Sabrina Lopez-Gonzalez AICE MEDIA STUDIES by sabrina lopez https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies en-us 2022-08-24 17:35:23 UTC 2024-03-31 17:06:20 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f603.png First Student Film/ Reflection sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2270437359 This was our first film in Aice Media Studies. In this film I was an actress that was called Betsy. This film was about these two friends and their adventure to find gold but there was a plot twist with different actors. Overall this film was an incredible experience with many ups and downs as our knowledge in film is only progressing. For it being the first film, the editing was very good including many transitions that gave more of an effect. The opening of the film was confusing since it was not a part of our film but we know for next time. In the film, the director was very good including over the shoulder shots, the spin around shot, but towards the ending, the slo motion was way too long. This film did not include the best sound since there were many background noises. But over all the story line was well developed for it being the first film. I cannot wait for the films in our future and how the will get better.]]> 2022-08-24 18:03:30 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2270437359 Film Remake and Reflection sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2309259683 For this assignment, our team was assigned another groups original film and we had the task of rewriting and improving their script, including ten different kinds of shots and camera movement. The original plot of the story was about this couple where the boyfriend had cheated on his girlfriend, and as revenge she wanted to poison him but there was a twist and she accidentally killed her best friend. Our revised plot, did include the principal which was that the boyfriend had cheated on his girlfriend, but we revised it and tweaked, changing the plot to be that the girlfriend chose to publicly humiliate her boyfriend as revenge, but he was so humiliated that he died from the embarrassment. In this film we had 12 different specific shot/ movement types and those included: close up, depth, high angle shot, long shot, low angle shot, over the shoulder shot, pan left/ right, three shot, track in, track out, two shot, and wide shot. Throughout this film I played the same roll as last time, which was being an actor in the film. I enjoyed my experience in this role because I liked being a part of the film, I also enjoyed the whole team working together to make an enjoyable film for everyone to watch including different shots to add more suspense and humor in the film. 

Overall the film was good with a few shots that we need to perfect. But overall the storyline of the film was very easy to understand and it was smooth. The different shots used for the film fit in very well, keeping the audience informed while the characters do not know what is occurring. It kept the audience intrigued to know how the individuals would react. Although it went smooth and well, there are things we could have done better. For example a certain rule we missed with our film was the 180 degree rule, when we were switching sides in the over the shoulder shot to see the individuals faces and reactions. Along with that, the sound was an issue, but these are things that we will keep in mind for the next film. Three individual shots that I thought worked well were the spin around in the beginning of the film when Quantavion told his girl friend that he loved her but had his fingers crossed and showed us, the over the shoulder when Quantavion was showing how he was recording Charles the lll cheating, and the low angle shot when Quantavion was running down the stairs to tell the horrible news to Emma. I personally liked these the most because with these different shots during the scenes we achieved the message we wanted to portray. ]]> 2022-09-22 18:01:17 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2309259683 Genre and Representation sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2359499360     For this module in class, we undertook a deeper study of genre and representation. We studied various movie genres: musical, mystery, horror, super heroes, romance, drama, crime, adventure, sports, thriller, war movies, animation, comedy, and science fiction. When we were learning about the different genres we studied the conventions( (stories, characters and their representations, setting, iconography, values), codes (cinematic elements including camera work, lighting, editing and special effects), and audience expectations (emotions, reactions). Along with learning about the different properties included in each, we watched three movie clips of the different time periods that highlighted the specific genre. Some of the films were hybrid- they involved more than one genre through the film. For example, a popular choice that would be considered a hybrid is comedy action.
    Reflecting on the films we made in this class with this module, I realize that our first film was a hybrid of drama and adventure. Our plot involved a new student being crossed by his friend when he was on the lookout for a treasure that was hidden on campus. The characters were all distinct but had something in common- to find the treasure. Miguel represented the adventure in the movie and also kept us on our tippy toes because he did not know he was being crossed by his "friend." Bartholomew represented the drama because he was betraying his friend. Betsy represented the wickedness in the film and Jessica acted as the guide to Miguel because she knew something he did not. During this film we included several elements: wide shot, tracking, two shot, slow motion, fast motion, depth and special effects that would be seen in cartoons. All these things influenced the expectations we were trying to receive. We wanted individuals to think "Who will end up with the treasure", while seeing the events leading up to the treasure being found. Our other film however, was not a hybrid. It's genre was drama with a setting of a girl that finds out about her cheating boyfriend and finds her revenge. This films purpose was to see what the girl would do to her boyfriend, all while he did not know he was going to be getting consequences for his action. He had no idea that someone told his girlfriend he cheated. Charles the third cheated on Emma with Martha, and Emma found out through her friend Quantavion, who had helped Emma plot her vengeance. Our purpose through this film was to hate Martha and Charles, but also want to know how bad he would receive karma. His cluelessness keeps us intrigued throughout the movie, but so does the cinematic elements that we included. They involve wide shots, pan around shots, tracking, and the depth. Although it was an interesting film, we broke the important 180 degree rule which could have caused confusion within the audience.
Although those genres were fun, my favorite genre to film would be an action comedy. With my team it would be an incredible experience to film a synopsis that would have the audience feeling intense anticipation until they fall off their seats, along with the side of comedy that will have them grasping for more air to breathe. This would include the first two minutes of a film with the credits, idents and logos. There will be a lot of different angles, tracking , wide shots, pan around, and it will have the audience expecting explosions, puns, and elation. They will feel stress being relieved since it will be a comedy as well as an action film.

]]> 2022-10-27 18:00:11 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2359499360 Editing and Sound- Midterm Film sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2442430619    During November and December I learned various things. Now I have a deeper knowledge in editing, sound, and screenwriting/ screenplay format. I studied film editing techniques and watched a documentary on film editing called "The Cutting Edge" and a video on the use of color. I also  watched a documentary on cinema sound ("Making waves"). On top of that, I  read the screenplay for "The Incredibles," and learned how to format screenplays using special software, and wrote a two minute horror film opening about someone having a nightmare as the basis for my midterm film project.
    For my midterm film there were requirements including a one to two minute film that is horror or a horror hybrid. I needed to make an opening for the midterm, instead of having a finished film product. There was minimal dialogue (mostly music, sound effects/ambience) no wall-to-wall music; no long takes; start in black with company ident and/or logo and title before straight cut or dissolve to first image; minimum of three crosscuts between actor and nightmare; edited/shot/uploaded by myself with an accompanying blog post. This film also includes 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 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; one piece of incidental music or one sound motif repeated three times.  
    I showed the horror conventions by portraying a teenage girl that is scared of bananas. In her dream we demonstrate this by showing the girls reaction to seeing a banana. She runs away, has moments where she wakes up, and feels disoriented by this banana. The audience will see the horror in the film but will also laugh since it is such a random fear, but it is intriguing because the audience do not know why she is scared of the banana so early on. This will make them want more. The codes also demonstrate that it is a horror film through the different forms of camera work included along with the actresses skills. Although it is a horror movie, it is a hybrid of horror and comedy. Therefore there are moments that the conventions and codes will be broken for the horror side of it to build them for the humorous side. Also  the audience expectations and engagement will be broken because they will be busy laughing at the fact that a teenage girl is terrified of a banana. I represented individuals that have a greater fear for fruit due to traumatic experiences but in a comedic/ scary way which allows individuals to feel safe-mostly towards teenagers. I represented teenagers and their fear of fruit. It is just a simple random fear shown.
In my piece, I thought I had success in showing the main idea throughout it all. I think the colors used to orientate what is going on helped as well. The actress also had moments where she shows her fear by having a close up and seeing sweat marks. This indicates that she is feeling fear in her dream. I do believe that I could have had more success with the transitions but since it is a free editing app it was limited. Also, the sound could have been better in some situations. I used CapCut to edit and use sound for the film; I learned many things throughout this experience since it was my first time doing everything by myself: editing, directing and making a plot. This was beneficial since I will have to do another one for the Cambridge exam. ]]> 2023-01-12 15:27:26 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2442430619 Two Minute Film Opening Analysis sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2467090342 1. A one or two sentence description of the first two minutes. What happens? 
       In the first two minutes of the film, the credits are given along with discomfort and confusion for the girl with the dragon tattoo.
2. What is the genre and who is the target audience for this film? 
       This film is a psychological thriller and the targeted audience would be 15-35-year-old men. 
 
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? 
      In the first six seconds of the film, it presents "Columbia and Metro Pictures", after this it starts showing snippets of what seems to be a girl with uncomfortable presentations. It aligns with the opening because it is all dark and gives an idea of how the movie will be, but while also leaving you curious and wanting more.
 
3. Describe it visually -- a shot by shot breakdown that includes type of shot/movement, if any. 
    In the first two minutes there are a lot of dissolve cuts and match cuts. Most of the time it is in lowkey lighting and then transitions into a dragon in fire with a bold color. In the different shots it only pays attention to one thing at a time and in dark lighting- not much use of bold colors except for the fire which indicates that it it is important and a symbol throughout the movie.
4. Describe the sound -- a "sound by sound" analysis of the entire first two minutes.  
    For this film opening of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it has hard metal music and intensifies as the time passes. This adds on to the agony that comes along with the film opener for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 
 
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 I felt confused, uncomfortable but curious as well. I felt like I needed to watch more of the movie because I still don't have an understanding of what it is about. I know the movie is a thriller and will be uncomfortable and probably gory, but it seems like it will be super good as well. I want to know who the girl is, if the dragon tattoo is a symbol or motif throughout the movie, and what happens in the movie. Overall, the opening scene left me with millions of questions.
6. How would you describe the editing style in this clip? Any particular editing techniques you noticed, or length of shots?       I noticed that all the shots were very short and didn't leave any understanding of the plot of the movie. The editing style seemed like it was made in a way to leave us curious, uncomfortable and mostly- interested.   
7. How did these first two minutes adhere to conventions? 
  The first two minutes adhered to conventions because it was made to leave the audience interested. It insisted that it would be a thriller film and it did not describe the whole movie in the first two minutes of the film- it left us wanting more.
 
8. How did these first two minutes break with conventions? 
 The first two minutes broke conventions in a sense by doing things in an unusual way. It left us knowing that it would be a thriller but not in the way most movies would, instead it showed discomfort with the human body and animals. It was very confusing which some people would classify it as breaking the normal conventions to satisfy individuals in the movie industry. For example, there wasn't much use of lighting, it was all black and dark grey, there was no dialogue and music throughout the background which people would say is wrong, and acting was not portrayed in a usual way.
 
9. How did these first two minutes represent social groups or people or issues?   
  It did not represent much because there were no real characters and no dialogue, but through the music, breakdown of the scenes and what was happening it showed a mystery. This represented a group a people who are into mysterious movies, or psychological thrillers.
 
10. Why do you think this film was originally distributed in the way that it was? 
  The film was distributed like this because it is a psychological thriller and in the first two minutes it shows just that. It leaves us questioning what will happen with discomfort as well.
 
11. Any other thoughts or comments or realizations you had about film openings after viewing this clip? 
  I realized that when there is less, there really is more. For example, there was no dialogue, we do not know anything yet about the film but at the same time, we are invested as the audience wanting more. We also learn through this that it will be an uncomfortable movie.
 
 

]]> 2023-02-03 04:12:43 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2467090342 Preproduction Requirements sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2482435548 For our production I will be the cinematographer. There are different things that will be essential for our film. 
    Special lighting consideration equipment
-Disco ball, low key lighting, we want to accomplish lighting from a nightclub and will accomplish that with a disco ball light. 
      Sound consideration/ equipment.
-Pop loud music, music to dance, a boom mic. We will have a speaker for the effect of a nightclub and will use a boom mic to be able to have the best sound possible.
     Shot list broken by location and scene.
- The locations would be a neighborhood clubhouse to get the illusion that we are in a nightclub and then we will also have a shot in the car while the individual is driving the person off.
-The scene of the clubhouse is where these girls meet a guy and someone (doesn't show who) puts something in their drink to take advantage of each other. 
- On February 18th we will do the shots inside the clubhouse that show the people in the party meeting each other and the woman pouring something in the mans drink. On that same day we will do the shot of the man in the backseat of the car as well as the woman driving off. This is because we want to have extra time for any changes as the first rough cut is due March 3rd. After this rough cut we will see what should be improved and tweaked and fix things as we go for our second deadline which is March 21st. But as of now, we will film everything on the same day with all our actors and locations.


]]> 2023-02-14 18:43:29 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2482435548 Independent Distribution and Marketing Plan sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2512793059 1. If we were to distribute our film I would try and get a theatrical distribution. This movie would be cut for theatres as it is a thriller movie of a girl slipping a drug into a guys drink at the club. I would get a sales agent if needed so they would get our film into a studio that would allow us to get theatrical distribution. If I were only interested in streaming's I would choose FilmHub because it is a credible source and a great aggregator that would get our film to distributors and streamed. A smaller niche streaming service I would choose would be Acorn Tv because it has many men from ages 18-35 years old that use this streaming service and that is our targeted audience.

2. The title of our film is "Slipped." This is a very clever name for our film as it fits perfectly. Our film is about a woman that drugs a guy in the club by slipping something into his drink. But it is a film that is meant to leave the audience confused because at first they do not know if the girl drugged the guy, or if it is the other way around. This is also a short title that leaves curiosity and interest. This is good for our film because it brings attention to it. This title does not need to be improved because it is very intelligent and perfectly fits our film.

3. A tag line for our poster is "revenge is best served... when it's least expected."

4. The target audience of this thrillers are 18-30 year old males. Around the age of 25 and older around half of the male population has a bachelors degree and their median income is 35k. Their interests are music, fitness, food and sports. They care about making a living for themselves and being in shape. This is the highest age range that uses social media: TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Online they mostly follow sports pages and silly memes. In real life most hang out with their select group of guy friends and significant other if they have one. They wear athletic clothes or business outfits: Nike, UnderArmour, Adidas. They watch Netflix, Hulu, Youtube and sports channels. They are buying apartments, cars and have a wide range of things they eat. 

5. I would self distribute on Youtube, DirecTV, ESPN, FuboTV, Hulu, Instagram, Under Armour, Adidas, Nike, and Gymmshark. I would put the posters on the nonvirtual sites and add teasers/ trailers as ads on the virtual sites. This way it would reach most males from ages 18-30 years old. I would do this because from the research I found that these are the most popular websites and places for my target audience. 

6. I would do promotions for the clothing stores: Under Armour, Adidas, Nike and Gymshark. I would include the actors from the film as models from those stores to gain recognition and promote my movie. Through Youtube, DirecTV, ESPN, FuboTV, Hulu and Instagram I would have the well known actors post on their instagram and the other sites I would post my trailers on. I would also include promotions for them watching it. I would include another movie that a famous actor from my film is in with a deal to pay for it. This way they would get a two for one by watching my film and then a recognized film. Since this film reminds individuals to take care of themselves and not trust others, my incentive for them reposting would be that by reposting an ad saying to take care of yourself with my movie promoted in the ad, it will add a dollar to a gofund me account that will help with this problem in the world.

7. I will design my poster by using dark colors and the name of the film "Slipped" will be in red. The main colors will be red, black, and grey. This will remind the audience that it is a dark film and it is a thriller film. It will be familiar in regard to the film because those colors correlate with many of the same film genre movies as mine. In the foreground and background will me a tequila shot cup and hands. It will be the main idea of the picture with the title of the movie and under will be the tag line. The iconography used will be shadows to create tension and mystery. The font used will be Futura.


]]> 2023-03-11 17:54:46 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2512793059 Production & Editing Reflection sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2530997454 During the production process I have learned many new things that will benefit us for the next cuts. This film showed us that we must take pressure off the actors and direct them in a manner that will make them act natural. Also, for our film we should have more actors to show a better nightlife atmosphere. It is also very important to have extra film in the beginning and end of cuts to make is easier for the editor. For our second cut we modified the music and added slight changes to make the film run smoother and be more pg rated. This will make the film look more professional. ]]> 2023-03-25 00:44:17 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2530997454 Creative Video Reflection sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2548476238 2023-04-10 05:16:35 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2548476238 Final Film “Slipped” sabrinalopez4193 https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2548483522 2023-04-10 05:23:16 UTC https://padlet.com/sabrinalopez4193/aicemediastudies/wish/2548483522