Creative Critical Reflection

 

Final Production

This is the final result of our final opening, enjoy!

Storyboard

My Storyboard 

My group used the software storyboard.that to accomplish the storyboard. We thoroughly played out the shots that we would film when the time came and what characters/objects would be involved. The setting was also incorporated into what we visualize for this opening. It was fairly easy to use this, compared to drawing it out or pasting real life characters into a photo frame.

For example, the first four shots were mapped out and the change of setting was clearly stated, so then actors can know what to do at what certain area.

Production process (stage 4)

 Filming week 1: 

• We started filming outside of the classroom, on a iPhone and regular lighting from the hallway. We didn't have much of a clear view of what we wanted to do but we were tryin our best to go off of the script. We only filmed inside the hallway for that week and not much progress was made

Filming week 2-3: 

• We did some work around the school, in Mr. Firidel's greenscreen room and in the 220 hallway. Even though we used a lot of the time we were filming, there was something wrong that we noticed. Our opening wasn't looking too well with a greenscreen, so we chose to trash all those clips and film them at an actual office, instead of editing one in space.
• We found out this information from editing our opening for submission and seeing that we did film in portrait mode which we were not supposed to, so that was another reason to refilm our shots. 

Filming week 4-5:

• The first time we filmed, we filmed perfectly and everything went well. However, the actors wore copyrighted clothes and that was a big problem for us, becuase of the issues that wouldve came sfter that. So,                         

Stage 3 : Preproduction

                                                      Filming process

Location

Our film will be shot in the classroom or mrs.landis, the office of coconut creek high, outside of the school, and an office setting(masked by police department). Since we are most likely not allowed inside of a station for filming, we will use hallways in a regular shot then use a green screen to give it the effect that we are really there. A green screen allows film production to remain within a sound stage but depict disparate locations and sequences.

A week after these decisions were made, we began filming and made the collective choice to film outside of school in a proper atmosphere. This was better for editing and the overall look of our opening.

Actors

Destiny will act as Detective Johnson, Shyla will act as Serena, and I will act as Dalia. We need to consider the schedules of each other , for example, we had top think about if Elijah will be able to make it because of his football practices. However, the rest of my group we be able to make it and film, so we will be fine. We also have all of our dialogue planned out to split evenly between all of us and know the placement of the settings at different times. We are also considering the following when trying to plan out our moves on the film opening: the script , the genre/purpose , the looks of out story board, and what we would like it to visually look like.

Filming ideas

Since we are filming for a police station/ interrogation room, that's where all the action takes place. Howvere, in the flashback scene( in characters thoughts) will be going to be in a high school.

group members

 

The individuals that will participate in this film opening will be my group members: Destiny, Shyla, Elijah, and me.

Funding, production, distribution

Production

The big six

• Universal , Warner Bros Picture, 20th century fox, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, and Columbia pictures
• These are the six major companies that own 90% of box office taking and are part of vast conglomerates that are both horizontally/vertically integrated.
• 
  

final project blog intro (stage 1)

 Finding the genre

We chose to choose the genres crime/thriller on the day of January 26,2022. We had been brainstorming for a little while and even had to change out whole idea to get the right one. The first genre we chose didn't have as much enthusiasm as the one we chose now (January 21,2022). So, the decision to change the story and genre was a good idea.

The Opening

My group and I are aiming to create a film opening that portrays the reality of a two girls and false accusations in a crime. We thought this idea was a good fit, because this happens alot in real life and it would add some spice to our opening. Plus this would be fun, because we really get to test our acting abilities and bring a film pitch to reality.

What we think about the project

We think that this assignment will be enjoyable, because of the interest we all have in the topic. As soon as we finalized what out opening will be about, we instantly hopped on dissecting it. The filming part will probably be the best part, because we can be creative and try out things we never did before, while filming of course. Now that our group of 4 is complete, we could now split things evenly and get it done quicker, from everyone multitasking.

My movie genre

                                                      Crime/Thriller 

Even though this genre is two different names, they both are merged into one sub-genre. Crime-thriller usually revolves around a villain or killer that gives off the feeling of tension and suspense .

Conventions of crime/thriller:

The many conventions that make up this genre include a lot of feelings involving tone and mood. They have a lot of action aspects like fighting, weapons, killing. These types of movies are usually made to make your heart race a little and give you a bit of an adrenaline rush. Many movies of this film have investigations and situations that need resolving, to really lock in the "thriller" effect. For the actual filming portion, directors and film crew use various types of lighting and angles. The types of lighting used are low and high-key lighting, to show different characters' power and involvement, and loads of shadowing to show us secrecy. Also, these films films are made to give us the "bad" type of vibe, so they use things that are a not so good influence to others.

Themes of this genre:

The themes of crime/thriller are mainly conspiracies, love murder(s) and murder in general, terrorisms, etc. Of course there is going to be a lot of kidnapping and ransoms, heists, people seeking vengeance and hunting down others. All of these make up the concept of crime and thriller put together, while being spread evenly throughout each movie, showing as there can be more than one in each. These are sure to produce emotions in the audience, which is what creators want.

Setting of crime/thriller films: 

Most movies in this genre are filmed in similar places, some spaces confined and some not.  Some common locations are banks, police stations, museums, homes, streets, and alleys. 

Script

                                               My script

Writing this script built us a foundation for how our production we be produced. The dialogue shown is exactly what we used to film the exact clips on out opening scene. We were having trouble figuring out how much shots we had and what we should film to put together a video that portrays the exact message we had in mind.

SIMILAR FILMS

Case study

                               WIDOWS 

History/target audience

The director , Steve Mcqueen, and Gillian Flynn created a movie to portray the genre of crime/thriller to the audience of older individuals(R rating). Its biased on a British television series and was released in 2018. This movie is basically was made to bring may different types of people into one mission. 

Production

This film was produced by one of the big six: 20th Century Fox. The audio aspects were done by Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, and Dolby surround 1.7. Some mini  majors that were involved were regency enterprises, see-saw films, film 4 productions.

Distribution

Widows came out in theaters on November 16, 2018 and has been put on multiple streaming services after that. These include paramount plus, amazon video, youtube, vudu, amc on demand, and apple itunes. Also, it is avaliable to rent and purchase at redboxes everywhere.

Marketing

Since this movie was distributed amongst many services and places, they mad w a certain amount of money off of spreading around. However, they came out the advertisement beforehand to give everybody a peak of what the film was gonna be like. So, from DVD sales , they received $2,738,115. From home streaming (from buying and renting only) they received: $5,485,523. In theaters, they made $75,984,700 worldwide.

Cross-media convergence and synergy

When the CDs were sold, the soundtrack got some income from it. This is because it is attached to the movie, so when streaming the movie, it will be played.

Mise en scene

Editing

Editing- preps and puts together a scene by tweaking it using different effects.

There are 3 editing softwares that could be used to edit : climpchamp.com, hitfilmexpress.com, and openshot.com

Clipchamp

• Its a free, easy accessible editing website with a lot to offer. You can combine multiple video/clips, mess with the audio on them, add images and effects, etc. Since it is web based, you can use it on windows, mac os, and different types of computers. Plus, you can get an app for it if anything. Its also good for collaboration, so if you and a partner needs to work together or change a few things, it'll be easy to do so. However, there are issues with saving clips and projects when finishing. The quality doesn't do to its fullest extent an you do have to pay if you want certain things.

Hitfilm Express

• Its also free, and used pro quality for beginners. You can access of the internet, more so pcs and desktops, but its not an app. The support and customer service is amazing, so if there are any issues, you'll be able to figure it out with help. Voiceover does work and is good for versatile audio options, as well as moving/tweaking with audio. On this website, is is fairly easy to lay tracks onto one another and masking is a fast process. Still, a good amount of needed features are limited and you would have to pay for them. Plus, it does take a little while to get familiar to and is a bit more intricate then other softwares.

Openshot

• Its great for video editing and putting clips together, and is popular on effects. This software in affordable and has an overall good performance. It can be used across a vide variety of applications and devices. You can extract audio and sound from any clip chosen, and can be done with a quick drag and drop. Plus, its fitting for laying tracks on one another. Nevertheless, it does run slow sometimes and isn't as smooth and other softwares.

Personally, I choose Clipchamp, because I am more familiar with it and I find it better. Even though it is a free version, you can do so much from it. Even for beginners and non pros, it is very easy to use.

Blog 1

Top 3 favorite films openings

 

Mean Girls opening scene- https://youtu.be/rekn_T5ZAfw 

1. Summary of film: Cady Heron was a girl that grew up in africa and moves to the suburbs of Illinois, Cady finally gets to experience public school. However, when she gets to school, she realizes who and why everyone has their own group/ clique. Cady become best of friends with Damien and Janis. They dare her to get the inside scoop on the group called the plastics, where the leader, Regina George in the most popular but is the most cruel. Everything goes well until she turns into one and realizes why they have that title, and her friends make her realize that she got caught up. (comedy/Drama) 
2. The film opening is 3:48 
3. It starts with a flashback showing cady’s life in africa, than goes to the current time where she is about to start walking into school. She sees a Lotta new site she's never seen before but still tries to keep her head up. When she walks in to her first period, she gets a rude introduction by this one girl, and characters Janice and Damion start to guide her to different seats she should stay away from. Then she never used to her day, however is nothing like how her school was in Africa. Everyone was getting on her for doing things that she thought was normal, but wasn't to the teachers or any student there. Then came lunch, when she tried to find someone to sit with, but everybody had their own groups, so she ends up eating by herself. Then she goes home in a bad mood, because of the horrible day she had. This whole film opening contributes to the overall plot, because it shows how her view of her new school is and introduces the two new characters that will later on be best friends for. Also, the lunch scene gives a perspective on where a lot of the problems and drama will start, at lunch. 
4. Purpose: to introduce cady and the important places and people apart of the storyline. 

Blog 2

 Key elements/ features of a film opening sequence

• Music
• introduction of main characters
• sound
• establishing shot
• genre
• narrative

      Music- In a film opening, the music can tell when the movie is going to begin or it can tell you what the genre of the film is. For example, if the music starts before seeing any of the shots, it is most likely a musical. Also, music sets the mood of the movie.

      Introduction of the main characters- Introducing characters in an opening sequence gives ideas of the characters personality and how they act. It reveals what the main characters look like, their characteristics, and anything else that relates to the plot, in that short amount of time.

       Establishing shot- this reveals the main setting of the film, where important events take place. They also set the tone of the scene or the whole film.

       Genre- Different things reveal the genre in a film opening sequence. The first shots can give off what type of movie you are watching.

-The purpose of film openings are to set the tone of the rest of the film and intoduce the plot/characters. It puts out all of the key elements to give you an idea of what the film consists of and what it will be about.

Similarities in the opening scene

•  Narrations- gives background on the characters or/and their actions. This is also a technique used to draw the viewers.
• Productions/Directors visibility- A lot of the times, in the beginning of a film, the production company's name is shown. As well as the director.
• Title sequence- It can reveal the genre and information can be inferred with the title, like what the movies about, the characters used, etc.

Sources: https://www.slideshare.net/07anghwilk/conventions-of-a-film-opening-sequence 

http://nathanielgunnersburyasmedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/purpose-of-opening-sequence-is-for-film.htmlhttps://artlist.io/blog/establishing-shot/

Cinematograpghy

 Topic Introduction

Cinematography is the art of produce motion pictures. For example, the decisions made on lighting, where to shoot each scene, the certian visual aspects, etc. The important things that make up how the clips are filmed and how they look, are basically what cinematography helps out with.

Background Information

There are different types of cinematograpghy, including shot types, angles, camera movements, etc. Some shot types are close up, medium shot, and long shot

Types of movies/ movie genres

Topic Introduction

 When watching movies, they are all composed of different genres. Genres, in film, are are different elements that define the movie. Basically telling you what type of movies they are.

Background research 

There are a few different genres that are important when it comes to movies. The first one is drama, its a genre that contains stories with a lot of conflict and high stakes. Its created by rule, character, relationships, situations, atmosphere, and tension, like using silence to create tension. Most dramas are plot driven and every character is needed to move the storyline forward. Next is romantic comedy, which is a movie or play that tells a love story but in a funny way. Some characteristics that romantic comedies have are polar opposite characters, comical friends, happy endings, etc. Another one are musicals, these are a genre where songs are interwoven into a narrative, sometimes includes dancing. They have very large impacts on society and pop culture , like how we know it today. The songs from musicals usually advance the plot and develop the film as it goes on. They also use a lot of media shots to capture emotions,   while singing and dancing. Another one is action, which is basically films that use action sequences such as fighting stunts, car chases or explosion to take procedure over elements like complex plotting. In a typical action movie, the hero always has a desire to save the victim and stop the villain, the villain always gives up on his big plans, and they were always a hero and villain, plus the victim. Next is science fiction, its a genre that cooperates hypothetical and science based theme into the plot of the films . They are often associated with abstract worlds that are unknown or never hear of, undiscovered species, etc. Lastly, there is horror comedy, which is a literacy. television, and film genre, that combines elements of comedy and horror films. This sub genre sets blood, gore, and screams right next to gags, falls, and laughs. This really creates its name horror-comedy.

Content Application

For our film genre project, we were supposed to create a PowerPoint based on our research, and the information we knew on certain topics relating to our genre chosen. My group, we did the horror genre. So I collected some research on characteristics, conventions, stereotypes, history, and much more on horror films. Now with this information, I jotted it down in my notes, and transferred a lot of it to a PowerPoint that I had. Each topic had two slides that were worked on, with the information for me. A poster board was also created to name these topics, and basically show off what we've learned from research. We presented these both and shared our information on who are with the class.

Reflection

I learned a lot from doing my research and reading about the different types of movies and genres.Now I know way more about movies and types of movies I watch. There are so many different movies that I watched and don't know the genre to. Also I learned about subgenres and that there are different characteristics to each genre that makes them equally important and different in their own way.

REFRENENCES

Notes from presentations 

https://penandthepad.com/romantic-fantasy-story-ideas-

8636018.htmlhttps://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-identify-film-genres#quiz-0