Week Eight - Plot Revisited

I'm going to be filming soon, so until then I'm working on getting together my props, planning set designs and scripts/outlines of my film opening. I figured that writing out everything here about the plot would be beneficial, maybe help me get my thoughts together. Especially since I haven't given an update about the plot in weeks.

Hemlock is about a couple who are planning to kill somebody together. They've been planning it for some time, and one of the characters had to search for Hemlock flowers which they'll use as a murder weapon (as it's poisonous). In my film opening, the characters meet up for a picnic that one of them set up and they talk about the target. They have a journal where they've recorded their plans and information about their target- and after looking into finally giving them names I decided the couple would be Amelia and Danny, and the target Alex. Their last names aren't all that important considering they don't ever mention them throughout the opening, but Alex's full name is written in Amelia's journal. 

I'm still debating why Amelia and Danny hate their target so much. I got a suggestion from a classmate that Alex could have cheated on the both of them; this gave me the idea that Alex had cheated on them and that, totally unrelated to him doing this, Amelia and Danny met. Not long afterwards they started dating, but they also discovered that they'd both been taken advantage of by Alex. Not only that, but after doing a bit of asking around they found out several other people have been taken advantage of by Alex too. Amelia is outraged by this and decided that instead of speaking up about it, she'd take care of it herself.

Obviously she's a little crazy for wanting to straight-up murder someone, but I did this on purpose knowing this is supposed to be a Thriller film. Her bad, eerie decision making would be leading the film. With Danny too, but her driving force is more of a creepy fixation/love for her girlfriend, and instead of stepping in the way she participates. I'm sure if I were to hypothetically making this a whole film, I could use Danny's character for comic relief between more frightening scenes.

Amelia and Danny both know that Alex loves tea, from dating him of course. Amelia has definitely done more of the research, and after deciding they'd kill Alex by having them ingest something, they narrowed it down to plants. Amelia did a little more research about local poisonous plants in their area and voila! She walked herself down to a local riverbed and with gloves, packed quite a few of them in a container. Her research let her know that ingesting a small amount can lead to paralysis of the muscles, lungs, and will lead to suffocation and death.

They're quite the problematic duo, these two. Creepy gals. 

Week Seven - Another Life Update

I discussed my set ideas with my parents, who both vehemently told me that nobody's allowed at my house. I get it I guess, since my grandfather lives with us and they're worried that anybody in my house would get sick and spread it to him, but wow this situation sucks. I knew that finishing this project would be difficult now that we're all stuck at home, but not this difficult. 

My mom suggested a grassy area near my community pool to film at instead. She claims that it has trees and would most closely resemble what I had in mind with the forests at Markham, but I still feel like it's not going to vibe right with my project. I'm concerned about the weather and overall if filming this is gonna work out the way I'd hoped/envisioned.

In the end, all I want is for my film opening to be cohesive and for the idea to get across, but there's a lot of setbacks piling up one after the other that are discouraging me from continuing to pursue this plot. It may be too late in the year now to change this plot anyway, but I don't know what other options I have. Working with other people has proven to be the worst choice I've made during this project so far. 

Week Seven - Adapting

Although I'm still unable to buy all of the props that I'd wanted, I found a pack of the same kind of candles I'd added to my Prop Searching post at home and are even vanilla scented! It's not much but I'm still glad to be making progress- the less money I have to spend, the better.

The picnic set up that my parents bought for my family is still pristine; we've used it a few times but it's perfectly convenient to use as the tea set my characters are interacting over. They're not exactly what I had in mind, but they're still white plates and cups even if the paint on them is gold and not pastel colors. The dishes are also not as dainty as I'd like, but I can use smaller foods/fruits to balance this out.

The gold on the dishes changes the mise-en-scene when it comes to my costume and character design. When I'd envisioned pastel colors to be the main focus, giving that sense of femininity and romance, I wanted their costumes to be similar colors or white to symbolize purity- which contrasts the truth of the matter that neither of the characters are. However, since gold is a very dominating color, I'm going to have to abandon that idea. 

Gold symbolizes extravagance and prosperity, so this definitely gives my characters a sense of entitlement and importance, and due to the fact that they're murderers, probably narcissism. Thankfully I can hold onto the color white in my mise-en-scene and implement this in the character's costume design. I'm questioning whether or not I want to make their clothes red though. Now that I've abandoned light colors such as the pink I'd wanted to use, I'm planning on making the title red. This will reinforce that these characters are dangerous, and also that they're in a relationship although this will be hinted at in the film opening anyway. 

Week Seven - Life Update

Covid-19 is getting in the way of normal living as we know it for the time being.

Living through a National pandemic while going through my Junior year of high school isn't at all ideal, and even before this started I was having a rough time, but all of the things that we humans do to keep up our mundane daily routines, such as school and work, continue. Fortunately these mundane things are now the only things I can do to keep myself from being driven crazy while stuck in my house with my other 6 family members. Yet somehow I still procrastinate. Unfortunately though we are being issued a mandatory quarantine and shouldn't attend public gatherings, let alone leave our house for anything other than necessities. Just like I feared, I won't be able to film at the place that I'd settled on so happily. It would've been perfect.

I'm going to have to improvise and film at home, or somewhere private and within walking distance. I live in a gated community with a lot of people and not any of the creepy wooded places I'd wanted to utilize at Markham Park so badly. This situation really just changes the whole vibe of my project, but school's continuing online and so are my Aice classes. There's no use dwelling on it so I might as well move on and figure out a back up plan on what I'm going to do to adjust to my circumstances.

I have no further updates on those items from Amazon yet; my family's waiting for a large check to come in before we can spend money on props or other things that aren't immediate necessities like food. I'm a little concerned about the quality of my project now that my hands are tied in a way and my resources are limited.

Since I can't think of any place to go to within my neighborhood, my other options are my backyard (which is underwhelming but has potential if I clean it up a lot) or a table in the corner of my living room, which is crowded with my parents' framed art and photography props (I'll need to move all of that temporarily to perfect my set design and then move it back when I'm done filming). Neither will live up to what I'd envisioned at the beginning of this project, but it will have to do and I'll make best with what I got. 

Week Six - Target Audience

As I've discussed on this blog previously, the target audience for Thriller films are 18-24 year olds. 

In 2018, the ratio of males to females who liked Thriller films was 84:83. This is in contrast to those who liked Animated films, which was 65:75, or those who liked Action films, which was 90:86, etc. 

This target audience enjoys thriller films because they enjoy the suspense and excitement they get from watching them. I know that I have to use mystery and suggestion to draw my viewers' attention in, and coupled with nice imagery/mise-en-scene and a bit of psychological aspects I'll be able to attract this younger, thrill seeking audience. I may also be targeting the LBGTQ+ percentage of people within this target audience, considering the main two characters are a lesbian couple. 

My actors are within the age of the Thriller film demographic as well, which will help the story be much more relatable- not exactly when it comes to the actions of my characters, but since they're within the same age range the intensity of their feelings can be empathized with more closely. Young people always make dumb decisions anyway, ironically enough. You just hope not stupid enough to try and commit murder, but teens are a whole 'nother breed of human beings.

Week Six - Representation

There are a lot of ways that I could go about representation in this project. At first I'd wanted the couple to be straight, but as I continued molding my ideas into something useable I began to think of the characters as an lgbt+ couple. Overall it depends on who I'm using as actors, but most likely the couple will be two gals, as half of my friends are- and I'm fine with adapting. 

The friends that I'd reached out to about being an actor in my portfolio project are feminine and people of color; they're each respectively black, Korean and Puerto Rican. I didn't plan this, because before I'd thought to ask them for help I imagined the couple as two white people. I think this is because of the light color scheme that I had in mind, which in my head was associated with paler skin tones as well. 

Over time representation in the media's gotten better, but of course there's still more work to do to get rid of stereotypes and societal norms placed long before my time- and as you can see and probably already know, women and people in minority groups are represented less in the film industry. As someone in one of those minority groups, I'm glad to have actors among other minorities to represent in my project. 

I would have also liked to represent an older audience, but that's out of the premise of my film and it would be unnecessary and much more difficult to accomplish. 

Week Six - Font Research

When it comes to fonts, these are the ones I were interested in using for the title and/or credits. I don't want anything too fancy, but I want the font to fit a certain style. Some of the Thriller movies that I'd researched over the course of this project have their titles in all caps, and I want to incorporate that into my film opening. 

For example Get Out uses a thicker, bold font for their title. Us isn't in capitals but the font is slimmer, and obviously color choice plays a part in this as well. Deciding a color will have to wait until I have my filming complete; I'll have to choose what looks best against the color palette in the video, but I'm interested in using paler colors to contrast against white. I'd like to use a pale pink or a red if I can.

HEMLOCK 

(Average)

HEMLOCK 

(Georgia)

HEMLOCK 

(Bitter)

HEMLOCK 

(Merriweather)

HEMLOCK

(Playfair Display)

HEMLOCK 

(EB Garamond)

HEMLOCK 

(Oswald)

HEMLOCK

(Times)

Week Five - Trying To Stay Productive

I went out of town a couple days ago to attend a funeral and wedding over the weekend and get home by Monday. I haven't forgotten about all my homework, so I brought my laptop and materials with me in case I need to work on anything during the night. I'll be spending most of this trip with family, but hopefully I can find the time to continue planning for this project.

I should have printed out storyboard sheets and brought them with me. My mom, sisters and I rented a house with my uncle and there's useful stuff lying around, but unfortunately not a printer. Hindsight would've been useful there.

The media is really anxious about the Corona virus right now and it's driving me a little crazy hearing about it. My mom has been paranoid and telling the rest of my family and I conspiracy theories about it and the government. It freaks me out a little bit that people have begun to mention quarantine, because that would get in the way of my project. Humans are just unpredictable and it's made me wonder if I should figure out a back up plan for my project.

Week Five - Finally Grew A Pair

I finally found an opportunity to ask within my group of friends who could be actors in my film opening. That being said, the two people who I wanted to use as the actors never got back to me about it, but another two of my friends volunteered happily. It's up to me to figure out the days and times with them to maneuver around work schedules. When I get the chance I can discuss costume design with them and help them get into character.

Ideally I want the costume design to make up mostly white; I know my friends can be edgy but I don't think it's to the point that they have no light clothes, so I'm remaining hopeful that it'll sort itself out. If they don't have any clothes I could definitely let them borrow some of mine.

Week Five - More Prop Searching

While searching for props I thought about using candles and ran into these bad boys.

I'm a little concerned about working with fire (but not really). I can use them later in my opening, putting them on plates so that I don't start a wildfire. They can add depth and suspense if I edit just right, and candles can help reinforce the relationship aspect of my film. 

I have a lot of lights but I still thought I'd look into something more portable, like a flashlight. I chose this model because it's the cheapest I could find, but I'll search more until I find what works; the flashlight I have at home is old and the light isn't strong enough to use, and I worry this one is too small.  

Either way, I'm getting these light filters. They'd be useful to me during this project and helpful to me in the future when I'm filming other pieces, or while taking pictures. 

Week Five - Prop Searching

At first I thought I wasn't going to be able to find fake flowers that could pass as Hemlocks, but after a bit of scrolling I found a vaseful. I could always cut a few petals off of the flowers to use for close ups. 

It took a while to find blankets that would fit into my price range. I knew I'd still be spending a lot of money on props, but all the blankets I ran into previously were between twenty to fifty dollars- so when I found this product I was satisfied. My only issue is deciding which color scheme I want to use. 

I'm tempted to go with the blue blanket to suggest a psychological or twisted aspect to my film opening, but it goes against what I had originally had in mind for my mise-en-scene. I'm also tempted to buy the pink one as it would suggest tenderness and romance to help reinforce the characters' relationship (but most importantly it's so cute and I'd get to use it after). 

These are a couple other options that may look good or at least be back-ups in case the other two get sold out. I like that they're both neutral colors in case I decide to have a more subtle approach to suggesting this is a Thriller film. I'd usually go for being bold, but for the sake of experimenting I could find other ways. 

Week Four - And I Mean Really, Really Slow Progress

I've procrastinated finding a couple actors to use as the couple in my film opening, but part of that is I'm nervous; the couple that I had in mind are unavailable from what I know because one of them is at FSU, and it'd be a pain to make her drive down here from Tally every time I needed some footage. While in our Group Meeting I mentioned this, and one of my classmates suggested I ask them about it anyways and see if they were going to be together over Spring Break- then I'd be able to film with them both. I like this idea, but I hate the thought of bothering them during the only time they get to spend together. 

My other issue with using this couple is that my friend who isn't at FSU is currently working on the same portfolio project as me, and I'm afraid that this would inconvenience her during the times she needs to be filming. All my worries aside, I've yet to ask them and I really should get on that soon; that way if I need to find other actors I'll have time. 

Week Four - Really Slow Progress

I decided that I'm going to be filming at Markham. This is where I wanted to film originally; it's not too far, which is practical as it's easily accessible, and it's one of the only places I had in mind to film that's even semi visually interesting. I'm very optimistic about this set choice considering the plot of my project. I want to convey at first that my characters are just a cutesy couple going on a date, but reveal that they aren't as basic as they seem and are actually planing something evil, and have really thought it through. I want it to be surprising to my viewers.

I want to work with as low a budget as possible, so I have to think realistically. Originally I wanted to go online and find props (such as tea sets/dish sets that have floral prints) that are aesthetically pleasing that I could incorporate into the video. I'd completely forgotten that my family has a giant picnic set at home until my mom reminded me of its existence.

After checking over the set, the dishes all follow the theme of white that I envisioned but there are no flowers; instead they have a more simplistic design with a limited color palette of blues and yellows. It's not exactly what I wanted, but it saves time and money to use what I already have. Now I can focus more on finding picnic blankets with floral designs, hemlock flowers and any extra clothing that I may need for filming.

Week Four - Progress

I've mentioned in my previous blog postings the songs that I considered using in my film opening. One of the songs I was seriously considering was Freaks by Surf Curse.

On the 27th of last month I went to their bandcamp and messaged them asking for permission to use this song in particular for this project, but they haven't gotten back to me yet unfortunately. I'll post updates on my blog when they do answer, but for now I'm waiting (anxiously) patiently for them to email me back. Hopefully they do, because the vibe of that song would be perfect for this project and the content I'm incorporating in it; I love Freaks and will inevitably be tired of it by the time I've finished editing my film opening.

Week Four - Group Meeting 1

At first I was nervous to do group meetings; I was hesitant to share my idea because my outline for this project was vague in my mind, or even felt like it wasn't enough. The meeting not only helped me figure out new ideas about what I want to do, but gave me insight on what my classmates were doing; seeing their blogs and each of their creative processes made me feel inspired. Each project was different and original in ways that I did not expect. It told me a lot about each classmate, what's important to them and their goals for the end result, but it also showed me that everyone's in about the same spot- still trying to figure out what they want to do, what's practical and it calmed me down a little bit.

After presenting my idea to my group, I found that it resonated with them, which caught me off guard. They were able to give me ideas and input that really helped me form the plot of my movie, but more specifically my film opening. I hadn't thought past what I wanted the film opening to be like, but I needed to consider each of the characters, their relations to each other- for example, why would the couple want to harm this target in the first place? I had no clue, and although I'd thought to myself that I needed to figure this out, nothing stood out to me. My group helped me consider my options, for example maybe the target had dated and cheated on both of them. 

I hadn't looked into font types, and then it occurred to me that I hadn't come up with any titles either. When I mentioned all of this to them, one of my classmates suggested "A Crime of Passion." I'd mentioned that in my mise en scene and prop and costume design that I wanted to incorporate flowers, so we began looking up flower types. We stumbled across "Gardenia" specifically because it sounds interesting, but then one of them suggested looking into poisonous flower types, which I was very interested in. 

While we were brainstorming poisonous flower types such as "Aconitum, Amaryllis, Lily of The Valley" etc, my teacher walked by, overheard and suggested "Hemlock."

Hemlocks fit the dainty, vintage-aesthetic idea that I had in mind when I was first planning out this project, and they're white, which coincidentally is the color that I wanted to incorporate heavily into my video through the couple's outfits. Hemlock is poisonous when ingested, and can give some people a severe rash when they come into contact with it. After ingesting any part of the plant, it causes muscle paralysis that can lead to paralysis of the respiratory muscles until dying of oxygen deprivation. Death can be avoided via artificial ventilation for 48-72 hours, when the effects wear off. Ingesting more than 0.1 grams of the plant, about 6-8 fresh leaves, or a smaller dose of the seeds or roots, can be fatal in adults. 

Not only does the name "Hemlock" spark something in me as it's simple and catchy, but after researching the flower itself I settled on this as the title of my film opening. It also gave me the idea to use this flower as a prop for my film opening, using it as the method that the couple wants to use to kill their target. I'm deciding between how they're going to have this target ingest this flower, however. I thought they could do this through tea or a drink, but I want to get across their idea in few words, as my film opening won't have much dialogue over the music I want to incorporate in it. Their plans for killing this target will be shown through props and their materials: notebooks with notes and writings, various pictures of the target etc. 

Overall this group meeting really helped me form a better idea about what I want to convey in my film opening, but I still have a lot of work to do finding props, costumes and actors.

For this flower in particular, because I can't use an actual Hemlock flower, I'm going to search on Amazon for fake Hemlock flowers, or any flowers that look like they could be Hemlocks.

Week Three - Actors

My friends that could act as characters in my film opening are all busy people; half of them are in college and I feel a little guilty asking them to take a day or two out of their life to help me with my project. They have work and other home obligations among other things, or being in college gives us such a dramatic distance apart that I doubt they'd be able to come down here.

However, they're the only people I've got unless I want to change around my whole plot and cut it down to one character. Even then, I'd need somebody else to either film or be an actor while I direct them, but either way I need the help of other people. I'm just concerned with their ability to help, and what I'll do if it doesn't work out and I'm left stranded.

If my friends can act in my production I'd be very glad because they are all so different, and in terms of representation and creating something unique they'd be a big help to me. They're between the ages 16-18, which is around the age of my target audience. I feel that this can be helpful in creating viewer empathy with my younger viewers around that age.

Week Three - Plot

I haven't had a chance to stop by any dollar stores yet, but instead I've been doing a lot of thinking about my film opening. I have the time now to mold the perfect idea, but I can never come up with ideas that I like on the spot. I'm trying to use Thriller/Horror films as inspiration to find something that really sticks with me, but for now I'm just trying to improve my picnic date idea. 

As I said before, this couple are planning the murder of a certain target. I want this to all be revealed within the opening obviously, and hopefully include a little shock value. I don't have any older young adult friends, so the people acting as my characters will be teens. It's dramatic, and as I can imagine would be problematic in the rest of the film- but lucky for me I don't have to film all that. 

I'm still mulling over my options for how they want to murder their target, and how exactly I'm going to convey all of this within two minutes. I thought that one of the characters could have a journal or "plans" of some sort that they discuss while at the picnic, or that they show while talking. I want to be subtle, but I worry that my audience won't understand and completely miss the point of my film opening. It's happened before, so my guess is that it could happen again. 

Next week we're having a group meeting so that my classmates and I can help each other with our projects- I know it'll be helpful, but I'll keep brainstorming until I can get some fresh ideas from them.

Week Three - Progress

I want my film opening to have an aesthetic/vintage aspect to it while still keeping it simple. As much as I want to go overboard and make my project astonishing, I need to stick to reality and just manage what I can do. Previously, I wanted to go online and order my props, clothes etc. but I was suggested by a classmate to hit up a couple dollar stores and see what they have; which is ingenious, by the way, I never would have thought about that. Hopefully they have things that aren't too obviously cheap.

Week Two - Storyboard

This isn't a final storyboard, nor is it the first one I've made but I thought I'd put something together anyways. My classmates have told me that storyboards have really helped them get their ideas together, and it has. I still have more to figure out but I like what I've got going so far. 

Week Two - Planning

It feels like I have a short amount of time to plan and film this project. It's given me a lot of anxiety; I'm not a professional filmmaker and don't have all the resources I need to make my production look good. I'd like to think I have confidence in my surroundings, but suburbia is boring and I'm not able to drive myself out to cool looking places to film, and I fear that those that can drive me won't be reliable. I seem to be good at finding all the problems but none of the solutions.

Once I settle on an idea for my setting, I'm going to try and film primarily over the weekends or any days that I don't have school. It also depends on the actors that I'm going to be using and what days they're available, but idealistically I'll be able to use actors that have pretty open schedules and maybe their own rides.

For right now I think I've settled on the idea of using three actors; two posing as the couple and the third posing as the character that the couple is targeting. It doesn't matter to me the sexes of the characters. What matters to me more is that they fit the vibe I'm looking for. They should look like average people, but at the least they need to be able to act and convince the viewers that the emotions they're displaying are real.

I'm going to ask my friends if any of them could pose as characters in my film opening. I do have friends that are legitimately a couple, and maybe this authenticity could come across well in my film, however one of the two is at FSU and the distance would be nearly impossible to schedule filming dates where it's convenient for the both of us.

I thought more than once that I could pose as one of the characters, not only because it's fun but it would make choosing actors simpler; however I want to be the one filming to get my vision across as closely as possible. Maybe I just don't trust other people enough to let someone else film, but who knows, I may be short on actors and need to take a loophole. I've settled on the idea that, if I really need to, I could pose as the character that the couple is planning on killing, as I'm not sure this character would really be filmed yet, but instead the couple would have physical pictures of the character.

I'm going to need a lot of props to capture the aesthetic I want this project to emulate. I want everything regarding mise-en-scene to be meticulous; the dishes and food needs to be within a certain color scheme, and definitely within the same brand to show that this couple likes to remain organized down to the last point. They're not only wishing for their get together to be perfect, but their plans for killing this other person should show the same amount of care and attention. The characters' costume designs should be within this same realm. Considering that the setting is placed outside, I wanted everything to be dainty and floral patterned, including the dishware and their clothing, their bags etc. I have to shop a little bit to make sure I have all the materials I need.

Week Two - Research

Unfortunately, film ideas don't come to me as easily as other forms of art. It's frustrating and although I seem to be forming some kind of an original concept, I still feel dissatisfied with it. It's even more frustrating because I really enjoy thrillers, and I want to capture these genre characteristics in an effective way.

I want my film opening to be a thriller with the main characters established as a couple. My problem lies in what I want the conflict to be within their story. I've gotten outside counsel from friends and family members and they were able to give me ideas for a conflict, but they all sound like things that have been done before. I want to create something different that can incite emotion in the viewers, but not be too outrageous that it's just weird and turns people off. Maybe I'm just biting off more than I can chew, but I want the end result to be impressive, or at least something I'm proud of. 

My first instinct was to have this couple kidnap somebody or try and get away with a murder, but I know this has been done before and I'm afraid my film will be too similar. I thought of ways to skew that, for instance where the couple accidentally murders someone/is acting in self defense, or one of them ends up killing the other (whether it's established as premeditated or not) to throw my viewers off guard. Or I could establish that one of the characters is imagining their partner and hint that something's obviously wrong up until that point using camera techniques and sound elements to create unease. I want to focus on the couple and their interest in each other while still including elements of a thriller, playing with lighting and camera angles/shots to make a normally romantic scene seem eerie, like something's off.

An idea that I was seriously interested in using is making these couple of characters be at a picnic or a date of some sort. They're at a setting such as a park, where there's still people around but there's still open space to talk/move freely, or perhaps they even isolate themselves from everybody. Their dialogue and comfort with each other will be established early on to establish they're in a relationship and have been for some time.

I'm playing with different concepts in this setting, such as one of the characters begins setting up objects for their date while waiting for the second character to arrive; a picnic blanket or tablecloth on the ground, an assortment of different foods, drinks and their bag. My plan is to make this scene look playfully innocent as opposed to what the couple is actually meeting there for to discuss. When the second character arrives they greet and begin unpacking notebooks, pencils and different colored pens, maps, pictures, etc.

Depending on the music choice, I could edit shots matching the beat of the song, switching between shots of the characters doing cutesy couple stuff and planning the elaborate murder of another person. I've also considered putting a speaker or mp3 player of some sort in the scene to play the music of my choice, showing that the music is diegetic although it may sound at times non-diegetic.

I think that this juxtaposition between the thriller/romance scene contents can be effective in bringing out certain feelings of unease in my audience, especially if the music is chosen correctly; in terms of music I'm thinking about something simple.

I do have certain songs in mind, such as Tongues by The Frights, Michelle by Sir Chloe, Where Evil Grows by The Poppy Family, or Colour Fade by Funeral Suits. I would have to contact them and get permission to use their song in my film opening, but because I haven't settled on a specific song yet I've yet to contact them. I'm aware that I have only a certain amount of time to do this project, and it may take a while for them to approve of me using their music, but I tend to take a long while to consider all of my options thoroughly. I thought of these songs specifically not only because their meanings connect to my film content, but the beat of each song brings something different to the table in terms of how I'll edit. I've also seriously considered using more lowkey, instrumental music to make certain scenes silent to emphasize their dialogue or certain actions.

Week One - Film Opening Examples

Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

In Get Out, a couple reaches the "meet the parents" milestone of dating. The girlfriend (Rose) invites her boyfriend (Chris) to stay at her parents' house upstate for the weekend. At first it seems like her parents' nervous attempts to accommodate him are due to the adjusting of their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses Chris discovers a series of truths he never would've imagined. Jordan Peele uses close ups to focus more intensely on the emotions of the characters and relies heavily on mise-en-scene and sound, as most thriller films do. He uses a color palette specific to the theme of the movie which he shows through costume design and lighting; red is used to represent danger and bloodshed, and blue to represent the more psychological aspects of the film. 

This film opening shows a man walking through a suburb at night talking to his significant other on the phone about directions to her house. Once he hangs up, a car drives by and Peele shows in the background, unbeknownst to the character, that they've turned around and are following him. As the car stops beside him, eerie music is playing loudly from the inside. They continue following him and he decides quickly to turn around the other way he came and crosses the street. As he does he realizes the door to the car is open; the music gets louder as he turns around, emphasizing his fear as the stranger comes up behind him and chokes him until he passes out. The stranger drags him to their car and puts him in their trunk, and when the assailant closes the car door the music stops. 

The credit scene alludes more to the main characters, showing a long POV shot of trees passing by from a car window, representing the long, dreary car ride the couple is going to take upstate. The rest of the opening establishes background information that's revealed later on in the movie, alluding to a major conflict.

A Quiet Place (John Krasinski, 2018)

A Quiet Place takes place in a world where mysterious creatures who hunt by detecting sound will kill anything that makes the slightest of noise. A family must live in complete silence to survive, protecting each other while also trying to find a way to fight back. The movie has minimal dialogue and uses only diegetic sound as the protagonists use sign language throughout the film. This produces thrill and terror when there are louder sounds, as they stand out. Krasinski uses costume design and the color red to emphasize feelings of danger and depth in the audience, utilizing the nature around them and the color green to contrast with feelings of tranquility and hope. 

The opening to A Quiet Place begins with a black screen displaying "Day 89" with low, eerie music, hinting to the conflict of the film. This cuts to an abandoned town and the inside of a store where kids are running through. The characters are introduced, showing a teen girl wearing a hearing aid and her two younger brothers followed by their mother and father. It's established that they communicate in sign language and pay special attention to making sure they make no sound whatsoever. A lot of background information is established, showing they've made their own way of life in order to survive, and that the youngest child is too young to understand they need to be silent. 

The use of sound elements by Krasinksi is excellent, the music adding depth/dread or whimsy where dialogue could be; for example the youngest took a toy rocket with batteries in it, and on their way home from the store, had turned it on and made noise. Intense music picks up as the father puts his things down and runs towards him, then stops as a creature runs towards the boy and kills him, taking him offscreen. The title is shown for a short period of time coupled with low music, made after sand is thrown on screen to reinforce their way of safe travel.

Us (Jordan Peele, 2019)

Adelaide Wilson, accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, return to the beach house front where she grew up as a child. Haunted by a traumatic experience from her past, she becomes increasingly anxious that something terrible is about to happen and realizes her worst fears have come true when four masked strangers come to her house at night. When the masks come off, the Wilsons are horrified to realize each stranger takes the appearance of one of them, forcing them into a fight for survival. Peele uses humor in Us to build tension and anticipation, which is incredibly effective. His use of color and mise-en-scene, similar to Get Out is symbolic of the theme of the movie; he uses red in his costume design to represent death and danger and uses lighting to create sinister undertones between characters. His use of sound works to invoke terror in the audience as well, using music and silence to build suspense when necessary. 

The opening to Us is long. It begins with a small excerpt, followed by a TV advertising an organization and a Santa Cruz boardwalk, revealing the setting and timeframe of the movie. This is reinforced when it cuts to the next scene and introduces the main character as a young girl at a carnival there with her parents; it's nighttime, making the lighting all that more dramatic as the sky is pitch black. She walks off when her parents aren't watching her and ends up in a fun house, where she runs into another little girl that looks exactly like her, introducing the conflict of the movie early on. 

During the credit scene that follows right after, the camera zooms out on an extreme close up of a bunny, revealing a room full wall to wall of rabbits in cages, and tables with chairs filling the room; the choice of music is dramatic and operatic. Both the sound elements and film content are meant to give an eerie feeling to the audience. The red font of the title and credits are important to reinforce the theme of the movie being a psychological thriller as well. 

Week One - Thriller Research

When this portfolio project was first assigned, I had no idea what I was going to do for it. I tried to take into consideration things that I've been through that I can relate to, and therefore make my film opening more raw or emotional, but I don't think the world's ready for that level of transparency with me yet. Maybe one day.

Yet I still find myself drawn to vulnerable, gut-wrenching genres such as romance and thrillers. Although I can't find my idea fitting solidly in either genre yet, I'm going to compile research here concerning thrillers and hopefully that'll lead me on a path to seeing my vision more clearly.

Thriller Genre Conventions

Thrillers are generally targeted towards young adults (15-21 year olds) because they're invested in the plot and enjoy feeling suspense and mystery. Movies in this genre do this by keeping the audience alert and on the edge of their seat, using editing and camera movements and techniques as well as various mise-en-scene elements, and most importantly sound to create anticipation and thrill the audience. 

Movies in the thriller genre all share key elements concerning the plot. They tend to follow certain themes of death, reality, identity, existence and purpose. The protagonist is set against a problem that they need to solve, providing action scenes, character development and multiple points of view throughout the film. The protagonist's needs, wants and fears should also be established early on to create viewer empathy/concern, making the impending danger and escalating tension in the film all the more impactful. Flashbacks can also be utilized for this same reason to give the audience insight on why characters are the way they are. Humor can be used to add tension too. 

Using suggestive camera angles, framing for emotion and showing what the characters don't see can also help reinforce anticipation in the viewers. Backlighting helps give a sense of mystery by creating silhouettes and low key lighting adds shadows that create a sinister tone, which adds fear and tension. Quick edits/camera angle changes during significant scenes also accomplish this. When it comes to sound, music is important; it can be eerie, create high tension or be silent. Silence can be especially effective at thrilling the audience. Mise-en-scene is also important to emphasize the theme of the film, for example using popular thriller colors such as red, black, dark blues and purples.

Week One - Music

Indie/Alternative Rock

Some popular trends with artists in this genre are mainly based online; this involves using different social media platforms and holding a website where all of the artists' information can be put in one place. Digital distribution of music through various streaming apps is also popular, as well as distributing videos on sites such as Youtube. Live shows and festival appearances also aid in marketing a music group. Our case studies, Foster The People and The Neighbourhood, both use websites as a hub for all their information mainly utilizing Youtube to store their music videos. Foster The People has performed in 15 festivals since 2017 and The Neighbourhood in various festivals such as Edgefesr and Osheaga. 

My group chose to develop the brand of our artist by relating to our target audience, which is primarily 15 to 24 year olds. Firstly we decided to use the artist's name to lure fans in, using "IndieVidual" as a play on words to the genre of music he plays but also to point out that this artist is a one of a kind individual. We used our various social media platforms to reach out to them (Youtube, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify) as well as using our merchandise to interest our fans, such as our various sweaters and wristbands that can be won by entering a raffle on Twitter. They could also win free tickets to a show of ours or polaroids and their own polaroid camera.

My group and I created several types of merchandise to market IndieVidual; hoodies with different designs on them, shirts and wristbands are available on our website and in select stores (Spencers, Hot Topic). Below are examples of the hoodies with colorful logos of the artist, Adam Dalton, as well as a T-shirt with another one of his logos to give his fans a variety of things to choose from.

Through this project, I learned that video production is more difficult than I thought. There's also a lot of creative freedom and mobility when filming and editing together a music video, and I enjoyed this aspect quite a bit. While I wasn't able to utilize this exactly to my full potential I was still able to put together something engaging that captured the vibe of our artist, and kept in mind techniques that I could use in the future.

Everything that's put into a marketing campaign is done with finite purpose down to the last detail to ensure that the target audience is drawn in by the content they're seeing. I had to pay special attention to this concept while creating a marketing and distribution campaign with my partners, specifically noting mise-en-scene elements and meanings behind color, costume design, set design and lighting to center around that Indie vibe of being hipster and not sticking to the status quo. Everything had to be cohesive to make our message clear with our audience that this was someone to become invested in. 

Needless to say I still have a lot of work and exploring with film to do, however this project gave me necessary insight into the struggles of film making and the accomplishment from creating something different and sharing it with other like minded people.

Representation Analysis

H&M

This advertisement features very diverse groups of people. H&M chose to film people of different races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities and ages, as well as including different body sizes and disabilities. They decided to break stereotypes such as religion and etiquette and body hair, and in some cases reinforce those stereotypes to push their audience to be proud of who they are and what they want to do. Clothing is a way to express who you are, and in this ad H&M encourages everyone to wear what makes them feel good. 

"Close the loop" could positively affect the audience by making them feel empowered, giving them a better sense of confidence now that they feel represented and present in the media. This idea is supported by the message at the end saying that "there are no rules in fashion..." This could show very diverse groups of people that they are becoming increasingly more valid and supported in the media, while also advertising a good cause: recycling your clothes.

Axe Body Spray

This Axe commercial doesn't represent different groups of people and communities well. All of the women in the advertisement have the same fit body type and are wearing bikinis. There's the same black actor shown twice through out the entire advertisement, and the only male character in the ad is white, showing they have minimal diversity between their actors. The audience watching this commercial could be affected negatively. It could rub off on young men and women that aren't white, perhaps leading them to think that they are inferior or less attractive, and worst of all could lead young men to thinking that Axe is attractive in any way, let alone enough to attract hundreds of women in minimal clothing from every direction. 

Genre Research

Genre Conventions - Content

The aim of thriller films are to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats throughout the movie. To do this, the films need to induce strong feelings of excitement, anxiety, tension, suspense, fear and anticipation. The protagonist is usually set against a problem: an escape, mission or mystery that they need to solve. To achieve a well done thriller, make the protagonist multi-layered, providing depth and dynamic character traits, such as character development. This could also mean establishing the character's wants and fears. Creating reader empathy and concern will help to create suspense. Giving the readers a sense of impending danger and escalating tension is also helpful. Surprising the viewers by breaking character clichés and doing the opposite of what was expected can help aid in establishing anticipation. Using contrasting situations, or two unrelated things happening at once can create a sense of tension as well.

Genre Conventions - Production Techniques

Focusing on how each scene will affect the viewer in a thriller is very important. This means paying careful attention to editing, mise-en-scene, lighting, sound and camera techniques. Using suggestive camera angles or providing the viewers with information that the characters don't see helps to create anticipation. Quick edits and camera angle changes create increased feelings of fear and shock during significant scenes. Music, narrative and sound can create a high tension or an eerie silence. The most commonly used lighting techniques in the thriller genre are back lighting to give a sense of mystery and create silhouettes, and low key lighting to create a sinister tone. Colors used often in the thriller genre are red, dark blue and purple, black and white or neutral colors. 

Institutional Conventions - Marketing

Thrillers are often promoted online or through trailers. The trailers appeal to mystery and suspense, leaving the viewer wondering what's next. Leaving room for the viewer to think for themselves is helpful in accomplishing this as well. Keeping a sense of realism or authenticity can help connect the story or characters to the audience. Thrillers are also promoted via taglines. For example, when Jaws 2 came out they created the now popular tagline "Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water." The target audience for these types of films are 15 to 21 year olds; this is because they're interested in the plot and enjoy feeling the suspense and mystery.

Film Sample 1 - A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place (2018) directed by John Krasinski embodies the thriller genre phenomenally well. A Quiet Place takes place in a world where mysterious creatures who hunt by detecting sound will kill anything that makes the slightest of noise, from a simple whisper to a footstep. A family must live in complete silence to survive, protecting each other while also trying to find a way to fight back. The movie has minimal dialogue and only diegetic sound as the protagonists use sign language throughout the film. This develops a sense of thrill and terror when there are any loud sounds that stand out. The tagline for A Quiet Place is "If they hear you, they will hunt you." Krasinski uses the color red to instill feelings of danger and death in the viewers, utilizing the nature around them and the color green to contrast with a sense of tranquility and hope.

Film Sample 2 - Get Out

Get Out (2017) directed by Jordan Peele embodies the thriller genre as well. A couple reach the "meet the parents" milestone of dating, and the girlfriend (Rose) invites her boyfriend (Chris) to stay at her parents' house upstate for the weekend. At first it seems that her parents' nervous attempts to accommodate him are due to them adjusting to their interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses Chris discovers a series of truths he never would have imagined. Peele utilizes close ups to focus more intensely on the emotion of the characters and relies heavily on mise-en-scene, as most thriller films do. He uses color palettes specific to the theme of the movie, using red to signify danger and bloodshed, as well as blue to highlight the more psychological aspects of the film. 

More Thriller Samples

Split (2017) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84TouqfIsiI

Us (2019) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNCmb-4oXJA

Psycho (1960)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG3-GlvKPcg

Jaws (2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1fu_sA7XhE

Crawl (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6MLJG0RdDE