Day 4

Hello! I'm sorry I haven't been posting so often the thing is that I have these two events in which I have to sing(exciting right?) and I've been really busy rehearsing! But now I'm back with...

Day 4: Research, the Threequel (is that a thing? yes. I looked it up.)

Today we're researching crime.

• a solution (in most cases)
• red herrings (fake clues)
• Some crime films will have a storyline that follows the criminal's victim, others follow the person in pursuit of the criminal.
• can be realistic or not
• close-ups to show expressions, establishing shots for the setting.
• intertwine realistic characters with unrealistic situations 

  

Characters:
Commonly include a victim a criminal and a detective. Realistic characters; really intelligent and deep. Some might be into the mafia, be gangsters, or police officers. They all have a little mystery in them. 

Sound:
Suspenseful, tense music. Silence is also used, for tension. Music could range from jazz to country and from fast to slow depending on the tone they want to set. This song (which is amazing by the way) from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri sets that tone of confidence and strength in between the characters of the film; the strong beats and interesting pacing accompany the tone of the film.

Colors:
Mostly gloomier colors, bright ones are mostly used to emphasize certain things and, in that case, have meaning. For example: the billboards in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri are red because red means passion, strength, anger, and determination, plus it's the color of blood and fire, it all ties up.

Scenery/Costumes:
According to the time period. There might be a lot of dodgy and uncomfortable locations. Dim lighting is used in a lot of scenes, to set that dark tone. Rain can be helpful to set the tone. There might be a lot of police stations and alleys, depending on the storyline. Costumes will be realistic and in accordance with the time period. Suits, formal or rural dressing are common.

Editing:
Usually, quick and fast paces to show actions and slow-paced to build tension.
 
sources:
https://www.filmsite.org/crimefilms.html
https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/980-crime/
https://prezi.com/g2wpsrah12ln/the-conventions-of-crime-fiction/

Day 3

Hello! 

Day 3: Research, the Sequel.

Here goes the research for the comedy genre.

• laughable characters and/or situations 
• most have a happy ending 
• humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters
• create comic structure from the beginning, start big to set the tone
• comic contrast- between storyline, goal, characters
• feature pratfalls, wordplay, uncomfortable situations, and sometimes lean the opposite way of realism
• test with audiences, to see if jokes are working

Characters:

Characters are most likely contrasting (there's an opportunity for more humor). There is almost always one character who is notoriously clumsier or funnier than the rest. For example: in 21 Jump Street, Schmidt. Sometimes characters are contrasting with their stereotype, like Terry Crews in White Chicks, a big, strong man who knows and sings the song 'A Thousand Miles" (very delicate song). 

Sound:

Sound is crucial. Mostly happy music. In slapstick comedy (physical comedy), exaggerated sound effects. Sound effects are also used to emphasize certain jokes.

Colors:
In a comedy, colors are mostly bright and with high saturation. There can be a lot of oranges, pinks, and yellows as these create a light, optimistic, humorous atmosphere. 

Scenery/ Costumes:

The scenery most likely is bright and in good lighting, as it creates that tone of happiness. Natural lighting is used to elevate mood. Full of color, also to set that happy tone. Costumes are either colorful or normal, to avoid distraction. They are usually everyday clothes, according to the time period. Sometimes costumes are used especially for comic reasons like Cady's exaggerated, super un-cool Halloween costume in Mean Girls. 

Editing: 
Editing a comedy is hard. Getting the right timing and pacing is important; if a joke doesn't work, cut it out. Contrast is used in scenes and shots to create humor. Slow and fast editing are mixed to keep the excitement up.

sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq2QzJ1Re7U

https://www.filmsite.org/comedyfilms.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSm5I5umLRg
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-edit-comedy-scenes-for-maximum-laughs/

Day 2

Good morninggggg! So I read the directions for the assignment again and I realized I had to do some research... here we go.

Day 2: Research.

I'm gonna split this up in 3 posts about 3 genres that I'm interested in doing.

Today we'll talk about drama.

• moves the audience emotionally
• shows characters at their best and worst
• dramatic sounds 
• often have subgenera (for example: crime, historical, romance)
• often deal with current issues, mental health, poverty, racial issues, for example.
• there's a climax 

Characters:

Characters are mostly realistic, the focus of a drama is to get people to sympathize and feel for the characters, this is easier if characters are easy to relate to. Intense social interactions between characters, a lot of emotion.

Sound:

Music in dramas varies with the subgenera. Underscores and orchestral pieces in a variety of moods and atmospheres are included to go along with the storyline. Music is used to accompany and sometimes foreshadow emotion. 

Colors:

Color is crucial. Colors in drama vary with subgenre but for the most part, colors will be gloomier and hues warmer, to go with the tone and evolve with the storyline. Sometimes these films are edited to look black and white to get that message of sadness or seriousness clearer. 
example: In the film "Schindlers' List" there's a scene in which a little girl is shown wearing a red coat, the use of a single element of color in a black and white movie was used to further dramatize the scene. In the end, color is used again to show the survivors, now it is showing a resolution.

Scenery/ Costumes:

Sets and costumes will most likely be realistic and adequate for the time period. They will express the characters' social status and lifestyle and advance with it. For example, in a war drama, the sets will deteriorate as the war advances.






Editing:
Editing might be very dramatic, accompanying the storyline's pace. Fast and slow editing are mixed to express tone.

sources: https://www.slideshare.net/libbyannjones/research-into-drama-film-genre

https://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms3.html

Day 1

Hello! I am gonna be recording the process of my film opening project on here sooo you can read if you want to!

Day 1: I have nothing.

To actually start thinking about the opening of the film I want to AT LEAST have an idea of WHAT MY FILM IS GONNA BE ABOUT. 
I want to know who my main character is going to be, what they will do and how I feel about them. THEN I will decide how I want to introduce them, their setting or whatever I decide to open with to show their story.
For now, I like the idea of a drama. Something interesting like "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri" or "Jojo Rabbit" or "Spotlight". 

I'll let you know when I have some ideas.

Music Marketing Project

The Man

     For the music marketing project, with my group, we chose the song "The Man" by The Killers. We could change the name of the band and we decided on the name "Orpheus". Orpheus is a character of Greek mythology, he is the god of music. We knew this would appeal to our target audience.

     Our genre is a combination of alternative rock and indie music. Our target audience for indie music consists of a majority of men, 14-30 years of age, low salaries, who enjoy the arts. Our target audience for rock is mainly men, 14 to late '50s, unskilled workers/supervisors/students, they have artists as role models. Both types of target audiences are very similar so it was easy for us to make our brand appealable and approachable to both of them. We did this by going back to the arts ( e.g.: the name of our band and the story behind it) and getting a streaming service that works for people of low income (like students). 

     We took reference from two bands which we share a target audience with, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys, to look at what we wanted to do. We found that, in Coldplay, what worked in terms of marketing was keeping fans in mind at all times (through social media, personal interactions with audiences, making fans part of concert experience, and innovation in music and performances), which is understandable given that their target audience sees band members as role models.  What worked with Arctic Monkeys is very similar, building relationships with their fans (social media, email, meet and greets). Also, very importantly, they offer FREE DOWNLOADS. Giving their target audience, people who most likely have low incomes, chances to listen to their music for free is crucial for music distribution and popularity gain.

    After looking at these examples we asked ourselves:
Who are we? We decided to make our band reflect who its members are: artists. We gave it a very artistic feel with even our name being the name of the god of music, Orpheus. We are also advocates, we care about problems and we expose them, through our music, in artistic ways. We wanna give back to our society, we are going to donate 20% of our earnings to Arts Council England, an organization dedicated to distributing the arts to all people. Like our great examples, we decided we wanted to connect with our audience and keep them updated,  making them part of the experience. We thought a great idea to do this was by posting on our blog some sheet music or vide previews to let audience critique and give us feedback on what they wanna hear. Through every decision we made we asked ourselves: how would our target audience take this?  What is more convenient for our target audience? Based on that and on our personal interests, we made our decisions.

     Our marketing products are simple. Up to now, we have a basic shirt with our logo and name; a shirt with our album logo and name, and a pin with our band logo and name, as those are very popular throughout our target audience.

BAND SHIRT

ALBUM SHIRT

PIN

The process of creating this band and campaign was very fun and entertaining, but it was also hard. Creating a brand for our band is an experience that taught me a lot. I learned a lot about how much research needs to be done to get things done, to pitch your idea to producers. I learned every little thing you do, at least at the beginning, has to be connected to your target audience and/or goal. With my group, we were very careful balancing what we wanted as a band with what our audience would want and created a perfect mix, without losing our identity. That was challenging to do. Developing a marketing campaign was fun, especially since we preferred to try and get unique ways to market our brand, which we thought would also give us publicity by giving us that advantage of standing out. We went in ways like giving previews and asking fans for feedback to even getting random people in the streets to perform in our music videos. A common marketing technique that we used was releasing a music video. The production of this one was interesting. We tried to produce it in a way that would reflect our brand, paying close attention to shots and acting; we knew the idea behind the music video since we wrote the song.

Representation Analysis

Axe: In this ad we see a group of women running desperately towards a white man spraying Axe deodorant. The ad shows the women not as a a group but more like a herd; they're like animals. The group is not very diverse; the women are all in perfect shape, there's a white majority by far and they are all blonde or brunette.  They are wearing only very revealing bikinis, the man is also wearing only shorts. The women are not only sexualized in their lack of clothing but also in the shots; there's a lot of shots showing the female upper body moving. The ad seems to show that once men spray the Axe deodorant, women will be automatically drawn to them desperately. I can understand someone might have done this as  a comic ad but unfortunately it looks more as a bad representation of women seen as people in underwear running frantically towards  a man.

H&M: I really like this ad. It showed a lot of different people with different styles wearing different things. It showed diversity and it showed that it is okay and that it is fun and cool. There were some parts of the ad which could be controversial like when it says "Be uniformed" and it shows men and then it says "Be liberated" and it shows a woman moving on a kitchen counter, it is a little like the wrongful representation of men as workers and women as pretty people. But I believe that if we see that alone vs. that surrounded by a  lot of good representation posts it is different, we see the goal. The ad shows representation of all types. It shows people of all ages, of all sizes, of all genders, of different religions and ethnicities. Most important, it represents diversity. It represents distinct people which is what the world has. A minute and a half ad can't represent every ethnicity and every religion, but this ad gets the message across.

Musicals Rock

Chicago (2002)

Musicals

As not so many can agree with actually, musicals are awesome. This genre is very popular among females and among young kids, through animated films. I personally find the idea of singing and acting and dancing all together spectacular. There's nothing like watching a story told through the power of music, truly nothing like it.

A musical, just like any other film genre, uses various filmmaking techniques to advance the plot. What is added is the use of songs, sung by the characters, to advance the plot, theme, or characters. Dialogue and song work together to form the story. Unlike other songs in films, music in musicals is a diagetic sound as it is, in fact, part of the characters' lives, they can hear it, they live with it. Amazing, right?

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Annie (1982)

There are different types of musicals. Usually, the type they create depends on the sub-genre and storyline of the musical. I believe there are two big different categories in which musicals can be sorted. One is a dramatic musical. This musical is one that, in the crazy world of musicals, is the most realistic one. There are no big dance numbers because the plot is more dramatic- they might have dance numbers, but nothing major. They are very emotional. Colors are mostly neutral and enhance the character and situation, they don't distract from the action. Camera shots are as they would be in any film, lots of medium shots and close-ups to see the characters' emotions clearly. Examples of this include Little Shop of Horrors, Les Miserables, and Evita. Then there's the happy musical. I call them like this because they are the ones that make me jump out of my bed and start dancing. They are the typical feel-good musical. There's a beginning, a conflict, and a resolution and the ending is most-likely a happy one. There are big dance numbers, costumes and settings are usually very colorful. Some characters may be extravagant and exaggerated. In this type of musical, there's an abundance of long shots to show the dance numbers. Examples of this include Hello Dolly!, Hairspray, and West Side Story. Keep in mind though that this is my way of sorting musicals and there are musicals in between these two and some that are both; there's no actual rule. And, if you ask me, they are both equally amazing.

Sweeney Todd (2007)

                                        

Hello Dolly! (1969)

For example...

Les Miserables (2012)

 This musical is one of my personal favorites. It was adapted to film from the stage version by director Tom Hooper. It is a very dramatic piece set in the French Revolution. The plot surrounds a story where Javert (Russell Crowe), an officer, tries to capture Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), while his daughter falls in love with Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a fighter for the revolution. This musical is serious and dramatic. Colors in costumes and set design are neutral and there's a lot of French patriotic colors, in accordance with the time period. The set design changes correspondently to the revolution's advances. In this musical, music is everything. Songs are the form of dialogue. The songs are very powerful, vocally and instrumentally. Actors' performances were splendid in the means of using their voice to set the tone and emotion of the scene. There are certain notes that the audience hears and knows exactly what character is going to show up, it's like a musical trademark.



Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
This musical was adapted to the screen by director Jim Sharman. It is a strange piece that follows the story of Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) as they spend an unforgettable night at Dr. Farnk N' Furter's (Tim Curry) castle. This musical contains some dance numbers. Characters are very exaggerated and unrealistic. All of them have very distinct personalities. Color plays a very important role in this production as it sets the tone of this extraordinary story and its weird characters. Soft pinks and white for Janet and blues for Brad; red and black for Frank. This musical has some dialogue and some songs. There is a variety of different types of music in the story. The pacing and tone of the songs change distinctively with the characters. For example, Frank, a crazy scientist, sings songs that have a rock and roll melodies while Janet, an innocent young lady, sings songs with more delicate tones. When the characters have a sudden change the music changes as well.

Recommended Viewings:
Funny Girl
The Sound of Music
The Phantom of the Opera
Moulin Rouge
Guys and Dolls
Grease
Cabaret