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I learned that producing a movie or movie opening is very difficult. Through working with my group to the actual production of the movie. We did change a few things about our movie while we were making it. We ran into the problem of finding extras to act in our film. Because of this we had to change what was in the script on the spot.  In turn, this changed our shot-by-shot breakdown. Some of the shots that we took were not used in the rough and second cuts. The editor of our group had not submitted our second cut. So there was no new notes to go off of.

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Independent Distribution and Marketing Plan

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Independent Distribution and Marketing Plan

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1.  If you were to distribute your film independently, how would you do it?

If I was to distribute our film independently, I would want to have our movie stream. I feel that more people just scroll and find movies they want to watch when they’re bored than go into theaters for movies they have never heard of before. I would put it on Amazon Prime Video. I would approach BITMAX. Even though they charge $600 a movie, there’s a better chance of it being seen.

2. What is the title of your film? Do you think your title works?  Why or why not (short and sweet, pithy, reflective of genre, aimed at target audience, etc.)?  How could it be improved and why?  Do you have a new title now?

The title of our movie is called Sun Explosion. It is a bit straight forward and gives away the movie. I would prefer to change it to something like Heat Waves. It connects with the idea of increasing heat throughout the movie.  We could also add something in the title with the word Helios. That is a common word used for sun.

3.  Create a tag line for your poster.  Aim for familiar but fresh.  Remember your genre, and your target audience.

5 Billion Years too Soon.

This would help to have people attention drawn to our movie.

4.  Create a paragraph sketch of your target audience member.  Think about who would be interested in your film and why?

I feel that our audience would spend a lot of time on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This is because of their age range. They like the outdoors and summer. They might be a part of a global warming foundation. They would like to hang out in quieter coffee shops. I could put an ad in their social media feed and on the popular channels on TV. There would be more views there, rather than anywhere else. The people un our audience would also wear the wardrobe of college students. Places that they could go are Urban Outfitters, Gap, Old Navy, and online shops.

5.  Using your notes from number four above, think about how your could reach that target audience if you were self distributing your film on YouTube or Vimeo or a similar platform.   How can you use that information to REACH them?  Where will you advertise?

I would use my own social media to advertise my movie to others. If I was to post it to YouTube, I would tell my friends and family to watch and promote the movie on their socials so then it reaches audiences without having to pay anyone.

6.  How would you ENGAGE your target audience online?  How will you turn passive audience members into ACTIVE, ENGAGED audience members? This is in reference to pull marketing (or interactive marketing).  How will you get them to click on your ads?  What would you offer them in the form of promotions?  How would you incentivize them to repost/retweet/share/forward your ad?  Please INCLUDE SOME OUT OF THE BOX THINKING!  Audience engagement must be addressed in your critical reflections.

I would turn our audience into active and engaged audiences by saying that for every time you fill out a survey that we have, they could get 50% off the movie ticket. That would help to engage our audience because if a new movie with a popular genre has cheaper ticket prices, more people will flock to our movie. The ads would be interesting to look at, there would be warm tones with our main character in the middle. Because the tickets would get cheaper by each completion of the survey per person, more people would show up to the movie.

7. How would you design your movie's poster?  How will you design it to be both familiar and fresh in regard to genre? What two or three main colors would you use? What is in the foreground and background? What iconography will be used? Type of fonts/typography?

I would design our movie poster to have warm tones in the background. The sun would be in the middle, looking dangerous. Our main character would be in the middle looking like they’re struggling. The colors are warm because the sun is made of yellows, reds, and oranges. Our movie Title would be at the top with our main actress and director. On the bottom, our poster would have our tagline in blocky, cool letters. The sudden change in color would catch people’s eyes because it would contrast with the warm colors. The phone notification could be used, as well as the basic warning triangle symbol. Fire could also be a symbol, because with excessive heat, fire comes.

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Equipment and accomplishment:

There will be an emphasis on warm colored light and natural lighting. We could use a ring light and just light from outside for this. This will show the heating effect from the sun and the firey light coming from it. For the sound we can use the background noise of people along with special effects to make it seem like the sun is loud. Panicking people sounds could also be used here. We can accomplish some of the on-set sounds by having people surrounding the set talk or be loud to make it seem like there are more people around than shown.

Shot by shot breakdown:

Scene 1 (street/outside in public or crowd)

Close up on her face - phone screen reflecting light

Over the shoulder shot – when the notification pops up

POV shot - when she reads the notif.

Medium shot – continues walking

POV shot – two new notifications

Wide shot (outward Zoom) – looking up from her phone to see/ hear screaming and panicking

Scene 2 (L cut J cut thingie)

Wide shot – mom putting a bowl of food on the counter

Medium shot – looking up at TV

Zoom – onto the news broadcast

Scene 3 ( L/J cut thing)

Medium shot- news broadcast

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1. A one or two sentence description of the first two minutes. What happens?

Three people are in space fixing their ship when suddenly the technology goes wonky.

2. What is the genre and who is the target audience for this film?

Sci-fi, teens and up,

3. Describe the opening credits and title sequences, including any company logos or idents. When do they appear? What color/font are they using? How does it "align" with the opening of the film? Anything else you notice?

The opening scene was very scenic, it emphasized the void of space and how big everything is compared to humans. The colors contrast between the darkness of space, and the whiteness of the ship, space suits, and the rising sun. This aligns with the fonts that were used because the fonts were futuristic and technological. Space is typically looked at with futuristic ideas, so they align well together. I also noticed that there was not much sound. It was noticeably quiet until you saw the girl in the ship, where she beings talking while observing the space around her.

3. Describe it visually -- a shot by shot breakdown that includes type of shot/movement, if any.

In the beginning there is a pan and then an outward zoom. This is there to emphasize the setting, and how empty it is. There was a strange turn used in the outward zoom. It gave the feel of floating about in space, until other characters appear in the corner of the shot. There are straight cuts in-between characters which still showed space and the quietness of it. Over the shoulder shots were used to show the details of the spaceship. Whenever the camera is being used in space, it is either handheld or purposefully moving. It helps to emphasize the floaty feeling that you have in space. The wide shot of the ship above earth gives the feeling that they are stranded.

4. Describe the sound -- another "sound by sound" for the entire two minutes.

As I have mentioned plenty of times before, there is not a ton of sound. There is a soft white noise playing throughout the first two minutes. As the camera moves farther back however, you hear “Africa” by Toto playing. The conversations between the astronauts are muffled by their helmets. When the technology starts malfunctioning, you hear the buttons and beeps of the machinery inside the ship.

5. Describe how you felt at the end of the two minutes. Did you want to know more? What was left hanging if anything? What questions do you still have?

I wanted to know more. I was left hanging with a feeling of anxiety because something went wrong. I wanted to know how the problem was solved. What caused the problem? Why did it happen? How was it fixed?

6. How would you describe the editing style in this clip? Any editing techniques you noticed, or length of shots?

The director and cinematographer favorited a bit longer of shots, closeups, and wide shots. They liked to emphasize the loneliness of space.

7. How did these first two minutes adhere to conventions?

It adhered to conventions by showing off the ship and the feeling/sights of space.

8. How did these first two minutes break with conventions?

The first two minutes broke conventions by having the astronauts outside the ship. Usually, they are inside. Also, a problem happened two minutes in. In movies it typically takes a little bit longer than that.

9. How did these first two minutes represent social groups, people, or issues?

It represented the futuristic ideas of space exploration.

10. Why was this film distributed on this site?

This film was newly released, and someone wanted to have a better preview before they saw it in theatres.

11.    EXTRA CREDIT: Any other thoughts or comments or realizations you had about film openings after viewing this clip?

Film openings are very underrated when it comes to feeling things and analyzing the situations presented. In any movie I do not really pay attention to the beginning feeling I receive. Now, when I analyzed this opening, I realized the emotions I received. The feeling of anxiety, and awkward quietness in the void made me queasy and uncomfortable.

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In class from November to December we learned about editing, sound, and screenwriting/screenplay format. We had taken pages of notes for each of these topics. We had created multiple documents containing at least 20 diverse kinds of editing techniques. During this time, we also watched two documentaries. These documentaries were “The Cutting Edge,” which was based on film editing, and “Making Waves” which was based on cinema sound. We also watched a video on the use of color. Another thing we did was we read the script of “The Incredibles” which taught us how to format screenplays using special software. For our midterm project we had to create a two-minute-long film based on a nightmare.

For our midterm we had to create a two-minute-long film opening for a horror film based on a nightmare. It was quite challenging. We were only allowed to have minimal dialogue because it was supposed to have ambient sound, sound effects, and music. That said, we were not allowed back-to-back music. We also had to have 3 cross cuts between the dream and real life. We had to edit shots and then include a blog post. These were our requirements: The film must also include one  close up; one dutch angle; one high or low angle; one low key light set up or one silhouette; one pan or tilt or track/push or spinaround; one zoom or dolly zoom;  one subliminal cut or multitake or smash cut; one match cut; one  J cut or L cut; one use of slow or fast motion; one intentional use of color for story/emotion; one instance of intentional use of costume/hair/makeup; one instance of visual complexity in setting choice (color, texture, depth, lines, shapes, etc.); three sound effects; one piece of incidental music or one sound motif repeated three times.

I adhered to conventions/codes/audience expectations and engagement by using sounds and angels to emphasize the emotions and eerie vibe of the setting. I used Dutch angles and color to add in a confusing feeling for the audience. I also added a scream at the end, which is a basic code for horror related films. I represented the idea of not knowing who is on the phone when they call. It can be scary. I also represented the fear of not knowing where you are.

I think that the use of color in my film was successful. It emphasized the setting of the dream, and at least for me, a feeling of confusion. I also think that some of my shots were creative, like the ones where the camera is inside the cabinet and Victoria grabs a glass. I think that the lighting of the character in real life was unsuccessful. I tried my best to cut down the time in my video. That did not work considering that the length of the video is 2:31.  It was hard to find lighting that wasn’t too bright but was enough to not be grainy. It just ended up being too bright. The hardware I used in my film was my computer, and my ring light that had an attached tripod. I used CapCut to edit my film, screams, phone ringing sound effects, and my script as well. I learned that filming alone is so much harder than filming with a group. I also learned that hiding your shadow is very hard.

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In class we studied genres. The genres we studied were: Horror, Drama, Biopics, Thriller, B-Movies, Animation, Musicals, Indie, Superhero, Comedy, Sports, Family, Film Noir, Mystery, Historical, Western, War, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Crime, Fantasy, Documentaries, and Romance. In class we went over the conventions, codes, and audience expectations of each genre. We also watched a clip from each of the the three movies per genre. Some of the examples used in each presentation were hybrid movies. Hybrid movies are movies that have multiple genres.

Our group has decided that both of our movies were young adult and drama. We came to this decisions by combining the ideas of how relatable settings and problems were brought up. The audiences emotions were about the same as to what is expected of a young adult and drama film. Two shots were a very common camera shot used in our films. We had the aspects of a drama movie because we had complex characters and issues that take after real life. We broke codes by making the bully have a sad backstory in the first movie and having the victim and the bully become friends. In the second movie we had the victims get the bully reported.

My favorite genre is superhero. I think that it would be a cool idea to have a normal school girl realize she has some sort of mystical ability and have to save something or someone. We would have the character be some sort of nerd and have them unlock their powers somehow. The character would have a secret identity and have maybe some family troubles at home. In the end there should be a twist where the character loses their powers and has to gain them back somehow. It could have some elements from Spiderman. It could also have elements form Captain Marvel and how she got her powers.

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The link to the video: C:\Users\451975.PROD.001\Downloads\Bully Hero.mp4

For this assignment we were assigned another groups project. We had to change and improve their script and add 10 diverse kinds of shots and camera movement. The original plot was about a boy who was bullied and getting the bully suspended. I do not believe that our group fully understood the assignment when it was given to us. We did not change the script very much. We had the same plot. Instead of changing the script we focused more on improving the camera and acting. We only changed the number of characters and how the story progressed through the camera movements. Instead of Having only one friend, we added a new character to give Maya a bit of a backbone to lean on. We made the story seem more realistic throughout camera movements. We guided the camera through each scene with angles and how we would pan in-between characters. When the fight scene came up, we chose to include a POV shot from both Maya and Maria. This would help to show the realism within the fight by showing each other's views. We included both high and low angle shots to show the level of power between the bully and the victim. I would say that all-in-all our camera movements and different shot types really helped our story become whole. The shot types and camera movements we included are a close, depth, high angle shot, long shot, low angle shot, pan left, three shot, track out, two shot, and a wide shot. The roles I played in this movie were and actor and the camera man. I was an actor in the last film that I made, so there was a difference in how the process went along. In the first movie I was constantly repeating lines and was focused on where I was going, and what I was saying. In this movie I was focused and making sure that people were in frame. I made sure that I was filming in ways that would look and sound good on camera. I feel that using the camera to film the movies rather than acting in them was far more fun. Our video could obviously still use some tweaking but was very well put together for a second time.

Our movie was taken in many ways. Our film had plenty more types of shots than the ones listed above, however they weren’t seen by the viewers as we had hoped. Mrs. Marquis had many things to say about how our cuts needed to line up more. We should try to perfect the end of a shot to start the next in the correct position. I think that if we were to improve those points, the audience would be able to connect with the story much more. Another problem with our movie is the sound quality. It was a major improvement from the first movie our group made, however it still was not the best it could be. We used microphones when filming the movie, but they obviously did not help very much. I do appreciate the mics, but we still could have needed better because we are in a huge open area. Some of the shots in our movie worked and others did not. The POV shots were successful because they displayed the power difference between Maya and Maria. Whenever we panned to the left or right, it helped to smoothly transition from each setting. The establishing shot was great because it showed where our story takes place. We tried to show the progression of how reporting issues like bullies to people can help others in the long run. We showed this during the scene where I come up and thank Maya, Kaylee, and Natalia for reporting Maria and getting her suspended because I was being bullied by Maria. I feel that our movie was successful for being the second one we’ve made. Even though it still needs improvements, it was not as bad as I had thought it would be.

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The film linked was this year's first film. The film did not have a title. The film was based on the topic of bullying. In the video, a girl gets bullied by someone and then becomes their friend. Natalia was the director, Kaylee was the camera person, Mya, Maria, Brielle, and I were the actors. We spent a class period recording the film outside in the courtyard. After we finished filming Natalia put the clips together. We had our doubts about this project, but it was the first one of the year so it was to be expected.
Our film had multiple strengths and critiques. Considering it was our first project of the year, that is ok. In my opinion, our film was average to begin with. Our film needs improvement, but we will get there eventually. We filmed on our phones and in the school's courtyard. The set we used already posed its problems. The sound was too muffled or drowned out due to others talking. The camera was a bit too far away to hear our actors talking. The wind made it hard to hear as well. For the strengths we were told we had were that we had smooth transitions and we had natural acting. Our transitions were smooth due to the editing Natalia did. We used a fade in to begin our scenes. Our acting seemed natural to our viewers which is great. Overall, our film was not too bad but also not the best it could be.