"Godzilla": Title Research

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

17

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

images of a cityscape and letters fading in and out in a stylish manner.

What connotations do the images carry?

these images show the viewer that the movie will have to do majorly with the city and that the main character is a female due to the voice over

How is genre  reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

the light and fluffy music and bright colors give the viewer an impression of romance. this is solidified through the main characters voice over

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

the film leaves major plot points in mystery, like the main love interest and the characters face to hopefully keep the viewer guessing and wanting more, profiting.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

most viewers of a romance movie are not expecting a hard rock song over blood red visuals, so light colors and soft music are perfect for most everyone wanting a lighthearted romance.

How has technology been used effectively?

2d animation was used to captivate and smoothly transition title cards

"Law of Attraction": Title Research

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

17

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

images of a city scape and letters fading in and out in a stylish manner.

What connotations do the images carry?

these images show the viewer that the movie will have to do majorly with the city and that the main character is a female due to the voice over

How is genre  reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

the light and fluffy music and bright colors give the viewer an impression of romance. this is solidified through the main characters voice over

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

the film leaves major plot points in mystery, like the main love interest and the characters face to hopefully keep the viewer guessing and wanting more, profiting.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

most viewers of a romance movie are not expecting a hard rock song over blood red visuals, so light colors and soft music are perfect for most everyone wanting a lighthearted romance.

How has technology been used effectively?

2d animation was used to captivate and smoothly transition title cards

"The Game": Title Research

Here is an opening sequence from the movie "The Game" (1997) that I found on https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-game/ . It is a mystery/drama film.

1. Only 4 titles are displayed during this opening sequence. There are no actors, directors, or any person's name in the introduction. This is because the director states that he doesn't believe in decorative titles.

2. Images that are prioritized are a man that is wearing a white suit, and young children, and more specifically, a young boy, who we can assume to be the protagonist.

3. These images give a sense of nostalgia as well as a feeling of discomfort and uneasiness due to the effects on the film.

4. The genre is reinforced through this because of the puzzle pieces at the very beginning for the 4 titles, which represent a mystery that needs to be solved. The other thing is that we don't know about anyone or anything yet, or why those people are gathered, so that's also very mysterious.

5. It establishes an enigma because we don't know these characters at all, and then at the very end, it cuts to what seems like present day, and he has just splashed his face with water, so we can assume he is having some sort of flashback or dream. It makes as want to know about this character.

6. Some strategies the intro uses is to keep mysterious to not give too much away to the audience, and the use of music to make it even more mysterious.

7. A very cool effect is used  in this opening sequence. They edited the film to make it look like very old footage. It makes it very mysterious. They also used kind of a graphic match in that at the end, they were showing a little boy, and then they quickly cut to a man who is now in present day, and it allows to assume he is the boy.

"Austin Powers": Title Research

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

-19 titles are shown in the first 4 minutes of the movie.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

-Images that are prioritized in the opening sequence would be Austin Powers and freeze frames of him jumping up and dancing and stuff.

What connotations do the images carry?

-Connotations of him would be everyone loving him and you are supposed to think that it is pretty dumb of everyone for thinking that because there isn’t that much thats special about him.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

-The genre of this movie is humorous and the way they reinforce this is by using technical and symbolic codes like having over the top cliches, funny bits, and funny freeze frames.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

-The film uses enigmas in the outset with subtle jokes and the font of the titles.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

-In the outset, strategies the film uses to ensure that it appeals to the target audience is by having hilarity going on constantly through the beginning.

How has technology been used effectively?

Technology that has been used were camera angles like wide shots, medium shots, long shots, and establishing shots to help convey the jokes they are putting in; transitions like running from people, funny disguises, and leading a parade for comedic timing; editing like cross cuts, freeze frames, and a sound track to fit everything together.

Website Research: artofthetitle.com

1st blog: Today, my AICE media teacher assigned us to research two different media websites, one being artofthetitle.com. When I first opened the website, I was greeted with a page that looked like this:

Since I already researched the other website first, I knew somewhat what to expect. At first, I did not know exactly what a “title sequence” was, so I looked up the actual media definition. A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. As I researched and explored the website, I found two tabs on the top. The first one was titled “title sequences.” Once I clicked on it, I found headings saying “Top title sequences of 2019” and others. There were also headings of title sequences from popular movies, as well as title sequences from classic movies. 

I then clicked on the other heading named “designers + studios.” This reveals a massive list of names of title sequence designers, as well as studios where the title sequences are made. IF you click on specific names/studios, it will show a picture of that person/studio and a brief description of who they are, and what they did in the media industry. This website is definitely a great learning experience for anyone that is interested in media. Before going into the website, I had little knowledge of what a title sequence was and their importance. 

Website Research: watchthetiitles.com

Today, my AICE media teacher assigned us to research two different media websites, one being watchthetitles.com. When I first opened the website, I was greeted with a page that looked like this:

I was not sure what to expect, but after further research on the website, this is what I found:

This website is "A project dedicated to the art of title design." Instead of enjoying the design of the actual movie, this website wants you to appreciate the design and thought that goes into the title. You see some examples of movie titles at the main website screen. 

After I research and saw the basics of the home page, I started to explore the website a little more. I started by clicking on the tab that says "title sequences." Once I clicked this, I saw a number of different title scenes from popular movies, some of which I recognized. From this page, you can click on a title sequence from a movie that you want to watch. This helped me understand the actual meaning of a "title sequence." After going through the title sequence tab, I clicked on the next one, which is "Designers". I already knew what to expect when clicking on this slide. This tab shows you a list of title designers. Once you click on one of their names, it tells you about what movie titles they have designed, what company they work for, and a quote from them. Finally, the last tab says "studios." This slide shows a list of studios. Once you click on one of the studio names, it tells you which title was made at that studio. It also tells you a brief description of the studio and what happens there.

Genre Research

We need to research genres for our final project and since we already did a PowerPoint on this genre, 
we will use it. The genre was western and we did this genre because we randomly drew it out of a hat.
We had done this presentation at the beginning of the year before we had done any filming. We will not
be using this genre in our final project because it doesn't seem to fit our pitch. The presentation was
to give examples of lighting, camera angles, movements, Mis-en-scene, and the elements of the genre. 
Westerns use lots of natural sunlight, lots of camera movements, and almost all camera angles. 
Westerns also have a dessert setting, wild west props, and violence.

Genre Research: Baby Driver

The movie i picked to do research on was Baby Driver, a recent Thriller movie that was a hit in theaters when it came out only 3 years ago. The movie itself is about a young man working as a getaway driver for a rotating gang of bank robbers and his eventual "escape" from the clutches of his boss. the movie itself is very action heavy, and it uses music and different camera angles to keep the viewers attention.

-The camera is used not as a portal for the viewer to view the events of the movie, but as a tool the director uses to get the most out of his actors and therefore the scene. tracking shots following both the police and baby make every scene nothing short of eye candy. even while there is no driving or action the camera is used to show the emotions and feelings of each character. zooms, tracking shots and extreme close ups are just some examples of the techniques used in this movie.

-the costumes are not as prominent as other movies, but still each article of clothing is used to portray the personality of each of the characters, such as the headphones of the protagonist or the cold personality of the crime lord. the setting is a basic city, the marvel comes from the stunt driving and the thrilling situations the characters are put in.

-Sounds are an extremely important part of this movie. the first 10 minutes are all completely in sync to the music that the protagonist is listening to in his headphones. the main character is partly deaf, so he uses music to get into the "bank robbing mood" the main relationship sprawls from music too. every track has a different feel and plays a massive part of every scene.

-editing is bouncy, thrilling the audience with quick cuts and shot reverse shots.

-the main elements in this genre are action with risk of death to put the audience on the edge of their seats and music to get the veins pumping with Adrenalin. 

my final review -

this movie is fantastic. the music works in tandem with the movement and just makes for an overall amazing experience for any moviegoer. 

Decision Blog

After all our research on genres, we have finally decided what our genre for our film is going to be. The first 2 minutes will be a thriller. Thrillers are very cool and a perfect genre for our film. We have many ideas on how we will film it and what camera angles we will use and a thriller has exactly what we are looking for. The lighting is low key and natural which is good for us because we don’t have other types of lighting that would be good for our idea. Costumes are common clothing which is good for us because we already have that. Finally, a thriller is good because it will be good at giving the feeling of suspense and then the audience would want more.

Genre Research: Nightcrawler

A movie that I have chosen to research in the thriller genre is the 2014 film, Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. This movie is about a man who pursues a new career as a cameraman, and goes out at night to capture the most grueling and shocking crimes and accidents, when he is then noticed by struggling new director. She believes his desire and insane methods to get the 'money shot' will help to raise her station's ratings. This movie also has pretty good reviews, thus why I decided to check it out.

     This film uses a lot of close-ups, especially on Lou Bloom, the main character, to show his emotion, or rather, lack of it. There are also many tracking shots, which are used to follow Bloom when he is filming something, which I believe is cleverly used to show us kind of what he's doing.

Something unique and interesting that this film does is film over-the-shoulder shots, but not during conversations. They're used whenever Lou is filming something. In these shots, everything is blurred except for what is on the camera's screen. This way they are showing us exactly how Lou is viewing what's going on, 'through a lens'. Another majority of shots in this movie are from Lou's height or eye-level, again to show us his perspective. The camera is also quite shaky, but only when Lou is filming, which I found interesting.

      The costumes are very basic in this movie. Lou wears rather boring clothing, but wears dark colored clothes at night when he films. Nina and other characters wear professional clothing. The criminals wear black, and there are also cops wearing police uniforms. The lighting is mostly dark, considering that most of the scenes take place during the night. The acting, especially from Jake Gyllenhaal, is great all around. You can tell the actors are talented and serious about their roles. Jake Gyllenhaal's acting is perfect at showing just how insane Lou is. Not much makeup is used in this movie except for blood. I think the most important props in this film is Lou's camera and police scanner, which are instrumental in his filming career. Other props are everyday items you'd see in around a city. The settings are mostly at night on the streets of L.A., however one setting really stands out to me. This setting is Lou's apartment, and it's very bland and dimly lit, to also show just how emotionally bland Lou is to society and people.

      Most of the sounds in the movie are diegetic, which include the sounds of cars crashing, police sirens, and gun shots. Lots of dialogue is used in this film. The score in this film is very eery and unnerving.

       The editing in this film isn't very intense. Jump cuts are used often, especially to go from day time to night time. Shot reverse shots are also used during dialogues between characters.

       The movie uses a lot of elements of the thriller genre. This includes a lot of suspense, especially when Lou is filming and we want to see what he's gonna do or what he's going to film. This movie also makes you think about Lou and the morality of his actions. It makes you fear what he might do next. You could definitely see him being a psychotic movie villain. I love the dark and mysterious tone of the movie as well. It feels as if it's something I shouldn't be watching, which draws me in even more.

      However, one thing I didn't like was how brutal some of the scenes were, but it did help to create that unnerving tone.

     Overall, I enjoy this film a lot, and it's one of the films that contributes to my love for the thriller genre.

Genre Research: American Psycho

The movie I picked to do research on was American Psycho, a Thriller movie that was rated pretty high by critics. The movie is about this american business man that is narrating to the audience the entire time he kills people. This describes the title of the movie with an imperfect killer that is going insane.

- pretty much all the camera angles are eye level and sometimes low angle. All camera positions were used but mostly over the shoulder, long shot, medium close ups, and 2 shots were used. There are a surprisingly amount of zooms in this movie, along with hand held, tracking, pans, and tilts.

-The costumes are normal business suits and common clothes. Lights are common and natural with other lights on faces to make them pop. The acting if very good and people are very serious with it too. The makeup they use is not a lot, mostly women's normal make up and sometimes blood. props are normal business objects, sometimes weapons, food, and drinks. the setting is in the city in an office and rooms and streets.

- Sounds are diegetic and nondiegetic with voice overs and there are lots of dialogue. They use a sound track too.

-common editing would be lots of cross cutting, some cut aways, and shot reverse shots.

-The elements of the genre in the movie are lots of suspense and things that get my heart racing. The movie gets my brain thinking.There are common clothes in this movie, common lighting, and pretty much everything you would see in the Mis-En-Scene for this genre. This movie has the same camera angles and movements as well.

-I loved the suspense that they used. I loved that they really were confusing and manipulating the audience the entire time watching.

-I did not like how long it was though, it seemed like the same thing over and over but, I feel they 

made it work.

Genre Research: Get Out

"Get Out" is a popular movie that was released in 2017. It is categorized as a thriller.

Camera angles

• POV shots.
• Close ups
• Extreme close ups
• Tracking shots
• Canted/Dutch
• Birds eye view

The camera angles are especially important in this movie. A specific example are how Close-up shots are used in this film. The shot of the main characters face as he is being hypnotized shows extreme emotion, which then makes the audience feel the same fear he is feeling. 

Mis Ec Scene

Costumes- Common modern clothes are used in this film because it is when the film is taking place. However, formal clothing is used in the film during scenes which are important to the development of the story. 

Lighting- There is many different lighting techniques used in this film. However, the two that stand out the most are high and low key lighting.
Actors- In this film, there are only a few main actors, and little extras used. This adds to the mysterious effect that this movie gives off.
Makeup- Makeup is used in film to portray the personality of the character. In thrillers, not much makeup is used since the identity of characters is supposed to be kept hidden. 
Props- The main element of thrillers is suspense. Suspense is greatly built with props. Common props that build suspense are knives, guns, blood, and curtains. Many of these are used in this film. 
Setting- Thrillers usually take place in cities and suburbs, however they can become specific and take place in foreign cities, desert themed places, and polar regions. This specific movie takes place in a isolated house.

Common Sounds

There is a large use of digetic sound in this film. There is also some non-digetic sound that is used. Score is used as well. the type of music is eery, which builds suspense.

Common Editing

Editing in thrillers is also crucial because it will develop the feeling of suspense. To create suspense, fast pace and slow paced editing is used. This helps create tension with a scene. 

Elements of genre: This movie uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. This keeps the viewer hooked on the film. Thrillers stimulate the viewers moods by giving them a high level of anticipation, expectation, surprise, and anxiety. All of these moods are built through the Mis en scene, camera angles, sound, and editing.

Which elements did I like? 

My favorite elemet in this movie was the suspense. It makes you feel scared, however you still want to see what happens. It keeps you hooked on the movie. 

Which element did I not like?

My least favorite element was tension. Tension is similar to suspense, but instead it usually ends with a scare. I am not a scary movie person, so that is why I do not like suspense. 

Different Types of Genres: Thriller and Horror

Our films genre is thriller. A thriller is a film that gives viewers feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, and anxiety. Thrillers are a very common genre because they are very broad. Common examples of thrillers are "A Quiet Place" and "Get Out."

Common Camera angles-

• High angle/Birds eye view
• Close ups
• Panning 
• Canted/Dutch
• Extreme long shot

Mis En Scene-

Costumes- Common clothes are used. Usually there are some characters that dress in dark clothes to conceal their identity.

Lighting- The most common lighting in thrillers is low-key lighting. This is used to make the audience feel suspense and tension.   

Actors- Many actors are used in thrillers. There needs to be many main characters, and extras.

Make Up- Makeup is used in film to portray the personality of the character. In thrillers, not much makeup is used since the identity of characters is supposed to be kept hidden. 

Props- The main element of thrillers is suspense. Suspense is greatly built with props. Common props that build suspense are knives, guns, blood, and curtains.

Setting- Thrillers usually take place in cities and suburbs, however they can become specific and take place in foreign cities, desert themed places, and polar regions. 

Editing in thrillers is also crucial because it will develop the feeling of suspense. To create suspense, fast pace and slow paced editing is used. This helps create tension with a scene.

Thrillers use suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. This keeps the viewer hooked on the film. Thrillers stimulate the viewers moods by giving them a high level of anticipation, expectation, surprise, and anxiety. 

Sound is also one of the most important elements that make a thriller what it is. Digetic sound is the most common type of sound in thrillers. Sounds help build tension in scenes. Another technique directors use in thrillers is the use of no sound. This technique was used in the popular film "A Quiet Place."

    In addition to the Western genre, the other two genres my group has decided to research are horror and thriller. Although these two genres are often thought of as pretty similar, there are some big differences.
    Common shots used in horror films are the close up, establishing shot, and point of view shot. Close ups are typically used in horror to either show how afraid a character is or how scary a monster or evil character is. Establishing shots are used to show a spooky location, such as a haunted house or graveyard. Horror films also use POV shots to make you even more spooked because they want you to feel like you're the actual character in the film. Some camera movements that are common are zooms and the hand-held. Zooms are used to make the subject even scarier by slowly moving towards it. Hand-held scenes give the movie an even greater sense of reality, causing more scares.
   Costumes in horror movies are often designed to be spooky, for example a scary clown costume or vampire costume. Lighting in these films are often dark, in order to give more scares and mystery. The actors in these movies are supposed to be either really scary (if they're playing the villain/monster) or super dramatic (if they're playing the victim). Makeup in horror films can often be gory and bloody at times to give a big scare and make the viewer scared or uncomfortable. Props in these movies vary based on what type of horror film it is. In slasher type movies, large knives are very common (hence the name slasher), but in a movie centering a monster, a creepy talisman would be a good prop to use. For setting, the movies are often set in creepy places such as haunted houses, cemeteries, and rundown buildings.
    The editing in these films include jump cuts as well as special effects added in post production in order to make certain events scarier or more realistic.
    Common elements in horror movies include the use of jump scares, gory violence, suspense, dark places, and many creepy creatures to gross out or frighten the audience.
    Common sounds in the genre usually include high-pitched noises that continue for a long duration of time to build up suspense. Characters also scream a lot to show fear.
    Some horror film examples are It, Halloween, The Nightmare on Elm Street, and Chucky.
   In horror films, I do not like jump scares. I feel as if they are cheap ways to try and scare the audience. I find them very annoying and if jump scares are the only scary thing your horror movie has to offer, then it's not a good horror movie. The things I do like in horror movies are the over dramatic characters and when scares actually feel well earned and aren't cheap. 

Planning the Final Project

The next step in our final project was to brainstorm and to deduce a pitch that we will use for our actual project itself. It took our group quite a while, an hour to be exact, but in the end, we came to two final decisions: the first decision being a love story about a man who falls in love, but the story is only shot through his feet and in the end it would be revealed that the man was in love with a body pillow. The other pitch being about an Uber driver kidnapper ho takes a man called Daniel hostage and commits a murder.

The first pitch had many benefits. It would be shot from an interesting angle, which would be a new journey for our group as we, for our last two projects foley used medium shots and long shots. Another benefit to this idea was that it only consisted of three actors, the man himself, and the two parents. The main focus of the movie would be the man and him coming to terms with being in love with a body pillow and perhaps his parents would be at the wedding, where the only lines they deliver are, "what are we going to do about this girl of his?" This would be very efficient, as less actors means less time getting a certain scene right and just focusing on the camera angles and props. However, we did not choose this pitch because the ending made it feel too much like a short story and less like a beginning of a movie, which is the whole point of the project. 

The second pitch is the one we decided to go with. It will be the beginning of a story about a man named Daniel, who takes an uber ride and the driver takes him hostage. After realizing that his kidnaper may be up to more nefarious actions than just simply kidnapping, he must find out how to save not only himself, but the whole neighborhood. There are many benefits to this pitch as well. For one, not like the last pitch, this story remains open ended and very easy to write a whole movie about, and the intro is extremely attention grabbing. Even with all of the actors needed, Daniel, Daniels unnamed friend, and uber driver and a murderer, this is much more coherent and direct. In the end, this is the pitch that our group decided to go with for the multitude of reasons stated beforehand.

In the end, pitch two is the pitch that our group decided to go with for the multitude of reasons stated before. It is easy to write, it ends with a cliffhanger, and it uses lots of mystery elements from classic noir films that hopefully will make the viewers scared and surprised. The reason that we did not go with the other pitch is that it seems like it would be more of a short story rather than a beginning to a longer film. It also may lead the audience to confusion.

The Start of the Final Task

We are finally starting the final task, which is a two minute film that will be graded by both our teachers and cambridge. I am with my same group from the last two projects. I feel that our group has great chemistry together. This helps us make our films flow great, and we are able to complete it fast. My group consists of Trent, Jimmy, Owen, and I. Our group's strengths are: We work with each other easily. We are able to film on a day and location that everyone can get to. We can always decide who films, acts, and edits. However there are some weaknesses in our group: Sometimes we cannot decide what our film idea is. We get distracted quickly. However, when we are fully focused, we work great. Before taking this class, I was not very interested in film. I only wanted to take this class for the AICE credit. However, while taking this class, I found a passion for filming and editing.

I have learned a great amount of things in this class. To start, I learned many of the filming techniques that are seen in many movies and TV shows. These are all of the camera angles, movement, lighting, and editing that happens in films. These are very helpful for both my personal knowledge, and for the AICE test. I will need to know these specific terms or I will get points off. I have also learned that I suck at acting. However, I am great at filming and editing, especially editing. 

Our newest and final project requires multiple pitches. A pitch is a an idea where a film is encapsulated in 25 words or less. We have multiple pitches from different group members, but we have to choose only one that we will focus on. Our pitches before were: 

• A car ride that takes a turn.
• An unexpected lover breaks someones heart. 
• 3 rascals that find trouble with the government.