Genre Research (Mystery)

 Mystery Research

Common Lighting: One common progression of light in Mysteries is lots of shadows. I think they do this to try and show that not everything is shown. You have to infer things in mysteries and shadows help a lot with that. 

Common Camera Angles: Close-up shots, zoom shots, Birds-eyes views, anything that shows the emotions of characters.

Common Movement: Camera movement seems more subtle from my experience with mysteries. Maybe some tilt dolly shots but that's about it.

Mis en Scene: Location: This can actually vary greatly in the mystery genre. However, I would like to do an older time possibly.. I find that mysteries are made before they have access to the internet or more captivating and interesting. It also allows for fewer plot holes.

Color Design: Tends to have a tint on darker scenes while possibly having some blur on more important scenes.

Elements of Genre: A hook, suspense all around. red herrings. strong, compelling characters. evidence that makes sense, reader involvement, a satisfying ending.

Common Sound: Tend to be extremely strict and follows pacing a lot in mysteries. There might not be any sound in an important scene where you want to get as many details as possible. On the other hand, a slower conversation might have music in the background.

Examples of Epics: Knives Out, Clue, Citizen Kane, Sherlock Holmes.

Appeal: I have been reading a lot of mystery novels recently so I have tons of ideas on how to integrate my pitch into a mystery film. I also think I can get it done in the time frame.

Dislike: Need many characters usually, which might be hard for me working alone.

Genre Research (Epic)

 Epic Research

Common Lighting: One common progression of light in epics is from dark and brooding at the beginning to happy and bright near the end. Another being the dimming of lights as the movie progresses

Common Camera Angles: Wide shots, Establishing shots,and Bird eye views.

Common Movement: Zooms into wide shots are commonly used, and lots of tracking shots during fights.

Mis en Scene: Location: Somewhere historic or far in the past. Costume: lavish and elaborate costumes. Set Design: Usually high budget and quality.

Color Design: Tends to have a tinted or sun-kissed look

Elements of Genre: Large Scale historical movies that use a lot of costumes and mix in drama.

Common Sound: Tend to be extremely dramatic in order to emphasize intense scenes using loud booming sounds or fast-paced music. When there is a scene where it's supposed to be happy the music lightens up. And in scenes showing villains they use low pitch sounds.

Examples of Epics: Gladiator, Star Wars,  Lord of the Rings, Spartacus.

Appeals: Usually very grand and the ability to bring a viewer into the world is unparalleled. This would be really good if I want to really make a specific setting for a film.

Dislike: This will be hard to pull off because of the nature of Epics. I also dislike how unflexible they are. I feel like many epics are similar because of the rules they follow.

Genre Research (Thriller)

 Thriller research:

Common Lighting: Thrillers are usually pretty dark. The best thrillers make good use of bright scenes to have added effects. 

Common Camera Angles: Thrillers use quick jump cuts to show suspense and wide shots to set scenes. In pulp fiction you see many two person shots and zoom close ups to show personality. 

Common Movements: zooming in on certain objects for symbolism is common in thrillers. 

Mis En Scene: Costumes: Normal clothing can make a thriller look more realistic. This allows people to associate thrillers with real life and make it more personal. Actors: they use people who can really create emotion in people. Makeup: they use fake tears or blood to show physical pain or emotion. Props: They use breakable props in order to not hurt anyone. Setting: Usually dark and changes ending up being light near the end.

Elements of Genre: Tend to have a lot of emotional plot points and try their hardest to evoke emotion by using things like children or characters you can relate to.

Common Sounds: Use songs that create emotion in people with things like violins or pianos. In fight scenes use upbeat fight music. And they sometimes use eerie sounds to create a sense of uneasiness.

Examples: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects

Appeal: I love how thriller makes me sit on the edge of my seat. The suspense you get from thrillers is unparalleled and even beats out horror in my opinion.

Dislikes: One gripe I have is the ratio of time to reward. I think time is extremely important in thrillers. Since I have limited time it will be much harder to create an impact.

Genres I would like to research

 After doing some thinking, I have come to the conclusion of what Genres I might want to do for my project. I am looking for something that will captivate an audience rather than something slow. I think that I need to optimize my time with the 5 minutes I have. The most important thing is efficient time management to get all the points I want across. The first Genre I am thinking about is a thriller. I would do a thriller because thrillers are great for creating an emotional mood and I liked using wide shots in the previous class. I would be the most familiar with this one. Another genre I am thinking about is a mystery. I have been reading a lot of mystery novels recently which has piqued my interest in this genre. The mystery might be a bit harder to fit in the 5-minute timeframe though. I am up for a challenge, so this is probably my top choice right now. The last genre would be more of a serious epic. I have already done plenty of research on epics from the previous year. My favorite movies are epics and I enjoy the genre the most out of any. However, epics are pretty broad which might be off-putting. The high stakes and conflicts of an epic make it extremely exciting though. I will do more research before I decide on a final genre to choose. However, right now I am leaning towards mystery.

Pitch

 A group of friends explore a creepy forest and mysteriously die one after another

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This is our group's pitch for our film.  This pitch may sound similar to the pitch of Nicholas and I's Media Studies AS level film introduction.  That is because it is.  We really enjoyed the idea we had for our last project and want to expand on it.  Kyle, our third group member was also involved in our film introduction from AS Level.  He was an actor in the film.  In fact, he was the actor with the most screen time.  The short film will have the genres of mystery and horror.  We plan for the tone to be serious.  Hopefully, even scary.  There are many ways we have thought of making -the idea from our AS Level project more in-depth.  We do not plan to use footage from the last project.  Instead, we will simply use the idea as inspiration and make something new from it.  Perhaps we will make one of the students in the group the culprit.  Or, even the cameraman.  Our group has toyed with that idea a lot and we like the mysterious nature of the idea.  However, we have yet to figure out how to implement it.  All in all, we have very ambitious ideas for our short film.  We are also very excited to work on it together.

Other ideas we had were "man drinks mysterious potion at 3 am and becomes a creature from a different world" and "a boy is an unwilling accomplice to his father's murders and has to choose whether to save the next murder target or not"

Group Blog

 When deciding who to work with for this final project I had a lot of options. I was planning to work with someone who switched out of the class last minute. This caused me to search for people in other classes. After some deliberating with others I have decided to work with Grant Cippolone and Nicholas Arnold. I decided to work with them because I helped them with their move introduction project. I was the main actor and I also filmed some scenes for them if they needed an extra hand. Grant got an A for the class! I think if I am able to be more of a part of the process we can shoot for an even better project. I have known these two for a long time.

 I met them in 9th grade and we have worked on many projects together. Furthermore, we all live relatively close to each other. Nicholas has a car and can drive us to a different spot to film. This will be extremely useful when we have to film a specific scene. All of us have also been thinking of what to do for this project for a long time. We actually were even thinking of it before the summer! Because of this, we are all very excited to work together on this project. I also think that we can be very efficient when we work together. We have good ways of communicating quickly and none of us slack off. Everyone does the work designated that way we will not fall behind. For all these reasons, I have chosen to work with these two for the final project. I am sure we can make something better than ever before.

Introductory

Hi, I am Kyle Weiner and I am excited to be back for the A-level portion of Media Studies. It has been a while since I did anything for media studies and now that I am back in school I am ready to learn again. I will be making a film project better than the previous years. Last year I acted in an AICE media final project so it isn't like I left the class completely. My hopes for this year include learning how to market a movie. I feel like that is an extremely important part of the process. If we learn that I am sure it will be easier to make our 5-minute long film. I don't know what genre I want to do yet. Last time I made two dramas so I probably won't do that again. I also did a thriller and a mystery however I still am interested in those.

My taste in films has changed a bit since I last took the class. I am more interested in psychological films rather than action. I think this will cause me to direct much differently for the final project overall. I think a fault I had with my last productions was that they didn't appeal to enough audiences. This year that will change for the better. I think that this project will turn out better than my other projects because now I have had experience. I also had a full year to reflect on what I could have done better! AICE Media was one of my favorite classes so I am glad to be back. This year I cannot wait to try my hardest and create something awesome. I have already planned my final project and am excited to start working on it.