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AICE Media Studies -"Don't Think." (Critical Reflection)

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During the production process of our film, we have learned how to accurately and effectively film our shots to adhere to the common conventions of the genre of our film: teen romance drama. We have also learned to adapt to unexpected dilemmas that came up before the making of our film. For instance, we had to modify the setting our film takes place in as our film now does not include stairs as it was originally planned to in the script. In addition, we also had to add voiceover that corresponds to the girls thoughts in our film during the editing process. When the second cut of our film was viewed, we were given feedback on our voiceover and how we could change the effects on it in order to make it sound better. We also received feedback on our use of subtitles that they were unnecessary because our audio was clear enough to understand and comprehend. We also were reminded when receiving our feedback to include opening titles and credits as they were not present in our second cut.

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Independent Distribution and Marketing Plan -- Don't Think

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Independent Distribution and Marketing Plan -- Don't Think

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1.       To begin with, I believe that it would be best for or film to only be streamed. While making efforts to get our film streamed on services, I would approach Bitmax as an aggregator for our film due to their prior involvement in the distribution of compelling dramas. This genre that Bitmax has distributed before fits the genre of our film. This is why I would choose Bitmax as an aggregator for our film. Furthermore, Mubi and Kanopy are two streaming services that we might be able to approach directly. This is because both of these services provide select and niche movie genres, both of which including independent films. This niche selection of genres may give us the ability to directly approach these streaming services.

2.       Our film is titled “Don’t Think”. I believe that the title of our film does work for our movie as it  goes along with the movies genre and story. Also, it does aim at the target audience of anyone who tends to overthink and/or enjoys movies about people who struggle with overthinking. Although it is a pretty good title for the genre or our film, I do believe it could be slightly improved by making it more obvious that the film is about a relationship as well. As some audience members may or may not want to view a film involving a relationship. This is our film title at the moment.

3.       The tagline that I created for my poster is: “The thoughts she thinks… stinks”. This is a short, yet humorous way to get the attention of our target audience which may include young teens.

4.       The target audience of this genre is aimed towards young overthinkers, specifically female teenagers in high school. This target audience is aimed towards people who enjoys to feel emotions when viewing films as well as complex storylines, and relatable topics which can make the film more personal to the audience. It may also include target audiences that care about the mental health of teenagers today. This target audience of younger kids occupy many different social media platforms including: Instagram, snapchat, Facebook, Pinterest, and twitter. Also, this target audience of younger age teenagers tend to occupy locations that are well known, comfortable, and/or popular such as: coffee places and sit-down casual restaurants such as Panera, chipotle, and chick-fil-a. they also tend to watch videos and get entertainment on well-known sites such as Netflix, YouTube, amazon prime, Spotify, etc.

5.       If we were to self-distribute our film on YouTube or a similar platform, we may be able to reach our target audience by using their social media platforms, entertainment services, food locations, and more to figure out the best way and how to reach them. Ten places that I would place ads, target ads, teasers, and trailers include: Spotify ads, YouTube ads and video postings, film posters in select locations with lots of young people, Instagram shorts/ads, Pinterest film posters and ads, snapchat stories, promotional fliers in crowded areas such as movie theaters, promotional stands and ad hand outs at events, create social media accounts, and interactive activities in schools that can raise awareness of the issues being shown in our film. These ways to self-distribute our film would possibly give it a better chance to be seen by many people through providing ads in many different online and in person locations that attract our target audience of girl teenagers. I would do this if I had to self-distribute.

6.       I would engage our target audience online by using interactive marketing such as the use of potential giveaways to those who repost, retweet, share, and/or forward our ad. This would engage our audience and get them to click on our ads. Giveaways could include items such as movie tickets, gift cards, etc. For participating in something and reposting it in some way to others on social media. One example of this could be: make an paper with the title of our film in a creative font and/or design you imagine and repost the title on your story along with our ad for the chance to win a viewing of our film along with gift cards to chick fil a and jersey mikes.

7.       I would design our movies poster by including bold colors that pop when put against less exiting colors that catch the attention of our target audience. I would use the colors Green, blue, and gray as my three main colors. The green can symbolize life as the film involves young teenagers, the blue can represent the sometimes troubled and/or sad mind of youth as they overthink things, and the gray can be used both to help the green and blue stand out as well as contribute to the film’s genre. The foreground and background would most likely include more plain colors and objects while the middle ground would contain the bold colors possibly on the main characters shirt to draw the attention of the audience towards the main subject of the poster. The iconography that I would use would be slightly messy yet put together to represent the hectic and overthinking mind of a teenager.

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Lighting Considerations:
The lighting effects of this film that me and the director have discussed include a variety of different lighting types including both high key and low key lighting as well as a silhouette for the last scene in the film opening. The lighting in this film opening should correspond with the main characters emotions. For instance, as the girl starring in our film is alone and over thinking, the lighting will most likely be low key lighting created by props such as curtains to hinder the light penetration in the room. Also, filming at a later time in the day would create a more natural low key lighting. The use of high key lighting has also been discussed between me nd the director as a representation of the main character coming back to reality after being  briefly consumed in her thoughts. In addition to the use of natural lighting and props to get the effect of low key and high key lighting, saturation and brightness can also be edited after filming in order to make the scene appear as a bright or dark environment.
Sound Considerations:
In this film opening, the director and i have discussed using more muted sound to show the audience how the main character is consumed in her thoughts. This could be created by eliminating all types of sound including even the slightest noises such as white noise. In addition, as the girl starring in our film opening begins to come back to reality and escape her mind, the sound could begin to fade back in to be normal everyday surrounding noises. This would create a less is more approach to the film and actually contribute a lot to the tone and feeling the film opening brings.
Shot List (broken down by location and scene):
INT. KITCHEN ROOM AND LIVING ROOM SHOT LIST:
In this location, i wanted to include a wide establishing shot of the girl in her kitchen with her homework while the credits and logos montage through the first scene. also, i wanted to include two shots and extreme close ups of the girls hands and phone when receiving the message and while overthinking.
INT. KAITLYN BEDROOM SHOT LIST:
I also wanted to include medium shots, extreme close ups, close ups, long shots, panning shots, tracking shots, and tilts in Kaitlyn's bedroom. Some things Kaitlyn will be doing/experiencing include: while Kaitlyn is in her bedroom thinking of her text messages, gazing at her texts, replying to the text, and experiencing frustration and confusion.

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TWO MINUTE FILM OPENING ANALYSIS: To All The Boys I've Loved Before. 

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TWO MINUTE FILM OPENING ANALYSIS: To All The Boys I've Loved Before. 

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

In the first two minutes of this film, a girl is walking through a field of grass and sees a boy also in the field as she continues to walk while seemingly talking about love. This thought is abruptly interrupted by her sister and they proceed to have dinner with  their other sister and her boyfriend; the same boy in the first scene.

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

The genre of this film was a mixture of , romance, teen, drama, and comedy targeted towards a teen audience.

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 first opening credits of the film begin with a zoom pan right shot of "AWSOMENESS FILMS" in a mostly paintbrush like font with a white/blue coloring. This appears before any music has started or scenes have begun. After the music started, the next title sequence is in a neat white cursive font reading, "a Netflix Original Film". This aligns with the opening of the film as it fades into the screen almost synchronously to the first image the film shows. These white cursive letters continue to appear shortly after each other in this order: "an Awesomeness Films Production", and "an Overbrook Entertainment Production".

3.  Describe it visually -- a shot  by shot breakdown that includes type of shot/movement, if any.
In the first two minutes of this film, these were the shots I noticed in order: fade in, establishing shot, close up tracking shot, longshot, high angle track in, wide longshot, high angle longshot tilt, medium, medium close, quick pan left, medium, pan right, medium,
medium close, shot from the ceiling,
medium close, medium,
medium close, medium 2 shot, chest up, 2 shot, wide shot, medium tracking 2 shot,
Medium close, medium, three shot, pan right, longshot, medium close, wide shot, medium, medium, two shot, zoom in, close up, tilt, medium close, wide shot, medium shot, medium two shot, wide shot, shoulders up, shoulders up, medium close, medium close.

4.  Describe the sound -- another "sound by sound" of the entire two minutes.
Music, voice over/inner thoughts (non- diegetic) with music, sound effect, dialogue, sound effect, dialogue, dialogue, music, sound effects, dialogue, asynchronous dialogue, sound effect, dialogue, dialogue, asynchronous sound effects, dialogue.

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?
at the end of the two minutes, the characters were still having a conversation that led me to suspect that one of the sisters is going away. I still am wondering how their mom died as it is mentioned in the first two minutes.

6.  How would you describe the editing style in this clip?  Any particular editing techniques you noticed, or length of shots?
I would describe the editing style in this clip as mixing both reality with inner thoughts/ unreality.
7.  How did these first two minutes adhere to conventions?
The first two minutes of this film adheres to common romance, teen, and drama conventions as it starts off with displaying the inner feelings of a teenagers mind and deep thoughts. This scene of the film opening also contributes to conventions for this genre as it only contained a boy and girl characters. Another way this film adhered to common romance conventions was its use of the color red in a green field. This setting especially brought out the red color of the girls dress symbolizing love as her thoughts began the story.

8.  How did these first two minutes break with conventions?
The first two minutes of this film breaks conventions as the boy that the girl appears to like seems to also like her back in a different way however. Commonly, other teen romance films have a girl who likes a guy that has never talked to her. However, this film begins with the boy that she appears to like already familiar with her family.

9.  How did these first two minutes represent social groups or people or issues?
These first two minutes represent social groups, people, or issues, as it shows a glimpse of the inner thoughts of a teenager that is hiding her feelings. many teenagers in this day and age might do this, which might result in dangerous actions to take place that many teenagers struggle with today.

10. Why do you think this film was distributed on this particular site?
I think that this film was distributed on this particular site because it is a very widely used and well known site/app today. Also, this site may have a large teenage/young adult following. This could have been a strategy in order to get the film known by their target audience.

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Throughout November and December of 2022, I learned about editing, sound, and screenwriting/screenplay format. Also, I studied film editing concepts and created documents featuring more than 20  kinds of editing techniques. In addition to this, I watched a documentary on film editing titled "The Cutting Edge" as well as a video on use of color. I also have learned about Sound basics and watched a documentary on cinema sound called, "Making Waves".   As a class, we read the screenplay for "The Incredibles" and got to see how actions and dialogue is written. I also was informed on how to format screenplays using special software, and wrote a two minute horror film opening about someone having a nightmare. This film opening was as the basis for my midterm film project.

For our midterm film, we were given a few requirements. The requirements include the film to be one to two minutes, a horror or horror hybrid, the film needs to be an "opening" rather than a finished film product, needs to have minimal dialogue and contain mostly music and sound effects/ambience, the film must start in black with company ident and/or logo and title, and we are required to edit, shoot, and upload our films and create an accompanying blog post. In addition to these guidelines, we can optionally add credits before straight cut or dissolve to first image. There is a minimum of three crosscuts between actor and nightmare, and wall to wall music and long takes are not allowed. 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, either one pan, tilt, track/push, or one spin-around, one zoom or dolly zoom, one subliminal cut or multi-take 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, and one piece of incidental music or one sound motif repeated three times. We also have the opportunity to earn extra credit in we include any of the following: quick cuts, montage, wide establishing shot, split screen, POV shot, reflection shot, intentional break of the fourth wall, intentional break of the rule of thirds, rack focus or pull focus shot, intentional use of handheld camera work, use of color filters to create a dream like quality, fisheye lens or fisheye effect, and a company logo with high quality graphic.

In my film, I adhered to the common horror convention of the character having a nightmare. I also adhered to this horror convention through my addition of a type of monster in the form of a spider. Some horror codes that I adhered to while making my film were shooting in low key lighting, and an underexposed environment. This created a mood of eeriness in my film.  Audience expectations in horror films that I adhered to were: fear, and suspense. I created fear and suspense by adding sound motifs and a moment of suspicion. While I've adhered to a few common horror conventions, codes, and audience expectations; I've also broken them in various ways. For instance, while horror films are commonly based in creepy or haunted settings; my film was based in the home of an exhausted chef. ive broken common horror conventions by making this a part of my film. One way that I've broken horror codes in my film was my un-inclusion of quick cuts at pivotal scenes. In addition to these, I've also gone against common audience expectations of horror films when the chef got fed up with his nightmare and smashed the spider that he was afraid of. Commonly, audiences don't expect the characters to defeat the antagonist of the story. In my film, I represented cooks and chefs and the idea of food cleanliness. This film shows how it is a priority to have a bug and insect free kitchen environment around food. Also, that the ideal environment is one with out bugs... especially in food.

In my piece, I was successful in my ability to add suspense and create a dream like scene. One key moment that exemplified this was when I tracked in to the main characters mind and tracked out when entering the dream. This paired with a dream filter created a scene that tells the reader that we are in the mind of the character at that specific point in the film. One of the things that was less successful in my film was my ability to create a convincing spider prop. This was less successful in my film because I had limited resources available that were necessary to make the spider appear real and to be crawling. In this project, I used iMovie to edit and add filters to my film, and YouTube for music. This project has taught me how to use an editing app to make a film. not only this, but I also learned how to detach and move audio from one piece of film to another.

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Aice Media Studies Midterm Film: The Crawler

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For this assignment in Aice Media Studies, each individual in our class either got to select a genre to research and describe in a PowerPoint. The genres we got to select from were: romantic, horror, drama, biopics, thrillers, B movies, animation, musicals, indies, superhero, comedy, sports, family, film noir, mystery, historical, western, war, sci-fi, YA (young adult), crime, fantasy, documentary, Shakespeare, and adventure.  We then presented our power points to the class along with 3 short movie clips that represented the genre we chose. During the making of this assignment, we studied the conventions, codes, and audience expectations for the various genres. However, some film clips that we viewed as a class were hybrids. Hybrids are movies that join two different genres into one movie with both aspects of the genres in the same film. One example of a hybrid film could be an adventure superhero movie such as, "Avengers Infinity War".

In our student films we created as a group in Aice Media Studies, the genre of the first movie we created was a YA (young adult) and drama hybrid. The genre of the the second film my group and I created was a YA (young adult) film. In our first film, our group conformed to conventions, codes, and audience expectations by including character representations, settings, and stories that are regularly used in the YA/drama genre. These inclusions consisted of; the bully and the victim making up, the bully with a rough family, and a school setting. In this film, we did not seem to break codes, conventions, or audience expectations. In our second group film, we conformed to conventions, codes, and audience expectations by including normally used camera shots in this genre such as high angle shots and low angle shots. We also based our story in an environment that is commonly used in the YA genre. One way that we broke conventions in this film was by having multiple victims of the same bully. This broke audience expectations because, usually in this type of film, the audience expects the bully to be focused on targeting one individual rather than many. Also, frequently in this type of film, fights that are caught on tape usually have no effect on the bully... however, in this film, the fight tape was the reason the bully got kicked out of school.

Personally, the adventure genre is one of my favorite genres. One potential story synopsis I would create for a final film project based on this genre would begin with a wide establishing spin around shot moving at a fast pace around a deserted island. While showing the credits all throughout the scene, they would begin to dissipate as the camera comes in closer to  the island and begins to show a treasure quest set in the past of a man on the island that goes through a series of a dangerous chain of events. As the man gets to the final obstacle in a mysterious cave and is now inches away from grabbing the gold, the screen turns black with a deep drum sound and transfers to a scene of the present day of another young man in a crowded market scene. Some codes/conventions/expectations I would be interested in exploring would be a convention with the characters changing their representation multiple times throughout the film and causing many different turns of events. This convention would add a sense of excitement and doubt to the story and would constantly shock the audience to keep them on the edge of their seats. I would also be interested in using lots of low key lighting and crane shots to add suspense to the audience in what will happen next. This cinematography would also show the audience the creepy events occurring around the characters and give them a wider perspective of the scene. In addition to this, the low key lighting would contribute to the adventure genre and add a mysterious touch to the film. In addition to these, I would be interested to include a lot of plot twists in my film in order to shock the audience throughout in order to keep them wanting to know what will happen next.

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For this Aice Media Studies Project, we were assigned with another groups original film. our task as a group was to improve the script and rewrite it. We also had to include a minimum of 10 different kinds of shots and camera movements. The original plot of the story was about a boy who was being bullied multiple times. This bully had multiple victims, and more were revealed as the story progressed. The main bully victim in the story eventually got the bully to be kicked out of school by turning in a video of the bully in action. Our Group improved the story by making the shots come together more smoothly through our choices of different shots and angles, including depth, focus, improvement of audio in various ways including a voice over, and a variety of different settings. Also, the 10 different kinds of shots and camera movements we used composed of: close ups, depth, an establishing shot, both high and low angle shots, long shots, three shots, two shots, track out, and panning left. I played the role of the director in the film, and I also made a brief appearance in the movie without lines. This role was different than the first film we created through the responsibilities I had, as well as the role I played in the film. This different position I took in the film was interesting, as I got to see the making of film in a different perspective than an actor or an audience.

To continue on the subject of our groups new film, we also
received both positive comments and constructive criticism on how we could have
improved our film more. Our film had good close-ups, focus, and points of view
from the characters. On the other end of the spectrum, our film could have been
smoother when transitioning between scenes, and our angles of the camera could
have been improved in order to see the actors faces more. In addition, one shot
type that we used in our student film that was a good choice to incorporate,
was the addition of close ups in the form of POV shots on the bully and the
victim. These shots worked for our film because, they provided another
perspective in our film, and gave separate viewpoints of two different
characters. This also gave our film more variety. Another type of shot that
worked well in our film was tracking shots. When adding tracking shots into our
movie, for example, when the victim is talking with another girl after being
bullied, the result gave a feeling to the audience of being involved with the
characters. This can engage the audience more in the film. Moreover, the
incorporation of tilts was also helpful in the making of our film. When adding
a tilt up of the bully victim getting up after falling in our film, it added a
smoothness to our transitions and takes; almost like a segue from one take to
the next.

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This was my first short film that I created with a group in my Aice Media Studies Class. My film members included: Natalia, Maria, Adriana, Kaylee, and Mya. i played the part of the girls friend. The film we created was about a girl who got frequently bullied during school. However, after overhearing the bullies' conversation with her mom over the phone; the girl comforts the bully and become friends. Additionally, later on in the film, when the same girl is picked on yet again by a different bully, her past bully stands up for her and aids the girl in escaping the situation. In this point of the film, the girls have made up, become friends, and the film comes to an end.

After showing the video multiple times to the class, we were given some constructive criticism on hw to improve the overall quality of our film. One piece of advice we were given was that we had poor audio and our class couldn't hear specific scenes in the film such as the scene of the girl and her talking at the lunch table. Apart from our lack of audio quality, we also received positive comments about our film. We were informed that our transitions were smooth, as well as the comment that the acting was natural especially in the scene of the bully and the girl making up.