AICE Media Studies

Hey guys! So the next thing that we discussed as a group was the design for our titles. Here's what we decided on.       Four our film, all of the titles will appear on the screen in the same way. They will suddenly just appear on the screen, very fast and unexpected. The titles will leave the screen in the same way, seeming to blink out of existence. This helps to create that sense of anticipation that we want to carry throughout our opening sequence. All of our titles will also be incorporated into aspects of the setting. For example, we will place titles on top of doors, on a road, or on cabinets to make them seem flush with the environment. This makes it seem like the titles are a part of the film, and help with the cohesiveness of the embedding.       For the majority of the titles, we want them to appear on the screen from anywhere between 2-4 seconds. The length of time we allocate for each title will depend on how long the title is and the importance of the title. For examp

Location The main location we will be using is Giulia's house. For the first few scenes, we will shoot in the kitchen, the main living area, and the doorway of the house. The only other location we will be using is the area right outside of Giulia's house, specifically the road and sidewalk. This location will be used when we shoot the actor running down the street in fear, and when we show the killer standing on the sidewalk.  Participants Our first participant is Giulia as an actor. She will play the victim in our opening sequence, and she will be found in almost all of the scenes. The second person participating is myself. Yasmin will be acting as the filmer for all intents and purposes. Lastly, we will have one extra person, our close friend Camila, acting as the killer in our opening sequence.  Health and Safety      Throughout this filming process, we will have to ensure we take many safety precautions. First, in the scene where we will have the actor cutting veggies with

  Hey guys, so we just finished planning our entire script for our opening sequences. It's all typed out for you guys down below! Scene 1- A high angle showcases a phone on the kitchen counter. A hand appears, pressing play on the phone screen for the song "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell. Then, the hand will turn up the volume of the music. That hand then swipes the phone to the left, and the bare kitchen counter is shown. A few second pass, and then the same hand swipes a wooden cutting board to the left and into view of the camera. The camera angle then shifts to a medium long shot, and the camera is placed to capture a girl, Ava's, side profile.  The actor is standing at the kitchen counter, her face hidden behind an open kitchen cabinet, cutting up vegetables with a knife on the cutting board. Suddenly, a blaring ring of the phone startles the actor, and she jumps, cutting her hand in the process. Frazzled, Ava picks up the phone and holds it between her

 Welcome back everyone! For our final opening sequence, we decided to go back and analyze the "Terrifier 2," as we thought it was an excellent fit for the horror genre. 1. What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? During the opening sequences, the main title card with name of the movie - which is, "Terrifier 2," is displayed. Along with the title card, the opening credits which includes the name of the writer and director, who are listed under the same name and the names of actors starring in the movie are included. Finally, the list of those involved in costume, production, music, makeup and hair are placed, with the names of the director of photography, executive producers and co-producers listed shortly after. One of the final credits displayed in the opening sequence is the name under the title, "Produced by." 2. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? Some images prioritized in the opening sequence would include the costume

Hey guys, so after watching the last opening sequence, we decided that we wanted to watch a few more to get a better idea of what a title sequence should look like. The next opening we chose to watch was from the movie "Muse."  1. What titles are displayed during the opening sequence?  During the opening sequence the titles displayed were the production companies, the director, actors names, music composed by, editor, art director, director of photography, executive producers, producers, and written by.  2. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?  In the opening sequence, we see the image of cracked glass whenever the titles appear. In between titles, we also see the dark figure of a man walking past, but you only ever see the outline or the extension of his hand. We also see what seems to be a staircase going downwards, possibly to a basement level.  3. What connotations do these images carry?  The connotation of the cracked glass is a bad omen, or usually some

 Hey guys, so the next step we took in researching our title was to watch an example of an opening sequence from a horror movie. We used the website Art of the Title and watched the opening sequence from the movie "Nanny."  1. What titles are displayed during the opening sequence?  The titles displayed during the opening sequence were "Amazon Studios Presents," production companies, and "a film by" (producer).  2. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?  The images prioritized are of a woman laying down with a spider crawling on her face. The woman has her eyes closed for the majority of the time, until the very end when they fly open and she gasps.  3. What connotations do these images carry?  The women lying down seems at first to be peaceful, however, the presence of the spider carries a negative connotation. Spider's are typically thought of as terrifying creatures and symbolize fear. The presence of the spider on the one's face ca

Hey guys! I'm here to update you guys on the next step of our groups title researching. After we found the previous website that I told you guys about, "Art of the Title," we kept researching, hoping to find another amazing website that we could use. We then came across the website "Watch the Titles," and we found it to be another useful site for learning all about titles.      When we first got on the site, we started to look through all the headings to see what would be of use to us. We found that this website had title sequences from professional films, events, and even student projects. The website was very easy to navigate as we could either search up a specific film or could search through one of the categories already available. What we found to be really interesting is that below the video of the title sequence, a summary is provided. This summary included useful information like how the layout of the title sequence is a representation of the rest of the

 Hey guys! So now that we've done extensive research on our genre, we have now decided to research how the professionals embedded titles within their opening sequences. We first started with a google search and came across a multitude of different websites. However, the first website that really stood out to us was called "Art of the Title."     When we first went on the site, we immediately noticed that there were so many different opening sequences available to watch. You could choose to research a specific opening sequence, choose one from a specific designer or studio, or you could just scroll  through and watch whatever one peaked your interest. This website was very easy to navigate, which was very helpful. We decided to explore the website further and watched a few different opening sequences for ourselves. We noticed that below and to the side of the video was information about the movie as well as typed out credits. We were so happy that we found this website as

 Hey everyone, welcome back to another blog. For our final movie, we decided to watch the fifth 'Scream' movie, "Scream" . While we were aware that there a total of 6 movies currently out in the movie series, we believed that the one from 2022 might be the best to analyze. 1) What elements of the genre that you chose to base your final task on does this movie have?  Within the first five minutes of the movie, 'Scream' exhibited several conventions typical to a horror movie. For example, only a few moments after the first character is introduced, the camera switches to the dutch angle as she picks up the phone and begins her first encounter with the killer. This disorients the audience and gives the impression that something is not right before anything has even occurred. In addition to the use of canted angles, the movie also incorporates tracking shots that follow the character throughout the house while she is on the phone. With the camera placed behind her

Hey guys! After watching "A Quiet Place," we wanted to watch another horror film and analyze it in the same way, just to help us get more familiar with the genre. The second movie our group watched was called "Terrifier 2," and what we saw really helped to give us some ideas of what we did and did not want to incorporate into our final project.  1. What elements (conventions) of the horror genre does this movie have?       While watching "Terrifier 2," we noticed that the film incorporated many conventional aspects of the horror genre. First, we noticed that throughout the film, during different instances where the villain was harming the victim, the villain was shown through a low angle and the victim through a high angle. This is commonly used in horror movies to show the victim as vulnerable and helpless while the villain is portrayed as powerful and in control. Another convention we noticed was the use of a pan whenever a victim was running from the vi

 Hey guys! So the next researching step our group took was to research different movies from our selected genre and analyze them. For the first movie, we chose to look at "A Quiet Place," and we found it to be very interesting.  1. What elements (conventions) of the horror genre does this movie have?      When watching "A Quiet Place," we noticed that may conventions of the horror genre were present. First, diegetic sounds like harsh breathing, creaking, crying, footsteps, and dry leaves rustling were used throughout the film. Since there was minimal dialogue incorporated, the diegetic and ambient sounds help to set the tone for the movie and make up for the lack of dialogue. Nondiegetic sound was also incorporated, and like most horror films, fast paced and suspenseful music was used during climactic scenes. Conventional camera angles were also used throughout the film. For example, during a scene were the victims were running for their lives, a tracking shot was u

 Hey guys, so I wanted to let you all know how we came up with our final decision for the genre we wanted to pick.      The first genre we considered and researched was romance. Throughout our research we found that we really liked how different aspects like props, color, lighting, and costumes can all help create a romantic setting for the film. We thought that we could really be creative with all of these elements to set the right tone for our opening sequence. We also really liked the realism that is incorporated into romance films, as they try to make the situation seem relatable to engage the audience. One thing we didn't like abut this genre is that it incorporated a lot of ambient sounds, which we felt like could easily make the film seem tacky and unrealistic. We also didn't like that we would have to use two actors, as even though it's important to establish relationships in this genre, it makes it harder for us to plan and film.      The second genre we researched

 Hey guys! So, the last genre that we researched was horror. Below is all the information we gathered on this type of film. After extensively researching and discussing, we finally came to a consensus. The genre of our final project will be horror! We had researched other genres of film and extensively weighed the pros and cons of each genre. We even created different pitch ideas that would fall under different genres to really explore our options. After much deliberation, we felt that a horror opening sequence would be the most fun for us to film, as we felt that we could be really creative with the different camera angles, shots, movements, editing, mis-en-scene, and sound techniques at our disposal. We also felt that horror films are very easy to replicate the conventions of, and out of all of the genres we researched, its the most reasonable one for us to make given our limited equipment. We can't wait to continue researching and learn all there is to no about horror films. 

 Hey guys! So the second genre that we chose to research was comedy. We felt that this could be a very fun genre to film, and that it would allow us to be really creative with jokes and humor. Below is all of the research we did on the genre.  Genre Research Comedy.pptx from YasminHarebin

 Hey guys! To prepare for our upcoming film, my group decided to research different genres of movies to get an idea of what genre we wanted to use for our film. We first researched the genre romance, as we thought that this would be a very fun genre to film. Below is the powerpoint we created with all the information we gathered.  Genre Research Romance.pptx from YasminHarebin

a)     Two strangers start a conversation in a cafe but take the wrong bag when leaving. Consequently, they each take the other’s most valuable item.    b)     A woman finds an eerie note and ignores it. She then receives a call that throws her into a game of life or death.           We really like pitch A because we feel like it’s a very interesting story that we can artfully capture through different angles and sound techniques. However, one drawback to this pitch is that we would have to find another male actor that would be willing to take the time to film with us. While it is possible, it makes it harder to schedule a day when we would all be able to meet and there is no guarantee that the other actor will be flexible. Another complication is that we don’t have the ability to film in an empty coffee shop where we can control the setting, lighting, and background noise. Filming in a public location could have many unforeseen problems, like our ability to get certain shots or clearl

    Hey guys! So the first thing I wanted to update you on is my group for this project. Giulia and I are working together again, since I know we make a great team. For those of you that don't know, this is the third project of the class, and my group from the first project has since changed.      For the first project, I worked with both Andres and Giulia, and we worked pretty well together. However, by the time the second project came around, Andres had moved into a different period for the class, which caused some difficulties. Due to his change in schedule, I felt that it would be easier for only me and Giulia to work together, as I felt it would have been difficult to work with Andres if we didn't share the same class.      So, for the second project, my group consisted of  only Giulia and me, but we still managed to work well together and created a great music video. Since we worked so well last time, I thought that it would be best for us to work on this final project to

    Hey guys, I'm back. Its been a while since I last blogged, but it's that time again, project time! For those of you that are new, I blog about my experience and progress in AICE Media. I started blogging during the first project I ever did, where I got to create my own commercial. This was my first time attempting to create a video that required planning, knowledge, and editing. I learned different camera movements, angles, editing techniques, and other tips to help create meaning through videos, which is something I had never even considered before. It was such a fun project to do, and I learned so much about filming. I also learned that I prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it!     I truly loved producing the commercial, and I learned so much during that project. Then, I was tasked with creating a music video! This was even more fun than the commercial, as I was able to apply all of my new knowledge and experience to create an amazing video. This project