Drama! Thriller-Psych

    Our group recently decided to focus on drama with a specific focus on thrillers and complex topics.  When brainstorming we thought of psychological thrillers and their emotive style which make the audiences think, while still providing a great story. By looking at film openings from "Gone Girl" (2014) and "Shutter Island" (2010).

The except from "Gone Girl" was based on a voice over while dark scenes of the story's environment and setting were shown. In this except the tone and pacing of the film were established rather than elements of storytelling. The dark scenes and shadows give it a macabre tone which is signified throughout the film and eludes with the soft and quiet voice over.

The opening to "Shutter Island" focused on the tone and setting as well, notably similar to "Gone Girl". While certain elements of storytelling were used, such as the conversation between the two men about 1:30 in, the majority and purpose of the opening is to examine the tone created by the color scheme, the diabetic sounds, and camera zooms. Although the conversation between the two men is held, it simply introduces basic background to the situation, where a viewer would be confused, yet the elements of storytelling simply introduce the main character played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Overall, the use of film openings within the genre of drama for Psych-trillers, are based on the introduction of tone, setting, and some attributes of characters, whether physical images or the introduction of composure, through simple and non-significant acting scenes.

Opening Credits; Short Vs. Feature Film

    The use of opening credits in a film can serve a great purpose to use footage to introduce elements of a story. This footage could be used simply to demonstrate a tone or pacing of a film, but it depends on the genre of such film.

A short film can use footage for the opening credits to quickly introduce elements of a story as this is efficient for the short time period to view the film. Feature films may use the opening credit scenes to simply establish the pacing of the film and normally feature quite little information about the story.

By finding this guide to opening credits, the conventions of the credits can be clearly seen. This article mentions the importance of establishing genre for the style and use of the credits. The format of the film is imperative and conjectures point to the conventions used between short and feature films is based on resources or even the director's motive.

Short films normally have less time to work with, thus having to introduce the genre, tone, and elements of the story is a technique used by directors of such films to maximize efficiency. One must also understand the context in which audiences may view a short film, where it is only part of a greater viewing of media, thus the attention of audiences works differently when compared to a feature length film.

Feature length films normally use the opening credits scene to establish the tone of the film rather than parts of the story, as this is an artistic perspective and is more elaborate in the scheme of story telling, so a director may opt to only develop tone as they have the rest of time to fully develop the story based on the pacing of the film. Katy Perry's 'T.G.I.F" music video shows this as the music video was intended to act as the beginning of a short story, where the credits roll as action is occurring, while feature films such as "Peter Pan" (1953), where the credit scene pays an homage to the tone of the film, but is establishing the manner of story telling at the beginning.

Short films quickly capture the audience's attention as needed for the retention of information and the want to continue watching the film, where the short time period may convince audiences to opt out from watching the short film. Where a feature length film is known to develop the story later in the longer piece, and audiences normally know the length of the film and would normally continue to watch the film, knowing further elements of the story may be developed.

While this technique is illustrated between short and feature length films, this technique should be used according to the genre as well, as this affects how a story may be intended to be presented.

This technique in presenting opening credits is important to note as our group will now develop our genre and story where we will create a film opening, this allows us to understand the context of placing opening credits and allows us to decide the genre of our film and the conventions we may decide to follow or challenge. By identifying elements of a short story it also allows use to differentiate between credit usage within the genre as well, so a short drama film may use the conventions detailed by a feature length film, due to the nature of introducing a dramatical scene, or this may break it as well.

Overall, this guide and using this guide based on genre as well, works to develop an understanding of credit usage in the opening sequences of a film. This allows our team to identify the scope and limitations of our project, where we are creating an engaging opening sequence which happens to ask for credits, as the task directs.

Meaning of drama!

     Since inception to film, drama has been used to teach audiences in an impactful and emotive manner. Throughout history the composition of such drama has changed, in the 1950's it was based on important historical figures, while in the modern day it is focused on historical events rather than people. Using this timeline it is very easy to follow!

In the 1960's dramatical films were based on political events, with a resurgence in sport dramas. Sport dramas were about sport icons and normally their story or important event.

The 1970's brought musical dramas and war films which is technically a separate genre, but still noted as dramas. These war films were mostly based on people and their importance within such war or catastrophic event; "Patton" (1970), "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970), and "Apocalypse Now" (1979).

The Eighties featured various emotion based dramatical films such as issues with civil rights and catastrophic events. A science fiction based theme emerged throughout the decade, with notable films such as "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) and "The Blade Runner (1982).

The 90's showed many films with themes of hope and feeling, many famous thriller and comedic films were also released throughout this period. This changed with the turn of the century, as the Gulf War now was inspirational for many films in the early 2000's, many dramas were also focused on people's lives, and the non-specific personal experiences which have had historical significance. Films in the 2000's and after were specific to how the public can view films from a non-icon based perspective, which allows for audiences to resonate with the messages and themes from films.

The dramas in the present day somewhat follow these trends, some of the most popular modern films in the genre also follow these conventions as seen in this critique list.

This timeline and list can be used to analyze various examples of films and the conventions used, to view their openings to find trends within the genre. Dramatical films following modern genre conventions such as; "Boy Erased" (2018) and "Gladiator" (2000) which use a non-specific icon perspective, could be analyzed to find trends.

By finding such films, we can incorporate the themes of films to develop our story as well, we can develop a full story as this is how many producers may begin, by developing the full story we can then find the attributes that would normally be introduced in the film opening, which would follow the conventions of the genre and the theme.

Hello!

Recently for our class, we have had quite a packed schedule with projects, assignments, and lectures. Of which we will be using attributes of each towards the portfolio along with my team members.

For our music marketing campaign we decided to introduce our band following conventional methods for the genre of indie rock music. This entailed our band would have a “grungy” look and feel, which affects how we market our band and their music. By looking at “retro marketing” we were able to adapt our marketing and distribution strategy tailored to the conventions of our target audience which is 16-24 year olds. By following this scheme we decided to add certain aspects to our project such as a self-made look to the presentation and some aspects of merchandise. We could have even released the band’s music on vinyls as they are popular with the TA.

Our research of other bands within the genre affected how we developed our strategy, such as the theme developed by Arctic Monkeys on their social media platforms and how Frankie Cosmos has a personal retro look on her website and social media platforms as well. With this in hand we ensured to use Instagram as our primary form of social media as the TA is specifically involved with this platform. Thus we had information about the band members, follow ups on songwriting, and even announcements and information.

By analyzing our project we found that research based actions work well and receive high marks as this information is proven to be effective. Additionally we can consider issues with time and organization, areas to work on as we continue to our portfolio project.

Thanks for following up with me!

Representation Questions

Hey everyone!

This is my fourth blog post, and it is about representation and regards a few questions asked by my instructor.

1. Immigrant parents, this group is a growing part of American demographics and should be included in media, more specifically defiant representation forms of immigrant women with postmodernism ideals.
2. In Seven Pounds a poor immigrant family is portrayed as poor, uneducated, filthy, and uncomplacent, which reflects poorly on the specific representation of immigrant latino families as perceived in this film.

Crazy Rich Asians has defied norms from immigrant families with conservative ideals, as seen through the parents of the couple. Yet the representation of Asians is incredible and ensures to close a gap between the stereotype, it still emphasizes traditional or even outdated family dynamics.

3. The representation is somewhat truthful to some extent based on the social dichotomy surrounding immigrant life in the United States, yet it does not fairly represent all individuals and cannot ascertain the proper perception such people may have as well.
4. The characteristics of social status I believe should be retained in some part as many immigrant families and specifically the parents of such households are treated poorly and sadly a majority as in the middle to lower social classes, and this would represent how people are treated and how something must be done, but in a manner that does not normalize the situation.

Genre Research #2

Hey everyone! Welcome back to my blog, this post is about some new research on genre and the use of fantasy in film.

Enjoy!

GENRE:

Fantasy

GENRE CONVENTIONS - CONTENT:

Normally most films categorized as ‘Fantasy’ uphold certain attributes relating to the content which are distinct to the genre. Traditionally the film would have an introduction to a specific setting, realm, or time period, then the film would normally introduce a protagonist as well as the subsequent antagonist. In most fantasy films there is an element of magic or mystery behind a force where the characters may have to develop this force and introduce this element. The storytelling of a fantasy film is crucial to understanding how elements of the story are intertwined and form the meaning behind the story.

GENRE CONVENTIONS - PRODUCTION TECH:

In most fantasy films, there can be a great influence on mise-en-scene as there are many attributes such as setting, set design, costume design, and post production elements which can all affect how the composition is presented to an audience. As some stories contain elements of magic or spirituality it can affect how the film should look many times reflective in editing and possibly a non-formalist set design as in Harry Potter where the elements of fantasy affect the use of set design in the wizarding world with distinct shapes, colors, and lighting. A common convention of fantasy films is potential animation which encompasses the whole film or portions, which is commonly seen in films with a younger target audience.

EXAMPLE #1: Harry Potter Series (2001-2011)

This film involves a wizard in a mystical world filled with good and evil as they are surrounded by magic and a whorf of mysterious event and precarious characters. The plot is set around a “chosen” one (Harry Potter) and his best friends as they battle the forces the evil with their newly learned and mastered magic, just as they are learning and discovering things about themselves.

EXAMPLE #2: Avatar (2009)

Avatar is actually known as being one of the highest grossing films of all time, this film may be characterized as Science Fiction, while there are science fiction attributes found in the film, the whole plot and thinking behind the film is descriptive of fantasy. In a the planet of Pandora the Na’vi are a native extraterrestrial  tribe, which live in peace until humans invade their land in a fight of galactic imperialism for resources. The film contains elements of supernatural elements mostly attributed to the environmental setting which is unknown from the audience’s perspective.

OTHER EXAMPLES:

-The Shape of Water (2017) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/?ref_=nv_sr_1

- Lord of the Rings Series (2001) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/?ref_=nv_sr_1

-Alice In Wonderland (1951) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043274/?ref_=nv_sr_2

-Narnia (2005) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363771/?ref_=nv_sr_1

-Mary Poppins (1964) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058331/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Hey everyone!

This is my second blog entry where I have been assigned to create a genre database for future reference by myself or group members!

GENRE:

Epic/historical


GENRE CONVENTIONS - CONTENT

The content of an epic/historical production can vary based on the situation, time period and people involved, yet most historical films utilized an unknown character as a lens to view to the historical event or figure present in the film. This use of plot and storyline can be seen in the Gladiator as the main character is a war general for the Roman Empire yet is used to view the role of Gladiators in the Roman Empire as the character was fictional and created solely of the use of such character in the film to act as a device, while developing an entertaining storyline for audiences to follow.


GENRE CONVENTIONS - PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES





The techniques used for productions account for the perspective an audience may grasp from consuming such media, thus proper production techniques are crucial.





Most productions in the genre of epics/historical normally are formalist works which focus on the specific look and feel of a time period and location for the development of story and plot devices. Thus many productions institute artists for set design, editing, and acting. These attributes are important to portray a different time period from the perspective of a generally uneducated audience would rather need clique ideals of time and history to appropriately understanding and semantically connect with a production.





INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS





Productions featured as historical films uphold similar attributes which could assimilate the productions, thus productions feature various methods of marketing but normally based their marketing on the impact a historical event or person may have, emotional appeal, educational appeal, and story, all to appeal to audiences. The audience may include knowledgeable individual or general audiences as a production company hopes to appeal to for greater profit margins. Thus by attaining the attention of various people, the production may institute certain universal ideals and conventions to market to potential audiences.






FILM EXAMPLES





Gladiator - Gladiator is a film which uses the adventure of a Roman army general who has high levels of authority but is sold a property to become a gladiator, this story acts as a lens to view a love story, family issues, social culture, and history relating to the individual characters, time period, and the location the movie was based on.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/?ref_=nv_sr_1


Schindler’s List - This film is based on a boss who notices he is losing a large amount of his Jewish workforce to the persecution of Jewish people in Poland during the Holocaust. This film utilizes the perspective of a concerned boss, to view the great social, economic, and ethical effects such atrocities have, specifically in concentration camps and in the Jewish ghettos.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/?ref_=nv_sr_1


Gone With the Wind https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/


Cleopatra https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/?ref_=nv_sr_4


Mongol https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/?ref_=nv_sr_1


The Last Samurai https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325710/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Brave Heart https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112573/?ref_=nv_sr_1




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Gabe

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! This blog is specifically curated for my AICE Media studies project, this is where I will be updating information about my project and how my team members work together at the task of completing this project. I cannot wait for us to begin work on this project, it seems to be an interesting encounter for creative inspiration and technical knowledge to be employed in the hopes of creating a meaningful and appropriate production.




Thanks!




Gabe