Genre Research Joker

Genre Research Joker

   The final movie my group decided to research for our genre, crime, was, "Joker". It was about the dark side of society and the people there rising up. The first thing to review are the common CAMS, camera angles, movements, and shots. The common camera angles include medium close up, over-the-shoulder, long shots, close ups, and high angles. The common camera movements are the tilt, zoom, and tracking shot. Then, the common camera shots are the two-shot and wide shot.

   Next up, are the common CLAMPS. The common costumes shown are jackets, suits, and clown masks. These are all typical city clothes and the clown masks come from the movies theme. The common lighting is mostly dark, it is also bright sometimes. There is a lot of stage lighting, window lighting, lamp lighting, and ceiling lamp lighting. The common acting in this movie involves physical violence, laughing, acting mentally insane, not being very happy, and dancing. The common makeup is natural, but towards the end of the movie, there is a lot of clown makeup as well. The common props included are guns, signs, TVs, microphones, and clown masks. The setting is Gotham City.

   Plus, the common editing are slow motion edits, cuts, and cutaways. The common sounds are mostly diegetic, dialogue, and ambient sounds. The non-diegetic sounds are mostly music soundtracks. Examples of common sounds include gun shots, footsteps, intense music, clapping, laughing, protesting, and ambient shouting sounds. The common elements are violence, murder, and society. The features that I liked about it was the music and the dancing. What I did not like about it was the large amounts of violence and twisted messages shown throughout the movie. Overall it was a very violent and intense movie.

Genre Research Knives Out

Genre Research Knives Out

   The third movie we researched was the movie, "Knives Out", to help us understand, the crime genre more. The movie is about a suicide, supposedly a murder, and the family members, including the victims day keeper, all get mixed up in the crime and his will to give away his company and fortune. The first thing to talk about are the common CAMS. The common camera angles in this movie are over-the-shoulder, low angle, two-shot, hand held, dutch, and high angle. The common camera movements are tracking shot, pan, and zoom. Next, the common camera shots include establishing shots, close ups, and medium close-ups.

   Next up are common CLAMPS. The common costumes are formal and simple designed. Some examples of this are suits and sweaters. Common lighting is mostly bright, but sometimes dim. The lighting comes from the sun, through the window, ceiling lights, and a phone for a few examples. The common acting in this movie involves a lot of frustration, being-serious, and thinking. The makeup is mostly natural-looking and lightly-colored. Common props include knives, letters, phones, mugs, and a baseball. The setting is in an old mansion and urban town.

   Additionally, the editing involves a lot of cuts, cutaways, and action cuts. Common sounds include music, dialogue, non-diegetic sounds, and ambient sounds. Examples of some common sounds include screaming, footsteps, and eating. The elements of "Knives Out" are suspense, confusion, comedy, anger, trust, and family. Personally, and as a group, what I did like was how mysterious it was until the end. The main character was a good actor. It was comedic, intense, interesting, mysterious, and too scary. However, I did not like the beginning with the long interview phase. The film was an all around good movie that lived up to its genre, crime.

Genre Research Don't Breathe

Genre Research Don't Breathe

   The second movie is, "Don't Breathe". It's about a group of people that broke into a house, underestimating the strength and intelligence of the blind veteran that lives inside. Its genres is thriller, horror, and crime film. Now, we're starting off with CAMS. Common camera angles include, high angles, low angles, and canted. Common camera shots include, establishing shot, two shots, close up, wide shot, extreme close up, mid shot, over the shoulder, cowboy shot, and Aerial shots. Common camera movements include, zooms, trucks, pans, and tilts.

   Next, CLAMPS. Common costumes in this film include, typical and casual wear. Common lighting in this film is, dark, very dark, or as the teacher said it, spooky dark. Common acting includes, fighting, running, holding their breath, and more. Common makeup includes, injury makeup, and regular makeup. Common props include, keys, guns, etc. The most common setting is the blind mans house.

   Lastly, sound, editing, and my opinions. Common sound includes, ambient sound, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, dialogue, sound bridges, scores, etc. Common editing are, cutaways, jump cuts, action matches, eye line matches, split screens, and inserts. Common elements include, drama, foreshadowing, conflict, etc. Now for my opinion, the likes and dislikes. I really like the story line. I like the concept of it. The three people go in the house to steal, but two of the three die to a blind guy? That's interesting. I liked the parts where the blind man would walk in, and the people would have to be super quiet or he'll catch them. I did not like that there were parts where they could've avoided what would've happened to them, but then again its hard to think about that kind of stuff when you're afraid. Also, there were moments where a little common sense could've popped in. For example, there were parts where the blind man came up from behind them, you'd think they would be very observant for thieves. Overall, it was a very good film.

Genre Research John Wick

Genre Research John Wick

   The first movie is the first John Wick movie. The movie's genres are action, thriller, crime film, and neo-noir. It came out in 2014, it was the first of three. It's basically about a guy that goes and kills a guy for killing his dog and stealing his car. Here we go, starting with CAMS. Common camera angles in this film are, high angles, low angles, and canted angles. Common camera shots in this film are, close up, long shot, two shot, over the shoulder, establishing shot, medium shot, point of view shot, cowboy shot, and such. Common camera movement in this film are, zooms, pans, tilts, and trucks.

   Now, CLAMPS. Common costumes in this film include, suits, casual wear, and other dark clothing. I'd say the most common lighting in this film would just be dark, the overall vibe is just sad or serious. Common acting in this film include, fighting, crying, and such. Common makeup includes, injury makeup, regular makeup, and such. Common props include guns, grenades, and cars. Common setting in this film is, Johns house, the mechanics shop, the big hotel, and such. That's it for CLAMPS.

   Moving on to the rest. Common sound in this film include, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, ambient sound, incidental, sound bridge, sound motif, and such. Common editing includes, inserts, action matches, eye line matches, jump cuts, shot reverse shot, cutaways, and such. Common elements include, foreshadowing, conflict, dread, drama, suspense, and more. Overall this was a pretty good film. I like John's dedication to getting revenge. The guy who killed his dog deserved every hit he got. Also, why did that women walk into that pool with high heels on? That's strange. Also, what I did not like is that almost everyone he kills seems to die instantly. Like, John held a guys head underwater for maybe 10 seconds and he died, that's not realistic. I'm not saying I know how fast people that drown die, I'm saying in a realistic sense that's not how it works. The things I didn't really like was the music in the club, that was atrocious. Also, you know how many times he injured other peoples' feet? Like 3 times but that's hysterical. The hotel is in Manhattan, New York, and the average serious crime police response there is about 4-5 minutes, how has there not been police? Throughout this entire scene, I've been thinking about how there's not police there. You'd think that hundreds of gun shots would bring the police right away, but no. Also, how does this man get shot and beat and its almost totally fine, but then he gets stabbed and immediately assumes he's going to die? That's wacky, but yeah, overall John Wick was a really good film.

Genre Research: the Decision

Genre Research: the Decision

   Referencing to an earlier blog, it was a whole lot of information about the genres we thought might fit our pitch. The genres were the musical and action genre. All of the genres that we had to choose from were crime, action and musical. After talking, me and the person I'm working with decided on a genre. We picked crime and both agreed that using the genre crime would make it more interesting. My group is very excited to see how all of this turns out. There's so many possibilities, it's insane.

Genre Research Action and Musical

Genre Research Action and Musical

   One of the genres my group is thinking of using is the action genre. The camera angles typically used in action films are eye level and high angles. These are used to create suspense or give a better view of the setting to the audience. The camera movements typically used in action films are tracking shots, flash pan, and tilts. Tracking shots and flash pans are used during intense action scenes. Flash pan and tilts are also used to show something or a place. Typically used camera shots are establishing shots, close ups, aerial shots, and over the shoulder shots.

   The action genre has a standard CLAMPS scheme. The costumes used in action films are expensive and/or meant for battle/fighting. The lighting typically used in the action genre are daylight, searchlights, and street lamps. The acting in the action genre is commonly fighting, getting pushed back, acting tough, talking with seriousness, and running. The makeup used for the main character has natural makeup, but when it comes to fight scenes, makeup is used to look like bruises and blood. The woman role has natural makeup. The villain has the same makeup as the main character, but can also sometimes have dark or menacing makeup. When it comes to the action genre's standard props, they are usually guns, knives, fast cars, and jewelry. Finally the setting, the standard places shot in are cities, built up urban areas, places with human made construction like warehouses, police stations, tunnels, casinos and banks.

   The editing of films in the action genre are mostly just adding in effects, adding CGI for explosions, and using transitions between clips. Some transition examples include cuts and cutaways. Also, just normally cropping clips and adding nice touch-ups is a standard. When it comes to sounds, intense music is always important such as high drum beats. Loud sounds such as explosion sounds, gun shot sounds, running, screaming, car engines, and creaking sounds are also all standard sound effects used in films part of the action genre. The elements of the action genre are big impacts, fight scenes, lots of physical maneuvers, the strong continuous high energy, and chase scenes. These all are full of action since they are active themselves. Personally, what I like about the action genre is the action itself and the intense scenes. I also like the main character or hero role that most action films use. What I do not like, however, are the villains. They are there to spark hate from the viewers for the villain since it gives the movie more emotion. Also, the typical setting in cities and built up urban areas is pretty boring in most cases, which I do not like. The action genre is a really interesting and fun one.

   The next genre my group was also thinking of using is the musical genre. The camera angles: high angles and eye level angles are very common in this genre. Standard musical genre camera movements are pans, tracking, and the arc. Conventional camera shots are the establishing shot, wide shot, and the close up. Now onto the CLAMPS, first comes the costumes. The costumes usually used in the musical genre are bold. bright, and stylish. Stylish can mean complex as well as simple, and the costumes usually match the personality the character played in the film. The lighting in this genre for example are as a standard street lights, stage lights, and the moon light. The coloring for this lighting however is also seen as lots of dark blue (R80), middle blue (R68), and no color blue (R63). The typical acting involves singing, dancing, and being happy. In musicals, as in all genres, makeup is important. Conventional makeup in musicals matches a natural skin look and makes the actors shine. The makeup options also vary from each setting and character in the film. The props used for example are chairs, microphones, and instruments. The props are mostly singing and music related. Finally, the setting convention in the musical genre are big and bright places. A city, a circus, a paradise are all excellent examples of big and bright places.

   Editing in musical films is mainly editing in sounds and music. Some examples of transition edits are cuts and cutaways. Musicals, as said in the name, require lots of music to get the emotion set and the plot rolling. Diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are used as well. Adding special effects to help the lighting and the scenery shine out more are also a convention. Next is sound, and as said before, music is the key word here. The music depends on the film itself, so it varies between movies. Talking, footsteps, clapping, and cheering are some examples of typical sound effects included in the musical. The two major elements that the musical genre pump out are movements and sounds. The movements are from dancing to the music tracks, which are the sounds. Personally, what I like about the musical genre is the upbeat theme and the dancing. Musicals bring the viewers into a world of pleasant sounds and dances. However, what I do not like are the generic romantic side to it. If the romantic part is not done right, then it defeats a large purpose of the film's climax. These are the other two genres my group researched, the Action and Musical genre.

Genre Research Crime

Genre Research Crime

     Common camera angles in the crime genre are, high and low angles. Common camera movements in crime films are pans, tilts, trucks, and zooms. Common elements in this genre are conflict, foreshadowing and more. Common lighting in this genre are high contrast and low-key lighting. Common sounds are dialogues, voice overs, diegetic sounds, non-diegetic sounds, and ambient sounds. Example films include, The God Father, The Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction, Zodiac, and more. For the likes and dislikes, I enjoy the actual crime aspects and the crime being committed and/or solved. I don't like the other stuff, like the dialogue and avoidable drama.

Supernatural Spirit Pitch Blog

Supernatural Spirit Pitch Blog

     First off, out of the three pitches our group made, we have to choose two to move forward. The first pitch involved someone preventing murder through predicting the future. The second pitch involves someone with supernatural spirit abilities and saving his house from deconstruction. The third pitch involves someone waking up from a coma while still being in a coma. All three of these pitches were from our own original minds. Personally for me, I felt that the first pitch would be hard to film and make it seem realistic. When I talked about this with Taylor, my other group member, she agreed with me. We decided to not work with pitch 1, and narrow it down to pitch 2 and 3. Pitch 1 was an excellent idea, but it would involve skills and hard work not meant for our group yet. On the other hand, pitch 1 and 2 are all plausible ideas to film.

     Now, focusing on pitch 2, it was a really interesting idea our group collaborated on. I wanted to make a film based on the supernatural. Our group overheard someone talking with the teacher about a car accident film idea. I took it upon myself to try figuring something out such as the main character going into a coma or something after the car accident. Instead, I made a semi-joke to Taylor saying that the main characters gets hit so hard his spirit flies out. Then I figured we could work with a film based on spirits. If the main character was actually dead, I thought it would not make sense since how can the plot run off of only a ghost, it is possible, but I decided to have the main character be alive. We chose this pitch since it seemed like a much more approachable idea compared to another pitch like pitch 1. I feel like this pitch is good, as well as Taylor, since it is not something we have seen before. Pitch 2 feels original and creative to me and my partner, Taylor, and that is why we chose this.

     Next, focusing on pitch 3, it was probably the most exciting since it involves a lot of plot twists. Before we made any of our pitches, my group was trying to pull ideas together, and one of the first ideas was about something related to comas. The coma idea felt blander and blander as we worked on making the other ideas more interesting and started to form pitches. So, as I was thinking about it, I wanted a plot twist in the beginning, to get the potential viewers hooked. In order to make a pitch, we needed to get the full scheme of the movie into motion first. After the other pitches were nearly done, I wanted more plot twists out of this plot. Then I went for the biggest one imaginable, and basically made it so that whatever was portrayed in the film was all the main character's imagination. My group chose this pitch since over lots of thinking, it proved to also be creative and original, just like pitch 2. Pitch 3 is a good pitch since it describes the entire plot of the movie in a simple way of understanding, and it also has an interesting plot to it. It is also a good pitch since me and Taylor figured out it would be a fun movie to film.

     Finally, out of all three pitches, my group can only choose one of them. Through two days of thinking and making three pitches, we also got an idea of which ones are better than the other. Pitch 1 was too complicated to film with the skills we have currently, so we got rid of that one first. The next two, pitch 2 and 3, were both really good in me and Taylor's eyes. Pitch 2 highlighted a supernatural and unique kind of plot. I was really looking forward to this movie as a comedy. It fully holds the possibility of that with its not so violent and serious tone to it. Pitch 3 showed off what it means to be lost and confused. The main character and possibly even the possible viewers are confused up until the very end of the movie. Concluding this, me and Taylor preferred pitch 2 as the best pitch we had, so we will continue to work with it for the Final Task of AICE Media.

Starting the Final Task

                                                                 Starting the Final Task                                   

     Re-introducing myself, my name is Peter. I am in high school and I am taking the Cambridge program. I have a lot of very good grades and since I started high school, I have gained many friends. I enjoy making my self satisfied, and this depends on my feelings. I felt that I have not changed that much since middle school, but I do like that about me. My self esteem in high school compared to my 8th grade year is almost equal, which is an extremely good thing for me. For my extracurricular activities, I am enrolled in 4 clubs, namely the Animation, Model United Nations, Surfriders, and the Anime club. In my free time I like to play games, go on my phone, and watch anime. My group for the final task is a duo, and her name is Taylor. I was thinking I would go alone, but I figured that it would be much more efficient with another student, which worked out well.

     Over the past school year, I felt that the Cambridge program really changed me. AICE Media especially changed me the most since I had to adapt to turn in my work on time. Through AICE Media, I learned how to better manage my time through the blogs. I have always had a 'talent' to somehow turn in work on time, for the most part. Through the school year, Media has always threw different challenges, and allowed my 'talent' show the most. A most noteworthy example of this was when the midterm due date came around. Under tough circumstances, I managed to turn in my work 6 minutes before it was due. Also, Media helped me type and understand things faster, since the pace is fast. I have also learned a few more talents/skills such as filming and observation. Overall, switching to AICE Media was an excellent choice I made and it makes me excited to have tried out a new learning experience.

     To make our movie, we need to think of some ideas before hands, and this is where pitches come in. A pitch is a generalization of a movie in 25 words or less. It describes the key plot in simplicity, so then we had to make three of our own. Someone has the ability to use his spirit as a ghost and tries to stop a construction company from destroying his house since he's "dead" is our first pitch idea. It features a supernatural ability in a normal world. Someone has the ability to predict events in the future and he/she predicts his family dying, then he tries stopping his predicted events through effort, is our second pitch idea. This pitch idea was supposed to create a suspenseful plot.  Someone "wakes" up from a coma, then gets kidnapped by the gang of criminals who put him into a coma, but he didn't actually wake. This idea for a movie is all about major plot twists, and the end itself is the biggest plot twist of them all. Our group created these three pitch ideas through concentrated effort, which will help us greatly when completing the final task for AICE Media.