Media Theory

     My group and I have decided that the one media theory we want to incorporate into our opening is Semiotic Theory of Barthes. This theory explores how we portray meaning and emotion, through signs and symbols. Roland Gerard Barthes was a French literary theorist, his work consisted of analyzing many sign systems, mainly from Western popular culture. This theory is used quite often as you are interpreting what mis-en-scene represents in the "bigger picture". An example of this is a Jack in the box because, it it completely regular children's toy.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

    In this film a completely random board game, a Ouija board is turned in to something horrific. At first the girl in the short excerpt from the film used the board to talk to her dead father and maybe see him through the piece with the glass. It seemed strange but nothing horrific or terrifying about it, but later when a demon posses her through the board and take hold of her the completely normal Ouija board is something now horrific. This movie was so big that it even got the board banned in some places, for example The Netherlands, as it is seen as something that is satanic.

Anabelle

    Anabelle is another example of Semiotic theory of Barthes as a completely regular doll is made creepy. In the short excerpt from the film we see how the doll is paired up with other elements to bring horror. This was one of the first movies centered around a creepy doll and it paved the way for many other doll horror film, such as "The Boy", "Dead Silence", and "Childs Play".

Reflection post about group meeting #1

    While in class the other day I got an amazing opportunity to receive feedback and on my ideas, what's inspiring me, and what I want to do for this portfolio project from my peers. I also, as well, got to give feedback to my classmates on what they have done so far. 

Giving Feedback

    When giving feedback I tried not to overdue it and change their whole production, especially when it came to projects that I am unfamiliar with as I would probably not give as much accurate information back to. I found myself discussing about a lot of romance, which is not something I am a huge fan on. Some girls chose to have a narrative type of opening, this meant that they would be voicing over what's happening saying what the main character is thinking. For this film I didn't know what I could give for feedback, so all I could think about was telling my group member not to forget about background noises and aspects, so it wouldn't be just a bland no noises, only talking type of audio playing. Which would negatively effect the final result of the production because, having this would most likely bore the audience. 

    A different group member had a different type of romance involve, one that is from enemies to lovers. The way they were going to do this is by having a minor frustration be how they meet. The example she had was the guy in the film takes the girls parking spot, although this is an inconvenience our table thought there wasn't much to build upon it. So we decided to make it based in a school and have the guy bump into her and make her spill her coffee, not only this, but we also suggested to make them have a class together which they loved.

    Another genre which was brought up was thriller. The idea was to have man find a pair of glasses which would give him the ability to see ghosts. Although this was a very creative idea there was a flaws in the storyline. The storyline at first was an FBI agent is at a crime scene investigating a murder, and the victim had glasses in which he picks up and sees a ghost through them. The issue is why would an FBI agent put on the glasses of a murder victim? So we had the idea to make it like visions of what happened and be able to communicate with the person that they are envisioning. Then we also suggested to make the visions happen whenever they touch a personal item of someone. Finally, we also like wanted to show that the person can see what happen and communicate with the ghost, so we suggested that the murder victim tell the FBI agent where the murderer went.

Receiving Feedback

    I started off by telling my plot to my group and what it was based around. They followed up by comparing a film to it. Then I told them about a lot of opening which I have researched on and some of my ideas and what our teacher thought about them. The concept of the film is that a man finds himself in a forest and proceeds to get stuck in some sort of loop where no matter how hard he tries and how hard he runs he cant escape it always ending up finding himself where he began. The idea we had originally is to have him get snuck up on and have him scream and end it there. Once that happens the screen turns black says the tittle and figure out what to do from there. The reason I believe we got told no by our teacher is because we have nothing to build on, the main characters appeared to have been "killed". This is true, but a girl in my meeting group said that we could make the film on how he got to that point. Then when the screen turns black and after the tittle is displayed we are ale to show a sentence that says "one year ago" and build it upon that.

    Overall I would say that the experience was amazing and that having your peers who are extremely open minded look at your work and give constructive criticism. Not only this but being able to gain inspiration from multiple film ideas is incredible as well. Not only this but you can find films that are similar to yours because of your group. For example, my group said that I should watch the film "In the Tall Grass", because it is really similar and it can inspire my group and I and can benefit our production.

Schedule

    The purpose a schedule is necessary is to keep our group working on time so that we can get this project done on time and not only that but if we have any issues we are able to correct them appropriately so that we can complete this project to the best of our abilities. It also helps us not to procrastinate and to actually get our work done.

The schedule is as follows:

Week 1 (2/3-2/9)

- Research - Develop concept and theme - Movie plot development - Initial script draft - Brainstorm visual style and tone

Week 2 (2/10-2/16)

- Finalize script - Create storyboard - Location scouting - Finalize who is acting - Set filming schedule - Begin gathering props and costumes (if needed)

Week 3 (2/17-2/23)

- Start production - Film key scenes - Begin collecting sound effects and foley (if needed for scenes)

Week 4 (2/24-3/2)

- Start editing - Review footage and identify reshoots - Record additional foley (if needed) - Begin adding sound design and music (if it looks and sounds promising)

Week 5 (3/3-3/9)

- Start closing up editing - Check out different editing choices - Test different pacing and transitions - Gather feedback and make necessary changes

Week 6 (3/10-3/16)

- Finalize editing - Color correction and sound mixing - Write and record Creative Critical Reflection - Review and polish the CCR

Week 7 (3/17-3/25)

- Buffer week for any adjustments - Final review and polish - Export the final version - Submit project

Color Schemes

     Color plays a big part in films. It can really help to set the mood and tone of what is to come and really can just make a scene really come to life. For example if something happy is happening you would genuinely lean to brighter colors and when something more serious or sorrow is happening you would lean more to darker colors. A prime example of this is trolls, seen as happy fun, loving, and energetic the singing tiny trolls are bright colors. Whilst the big trolls which are shown as sad depressed ogres are dark colors usually grey and even their community has little to no color whilst the tiny trolls are in a vibrant,  colorful, and lively community.

    There are 7 types of color schemes complementary, analogous, monochromatic, triadic, split complementary, tetradic, achromatic each one has different combinations of colors and effect film in different manors.

Complementary: Opposite colors on color wheel

What does it do?: It creates contrast which in turn makes the colors pop out more and grabs attention easier. This is also used often to create tension.

Example: Red and Green

Analogous: Three colors next to one another on color wheel

What does it do?: Shows harmony and unity, this helps better establish the mood of a film and assists in creating an emotional connection with the piece.

Example: Red, Red-Violet, and Violet

Monochromatic: Using many hues of a single color

What does it do?: Limits color palette and enhances mood while being easy on eyes.

Example: Blue, Light-Blue, Dark-Blue 

Triadic: All colors are spaced out from one another exactly 120 degrees from one another

What does it do?: Creates a balance through out the palette and creates a vibrant scene

Example: Red, Blue, and Yellow

Split Complementary: A palette that consists of 1 base color and 2 secondary colors

What does it do?: Paints a harmonic picture while still having some contrast

Example: Green, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green

Tetradic: 1 primary color, 2 complementary colors, as well as an accent color all spread evenly through out the color wheel

What does it do?: Maximum contrast and balance at once

Example: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow

Achromatic: Lacking hue

What does it do: Limit the effect of what color does

Example: Only Black, Grey, and White

Starting Cambridge Portfolio Project

    In class we have just started our end of the year portfolio project and for this we have to create a film opening for a made up film. The purpose of writing these blogs is now to keep track of our work and also our planning. As well as what we will learn while doing this project. 

    At first we contemplated many genre such as comedy. We thought about developing a character instead of a like storyline but we realized 2 things quickly, the first being we realized that we are not that funny and would quickly run out of comedically things to be said or done. The second being that we cant just say jokes without purpose so that means that we have to tie it back to like the plot and it has to be relevant and as well as has to make sense. So we decide to not to comedy.

    The second genre we thought of was horror. This makes a lot more sense since Arthur, Max, and me are all avid fans of horror and we watch it a lot. So we felt that we could do the bets by combining our ideas and inspirations from past films to create this project. We also felt that developing a character would be much simpler and much more clear through a 2 minute horror film opening than a comedy opening. We also felt that we could be a lot more creative with the horror opening because it gives us more room to wiggle around in a comfortable area 

Research/Analyze/Discuss Three Credit Sequences From Films Within Chosen Genre

 It

    Its credits sequence are built up of multiple components the background, the music, and the colors. It has a depressing music which sets the mood quickly, this paired with the rain makes it feel very gloomy. The colors are all extremely dark having a lot of different colors but primarily, dark green, grey, red, and even whilst indoors it is very dimly lit. The background throughout the opening is constantly changing as the character focused on in the opening it moving around. The thing that stays consistent throughout the story is the tone and mood always being extremely depressing and sorrowful because of the constant music to make everything much more meaningful adds a lot of emotion to the credit sequence.

Jaws

    Unlike the opening credits of It, the opening credit for Jaws has 2 aspects to it. The first one being the begging being very tense, as we hear music that seems to become almost more aggressive as it plays longer and longer. Also we are underwater most likely looking through the eyes of a shark. The second aspect is how quickly the mood changes from a aggressive blood hungry song to an extremely relaxed scene full with kazoo music, in which there is a bunch of teenagers doing what was fun back in 1975 when the film aired. The change from a very aggressive moment to a much more relaxed easy going moment changes the mood and eases the audience whom might've quickly become tense at the begging of the music.

The Exorcist

The opening credits for The Exorcist is the quickest straight to the point. Instantly creepy as we see a couple alone at night walking along the sidewalk. Then a horrific shrill-like violin music comes on as the credits are displayed in bold bright red letters. This paired with the colors of the opening mainly being dark green and black as well as the only source of light being a street light from far away. All of these things play a very big role in the tone and mood of the film opening as they make the story instantly creepy.

Research/Analyze/Discuss Three Film Openings From Chosen Genre

 IT

It has a very unique story, it is about a clown who turns into peoples worst fear. The only way people don't see the clown (Pennywise) is by not being afraid of him. The way the story works is using a common fear clowns and building around it by using other common fears. The opening is very eerie and dark as it is raining and a little boys paper boat goes down the sewer in which Pennywise is in. The way Pennywise is shown adds an extra sense of horror since we can only see part of his face and the sewer is pitch black. HE is also using the child innocence to try and pull him into the sewer.

Jaws

The jaws opening is similar to it except that it doesn't start off on such a gloomy setting. IT began with having fun at the beach with a group of friends to sneaking off with a girl to go for a swim. The women got in to the water way before the guy did and was attacked by who knows what which was lying under the water. This is similar because a character gets attacked and you know that there is something going on that involves an antagonist.

The Exorcist (1973)

This film opening takes a different approach then Jaws and It. It focuses more on plot building and setting rather than introducing a problem like a kid getting dragged into the sewer by a clown or a women getting pulled under water at night.