The Witches Are Coming!

Hey y'all! For some reason, the past few days I've had the weird urge to incorporate witches in our portfolio project. When I told Kaylin this, she pitched me an idea, getting inspiration from the film, Carrie, and came up with a plot! She proposed that a girl (or boy) is getting bullied in school and one day finds a book of spells in some foreign language. They eventually do their research and start using "magic" to get revenge on the kids that bullied them.

Although I really liked her idea, I still very much want to do mystery/crime. AND THEN IT HIT ME! I was laying in bed brainstorming ideas and I thought of a way to mash both mystery and the witchy stuff (which probably falls under the horror and/or some sort of dark fiction). I thought maybe we could have a woman's husband go missing and have the wife start to go a bit coo-coo. But, the thing is, the wife has had a family lineage of witches and she has been suppressing her witch powers her entire life, that is, until her husband goes missing and she resorts to witchcraft to summon him. I immediately texted Kaylin this idea before I forgot it (because I literally have the worst memory) and she liked it, but adjusted the story a little. Instead, she suggested to have the wife receive a package at her doorstep that contains a box of witch supplies/materials in order to find her husband, rather than having her been a witch her entire life. I actually liked that idea better so I'm all for it! 

I think this film opening idea is pretty solid idea, but I'm definitely going to have to do more research on witchcraft supplies and how witches are portrayed in films. After a brief encounter with Mrs. Stoklosa, Kaylin and I really need to understand the importance of mise-en-scene if were going to pull through with this idea. My best friend, Carly, has spell-books, crystals and some witchy-stuff we can definitely use for this, but I know we're going to have to purchase more stuff on our own. 

That's it for today,

happy witching hour!

One of my favorites <3

Some Progress!

Hey y'all! Today was the first time Kaylin and I just sat down and pitched our ideas to each other. I told her how I really wanted to take a darker turn with the film, like crime/mystery and she was all for it! I came up with an idea for crime/mystery, so if we chose to do that genre, I know a few ways we could execute it.

Like I said in my last post, I want to do an open mystery, BUT after thinking about it more, I think I prefer closed mystery; so that way, it’s more suspenseful and wanting the audience to come crawling back for more.

I was thinking we'd start off the film with an investigator following an accused murderer to a restaurant. We could possibly create a newspaper article about a girl going missing, to infer that the investigator is investing that particular crime. (DISCLAIMER: this first scene would not reveal the identity of the characters, including many close-ups and to stir curiosity) In the restaurant, the accused murderer eventually begins to suspect that he is being watched, so he walks out of the restaurant, and as the investigator follows and leaves out the same door the accused murdered left from, he would be nowhere in sight. Right after this would be great placement for the title of the film, then a cut the next scene where it  portrays the accused murderer first meeting the girl who went missing in the newspapers (so sort of like a flashback, but that’d be the starting point of the movie).

Even though we are just creating a film opening, I want to incorporate some sort of red herrings, to imply that POSSIBLY the accused murderer didn’t actually murder the girl. Many films use this sort of strategy of giving clues that are almost misleading, made for the purpose of throwing you off and not knowing who the guilty person is. Like in The Silence of the Lambs, there are many red herrings and you do not find out who Buffalo Bill is until the end of the film.

I don't even watch The Office but I know some will appreciate this

PS: I work at Lucille’s and my manager would like… 99% let us film before they open and/or after we close. BUT I don’t want to rely on that and have those plans and expectations fall through! Which is why we’d need to plan accordingly and very thoroughly.

Signing off!

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Yes, I did say that I  wanted to do a mystery/crime genre, but my partner, Kaylin, and I haven't really agreed on anything yet. So, I’ve decided to consider another genre in addition to mystery/crime for more selection, coming of age!

I want our film to appeal to a younger audience and I feel as if a Coming of Age genre is very relatable to teenagers and/or young adults, considering it’s main theme is the protagonist transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. I did one of my first blog posts on the coming of age genre because it’s a genre I’m truly interested. Since I already researched this genre in my previous blog post, I’m not going to go too far into depth with it again. One thing I DEFINITELY want to avoid if we do decide to do a coming of age film opening would be using a voiceover. I feel that voiceovers are too basic and lazy to incorporate into this project, I’d rather do something different and something that will stand out more.

Mystery/crime films mostly focus on the detective/person trying to solve the crime through a series of clues and puzzles they encounter along the way. These clues and puzzles allow the audience members, as well as the characters, to piece together the crime; which ultimately makes the film more engaging. There are a few sub-genres of mystery I found on this website, but the two that I want to mention are “Closed Mystery” and “Open Mystery”. Closed mystery is when you do not discover who has committed the crime until the very end of the film, while open mystery is the exact opposite, where you know who commits the crime right at the beginning.

Since we are only creating the opening for the film, doing an open mystery would be the better option because it won’t leave the viewers completely clueless as to who committed the act.

And So It Begins!

After all the preparation since we first stepped foot into Mrs. Stoklosa’s room in August has led up to these next 6 weeks! Time really did fly by fast and I’m genuinely excited to do this portfolio project.I already had a lot of knowledge about media conventions/techniques prior to this class because I took film and TV production the past two years but this portfolio project is much more complex than the projects assigned in those classes.

Given two minutes, we have to create a film opening that not only tells a story, but tells it to the audience in a way that doesn’t give it all at once. To make the audience want to continue watching, it has to be engaging and captivating. Which is why my partner and I plan on utilizing the unifying theory of 2+2 (proposed by Andrew Stanton via Ted Talk), we aren’t going to spoon feed the audience with our story, but rather make them think and ponder. And the great thing about that is that I literally cannot stop thinking about wanting to do a mystery/crime film for our film opening. I think that sort of genre is perfect for using the unifying theory of 2+2, since mystery genres typically engages the audience in solving the primary crime/problem portrayed in the film.

Although I am excited to do this project, I’m also a bit nervous! Most projects given to me throughout my entire school career have been assigned with set instructions, with a specific way to do it, but now I have so much creative freedom, it’s sort of overwhelming! It’s great that I have all this freedom to create what I want but it’s going to be harder than I expected. But, I’m going to try to have a positive outlook on this and take advantage of this rare opportunity. I’m hoping I can execute the ideas I'll have well and successfully!

Music Marketing Project Reflection:

a. Summary of the project For this project, we were assigned to make a music marketing campaign for a new band. With the song given to us, we were supposed to propose a plan on how to get our music out to the public through numerous techniques and strategies. Those techniques and strategies consisted of social media usage, live performances, a music video, and merchandise. We compiled our research and campaign into a PowerPoint and presented it to the class as if we were presenting it to the band. (House of Cards' single cover below)

b. description of research and how it informed your project choices We did our research on the bands, Paramore and flor, both which are in the alternative rock genre. Both musical groups have reached out to their target audience mostly through social platforms and by featuring their music through other mediums, like video games and films. Due to prior success of social media usage and considering that our target audience is relatively young, about 16-24 years old, our band, House of Cards, decided to be active on popular social media apps. Once House of Cards becomes more known to the public, we would have their songs featured in films and video games. We also decided to pursue a horror/murderous themed music video due to the uprising interest (among teens and young adults) in the release of the Ted Bundy tapes on Netflix. 

c. description of your marketing creations (include samples) We created an account for House of Cards on Instagram, Twitter, and FaceBook, where we would have a particular schedule for posting times (to try and reach our followers at the prime time of the day). We also created merchandise with our first single cover on it. This way, the fans and other people can easily identify the band from the merchandise art. We also created a website where all of the band's information is available, but we only completed the homepage for the presentation. (https://houseofcardsofficial.wixsite.com/mysite)

d. analysis of how what you learned from this project will impact your work on the portfolio project I've learned that storyboards are more important than they seem. We drew out our storyboard before filming the music video, but it wasn’t detailed enough; we didn’t have many issues filming but I think if we put more effort into the storyboard, filming could’ve went more smoothly and quickly. This will impact my work on the portfolio project because I’ll know that planning is key. Before filming my film opening for the project, my partner and I are going to make sure everything is planned out very thoroughly. Not only that, but since we finished our music marketing campaign project far in advance from the due date, we had time to fix any minor mistakes and practice our presentation. So, for my portfolio project I want to finish with enough time to review it over for any little mistakes. 

I’m not certain what specific genre I’m going to be doing for my project yet but if I were to do adventure, a particular issue I would address in my project would be the lack of strong and independent female leads in these type of films. In your typical adventure film, the protagonist is usually a strong, attractive, and brave man who, through a series of obstacles and challenges, gets to his destination, finds the treasure he’d been looking for, etc. But in my project, I want to represent the integrity and courage of a strong female who can navigate her way through those obstacles. Rather than portraying a charming and heroic man who gets the girl at the end of the plot; I’d want to portray a woman lead without her having to rely heavily on other people and without a typical romantic subplot. I would possibly make the leading role have a romantic relationship with another woman and incorporate more LGBTQ+ representation in adventure films.

One of many examples of this issue regarding representation would be Raiders of the Lost Ark. This movie is one of the most popular adventure films and I feel like it set the stereotype for adventure films needing to have a strong, attractive and heterosexual male role. Throughout this movie we see the courage and the daringness that Indiana Jones exhibits, and how by the end of the movie he gets a love interest, Marion, who falls for his charming looks and heroic deeds. Aforementioned, I feel this movie put a setting stone for the representation of people in adventure films (man is strong lead and his woman “sidekick is there to help). Most adventure films portray a strong male role and I’m just listing two of the many, but these filmmakers need to explore different elements to incorporate more women lead roles. Another film that represents a typical brave man who saves the day would be Jurassic World. In this movie the two main characters are Claire (a woman) and Owen (a man). Claire goes to Owen when she needs help to find her nephews in the park when all the dinosaurs are unleashed and he ultimately saves her nephews from death. The movie basically portrayed Chris Pratt as the hero of the movie; using his former military skills and animal expertise to save everyone. Claire sort of played as Owen’s sidekick through it all, guiding him with the in and outs of the park, while he did most of the action. 

I feel like the representational characteristics of this genre is not fair nor correct. The lack of independent female roles is not only specified in adventure films but it sure is prominent in this genre. There have been several attempts to portray a strong female role, for example in the film Tomb Raider, the protagonist was an independent woman, but the movie wasn’t necessarily good. I still appreciate that some filmmakers are making an effort to make more films with a woman lead. I just think that the portrayal of the typical attractive, brave, and charming young man is so overdone and not fair to those of other characteristics. There needs to be more representation of those who differ from the norm portrayed in adventure films. Even though I’m arguing against some of the characteristics in adventure films, I would retain some of them for my own project. For example, I’d still use the brave, fearless, and adventurous characteristics of an individual in my film, it’d just be portrayed through a woman rather than a man used in all adventure films. 

Genre

Adventure Films

Genre Conventions - Content 

Adventure films usually consists of a plot that revolves around a fascinating quest to discover something unknown or get to a particular place. Most of the time there is some sort of incentive for this quest, whether its treasure, discovery of place, or anything of great value. As the film progresses, the protagonist endures many obstacles (some deadly and life threatening) to heighten the intensity of their journey to their destination. Most typical adventure films are set in an earlier time period and have a lot of historical references that consist of many themes relating to heroism, conquest, and more. 

Genre conventions – production techniques

Typical production techniques in adventure films would include fast camera movements, intensifying the common scenes in most of these films (battles, chases, booby traps, etc.). The locations they choose for these types of movies tend to be more exotic (ex: Indiana Jones, The Goonies, The Wizard of Oz) and have more interesting settings. Another common production technique that utilized throughout this genre is the humorous dialogue and a romantic sub-plot; this often makes a serious issue more lighthearted and ultimately entertaining. By including more action-packed and energetic experiences in adventure films, filmmakers always keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and wanting to see more films like these.

Film/magazine sample #1 – include analysis of how this film embodies your genre:

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones): This is probably the most suitable film that embodies the adventure genre. Raiders of the Lost Ark is about a courageous and brave young man, Indiana Jones, who goes on a quest to find an old mystical relic before the Nazi’s get it in their hands and take over the world. The beginning of the film indicates that the setting is in an exotic location, the jungles of South America in 1936, and that the characters are in a foreign place, which is very common in adventure films. The villains in this particular movie, the Nazis, are clearly identified, as they cause problems, disrupt peace and are the complete opposite of the protagonist, Indiana, which makes the dynamics and narrative of the story central and more clear. Not only that but throughout his intense journey to find the relic and going through all the obstacles the Nazi’s put in his way, he finds a love interest that makes the story more lighthearted.  

Film/magazine sample #2 – include analysis of how this film embodies your genre

The Wizard of Oz: This is another film that fits into the adventure genre because it depicts journey of the protagonist, Dorothy, and her encountering many obstacles to get to a particular location, home. Like most adventure films, the setting is in a very exotic place: the magical land of Oz. In Oz, Dorothy goes on a journey to meet the wizard in Emerald City, there she hopes he can help her get home. Not long after she got to Oz, it was clear who the enemy was, the wicked witch of the West, who wants to sabotage Dorothy’s chance of getting back to Kansas as revenge for accidentally killing her sister. During this journey, Dorothy meets many new people (the scarecrow, the tin-man, and the lion) to help her on her adventure to find a way back home. Dorothy was the leader of this group and also helped bring out the best in each of the characters (courage for the lion, smarts for the scarecrow, etc.). This not only showed Dorothy’s adventure home but the adventures of character development and personal growth.

List of 5-7 other film/magazine examples within the genre (with links or images of these examples)

Journey to the Center of the Earth https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373051/ (horrible movie but it’s adventure)

The Goonies https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089218/

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/

The Mummy (1999) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120616/ (another Brendan Fraser movie)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814255/