Hey everyone! So previously I talked about titles and how I wanted it to look simple and modern. And that's exactly what we did for our film title. As you can see in the image below, we decided to go with a thin, simple, white font. Similar to the title for the film "First Man." We decided to choose this font to portray the image that in a world for somebody that has OCD everything has to be linear and perfect.
Also, the font of the title correlates with the name of the film, "NINETY DEGREES," because everything has to be perfect and linear. In another note, we chose to use the degree symbol instead of the actual word, "degree," because of aesthetic purposes and also to keep the title of the film short. Source: https://www.electricbento.com/movies/first-man-is-an-emotionally-charged-story-to-get-to-the-moon
Hello everyone! So recently, I got together with my group and started creating our storyboard! We decided that we are going to film the first scene in a garage because it will portray the look of an abandoned place and trapped place.
We haven't finished the first scene but we also started thinking if what jobs each of us is going to do and also the title of our film, which it will be "NINETY DEGREES." At first we were thinking of "DRIVER," because we thought it will symbolize that his or her OCD drives him insane. But we started thinking about it and I come to the conclusion that it will be very difficult for the audience to understand. We also started coming up with title related to perfectionism, such as "180 DEGREES," "90 DEGREES," and "LINEAR." After talking and discussing which title should we use, we decided "90 DEGREES," because it is called the right angle in mathematics and it is always straight. Just like anyone who has OCD will think that the world should be.
"Title - 90 DEGREES"
We also decided on how the title should look like and we chose the one that can be seen in the image on the left side.
My group and I are still undecided on how the title will look like, but I'm pretty sure it will be soon!
Hello everyone! After having the idea for our film opening, I started to make more research on how I want the film to look like. Because we want to show that the character is struggling at the beginning of the film opening we are probably going to the scene with darker colors such as the ones that are portrayed in the film "The Exorcist" (1973) when the priest arrives to the house.
"The Exorcist" (1973)
I think that by showing these type of dark, gloomy colors, it will portray that his or her OCD are taunting the character.
To show more of how the character is going to react when the he or she is going to be trapped in the room, the character could show emotions such as the ones that are shown with the character Sam in the tv show "Supernatural," Season 4, Episode 21. In this episode, Sam is being placed in a panic room because he is utilizing powers that he shouldn't be using for his own good. While being in the panic room, he breaths heavily, showing signs of frustration and fear. Something that my team and I want the character of our film opening to show.
Another way we want the character from our film opening show that he is slowly becoming frustrating and "insane," just like in the film "The Shinning." The protagonist and antagonist, Jack Nicholson, began to become crazier as he stayed in an isolated hotel in the mountains during the winter. What my group and I want to portray in our film opening is how gradually our character will start to lose control as he is trapped in a room.
Hey guys! So recently, my team and I got together with other teams to exchange ideas and also get feedback from one another on our film opening ideas. In my group, everyone shared extraordinary ideas and different concepts of what they wanted to do. For me, I explained my team's idea and they liked it. They were very intrigued by the storyline, the genre and how we wanted to convey the tone and mood of the story. The only thing that they told me was that my team and I needed to be aware of getting an actor that could very well portray actions that someone that has OCD shows. For instance, someone that could express a lot of emotions, such as anger, and stress; and at the same time act calmly. This is one of the challenges that my team and I are facing, but I am positive that we will find somebody to act for us that well.
Another thing they commented about my team's film opening, was that we also needed to be aware that if we are going to have enough time to show to the audience that our film opening will show that is a foreshadow of a scene that is going to happen later in the film.
I believe that with this groups meeting really helped my team because we got the feedback that we were expecting. I think it made us be more confident about our idea and also the encouragement of getting ready to start planning and producing our film opening.
After talking with my group, we decided on how we wanted to do our film opening. We got the idea of showing a foreshadow from a scene that will happen later on in the film. That way it leaves an ambiguous feeling and making the audience wanting to know more about the story. So, our film opening is going to start by showing how the protagonist is going to be struggling and feeling stressed that he is locked in a room where he has no control of his surroundings. Then it will cut to a wide shot were the camera in going to be zooming out slowly on a door, while hearing a scream from the protagonist. This will show that the character has being kidnapped and placed in this environment. Then it will cut to the title of the film, and fade to a flashback of what happened before he got in to this situation and how the protagonist was living his or her life.
In the film character, our character is going to have symptoms of mainly OCD and some of Anxiety and Agoraphobia. I begin to make some research about these types of mental disorders. So for OCD, I found that it is a mental disorder that affects person with "thoughts, images or impulses that occur over and over again and feel outside of the person’s control. [ ] Obsessions are typically accompanied by intense and uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, doubt, or a feeling that things have to be done in a way that is 'just right.'" (International ODC Foundation). For this disease, we want to portray more of the obsession of losing control and obsessions related to perfectionism. That it is why he or she is going to be acting hysterical at the beginning of film because the protagonist is going to lose the control of his surroundings.
With symptoms of Anxiety, we want to incorporate some of it due to the symptoms of constant worry, fear, and panic attacks. And for Agoraphobia, we want to incorporate the fear of going to places or situations that might causes panic and feel trapped or helpless.
Some movies that incorporated some of the these symptoms are in "The Accountant" and "Matchstick Men."
"The Accountant" (2016)
"Matchstick Men" (2003)
For the movie "The Accountant," my group and I liked how the character, Christian Wolff, follows a specific routine daily. Which we found that it is the perfect example of what we want to portray in our film opening after the title is going to be shown. And for the movie "Matchstick Men," we liked how the character, Roy, is stressed and acting hysterical because he has no fully control of his environment, which is what we want to show in the film opening before the title is shown.
For my next posts, I am going to talk more about on how we want develop the tone and setting of the film opening. And hopefully will have our storyboard fully done!! Sources: https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/anxiety?sort=mostpopular&mediatype=illustration&phrase=anxiety https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/agoraphobia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355987 https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
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.
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.
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.
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 Iproduced, 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.
Recently, I have been doing some research about another genre that I have been interested. Crime and gangster. Within this genre, it tells the stories about large or small criminal organizations performing illegal acts, such as drugs, contraband, murder, and stealing. Crime stories often highlight the life of a crime figure or crime’s victims. Also, they are usually set in a large, crowded cities to provide a view of the secret world of criminals. For instance in the films, “The Godfather,”“Scarface,” and“Pulp Fiction” all of these characteristics can be portrayed. All of these is not only created through storyline and character development, but also through production techniques. Costume design, location, characters, sound, lighting, color, props, editing, and camerawork.
Costume Design: black suits, long coats, and cigars.
Location: Large crowded cities.
Lightning: Dark scenes, to create drama, and light somewhere near a character.
Props: Guns and knifes as they are associated with violence.
Editing: Usually makes the titles with a black background with white writing.
Sound: Music used during the opening scenes or violent scenes. Diegetic and Non-diegetic sounds are commonly used too.
Since the release of the first gangster film in the early 1930s, these types of films began to stretch the limitations of what they are allowed to show, which made them more violent and brutal. Exposing more brutality between the characters, and explicit content.
Example #1:
Pulp Fiction: Release in 1994. This film told the story of two gangsters, Jules and Vincent, in which the story is told backwards. The film is located in the city of Los Angeles, which it was a common place for gangers to sell drugs at the time. Also the film portrayed very well the characters through costume design, for example the main protagonists, which were gangsters, were wearing long coats and caring a gun as their prop. It also shows different types of violent and explicit content, which is a factor that modern gangster films have developed over the years.
Example #2:
The Godfather: Released in 1972. The film tells the story of a New Yorker Italian family. The director made this film to make the audience feel as if they were during the time period of 1945 to 1955. All of these was possibly made due to the fact that the set design was properly made; all the props, the setting, the cars, the costume design, and the location were chose to give the sensation that it was at time. Also the music that was used at this film was a very common technique crime films use.
Other examples for crime and gangster films are: "Scarface," "Goodfellas," "The Departed," "American Gangster," and "Casino."
Hey everyone! So, I’ve been doing some research for my upcoming project and I think I have chosen the genre for my final project. Which is “Period Piece Drama.” But before getting in to details on what a “Historical Drama” is, I am going to explain you what is the genre Drama in films is. Drama films are storylines developed to move the audience emotionally. Most of these films create a conflict or develop realistic characters for the audience to relate to. For instance, “The Help,”“The Post,”or “The King’s Speech”the protagonists and the set up of the movie are design for the audience to feel engage on what is happening in the film. All of these is not only created through storyline and character development, but also through production techniques. Costume design, location, characters, sound, lighting, color, props, editing, and camerawork.
Costume Design: It reflects the characters personalities.
Location:The location of a movie or a scene reflects the emotion.
Sound:Use of non-diegetic sounds and diegetic dialogue.
Props: It helps contribute the development of the characters and the scene.
Lighting and color: Mostly these movies use neutral tones of colors and light.
Camerawork: Use of handheld camera movement, close ups, and medium shots. This is use to transmit an emotion to the audience.
Editing: Shot reverse shot, point of view shots, eyeline match shot.
Over the years the popularity of Drama films have increased due to their stories and production, but also the way companies have decided to market it. For instance, trailers for the film show the major plot, but do not reveal any spoilers, and famous actors of Hollywood shown in these movies help increase its anticipations.
Period Piece Drama, in which is a sub-genre for Drama, is a drama film that focuses on a specific time era. This includes the characters costumes, the setting, and the props.
Example #1:
“The Help.” This movie was release in 2011. But by watching it and eating attention to the details, it makes the audience fill as if they were in the 1960’s. This is because of the well selection of costume design, the props, and the set design. Another reason of why this movie created this sensation, it is because of the social topics that the characters were facing. At this time, African Americans from the South were struggling with the issues of discrimination and racism. The director for this movie made an incredible job on how portray this issues of the time.
Example#2:
“The King’s Speech.” Release in 2010, this movie also created an environment of making the audience feel as if they were in the late 1930’s. As stated before, the film used costume design and set design to create this effect. Also, this movie is based on historical events, in which it makes the audience relate because they have in mind that this issues happened to a real person.
Other examples for Period Piece Drama are: “The Post,” “Little Women,” “Les Miserables,” “Lincoln,” “Anna Karenina,” “The Color Purple,” and “Empire of the Sun.”
Hello everyone! My name is Eugenia Scheuren and this is my first blog post! So, a little background story. I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I lived in this beautiful country for almost 13 years but, due to political and social reasons, I had to migrate to the United States to find better opportunities for me and my family. Moving here, to South Florida, had opened up for me many opportunities and interests in television production. Currently, I am in a TV Production program at my school, Cypress Bay High School, in which I am one of the producers of our weekly show, Aftershock. But enough about me, now I want to tell all of you that I have created this blog to keep you updated in all the projects I will be working on. I will be taking you to some of the behind the scenes of my projects and show you the final outcome!
