Audience and Institutions Practice Essay

Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.

        When it comes to the distribution of a new product, especially in film, the success of that product heavily depends on how it is marketed. In other words, to provide the best success for a new film, marketing strategies need to be applied precisely, to draw an audience into watching that film. The role of film marketing is how to get the support of an audience to watch a new movie made by the producers. Marketing also helps increase the profit for those distributors and the ones who are involved with the creation of a movie. People would not know a movie exists if it hasn’t been marketed correctly. Such elements found in film marketing are advertising with social media, cross-promotion, cross-media convergence, and other digital strategies.

        Technology has helped a lot with the promotion of new products in the film industry. A great example of this marketing can be seen with the conglomerate, Walt Disney Studios. There are numerous adored movies created by Disney, and they are always displayed on incoming trailers and/or websites, even as advertisements on social media. Marvel Studios is one of the many subsidiaries that this large company has, and every time there is a new movie, superheroes can be displayed in public, this is done with cross-media convergence. On the boxes of food in grocery stores and even the toys that are sold in Walmart or Target, can help convince people enough to go and watch the marvel movie that had just come out. ‘Black Panther’ is one of many films that was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures Motion Studies. Of course, a strategy used for the 2018 film is marketing, which has been mentioned. The distributing company created a budget on what to spend their money on, and calculate a way to find more profit. It is promised that some of their budgets contained merchandising because their purpose was to generate more excitement and interest among the public for the film. Clothes, toys, and even keychains were found on many websites to appeal to people of all ages so that it would not be limited to a specific audience. With no limitations, the conglomerate was sure to be seeing profit with a new movie that was produced in one of their studios. Comcast owns Universal Pictures, and they have created the franchise of ‘Fast and the Furious.’ The movie that has a lot of meaning to the franchise would be ‘Furious 7,’ because one of the actors, Paul Walker, had been in a terrible accident that took his life. A song in the film was even dedicated to him. Fans of the series were devasted, especially the actors who grew close together while filming all of those movies. Not only did the ‘Furious 7’ gain much attention from that, but there were other reasons, such as a new ride at one of the theme parks owned by the studio. Following synergy, the company also had a plan of cross-promotion of creating a video game based on the movie. This could appeal to the older audience who has an interest in the movie and likes to play video games. Technology has been used in general and it has been said in both examples of how production companies are able to benefit from their hired distributing companies.

The way audiences are involved in film marketing is viewing the new movie and purchasing products. For example, ‘Spiderman: Homecoming’ was produced by Columbia Pictures, but distributed by Sony Pictures. In this distribution process, merchandising can be followed. Thus, toys were created based on the movie and can be seen as cross-promotion to promote the movie to kids. It was not just toys, but clothes and other souvenirs that were made to create hype for the movie, before it came out. Another product would be the new spiderman game that was made for audience members who were gamers. The intention was to get as many social groups into viewing ‘Homecoming.’ Synergy with the superhero could also be seen with foods seen around the grocery store, like on a box of cereal. Spiderman had partnered with many companies, such as Kellogg’s and Pepsico. This returns back to how audiences are involved with marketing because kids would want their parents to buy these new toys, and eventually get excited to watch a movie with a likable superhero. An older audience, most likely parents and young adults, would also want to spend their spare time enjoying this new movie. In other words, whatever the audience purchases in this process, is where that money goes to the distributors and especially those who were able to make the movie happen. The point of the conglomerates and subsidiaries gaining profit connects as well. These large companies who create films all depend on their audience to make it successful, and of course, the people to watch their movies need to be found first.

Overall, I still stand on the point where marketing helps greatly with how successful a film can be. It is included in the film process since it has to be in the budget for the making, but it is a vital factor if directors and producers want to get the movie out into public view. It is all about driving the audience into the theaters to watch the movie, whether they end up having a good review or not. With a good or bad intel, the large companies get the profit that they need to end up making more films for the world.

Extract Practice: 24

        In this extract, I believe that the director is trying to involve the audience with the intense situation happening between the characters. The genre that was most likely chosen by the director would be “thriller.” He/she wants the audience to feel the stress a detective goes through when it comes to getting the answers of a suspect who wants to outsmart him. This situation is very extreme, as lives are put out on the line due to a bomb. The detective’s job could also be lost because he is threatening the woman as he interrogates her, which is frowned upon in that industry. 

The first thing that was noticed in the extract was the close-ups on the character’s faces. The author could have chosen another angle or shot but I believe that they went with it because they were trying to get the attention of the audience to focus on the facial expressions. Lighting in the next few scenes is low. However, it is bright enough to shine light on the character’s faces, and have the setting visible. But with low lighting, it can also cast shadows to make things look mysterious, which is probably what the director wanted to do. The location should be established as an interrogation room, where the detective is interviewing his suspect with a pressing attitude. There are hardly any props or furniture because the director wants his audience to have their central point on the sound. It then leads to the next scene of other agents observing this interrogation from another room, on some monitors. 

After presenting that there are supervisors watching the interview, the second scene is now both of the characters communicating. The sound you hear in this scene is the dialogue between the suspect and the detective. An interrogation cannot just be silence, so the director created a plot of the woman knowing about a bomb, and wanting to outsmart the man. While this conversation goes on between the two, editing is incorporated into a shot-reverse-shot. This was added to the scene to follow the dialogue of the characters. That way it shows who is talking and what their actions or expressions are while the camera is on them. Another example of how the expressions are presented is zooming. After one of the characters would talk, it would cut to an already close shot, followed by zooming more into the face of the other. This movement keeps the audience engaged since the camera is going into a focal point; in this case, the face of the characters. The zooming also has an effect of claustrophobia, which can lead a person to feel anxiety or stress. It is assumed when watching a show or a movie when the camera zooms far into a character’s face, it is for something dramatic or important.

In the third scene, you can hear the incidental sound that plays along with the actions. This music is supposed to create a feeling of stress or intensity between the characters and the situation they are in. The loud music plays in the ears of the audience and it affects them, by making them worry about what will happen next. The sound is followed up by a split-screen edited in. The director wanted a scene of the supervisor running towards the room they are in, to stop whatever the original detective had started. Assuming he/she wanted to show both the events occurring at the same time; the scene escalated so quickly, that it shows scene A of the supervisor trying to go and stop whatever is happening in scene B. It later matches up into one scene once all characters are in the same location. The vigorous event had finally ended after the tension between the detective and the suspect was removed.

To summarize, the director’s vision is surrounding the idea of putting the audience into the scene, and having them feel what the characters are feeling. He/she wants to evoke a feeling of stress or anxiety because if they were in that situation, their lives would be at risk. All of these filming elements help the director present that idea to the viewers, of how intense an interrogation could be. 

CCR Question 4

CCR Question 3

CCR Question 2

Critical Creative Reflection

This is my reflection on the final task that was made to be submitted to Cambridge. I made separate videos for each question. They will be on separate blogs, so the one below is the first question. I managed to pass the minimum time for the CCR, so each video is approximately 3-4 minutes long. The theme for this was a talk show hosted by my dog, Milo. I am very happy he cooperated with me. He was able to look at the camera when I asked him to, and there is a little surprise at the end of the whole presentation. My voice may sound shaky, and I do stutter, but those are my flaws when I am present in front of a camera. Answering questions in an interview is much harder than remembering lines for a part as an actor. I was still able to deliver the answers to the questions. Editing probably took an hour for each video. I have never used a voice over for any of my videos, but it is great that I finally got to use the tool in the end with my CCR. I just wish that I had another person to do my dog's voice for me. Also, I added a split screen of my dog "reacting" to the song as it played next to him. I had to sort through the videos and organize which ones went with each question. After figuring out where each video went, I had to record my voice, with the lines that my dog would be "saying". Therefore, I had a script for the dialogue my dog would have, and I added some of the things I would say to him as well. This was a little difficult because I had to edit it all on my phone, on iMovie. Unfortunately, I did not have any clips of behind the scene footage to put in the CCR because I do not have the SD card, and my friend was not able to send the videos. However, that should not really affect my grade as a whole. Thankfully, I was able to finish the movie and reflect on this whole journey in AICE Media Studies.

Final project: Movie

I am posting the final task that I have been talking about for the past 2 months. The movie had to be between a minute and 55 to two minutes flat. This was obviously more time than the music video, and we had to create our own story. In a music video, the song tells the story, but with a movie, my group and I had to create a pitch. This was all a very long process because the storyboard took even longer to create. We needed about 10 whole pages for our plan for the final task. Everyone had different ideas of what to do, and we ended up picking a thriller based on a kidnapper and his next victim. Of course, we had the idea for a thriller movie, but we had to create a whole opening sequence. A movie can open in so many ways, and that is what my group had to work on. We established characters and provided some background of who they are. After finding out about characters, we had to establish their setting and actions. The story for the kidnapper and the victim would be that they are getting ready for different reasons. But the parallels with this is that one is getting ready to kidnap his next victim, and the other is getting ready without knowing that she will be the next victim. This is obviously a more complex story than what a commercial and music video has to offer. Continuing on, film days were very long, especially after being at school all day. We upgraded to another camera, that gave a better quality than what a regular phone would. There was a wider variety of angles, shots, and movements. We were able to incorporate a trunk shot, which I never thought I would use for this class. I also added the idea of putting an action match with water. We needed an action match, but no one had an idea of how to do it. This was perfect for our two different characters because one could be showering, and that helps transition into the next scene of the guy turning off the water to brush his teeth. We have obviously come very far in this class, with all the work everyone has put into their videos; especially with mine (my group's). This project was very stressful but very much worth it.

Second Project: Music Video

This post is to talk about my progress from the commercial to the music video. With this next assignment, it was meant to be around a minute long. This time, I only had a partner for my assignment, because while picking a song, a friend disagreed. We were able to get our work done, especially since choosing the music took two days. Every time we considered a song, we had to make sure if we had many things available, for example, props, actors, and even a location. Many ideas came to me for sad songs, so Darwin and I ended up choosing a song by Sam Smith and asked his friend if he could be apart of it. Doing this project made you have to become organized. For example, we had to plan filming days, because it had to work according to everyone's schedule. I was able to provide a location and any props that we needed. Also, in order for our group to meet up, I gave my friends transportation as well. If I needed to do whatever to get the assignment done, then I did it. The main editing tool we used during this project was cross-cutting scenes of two different characters. We used the camera provided by our school again and even used the tripod for a scene. On the first filming day, we shot everything we could and began to edit. There would also be days where we would edit at school and get advice from our teacher. Once we realized that our video was still short and it looked choppy, we returned to the drawing board and figured out how to fix the issues. This project took more time than the commercial. Refilming and re-editing took place, and we were able to complete the music video. Although this took more effort, I would love to do it again, especially since I made a new friend out of it. 

Our First Project: Commercial

I am uploading the first project that we ever worked on in AICE Media. This assignment was a good one to start with. A thing I appreciate for this class is that we get to do this work in a group. In this project, we got to brainstorm ideas for a 30 second commercial about a specific product. Vans ended up being the company for our commercial, and we followed the conventions of making it adventurous. While filming angles and movements, we had to start with the basics.  For example, we hardly had any faces in our commercial, so the camera was always at a low angle, at our feet. We did not want to have extreme scenes for our first video. However, we still made it fun with certain transitions. We incorporated scenes that had to be edited together, like our action match. We had a groupmate walk in front of the camera, and that started the next scene of her walking up some stairs. We also did a clip transition where I put my foot up to the camera, leading into the scene of Darwin walking back up the steps. I believe this was the smoothest transition we could ever get out of the three projects. I like to think of this project as the assignment we did before "leaving the nest." I say that because the school campus was the only location we were allowed to film and edit. The only problem with filming at school was that we still had to follow rules. So it really wasn't the best decision to do a skating commercial on campus. Also, this was one of the times we had to find music that went along with our commercial, and that was the first thing we found when discussing. I am so glad I did a project like this, I wish I got it again.

 

Adjusting to the New Norm

It has only been a week of online learning, and I can work at home just fine. However, doing school work on my computer can have its pros and cons. I am able to wake up at whatever time I want and begin working on anything on my computer. I can be in bed, at my desk, in the living room, or anywhere it is peaceful and quiet for me to learn. These are all great pros for online learning, but the cons still exist. I have found myself to procrastinate more, and not be able to finish my assignments once I start working on them. It should not be admitted, but I get distracted easily and decide to "finish my homework" later. Also, I have six teachers to learn from, so they are all giving work at one time. This workload then piles up. When I was at school, I would be more organized and motivated to complete any task, especially with the help of my teachers being face-to-face. I do not find this easy at all, because all of these factors affect my ability to learn. Without balancing my classes properly, I start to worry about stuff that I am missing, but also not wanting to do anything about it if I am. Media Studies has been a great class, I have enjoyed it for half of the year I was at school. However, the more the course progressed, the more tedious the work got. My group and I have been able to finish our movie successfully, and we were assigned to work on our Critical Reflections individually. I was hoping to pay most of my attention to this video once we came back to school from Spring Break. With self-isolation from the pandemic, it has made it a little hard to complete, but I am pushing myself to finish editing, and submitting the assignment successfully for Cambridge.
Below is a screenshot of the questions we have been working on all year for every CCR. In another tab, I have answered these questions, because I needed an idea of what to say for my videos.

Re-editing: Adding the newly filmed scenes

My group and I had to start inserting the scenes that were re-shot. We replaced them with the first takes. Those were in its place so that my group would know which ones were needed to be replaced. The original ones were way too long, so that is why they needed to be refilmed in the first place. Also, there was the establishing shot that did not have the same car we used in the last scenes. That was the first thing that was put into the video. Editing this part was literally taking the video from the raw footage section and placing it onto the track. Rafael had to get rid of the scene of Darwin shaving his face. He then placed the new scene of him brushing his teeth. That was basically the same action of replacing, like with the establishing shot. On accident, Rafael put the establishing shots in the wrong order. Since we had two houses, and each corresponded to a character. So he had to fix that once we told him. Also, I told him that the new dialogue scene should be inserted and replaced the other that was already a bit choppy. Once we figured out all of the other scenes and followed the storyboard to know where they should be located, we would be done editing. My group and I decided to do this before putting the titles. There will be a whole other blog based solely on the editing of the titles and names that will be put into the film.

The screenshot below shows the 1/3 of all the footage we got. Starting from "44" are all of the videos that were made on the re-shoot day.

Reshooting scenes from peer review

My group had received our peer review, and they were happy with what he had so far. However, they did say that some scenes were too long and that there was no audio. I was aware of the fact of not having audio besides some dialogue, and we said that we had to find the song and analyze what sounds would be important for the final task. Since I finally memorized my lines, my group had an easier time reshooting the scene of Carolina answering a phone call. Emily only had to do a few takes, since I would only mess up with the position of the phone. That wasn’t a major inconvenience to what I thought about the final product. I realized that on both filming days, we used 2 different colored cars because the first one wasn’t available. So in the establishing shot, there was a white car instead of a black car. I was in charge of taking the camera back out across the street and filming my house for 20 seconds. Before this, I had to reposition the cars that were already in my driveway. The 3 other cars that were parked had to be driven onto the street, while the black car was parked in reverse on the driveway. I needed an eye-level shot of just that one car, so I tried not to get the other cars that were parked on the street. I finished filming and headed back inside to find Darwin, or Kenneth, to record him brushing his teeth. The peer group reviewed that Kenneth’s scene of him shaving was too slow, and we made that accordingly for the camera to focus. However, I did agree with this and decided to take another approach that involved water. We needed to keep the element of an action match, so it was either for Darwin to wash his face or brush his teeth. I gathered toothpaste and a new toothbrush and had “Kenneth” do the same actions for the scene. I had a few takes with this, but it finally worked on the last recording. And it was under 15 seconds which was very exciting. Every other scene did not have to be re-filmed because it would be edited to fit into the final video. Below is a picture of me discussing with Darwin about what he should be doing.

I've Been in Quarantine for Too Long (Update on Film and Edit process)

Classes have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means I am stuck at home figuring out what to do, and my only form of communication is through video chatting. My group and I still have yet to finish this assignment, so we are continuing our portfolio at home. We have been doing this for a week now. This isolation is going to be until April 15th, but some of my teachers want to start class online. However, I wish I did not have to worry about upcoming work assignments and more on the Creative Critical Reflection that comes along with this final task. I find this more important than anything else because AICE has been one of my main priorities. Therefore, it is better not to procrastinate. I want to be able to meet up with my group so that we could help each other, but I do not know when that will be. Luckily, we finished filming before school was closed, and no physical work was actually present at school. We were able to film and edit everything we needed for our final task. Spring Break is during this quarantine, but it still does not feel normal. It feels like this vacation has been elongated, however, I still have to complete work before going back to school. Online school starts in the meantime and I have to learn how to manage my activities. Although it is great being out of school, I have found myself to procrastinate more because I am home all the time. But I do like being able to type blogs from the comfort of my own bed. Usually, I would go out and see friends, or at least join my mom with grocery shopping. It has been enforced to practice a lot of social distancing, so I just keep thinking that it is better to stay home. This will be the norm for now, and hopefully, we can go back to school soon.

Editing: Incorporating sound and the song

It took a moment to look for the royalty-free song for our opening sequence. My group had multiple options before we chose a chill song called Summertime. When planning for this video, we anticipated that the sound would not be loud enough. For example, the diegetic of the car keys and the engine of a car turning on. We were afraid that the audience would not be able to hear these sounds. While filming, we recorded some of the objects making noises in order to edit it into the final product. Then when we finally edited the scenes together, we clipped the sound audios and added them to the track. We isolated the audio from the original videos, inserted them, and placed them under the correct scene. By the correct scene, I mean where the audio was supposed to meet up with the video. I watched Rafael isolate all of the sound effects while I placed them under the scenes. While doing this, my group was looking for music options. We searched for many websites with royalty-free music. We had an idea of having a relaxing song for the opening sequence. We played it out loud amongst ourselves every time we found a possible selection. We went through 7 songs, and 3 of them came from me. However, none of the ones I chose were planned on being used. That is when my group finally chose a song by the artist Egozi. It was from someone I have never heard of before, but that is why royalty-free music exists. We downloaded the song from the website and applied it to the music track in the diting software. We then realized that the sound effects sounded weird along with the music, so we had to get rid of them.

Editing: Combining all the scenes

I previously blogged about editing the clips together, that we had recorded so far. However, my group and I had a couple of film days to gather all of the scenes. I knew for a fact I had to edit twice because I needed to add all of the videos together to see how long the final product would be. These days are both in February and March. I used a different editing software as I did the first time I edited it. Because the software used first was not going to be the official one that my group will use for the actual video. Every time we collect footage, I sort it out before putting it in the software. That means I delete any takes that would not be used. On that Friday night, when we finished filming, I got the SD card and I started to delete any unused footage. That was a huge mistake on my part because I accidentally deleted the scene of the actor getting in the car, to transition him actually leaving the house. Instead, I should've put the takes that would be used into a folder, instead of deleting the ones that would not be used. I started to freak out once I deleted the scene, and I did not know what to do. At first, I tried all of these websites that claimed to restore erased data on an SD card. However, they all charged a price for a year-long membership, and I knew it was not worth it if I just wanted to recover one video. While panicking, I decided to talk to Emily and ask her what I should do. In the end, we asked everyone, and apparently, that scene was not as important as we thought it was. To prevent me from making any other mistakes, I let Rafael edit the rest of the scenes together. With this, we still have not edited the sound or soundtrack yet. This would be discussed later in another blog about editing.

Helping A Friend Film

Every film day, we have had a lone wolf group join us, in order to utilize my group as actors. Macy was another classmate that collaborated with us for her to film her final product. She was also doing a thriller, which was the right setting for us to work together. Her main characters were Emily and Darwin, and I provided a location for her. Along with the location, I gave her some props, like a white board, a knife, and some pictures printed out. Any costume she needed, I was able to give to her so that she could have a perfect video. The first scene needed was with Emily and I set up the bathroom to look messy, as if someone was just getting ready. I put makeup products over the counter and got a hairbrush for Emily to use as a prop. I basically provided a location, because next Macy had to go outside to film a few more scenes with Emily. Also, to prepare for a scene that involved Rafael and I, Macy had to take mugshots of Darwin and Emily, for their “spy” characters. I needed to give Darwin a black leather jacket from my brother’s closet to complete the look. Once those pictures were taken, I had to paste them to a google doc, to make it seem like an assistant was looking for a target. Then my part as an actor came in; I was assistant #1. I sat at a desk, with a computer in front of me, and I had to say a few lines. I didn’t have time to memorize them, so I wrote the dialogue on a small white board and read them out loud. Since I play video games, I had a headset with a microphone, to have the full costume as an assistant. There were a few takes, since I did not know how to read and kept stumbling over my words. Once we finished with that, Macy had to end her film day with a scene of Darwin and Emily dropping a picture. I printed out the picture for her to use, and she used the scraps to make a paper gun. I was very glad to work with Macy, because she helped my group, and in return, we helped her.

Film Day: Recording the last scenes

My group and I got together after the peer review, to actually complete what we did not finish. We had to work on the last scenes, that involved another setting and being in a car. I was the one that had to drive 4 of my peers to the other house, and we were sort of in a rush because we had at least an hour or two before the sun went down. This was very stressful for me because I know I am very serious about this assignment. So I want to get work done, but the other members like to fool around and waste time. I followed the rest of the storyboard, which included the dialogue between the main characters, Carolina and Kenneth. That means that I was not behind the camera in any of these shots, I was mainly an actor that day. However, I would tell Emily, the director, how some shots would be set up and what the camera would be doing in that scene. The first clip we recorded was of me scrolling through my phone and looking up to an approaching car and when it stopped, I would walk up to it. Carolina was then supposed to open the door and ask if the driver was her uber. I was aware that Emily needed to record an extreme close up of the phone being used as a mirror for Carolina to look at herself, but I knew we would have no time for it in the final product. I consulted the other members, and they agreed to cut it out overall, instead of deciding later while editing. I believed that it would have taken too much patience to get the camera to focus correctly, and I just wanted to get straight to the point for our video. With these car scenes, I always had to direct Darwin, or Kenneth, to drive back to the spot where he begins driving from, in order to reset. We had to take multiple takes because my head was in the shot instead of it being over the shoulder, or you could see Emily's reflection in the car. Emily then got into the backseat of the car, to get the shot-reverse-shot in one take. So I would technically be saying my lines in one video, but it would be cut while editing and placed in between the scene of Kenneth responding to the question. Darwin also had a couple "one takes". This was more clever than just recording other separate clips that would be 2 seconds long. Lastly, the final shot was an eye-level angle of the car driving off. We only had 2 takes with this, and once we gathered all our footage, we went back to my house to begin editing.

Peer Review

On Monday, everyone walked into class to read the list of groups and who was assigned to who. I approached my classmate, Ambi, and she airdropped me her video. First thing I noticed was that the length was longer than the original time; 22 seconds more than the limit. If I had to choose one thing that I liked about the film, it would be the beginning scene. This is where it went from a zoom into a close up of the 2 actors’ faces. The group decided to start their final task with an eye-line match. The example is where the kidnappers were looking through the bookcase and the camera cuts to reveal that they were looking at a girl. It leaves the audience wondering what these boys are looking at, and then the camera is in their perspective to later show them. This helps develop a mysterious mood for the rest of the opening sequence. One thing I would suggest to the group is to edit the clips so that transitions are more smooth. Also, they might need to re shoot some scenes because the audio does not match the video. The reason for editing is because there will be a shot of a setting and followed up by another clip of the same shot. It is not very easy to explain, but at the end of one scene,  the girl will be entering her car and closing the door behind her. Then in the next scene, she is in the car closing her door. This could be edited better, by cutting the scene before at the right time, and it leads to her closing the door in the scene after. In order to shorten time, the group may need to cut the scenes shorter, for example, the multiple long shots of the actors walking. That is unnecessary time used of just people walking for 20 seconds. Also the dialogue is very quiet, it needs to be louder for the audience to hear. The question was to make one suggestion, but I needed to make more in order for them to get a good score on their assignment. The rest of my review can be seen in the pictures below.

Editing the few scenes filmed

From both of those days that my group and I filmed, we only collected the first 7 pages of the storyboard. We are missing the final 3 pages, which include more dialogue between both characters. However, I still decided to use my computer's editing studio to gather all of the video clips recorded, in order to observe what the final task would look like so far. This editing studio is different than the original iMovie that I have used in the past. However, I found it very simplistic, where the easiest tools were available, such as cutting or trimming a clip, muting the audio, and adding background music and transitions. I only wanted to combine the scenes in chronological order, so I did not mind the type of editing software that I would use. I took the SD card and dumped all of the footage onto a folder. I went through the folder, proceeding to select which clips would work for the opening sequence, deleting the takes that failed. Once I had chosen and labeled all videos, I added the clips into the 'raw footage' section of the editing studio. I dragged all of the videos from that section onto the video track. Without editing, the whole product was around 5 minutes, and not all of the scenes were even there.

I obviously had to trim most of the footage and decide which scenes are too long in order to potentially reshoot. At first, it was very frustrating to edit these scenes because after I kept rewatching them, the acting started to seem unrealistic and I found the video to be choppy. Although I did not want to keep working, I did not give up and managed to shorten the time to a minute and 45 seconds. To achieve this, I had to speed up long clips and cut out the short ones, but of course, not without the approval of my group members. I also trimmed as much of the raw footage that I could. The only problem I have with the opening sequence so far is that the video is too long and we have 15 seconds left to add the last 3 pages of the storyboard. I want to be able to reshoot some scenes with my groupmate Darwin because all of his footage is what makes the video long. There are 18 boxes left on the storyboard to record, and other boxes have to be refilmed, especially my dialogue with the phone call and a shot of the car driving off onto the street. I plan on gathering all of the footage once we are done filming, and then messing around with the iMovie studio; for example, transitions and finally adding music, and this needs to be added for the final product.

The Filming Continues

My group needed to get work done the next time we met up. I had a plan to continue filming by the storyboard, meaning in chronological order. I decided to take a shower in the morning so that I could have a steamed bathroom for one of the scenes. Once I finished, Emily came into the bathroom after I got dressed, but I kept the shower on, to keep the mirror steamy. I put on a bathrobe as part of a costume and had to walk from the shower to the mirror and wipe off the steam. This was supposed to be a pan, and there would be natural lighting coming from the window. After this, I had to do the rest of my acting scenes, such as, getting ready in the bathroom and walking into my room to pick up my phone that was ringing. I also had to learn the dialogue that would finally be presented in our film. This happened in my room at five o'clock in the evening, to have the right lighting. Emily filmed the scenes of me walking into the frame and the close up of the phone leading to my face. There had to be a few takes because I kept messing up the dialogue, and every time we would restart the set, it would take a moment for the camera to refocus on the iPhone. After filming this whole scene, I had to film Darwin outside before he had to leave. I recorded a tracking shot of him taking some tools to the trunk of a car. This was where I had to set up the camera for a trunk shot of him placing the tools inside. I wanted to get in the car to observe his acting from the screen, but I could not figure out how to access the trunk from the back seat. Instead, I did what I did with the closet scene, which was to start recording on the camera and place it inside the car. Finally finished with the immobilized vehicle scenes, I had to film Darwin driving off with the car. However, in his take, he took forever to pull out of the driveway. Then I took over for a second take, but Emily accidentally made it a tracking shot.

First Day of Filming

My group met up at my house, on our day off from school, to begin filming in the afternoon. I provided the location and props that we needed for our scenes. This long process was very stressful for me because I had to help the director and be an actor for the film as well. The first scene required my dog and it was in my room. While our team member Emily was setting up the camera, I chose clothes to throw onto the bed and set my dog's position. I had to use treats in order for him to stay in my room long enough to get a few takes. There were different reactions from my dog every time, and although it is a thriller, I added a 'cute' aspect of throwing pieces of clothing onto him. After having a few clothes go onto the bed, I walked into frame, grabbed my outfit, and walked back out of frame. The next easiest thing to film was the establishing shot of my house, so I had to move my parent's car that was parked in the driveway, in order to only have the car that would be the kidnapper's. I stood across the street with a member from another group gathering a 40-second clip of my yellow house. Once I finished,  I had to start filming the scenes with my groupmate Darwin. The idea from the storyboard was followed, where "Kenneth" had to grab his clothes from the closet and leave. I had to start recording and place the camera in the closet to start the scene. I helped place the clothes on hangers because Darwin was already in his pajamas. Moving onto the next scene was the kidnapper shaving his face. I had to place the shaving cream on the actor and make a red paste to act as fake blood. I used common condiments: at first, just ketchup, but I added barbecue sauce and strawberry jam after. Basically, I would set up the scene and have a member of another group record it. This took more than just 6 takes because the actor did not know how to cooperate. This means that the first day of filming was not that successful because we did not get very far.

Planning: Storyboard

Attached to this blog is the storyboard of our final task. Each slide contains a sheet of what we will be filming. There are 10 pages for the storyboard template and each page has 6 boxes. The 6 boxes have  specific drawings of every action. The camera’s movement and location is described with angles and shots, for example, high angles and tracking shots. The actions of what the actors should be doing in each scene is also included. Sound is specific, especially diegetic and dialogue between characters. The titles are written in black pen in order to have an idea of where they should be placed in the scene. It also helps to plan out what titles we want to use for our final task. Hopefully our group would not have to add more scenes because it is a short opening sequence. 

Planning: Title Design

Attached is the planning for our title design for our final task. We want our titles to be unique and eyecatching. We do not want them to be just some words we throw at the bottom of the screen. We decided on using different fonts depending on when and where the titles will pop up. For example, a chilling font will be used for titles that go up during the Driver's scenes. And for the victim's scenes, a happier font will be used for those titles. The main title will be bold and large to attract the audience's attention and so that you will not be able to miss it. Most titles in the two minutes will be monochromatic, meaning it will either by black on white, or white on black. The spacing for only the main title will be different since the font we are using puts the letters too close together. The titles will fit the background and most will last 2-3 seconds, long enough for the general audience to read.

Plan for Filming

Attached is the location, sound, participants, safety, and schedule of our final task. The locations used for our film will be Mariapaula's house and her neighbor's house. We will mostly be using the inside of M's house as the setting for both the Driver and the Victim. We will use different rooms to add the illusion of the Driver and Victim getting ready in different houses. We will mainly only use the outsides of the house for establishing shots. The sound used will be royalty-free background music used throughout the entire two minutes. Other sounds will be mainly sound effects like doors opening or faucets running. Participants will be all four of us. Darwin and Mariapaula are the actors, while Rafael and Emily will work behind the scenes. One slide on the slideshow is the overall schedule of the project, while another slide is the filming schedule in detail. In the slideshow, we covered many practices we will be doing to make sure we are safe at all times. For example, one scene involves the Driver shaving his face. During that scene, the razor being used will be dulled to prevent cuts.

Planning: Sound Script

Attached in this blog is the sound script for our final task. This is the script for every sound made, including dialogue, music, and any form of noise made. Each slide contains at least 2 scenes from our film, which describes all the sounds made in that particular scene. It shows whether or not the scene is playing music, and describes what genre or mood it makes if there was any. As well as any form of exchange in dialogue between characters, or a noise that someone makes. The sound script also includes sounds of objects or movement in the scene. For example, if the shower were to turn on, the slide would describe the sound of the handle, as well as the sound of the showerhead itself. If there happens to be no dialogue of any sort in the scene, it will be mentioned. Additionally, it also states the kind of sounds that are occurring: diegetic or non-diegetic. Diegetic meaning that both the characters and the audience can hear the sound happening in that scene, and non-diegetic meaning that only the audience hears what the characters cannot.

Planning: Shooting Script

Attached is the shooting script for our final task. Each slide contains the general shooting details of each scene. For example, the second slide is for scene 1. It comprises the type of shots and angles in the scene. It has what the character(s) or subject(s) are doing in the scene. It also has the lighting; whether it is bright and cheery or dark and gloomy. The entire slide show is thirteen slides: one slide for the title and twelve slides for each of the twelve scenes. A majority of the scenes are morning-routine scenes from both Carolina's and Kenneth's point of view. Their routines are cut together to compare and contrast their preparation for the day. For example, while Kenneth just messes with his hair really quickly, Carolina puts thought into how she looks for the day.

Title Research: Hostage

 The movie I researched is called Hostage. It is listed on Google as a Crime Thriller. I found this opening sequence on the "Watch the Titles" website. I counted 31 separate titles that were shown off in unique ways. Sometimes the title would blend in with the floor or a wall. Other times the title would be on a prop like a gun. Many images of the setting were prioritized in the opening sequence. It displays an industrial area on the outskirts of a big city. There appears to be a crime scene inside one of the big warehouses. Also, so images of men with weapons and firepower were shown, tying back into the crime theme.

       

   All of the images carry a mysterious connotation. They all make the audience curious about what transpired here. "What caused the news and police to come to this setting? Why are there a ton of men armed to the teeth?" It's all to lure the audience in and capture their attention. Crime is a staple in the thriller genre. So the crime scene-setting fits right at home in this thriller movie. Also, the firearms and goons in black are pretty in this genre, and in movies in general. However, I believe that that feature fits more into action movies than thrillers. Additionally, the camera moving around frozen subjects is seen a lot in other thriller movie openings.

        

  At the start of the opening, a newscaster is appeared to be in front of a crime scene. So it can be safe to assume that this incident will be very relevant to the story. Also, at the very end of the sequence, it transitions into the start of the movie. It flows into a furious man talking on the phone about, what I can assume, the crime that took place in the first location. The use of dark colors, monotone colors with blood-red highlights set the notion that this is not a kid's movie. And if that wasn't enough, the constant display of guns makes sure that this is targeted at mature audiences. 

          The whole opening sequence seems to be a render CGI model of a city and an industrial area. The people in shots seem to be models aswell. The camera is constantly moving through and around interesting shots. It would start really close to an object, then pull back and reveal a title and the associated people. The camera would also use tracking shots to reveal names and titles on walls and floors. The last shot is a filter put over a real person. The filter is then removed and it transitions into the first scene of the movie.

Title Research: Split

I found the title sequence for this film, Split, on the website Art of the Title. The genre for this film is under the Thriller category. The film seems to have already briefly started. Before the titles appear, a clip plays of a man wearing a mask and glasses, holding a spray bottle reaches his arm towards the camera inside of a car. In total, there were 22 titles, with the first one being the name of the production company, Universal Studios. The titles are presented on a simple black background with white text. When transitioning to a new title, a 4x6 grid of the next title appears flashing, which then all goes black and reveals the next title. The first three all include the production companies and the creator of the film. The following title is simply the name of the movie: Split. In between some of the titles are little clips of a hallway of some sort, in which the camera slowly pans down revealing a woman being transported on a cart through it. The rest of the titles display some of the actors' names and the production team (e.g. Music Producer, Executive Producer, etc.). The final title is simply the text saying "Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan."

   The images shown throughout the title sequence carry the connotation that the movie is mysterious and ominous. The woman being transported through the hallways unconsciously on a cart is not something that typically is a daily occurrence for most. This gives the audience a sense that something bad is about to happen, and encourages them to continue watching. The text used in the title sequence is connected when on top of each other. For example, the letter "Y and L" would be connected through the bottom of the Y and top of the L. This reinforces the name and genre of the movie "Split" which is ironic since the letters in the titles aren't split. The music is also very eerie, as it has no melody, beat, or lyrics. Simply just background noise, mixed with humming and rumbling. This also reinforces the genre as the music can give the audience a thrilling experience.

   The film establishes an enigma from the beginning by cutting in the middle of the scene of the man with the mask. The man is clearly up to no good, and by cutting right as the audience is about to see what occurs, it builds mystery and hype to continue watching. As well as the woman being transported in the hallways. The viewers have no clue what has happened and what might happen later. All of these strategies are also used to ensure that the film appeals to viewers who enjoy Thriller films. Technology has been used effectively by the way that the title sequence is presented. Since it is simply text, the camera plays no part in it. They must use computer software to generate the grids flashing for the transitions, and the connected text, as well as adding the bits and pieces of clips during the sequence. When the camera is being used, the camera angles are from a low angle looking upward. Which with every new clip after each title, it slowly pans downward, which then reaches and reveals the woman on the cart.

Title Research: The Reaping

 Using the website www.watchthetitles.com, the opening scene of the movie The Reaping was available for viewing. While viewing the scene I counted the number of titles used in it. To my surprise, there were 26 titles! Opening scenes seem to be relatively short while watching movies, I did not expect there to be this many in what I thought was such a short amount of time. Also to my surprise, the title of the movie wasn’t the first or last title shown, it was in the middle. The beginning title was “directed by Stephen Hawkings,” and the last title was “A Stephen Hawkings Film.” During the opening sequence, images of leaves, the moon, a frog leg, hair, eyelashes, eyes, a chemical looking substance, an arm, dried-up land, and bugs which were briefly flashed. Most were dark with poor lighting and were faded in and out from black screens. The images that weren’t dark or shaded had some element with black in it. For example, the clip of the chemical substance started with a green chemical substance with drops of a black liquid being put into it. The clips of extremely close up hair and eyelashes look very similar to the insect legs. Overall, the images created a sort of eerie mood, a very thriller. Just from the intro, we can see objects that contain aspects of the movie that foreshadow what will happen. They have mysterious yet dark connotations to them. The multiple angles, shots, perspectives of each image and the speed at which they’re flashed get the viewers on edge. Even the contrast between the black screen and the images make the viewer pay more attention to each detail.

     Throughout the opening scene, the thriller genre is showed with the dark, mysterious aspects included in it. The objects which are seemingly random hold a deeper meaning in this film. For example, the chemicals, insects, eyes, and hair give off the idea that the movie will contain some sort of disease, outbreak, or chaos, maybe even a drought. Of course, maybe not every object is significant. However, if they’re not important than they’re included to set the mood for the movie. After all, this is only an introduction to the movie, it must give off the suspenseful feel crucial to the thriller genre. The opening scene also includes fast music and a type-writer-like font that also adds to the suspenseful mood. The early enigma of the movie is well supported by the background music because of the rapid beating behind the sound of the eerie violins. The font is blood red, smeared, and faint. Fonts like these are obviously eerie, they give an old timely, apocalyptic feel to the words. These aspects give very little to no information. This can appeal to viewers because they want to know what happens next. The suspense created throughout also makes them want to know what’s coming; what the objects they just showed mean. The flashes and music make the audience think this is going to be a film filled with rapid changes of emotion, this appeals to fans of the thriller genre for obvious reasons: thrillers are meant to cause fluctuations of emotion. Another topic, which I find interesting, are the different angles, transitions, and editing techniques the creators of this opening scene used. For instance, they used different angles of the same object to put new titles on the same image but at a different angle. They also transitioned almost everything with fade-in and fade-outs, they matched the music playing in the background that heightens the suspense. The titles are put in different places each time, they cause you to look at a different part of the screen. Even the movement of eyes this causes make the viewers pay more attention to the images in the background. Overall, the opening scene in this film doesn’t provide a lot of contexts, but it does set the correct mood for the film and what it will be like.

Title Research: Panic Room

This was taken from the website, Art of the Title, and it is under the genre of Thriller. The logo of Columbia Pictures, which comes from Sony, fades in. This is used to give the audience the info of the movie they are watching and what film studio it comes from. The first scene of this movie seems to be an establishing shot of a large city, with the title of the company that produced it. That is one of 20 titles that are seen throughout the entire opening sequence. The first three titles are the production companies, and then it leads to the names of some actors. The list is quickly paused, with the title of the movie being shown. The next scenes present the rest of the actors in the film and the technical support who helped make the movie. In each image, it is easier to make out that this large city is actually New York City. With these aerial shots, they are taken to popular places around the city, for example, Times Square, Empire State Building, even Central Park. Title 20 was the expected "Directed by," which is always seen before the movie begins. Transitions are very abrupt because each scene is only a few seconds long.

The design for the titles is unique, for it has a 3D effect, where the letters being angled the same as the buildings. This matches the mood of the intense music and setting portrayed. Also, the camera seems to start at an aerial shot and proceeds to lower to the ground. Before the movie actually begins, the last title scene is at a low angle, and a long shot of Central Park. I would assume that this is to tell the audience that the movie is about to begin and the characters will be introduced.

The genre is reinforced in this opening sequence by some intense music and the titles design, looking bold and realistic. They look realistic because they cast shadows on the buildings and are reflected through the windows. The fonts are also large and high in the air, to give the audience "low-grade anxiety," according to the description. Usually, when something is high and unreachable, it symbolizes wealth and power. This creates a strange presence that haunts the city. This leaves the audience to wonder what will take place in New York. However, one would not know if the movie is a thriller because the setting is on a nice day in fall and characters are talking about something they are excited about. That is if they never watched the trailer for the movie. The proposed idea that the characters are discussing is of a building, and how it is going to be a great investment; and for movies that discuss houses, the main plot will be about the house and what it has. It might have a great feature or a haunting/powerful one.

Strategies used to appeal to the audience is making the names of the actors appear visible and are on for a few seconds for them to acknowledge who will be in the movie. The enigma that is established from the outset is where the rest of the film will take place, which is later found out that it is in the house that contains the "panic room."

Title Research: Watch the Titles!

We are using this website to research different opening sequences for our own film. This website contains several distinct title sequences for a range of genre options. The website also has title sequences for TV shows, video games, and even student projects. This is a great website to research the conventions of openings for movies.
          Our main focus is on the thriller movie opening segments. A recurring characteristic of each clip is that it is ended with "Directed By." We learned that, even though movies share a similar genre, their openings can be drastically unique. Also, we noticed that although the movies have different genres, they have similar titles in the opening scene. We learned that actors usually do not have titles associated with their name. In some cases, the actors are famous enough that audiences watch the movie for them, so they should already know who they are. In other cases, it can be assumed that the names popping up are actors. Other titles, such as "edited by", "music by", and "casting by" are showed with the corresponding staff member. Another common element used in opening sequences are cutting to black to show the titles of each of the people that worked on the movie. The film would show a movie scene of something going and then in between each shot, they would flash the titles. Slow-motion is also used quite frequently.

Title Research: Art of the Title

This website shows the use of titles in movies, and even gives examples of what some may look like. Art of the Title is a very presentable site and we are on here to explore the different designs of titles, especially from every genre. Each group member has to choose a movie's opening scene under our genre, to conduct research. This is for us to know the conventions of how the titles are for thriller films. What was seen is that the website has a very long list of all the designers and studios that make the titles for movies. This would be useful if we are researching how the individual designs their own titles, probably if they use the same font to establish it is them. There is also a lengthy page of many movies. These are clips of the beginning of the featured films. There are not only movies but TV shows too, even ones from Netflix. Following the clip, under it, there is a description of the movie and titles used and information on who directed, what studio it was in, and the styles. After watching some of the clips, the website does not always offer the opening title sequence, but only the end credits. Also, some of the descriptions give interviews that are held with the producers and directors. What was learned is that the beginning sequence offers the names of actors, and usually the most known/famous one is seen first. The director is the title scene that is always put before the movie begins. This is to remind the audience who was the person to create the film that they are watching. 

Genre Research: The Clovehitch Killer (2018)

The Clovehitch Killer, like any other, was filled with camera shots, angles, and movements. Among the camera shots were establishing shots, over the shoulder shots, many close-ups, long shots, medium-long shots, medium close-ups, and medium shots. It’s important to bring to attention that the establishing shots were very important in this movie. Showing where the characters were or were about to enter also told the audience whether this was out of the ordinary. For example, when the main character’s dad entered one of his victims’ houses. Camera angles frequently used were low angles and mainly eye level. I saw few to non-oblique and high angles. Lastly, recurring camera movements were tracking shots, pans, tilts and tracking shots.

     The costumes in the movie were regular, for the most part. However, there was a scene where the main character’s dad dressed up as a woman using his mom’s clothes. He put on a mask and took pictures of himself being choked by a rope. This costume, in particular, stood out extremely from the rest. Before this scene, the costumes were normal civilian clothes. The only one that strayed from this were Boy Scout uniforms. The costume additionally composed of heels was the father's attempt to satisfy his desires by using mock pictures. The lighting throughout the movie is quite dull. It fits in with the small-town feel, the small-town aura. There is occasional dark lighting creating an eerie feel to the corresponding scenes such as when the main character discovers his dad’s secret room under the house. The props in this film are especially important. The Polaroid pictures and licenses found of the father’s victims, his camera, the clovehitch knot found at all of the scenes adds to that character's signature.

     The sounds, or lack of sounds, in The Clovehitch Killer adds an especially eerie and suspenseful mood to the film. While watching the film you can hear a pin drop! There’s a scene where the family is having dinner and the awkwardness felt by all of them is very realistic, down to the faint chewing noises that can actually be heard at a real dinner table. The lack of diegetic sounds that can be found in cities or suburban areas adds to the small-town feel. One of the only songs played throughout the movie is when the dad is alone in the house dressing up as a woman and taking pictures of himself. It’s shut off when the main character’s love interest knocks on the door and he immediately goes around the house hiding evidence of what he was doing.

     Like any film, the creators of the movie utilized many editing techniques. One of the main techniques being cross-cutting. Throughout the film, the scenes are cut from what the main character is doing and what his father is. In one of the most vital scenes where the main character catches his father in the act, shot-reverse-shot is used in the conversation they have in which the father convinced the main character to give him the hunting rifle. Before this, the main character’s love interest looks at a revolver placed on top of a dresser, where we see an eye-line match. Another example of crossing cutting is right at the end when the main character is giving his speech while being promoted from a Boy Scout to a leader and we see what really happened to his father after the altercation in the scene before the jump cut. Speaking of, between the altercation where the main character confronts his dad there’s a passage of time. When this scene ends a missing poster of his dad is shown stapled to a light post. There are many other examples of editing in the movie, we would be here all day if I went over them.

     The Clovehitch Killer follows many of the conventions that come along with thriller movies. One of those being the intense eye contact in pressing scenes. There is definitely suspense-fulness throughout the movie. A good example of this would be one the main character handed over the gun he had been pointing at his dad and his dad says “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” he then points the gun to his son’s heart at pulls the trigger and is shocked to find out that the gun was unloaded. There is a slight moment where the audience doesn’t know what’s going to happen and then the son takes the gun and they begin to have a physical fight. The film goes against conventions in the aspect of noise. There is barely any noise at all throughout the scene; there is no jaws theme song playing in the background, it’s mostly absolute silence otherwise than the dialogue.

     I have an opinion about the elements of this movie, just like any other. As a general comment, I liked the movie. I liked the plot, I liked the silence, I liked how it was not all about the main character and his love interest. I also very much enjoyed how the movie begins with a Boy Scout meeting and ends with one as well. I didn’t like the girl in the beginning who finds the Polaroid picture and blames the son, but that’s just my opinion about that character. I feel like the fistfights were a little scrawny. The movie was dragged on quite a bit; you would think it was coming to an end and boom another scene is introduced. However, ending the movie where it did was really good. The final words “Dad if you’re hearing this, I love you,” really left me thinking. After all, it was his dad. However, I feel as if more emotion was needed from him, he remained very calm throughout, it was a little unrealistic. Overall, I liked the movie I would watch it again, however, it’s not an absolute favorite.

Genre Research: Get Out (2017)

There are multiple different camera angles & shots used throughout the entire movie. Some of them being: tilt, pan, zoom, shot reverse shot, and more. Whenever two characters were speaking with each other, there would be a shot-reverse shot focused on those specific characters, and their emotions and expressions. Throughout the majority of the film, it would stay at an eye-level angle, with the occasional high angle and low angle, of course (especially in intense scenes). The reason for this is to fully immerse the audience into the film, for them to have a better experience and to feel as if they are among the characters and as if they were in there, too. There were many fighting scenes in this film, and whenever those would occur, there would be tilts, pans, and zooms. This is mostly done to give the fighting scene more life and action. The film would also have many close up shots. Mostly whenever a character would cry, get a nose bleed, ponders, or is just speaking in general. Many establishing shots would also occur. This is done to let the audience know where the current scene is about to take place in (e.i. Rose's House, The Police Station, etc.).

   In the film, the camera tends to move frequently, especially during intense scenes. There is a scene where Chris tries to leave the house and the white people confront him. In this scene, he realizes the situation he is in. There is somewhat of a fight between him and the others. The camera pans and tilts a lot, as they go back and forth between Chris and the white people. In the end, Chris falls to the ground, and the camera is at a high angle, as the others look down at him. Later, in another fight scene, Chris escapes the room where he was placed in before, unconscious. He attacks the person in his room who is unaware of his presence. As he kills him, the camera does a close-up of his face and a high angle of the body on the ground. It then pans to a deer head mounted on the wall. Then, the scene cross-cuts to a man operating on a man's head in the room nearby, when the camera follows Chris as he runs into the man with the deer head, killing him.

   The costumes and clothes used in the film were meant to be distinctive, between the rich, old, classy white people who wore more fancy and traditional clothing, while Chris and his friends wore more modern attire. The lighting in the film is also very ominous, especially in important scenes (like fighting) where it was very dim and tense. The action in the film is very present, as there were many important and violent encounters between the characters. The makeup is not very noticeable in the film, but you can clearly see it on the characters. Makeup is especially used on the white people at the house, to show how cleaned up and classy they were, while Chris wasn't. Many props were used in the film. Mostly used to show that they were in a fancy house. Such as very expensive and fancy furniture all throughout the house. The setting of the film is meant to appear to be a small town, with some urban areas, but then Chris leaves to the suburban areas with Rose, where he spends most of the film in.

   Throughout the entire movie, there is a lot of eerie music, to give the film an ominous tone and sense. As well as numerous editing techniques, like the cross-cutting, and CGI used in the film. Some of the elements that I enjoyed about this movie was the music and the lighting. The music gave me a very nervous and chilling vibe throughout the film, knowing something bad is about to happen. The lighting also did this, many of the scenes took place at night, using dim lighting. This can be considered candles, street lights, and simply dim indoor lighting. However, I disliked the climax and build-up toward it. I felt as if it was too direct, and I wish it were more mysterious. Some elements of the Thriller Genre used in this film was the dim lighting, tense music, diegetic sound of breathing, and quick cuts. All of these were used throughout the film in one way or another.

Genre Research: Joker (2019)

There are several different camera angles and shots used throughout the movie. For discussions between two characters, the film mainly used shot/reverse shot to capture each of the characters' emotions and dialogue. One of the character's shoulders would block half the screen so that the main focus of the shot is on the other character's face. The film usually stays at an eye-level angle. This is used to immerse the audience, make them feel like they are a citizen of Gotham. Unlike other movies where they use a drone to establish a location, the film uses a pan at eye-level looking up at the location. Almost as if the viewer was there themselves and turned their necks to get a better view. There is one scene in the film where Arthur Fleck dances with his mother in the living room. It is a two-shot filmed from the kitchen of the apartment. The camera is handheld and moves a bit to make the audience feel like they are just witnesses of what is happening from the inside of their home.

          The camera moves a whole lot in this movie. The only time it is not moving, is when characters are talking to each other. There is one scene where Arthur and his mother are having an argument and you really feel like you are there. The camera is placed a little under eye-level so its as if you are looking through the eyes of a child. The camera follows Arthur's mother to her room where she screams and then shuts the door on the camera. Then the camera turns and faces Arthur when he bangs on the door really loudly. Arthur then walks away from the door and the whole time the camera follows his movements. Another scene happens where Arthur chases a couple of kids that stole his sign. The camera appears to be on top of a car as it follows both Arthur and the kids. The camera then comes to a complete stop when the kids head into an alleyway.

          The score for this movie was really good. Some pieces that happen during emotional moments that will stick with me forever. The cello on the piece "Call me Joker" really hits home the disturbing feel of this movie. Also, the lack of any music during some pretty tense moments really builds suspense. When Arthur's co-workers pay him a visit, it becomes really suspenseful because of the lack of any background sound.

         Editing is used to full effect in this movie. Some scenes would transition into other scenes using a multitude of transitions. Sometimes, the film would use a swipe using a car for example. When Arthur found out he was adopted, it turned into a flashback of what really happened to his mother. And fast shots scanning headlines of what his mother and her boyfriend did to him were used to really emphasize the scale of the trauma. The editing combined with Arthur's uncontrollable laughter is used to make the audience feel sympathetic towards Arthur.

         Elements of Joker I enjoyed were the amazing acting and the story. Joaquin Phoenix did a great job with the character Arthur Fleck. Even after all the bad things he does, you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Also his laugh is haunting. I can still hear in my head while I am writing this. There were only a couple of elements of Joker I disliked. Some scenes were a bit ham-fisted. For example, the scene revealing that Arthur's relationship with Sophia was a delusion was a bit much. I would have liked it if it just ended at, "Why are you in my home?"