Mis-en-scene Necessities

Hey blog! Today we had another B day, so my group was able to meet and discuss our film opening. We are not one hundred percent certain on our idea, but we are all leaning towards the one previously discussed. We all think it would be cool to do the ironic stalker movie, but are still brainstorming the best ways to make it work. However, we know a few mutual scenes that we want to include in the piece. Thinking between the scenes, we picked some necessary mis-en-scene that we think would work.

One scene that is essential is the girl burying a dead body. For this scene, we want her dress to be in white. It would show a contrast in the dirt that would be on it from the shovel, and keep the ironic theme present. The white usually represents clean and innocence, both of which is not the scene. As well, it will be done at night with little lighting. We think this would add emphasis to the overall plot, creating the suspense. We want the girl to have a voice over, not directly talking to the camera but only focusing on her actions. Finally, we want to make an emphasis with the makeup. With mascara running all over and lipstick smeared everywhere, we think this would help to create the overall mood of the scene.

Another part we considered adding was an arrange of photos of the "boy" being stalked in the beginning, as sort of a flashback. As we do not know if this will be the exact idea, we know we one hundred percent want a flashback. The lighting will be brighter and the pixels more blurred, emphasizing that the scene is from the past. The voice over will most likely continue here, keeping the film opening constant with technique.

These were our overall ideas discussed for the mis-en-scene ideas for the idea. We are going to keep working on something along the lines of this, and incorporate it into a cool and memorable film opening.

Ideas for Opening

Hey blog! So today in class, we got together as a group to brainstorm ideas. We all have so many unique ideas it's hard to choose a genre! We decided our best bet was to watch film openings from last year that students submitted to Cambridge. From this, we made a list of what we thought worked and didn't work from the observed examples. I think this method was the best approach to start our brainstorming, because we had so many different ideas. After watching five film openings, we were able to completely cut out some ideas. As a group, we decided we wanted to combine both drama and suspense in order to create a memorable movie opening.

From this, we began brainstorming events that are extremely dramatic. We wanted to start the dramatic event in the beginning, and allude to a flashback throughout the movie. We had a hard time at first getting the ideas flowing, because some thoughts were extremely basic. We brought up ideas of kidnappings happening on runs at night, shipwrecks and flashing back into time on a boat, and even a murder. However, all of these ideas were unappealing because they had been done so many times before. We truly want to create something that is memorable to the audience.

As a team, we have not set our mind on an idea. However, we were intrigued by an idea I introduced. I thought it would be cool to do a stalker sort of movie, but put an ironic twist on it. Instead of the common stereotype off a male being a stalker, we would reverse the roles and instead show it from the perspective of a female. The idea seems unique, and no one has brought up something like that in class. We are going to think of ideas tonight and have them ready to introduce next class. I plan on attempting to outline a piece like the one I introduced, but as well come up with more ideas in case this is not the one. Time to go brainstorm!

Genre Debate

     Hi blog! My partners and I are still having a debate over what genre to do. Callie and I both have good ideas for the plot of the movie, but can't choose what genre to focus on! I think we should do a horror suspenseful scene, because it is fun to film and easy to create a unique story. When I watch movies, I always remember the horror genre openings more than I remember other genres. I think if pulled off properly, we could create a memorable film opening with this topic. One horror movie in which I find the opening scene memorable is "When A Stranger Calls." The opening film link is attached below. The reason why I find this memorable is a combination of factors. With the repetitive phone calls combined with the music, even in the first ten minutes I have chills. The director was able to draw the audience in within the first scene, due to the appeal to find out what happens next. With no down time, the film jumps right in, developing a memorable plot in the movie. In an earlier blog post, I attached genre research for a horror movie. I think the director uses all the factors discussed to effectively make a suspenseful movie. Although it is old, it still gives me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrtDLbbUDKE


     On the other hand, Callie wants to do a dramatic film opening. She does not know if she wants it to be more of a drama within teenagers (sort of a coming to age type of movie), or a dramatic movie with a suspenseful buildup in the plot. We do not have any research gathered on this movie type, so I have began looking into characteristic of a dramatic movie. Dramatic movies do not provide as much of a mysterious feel, which in my opinion does not draw in the audience. I looked into watching some film openings for dramatic movies, such as "The Help." (link attached below) Through my research, I found that these movies tend to establish context or introduce characters and events in the opening. In the case of "The Help" the film opening establishes context about slavery and a woman's daily life. It develops her character and explains what she must go through every day in this time period. Another example is "Lady Bird." This film opening also develops context, but a dramatic scene is in the first few minutes as the daughter jumps out of a car. The main purpose of a film opening in the genre of drama is to set the story, in comparison to developing suspense in a horror genre. The drama genre is supposed to be relatable to the audience, showing everyday challenges that people go through but on a bigger scale. While some take on social issues like civil rights, others combine with humor in order to show a soft side to people's problems. Drama is broken up into two main categories, being comedy and tragedy. Both move the audience emotionally, just some movies are more easygoing than others. There are not many factors seen in all dramatic movies, because the categories vary greatly. However, they focus on a main topic of a struggle and issue, and create a relatable plot for the audience. I just personally think the hardest part will be creating an entire plot in only two minutes. However, we have some good ideas for both genres that would work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5oJFP82uto


   With whatever genre is chosen, I think my group will put together an amazing opening to a film. We need to develop soon, because this week we have to start the story board for our project. I don't want us to fall behind, because we all have busy schedules. We plan on working on a story board at the start of next week, and altering it in by the end. We also want to develop a few plots for back up in case the one we try doesn't work. I know it will be hard for me to get it all done because I have multiple lacrosse games this week, but we are going to work diligently in order to make sure our tasks are accomplished.

Blog Post Preparation

     Hi! As the school year nears the end of the quarter, it is time to start the final project. I have been very excited to work on this all year, and have been waiting for this moment. Towards the beginning of the year, my partners and I chose the task of developing a film opening over a magazine. We all thought it would be easier and we would be more successful with the film, because we enjoy watching movies and are familiar with the media industry. My group members are Callie Carpinteri and Sara Joseph. Being best friends, we believe that it will be easy for us to work together and create a successful project to submit to Cambridge.

     In class today, we watched a powerpoint explaining how to write an effective blog post. From explaining the preparation processes, too critiquing our end result, our teacher went over the necessities in which need to be followed. I will be using this blog in order to post my thought process behind the elements chosen for the film opening. At first, I was worried because I am not always the best at explaining in depth why I choose to do specific things. However, after the presentation I am feeling more confident in my abilities to create a well written blog.

     I am going to incorporate the elements discussed in the powerpoint into my own research. I believe it is the most effective way to explain what I am thinking behind my artistic decisions. I plan on posting on this blog four times a week, giving the reader a journey through my media development. I am going to break down my blog posts to keep me on track. As the powerpoint discussed, I will write my posts in the order of preparation, development of the piece, final product, and then critiquing. It has been successful for years prior, so I plan on incorporating this method into my piece.

     My group members and I discussed what our possible genre would be for the film opening today. We all had different ideas we were passionate about. While I thought it would be better to do a suspenseful and mysterious film opening, Callie wanted to do a dramatic plot. We are still in between topics on what genre to do, because we both have good ideas. We gave ourselves a time limit to attempt to figure out our genre by this weekend, so next weekend we can start the storyboard for our film. Overall, I think we had a promising first day. Learning how to properly blog, and starting the genre research for our post, I feel like my team has a good start on the project.