Production

Now for the idea of the introduction. We obviously want to make an intriguing introduction and want it to effectively hook the audience. For the actual vibe we want to go for we are thinking about filming at night and giving it that more mysterious sense to it. One window would be open and the girl would hop out of the window after messing up her room and begin running away from her house. If we film this at night we can use LED lights inside the room to help establish the mood of the scene. 

For the actual filming locations, it is definitely going to be inside a house and on the outside of the house too. I previously mentioned that maybe we would have to use a park, but I don't think that will be necessary anymore. When I picture this scene, I picture our actress walking into her room angry, messing everything up, such as throwing clothes all over the room and disorganizing her bed. Then sitting on the floor with her hands on her head and deciding she was going to run away. After this, she opens her window, looks back, and hops out with a small backpack she packed. Then she begins running and running and the scene stops. 

I believe that this idea clearly captures the essence of what a thriller introduction should be because it follows the guidelines that I learned about through my research. For example, it establishes that sense of mystery and covering up certain information from characters that the audience already knows. In this case it would be that the viewers know that she has run away, but the parents believe that she was kidnapped. 

I also wanted to add that there have been setbacks in my planning process because unfortunately my partner got COVID-19 so we have not been able to meet with each other and discuss everything at length. However, she is not doing much better and we will meet in person by the end of this week. Throughout the week I will continue to brainstorm about the full story and the one of the most important parts of the film: THE TITLE! 

Protagonist

I decided to make a whole post about our protagonist alone because I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want her to look like and how I will develop her character. 

First, she is obviously a teenager with long blonde hair. She is not tall nor short, she is of average height. She has light eyes and an average sized nose. She tends to lean towards neutral and dark colors instead of bright and pastel colors. Her everyday clothing consists of hoodies and sweatpants, but during the weekends she dresses in jeans and small shirts. She is a junior in high school. 

Here are examples of the colors her wardrobe consists of: 

Her relationship with her parents is not terrible, but as any other teenage girl she tends to fight with them a lot. This explains why she would run away from her house. The whole idea of making it look like a kidnapping comes from the fact that she wants her parents to regret fighting with her because she believes that everything is there fault. She is someone who has a lot of friends, but has only a few close friends. She usually keeps her room quite messy as a way to challenger her parents because she knows how much they hate when her room is messy. 

With all this information, I feel it is easy to label this character as someone challenging. Stay tuned for more information about this character! 

Updates

 So I know that I had a whole schedule I was planning on sticking on, but the whole idea and trying to develop the story is harder than what I initially anticipated. We have to develop three characters for our introduction, the actual protagonist and her two parents. We still are not quite sure if we will give her a name of purely use her actions and appearance as a way to develop her. For the parents, we have decided that we will not be including any dialogue from them. The most sure thing is that our introduction will have no dialogue at all. 

As for the actual storyline, as I mentioned in a previous blog, it will be about a girl running away from her house but making it seem like she was kidnapped to her parents. The reason why she runs away is not going to be fully disclosed in the introduction since this would be something that would be discussed throughout the movie. 

The actual filming of the video will take place in either my house or my partners house and probably at a park/parking lot that we have not decided on. As for the name of the film, we still have not put much thought into it as we want to film and plan before we decide what fits the film best. I will rework my schedule I had planned out for myself to fit the obstacles that I did not fully anticipate before. 

Production planning

Finally I finished my research, I feel that I learned a lot through the research that I did. Educating myself on a genre that I do not tend to watch makes me want to watch more movies that fit into that genre. The most interesting part about my research was learning about the different things that must be included in a thriller in order to make it successful. In my character research, I found it fascinating that every single character seen in film has a specific purpose and is carefully thought out. This amazed me because there are so many characters in films that I have seen and I have simply thought that they meant nothing and had no real purpose, but now I realize every character has thought put into it. This research is giving me a new appreciation for film and the process behind it. 

Now for the actual production planning. Planning out what my and my partners next steps are is going to help us tremendously. So far we have our idea of what we want to do and our research done. We still have to figure out how we want to develop our characters that will appear and how we want the scenes to look exactly. We have devised a schedule that we plan to stick to: 

• 02/24/2022: Determine exact storyline to begin story board 
• 02/25/2022: Begin storyboard/ characters 
• 02/28/2022: Have storyboard done/ characters
• 03/01/2022: Begin filming 

If we are able to stick to this schedule then we are right on track with how we want things to go. However, we both acknowledge that with this project there might be unexpected obstacles along the way so we are aware that this schedule might not be the exact timeline, but we are still optimistic that we will be able to stick to it. 

Now time to begin brainstorming for our storyboard, don't forget to check for updates! 

More about characters...

 Creating characters, even if it is for an introduction, is quite challenging because you want people to understand your character the way you do. If people can understand your character then it means you succeeded with your character development. Even though it is challenging, it is also exciting to see what you can come up with because it quite literally comes from your mind, at least in this specific project. Me and my partner have full creative liberty to make our character exactly how we want it. 

The main characters are not the only important ones, here is a whole creative process behind every character that appears on film. The different types of characters are: 

• Lead Characters
• Most scenes will include it 
• Drives plot/story 
• Complex backstory 
• Three-dimensional personality
• Minor Characters 
• Only appear in story for short time 
• Complete quick task or have quick conversation
• No backstory
• Supporting Characters 
• Support lead characters 
• Multiple appearances in scenes 
• Short and sweet backstory 

The characters listed above are present in almost every film ever made. Some examples of lead characters are Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Natasha Romanoff in Avengers: Endgame and Daniel Radcliffe in the whole Harry Potter series. 

                                         Chris Evans as Captain America in Avengers: Endgame

Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame

                                   Natasha Romanoff as Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame 

                         Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter throughout the whole Harry Potter series 

Examples of minor characters are Ken Jeong as a security guard in Avengers: Endgame and Hugh Mitchell as Colin Creevey in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

                                          Ken Jeong as a security guard in Avengers: Endgame 

Hugh Mitchell as Colin Creevey, a photographer, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Examples of supporting characters are Danai Gurira as Okoye in Avengers: Endgame and Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

                                              Danai Gurira as Okoye in Avengers: Endgame 

Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

When creating characters, ensure to not make them seem to perfect. Make sure that they have character flaws so the audience can relate to them and therefore better understand your character. The more the audience relates and sees themselves in a character, the more likely they will watch the whole film and be hooked on the resolution. 

It is also important to establish that the characters created are not actually real. I know, when I first read this I was completely shocked. Why would professionals purposely make their characters unrealistic? When we refer to realistic, I mean appearance wise, meaning characters that have real emotions and feelings but that you would never expect to run into in real life. An example of this is, Doc Brown in Back to The Future. Audiences enjoy watching characters that they have never seen in real life but fit perfect into the story that is being made in the film. . However, average normal characters are needed as well because audiences also enjoy being able to see themselves in characters. There is a balance between characters that must be met in order to create a great film. 

Sources: 

https://industrialscripts.com/character-development/

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Minor_Characters

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2478422/10-supporting-characters-from-the-mcu-that-deserve-a-much-bigger-role-in-the-future

Characters

 Characters are the central part to any film ever created, without characters then there is not really a story to develop. But how are characters properly developed? What techniques do film makers use to make these characters so relatable and realistic in the spam of an hour and forty minutes? How many layers does a character truly have behind close doors? There are endless amounts of questions about character development, but thanks to my research I am able to understand it a little better now. 

Character development is everything from the name, physical features, to even the backstory. Creating believable characters hooks audiences to watching the full film. How many times have we all watched a film where characters have been completely unrealistic and decide to stop watching the film because it simply just does not hook us or interest us. 

There are different steps to creating believable characters, these are just a few: 

• Determine you character's motivation. 
• Ask yourself "What does this character want?" 
• Make sure the "wants" are clear 
• Determine character's main conflict 
• Begin to build in the external and internal obstacles to achieve the characters "wants" 
• Define if character's conflict is internal or external 
• Define how character will change throughout the movie 
• What type of character? Dynamic, archetypal, or static. 
• Create character's backstory 
• Make character relatable 
• Extensive details about life 
• What will your character look like ?
• Have a clear image of what you want your character to look like 
• Determine specific body language of character 
• Use the people around you for inspiration 

This is just a small look into my character research, don't forget to stay tuned!

Source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/judd-apatows-6-tips-on-developing-and-writing-dynamic-characters#how-to-write-a-believable-character-in-5-steps

Research Part #2

 This is a continuation of my thriller research. As I continue to read about the genre I discover more and more aspects of it. There is so much information about this one genre and the way it branches into different genres. 

There is said to be a core emotion for every genre of film, for thriller that emotion is excitement. People most commonly lean towards this genre because it feels as if they are taking risks without any actual risks involved. These risks are then deflated by the satisfaction of the protagonist uncovering what they needed to do in order to avoid destruction or disaster. All good thriller films have a controlling idea which can be defined as the lesson a filmmaker wants the audience to leave with. This controlling idea is most often developed unconsciously but it is always present. A controlling idea can be displayed through an ordinary sentence or developed through the actions of the characters throughout the film. Controlling ideas will differ depending on the nature of your story, meaning if it is meant to be a positive story or a negative one. 

There are certain scenes that must be included in the thriller genre according to Shawn Coyne. These scenes include: 

• Inciting crime of a master villain
• A clearly stated "point of no return" 
• Protagonists first strategy to defeating the antagonist 
• Protagonist uncovers what the antagonist desires most 
• Protagonist becomes the victim 
• Hero begs for mercy at the villain 
• False endings 

The "obligatory" scenes every thriller must have can differ depending on the subgenre of thriller that the film is about. However, these scenes are present in different forms. For example, a point of no return scene would not be the same in a romantic thriller than a psychological thriller. 

There are also various different conventions that must be followed in the thriller genre. Conventions are NOT obligatory scenes, the difference is that conventions are requirements that must be met in order to further develop a story's characters and plot. Conventions do not have to occur in a specific order unlike obligatory scenes. 

Here are some examples of conventions: 

• Detailed description of atmosphere 
• Crimes must contain a clue 
• Limited time for protagonist to act 
• Protagonist actively investigates 
• Lives depending on protagonist defeating antagonist 
• Hypocrite character

Source: https://storygrid.com/thriller-genre/

Next up is character development!!

Research Part #1

 So today I finally began my extensive research for the genre thriller. I was never aware of the amount of emotions that a thriller film must evoke in a viewer for it to be truly considered a good thriller movie. There are various different types of thrillers I did not know existed, some of them include: 

• Legal thriller 
• Spy thriller 
• Action-adventure thriller 
• Medical thriller 
• Police thriller 
• Romantic thriller 
• Historical thriller 
• Political thriller 
• Religious thriller 
• High-tech thriller
• Military thriller 

The list goes on and on! All these different types of thrillers are the subgenres of the actual genre thriller. This list continues because thrillers are the easiest genre to merge with other genres, which is why there are countless films that are considered action or romance but still showcase that suspense from the thriller genre. 

The thriller genre is best defined by the mood it ignites in a viewer, these moods or feeling can be anywhere from anxiousness to excitement. Thrillers usually include one main character who is stuck in some sort of conflict and therefore isolates themselves from the world, more specifically from the people who they care about and care about them. This is absolutely perfect for my introduction because the character is doing exactly that. She is isolating and running away from home due to an internal conflict, that is yet to be determined, and leaving behind the two people she should trust the most, her parents. 

Suspense is a huge part of a thriller movie, it is what creates all the different emotions evoked in a viewer. Without suspense could a thriller even be called a thriller? Absolutely not! Suspense is unpredictability, which leads to mystery and hooks readers to watching the piece of film.A prime example of a master of thriller movies was filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. People loved his movies because he was astonishingly great at creating that feel of suspense and keeping people on the edge of their seats. Some of his best thriller movies include, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, Rear Window, and Vertigo. Another example of a thriller is Gone Girl by David Fincher. This film combats what we all know about murder mysteries and includes multiple turns in the story. 

Like any other genre, thriller has its typical themes that are seen: 

• Ransoms 
• Captivities 
• Kidnappings
• Revenge
• Heist 
• Assassins 
• Stalkers 
• Psychotic individuals 
• Sociopaths 
• Spy 

I think we can all agree every thriller we have watched has included at least one of the characters or themes listed above. Despite how much we have watched these types of movies over and over again they always keep us hooked until the very end. It's like we know what to expect but for some reason keep watching the film. This is all due to the different ways in which suspense is created throughout the film. Suspense can be created with anything, from a difference in lighting to the soundtrack used. 

Covering up important information from characters is also a key element in creating a good thriller. When viewers know information that other characters do not know it creates a sense of anxiety in the viewer to want the other characters to discover this piece of information. However, hiding information from other characters is not the only way to achieve this. Hiding information from the audience is just as effective or even more, when the characters know something that the audience does not it makes us want to discover whatever it is that the characters are hiding from us. 

This is just the beginning to my research on the genre, but I have to admit I did not expect there to be so many layers to a thriller which is crazy because I feel that every movie I have ever watched includes at least one aspect of a thriller. Stay tuned for more research on the genre! 

Source: https://nofilmschool.com/thriller-genre-in-movies-and-tv-shows

From the beginning...

 Today me and my partner finally decided what genre we want to focus on. It took us a while to figure out what we should base our project around because none of the ideas we threw around really stuck to us. For example, we began talking about making our introduction about an girl who's life felt like it was a constant cycle. Her days would be the exact same thing everyday which would cause her life to feel like this endless loop of nothing. We were going to name this film "Cycle." However, we decided to take another approach to our thinking and decided to make our introduction about something completely different. We decided on the genre thriller and our introduction will be about a girl who runs away from her house due to circumstances, that we have not yet determined, and make it look like she was kidnapped to her parents.

The interesting thing about our idea is that the audience will have some information that the other characters, her parents, do not. We figured this would be a good way to keep the audience hooked and we can add out own creative ideas in different ways. For example, we can play around with the lighting and camera angles to best suit what we are trying to portray to the viewers. 

I have already started my research but decided I would post a separate blog discussing all I have learned about thriller movies and what I expect the production and post production process to be like. It's exciting to research a whole new genre that I am not that familiar with since I tend to watch different styles of movies, but maybe after my research is concluded I will find that thriller is a genre I enjoy. I feel excited about what we will be able to create together but am still quite overwhelmed with the whole process. Stay tuned for more updates! 

Media Studies Project

 Time really does fly, seems like yesterday I was told about the different aspects of the project and today I am really starting it. It is quite overwhelming for me personally, so many different things to do and in a specific timeline too. Time management has never been exactly my best quality. 

There are so many different aspects of the project that need to be discussed and chosen. First staring with the genre, action, romance, comedy, mystery, which one do I choose? That is an answer that I will find as I begin my research and discover what truly interests me. Once I find my genre, I will focus on the concept of my introduction and what my movie is actually going to be about. There are so many creative directions I could take that it's hard to decide on just one. My teacher gave us a piece of advice, "Write what you know" and it really stuck with me because it made the project make sense.

Lastly, the character development and setting of the opening. This will be my last step because in order to develop my characters I need my concrete concept. Once I have all these things done, including my research, I will begin the actual production process with my partner. 

This is only the start to what seems like a long, difficult journey, but I know it will all work out in the end. Stay tuned! 

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

The music marketing project we had to do was very informative because we got to learn about a genre of music that I personally do not listen to ever. The project itself was a whole process that we had to follow in order to have the successful outcome we had. First the research/brainstorming part, this was the most challenging part of the project because it was when we had to decide what type of brand we wanted to develop for our artist. We choose the artist to embrace the violence or rock, meaning that Axel's whole vibe and essence is dark and violent, but at the same time sensitive and fit. Dark and violent in the sense that he sees the solution to his problem as beating the new boyfriend up instead of trying to do something else and violent because he did beat the new boyfriend up and rock is connected to violence and craziness. Sensitive because while he is violent and dark, he also feels the emotions of his girlfriends having a new boyfriend and acts upon those feelings with violence. Lastly, fit because it connects back to that violence and anger that he was within. 

Based on the brand we choose we then had to decide on the appropriate marketing and distribution plan. This was also challenging because we had the fit both of these methods according to the target audience our artist has. We decided on pretty simple but effective marketing plan that targets our young audience. It includes building a loyal fanbase through social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and then expanding to signing with a record label and collaborations with big brands like Adidas. The collaboration with brands has to come later because we need some attention for our artist before any big brand like that reaches out and makes him a sponsor. We choose Adidas because it represents the fit aspect our artist has and is a popular brand amongst teenagers/young adults, which is our target audience. 

The production process of our project was the easiest part in my opinion because it included the actual filming and editing aspect. For the filming, we already had our storyboard done so it was pretty simple to get all the shots necessary to film in a short amount of time but make sure the scenes made sense and went well with the brand we are trying to build. We decided to film in Regional Park because it has a pretty open space with many locations in which we could have filmed and it has nice lightning. We had to film on three separate days to get the final shots we used for our video. The editing process was mostly done by my teammate Martina, but she asked for our input on how we though the video should flow. 

Post production consisted of making sure that the video had a nice flow to it and making sure were getting our actual presentation ready to submit. We all communicated through a group chat we made and were all very active on it. We all had different slides to complete, therefore making it easier for us to understand the information each individual was presenting since it was the slides we had worked on. 

The presentation process was complicated in the sense that we had to compress all the information we wanted to include in our PowerPoint. We could not have full paragraphs on our slides so we had to pick and choose what we wanted to display and what we wanted to elaborate on. Since we also had a time limit we had to remember what we were gonna say and make sure that we stayed within our time limit. For example, deciding if we should list the cities in which Axel will have pop-ups or deciding what personal background about Axel we wanted displayed on the PowerPoint and what we wanted to actually communicate to the audience. Also making sure that we had all the information necessary so that the audience really understood the essence of our artist. 

Looking back at the project as a whole I enjoyed learning about the different genres of music that I have never enjoyed listening to. I think it really gave me a look into how many things need to be considered when thinking about a new artist. Marketing has so many different branches that need to be considered or else the plan will not work as effectively as the team wants it to. I learned that everything matters when it comes to creating a marketing/distribution plan. This experience will help me with my Cambridge portfolio because it has already given me a look into the amount of work that goes into a project like this so I am better prepared now.