AICEMediaStudies

  Another Short film we watched was MORE.  MORE is an example of a mystery short film, which is especially useful for our genre.  Mystery short films are really hard to come by as they usually have a different genre with a mystery sub-tone. This is exactly what MORE does. I would argue that this shows a mystery but the person solving it would be the viewer themselves. They have to fill in the holes left out about the world and the dystopia. Common Sounds- Sounds are just sound effects and the occasional mumbling that is supposed to be talking. Common Mis-en-scene- Setting of the outside, the factory, or the room where he's making the goggles. The mis-en scene includes the drab color of grey until you wear the goggles. The characters are unique and fit mis-en scene especially the facial expressions they have to use. Common Editing- Stop-motion editing as well as the color changes. There also are close-ups and scenery shots and bird-eye views. Elements I like- I love the th...

I was excited to review this short film as it is based on an H.P Lovecraft story. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors, and I was excited to see his writing on the screen. I have never heard of this short story before, however, I was excited to see how it would be. This one was pretty long, but I still liked it overall. Common Sounds- Lots of wind, sounds for background like chimes to set the mood. There is dialogue also between the robbers and the old man, however, it isn't as important. Common Mis-en-scene- This includes the scenes with the house decoration, the really good costumes to make it as Lovecraftian as possible, and the props used by the old man and the robbers. Common Editing- Many backs and forth close shots and dolly shots in this film. Too many zooms, to be honest, it was kind of making me sick. What did I like about the genre- How well the mystery was paced in this short film was amazing. I was mostly worried about the time when making mine and this helped to se...

  One short film my partner and I researched was Damned Peace.   This was a crime mystery which is really interesting as I might do something similar to this short film. The first thing I noticed was how good the marketing was for this short. Since I might major in marketing, I took notice to these details in the poster and how it related to the film. This project was also extremely small as barely anyone worked on it and the budget must of been low It is "A journalist finds a career-defining story. But if written it could cause a gangland war. She must decide truth or peace?" Common Sounds- Sounds of sirens a lot, not that much talking, good sound effects despite the small budget. There was one song that played in the background that fit very well also. The actor was very good. Common Mis-en-scene- The mise-en-scene included the main character's outfit, the setting of the places she went such as the outside being sandy and bleak at some point. I really liked how they cre...

  In order to learn more about the short film creation process, I watched a YouTube video. The video outlines some of the basics.  The video was decently useful for some friendly reminders before I start making my film. He gave me some ideas to improve my storyboarding at the beginning and also how to come up with ideas. I decided to look at his past short films and they all look pretty good. I also was wondering though, how many people he expects to be working on these. With everything he is saying, it seems like this was meant for people with a budget. Because I basically have no budget, I was looking for tips on how to make a good movie without the cost. Also, the materials he shows are very high quality. I maybe wanted to know about lower quality sets as I cannot move a camera on a dolly etc. I like his points at being smart with your decisions, however. Such as that you should be careful with what actors you choose because of time frames and also their abilities. I don't ...

  Undertaker is a Netflix Short Film that features the WWE wrestler, the Undertaker. The production isn't perfect but it was easy to find and it is a mystery horror.  I want my film to be mystery and horror so, watching the Undertaker gave me valuable insight.  I also found it interesting to try and solve the mystery at the same time. Common Sounds- There are hastily thrown together sound effects as well as the dialogue between characters. Busy background sounds if that makes sense.  Common Mis-en-scene- Costumes for all the characters such as the Undertakers descriptive outfit. As well as the mansion/house it takes place in. There are a lot of props as well for the challenges.  Common Editing- So many jump cuts here. Voice overs are also common.  Elements of Genre I like- I like how effective this was with the clearly lower budget and how the mystery was set up so you truly still didn't know at the end. Elements I didn't like- Although I gave it some ...

I compared the short film "9" as well as the full-length movie "9". I am excited to watch these as I have heard good things when googling both of them. I am interested to see how the intricacies of a short film differ from a long film. I did some background research which made me even more intrigued by the short film, which I have never heard of. On the other hand, I had seen some advertisements beforehand and the trailer for the movie. Full-Length Film: The movie starts with a scientist making 9, the main character which already gives us so much more information than the short. We also have an early plot point with the Talisman and 9's meeting of other characters like 2. I think that 9's personality changes too much though. In the movie, 9 is brave and is making the first moves. We also have plot points with the brain that creates monsters which confused me a bit. In this film there is dialogue and honestly, I preferred the animation in the short film to th...

 Just from our pitch, one could guess what genres our film would fit under.  There are obvious elements of horror and thriller.  There are also broader elements of drama that one could connect to our pitch.  while we plan to include each of the genres into our film, we want to focus mostly on just one.  That one genre is horror.  Initially, we were thinking of making it drama instead but, we wanted to focus more on horror.  We felt this because the horror genre is much less broad than the drama genre.  We also feel that too many movies are put under the drama genre and we would like to diverge from all of them.  Our short film introduction we did last year was a drama film.  But, it had elements of horror as well.  The biggest difference in the writing of horror movies versus drama movies is the character development. Horror Movies tend to have less character development.  Drama movies tend to have more character ...

  Another genre we hope to incorporate into our film is the thriller genre.   Thrillers have darkness in scenes that are emotional. Most scenes don't have a lot of brightness. They use wide shots to show the area, if there are fight scenes they use a multitude of shots like birds-eye view, medium shots, and two-person shots depending on what's happening. They use track shots during fights and zoom-ins to show the importance of certain objects. Costumes: tattered clothing, or dull-looking clothes they don't usually use anything too special. Actors: they use people who can really create emotion in people. Makeup: they use fake tears or blood to show physical pain or emotion. Props: They use breakable props in order to not hurt anyone. Setting: Usually dark and changes ending up being light near the end. Tend to have a lot of emotional plot points and try their hardest to evoke emotion by using things like children or characters you can relate to. Use songs that c...

 The horror genre is a well known and popular genre.  It has stood out as a genre because of its many unique conventions and clichés.  Some common camera strategies used in the horror genre are close up angles.  Close up angles can be observed in many horror films both new and old.  They are so widely used in the genre because they simultaneously make the audience focus in on a key point and reduce the information they are given about the rest of the scene.  By making audiences focus on a single thing, it increases the tension and their investment in that thing.  If it is a character, they would feel more shocked if they were to suddenly die while in the close up shot because they were so focused on them.  Along the same lines, close up shots reduce the information the audience can gather about the surrounding.  This increasing the tension of the scene.  When the tension finally snaps, it makes the audience that much more sh...

 One of the genres we wanted to explore was drama.  So, we researched and put together an overview of the genre.   This overview includes the various aspects that make up drama films. These aspects include the camera angles and lighting used in these films. Some other things mentioned are the Mis-En-Scene and plot structure of drama films. After going through this research process, we were able to identify defining features of the drama genre. Dramas generally have plots that are serious in nature with high-stakes conflicts. They also normally have exciting or emotional situations that play into the story and characters. There are various techniques that are used to make these serious scenes and tense moments. For example, low-key lighting is often used to enhance the moodiness of a scene, to convey darker emotions. The lighting works alongside the camera movements and sound choices to make scenes look realistic, and maintain its serious nature. Especial...

 Our film's pitch was "A group of friends explore a creepy forest and mysteriously die one after another."  Right off the bat, the pitch sounds like that of a dramatic horror movie.  That's because it is.  Our vision is for a scary movie with dramatic moments.  But, we are not sure of the specifics yet.  We think we will possibly make the movie of the horror, thriller, or drama.   We lean towards the horror genre because we plan to shoot our movie in a spooky place.  Namely, the dark forest.  We were also thinking of possibly shooting it in an abandoned building.  But, that is only possible if there is an abandoned building available.  Also, we plan to have killing in our movie.  We are not sure what the killing will look like, however.  Killing is a popular staple of the horror genre.  However, we do not want to confuse our idea with a film that includes killing but is not horror. Another genre we ...