Genre Research- Action

• Common CAMS: zoom, pan, POV, tilt, tracking shots, reverse shots, high angles, and tilted shots 
• Common Sound:  ominous music, gun sounds, running sounds, high-pitched music, punching sounds, and objects breaking sounds.
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS): 

Costume- common costumes vary; it could be suits/dresses, superhero costumes, alien costumes and many more.  

Lighting- Natural lighting, dim lighting, key lighting, backlight, and soft lights.  

Actors- They can be anyone. Usually have stunt doubles as well.

Makeup- common makeup in action movies depends, it can be natural, or a fully masked and painted face. 

Props- common props include guns, knives, chairs/tables, blood, bullets, glass, cars, sunglasses, and many more. 

Setting- The settings are usually in busy cities that end up becoming where houses or private homes. However each film is different. 

• Common Editing: Jump cuts, cutting on movement and "action", slo-mo's, action matches, flashbacks, and graphic matches. 
• Example Films: Some action films are, Extraction, 007, Baby driver, Bad boys, Angel has fallen, and avengers.
• Elements I like: The elements I enjoy are, I  really enjoy the plots of the films. Usually the actors are fighting for someone or something. I also enjoy the element of wondering who will when a fight or what's going to happen next. 
• Elements not appealing: Sometimes I feel like action movies can get repetitive and that the plot can sometimes be a bit boring in the middle. 

Genre Research- Horror

• Common CAMS: reverse-shots, close-ups, tracking shots, pans, zoom, wide shot, low angle, hand-held, over the shoulder, cantered, and birds-eye 
• Common Sound: no sound, silence, abrupt noises, echos, footsteps, sound of breath, can all be diegetic or non-diegetic 
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS):  

Costume - casual clothing for protagonista typically, antagonists usually wear masks or dark clothing                                        

Lighting - low lighting, usually at night in the dark, shadows and shapes to create fear                     

Actors - normally required to act fearful or eerie                                                        

Makeup - bruises, cuts, made to look as if the victim is tortured or in pain, makeup applied to look grimmer                                          

Props - props are normally weapons such as knives, axes, guns. Other props maybe rocking chairs and creaking doors                                      

Setting - Typically somewhere isolated, perhaps an abandoned house, the environment is normally abandoned and dark

• Common Editing: cutaways, jump cuts and fade outs
• Example Films: Us, Insidious, The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Nun
• Elements I like: I like the fear and suspense it creates. I enjoy the anticipation it builds up for eerie moments
• Elements not appealing: I feel like they may drag on for too long and are all really similar. The silence and eerie sounds can be disturbing at times 

Genre Research- Thriller

 My group and I had to choose three genres to research that we thought our short film would fit into. Some things that we had to research for our genres are common CAMS, common Mis-En-Scene, and common editing. The first research is on the thriller genre. 

• Common CAMS: tracking shots, pans, reverse shots, high angles, over the shoulder shots, point of view shots, tilted shots, and zoom. 
• Common Sound: eerie sounds, sometimes complete silence, footsteps, animal sounds, and even sometimes extraterrestrial sounds. 
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS): 

Costume- common costumes in thrillers include masks, ripped clothing, hoodies and jackets, casual clothing that can sometimes be dark or black, and creature-like clothing.

Lighting- common lighting in thrillers are usually dark/low. The lighting is very important because it displays shadows that create tension and suspense in thrillers.

Actors- the actors in thrillers can be anyone. 

Makeup- common makeup in thrillers is usually dark, sometimes scary, and can consist of cuts, bruises, dirt smudges, and can even be smeared as if the actor was crying. 

Props- common props include fake blood, notes/ letters, brief cases, money, phones, and even broken things like glass. Weapons are also common props such as guns, chainsaws, and knives, which add tension to the film.

Setting- the setting in thrillers are usually in spooky places, allies, abounded and haunted locations, and isolated places. Thrillers are also sometimes taken place at night which add onto the suspense. 

• Common Editing: these include jump cuts, flashbacks, action matches, graphic matches, and sometimes slo-mo’s.
• Example Films: A Quiet Place, The Silencing, Ma, Escape Room, and The Invisible Man
• Elements I like: I really enjoy the rush of adrenaline that I get when watching thrillers. As well as being on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will happen next. 
• Elements not appealing: I don’t really like the anxiety and terror that some thrillers make me feel.  

Genres I Would Like to Research

 Since our pitch is "A person receives threats in the mail and must figure out who is leaving them", I thought these 3 genres are most appropriate: Thriller, horror, and action. 

The first genre we will research is thriller. Thriller could be our genre because since our short film is 5 minutes, creating a thriller is a very efficient way of composing a great movie in a short period of time. My groupmates and I can further execute making a thriller by using non-diegetic sounds to emit suspenseful music while in the editing process. The suspenseful music could play in the background of the main scenes to make audiences truly feel the thriller aspect of the film. We could also film low angles of the mailbox and vertical pans showing empty dark streets. We could further push the thriller genre by never showing the antagonist of the film. The film could end without ever showing the antagonist (That is just an idea though). 

We will research horror more because, horror could also fit our genre. This is because my groupmates and I can implement very little lighting to give the audience a feeling of nervousness and "what's going to happen". Horror could be our genre because we can have whoever is putting notes into the mailbox actually come for the protagonist of the story. Their are many ways we can write our short film to make it into a horror genre. Another reason I want to further research the horror genre is to find out what angles I can use to make the film feel more like a horror. I believe if I used tilts it would make the film feel more like it. 

The last genre we will research is, action. Action could be an option for our short film because, we can make the antagonist and the protagonist try to find each other. That could result in the film becoming an action if there's lots of running away and fighting scenes. We need to research what type of lighting goes with an action movie. We also need to research which angles and sound go with an action. We are looking forward to choosing our genre very soon!

Pitch Blog

My group and I’s pitch for our short film: 

A person receives threats in the mail and must figure out who is leaving them. 

Group Blog

        The process for the final task has finally begun. The first step was to figure out groups. We had the choice to work independently or in a group just like last year. I decided that it would be best to work in a group. I think that being in a group is better since there are more people to give ideas and their options. This year we were given the choice to work with people from different AICE media periods. I was really excited about this since my options with who I wanted to work with weren’t as limited. I chose to be in a group with my two good friends Leonardo and Kelly. I was in a group with Leo last year so we are both familiar with how we work together. Kelly was in a different group last year but I’m so excited that she is working with us this year. 

          I am really looking forward to seeing what we will create together. I know that we will work really good together since we all get along well. We’re also all creative so I am excited to see what ideas we will come up with. It will also be easy for us to work together since our parents know each other and we live pretty close. We are each also good at different things which will help us being our final task together. I am usually the one who films and directs when we have projects. Kelly is good at making the scripts and planning, while Leonardo is good at editing. Since we each are good at certain things, I think this will make our group even better. I am so excited to be working with the people I am this year. I can’t wait to figure out what our final task will be about! 

I’m back!

           Hi, it’s me again! I am so excited to be in the next level of AICE Media Studies. I learned so much last year and can’t wait to continue to learn even more. I had so much filming all of the projects last year. This year, I am even more excited since I can use everything I have learned and create even better projects. However, with the pandemic going on, it will be a lot more difficult to adjust. The virus has really effected and changed how everything must be done. I plan on working in a group so it is very important that we take safety precautions and wear our masks at all times. It will definitely be a lot more difficult trying to work in these hard times but I will figure it out. I am really looking forward to making the final project for this class. It will be a five minute short film. I have never made a film this long so I am really looking forward to starting it. I will also be making a website, postcard, and blogging throughout. I will really be expanding my knowledge this year and learning more about how the whole production process really works. Branding is also something we will focus on this year. That is something that is new to me so I am interested to know how it works. I can’t wait to do my own branding for my short film this year. In the short film I will be coming up with a beginning, middle and end. Last year I only made an opening sequence. I’m really looking forward to being able to make a plot start to finish. I’m so glad that I’m back and now taking the next level of this class!