Possible plot ideas

 This will be the first blog in what I imagine is a series of many in which I will start trying to tackle concepts for what the plot of our film should center. 

The main idea that intrigues me and my member right now is the idea of failure. This is as both me and my partner is something that we fear and actively try to avoid which why it would be incredibly interesting to portray someone dealing with failure within our project. The idea of failure is also a good choice as we really wanted to write what we know and relate about. 

We wanted the overall piece to center around a character who had failed. So far we have narrowed it to a character who had tried carve and alternative path in his life instead of going to a college. This decision specifically as I think something someone as myself have considered and the situation our character in one they fear. 

The other aspect we decided on is that we want this character to be either about to missing out on something due to him working on his own project. Which is again something else we can relate to and overall most likely our entire audience can as well. 

All of these ideas and concepts are going to be implemented and solidified into a plot which we then have to decide what part of to display in our opening.

Discussing the Creative Critical reflection

 The creative critical reflection might be one of the last elements we are to consider for our film opening project, however I think it is incredibly important to plan ahead in order to be successful which is why today I will be discussing possibilities on the possible options of making my creative critical reflection. 

The first and most enticing one is a director’s commentary, however. I do not want to make just a regular commentary but one that is overlayed to the film opening itself playing. Similar to what you would on a DVD included as bonus just the director chatting and giving insights into the production. This could work great to implement the question than concerns equipment and what I learned as it can display this by giving insight into the process while the actual film plays. 

However another option to tackle this would be with a Mini documentary with interviews and behind the scene b roll footage playing. This might be better as it is a more dynamic way to display this information as all the things can be shown while they are being spoken about and not just be displayed. 

The Podcast medium is also one that is enticing. Due to its straightforward approach I can really focus on the writing itself being good and not other production aspects. Which is why it might be better for the first two questions. However one does have to consider that making the podcast engaging is much more difficult which could in the long run be worse for using with the more difficult questions. 

Overall there is a great deal to consider when deciding what my creative critical reflection should focus on, however it is still incredibly important that in these blogs I begin to starts gathering enough information to successfully be able to make the creative critical reflection.

Research: American Psycho (2000)

Looking into other film openings would greatly aid in our efforts of making our own. This is why today I chose to write about the opening to the film American Psycho as I think it is incredibly well executed and well made for establishing the character and tone of the film.

The opening begins in a  completely white frame. The first thing we see is red liquid droplets falling onto the white background and spilling on it. While this happens classical music plays emphasize the feelings of luxury and the setting of the upper class. The red liquid one can easily assume to be blood. However, it is then revealed it was part of a steak dish. This juxtaposes the blood dripping down that conveys violence with the luxury of such a dish. This brilliantly sets up the tone for the rest of the film as this juxtaposition is the main focus of the entire piece.

We can learn from this opening how just a very brief and short opening can convey such a great amount of meaning. The simple sequence of the red blood and the dish establishes the key idea of the film. The approach of gabbing the main idea of the film and representing in the opening is an incredibly enticing one. As it gives the entire piece a cohesive and tight narrative.

Genre Research: Phycological Horror

The psychological horror film genre has gained a great amount of popularity and notoriety. Unlike traditional horror films that rely on techniques such as jump scares and gore, psychological horror movies create tension through slow buildup. They explore themes such as the depths of the human mind, its darkest fears, mental illness, trauma, and anxiety

An aspect of psychological horror is ambiguity. Psychological horror films usually thread the line of what's real and what is not leaving the audience with a sense of confusion that could correlate to fear. This is especially true in a film such as The Shining; In which we see a lot of supernatural events but are never let know what is real and what isn't. 

  There are other productions that also highlight different ways psychological horror can use techniques to portray the desired meaning.  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari used elements of mise-en-scene such as assets and lighting in order to convey feelings of unease and paranoia. This is not only an incredibly impressive use of technique but one of the first examples of psychological horror in film. Additionally, these techniques of mise-en-scene could be applied to our projects in a very interesting way 

Overall, psychological horror is a genre that aims to explore the human mind and fear itself. It creates tension through a slow buildup, leaving the viewer questioning what is real and what is not. Psychological horror's main characteristics can be achieved through varied methods such as mise en scene. 

05, May. “Why 'the Shining' Is the Best Psychological Horror Film.” YourClassical from American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, 5 May 2016, https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2016/05/05/shining-best-psychological-horror-film.

in Film, History | September 14th. “How the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Invented Psychological Horror Film & Brought Expressionism to the Screen (1920).” Open Culture, https://www.openculture.com/2022/09/how-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-invented-psychological-horror-film.html.

Research: Post modernism

Postmodernism is an incredibly complicated concept that will take more than one blog post for me to tackle and explain how I could implement it within our assigned project. However, today I will aim in covering the basics of the concept and research enough to have a basic understanding of what I want to make. 

Postmodernism is the latest era of art that we are in.  Unlike other philosophies, postmodernism is characterized by skepticism and suspicions of aspects such as reason.  There is a subversion of things such as value systems human nature and social processes.  There has to be a challenge of key aspects of things we perceive around us. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception are both great examples. 

Aspects of productions that could be considered meta could also have post-modernist aspects such as this excerpt from the show Community. This also reflects a key aspect of specifically of Postmodernist film subverting genre conventions. Also note the use of non-traditional camera angles and editing techniques also displays genre subversion. 

Another aspect of Postmodernist film is intertextuality and referring to other films or cultural concepts within the film. This varies from direct references to parallels, symbolism, or connections. Which is meant to reflect the connected nature of culture and how it is used to develop meaning. Examples of this can be seen in many directors' catalogs such as Quintin Tarnatino's.

The left is from 1978's The Game of Death while the right is from Tarantino's Kill Bill here it is displayed a great example of this interconnected referential nature with Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill wearing basically the same costume as Bruce Lee's. Associating her character's struggle and both stories being about revenge. 

Overall, Postmodernism is an incredibly interesting art movement, that within film challenges regular storytelling and portraying their themes in an incredibly unique and alternative way. Postmodern films often encourage the viewer to question their assumptions about reality, culture, and the medium of film itself. Postmodernism in art form I must investigate more as I further my blog postings.

“Postmodernism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy.

Bedard, Mike, et al. “Deny Expectations: Postmodernism in Film Explained.” StudioBinder, 14 Jan. 2021, https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-postmodernism-definition/#:~:text=Postmodern%20movies%20aim%20to%20subvert,our%20expectations%20of%20film%20structure.

Genre Research: Drama

 Today I will be looking into one of the genres I could possibly center my production on. This being drama one of the most enticing choices in terms of what genre to do.  

Dramas are the most serious of genres that aim to portray realistic conflicts of characters or other types of conflict. This usually means they carry themselves extremely seriously. The Drama genre is incredibly broad as well however there are some common issues covered in drama films such as current issues, societal ills, injustices, drug addiction, violence, and mental illness. 

Drama films can be known for dealing with topics that audiences identify with making them have a very broad target audience. Depending on the production it would target very different target audiences. A film like Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) would find its target audience in the female group however a film like Warrior (2011) would most definitely target men instead. Drama however generally targets an older audience as younger audiences tend to simply enjoy drama productions. 

Drama stories are usually incredibly high stakes and involve a great amount of conflicts. These can be character conflicts or plot conflicts. More than any other genre all scenes should demand to bring the plot forward as it is the most important part. The scenarios portrayed however can range from realistic to extreme.  Main characters in drama are usually incredibly human and will have either strong moral or a particular world view. Dramas are all about sublet actions and the people trying to fix issues. 

Many techniques can aid greatly within the drama genre. Flashbacks and Flash-forwards are used a lot in order to tell the stories going to different points in time . Still image shots and split focus shots also help to build suspense or portray other meanings that will aid developing any drama story. 

“Drama Films.” Drama Films, https://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html.

“The Target Audience for Drama Films: Who Loves Drama?” AMPLIFY XL, 21 Aug. 2022, https://amplifyxl.com/target-audience-for-drama-films/.

Hellerman, Jason. “Explore the Drama Genre in Film and Television.” No Film School, No Film School, 21 Sept. 2022, https://nofilmschool.com/drama-genre-film-and-television.

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

The brainstorming and planning were most likely the longest and most painful parts of the entire process. The entirety of the team had a great tendency to procrastinate and not start work. The Alternative genre is a tall order to adapt into a new band as the groups within the genre vary greatly and each is incredibly unique from the other one. So finding out what our band was gonna be about and what our video would feature was very difficult to assert. We started first by coming up with what was easiest our marketing ideas which we wrote as broad bullet points at the end of our research chart paper. The research chart paper was also tackled first as it was essential for doing the marketing plan. With a more developed idea of the marketing plan, we could start storyboarding the video. This started with me and my Teammate Yoav meeting this then lead to the concept of the video which was storyboarded a say I was not present. . gr Wi




This took us into the actual production process of filming the following day which was a Saturday. That day we were all tired, however, we managed to pull through with filming a doing the proper coordination necessary for achieving the desired effect. After all of the filmings was tackled in a single day the footage was handed over to daniel who would take care of the editing as his major contribution to the project. There were concerns about the green screen effect not being effective due to the lightning however this ended up playing to our favor as it enhanced the overall look of the project.



Then there was the final post production and assembly of the entirety of this project. This was handled over facetime call to improve communication and there was a divison of labor which I took care of to fit everyone's strengths. Yoav handled all the parts about genre, Ava did all of the artifacts, and Daniel did the slide on the music video. While I worked on the marketing plan, developing the marketing plan posed a challenge as I had to make sense of all the ideas we had written down add on to them and make them a cohesive plan. This fairly long process was difficult however it I overcame it allowing me to 3 lengthy slides about each aspect of it.


Presenting however did not go so smoothly, due to us finsihing the final presentation quite late we did not take a thought to pace ourselves and rehearse to the proper time limit. You couple that with a faulty technology that lead us to waste a good amount of presentation time, we ended up bring cut short for time which came as a great concern as our thoughts were simply not developed fully and not everything we had wrote was able to be elaborated on. Assessment of who's fault this shortcoming was will lead to the conclusion that it was collectively everybody's as well failed to pace ourselves or consider the total presentatiion time.

This project taught me a lot on how to properly manage people, this was as I took a naturally leading position by dividing the work and trying to pace ourselves. Aside from that I also learned how to adapt great deals of information into a presentation format and the best way to properly transfer this info to an audience in an engaging manner. A great shortcoming of mine however was a lack of foresight in looking into the time ti would take for each of us to present and not fully considering time as a variable. We also started the powerpint too late wihch lead to us igonring the factor of time.

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