This introduction for The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan is a great example of a very unexpected and fast-paced intro where there are plot twists that develop the characters, especially the Joker. A problem with my film could be the lack of actors as I'm doing it on my own, which is why I'm planning on only concentrating on one character and the setting instead of showing many characters or audiences.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
More Research
I haven't decided for the plot yet but I'm writing down some ideas. A popular technique used by directors to catch the audience's attention is to start the movie in an already developed setting. This means that there is no introduction to any characters or plot, instead the viewer is left wondering what is happening and why is happening. Then I would proceed to subtly explain what is happening without explicitly telling the viewer because I think it's important to make the viewer think for possible explanations and it makes a more interesting way of storytelling. Also, I want to incorporate some type of slight plot twist to set the tone for an unpredictable film.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Movie Intro Project Planning 1
I've been thinking on how I'm going to record my introduction as I have no quality camera at the moment. However, my sister that lives in Chile has a really good camera and my dad always travels there and back so I will try to convince her to lend me her camera for a couple of months. The problem is that she is studying journalism therefore she constantly uses her camera for photo shoots and assignments for college. Anyways, for now I'm focusing in preparing everything so when I get the camera I will be ready to record. I want to avoid a lot of dialogue as I want to express most of the film's aspects through images rather than words. Also, I want to record somewhere different because it's way more interesting to see new places in the intro than the same average Weston house or neighborhood. However, this adds a whole other complication because if I travel somewhere to film I have to film everything perfectly as I won't have much time.
Ideas for Movie Intro Plot
This weekend I spent trying to figure out the plot and genre for my movie introduction. I watched A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey as I really like Stanley Kubrick's style of film making. A Clockwork Orange is labeled as a mix of Drama, Mystery and Sci-Fi, which is kind of what I'm looking for. I like how the Sci-Fi element is subtly introduced through the use of background, decoration, mise-en-scene, etc. however it's never literally stated that the environment is a futuristic dystopian society. Some ideas I've wrote down are how I want the intro to start with something random, which needs context for the viewer to understand. I've seen this in many movies and in the examples we watched in class and it serves to make the viewer curious on what's going on and what's going to happen next. Also
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Music Marketing Campaign
Music Marketing Campaign
A. Summary:
- The song we chose was Badfish by Sublime, which is an alternative rock band from the 90s, and the song's lyrics are about the struggle of drug addiction. We had to choose a name for our own band so we decided to call it "Agord", as it means "drugs" backwards in Spanish. We started off by doing extensive research on other bands of the same genre to build our own marketing strategy and plan. The first thing was to research and define our target audience, which is a key part of the success of a band. Then, we created different ways for the audience to connect with the band such as an Instagram profile, a blog, a web page, and a merchandise line. After most of our plan was done, we had to make the music video for the song so we created a storyboard, which defined all the different shots we were going to record. We chose to produce a story telling and promotional video as we wanted to create an image for the singer of the band. The video was about how our main singer falls back into the party and drug world after his girlfriend breaks up with him. We focused on the use of lighting to portray emotions such as anger(red) and sadness(blue), as well as an overall dark setting throughout the video. Finally, it was the time to present our campaign, so we put all the information into a very simplistic and modern looking presentation on google slides so it was attractive for the audience to see. We tried to balance the information we presented between the 3 of us and keep the presentation engaging. Also, after the presentations we critiqued each one and read what our classmates had to say about ours so we could reflect on what we did wrong and keep the positive aspects for future presentations.
B. Description of research:
- We started off researching the genre to see how other current alternative rock bands have been able to promote their image through different marketing strategies. Our case studies were 21 Pilots and Panic! At the Disco, which helped us study the effect of social media, blogging, merchandise, and fan interaction on their image. Also, we researched the audience of alternative rock music to make the best decisions fit for our target audience, like the focus on live performances. For our music video, we chose to do a storytelling/promotional video because that was the most common type of video we saw of alternative rock bands.
C. Description of marketing creations:
- We created an Instagram page and uploaded pictures of the logo, the artist, an update videoblog, and promotional posts for the upcoming song Badfish. We always included hashtags in order to reach more people, which even made a real-life artist message us to collaborate on a song. We created a very intuitive web page on Weebly that included many different sub-pages like news about the band, merchandise, upcoming tours, and contact information to create a close interaction with the fans. Also, we created a blog for Agord to update his fans on his upcoming music and what his everyday life is like. Finally, we created real-life merchandise like hats and t-shirts with the band's logo on them for fans to use and support the band.
D. Things I learned for the portfolio project:
- I learned the importance of a storyboard prior to producing a video as it helped immensely at the moment of recording because we already knew what we had to do after every scene. Also, with the help of my classmate's critiques I realized how I need to be more engaging with the audience at the time of presenting so they are more interested in what I'm saying. We learned the importance of lighting as it has a great effect on the tone of the video and it can convey many different feelings and emotions. In the general aspect, I improved my abilities to work in a group and divide the work equally and improved my abilities to record a video that portrays a message and contains many different meaningful shots.
Video:
A. Summary:
- The song we chose was Badfish by Sublime, which is an alternative rock band from the 90s, and the song's lyrics are about the struggle of drug addiction. We had to choose a name for our own band so we decided to call it "Agord", as it means "drugs" backwards in Spanish. We started off by doing extensive research on other bands of the same genre to build our own marketing strategy and plan. The first thing was to research and define our target audience, which is a key part of the success of a band. Then, we created different ways for the audience to connect with the band such as an Instagram profile, a blog, a web page, and a merchandise line. After most of our plan was done, we had to make the music video for the song so we created a storyboard, which defined all the different shots we were going to record. We chose to produce a story telling and promotional video as we wanted to create an image for the singer of the band. The video was about how our main singer falls back into the party and drug world after his girlfriend breaks up with him. We focused on the use of lighting to portray emotions such as anger(red) and sadness(blue), as well as an overall dark setting throughout the video. Finally, it was the time to present our campaign, so we put all the information into a very simplistic and modern looking presentation on google slides so it was attractive for the audience to see. We tried to balance the information we presented between the 3 of us and keep the presentation engaging. Also, after the presentations we critiqued each one and read what our classmates had to say about ours so we could reflect on what we did wrong and keep the positive aspects for future presentations.
B. Description of research:
- We started off researching the genre to see how other current alternative rock bands have been able to promote their image through different marketing strategies. Our case studies were 21 Pilots and Panic! At the Disco, which helped us study the effect of social media, blogging, merchandise, and fan interaction on their image. Also, we researched the audience of alternative rock music to make the best decisions fit for our target audience, like the focus on live performances. For our music video, we chose to do a storytelling/promotional video because that was the most common type of video we saw of alternative rock bands.
C. Description of marketing creations:
- We created an Instagram page and uploaded pictures of the logo, the artist, an update videoblog, and promotional posts for the upcoming song Badfish. We always included hashtags in order to reach more people, which even made a real-life artist message us to collaborate on a song. We created a very intuitive web page on Weebly that included many different sub-pages like news about the band, merchandise, upcoming tours, and contact information to create a close interaction with the fans. Also, we created a blog for Agord to update his fans on his upcoming music and what his everyday life is like. Finally, we created real-life merchandise like hats and t-shirts with the band's logo on them for fans to use and support the band.
D. Things I learned for the portfolio project:
- I learned the importance of a storyboard prior to producing a video as it helped immensely at the moment of recording because we already knew what we had to do after every scene. Also, with the help of my classmate's critiques I realized how I need to be more engaging with the audience at the time of presenting so they are more interested in what I'm saying. We learned the importance of lighting as it has a great effect on the tone of the video and it can convey many different feelings and emotions. In the general aspect, I improved my abilities to work in a group and divide the work equally and improved my abilities to record a video that portrays a message and contains many different meaningful shots.
Video:
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Genre Database Entry
The Western Genre
Genre Conventions - Content:- Always set in the 19th century (1860-1910), Westward expansion & Civil War
- Themes: Conquest of wilderness or “Native Territory”
- Society based on a code of honor and social status is achieved through violence or honor.
- Sometime, the hero has a sidekick like a sheriff, a prostitute or someone from the town he is in.
- The villain is always cruel and arrogant, that break the law regularly.
- There is commonly a girl that is seduced by the hero’s actions by the end of the film.
Genre Conventions - Production Techniques:
- Our hero is always a very masculine and solitary man that is always moving from place to place (semi-nomad) and that is motivated by revenge or justice. Also, has very few possessions: clothes, a horse and a revolver.
- Exposure of beautiful western landscapes (cactii, valleys and canyons always under the bright sun)
- Reliance on long shots to show full body of main character
- Characteristic clothing: Cowboy boots, hats, spurs, collared shirts and vest, long pants, gun holsters, cigars, etc.
- Focus on weapons (Colt 45s, rifles, ropes, double barrel shotguns)
Institutional Conventions:
- Hero as main image of movie
- Use of famous/recognizable masculine and loved actors.
- Extremely superficial
- Same formula every time
- Action, justice, sex, violence, superiority
Film Example #1: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Film Example #2: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Another great example of a western movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, directed by George Roy Hill and featuring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the two main characters. Although it is consider to be a classic western film, this movie is different from the typical Western as it takes a more comedic approach and it's set mainly on Bolivia, instead of the common West American setting. Following the same marketing tactics, Paul Newman was a Hollywood superstar at the time (1969), which helped bring more attention to the production. Also, the contrast of the American cowboy look with the Bolivian people in the film makes the viewer makes it easier for the viewer to notice their appearance: hats, spurs, holsters, leather jackets, etc. Another difference is that in this movie, the bad guys are actually the main characters as they live from robing banks and escaping from the law. However, their chemistry and their comedic way of dealing with problems makes the viewer sympathize with them.
Other Examples:- True Grit (1969 & 2010)
- High Noon (1952)
- Django Unchained (2012)
- The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
- Unforgiven (1992)
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
- Rio Bravo (1959)
- Tombstone (1993)
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