, even the floating plates of chocolate. It all is mysterious and magical.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

Throughout the opening you see some wild, smooth, spinning camera shots, along with efficient, odd looking machines. The music is fantastical, having its ups and downs, getting a little darker and then lighter. It is just different enough to understand it isn’t real but also familiar enough to convince ourselves otherwise. I think this sets up the movie quite well, providing just enough back story about the golden tickets and how they were sent throughout the world.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset.

This opening is definitely alluring because of its mystery. Why are they mass producing chocolates? What are those golden tickets for? The music adds adventure and fantasy into the mix and the unreal technologies only spike curiosity. The creation of the chocolates leads the audience to wonder where they are headed.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

This films audience is for all ages, more toward kids. The chocolate might interest the majority of them, and the music and constant changing and moving of the machines would keep their attention. For older kids and adults, the darker tones of the music and lighting might have them hooked.

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

I cannot tell if these machines were actually made, puppets or CGI. Regardless, the camera angles immersed you as if you were also a chocolate bear going down the line. Nothing would really be seen besides the machines, the background was just black, but it didn’t need anything else. The transitions, though few, were fades. Otherwise, the camera went along with the factory line with smooth twists and turns. This use was effective, as it brought the audience into the world quickly and kept their attention.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Titles

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

While watching the opening titles, I counted 32 individual titles.

What images are  prioritized in the opening sequence? 

The first image is of a character readying for battle, and the next shot is of them getting into a fight. Overall, all of the openings shots build up for a lot of action.

What connotations do the images carry?

This first shot makes it clear that this movie is an action and fantasy. You can tell this because the actor is screaming, and his makeup is otherworldly. 

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre is enforced with almost every aspect of the film. The makeup and CGI make the characters look otherworldly, with one of the characters being a sentient tree and raccoon. The music isn’t modern, which puts makes the film feel loose in a sense. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset.

Throughout the opening credits the camera focuses on a main character who is casually walking around while, in the background, the other main cast is fighting a huge beast. The character being focused on is nearly smashed to bits on multiple occasions, which creates suspense as we want to know what happens to the character. 

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

The movie is meant for teens and young adults, so the movie keeps its humor relevant without being too current. The movie also used music from the 90’s, which is making a comeback in the younger generations, and high quality CGI, which is becoming increasingly more popular as it gets more advanced.

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

With the use of CGI, the movie’s shot can be very long. Infact, while the opening song is playing, there is no discernable transition. This keeps us very connected to the main character, as well as their use of foreground and background, which makes the opening funnier. The character the camera follows is mostly infocus, and when the other characters interact with them, they also become in focus. I feel like their use of CGI, music and camera techniques is engaging and effective at keeping the audience's attention.

Guardians of the Galaxy Titles

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

34 titles are displayed during the opening sequence of the film.

What images are  prioritized in the opening sequence? 

The first image on screen is the main character’s ship landing on a desolate planet, that is clearly not earth. We then get to see the rest of the planet, which is even more hostile and space-like than the first shot. 

What connotations do the images carry?

The setting sets the scene for a dark serious opening, with the serious music, the harsh blowing wind, and the contrasting erie red glow of the main characters mask. This shows the fantasy theme clearly, and gives us an impression of what the movie is going to be like.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre is reinforced through the Fantasy elements of the alien planet with rats and the planet has constant stormy weather. The main character also uses unexplained technology, and the shots of the character show him in comparison to the environment.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset.

The film uses a startling change from the foreboding mood they set up in the first minute to the playful 90’s music and dance to catch the audience off guard and gain their attention.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

The film establishes that it’s a comedy from the start with its use of sound and characterization. The type of humor is also very appealing to the movie’s young adult and teen audiences.  

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

The technology in the opening scene of the film is used effectively with editing by having Star Lord using his hologram to see where he is going on the planet, and camera angles when he is singing along during the opening sequence to show his emotions and personality. Camera angles are also used to showcase the fantasy planet Morag, which they briefly show the outside of the planet before he lands.

Title Research: Watch the Titles

 

The second website we decided to research was www.watchthetitles.com. Watch the title is where you can find various title screens from movies, tv shows, and video games. We will use this website to find additional fantasy film titles to research. We are using watch the title to find out a good order of titles on the screen that is used in our genre, fantasy. The order of the titles are very important in films. Wether to use the order of importance or a random order. We want our film to look as professional as possible. Also if there are different titles depending on the genre we are watching such as Fantasy. Should the director go first for action, or should the costume designer go first for Fantasy movies. Watch The Title doesn’t contain a lot of options for movies though. Something that Watch The Titles also contains is French Friday. French Friday is French cinema movies from the 1950s to the 1980s. This part of the website doesn’t help our research, though. Watch the Titles also has something called Event Titles, which are title sequences done for festivals. Art of the title, the other website we discovered, has a lot more choices of movie titles to choose from, so we will be using that website for further research.

Title Research: Art of the Title

We chose to research two websites to learn more about movie titles. The first website is called Art of the title, and we plan on watching multiple title openings to gain an understanding of the order and design of titles. Specifically, we will be watching movies of our genre, fantasy. If we cannot find any fantasy movie openings, we will look into other similar genres. Art of the title has a bank of movie openings organized in different ways. There’s an all titles, top 10 openings from 2019, and a classics list for us to shuffle through. By watching some of these movie clips, we intend on learning about the nuances of style for titles. For example, how the titles appear on screen. We want to know if they should follow the movement of the actors, or be more flat and steady. Additionally, we want to know how the titles get on screen. Should they fade in, drop in or just appear, and how does this affect the look of the film. Lastly, we must look at the actual design of the titles. How does the font match the genre, and are they good colors. We need to make sure the colors of the titles stands out against the background. We want to keep our film looking high quality, and so we can’t have the designs of our titles looking like a middle schooler created them.

Fourth Movie!

The fourth movie that we watched was Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. We chose this movie because it is a different kind of fantasy then The Hobbit or Harry Potter. Instead of magic or fantasy creatures/species, this kind of fantasy is where characters have one sort of “peculiar” power. While this isn’t what our project is going for, we still want to be knowledgeable on the range of fantasy. This movie also has some time-travel elements to it. The travel is purely magical, though, no science involved so it cannot be considered science fiction.

To start off, the movie used lighting a lot, in many different ways. While this movie’s quality isn’t the best, they did have some good lighting. Everything in the main characters original timeline was desaturated, things were more grey and light. But when the main character went back in time, everything became much more saturated, almost over saturated. We assume this is to differentiate from the two different time periods, but it could also be showing how magical the place is. The costumes also aligned to the two different time periods, and the makeup as well. Miss Peregrine had more accented makeup to make her seem more bird-like. The villains wore typical villain suits, but whenever they appeared the lighting would get really dramatic, deepening the shadows. They also had white eyes, which could be makeup or editing.

Speaking of eyes, there were creatures, perhaps CGI or the like, who attacked people and took their eyes. The victims faces were indeed missing eyes, and it was most likely done with editing. More editing includes the powers of each character, the flames, the mouth in the back of the head, the bees, and the dream-watching. One of the characters powers was to bring dolls to life, which was animated with stop motion. Miss Peregrine had the power to turn back time, which she did every day to keep the children safe. The way this was executed was interestingly done. Besides the visuals of planes going forward and then backward, or the bomb dropped going back up, there was music that played forward, then backward. To show time 

reversing, the clock went backward and the song played backward. There was a lot of music used, sometimes subtle in the background, sometimes not. There were many sound bridges used. 

Some more editing includes when two characters dove down into the ocean, and one of them used her powers to blow air into a sunken ship so they could breathe. While this is wrong on so many levels, it was probably done with CGI and maybe green-screen.

Some things we liked/want to use from this movie is the lighting. We have an idea of two different, contrasting places, so the desaturation and saturation of the scenes is something we can use. Another thing we could keep in mind is the use of stop-motion/animation. Though we don’t have a specific place we think we would use it, it is still something to think about. Some things we didn’t like from this movie, or rather, cannot do from this movie is CGI. That seems to be a common theme.

Third Movie!

Star Wars is a fantasy / adventure movie series. The fantasy setting of Star Wars is how it’s set in space.Also  how the main characters have laser swords called lightsabers. Some of the fantasy elements of Star Wars include: Storm troopers, droids, and the Wookiee race. The editing, camera angles, and sounds help Star Wars become more fantastical.

Common camera angles in Star Wars are Wide shots. Wide shots display the world of Star Wars and how it’s fantasy elements intrigue the audience. Another common camera shot  used in Star Wars is Establishing Shot. The establishing shots tell us where we are in the Star Wars universe. Places such as the Death Star.

Common Costumes in Star Wars are the Storm Trooper outfits. These outfits are the core fantasy element of Star Wars, clearly defining who is a “bad guy”. Some Actors in Star Wars include  Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill. Harrison Ford plays Han Solo. Han Solo is a smuggler, so Harrison Ford must act like one. He uses tricks to outsmart his enemies. Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker. Luke does not appear for very long in Episode 7 of Star Wars, so his role is very minor. Common settings in Star Wars include the interior of the Millenium Falcon, Han Solo’s ship, and Jakku. The planet of Jakku adds to the fantasy elements of Star Wars considering all the strange alien species that reside there. The planet is also entirely a desert, which would be hard to live on in real life.

The movie Star Wars uses lots of editing and sound to portray the fantasy elements. Sounds include things like the laser blasters, and the space ships engines. Common Editing includes the use of CGI for the space action scenes, and the ships exploding. Kylo Ren’s voice modifier is an example of sound using fantasy. He is changing his voice to sound more like Darth Vader, the antagonist of Episodes 3-6.

Parts that we should use in our project are camera angles like close ups. Close ups showcase the costumes that are used with the fantasy element. Some things that we won’t use will be the Costumes, used in Star Wars. This is an original, 2 minute film and Storm troopers are taken.

Second Movie!

The second movie we watched was The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smauge. Despite this movie's length, we chose it because it takes place in a high-fantasy world, which is along the lines of what we want to do. We didn't end up watching the whole movie, but we did skip through to the parts that were more blatantly otherworldly. Such parts included when they were in any kind of room, establishing shots of a new set, or the scene leading into a fight. We skipped to these sections because that's when the genre was most clearly fantasy.

Camera movements and angles were often combined in this movie. Many of the establishing shots were also high angle tracking shots of the main characters. These shots often snake through the architecture of the medieval set, and give the impression of something greater lurking. In one scene with a forest, the camera tilts upwards and to the side into a canted angle. This alone lets the audience know that there is something seriously wrong with the forest. The air of suspense created by this kind of shot is something we can use on our own project. Moreover, when the main characters are talking in a group the camera is slightly wavering, like its handheld. This particular technique creates a kind of urgency for the protagonists to act and heightens suspense. 

All music in The Hobbit has significance, the tracks are mostly a sound motif letting you know who your watching or where the characters are, tying the long movie together. Otherwise, there is a lot of sound throughout the movie. Diegetic sound is a must, the clanking of armor, clomping of boots and rustling of clothing are especially important when the objects contribute to the genre of the film to such a degree. Next, the smaller sound affects, like demonic whispering coming from the woods, works in tandem with the other film aspects to set a specific mood, like increasing suspense.

In fantasy films, editing is very important. This is because all of the magical creatures must be made with at least some CGI effects. The various beasts that attacked the protagonists were all effects so making sure to edit them in well was a must. While we can't use CGI in our final project, we can still use some of the other editing techniques. There are a lot of time skips, as the journey from one place to another takes days in a medieval setting. For these particular transitions, they are made with a dissolve when the skips are made in the same setting.

Finally, mise en scene in fantasy is the one that contributes the most to the aesthetic. Costumes, makeup and prosthetic all play a part in making up the many races and sub-races in Middle-earth. The elves' ears are elongated and their cheek bones are sharp. These differences are the easy change, heights are much more interesting. Dwarves and hobbits are half the size of an elf, so the producers must use forced perspective to change this. The actors meant to be smaller handle larger props, while larger characters use a smaller version of the prop. This is one example of how the illusion is created. Ideally, it would be fun to use something like forced perspective in our final project, and  it would certainly be fun to work with! Lighting is also a key factor in completing any fantasy scene, purple fog in the mountains and too-vivid flowers in a field both succeed in making the set feel other worldly.

Sadly, I don't think we will be able to use fog, or set up any other worldly scene for this project. We also probably won't be able to use to much make up, and our costumes will be low budget but that doesn't mean we can't try. Music will be slightly easier to work with, we need to get permission to use any song by it's composer, but it won't be impossible.

First Movie!

In the past, we were given an assignment to watch and analyze movies of a specific genre to enhance our own project. The first movie that we watched was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. We chose fantasy for our genre, so we went through fantasy movies made after 2013(as per criteria). We found a few good movies that we narrowed down to four. We wanted movies that were high fantasy, as that is what we are going for in our own project. This movie was obviously magical, as it comes from the Harry Potter series.

Something that comes to mind when talking Harry Potter is their wands and spells, which prevailed throughout the movie. Through the use of lighting, sound effects and no doubt editing, the spells truly came to life. There were POV shots from the angle of people under a spell(with pink lights and tingling bells for the love spell), when they teleported their bodies morphed, and the fire was controlled and of different colors than normal(CGI). The people who performed these spells were dressed for the time period, and with their old fashioned clothes there was some magical flare added. The makeup wasn’t overboard, and the only way you could tell the difference between the two sides was the harsh lighting for the evil, soft lighting for the good.

Other things to mention was the camera angles and shots. When in flight, the camera zoomed around, and when on the ground, the camera looked slightly handheld during some intense moments to make the action more fluid, immersing you. When there wasn’t any action there would be close ups of Newt’s magical creatures, and when the villain shows up, sometimes the shot would start from the shoes and pan up to the face. In one scene there was a canted angle down a hallway which gave a strong feeling of uneasiness, showing the otherworldliness of it. Of course, in every scene there was always multiple angles to observe all the magic. Whether it be a shot-reverse-shot during conversation or the many angled of fleeing from a magical creature.

Speaking of magical creatures, there were a lot of them. They were CGI, and they weren’t the only things CGI. There was a table that had a magical pool in the middle of it, giving off a glow, showing characters. There were many demonstrations of floating water. Dumbledore covered the whole town in mist. There were house elves and their tools that moved by themselves. There was a feather floating and leading the characters. CGI really has come a long way, as it was well done. Of course, not all of it was CGI, like some of the technology looked like puppets. Puppets would be more manageable if we were going to consider doing something like that. And then there was the sound! Every creature and spell had its own sound, most likely made in a foley studio. Which is also something we might consider doing for our sound effects.

We took a lot of notes on what we could do, that we liked from the movies. From this one, the lighting and camera angles were something we saw we could do. Unfortunately, CGI seems a little far out of our league, so even though we liked it, is isn’t something we can apply. Another thing that we can’t use is the kind of establishing shots they take. The camera is high in the sky and swoops down, and we don’t have a drone or the time to do this, although it would be fun.