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Showing posts from February, 2021

Title Research: Mignonnes/Cuties

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This is a relatively new film by the name of Cuties, or some call it Mignonnes in French. This 2020 film is a French drama released in August of 2020. The title sequence lasted for about 2 minutes, as most do, and contained a variety of interesting scenes. First I'd like to touch on the titles being presented. When the sequence first starts we see that this is a Netflix original movie since this is the first title. The next title is the name of the movie, Mignonnes. Since this film is originally French, the title varies depending on which opening you're viewing(English or French). The images being prioritized in the opening are the images of the main character crying on stage and the ones showing her family dynamic. These images establish a few of the characters and a fraction of the setting as well. The images carry a slight negative connotation, in my opinion. The first image was of the girl crying on what looks to be a stage. Then, the next scene contained the same girl in h

Title Research: The Breakfast Club

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The next movie I observed the title sequence of is The Breakfast Club. The opening sequence for this movie capped out at around two minutes, ass most do. Majority of the opening was a black screen with text while music was playing. the titles that were displayed were mainly giving credit to the production crew and company along with the directors. For example, the sequence starts with the Universal opening, giving credit t the as a production studio. Next, The title of the movie is displayed. After that, each starring actor gets their own title of recognition and this continues for a couple more seconds. Lastly, the credit is given to the individual producers and directors. After all the titles are done being displayed, a shot of the school where the movie takes place is shown. this establishing shot shows the location that the plot will be taking place. This is the only shot from the movie that we see in the sequence. It's is accompanied by a voice over of one of the characters. T

Title Research: Teen Spirit

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This movie is named Teen Spirit and it sone of the movies I studied for my title research.  It was released in June of 2018 in Russia. The opening sequence lasted for about 2 minutes. Enough of background info, onto the titles. The first title that was presented gives credit to the writer and director. Then, the producer and executive producer, co-producer, director of photography, costume designer, editor and music supervisors were credited respectively. Then, the actual title of the movie was displayed. Around the middle of the sequence the credits continued, going on to attribute to the choreographer, visual effects manager, hair and makeup designer and casting director. Almost immediately after, the names of the stars in the movie also appeared as titles. Over the course of the opening, the images being prioritized are the ones of magazine covers that show the name of the film, Teen Spirit. There are about 3 or 4 magazine covers shown in the sequence of the main character being lab

Title Research: Emma

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The first title sequence I did research on was a for a movie by the name of "Emma". The titles displayed were the name of the film company and production company, Focus Features and Perfect World Pictures. There's also a brief description of the main character's personality and circumstance in less than 25 words along with the title of the movie when the main chapter walks down a hallway. Then, it cuts to the main character, Emma, sleeping peacefully in her bed before walking through a large courtyard with two servants next to her. She then starts picking flowers inside a luxurious greenhouse as the two servants follow behind her. These images portray Emma as a noble-woman with little to no struggles at all. The connotations that these scenes show are extremely positive; It shows Emma as a well off young woman that takes an interest in stirring up drama and romance. The film establishes the feeling of the genre, drama, by showing a snarky side of the main character wh

Title Research: Art of the Title Website

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While researching titles, I also used the site, Artofthetitle.com. This website was a little difficult to use at first but I quickly got used to the format after fining exactly what I was looking for, title sequences. This site gives movie examples of title sequences with a brief description about the background of the movie. First, they'd explain the background, then show the title sequence and then provide a short but insightful analysis on it and how it was perfect opening for the contents in the movie. This format was really well thought out and I was exposed to many different examples of titles as I was browsing the site. I learned that opening sequences are meant to captivate the audience and give them an idea about what the movie will be about without being too vague or precise. Across many titles, this seems to be the one thing that doesn't change. So, even though they'll g about executing these principles in their own way, they still get their point across during t

Title Research: Watch the Titles Website

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Today I did a bit of research on Titles on watchthetitles.com. This website gives a multitude of examples of titles in movie, which is great for grasping the concept of how to make one. When I first went to the site, there were a bunch of different categories but the one that I came there for was "Event Titles". This category pulled examples from movies and put them on their site. This was extremely beneficial to me because at first, there was a little confusion in what exactly a title was. After viewing about 8 examples from different movies it helped be better understand the concept of it. It's an opening sequence to a movie. They all showcase small aspects of the movie, just enough to give the watcher a gist of what it'll be about but not enough to spoil the plot. These titles also include a variety of animations and fonts that help the words on the screen match the feel of the video. For example, there's a title to a sci-fi movie, its unlikely that will includ

Genre Research: Lady Bird

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 The last drama film I watched was Lady Bird. It's a Drama/Comedy and the drama side seems to shine through a lot more here. It's a narrative in the perspective of the main character, Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson. She strives to attend a prestigious college. Unfortunately, her grades aren't the best and she comes from an extremely low income family that's situation increasingly gets worse because her father lost his job. Because of her obsession with going to a prestigious university's, she's willing Tod o everything she can, including betray even her closest friend to make connections. Throughout the course of the movie she and her best friend are seen doing almost everything together but once Lady Bird sets her sight on something new, she often compromises the relationship with her best friend to get it. This creates a major conflict from the start where she slowly but surely changes up her personality to appeal to whoever she's trying to impr

Genre Research: But I'm a Cheerleader

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The second film I watched was titled, But I'm a Cheerleader. Its a Drama/Comedy/Romance film about a teenage girl that was sent to a sexuality-rehabilitation center. The film is clearly satire with a dramatic plot. It starts out with the main character, Meghan, at cheer practice and after that, communicating with her "boyfriend" as he drives her home. When she arrives at home, the main conflict is introduced when she finds out thatcher parents are sending her off to ac correctional camp because they and her friends believe that she's lesbian but she wasn't. Despite her objections to going, she was still forced to. When she starts the program, another conflict is introduced when the main character develops feelings for another girl at the program but they can't be together because of their current situation. Over the course of the movie, they become closer and eventually all the teens in the program decide to sneak out for one night unfortunately, the morning a

Genre Research: Everything Everything

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The first movie I watched for genre research is a drama film called Everything, Everything. I paid close attention to the plot and all the things that would classify it as of the drama genre. The story was structured as a narrative, in the point of view of the main character, Madeline, as she goes through many conflicts to find a resolution to the main conflict. This is a common characteristic of the drama genre, the film being structured as a narrative. When I first started the movie the main conflict was introduced right off the bat, she was diagnosed with an extreme case of immunodeficiency and was not allowed under any circumstances to leave her home. After meeting the new guy next door and falling in love, this introduces another conflict in the story, how will she spend time with him? Getting tired of being in the same old environment, she decides to purchase plane tickets to Hawaii, without her overprotective mother's permission, for herself and her love interest after her 1

Genre Decision

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Upon adequate research, I've decided to make my title sequence of the Drama genre. I feel that based on the pitch I chose, It would be best to make it a drama rather than anything else. Other genres that I've researched like horror and action don't necessarily fit the concept I'm going for either. Drama contains a lot of the elements that I want to implement in my title sequence. For example, high stakes and a lot of conflict. In my title sequence I want to add a glimpse of all the conflicts that our main character is going through. I want the audience to be able to tell that the rest of the movie will follow an intricate plot. Dramas often have a main character that is highly emotionally-driven, which is also something I want to incorporate into my upcoming project. Since this is only a title sequence, I don't want to try to force too many elements of the genre in there, but just enough for the audience to know that it will be a drama film. Although, It would be be

Genre Research: Drama and Action

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Action Genre- Common Things  The next genre I researched was the Action genre. The powerpoint displays also covers the main aspects or common characteristics of action films. From camera angles, shots, lighting, sound a nd mise-en-scene, we can see that all action failm follow a rather similar format. Although a lot of these characteristics can very well be found in other genres, the various examples show how they are used in action.  Drama Genre-Common Things Camera Angles -High angles are extremely common in all genres and Drama is no exception. It is used to emphasize a point that director is trying to make that something or someone is inferior in most cases. -Low angles are also very common in all genres but in Drama it is used to show the superiority of something or someone. Camera Movement -A pan is a camera movement that is used in every genre as well and is used to follow a subject in motion. -Tracking is also used to follow a moving subject but the camera is usually placed on

Genre Research: Horror

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The first genre that I did research on was Horror. In the following powerpoint I discussed the various aspects f the genre along with some of my personal opinions about the genre. The first thing I talked about were the common lighting found in horror films. The ones I listed were low-key lighting, highly lighting and three-point lighting. I went on to give examples of each kind of lighting in popular horror movies like The Nun and IT. Next, I touched on the most common camera angles that can be found in the horror genre which are high angles, low angles and dutch angles. The examples are all from different films in the horror genre to emphasize that these can be found in just about any horror film. Next, I covered the common cameramovemnts which are pans, dollies and zooms. I once again provided an example for each of the three, two of them being from the popular Netflix film Bird Box and The Poltergeist. After that, I went over the common mis-en-scene which was costumes, setting and

My Pitch

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During the process of creating a pitch for my opening sequence, I came up with two that I think would be a decent fit.  Pitch #1 A girl is overwhelmingly obsessed with a celebrity to the point where it takes a major negative impact on her relationships with real people.  I wanted to do something along the lines of a stalker archetype but not in a traditional sense. So, I went with this route. A female main character would be madly obsessed with an extremely well known celebrity and would constantly spam them with comments, direct messages, emails and even goes as far as to create shrine dedicated to them. This obsession has consumed her life to the point where her relationship with her friends and family start to deteriorate because there's nothing she wants more than to be with said celebrity. So, as an opening sequence I'd put the main character's bazzarre habits on display to put emphasis on how obsessed she is with this person. Then, I'd show scenes of her slowly ig

Starting the Final Task

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Hello again! To reintroduce myself, my name is Shantaneil Francis. I'm a student taking AICE Media Studies AS level. Its been a while since I've uploaded a blog but now I'm here because this one is special. I'll be starting my Final Task. Now, because this is such an important project I want to address the general things regarding it. For starters, I'll be working by myself, yet again. Due to circumstances such as COVID it's harder to work with people in person. Also, its difficult to build connections with people in your class if you didn't already know them beforehand. Because of school lockdowns, a lot of us don't get the opportunity to interact with each other at all. These the lack of connections is a large part of the reason why I'm working on my own. This isn't that big of an issue for me though, I've been working by myself for every single project prior to this one. Although, it would be nice to have a partner or two, especially on a