Planning for the Final Task: Title Design

Planning Blog

Font: Our title font will be analog and our other titles will be in Euphemia UCAS Italic

Contrast: the titles will be in yellow, casting a faint black shadow / our movie title will be relatively large and the other titles will be in the size 57, according to Phonto.

Spacing: all titles will remain in there default spacing. The movie title may be enhanced as far as spacing

Working Title: we like the name "INSANITY"

The first scene of the film is a shot of the car driving across the scene. When the car dashes by, the movie title will appear in the middle of screen, nearly at the same speed of the car. 

The other titles will appear and disappear faintly. We want to try casting some of the letters of the titles in black as they fade away.

Titles will remain on the screen for 2 to 3 seconds. 

Planning for the Final Task: Sound & Shooting Script

Planning Blog

I wrote the script and my group members let me know what I should and should not change. Our storyline pictures, Jenna, our main character, being on the phone with her mother at the being of the scene. The first half of our film goes scene to scene of Jenna and Mom having a conversation. The beginning builds the story. It covers why Jenna doesn't know what her grandparents look like, why she's in a forest, why she isn't in contact with anyone, and it starts the suspicion for the rest of the film to carry out. The other half of the film is the face-to-face interaction between Jenna and the psychopath that she thinks is her grandparent. Our shooting script included all the angles and expression our cameraman and actors will portray in the film. The shooting script will be used to draw out our storyboard and overall help us with organizing our filming process.

Planning for the Final Task: Location, Health, Schedule and More

 Planning Blog

Schedule

3/4/21 – 3/6/21	These will be our filming days. The 4th and the 5th will most likely be spent filming in the park. Then the last day we will spend filming at the house.
3/13/21 – 3/14/21	We will finishing any form of recording that needs to be done on this weekend.
3/15/21 – 3/19/21	These days will be spent editing our film. We while use the app VideoLeap and Imovie, our alternative will be an online editing software. Courtnie will do majority of the editing and she will constantly send scenes for Kassandra to approve.
3/21/21	Our film will be finalized by this time. We will finish any extra blogging that needs to be put in for this day on, until the final due dates.

Location

We will have two filming locations, my home and a nearby park.

                                 

Participants

Actors

- Kassandra Davis - Jenna / Barbara Smith - Mom / Lance Baskin – Psychopath

Filming

- Courtnie Williams

Editing

- Courtnie Williams / Kassandra Davis / Gabriella McFarlane

Directing

- Gabriella McFarlane / Courtnie Williams

Safety Team

- Theo / Carrie

Health & Safety

To ensure safety, the amount of people involved on set will be limited. When not on camera all participants will where protective masks. All participants are COVID-19 negative and has not been exposed to the virus.

We have a safety team that will be on set. Incase of emergency cellphones will be on-hand to dial 911 and any important contacts.

Title Research: Lady in a Cage

Title Research

I found this movie on Arts of the title. It is a psychological thriller about an injured woman is trapped in her private elevator during a power failure, while her home is ransacked. I've noticed title sequence happen to reflect the current state of society. For instance when this film was made the country was experiencing a state of fear and unease due to the testing of nuclear weapons. In our case, I'm thinking we could give reference to the global pandemic we're all experiencing to reflect in our sequence or film. First they displayed the production company, then the movies title, then the starring actors and their characters, then the writers/ producer and director. This film is from the 1960s so the movie title were more minimalistic than it is today. The opening Paramount logo encased in vertical stripes — we’re made aware that this is a film envisioned as a whole, as an amalgam of parts fused to fit just so. The rest of the opening goes on to keep the momentum of animated stripes surrounding disturbing images. Images like a dead dog in street and a young girl gliding her roller skates on a guy's prostatic leg. These images are very uneasy and disturbing, which is prevalent to the country's state at the time. Obviously this images have a negative connotation. We gotten to a point where we understand a good thriller intertwines with the anxious feelings of discomfort. Considering the title sequence is supposedly foreshadowing the movies plot, I think they've done a great job at creating the apprehensive atmosphere. Also the music plays a part fitting the genre. The music is very untraditional to what thriller non-diegetic sound is now. The music is jazzy yet unaware of what is to come. From the music I would've grouped this movie under the mystery genre. There's a lot of zoom ins and close ups in this sequence, which is one of the elements of thriller films. You will also find establishing shots of the disturbing images we mentioned earlier.

Title Research: The Final Destination

Title Research

The Final Destination on Watch the titles is about enjoying a day at the track, Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a horrific premonition of his friends and him all dying in a freak accident involving many racecars. Mere seconds before the vision comes true, he manages to convince them to leave. Although they cheat death then, the survivors each begin to meet a grisly end, and Nick tries to figure a way to escape a similar fate. They all see horrible fates of death and try to escape it before it actually happens to them. The Final Destination is the perfect introduction to the fourth instalment of the successful horror movie series. The Hollywood “design boutique” aimed for maximum impact and effect. The best way to see this would be in a movie theater in 3D.The main appeal of the movies is the grizzly and gruesome, but very creative death scenario’s of the characters. X-ray idea took care of that problem, and conceptually it seemed authentic to the spirit of these movies, to show deaths in new and innovative ways. They display the actors and some death scenes along with their name. When they gave credits to actors & film makers they used everyone in a different aspect of death.

They used X-ray images in the opening sequence, to showcase a death scene. The images show a unique way to display a death scene, they showed a preview of how the movie is. They broadcast how the characters all suffer weird deaths and incorporated that into their sequence. The film establishes the feeling of genre by showing weird ways to die. It gets you curious and excited on how they die by a pole, or stairs falling down on them. The strategies they used were the client’s brief was to create a sequence for the fanboys that used the equity that existed in the deaths of the first three movies within the franchise. The technology was used very efficiently, they used a new way to animate death scenes. The X-ray idea of images being portrayed like that was never done before and it showed a new aspect to the viewers. They used all different angles and transitions throughout the sequence, such as wide shots, pans, high and low angles. They used these angles to show how the character died and what happened when they did, showed if they looked up or fell down before falling from the angle it was viewed

Title Research: Hostage

 Title Research

The movie hostage found on Watch the titles featuring Bruce Willis, places the viewer right in the center of a high profile crime scene taking place in one of L.A’s upscale suburbs. The action scene rendered in stark black-and-off-white contrasting colors, with deep blood red as the only supporting color- is frozen is frozen in time. As the camera pans across the scene, alternating between wide and close shots, the tension builds slowly but surely, culminating in the film’s climactic opening scene. The opening sequence displays credits to the film makers and cast. The sequence helps the audience establish the setting in which the film will take place and what will happen. The opening sequence is like a brief summary of the movie with detailed pictures and credits. The sequence takes place in a crime scene with cops around it and a sniper above watching everything. The film establishes a feel of thriller by showcasing a crime scene and showing them trying to infiltrate the building and a sniper watching over them to make sure nothing happens. There is a hostage situation and the person inside is on the phone crying but the audience doesn't know what is happening on the call to make the person stressed out. When making the opening sequence they use images that appeal to the audience that is interesting and has a background story to it. 

Technology has been used very effectively, the sequence is very divergent in its angles and transitions. It uses close and wide shots from different angles in the setting to show the audience where the sequence is taking place. The angles help to give meaning along with the transitions to develop the story behind it. The transitions were pans from different angles from the crime scene and different building in the suburbs. When establishing an action/thriller sequence you wanna show some action taking place along with a suspense of what exactly is happening in those scene's. This helps to attract the audience and want to actually find out what's happening and watch the movie. One of the viewers said "I think this sequence is one of the most incredible I have seen! Love it." You wanna have a unique sequence that's different from all the rest to draw the audience in. Hostage opening sequence gave a preview for what happened in the actual movie it helps audience get some background knowledge. The complexity of it all is what makes it so unique.

Title Research: Panic Room

Title Research

I found this title sequence on the website Arts of the Title. It is tied to the movie Panic Room, which is a thriller about a single-parent family is trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room during a brutal home invasion and the intruders really want what's inside.

What titles are displayed during the opening sequences?

In the beginning of the title sequence they present the productions studio and company, along with the marketing company. They then give credit to the starring cast, I'm assuming the cast mentioned are the main characters. After the cast, they showcase the movies' title then the credits of all the staff that helped create the movie. You will see the names of the directors, the editors, the producers, writes, designers etc.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

Essentially, the creators wanted this sequence to be a tour of New York City, which was also the setting of the film. So these pictures included photos of infamous New York buildings, you see central park and you'll see famous billboards. This is just a list of things I was able to identify, but they showed so much of Manhattan that I'm sure a New Yorker would appreciate it.

What connotations do these images carry?

Honestly these photos are very bland and natural. These buildings are natural in there conditions. The images do not necessarily highlight the buildings in a positive light, they look dirty and old, which they are realistically. Overall the lighting and setting seems pretty normal. They aren't saturated in bright lighting so I would associate the feeling of these images with subtleness and anxiousness.

How does the film establish a feeling of the genre from the outset?

This film establishes anxiousness and maintains it. The entire purpose of thriller is to keep the audience on the edge of there seats and constantly hold them in a state of suspense. Which is achieved even from the the title sequence. 

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

The writer created a movie filled with psychological twists that also triggers character development. They use the element of isolated location with the huge mansion as a setting and an isolated claustrophobic room. Throughout the movie tension is built with suspenseful music and dramatic stalls. There's also that cool element of keeping the audience guessing.

How has technology been used effectively? 

The CAMS and editing techniques used are pretty common to the genre. They use high angles, low angles, close ups, slow tracking, jump cuts, etc. Pretty much the norm to convey an idea and complicate the scenes. 

  

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

Title Research

Watch the Titles is a unique website, with different aspects on trying to find the perfect title for you. They have 6 different categories to choose from, video games, feature film, TV show, event titles, student projects and French Fridays. All the titles were unique in their aspects they really grabbed your attention when you read them. The titles they provide make you curious and want to watch the film before you even know what it is about. The titles signify to what the audience is about to watch, it gives away a brief description of what it is. On some of the titles you can kind of guess what genre the movie will be because it has key words to specify horror or action and comedy. Event titles was an interesting category the collection showcase innovative titles sequences done for film festivals. Learning that some of the films were short films help you to understand which titles helped them get entered into the contest. Most popular films have a unique name that stand out to the audience and want to understand what it represents. The website is very beneficial to those seeking new innovative ideas for titles and films.

Title Research: Art of the Title Website

Title Research

Art of the Title is an online publication for educating readers on title design sequences in film, television and video games. They showcase innovative work by creators that contribute to the field. In our film, we want to include our own original title sequence. This website will teach us the art of correlation between title sequence and the movie. I was able to see a breakdown of some of my favorite movies and how important it was the movies storyline. I was able to see some of the most popular sequences that introduced new forms of word play and fonts. I noticed when it came down to thrillers, the title sequence played into the movies setting. Often times the titles font intertwined with the movies movies plot. All most like foreshadowing to the audience with this technique. I realized the font isn't always something to obsess over but the animation is.

Genre Research: Us

Genre Research

This 2019 film is probably one of the most abnormal movie I've ever watched. The plot is beyond original and it keeps the audience guessing even hours after the credits role. "The film follows Adelaide Wilson (Nyong'o) and her family, who are attacked by a group of menacing doppelgängers." This film is semi-gore which isn't something I plan on including in our film but I does have incredible suspense within the movies. This was achieved through a list of camera angles, movements, lighting, sound and mise-en-scene. Once again the most anxiety rising part of this film was the non-diegetic sound. The background music and sound motif was super nerve racking, loud and disruptive to what could've been a normal scene. I noticed a lot of close-up shots throughout this film. This was used to connect different scenes. Point of view shots and over-shoulder shots were prevalent in this film and in the other films we watched. In this film for the most thrilling parts of the film the lighting was low. The films was not exactly that saturated when it came to showcasing color. The overall setting was on the grayer side of the scale, if that makes sense. The movie did not start in such a high tension era so I don't think low lighting will be used that often in our film. We will make sure the setting is low in saturation, low in hue. Elements I liked in this film was the cliffhanger, this film had an incredible plot twist, an indirect indication of who the protagonist was. In thrillers I noticed there's always a psychopath somewhere in there. Considering our pitch included psychopaths as a character, I think we are on the right track. I also want to include the CAMS/ CLAMPS I mentioned earlier. Plus tracking and cutting. Elements that weren't that great was arguably, was the indecisiveness of the good and bad guys. I didn't like how long it took to get to the plot. If not thought about, you probably will probably leave the theatre very confused. This was one of those films were it required a lot flashbacks and foreshadowing. If not conveyed properly, this technique will completely over complicate your film. The movie does execute it well but it's definitely something we would not use in our film.

Genre Research: Split

Genre Research

The movie Split is under the thriller/horror genre. It is classified as a psychological horror and thriller movie. This movie is about friends, Casey Cooke, Marcia and Claire Benoit who get adducted from the mall by a man named Kevin Crumb. Kevin Crumb has split personality disorder, he has 23 different personalities but there is one evil personality submerged inside of him, a beast if you will. These girls must come up with a way to survive him and his personalities without getting caught or meeting his "bad side". Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him as well as everyone around him -- as the walls between his compartments shatter. Being that the movies purpose is to "thrill and scare" their audience, it was very suspenseful and interesting to see all his different sides. I got the feeling that they showed all his good and sweet personalities first so it would build tension on how bad the beast actually was inside of him. One of the most noticeable elements shown in this movie was the diegetic sound. The girls were stuck in a room together, they could hear him switching from personality to personality the good and the bad. The background music for the very many suspenseful scenes increased my anticipation profusely. This is an element of thrill I intend on using in our film. The best parts of the movie was the thrill you got when Casey finally discovered the "beast" the anticipation of the wait was totally worth it. Some parts of the movie I didn't like were that the friends did not work together instead the other girls were selfish and afraid to help Casey. This created unnecessary conflict between the characters when they could have had a better chance of survival sticking together. Something interesting in this film was the indecisiveness of who was the actual "villain." I think the writers of this film really left the decision up to the audience but I did like that concept. I feel like you didn't really know which personality was good or bad unless you ticked it off the wrong way, each personality was dangerous in their own way. I enjoy how at the end of the movie when Casey was being hunted by the "beast" she was hurt, she revealed to be like him and show him that she was one of him. Casey was a teenager who struggled with depression the scars on her arm were sign of self harm. The movie was an overall great thriller film.

Genre Research: Glass

Genre Research

The movie Glass is under the thriller/ drama genre. It is classified as a psychological superhero thriller. The movie is about a secret society that tracks down and eliminates super-powered humans when they are a threat. The three main characters are: Kevin Crumbs, the man with 24 personalities, David Dunn, the overseer, and Elijah Price, the intelligent mastermind with fragile bones. These three possess unexplainable super powers and are targeted by the society. That is just the basic plot of the movie, without the mentioning of side characters and sections that play an important part in the movies finale. Being that this movies' purpose is to "thrill" an audience, it was very suspenseful majority of the time. At some point in the film it did began to fill like a mystery. I got that feeling from one of the characters, Elijah. Elijah was mute and unknowing for a large portion of the movie. That indication did play a part in building "thrill." One of the most noticeable elements shown in this movie was the non-diegetic sound. The background music for the very many suspenseful scenes increased my anticipation profusely. This is an element of thrill I intend on using in our film. I would even use sound directly from the film if I could. Being that this movie focused on multiple characters, they captured multiple point of views. I would use this technique to build complexity and interest in my film. Something interesting in this film was the indecisiveness of who was the actual "villain." I think the writers of this film really left the decision up to the audience but I did like that concept. I also intend on introducing our possible antagonist during our two minutes. Though I saw a lot of pros in this film, elements I didn't like was the lack of a cliffhanger (a personal enjoyment of mine) and the disappointing ending of "everybody dies." 

Genre Decision Making

Decision Making

To start off we meet up and had a meeting where we discussed our ideas and genre decisions. We were hesitant at first of what we wanted to do because we didn't wanna be un original. We had about 5 ideas from what we wanted to do and 2 genres we were planning on picking from. We carefully throughout what genre what be best for us to do with limited resources and editing. As me and Courtnie began to eliminate which ideas did not work anymore we started to get down to our top 2 picks. We choose our two pitches first and then we decided on our genre because its what most appealed to us and we had an amazing idea for what we wanted to film. It took us probably 45 minutes to decided on everything and our final decisions. Writing down our ideas and what we would need to make this idea come to life and film. We decided on thriller because, it is what we were most excited to do. Gabby contributed to the the decision in picking thriller and I contributed my idea to make up a good story and plot. We wanted to make up another story but realized we wouldn't be able to portray it in under 2 minutes and didn't have the equipment to film it. Thriller was the best decision due to the excitement it can create and we wanted to make our film a little spooky. 

We wanted to do thriller the most cause that's our favorite category. Action was one of our other decisions we were going to do in genre but decided to go with thriller because we had a better idea and tools for it to make it more professional and realistic. Courtnie helped to create and come up with some of the characters name and setting of it. I came up with the idea of the plot of the short film. We continued to brainstorm to make sure we had the best possible idea we could come up with and create. We hope to bring our idea to life through our film and create a good experience for our audience. Me and Courtnie are very excited to start and make our film. Our decision making process was pretty easy because we were on the same boat and wanted to incorporate both of our ideas into one short film.

Genre Research: Thriller & Action

Thriller Research

Common CAMS: close-up | hand-held movement | point of view shot

Common CLAMPS: low lighting | isolated locations | weapons

Common Editing: jump cut | shot/reverse shot | graphic match

Example Films: Split(2016) | Obsessed(2009) | Ma(2019)

Common Sounds: sound effects | dialogue | suspenseful music

Elements I like: protagonist vs. antagonist | mystery | insane plot twist

Elements I dislike: ticking clocks | cliffhangers | death

Action Research

Common CAMS: establishing shot | wide angle | long shot | medium shot

Common CLAMPS: key light | fill light | backlight | explosions | cellphones

Common Editing: cutting on action | match cut | eyeline match

Example Films: Rampage(2018) | Aquaman(2018) | Captain Marvel(2019)

Common Sounds: dialogue | sound effects | background and music

Elements I Like: explosion or car chases | the climax

Elements I Dislike: stunt scenes, they look a little unrealistic | editing is not the best sometimes

Genre Research: Drama

Genre Research

At the beginning of the year, we all did a Genre Media Project. This was our first project in this class and it taught us about the aspects of genres. The project required each student to do independent research on the genre of our choice and create a PowerPoint Presentation covering their element/ conventions. Not only was this our first project but it was our first introduction to researching conventions. That was helpful considering, understanding conventions of film styles and genres has been essential so far. All students had to choose from the five provided genres: thriller, action, horror, comedy or drama. I would classify these as basic genres of film, we are all familiar with them. It also made it easier to compare projects, giving us the opportunity to learn from each other. One of the reminders we received during this project was to entail the overall aspects instead of diving into sub-genres. This allowed us to lay a basic foundation of the topic without complicating it. Sub-genres are just the specified versions of a basic one. For example sub-genres of comedy would be, romantic comedy, parody and farce. There are so many sub-genres to choice from, so limiting our options was a favor. We also had a list of requirements that needed to be included in our presentation. These requirements was the list of information that needed to be on our slides. We had to include common camera angles, common sounds, elements we liked, elements we disliked and other common techniques you would find in the chosen genre. One of the best parts of this project was adding music that related to your genre. This music was played in the background as we presented the slides. One of our group members, Courtnie (me), did her project on drama films and she played the instrumental of My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, the infamous theme song to 2004's Titanic. My project covered all the aspects of drama.

Pitch Blog: Our Pitch

Pitch Blog

 Last week Kassandra, Gabby and I had a virtual meeting to discuss ideas for our final task. Prior to the meeting I wrote out 5 to 6 possible ideas for a pitch and during our meeting we decided on our top two. Kassandra also presented her own ideas for a pitch which we used in collaboration with my ideas. It took almost no time for us to pick out our favorite ideas and write a pitch. Using Netflix as inspiration, we took note of how they structured their movie pitches, which is very minimalistic and in surface description; an elevator pitch. With those consideration these are the two pitches we liked the most: “Jenna expects to finally meet her wood-dwelling grandparents but unknowingly walks into the home of psychopaths” and “These high school friends spend the weekend out-of-town but have no idea their bestie is out for revenge.” When thought about, the first pitch can be done without the need for extravagant equipment. The only cons are actor availability and how difficult it may be to convey the mood in two minutes. The second pitch is not as simple. This pitch could not be conveyed in two minutes. We also do not have the equipment to create gory scenes, neither do we want to include that kind of content. These disadvantages are the basic limitations we noticed. There could be more challenges we'll face throughout our creating process.

As I mentioned before, deciding our pitch was not difficult at all. We both immediately agreed on the first pitch: “Jenna expects to finally meet her wood-dwelling grandparents but unknowingly walks into the home of psychopaths.” This pitch is doable, would not need extravagant equipment, and with proper preparations it could be conveyed in a timely manner. We all seemed pretty excited about this idea. We began to plan out scenes and our filming process. As long as we are consist with our collaborations this film will be a success.

Intro & Group Blog: Starting the Final Task

Intro & Group Blog

Hello, my name is Courtnie Williams, I am in the 11th grade and I attended Fort Lauderdale High School. I am born and raised in Broward County, FL and I come from a very southern background. I enjoy creating as much as possible, one of my favorite hobbies are editing. Which is one of the reasons why I decided to take AICE Media Studies. This will be my first real film written and directed from scratch and I am excited to begin. 

For the final task I will be working with a long-term friend of mine, her name is Kassandra Davis and Gabriella McFarlane. We've known each other since the 8th grade and even now we still communicate. Throughout our high school career, we have collaborated on multiple projects and we casually help each other with homework. Kassandra is good at thinking creatively and in a timely manner. We are a good team, so working together didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Usually I am not a fan of group projects but I wanted to take a different approach with this task. I also think working with friends would be fun. I want to approach this group project by individually combatting different sections of the task. Together we will approve, record, direct and prep our film. I have trouble thinking outside of the box and Kassandra has been really good coming with interesting ideas. Gabby has trouble with conveying ideas and I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at that. This is an example of why we would make a good team. We fill each others weaknesses, we learn from each other. Overall that would make us stronger students and smoothen the process of making this final task. I'm excited for this final task and I hope you all enjoy!

                          pic of Kassandra (left) and I (right)                            pic of Gabby