The Struggle is Real.

How is this project going you may ask? I shall answer this question with the 3 S's: scary, saddening, and stressful. Why? BECAUSE IT IS MARCH 31ST AND WE DO NOT HAVE A CLEAR AND SOLID IDEA! We have some ideas in mind. They're not bad........but they're not good either.

Nico proposed the idea that kind of stuck,which was the guy who finds himself in the middle of the ocean, or any body of water, confused why he is there and when a mysterious guy on a paddle board approaches him and talks to him, he asks a question that startles and frightens the confused man. To be completely honest, I was not all for this idea. For starters, he proposed that the scene should end the way that it starts, which is an ariel shot of the body of water. The problem with that is, pretty much the only way we can achieve that shot is to get a drone or probably fly on a helicopter and that would be hard to do since we're lower than a low budget film and on top of that we are amateur film makers. I did not hate this idea though, I just thought a lot of things could have been added to establish more information so that they can understand what is happening, or what can happen, without spoon feeding it to them. I'm not entirely sure of this was my idea, but what I thought would be a good idea to have the guys shake hands or something of the sort to reveal a tattoo of a symbol on the stranger's wrist and it would be revealed using a close up to tell the audience(without actually telling them) that this symbol is going to be key information later on in the production. The tattoo of a symbol would represent that the stranger is part of an organization of some sort. I also thought it would be very good idea that the scene ends with the confused guy putting his hair behind his ear and a close up of the same tattoo is shown. This would make the audience thrilled and engaged, making them want to know what happened to this guy for him not to remember what happened and what the tattoo mean. Those would be my suggestions for Nico's ideas.

Now that I told you guys what thoughts the group had, I need to vent. I can't believe this is going to be my life for the next week and a half. Never have I ever felt so unhelpful, so useless, so sad. I feel poopy. I don't know if I just have bad ideas or that my ideas are just so unoriginal. Either way my ideas aren't striking out to my group and I want them to. I just want to have a good project that stands out from everyone else's but that's difficult when you don't even have a clear and attainable idea. I can barely find myself like what makes you think that I can find a decent idea. This is some tough tamales. I am suffering greatly, and probably so will this project if we do not find a good idea soon.

Film Openings Research

It is currently 7:54pm on March 26th, 2017 and we still don't have a solid idea. It's not because we are too lazy to come up with something good, its just trying to convey our ideas into something real and well-produced as well as finding good ways to keep our audience at the edge of our seats. Since we don;t have a solid idea for our film opening, we thought we should research some film opening from different thriller movies so that hopefully we will be inspired to produce our own film opening.

A favorite film that we have talked about in class is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. A psychological horror film that portrays a stressed and under pressured female that after stealing a large amount of money, she runs away so that she could marry the man she loves. She finds herself at a motel and stays the night there, which is revealed later on that staying the night was a terrible mistake. Since this movie is very thrilling, we decided to look at the film opening. The opening to Psycho is nothing more of just opening credits in white lettering on a black background. Although this 2 minute opening credits includes one thing that sets the tone for the rest of the move: music. The music included in the credits lasts for the entirety of the opening credits and it gives off a suspenseful tone because of the fast melody and low octave.

Another film that we chose to research was Gone Girl. This thriller film portrays a man, Nick Dunne, who is the prime suspect for his wife's disappearance and the resulting police pressure and media frenzy causes Dunne's image of a happy union to be crumbled, which questions him and his wife's relationship together. As for the opening to Gone Girl, it includes a voice over of what appears to be the husband talking about his wife or about marriage in a negative fashion while a close up of his wife shown on screen. While this is happening, music is being played in the background. This music gives a suspenseful tone but unlike the background music in Psycho, this music appears to be a lot softer in melody but it gives off the impression of a thrilling and suspenseful tone.


The third film we researched was Identity. This film is about these strangers who are stranded at a motel in Nevada during a storm and realize that they are being killed off one by one. While watching he opening to Identity , I noticed many things that helped establish lots of information that is implied will be relevant later in in the film. This is what I took mental note of: a tape is being played so that there is sort of a voice over effect and it is of a psychiatrist and his patient, visuals of pictures and newspaper articles are shown of deaths, murders, victims, and suspects, and a guy who looks professional seems to be listening to this tape and looking at the articles. The opening ends when the tape ends. Also, there is eerie music playing in the background to help create that suspenseful tone.

A correlation that I have found as well as researched is that thriller movies use music to help establish the genre and tone for the movie. What is also included in some thriller films is the use of voiceovers to help establish relevant information. Watching these thriller openings really did help understand what thriller movie opening's should have in order to engage their audiences. I personally believe that Identity had the best opening because they established to much information in 3 minutes and the information came off as thrilling and full of suspense making the audience to want to keep watching to find out more. Now when we come to the filming part of our film opening, we should use sound to establish tone and perhaps use voiceovers to establish relevant information. We do not have much time left, so I am PRAYING that we come up with a solid idea so that we can use these techniques to create a well-produced film opening.




Citations:
"Plot Summary." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Plot Summary." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Plot Summary." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Wishing Upon an Idea

Hiya folks! In class we got into our groups for our project to discuss and plan or do whatever needs to be done. My group and I shared what the people in our random group had to say about our idea. Nico and I agreed that a science fiction thriller would not be the best route to go for our film opening because it's sort of difficult to portray as amateur film makers.

We need to think, and we need to think hard. Nico had an idea where a guy wakes up in the ocean and does not know where he is or how he got there and some sketchy guy on a paddle board is conversing with him and then the sketchy guy says something that frightens the main subject and also creates suspense for the audience. Since our group wanted to keep the whole idea of water or pool,  Moana , I thought was a good reference for inspiration. In the beginning of Moana, Moana is shown being very young and is captivated by the water and the water acts as some sort of guide so that she can retrieve something. My thought inspiration from this is that perhaps the subject is drawn to this person in the ocean, and that person is eerie looking and they wave at the subject, a close up of a tattoo is shown on the eerie person's wrist to show that the tattoo is going to have some relevance later on in the film, and the subject finds his way through the water.

We need help. I feel as if we are barely getting anywhere with a solid idea, which has been a problem before in previous projects. I still believe that a thriller movie is the best route to go because they get their audience constantly engaged and hooked wanting to watch more. My group and I are planning on meeting up this weekend to discuss more and possibly start filming. Wish us luck!

The Big Pitch

Hey guys! Today our class met in The Wave and we were assigned to random groups to discuss our blogs as well as our ideas for our film opening or magazine. I was assigned in a group with Isabella H, Jonathan, Sam, Miguel, Ines, and Kayleigh. Let me tell you how it went down.

First off I just wanted to say how nervous I was when I was trying to explain my group's ideas because I wasn't sure how these people were going to react to it. I started off my presentation by summing up each and one of my blogs so I can show them the development process of research and ideas. I told them my original idea I had in mind about the horror film opening but the problem with that idea was that it is too similar with the movie SCREAM. I proceeded to tell them about the idea our group had in mind about the Sci-Fi thriller: the main subject is at a dayger (party during the day) goes into a pool and when he comes out, he seems to be in a different kind of reality where he is isolated. I also brought up how one of my group mates said that they have a drone that they could use for. a shot of the pool and that my other group mate wanted to have the main character have blue contacts as a special effect. In addition to a couple of these ideas, I also included the idea of hypnosis and waking up the subject's subconscious mind by the snap of a finger and that is how the opening would end. After I shared with them our idea, I showed them the rest of  my blog which consisted of research about thriller movie conventions.

The group I was assigned with gave me feedback and these were their concerns: the opening should not end with the snap of a finger because that would show some kind of resolution and it would not be really intriguing for the audience since there's nothing else to be engaged about, how would we use a drone to capture a shot of the pool, and how would we make this a Sci-Fi based movie if Sci-Fi movies use a lot of special effects and we were lower than a low budget film, and that if we open the opening with a scene of the subject at a dayger it would not make sense for a thriller film since parties and suspenseful events do not go together. Along with these concerns, they did provide me with some ideas that may help engage the audience which to keep the idea of the pool as some type of trigger or portal and when the subject is in the new reality, he is by himself and then he sees or hears this creature or something but the audience doesn't know what it is and it could end with the main subject screaming so that the audience will be left thinking.

Having this meeting helped me a lot because they constructively criticized my group's film opening idea so that my group can make our product better. I'm ready to discuss to my group what was said in or discussion so that we can start revising our idea, so stay tuned!

In For a Thrill

If there is one thing I hate more than life itself, it's researching. Actually, "hate" is an understatement; I LOATHE researching. I hate researching because sometimes I don't know exactly what to research, but for this project, we will be researching more about the thriller genre and the sub-genre "Sci-Fi Thriller" as well as what needs to be present in a thriller movie. Im hoping that after today's research that we will be ready to discuss what our actual plan is for our film opening.

First, we began researching Thriller and Sci-Fi Thriller, our main sub-genre. Thriller movies have certain elements that help to classify the genre and well as make a well produced production. This is what we found : start off the production with an action scene; making the audience engaged in what is happening right on front of them by captivating their attention as well as introducing a potential conflict that could be present later on in the film, the protagonist is both ordinary and heroic; this makes the audience more likely to feel more connected and intimate with the main character because they show development throughout the film and they can relate to its viewers. The main character isn't anything more than just your average guy who has to use every bit of his courageousness to overcome potential problems he may face, and throughout those problems he becomes heroic by defying some odds and overthrowing the protagonist. Suspense is essential for the reason that the viewers will be thrilled and engaged so that the audience would be enticed to watch the rest of the production; we have to show and not tell, so no spoon feeding the audience.Having conflicts in the main character's path keep the audience interested in how they are resolved and what can result because of them which also adds to the plot by giving the protagonist more of an obstacle in order to reach his goal, while also revealing more about his character by observing the way he goes about what he confronts.

Lastly we researched the ingredients of a Sci-Fi thriller film. Here is what we found for that: science fiction/science fiction thrillers include futuristic elements and technologies for the production and director to be able to explore certain problems relevant in today's society. Heroes and villains are also typically included in sci-fi's to create a conflict in the plot that the audience is able to comprehend. A sci-fi also usually includes unexplored territory which the protagonist sets out to discover, which adds mystery and suspense to a sci-fi while creating an adventure for the character to part take. Fantastical quests and advanced technology are also essential in a sci-fi films for the reason they create a formalistic hyper-reality world that the protagonist is now indulged in and also giving the director more room to create an eccentric world in which these extreme and often unrealistic circumstances can occur.


I am PRAYING that we are done researching, at least for now. But where are we right now? Right now we have a better understanding of what is essential for our thriller film. Even though researching is such a pain and honestly makes me cry myself to sleep, I know it will be very useful when we are making our film. I'll keep you guys posted!


Citations:

Buffam, Noelle. The Script Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Milchman, Jenny. "20 Essential Elements of a Bestselling Thriller, by Jodie Renner." The Thrill Begins. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

"10 Basic Ingredients of a Successful Thriller." WritersDigest.com. N.p., 12 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

"12 Ways to Hook an Audience in 30 Seconds." OPEN Forum. N.p., 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

The Research Continues!

To further complete our research, we decided to research our case studies for Sci-Fi thriller movies. We picked out 2 movies: Inception(2010) and The Matrix(1999).

The Matrix portrays a dystopian future in which people are in a simulated reality known as “The Matrix,” which is created by sentient machines to control the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. The protagonist, Thomas Anderson (also known as “Neo”) is a computer programmer living a double life and believes something is wrong with reality and is taunted repeatedly by online encounters with the cryptic phase “the Matrix.” Trinity, an infamous hacker, contacts him saying that a man named Morpheus can explain the matrix. Neo meets with Morpheus to which Morpheus offers him a red pill that allows him to find out the truth behind the matrix, or the blue pill that will return him to his old life. This film is considered to be a Sci-Fi thriller because there is an alternate reality, use of technology, it takes place in a some sort of futuristic world, and there is presence of good and evil.

Inception portrays extractors who perform corporate espionage using an experimental military technology of there targets and remove information deemed as valuable through a shared dream world. Their latest target Saito, a japanese business man reveals that he arranged their mission himself for some sort of test: planting an idea into one's subconscious, or "inception." This production is considered to be a science fiction because of the concept of dream sharing- it connects their subconsciousness so that subjects can experience the exact same dream space and they can build that dream space themselves by visualizing a specific location.

Hopefully we have learned a couple things from these case studies. I think we learned that great sci-fi movies have very original ideas that also contain some sort of psychological aspect within them. We are slowly starting to come up with a more established idea, so stay tuned!


Citations:
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Inception: Genre." Shmoop. Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.
"Inception (2010)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.
"Why Is Matrix a Sci-fi Movie?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Another Day, Another Bad Idea

I cried today. Emotionally, not physically. Why you might ask? To which I simply answer: BECAUSE COMING UP WITH A GOOD IDEA IS H-A-R-D. 

Our group came together on Tuesday during to class to pitch some of our ideas. First, we had to think about white kind of thriller we wanted since there are different types. I proposed that maybe we make our opening a psychological thriller because many thriller movies that have good ratings are the ones that have that psychological aspect present. I suggested a psychological thriller where the main character has a psychological/ mental disorder. My group thought otherwise. Their thoughts were pointing towards  Sci-Fi thriller. Nico was thinking that maybe the main subject goes into a pool and this pool takes that subject to another world (something along those lines). He also thought of using a drone to achieve a good shot of the pool. Alessia piggy-backed on his idea and proposed that what if the guy is at a dayger (a party during the day) and he jumps into the pool and then when he gets out he's the only person there. Alessia had an idea of incorporating colors, preferably the color blue,in pretty much every shot to have color psychology, it adds interest and symbolic meaning. I forgot how it was brought up but Nico brought up the word hypnosis and then CLICK! I had a good idea, or so I thought. I was thinking maybe there is a strange event going on thats like that of Sci-Fi and then the end of the opening end with the snap of the finger to show that the subject was under hypnosis which the audience can infer that he is in a psychiatric facility or has psychological issues. I also thought about having the opening be about a cult and of course my ideas were "garbage" according to Nico, but what's new! The search for a good idea continues.

Where art thou good idea?

The Genre Reveal

I am happy to say my group and I have finally came up with the genre our film is going to be! Here's a hint: it starts with "thrill-" and ends with "-er." I am SO EXCITED that we decided on this genre because thrillers are personally one of my favorite movie genres. Now that we have a genre picked out, now its time to put our thinking caps and start researching.

First things first, researching. But what am I researching you might ask? The important things to research when filming is researching the movie genre, genre conventions, and target audience. Here is what I have found: Thriller films revolve around anticipation and suspense and the aim is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seat. Protagonists in thriller films are set with an obstacle- a mission, an escape, or a mystery.


The Silence of The Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, is a perfect example of a thriller movie. An FBI agent in training, Clarice Starling, develops a sort of relationship with a notorious serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector, in order for her to gain his help and assistance to hunt for Buffalo Bill, another serial killer. I looked up "What makes The Silence of The Lambs a thriller?" and to my surprise, there is some controversy on what genre this movie is and should be. People who have watched the movie claim that it is a crime thriller or a psychological thriller because of the plot, but some argue that the movie is apart of the horror genre. This is because there are serial killers which to terrible things to mutilate their victims, such as skinning their bodies or eating someone's face off and wearing it as a mask. This production is also referred to as "The only horror film to ever win an Oscar for Best Picture." So there are debated whether or not the movie is a thriller, it sure did keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats.




As said before, the goal for thriller movies is to create suspense and excitement for the audience. Thriller genre conventions include: low key lighting, quick cuts, shadows, tension music, changes in the angles of shots, diegetic sounds of breathing, black and white shots, montage of shots, protagonists is in the mercy of antagonist. Also, the protagonists in thriller movies are typically a brave male who seeks to restore the equilibrium while the antagonist will have a hidden identity that will be revealed to the audience as the film progresses and usually they seek revenge from a past event. Music is essential to help create tension and suspense in thriller films and will often start at a slow pace and then builds up to make the shots more dramatic for the audience. In thriller films, the director will often use jump cuts because there will be things happening that the audience is unaware of but it will help make the film make sense. Cross-cutting is also used a lot in thriller films to build suspense. As for the cinematography in thriller films, close-ups and extreme close-ups of the protagonist helps to show their emotions as well as to focus on props to aid the narrative. Shots of the antagonist character will be cut quickly and will aim to hide their identity.

The thriller genre consists of sub-genres which include psychological thriller, crime thriller, supernatural thriller, political thriller, horror thriller, and action thriller. The thriller genre as a whole is targeting adults, mainly males.


After researching the thriller genre and what techniques are used to help establish the suspenseful tone thriller films have, I am now more well informed about the thriller genre and I am ready to utilize what I have just researched to start planning our production! :)




 Citations:
Buffam, Noelle. The Script Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"‘Silence of the Lambs’ Is an Unnerving Thriller." NY Daily News. N.p., 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
"Is The Silence of the Lambs a Horror Film?" Is The Silence of the Lambs a Horror Film? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Lewisharland Follow. "Conventions of the Thriller Genre." LinkedIn SlideShare. N.p., 01 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

JasonsA2Media Follow. "Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre." LinkedIn SlideShare. N.p., 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Productions, Panorama. "Target Audience - Thriller Films." Prezi.com. N.p., 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

What to do, what to do.

Hey guys!

We have not decided on a genre yet, so what better time to research! I have been researching genre types for film productions and this is what I found: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Coming-of-Age Drama, Detective Story/ Courtroom Drama, Epic/Myth, Fantasy, Gangster, Horror, Romance, and Sci-Fi.

Apart from researching the different genres, I also took a look back at the notes we took in class about the types of film openings. Looking back at the notes, we SHOULD engage our audience, establish the tone, create mechanism for storytelling, make the viewer want to continue watching, and embrace genre conventions (film stereotypes).  We will utilize this information to help with our planning.

After looking over these notes, I thought of idea for our film opening.  Here's my idea: a teenage girl is alone in her house at night is cutting up food while also watching the news in the background. She is not paying attention to what is being said on the news, but he audience can hear the news story talking about how another teenage girl has been murdered in the area. The girl then receives a phone call from her boyfriend to which she tells him to come over since her parents aren't home and that she will leave her door open. While she is waiting for her boyfriend to arrive, she is closing her blinds and getting ready for bed. Outside, there is a point of view/shot edit of someone looking in on her closing her blinds. When the person who was spying on the girl sees the boyfriend approach the door, he sneaks up on him and kills him by means of strangulation. The killer enters the unlocked house and finds the knife the girl left on the counter when she was cutting food. He makes his way upstairs to the girls bedroom, since there will be low key lighting, the teenage girl can't see his face but assumes that the figure is her boyfriend. She then realizes that the figure is not her boyfriend when he is not responding to her comments and has a knife in his hand. She turns on the light and there is a close up of her screaming and then there is a shot of the shadow in her room of the guy stabbing her with the knife.

I presented my idea to my group mates as well as another person in our class. They all said it was garbage. I never felt so rejected in my life. Saddened and offended by this rejection, they explained that is was similar to the opening of the movie  SCREAM, which I completely understand because my idea is similar in a way that the main subject in the opening is a teenage girl who is home alone and takes a phone call, though in the movie SCREAM, the girl is on the phone with the killer and not her boyfriend. Even though my idea was not accepted, I know my group and I will come up with an even better idea to produce.

Citations :
"Movie Genres Chart." Movie Genres Chart. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

The Start of Something New

Let me introduce myself: I am Isabella Tolkov and I am a junior. For this project, I will be working with two of my classmates Nico and Alessia whom I have worked with before. We make a great team and I am excited to see what we can come up with in the end.

Our group has not picked out a specific genre we want our film opening to be, but based on my personal preferences, I am hoping that our genre can be either horror, slasher, thriller, drama, romance, or comedy. I love incorporating psychological elements into my productions to make them more exciting and thrilling, so that is what I am hoping we will consider when creating our opening.

From now until the end of the production process, it is going to consist of extensive research, planning, brainstorming, filming an editing. I know my group will work together as a team to create a production for our audience to enjoy!