RESEARCH

    After more research in to the "drama genre," my group and I came up with the idea of making a film under the drama genre but with mysterious and psychological content. In other words a "psychological drama; a type of drama that centers on the character's inner life and problems. This type of drama is commonly watched by females, than men, from ages of 18 to 35. With type of audience, we think that incorporating this kind of content it will intrigue the audience to keep watching the film due to the fact that it will portray psychological challenging behavior. Even though, this genre is not the most popular, compared to comedy and action, it is one of the genres that lets the audience feel more connected with the protagonist of the story.

"Chinatown" (1974)

   To create the film with the use of the "psychological drama", we thought of multiple ideas. At first, we thought to make an opening that will lead the audience feel a sense of mystery, so we leaned towards the idea of making a film that will contain mystery, a detective film from the 1940s. Similar to the film "Chinatown."

   The ideas was to show the struggles of what the detective had to do to achieve his goal and how he is being affected by it. But after thinking of what we wanted to do, such as set designed, props, and costume, we started to think of another ideas due to the fact that this idea will be challenging for us to execute. That it is why we decided to go with another direction that will involve a more psychological theme. In other words, a film that will revolve around the characters feelings, thoughts and struggles throughout his or her life.

   Another idea that we had in mind was to make a film opening that will show psychological struggles of the character. With this being said, we started to think of different mental issues, such as OCD, PTSD, and Agoraphobia, that will collaborate with our story. 

     After doing more research about other films that have used this type of psychological symptoms, we found that movie, "The Aviator," portrays how the protagonist is being affected by his disease on his daily life. The film tells the story of the famous director Howard Hughes and his success on his career as a Hollywood director and as an aviation pioneer. But even though, he had a lot of success in his life, he was also suffering from a severe OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder.

"The Aviator" (2004)

    Another film that portrays very well how a character has feeling of frustration internally and seems affected and targeted by his surroundings is in one scene on the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody." The movie focuses on the life of Freddy Mercury and the success on the most iconic band Queen. But in one scene, where the band is being interviewed, the audience could detect on how Freddy Mercury was frustrated by his surroundings because of the personal questions that were asked. This feeling was very well portrayed on Freddy Mercury by showing blurry images of the reporters, fixing his glasses, sweating, and noises becoming distorted.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018)

Other films that have shown internal and mental issues are: "The Shinning," "The Accountant," and "Matchstick Men."

 I think that this idea of portraying someone, from a personal perspective, with a mental illness will be a great idea for our film opening. Also, on the next couple of days, my group and I will start to develop a storyboard, search for locations, search for actors, and make a schedule for shooting the scenes.

Sources:

https://www.allmovie.com/subgenre/psychological-drama-d542

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

https://prezi.com/_tx5rlgdlb1u/psychological-thrillers-target-audience/

TITLES

Because I am still not sure of what genre my opening film is going to be, I decided to start thinking about ideas of what the title design will look like. I started to make some research, and I have found many different types of designs, styles, and fonts that films use. Most of them are similar to one another, but for some are very unique that are remembered just by only of their design. For instance, films like "The Exorcist," "The Godfather," "Star Wars," or "The Shining."

"Although short and (not-always) sweet, film titles serve a number of purposes. Besides introducing the title of the film and the main players that brought it to screen, they nurture audiences’ expectations, evoke the film’s overall mood and set up the story."(The graphic art of film title design throughout cinema history)  Over the years, movie's title designs have changed due to the impact of art periods, social trends and fashion movements. With these changes, it has also lead to the titles designs to not only introduce the film but also be used for advertisement.




Personally, I like the title designs that have a simple look, unless the title goes with the tone and mood of the movie. But for my film opening, I will focus on a simple look. For instance, this type of fonts can be seen in the movies such as "First Man" and "Roma."  I think that by using this type of style for the title of the film, it gives the film a more modern look. And when it seems in advertisements it might drive the attention to the viewer because of its look.






Source:
https://www.canva.com/learn/film-titles/ 
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/638510615442227201
http://www.scoutingny.com/the-godfather-the-new-york-city-filming-locations-then-and-now/
https://geektyrant.com/news/star-wars-episode-ix-gets-a-new-working-title
https://www.electricbento.com/movies/first-man-is-an-emotionally-charged-story-to-get-to-the-moon
https://www.slashfilm.com/roma-trailer/

UNDECIDED...

After months of research and learning about the different types of genre within the film industry and I still haven't decided which genre I want to choose for my film opening. I've been doing research on the drama and crime and gangsters genre, but for me, the drama genre is the one that stands out more. The drama genre is "a serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature" (AMC Film site). The genre portrays relatable topics that the audience can assimilate to, whether is on the best moments someone have experienced, to the worst moments. All of these kind of events and emotions make the audience feel more connected with the characters of the story or even the story itself. For example movies like, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Aviator,” “Lady Bird,” show stories that audience gets engage with. No matter if they are fictional stories, or based on true stories.

Since I learned about this genre I have always hd this interest of portraying human's emotions and stories on film. I enjoy to make content that I know my audience will enjoy and also reflect on what are they watching. And also ask the question, does this relates to me in any way? Also, I enjoy how most of the films that are under the drama genre leave the audience a sense of mystery. Leading the audience to learn more about the story.

Moreover, if I choose this genre for my film opening on this couple of weeks, I will start the pre-production as soon as possible. Such as, planning, storyboarding, writing the script, finding music, and so on. 

Source:
https://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html
https://gifer.com/en/4Cr7

LIGHTS…CAMERA…ACTION!

Hello everyone! It has being a long time since I have posted, but I wanted to tell all of you that I have worked in an amazing project for the past two weeks. I have worked on a music video! In this project, my colleagues and I  produced, filmed, and distributed our own brand of music and artist. For instance, we created our own marketing plan by deciding what the artist was going to do such as, tours and social appearances. Also, we filmed and edited the first music video that the artist was going to promote him , and created his social medias accounts and website. Which it took 2 full weeks to complete the project. 

    Within the two weeks that we had to work on this project we needed to develop a detailed and creative way to promote our artist. First we started by doing some research on the genre of our song, which it was “Alternative Rock.” By doing so, we discovered that our target audience was mainly focused on teenagers and young adults because it has a modern technical influences and the modern sub-genres such as “Indie Rock” and “Brit Pop.” Which it includes to bands such as, “The 1975,” “Muse,” “Arctic Monkeys,” etc. Another audience that we found that contains a grand attention to this genre is people between the ages of 45 to 54 year olds due to the fact that “Alternative Rock” emerged between the 1980s and the 1990s. Bands that were popular during these eras were “U2,” “Red Hot Chili Peppers,” “R.E.M.,” “Nirvana,” among others, in which they are still famous until this day and age. Also, by making more research on this type of genre we found out that this genre is very interactive with its audience and most likely the bands have a unique look and style. By knowing all of this information, our group decided to follow most of the practices alternative rock bands do.
    Another research that we made was on how bands from these genre promote and distribute themselves. With this information, we found that bands and artists promote themselves by using different social media accounts such as, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook. Another social platforms that they use are streaming services such as, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and SoundCloud. Not only do they promote themselves as a band, but also they utilize this tool to distribute their music to their audience. Another common practice that it is use to distribute their music is through a record company. Through these companies they have an easier way to make music and distribute to their audiences.

    To create this marketing plan, our group decided that our artist needed to have its own look and style. For instance, we decided to name our artist "Damian Zane." By giving him this name, we thought it will catchy and interesting for the audience to listen to and also, we thought it will give him an edgy look. Also, we decided to have our artist should follow a certain color scheme that will follow throughout all his campaign. For instance, his accounts on social media, his website, and his first music video had the color scheme of red and blacks. Another, our group decided that Damian Zane should have a contract with a record company that way he could make and distribute his songs easily for the audience to listen. In this case, we chose the famous record company "Capital Records," which is owned by "Universal Music Group."
    To promote our artist better, we decided to use the socia media platforms, create a website, and produce a music video. By using social media, the artist had more access to younger audiences by using the accounts of Instagram and Twitter. With Instagram, we decided that it will focus more on the artist as a brand. In other words, the artist would be using Instagram to promote its merchandise, tours, and behind the scenes of the music video. On the other hand, the Twitter would be use with a more personal purpose. In this account the artist will share any desire content that he will like to share with his audience. Also decided that our artist will also utilize a website to promote himself, his merchandise, tour dates, and even his own personal blog. Within the website, it would make easier for the audience to have access to his social media accounts and streaming devices in which the audience could buy his music. And finally, we decided for his first song, a music video will be produced to promote the artist more. In this music video our group decided that it will a more promotional and artistic video due to the fact that it matches with the genre of the artist, "Alternative Rock." Also, it will incorporate a small portion of storytelling that it will shown and explain throughout the social media platforms, as if it was a teaser for the music video.

    With these different uses to promote "Damian Zane," our group decided to create a unique marketing plan. For instance, we decided that the artist will first show on a bar, or a place with an small audience that way it will be easier to have a stable fan base. Then as the fan base progresses and the artist becomes more popular, he will start to make appearances on television and radio shows. Then, before his own tour he will perform on music festivals that way more people can begin to recognize him. Also, during the same time, the artist will open up concerts on bands that have the same genre. As he becomes more famous the artist will begin his first tour around the U.S. and also in major cities that the rock genre is very popular. For instance, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Houston.

    After creating this project, I realize the work and dedication is needed to create a brand for somebody else or even for yourself. It requires a lot of organization, planning and creativity. Also, I've learned that most of the choices that me and my colleagues made were based on the target audience. Another thing that caught my attention is that most of the planning needs to be realistic. If it seems to vague or it is not detailed enough, the idea will not make it through. Furthermore, this project helped me that for the future I will have to make more cautious decisions, time manage myself, and have everything planned before thinking of another idea.

    

                                         


Sources:
thelastmixedtape.com
https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/5b11f4ce-a62d-471e-81fc-a69a8278c7da 
http://rebloggy.com/post/rock-indie-grunge-guitar-foster-the-people-alternative-arctic-monkeys-alex-turne/96365558332

https://giphy.com/gifs/1940s-movie-production-kxKdMAZO0N99S

https://manuelasoccercalda.wixsite.com/mysite