Audience and Institutions Practice Essay

In relation to the media area you've studied, discuss the ways audience 

consumption has changed over time. [50]

Ever since the art of film was invented, the main way for audiences to view it was for them to go out to a movie theater and watch it on the big (or, in the old days, small) screen. However, audience consumption has changed vastly compared to how things used to be. At the turn of the century, streaming services and movie rental services grew to be extremely relevant amongst society. There are many people who say they prefer not to go to the movie theater-- either because the price of tickets are too expensive, they don't have the time to go because of work, they don't like having their experience interrupted by people making noise in a theater, and so on. With things like Blockbuster (1985) and Netflix (1997) being founded, consumers seem to feel less compelled to watch a film at a movie theater. 

Audience consumption is, of course, integral to a films' success. No matter how long a film crew has spent writing, shooting, and editing a film, the true success of the film rests in the hands of the general public. Creating a professional film has the potential to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the largest film budget of all time for a single film is held by 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides', costing a total of approximately $378.5 million. Obviously most films don't cost nearly as much, many indie filmmakers are able to create projects through only a few thousand; however when a film costs such a large amount to make, the money that was lost in production must eventually be earned back plus extra as profit in order for it to be deemed successful. Putting a large amount of funds into a project is a risk, and the outcome ultimately is found by the reaction of the audience it reaches. Audience consumption has always been an important factor once a production is completed, and with the growth of streaming services, audience consumption has risen greatly after the introduction of streaming services.

In 2018, box offices and movie theaters made about $11.95 billion in profit, while a streaming service, Netflix, earned $16 billion in revenue. Evidently, box offices are still making an extreme amount of money, but things like Netflix are also beginning to rake in profit at the same time. This may be because of the convenience that comes alongside streaming services. Rather than spending money and going out to the theater, it's more convenient to pay a flat amount of money once per month and have access to as many films and TV shows that the service could possibly offer, all available in the comfort of ones' home. Sources such as CNBC even go so far as to report that in 2018 over half of US homes are subscribed to some form of a streaming service, collectively spending around $2.1 billion per month; however streaming services are also being combatted by rewards programs at movie theaters, for example AMC Stubs, which can offer free refills on food, discounts on ticket prices, and higher quality/better placed seats in the theater.

Unfortunately, streaming services can also be harmful when terms come down to illegal download websites. The public having access to the internet is bound to have ups and downs, for one thing films, music, and television can be streamed online, yet at the same time many pirating websites and software have arisen. Online piracy is a genuine concern for the film industry, due to the fact that extremely intelligent beings may have the ability to hack into major databases and leak footage or entire films, rendering the need to go spend money to see a film rather useless. Things like Napster, which can tap into films that have yet to reach to the cinemas, are very harmful. The statement 'audience consumption increases' remains true, however the use of audience consumption holds no true purpose because those who watch films illegally aren't spending a penny, therefore taking away money from the film industry.

The change in audience consumption, despite the dangers of piracy and leaks, is a rather positive change in the public eye. Having such a convenient way to watch whatever one pleases is, naturally, something that grew popular very quickly, and has earned such services billions upon billions of dollars over the years. This may eventually pose danger for cinemas, some companies and new outlets have expressed worry for cinemas' futures around the world due to less and less people coming in and out. Actual ticket sales fluctuate each year-- generally hovering around 1.2 to 1.3 billion sales, but the number drops each year and rises the next. But all in all from the audiences perspective, consumption has never been easier and better. From a business perspective, streaming services are thriving, while cinemas may be slowly suffering the consequences from growing old or irrelevant in the public eye.

My CCR

My Finished CCR

This is my completed CCR video that I made for my final task. I'll admit, it's not the best. I hate to say that it's not even really that good. That could just be my trashy self esteem talking, but I know that at least somewhat it isn't better than anything else I could've done. Unfortunately a lot of my time has been consumed by editing this together, about 6-7 hours of just editing. The first half mainly took my time, because there were so many inserts and sound effects. I had to literally scour the internet all over so I could find stock sound effects. Plus I had to put in a few content warnings just for the gore-y photos of the props used in my final. For such a simple video, I really didn't expect for it to take me such a long time to edit. Much to my dismay, I found out once I started editing that I literally never shut up. By that, I mean I talked way too much in each of the individual takes for each question. I also talk really fast, by nature, so whenever I would try to merge clips things came out kind of choppy. I talked too fast without considering how much that would hinder the editing process and the outcome of the video as a whole. I cut out probably 6 or 7 minutes in total of me just blabbering since I went off on a lot of tangents, but it still came out to be almost 12 minutes long. Embedding this into my blog also took me way too long to figure out. The file size of this video obviously was quite large, so Blogger literally couldn't handle the uploading process. I was going to just individually upload each part/question, but even then it was just too much. Each file was around 20-30 MB too large for the website to support. Thankfully my classmates on our teams app are really helpful, everyone's working together really well so I tried a lot of different methods. It's a little upsetting that it's mainly just a video of me talking to the camera, but I tried my best, considering I can't leave my house and I had no one to help me but myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuooKw1gnag

The Movie

A Bit of Love

This movie took a lot longer than we all meant for it to take. COVID-19 restricted our ability to meet up a lot, so me and my group weren't able to see each other for a while. But despite that, I think that I alongside the rest of my group are still pretty proud of what we've done. We could've done a better job, but the most important part is that we finished. We also managed to follow the storyboard well. I'm especially proud of my group mates for being able to finish all the preparations, given the time frame we had and our difficulties that came whenever we tried to meet up. I'd also like to say a big 'thank you' to my teachers that I had this year. They managed to keep such a large class of students informed, so I never fell flat on what I needed to do. They gave us constant reminders and broke down every piece of work he had to do so everything could be optimized. On another note, COVID-19 is already causing a lot of changes to come to the surface in the media world. A lot of movies are now being released online on websites, theaters are closing down, and film productions are being postponed hastily. Sure, it's definitely scary, it's alarming to see so many forms of entertainment suddenly being held back. We've grown so used to having things come out at their specified deadlines, that now the film making world is pretty shaken up over it. The virus is also starting to affect literally everyone around the world. Even more so, targetting pregnant women, senior citizens, and people who have immuno-deficiencies and all that. I think everybody is a little bit afraid of what the future might hold. That includes schools and school districts, obviously since school has been cancelled for quite a bit of time. We're having to transfer everything to online school, and many states have already declared that they will not return to school in person for the remainder of the year. Thankfully, we filmed this movie and edited it safely, so it's still finished on time.

This film shows the two sides to how people perceive celebrities. We see the first side, which is the one broadcasted to the people. Smiling, waving, happy people who are shiny and new, they're talented and perfect. On the other side there's the more grim version-- the secrecy of being unhappy. Of course, this film we've created should be taken with a grain of salt. Obviously we aren't saying all celebrities are cannibals behind the scenes, we're not even saying that all celebrities have a dark side. However it still felt important for us to show that humans have more than just one side. People are more than what is presented on the surface. Our props and costumes were made by my group mate Emily. All of the food was made out of marshmallow fondant and food coloring, so it was actually quite sweet when I had to eat a bite of it in the film. Fondant is basically just pure sugar in a malleable form, but it's still pretty good if you ask me. The wine was just a mix of grape and cherry juice, since obviously none of us are legally allowed to drink. I'm proud of our props, everything came out really beautiful and our location ended up being perfect. This is definitely the best thing we made all year. 

My Music Video (because, Corona.)

Fly Me To The Moon

Because of Coronavirus, my teachers have instructed me to upload my old projects from earlier in the year so my progress can be tracked better. Unfortunately, my commercial is lost somewhere, i'm really not sure where it went, but I at least have my music video that I made with my final project group. The song we chose for it is Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra, it's a relatively romantic and old fashioned song. I categorize it kind of like 'old jazz', with artists like Ella Fitzgerald. Watching it back now is honestly not my favorite thing to do, I don't like how my body came out looking in the video, but it definitely isn't the worst. Also to be honest... filming it was pretty fun.

Finalizing my CCR

Almost Finished!

I’ve spent the last week or so living a rather comfortable life. Sleeping at really unreasonable times (that I will not specify) and waking up around 1-2 PM has become my passion. It’s actually quite similar to my sleep schedule during the summer, but not as bad, believe it or not. Regardless of my sleep schedule though, i’ve been getting quite a surprising amount of work done. Online classes are really kicking off, so i’ve been focusing a lot on getting my assignments done in time as the days go by. I’ll say it honestly, I completely prefer going to school online over going in person, but i’m sure i’ve said that before in other blogs. I’ve been more motivated to get things done recently since I can kind of do it whenever I want as long as it’s by midnight on a certain day. Which, I will add, is a really long time if you’re given an assignment due a week from the day you were assigned it. The new system really gives you time to think. I’ve also been taking the extra time given by my AICE Media teachers to edit my CCR at a slower pace. My procrastination habit is pretty bad, so I was originally going to have to edit the whole thing together really quickly. Probably in the span of about two to three days. Then again, I know pretty well that it’s my fault for not getting started sooner. 

I edited the first half of it in one sitting, probably taking around 6 hours of just me sitting in my chair staring at my face for an uncomfortably long time. But i’ve been given a longer window to finish up since then. I’ve spent the extras on my other classes, mainly my math class just because it’s the only thing i’m really struggling with it. It turns out, learning pre-calculus at home through vague videos and websites is not the best. It’s definitely not as efficient as learning with a teacher who can answer your questions quickly. It’s even more difficult for me because i’m someone who really struggles with doing well in math. Which, admittedly, although I am trying my best— i’m not doing well at all. I’m like on the tip of passing. Just a little on top of the line to keep myself comfortable so I can get my credit. Luckily I don’t struggle with my other classes since they’re a lot of other core things. I’m also proficient in learning about my electives since I do my research on them from time to time. After all, sociology is kind of an interesting subject, so I like to look into it just briefly. Thanks to the extra time, I was able to deal with the massive amount of work I had due today. I don’t know what happened, I guess it was just bad timing, but it looked like all of a sudden all of my teachers decided to give an assignment due specifically today. Or a quiz, or both, just for the fun of it. I’ve been working for a few hours today. I just barely managed to turn in an English quiz, I mean I literally finished by the skin of my teeth. But I suppose it’s my fault again for not managing my time better and doing things ahead. I know fully well that I could’ve done a thing or two earlier, or at least started on them earlier. On the bright side, i’ve finished my CCR video! I’m going to put it up probably in the afternoon or at night, considering the fact that i’m literally never awake before 1:30 PM. I also have to post my video, considering the fact that I never actually got around to that. I have a few, or a lot of blogs that I need to make up for missing. After all of this film work is said and done, my class is just going to focus on writing for the extract portion. I know we did a bit of it in the start of the year, but it’s been a long time since then. I’ve had too much crammed into my head from other classes for months on end. I guess that’s why we made our midterm the way we were told to, it’s a nice refresher of what to do for those who’ve totally forgotten. I can’t wait until I see all of the submission screens once I turn my project in.

Filming my CCR (in quarantine)

Filming my CCR (in quarantine)

So originally, me and my group members planned on filming our CCR's together on the same day. We wanted to be able to sit together and bounce ideas off of each other to make it more interesting, plus it would just be easier since we can only check out one camera. But obviously... that isn't what happened. I've been in 'quarantine' for about 3 weeks, almost a month really soon, which means I haven't gone to school in person in almost a month. This obviously means I haven't seen my group members since our last day. Meeting up is always really difficult for us since we live really far apart and only two of us can drive, so normally we have to play meet-ups for filming and all that about a week prior. But with COVID-19 going around we can't even really leave our houses much to begin with. With the exception of leaving to buy groceries and basic necessities, obviously, we're ordered to stay at home, just like basically the whole world. To put it simply: this means that we didn't get to do what we first wanted. Instead of meeting up, we've had to film our CCR videos on our own. We've been keeping in touch through our group chat just to make sure we still have our final project and our blogs all together, but that's all we can do. Being in quarantine doesn't exactly make finishing our CCR's in possible, it's definitely doable and i'm already actually finished with mine. The problem is that we don't have any of the equipment that we used for our video projects, since all of that was borrowed from our school's inventory. We're just lucky we live in an age where technology can do basically everything. I filmed the entirety of my CCR on my phone, sitting outside on the stairs to my apartment complex so I could get some nice lighting, and I edited it all on my PC. I was lucky enough to actually have a tripod, because I borrowed one that my sister has, so at least my phone was balanced and the camera didn't move much besides when strong wings blew past. Editing... was not as smooth. If anything, it was the most difficult part of the entire CCR ordeal. Obviously at school on the laptops we had a decent editing program that we could use to put together our films, but being stuck at home, we don't have that anymore. Finding a good editing software that you can use without having to pay for it is actually so, so frustrating. Most free software that you can find are free trials of existing software, normally they last for around 30 days and then your time is up. Which is fine, if only they didn't have a huge watermark or multiple tiny watermarks all over the screen. I managed to find one that doesn't have a watermark and I can use it as long as I want, but it isn't really that good? Minitool Movie Maker gets the job done, but there isn't a lot I can really do with it. If I want to show pictures or insert videos I can't do it normally and just put it on the take i'm editing next to my face, I have to insert it by itself. It's just not the best, especially since i'm used to what I was using to edit in the past. But after about 7 hours of editing my CCR, which I know might be a ridiculous amount of time for just a 10-15 minute video, I did manage to finish it. It's not everything I wanted it to be by any means, but it's the best I could really do with the current circumstances. My CCR is ready for the deadline, which i've been informed has been extended from today, the 9th, to the 17th. 

Coronavirus is dominating the media, and apparently my entire life.

A kind of awkward screencap of me from my CCR.

Complications with School

Complications with School

I'll be honest. I haven't done anything in a few days, basically everyday since quarantine started. On Friday school for my whole district/county was cancelled, and it's recently been extended until April 15th. Coronavirus has basically taken the world by storm. The internet is exploding with COVID-19 memes, CEO's of conglomerates are stepping down, countries are in shambles, politics in general is just totally done for. Honestly though, i'm having the time of my life. School is obviously something that i'm very blessed to be enrolled in, but it's so stressful these days that i'm really not sure if I can do it anymore. It's taking a big toll on me, basically my mental health since around December has just been really bad. I know that this whole ordeal isn't something I should be happy about, but i'm overjoyed that I actually have some time to myself. Spring break was already on the way, yeah, but having more time is like icing on the cake. I've just been watching anime and having online movie nights with friends. But in all seriousness, school is gonna be out of commission until probably March 30th. By that time I think online assignments and videos will probably be dished out, at least I know for sure it will be by one teacher of mine. Me and my group are still carrying on with reshooting and editing, this just kind of makes things more difficult than they really needed to be. Especially in terms of filming the CCR, which we were planning to film together taking turns so that it could just be easy. But I think i'm going to have to film it on my phone and edit it together, which is kind of annoying, but I guess there's nothing to do about it. I know it's supposed to be something similar to like an interview or talk show type style. I had the idea to maybe have my cat sit next to me and meow into a microphone and then put subtitles over it so it looks like she's asking me questions. It sounds funny, obviously, but I might scrap it. It might end up just looking pretty stupid. Re-editing is going to be a hassle for my group members that are more in charge of it, which I feel bad about, but again. We can't do anything else about it. After all, we can barely leave the house. Quarantine has really set the world on fire. People are afraid to leave their homes these days, all the shopping centers are closed or have very limited hours so malls are just completely barren. It's almost like living in a ghost town. The beach is closed off, grocery stores are going empty. Especially in terms of paper products-- I went to Target to try and find toilet paper and the entire section was literally clean gone. It's like a mini apocalypse that I think people are freaking out over way too much. But I could just be being naive since i'm young and have an okay immune system, so the virus wouldn't really affect me if I were to get it. Work hours are being limited for a lot of people also. My parents are coming home earlier since they're getting practically no business. A lot of places are turning into appointment only schedules temporarily. It's all pretty wild. But i'm taking this break one step at a time. Starting with catching up on the sleep i've lost over the last decade. 

Planning the Reshoot

Planning the Reshoot

The next step in filming my final project is the fated reshoot. In the beginning, I thought the idea of a reshoot sounded stupid, in all honesty. It sounded time consuming and I was really overconfident in how my film would turn out the first time everything was shot. But now that i’ve looked back at the comments people have on it, mainly from the peer review, I can see there are definitely some things that just aren’t right. Even when me and my group were editing it honestly just didn’t seem totally right to me. I think our storyline is very flawed and we don’t make enough use of the different angles we need to incorporate. Now that the reshoot is coming up soon, it should run smoother and we should be able to get actual proper footage this time. I mean, when we filmed some things like the scene at the dinner table, the footage just didn’t come out right at all. The lighting from the windows was so bright that when the camera focused only on Jaheim it was basically impossible to see anything other than his massive silhouette. Also as i’ve heard from peer reviews... our storyline is exactly very clear, at least in terms of what we’re trying to do with it. The general idea is there, our props are really good and everything makes sense but the story itself isn’t fleshed out enough. It feels more like a kind of confusing introduction to a movie that you didn’t watch the trailer for. I think that the reshoot is gonna have to be the time where we fix all of our mess-up’s and add in some new angles so that we can actually fit the criteria to pass. Yes, filming can be fun and it shouldn’t feel so much like a chore since this is just a high school class, but it would be pretty nice to actually pass the class so I can get my credit. We’re going to film again on the weekend (I think) so hopefully the weather will cooperate this time and just be sunny. Although I must say, i’m not ready to wear those ridiculous heels on my feet again. They’re monstrous, it’s like being put through torture but it’s just on your feet. Being in costume in general is not going to be very enjoyable for me. I don’t like being touched, but someone has to do my hair and someone has to do a bit of makeup on me so i’m gonna have to deal with people running their hands all over my head again without screaming at them. My self control has grown an astounding amount since I started this class at the beginning of the year. But with all that being said, I hope this reshoot goes better than the first filming sessions.

Filming Outside the House

Filming Outside the House

Now that we finished filming the scenes inside, the main bits of the movie were finally dealt with. Honestly the bulk of the film is going to be the scenes from inside so we didn’t have much to do on the outside. We had to do our red carpet and car shots, which should’ve been easy but it may have been one of the most painful experiences of my life. I had to wear high heels, which I was aware of obviously. But... I didn’t know how large the actual size of the heels were going to be. I don’t know the exact inch measurement of them because I forgot to ask, but I needed help to put them on. The moment I put my feet into those god forsaken shoes, it felt like my toes were being crushed by the strongest machine ever created. Then when I tried to walk in them, I needed someone to support me and keep me up so I wouldn’t fall over into the concrete and die from face-planting. We had to walk up and down the carpet multiple times because the camera was turning on and off a lot (it was on low battery) and we needed to get multiple takes. But in all honestly, it was really difficult to do even those few takes just because I had to keep my face in a smile while I was suffering the greatest pain i’d ever experienced in my feet. Luckily we finished and I immediately took the heels off because I couldn’t stand being in them any longer. No pun intended. One thing that did complicate the shooting was the fact that there were... weather complications. It was raining and sprinkling a lot, so we had to be really quick with filming so that the water wouldn’t get all over the camera lens and all over me. Plus it had to be fast so it wouldn’t ruin my or Jaheim’s hair. The bright side of it though was the double rainbow that came after. I didn’t even know it was happening till Emily called us outside and I screamed really loudly from pure excitement because— wow, rainbows.

Filming Inside the House

Filming Inside the House

I'll be honest, getting the wedding photo scene ready was easily the most stressful part of the entire filming process. I play the female role, so I had to change outfits twice... and both times I had someone doing my hair and makeup. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of being touched, especially not so quickly all over my face and head in general-- it wasn't pleasant. We took the photo of me and Jaheim as quickly as possible so that I could just take everything off already, and so that we could frame it. Right after I changed into the nice velvety black dress I wear for the rest of the movie, got my hair done again and then set up for the table/dinner scene we had planned. We decided to film our scenes out of order just for the sake of convenience.

One thing that was annoying was that the table we used had mirrors around the whole thing, so finding a good spot to film me and Jaheim without having the camera in the reflection was difficult. We ended up having to set it up in a corner, but i'm afraid footage of Jaheim might have come out too dark because of that. After all, Emily and Andrea did comment that the lighting on him was really awful. Another issue was that we didn't have enough plates for the scene, since we originally planned on having more... but due to complications we just decided to make it easier and have a few less. 

As for my thoughts on being filmed? Having to take my glasses off for so long was terrible. I have the worst eyesight in the world, I can barely see 3 inches in front of my face, so let's just say I was not having the nicest time. I think I did quite well at acting though, i'm good at keeping a straight face so that I can just get it done. I'm sure all of us just wanted to get out of there, or at least I did, so I tried my best to keep it clean minus a few times where I forgot my lines.

The best part was definitely the scene of me and Jaheim yelling at each other. I have a rather strong voice, it's a little deep and powerful. More masculine than the typical female voice, I guess, and i'm really great at screaming so that just worked out great for me. I may or may not have used that as a vessel to release some pent-up aggression of mine... but let's not get into that! Nonetheless, everything got done and that's all that really matters to me. That, and of course all the marshmallows I got to eat while I waited.

Also... this is definitely the most humiliating photo of me to ever exist. I can't stress how much I hate it, but it's pretty funny at the same time I guess.

Waiting to Film

Waiting to Film

In terms of prepping to film for the movie, everything is nearly complete. Our schedule is completed. There's only a little bit of time left until it'll be time to go over and film. For now, Emily is getting costumes finished up as well as the props we'll be using in our movie. Shes been spending a really long time holding onto the foods we'll be eating, since she made them in advance. Luckily a lot of it is fondant, so it won't spoil quickly. As for the rest of the group, we don't have much else to do besides wait until it's time to go to Emily's house. Including myself, so for the time being i'm just going to spend some time at home and do homework. In reality, i'll probably be watching more anime rather than doing homework, but that's just me being a procrastinator again. I don't have much to do besides English homework, plus some pre-calculus and AICE US History work. It'll be a bit of a lax day. I don't plan on going too crazy on studying. 

Prepping for Filming

Prepping for Filming

Me and my group finally came down to a decision on filming. We have deadlines we need to meet, most importantly the deadline of the peer edit. Of course, we’re going to be having our film criticized by a classmate/group of peers so... we’re basically going to have to be done by very early March. There’s about three weekends left for groups to film, and me and my group have chosen to film this weekend. I’m going to get a ride around noon on Saturday and meet up with Emily and the rest of my group mates. From there, i’m getting picked up by her grandparents and then we’re going to go film in her grandparents’ house. I’m slightly intimidated though... Emily’s grandparents are a bit wealthy so they have a lot of things we can’t be touching once we get inside their house. I’m honestly just afraid of breaking something expensive since I obviously don’t have any money or means of replacing valuable items. Also... i’m afraid of becoming a dress-up doll for her grandmother because she desperately wants to dress me up because apparently I look like a pretty doll? That’s besides the point though. If i’m being totally honest, I don’t want to meet up with them at all. I’ve been having a really stressful week (life in general has been stressful lately) and surely i’m not prepared to spend time with people from school outside of school. I was looking forward to spending my weekend reading manga, drawing, practicing the language i’m learning, just doing my hobbies and all that, but I know I have to film the movie sooner rather than later. I know it’s basically now or never since my other group members often times have plans on the weekends... although I almost never do. Basically, this weekend is going to have to be a gold mine and we’re going to have to get everything done very quickly so that I can go home and catch up on all the sleep I lost earlier in the week from staying up doing homework. But as long as I stick to the schedule Emily made, I think filming day is gonna be a success. The only thing I find weird is that everyone expects for us to finish filming the entire picture in that one meet-up session, which to me sounds totally ridiculous and reckless, but in most cases in life i’m better off keeping my mouth shut so i’ve kept that though to myself. If we don’t finish though? There’s no doubt in my mind that i’ll be livid. So... I hope this works out. 

Planning Blog: Storyboarding

Planning Blog: Storyboarding

The storyboard for my film was done by two of my group members. In order of each scene, the following is drawn out: 

The first template shows a sketch of the film. protagonists (the married couple) in their wedding photo, before slowly zooming out to glass surrounding it as a foot steps down and shatters it, the couple will also be yelling at each other in the background as this happens although we didn't write that out explicitly. The camera will then cut to the couple arguing and yelling at each other. The next shots will be of a plate flying across the screen, followed by a bowl, and then a wine glass. Shots of each object breaking will be shown in between. The next scene is a scene of the protagonists in a fancy car. An establishing shot is used, and then a two shot showing one character looking at the driver, then jump cutting to the other looking outside the car window. The car then pulls up to the venue and quickly finish the drinks they were having before opening the door. One foot comes out followed by another with the camera zoomed into them, staying zoomed as the character walks down a red carpet with cameras flashing. Paparazzi will be shown accompanied by a bright camera flash that will then show the characters smiling. The second to last scene returns to the couples' home, showing food on their dining table. The female will look at the food, quickly looking away to meet eyes with the male before returning to the female as an eye-line match. As the final  scene, he food will then slowly be shown, revealing that what the characters are eating is... not quite right. This will take a bit longer to make the viewer intrigued, before ending the film (or well, the final scene of its beginning). 

Planning Blog: Title Design

Planning Blog: Title Design

For these Titles to work we need the editing to run smoothly. The one incharge of that is Jaheim. Emily will be incharge of most of the things that go into the film, like how it will flow, music, costume, and directing. The cast will be managed by Andrea and the film will be filmed by myself and Jaheim. The style of the font will be the same throughout except for the director. The sizes and colors will depend on how they are important and the background color. The way they flow is detailed in the Powerpoint. The tone of the titles are very muted and don't scream the real concept of the movie until the title and the directors name. The actors names (Victoria)(Jaheim)&(Andrea) will be shot into the scene with a prop. This will add a special aspect to the movie and test the level difficulty we can match.

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Planning Blog: Location, Schedule, etc.

Planning Blog: Location, Schedule, etc.

This was to show the schedule and what will go on during the scenes. For this the participants in the slide are the ones who will be filmed. The ones who will be behind the scenes will be Jaheim and I. I will be directing how the film persists. The location, sound, and schedule are as follows. With the specific dates those will have to be decided after the storyboarding process to estimate properly the amount of time needed. The health aspects of the planning process revolve around the specific scenes. There will be a first aid kit available along with water during the scenes with eating. The "health" during the car scenes is that they will wear a seat-belt and the car won't be moving. Due to the couple being celebrities the windows of the car will appear to be heavily tinted.

Planning Blog: Sound Script

Planning Blog: Sound Script

This is our sound script. In this power-point, we map out the general sounds that will be heard in the final product. Following the shooting scrip, we mapped out the general sounds of up each scene, both any possible dialogue as well as possible non-diegetic sound and diegetic. With the sound script, we don't have as much planning to do on the spot or any at all on the day we film. When planning though, we ran into another major issue. Our vision again relied on the subtlety and nuance of a charter. We found it hard to plan what exactly these characters would say. We again didn't want to leave it up to chance so we tried to describe any possible dialogue as best as possible. Areas like basic sounds were easier due to the genre research done beforehand. We based the scenes off of common conventions in the romantic genre.

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

This was the shooting script made for the movie we are doing. This script was a little difficult to work with in terms of how this will all fit, and if all of this will be too much for the beginning of the movie. This movie will only last around two minutes and therefore only 120 seconds. With this time-frame it was hard to figure out how all of the things will turn out to look. With the next blog (the sound script) it will mostly come together without the use of a visual. However visually is different then just writing it down as a script. Figuring out how this will match will be my next mission. To make sure it won't look like too much, and it will hopefully flow,once we add how this will fit together. With most dramas having many jump-cuts and romance films also having many jump-cuts this will be incorporated. The different scenes do give off the feelings of a drama/romance. However, at the end this will change with the different points of views being shown. This will be a good challenge and will be fun to see come together.

Title Research: Romance: Crazy Rich Asians

Title Research: Romance: Crazy Rich Asians 

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

• This was a very short opening sequence with only four titles (including names), this was the main cast the directors, and the producing company. 

What images are prioritized in the opening sequences of the film?

• This had no direct images but it had wallpaper with an Asian theme behind it.

What connotations do the images carry?

• The images had the underlying message that this will be a colorful and a romance movie that won't be focused on the type of romance that is seen in America. Instead, it'll have culture and style from Singapore.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

• The many colors could symbolize the many personalities and many aspects of the culture that will be going into this movie. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

• The audience is intrigued on how this will play throughout the story, and how these colors and symbols might be in the movie itself.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience>

• The music isn't in English due to this romance trying to stray away from the American version of what a romance is. The film is trying to appeal to everyone and not just a specific race, culture, or ethnicity it's trying to show and bring in new material for everyone to enjoy.

How has technology been used effectively? You might want to consider camera angles, transitions
and editing techniques.

• Since this opening was very fast and didn't have many transitions other than a few colors or backgrounds being changed, the director was probably trying to make it fast to fit the whole story. However, it didn't really showcase any of the other factors that went into this movie like costume, or other types of casting other than the main actors, so the effectiveness of the title portion of the movie was a bit lacking.

Title Research: Romance: Married To The Mob

Title Research: Romance: Married To The Mob

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

• Around 26 titles were used in the opening sequence of this movie.
• The titles that were mentioned were mostly the main actors, the producers, the sound supervisor, custom designers, the artist of the opening song, casting crew, and the miscellaneous directors.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequences of the film?

• The opening sequence is a montage of train tracks and lights, with miscellaneous people scattered around the area.

What connotations do the images carry?

• This gives a mysterious vibe and a fast paced feel to the movie, like something exciting is going to happen.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

• The opening gives the audience a sort of dangerous feeling to whatever the character is going to experience.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

• With the opening being almost nothing but credits, visuals, and fast paced music, the audience is left wondering what is going on and how this will tie into the movie.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience

• The music was used in the opening scene to maybe attract the audience to the movie with a little bit of action that typical males might enjoy listening to. Also seeing so they might not feel bored while watching a romance movie with their date. At this time movie dates were popular so trying to attract both the female and male audience might have been harder.

How has technology been used effectively? You might want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

• The opening is shaky and loosely put together, this paired with the odd angles they used gives a sense of mystery to the movie. 
• They put in an aerial shot of the tracks and center angel for higher objects, making the lighting transform what they are shooting.
• This leaves the audience with a sense of unease and understanding to the dangerous feeling this movie is trying to express.

Title Research: Romance: Grease

Title Research: Romance: Grease

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

• They do around 34 in total (Titles) names; They have the main people at the beginning,the main cast, the main directors,the people in charge of set, the production agencies, the person who made the opening song. 

What images are prioritized in the opening sequences of the film?

• The images were of the main cast, also of what was big at the time like Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, famous places to eat at the time like diners, famous baseball players, the things teens may have in their rooms at the time, and its animated to be like caricatures of the people. 

What connotations do the images carry?

• The images are like what the adults may see at the time, like the teens trying to slick back their hair, and the girls trying to be like princesses. The images also tell the audience what time period it is (50's).

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

• The genre is shown by telling the audience they are teens when they show up at the high school. They also have many things in their rooms that teen at the time would have like posters etc.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

• It lets the people know what they are like but not at how they all relate to each other. This makes it very mysterious as to how they all fit together.
• Also, the way the directors made their personalities show to the audience it makes the audience curious as to what kind of people are they really.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

• They include all of the things that the teenager at the time would be interested in like the things are for males and females or every type. For instance, they look at the people who use grease for their hair to slick it back to look cool, they show the girl who's like a Disney princess and can talk to animals, they show a bad boy and him fixing his car, and they also show a girl who is punk and rebellious, who doesn't wear what other people want her to wear.

How has technology been used effectively? You might want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

• The technology has been used very effectively as for the time period all this was new so the fade from the animation to the actual scene of the high school was very cool.
• When they showed the different peoples names on the individual signs the transition was the pollution from the car to act as sort of a transition piece.
• The way it was animated made each of the characters show their characters in a split second, with the short time they showed the characters they were able to tell the audience what they were like.

Title Research: Romance: 40 Days and 40 Nights

Title Research: Romance: 40 Days and 40 Nights

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

• About 28 titles were used in the opening sequence of this movie. 
• The titles included the names of the main actors, the producers, the designers, the music designers, writers, and the rest of the casting crew and directors.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequences of the film?

• The scenes were focused on the daily activities of what the character does on a normal day for the audience to imagine a couple.

What connotations do the images carry?

• The images portray a scene of being in love with each other and liking each others company.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

• The opening gives a clear understanding on the films genre being that of a romance film with their interactions and how they act around each other. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

• The film establishes their relationship early in the sequence to let the audience wonder what will happen to hem later on in the movie.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

• The music that was used in the opening scene is targeted at the audience of that time period, and the sequencing of the movie is also for the audience and what they would like to see a romance movie to have.

How has technology been used effectively? You might want to consider camera angles, transitions and editing techniques.

• The opening scene is shaky to give off a vintage feel to it, it creates a sort of melancholy feel, like this isn't going to last, or it will change somehow. This also has a lots of points of views like someone is filming this couple being together and has some transitions into it-- like its a very genuine feeling of love.

Title Research: Watch The Titles

Title Research: Watch The Titles

    Today my group and I are focusing on researching titles through a helpful website called Watch the Titles. Through this research, we hope to focus on coming up with some cool ideas to express our titles. Since our main film will be only two minutes, the idea of having titles is very important as it will take most of the time.To begin, the purpose of a title is to not only inform on who helped create the film but to also set a scene for the movie. The actual titles need to focus on naming the actors, producers and everyone who helped create the film this also includes; the main leads and the different studios that need to be mentioned. The actual shot where the title is put needs to be done with purpose to catch the attention of the audience.
    This site (Watch the Titles) gives the audience, who is interested in learning about the way titles are created, a sneak peek into different movies. Also how their titles set the course and feel for the movie as a whole. This website was easy to maneuver and helped us learn many ways to go about our title. The different shots that were taken or used mad the title feel like it told the movie but left out the dialogue and the people behind it. For certain titles the feel of the movie had to be dark and scary like a horror or crime movie title. For the romance and other movie titles it held a warm feeling and had symbols within the title piece to allude to the overall aspect of the movie. this website is well organized to better introduce the main aspects of the titles. It splits it in two places the title sequences and the main Designers and Studios. This is so if we are looking for a certain person for inspiration or if we are just looking for a genre we have better access to those resources without having to do extensive research. This saves time and helps us to learn faster.
   This site also has other sections for the audience to view more categories without having to look for a specific genre and or director/studio. The sections are; Feature Film, TV shows,Event titles (like for a special showing or an exclusive look into a video game or other types of media), Student projects so we can see people our skill level do titles, and a special genre just for that day of the week. This makes the audience want to return to this site due to the many ways they want to make learning fun and easy. This also help us to come to a conclusion faster and helps us figure out what we want our to look like. 

Title Research: Art Of The Title

Title Research: Art Of The Title

Today my group and I are focusing on researching titles through a helpful website called Art of The Title. Through this research, we hope to focus on coming up with some cool ideas to express our titles. Since our main film will be only two minutes, the idea of having titles is very important as it will take most of the time.To begin, the purpose of a title is to not only inform on who helped create the film but to also set a scene for the movie. The actual titles need to focus on naming the actors, producers and everyone who helped create the film this also includes; the main leads and the different studios that need to be mentioned. The actual shot where the title is put needs to be done with purpose to catch the attention of the audience.

   This site (Art of the Title) gives the audience, who is interested in learning about the way titles are created, a sneak peek into different movies. Also how their titles set the course and feel for the movie as a whole. This website was easy to maneuver and helped us learn many ways to go about our title. The different shots that were taken or used mad the title feel like it told the movie but left out the dialogue and the people behind it. For certain titles the feel of the movie had to be dark and scary like a horror or crime movie title. For the romance and other movie titles it held a warm feeling and had symbols within the title piece to allude to the overall aspect of the movie. this website is well organized to better introduce the main aspects of the titles. It splits it in two places the title sequences and the main Designers and Studios. This is so if we are looking for a certain person for inspiration or if we are just looking for a genre we have better access to those resources without having to do extensive research. This saves time and helps us to learn faster. 
   This site also tells the best from the previous year (titles). This includes not only the movies and all of the genres that go into that but they also have the Titles for short films and shows. This includes new shows and movies. In each title there is an element of suspense no matter the genre that the director is doing the title has to be suspenseful so the audience wants to watch more. For a romance it has to have lots of beautiful imagery and symbols symbolizing something pertaining to the movie. A horror needs gore and something that might lead to the character responsible. The drama genre needs to have an element of emotions, many emotions for on thing leading us to follow another thing. 

Genre Research: 'Everything, Everything'

Genre Research: 'Everything, Everything'

 

Camera Angles:

• The film begins with a medium close-up of the protagonist on a swinging chair, moving behind it to show an establishing shot.
• Tracking shot is used to follow the protagonist as she walks across the room. 
• Handheld shots to show certain scenes inside a car. 
• Camera often zooms in to show off props.
• Characters are often shown with close up's, medium close up's, and wide shots.
• Two shots of the characters. 
• Over the shoulder shots are used to show the protagonist looking out her window. 
• Low angles whenever the love interest is shown outside the protagonist's window. 
• Camera pans often to show off scenery. 

Lighting: 

• The lighting in the movie is mainly done with natural lighting, as half of the movie is spent inside the protagonist's window. Lighting often shines through the house because it has windows all around the house. 
• Whenever night time comes, lighting from inside the house becomes the main form. 
• Extra emphasis on characters faces' when they're upset or angry. 
• Dim lighting inside airplanes and when planes are landing. 

Actors: 

• Actors are very skilled, good at conveying the intended tone of the movie. 
• The protagonist often has contradicting facial expressions. Although her voice over's make her seem very sad, she often has a lazy smile. She's very emotional and impulsive.
• The protagonist's mother is very protective and sometimes distant when she treats her daughters' condition. 
• The love interest/male protagonist is very charming and enticing for the female lead. Understanding and fun, sometimes awkward.
• The mother and the male lead are very good at effective dialogue, easily maintaining a certain level of tension in their first scene speaking together. 
• The nurse is not the most present character, but she's integral to the storyline-- her acting could've been worse. 

Makeup: 

• Makeup is very minimal, there's almost little to none besides most likely some products to make the actors' complexions look perfect. 
• The protagonist sometimes wears a bit of makeup when she's seen with her love interest. 
• Characters were dressed casually for the majority of the movie, in streetwear or things that are often worn at home (pajamas, sweatpants, etc). 

Props: 

• Props are emphasized, especially in the start of the movie.
• Zoom-ins to the scrabble board as the mother and female lead are playing. 
• Workout machines the protagonist uses.
• The computer the protagonist uses.
• Books, headphones, phones, sticky notes the nurse leaves around.
• Drawings the lead makes.

Setting:

• The first half of the movie is mainly taking place in the protagonist's house (since she can't leave because of her illness).
• The character is seen in large libraries (because she has a hobby of reading). 
• Outside/on the road with her love interest, in his car. 
• Walking around her neighborhood and outside her love interests' house.
• The beach with the protagonist and her love interest. 
• Vacation home and hotel. 
• Bookstores. 
• Planes and airports with the love interest. 
• Nature in general, since the protagonist starts to explore the outside.

Sounds:

• Sounds in the movie are mainly diegetic, since there's no use for other types. 
• Seatbelt's buckling. 
• Planes taking off and landing. 
• Basic movements of characters walking and their clothes ruffling. 
• Car driving and wind blowing through windows.
• Alarms and doorbells going off. 
• Crickets are heard chirping at night. 
• Background music is in place of certain scenes to make them seem awkward or happy. 
• Water running when characters wash their hands.
• Air blowing harshly when they enter the airlock at the front of the leads' house. 
• Voice-overs are a main point to the start of the film. 

Editing: 

• Many jump-cuts. 
• Eye line matches. 
• Cutaways.
• Inserts to show off a definition of the protagonists' illness.
• Shot/Reverse shot's in conversations. 
• Multiple transitions through scenes (i.e: looking out the window, falling out onto the grass).
• The protagonist is shown in the beginning as if she's outside, when in reality, she isn't. 

Elements I Like: 

• I liked that the chemistry between the two leads was very apparent from the beginning. 
• A level of romantic interest was established the moment the protagonist laid eyes on the male.
• The mothers role as both a doctor and a parent was shown really well, being more professional sometimes and more laid-back other times.
• The routine that every character had to do to get inside the protagonists house was very consistent. 
• In my opinion, any movie based on a book has potential to be very interesting. 
• The actors were really beautiful. 

Elements I Dislike: 

• I found the impulsive nature of the protagonist to be really annoying and disruptive.
• The love between the two leads was incredibly mushy. Not enough angst, no heart break. 
• The role of the nurse seemed kind of random to me. 
• It was really unrealistic to me that literally only three people knew the female lead was alive. I mean... you can see through the windows to her house that she's clearly there. 
• The concept, although it's interesting (the illness part), was basically a setup for a pure romance movie. It didn't give the extra drama or suspense that I would've liked. 

Genre Research: ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’

Genre Research: ' To all the boys i've loved before'

Common camera angles- 

Two shot is a very commonly used angle in this movie. Due to its focus on two main characters many scenes are a two shot of both characters whether kissing, fighting or just talking. Another commonly used angle was a closeup and medium close up. This was done to focus on the main character as a voice over was used to help us understand her emotions better.

Common Mis-en-scene-

setting: The setting in this movie was all pretty similar. The main ones were school (high school movie), Her house (where she talked about her feelings), and the field (where many big things happened to  Laura). These were done to have viewers feel as if they were apart of her life. Decor: Throughout the entire movie there is a common set of decor through each setting. In the houses there are bright (blue, yellow, green) pillows and pictures around the house. In the school bathrooms there are blue stalls and tile floors. This helped keep the mood light throughout the movie. Lighting: The lighting through the movie always seemed to be tinted a certain way. The colors seemed to pop and even pop in the way that the character was kept concentrated. This plays into the genre of the movie, the fact that its tv-14 and a drama/romance, the colors are kept illuminated to provide a positive tone. Costumes/makeup: The makeup of each character seems to be done. For Lauras best friend, her personality is very outgoing and witty and has makeup with many colors and an outfit that sticks out. For the boys, like peter, they have very calm personalities and their outfits are plain and simple, like black and white. This helped characterize each person in the movie and their role.

Common sound- 

The common sounds that we heard in this film, was voice over and type of music. For the voiceovers, it was for the main character Lara and was done to express her suppressed emotions that she could never say out loud. It gave viewers insight of what she was really feeling about the people around her. The other common sound was music. Throughout the whole film, the music being played was in the pop genre. It was light hearted music that kept the tone light yet still helped the audience focus on the plot of the story.

Common editing- 

There were many jump cuts in the movie to show passage of time. When traveling from school to her home or running from her home to the diner she goes to, they were cut short. There were also many shot reverse shots. During conversations, like Lara and Peter at the diner, instead of an over the shoulder scene, we see the shot constantly being switched back and forward to show the conversation progressing.

Elements-  

Some elements of this romance compared to the research in the genre romance are things like, the idea of a boy and a girl being together. In this movie the two main characters are the people in relationships. The other main aspect of a romance was the happy ending. In this movie Lara ended up being with the boy that she wanted and it justified the elements of romance.

Likes-

In the film, I really enjoyed the colors used throughout the movie. I feel as if there was a tint that almost made me feel as if I was in the actual movie, I could imagine myself in Laras situation as each scene was so detailed with props that were used to intentionally reach out to the audience.

Do NOT like-

Overall the film was done very smoothly. Not many things I would say that did not appeal to me but if I had to choose a category, I would say the editing could have made the film a bit more interesting. Since it is a teen film, the audience may have less of an attention span. There could always be that one cut, like an action match that would have the audience want to know what just happened.