Genre Research | Spy And Thriller

Spy movies often times have close-ups, extreme close-ups, and over the shoulder shots. In spy films, there is background music that fits spy movies specifically well. Movies such as James Bond or even The Incredibles they have music that fits a sneaky kind of feel. Typically in spy movies, the main cast is wearing an all-black outfit to fit in with the surroundings. The lighting for spy movies varies as some scenes may be bright and others may be dark, but not too dark to see. Like when a character sneaks into the typical all-white room compared to the back alleyway that usually is dark. Spy movies have their star actors such as Tom Cruise or Jason Statham. Spy films do have their usual props such as the detonation control, or the spy car. There have been multiple spy movies that have a character sneaking into an all-white room from the roof with lasers that they have to avoid. There's also the usual headquarters that the main cast uses. The most popular spy movies are the James Bond or Tom Cruise movies. And for children, the most known spy movies are the Spy Kids trilogy and The Incredibles trilogy.

In horror movies, the camera angles are usually low angle shots, tilted angle, close-ups, panning or tracking,  and bird's eye view/high angle. Sometimes the horror movie may include a handheld camera scene to increase realism. Horror movies have a recognizable sound. To make the movie scary and creepy they often have a child screaming in the background. There's also always eerie music that would send shivers down the audience's body. The clothing in horror movies are usually just ordinary clothes expect the characters that are kidnapping or killing the main cast, they often wear a scary hockey mask or have blood on their clothing. Horror film majority of the time is shot in a dark setting so there's just enough lighting for the audience to see what's going on. The makeup in horror films mostly consistent with fake blood on some parts of the character's body. The props used are usually knives of some sort or maybe a handgun. The setting of a horror movie would most likely take place in a house or different locations in a town. 

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Genre Research | Drama

 In the drama genre, the common shots are close up, long shot, bird's eye/high angle shot, over the shoulder shot, medium shot, and extreme close up. The common angles and movements in a genre angle are high angles, panning, tilting, and zooming. The sounds in a drama film are mostly dialogue. Clamps are a very important part of a drama film. The costumes are usually regular clothes. The makeup is simple makeup to make the actors look more presentable. The actors in a drama film definitely change how well the movie will do. An actor who is known to be a really good actor will make certain scenes stand out more than others. The props aren't usually anything special, maybe a knife or something similar. And the setting definitely sets the mood for the whole scene changing how well and real the scene can feel. 

Common editing in the drama genre is adding various different shots of an important moment. When there's a climactic scene in a movie the director will take shots from multiple different angles for dramatic effect. The jump cuts are usually clean between the end of a scene. Popular drama movies are films such as Highschool Musical, Twilight, and The Breakfast Club. I find drama movies kind of relatable. In drama movies where the main cast is teens, the suspense between the characters or the awkwardness is intriguing. And sometimes the drama aspect somehow makes the film funny. Although I don't like how drama films are predictable. It's not rare to find a drama film where the audience can usually guess how the movie ends without even watching it. The film can also overexaggerate how the cause and effect of a character's action will have a huge unrealistic change in the entire film.

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Genres I Would Like to Research

 The kind of movie I imagine my pitch to be would fall under Drama, Spy, or maybe Thriller. The movie wouldn't be that cheerful of a movie. These three genres are more low key kind of. They all share a certain feel that gives suspense. I haven't watched many movies under these three genres so it's going to be interesting. Without having done the research yet I feel like my pitch could be made under one of these genres. The drama aspect comes from the story. The spy aspect comes from the fact that one character is trying to rob another. And the third is kind of a stretch but there is a slight thrill that comes from a sneaky type of film. It may be possible that if shot correctly the film could fall under all three genres well. 

The other genre I thought might fit my pitch was horror. But for a horror film, there would need to be something actually scary. And a lot of the time characters are killed off somehow. That's usually a big indication that the movie is under the horror genre. My pitch could be made into a horror film if altered a little, but the pitch wasn't made under that intention. I want my movie to have the suspense needed without overdoing it. I feel like both drama and thriller would have this but not so much spy. One of these genres is definitely going to be the one I'll use. Although I'm leaning toward drama. But I'm not 100 percent sold on any of them.

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Pitch Blog

A homeless teen that had abusive parents resorts to stealing to save his sibling’s life, from a homeowner that was abusive to his deceased son.

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Group Blog

 I've decided that I'll be working by myself. Although I didn't really want to work with myself. I only know a few people. Out of the people I know and asked if they wanted to work, they already had an idea in mind. I thought about who else I knew but couldn't think of no one. And because we're online and not in person I can't become friends with anyone that I don't already know. This project is a lot though but there's a lot of time. I'll definitely have to use my time more wisely without procrastinating. Now that I'm thinking about it, this is the first big project that I'm working alone. But there's a first time for everything.

I'm not 100% sure if I can get outside aid, meaning people not in the class to help but hopefully, I can. My brother is a film major in college so I'm going to asking him for ideas. He was always creative especially when it came to creating a story. I should be able to bounce ideas off of him to create a good product. Although all the work is still going to be done by me. The three different media that I have to make. That part is most likely going to be the most stressful. I also have to edit the entire movie but I do have experience with that. This is going to be a lot to take on alone. But this isn't something that I can't do, I simply need to focus.

Welcome Back

 We're back and better than ever! This year I'm in AICE Media A level and I'm kind of excited. Compared to the AS level version of this class, nothing's really different. This level of the class is basically the same thing but goes a little bit more into detail and lets us students be more creative. We do have more time to work on the final project as we're already starting the process right now. It is a little stressful tho because of not 100% percent about who I'm going to work with.  Although I kind of have a rough idea. Last year I had group mates who I quickly became friends with so it was easy to work efficiently. Our chemistry together was real and we'd easily bounce ideas off one another. I do have one friend in A level currently and we've already decided to work together. 

I'd like to have another person because then the work could be distributed more. Although I feel like just us two could make a nice short film if put in the time and effort. I feel like I want to spend more time thinking of a really great story that can be executed extremely clean. The project I had last year was really great but I feel like because of the superhero type of feel we tried to create it was slightly harder to make entertaining. This time around I want to go for something that's more relatable as an audience member. Something that a highschooler may deal with but it isn't commonly talked about. Other than that I'm excited to go back to school again. The last school year ended super abruptly, but we were able to end off the year online. The online version of school and specifically this class wasn't nearly as intriguing as in person. And it still isn't right now but hopefully, we'll soon go back to school.  

Audience and Institution Essay

            In the film industry, marketing servers a huge role to boost the movie’s publicity. The more people talk about a movie the more it’ll be seen and have higher revenue. Using other platforms to promote a movie’s premiere is essential to having a big movie. Having merch, toys, games, etc. to promote a movie is how top Box Office movies become big.

           Black Panther was a Marvel movie that became one of the company’s biggest films ever. Ever since the movie released there were large amounts of publicity around it since it was the first black superhero from Marvel. The publicity behind the movie grew since the release due to all the marketing from special events and cross-promotions. The lead actor for the movie participated in an event for Marvel’s mobile game Contest of Champions to promote the movie. There was another event hosted by Marvel that presented pieces of clothing from the film that the movie’s marketers used to appeal the fashion and different art that the movie contains. To tie it all in the company created a website selling tickets and merch with additional information on the cast. The company’s marketing strategy was to give the movie large anticipation through other means like these special events and cross-promotion. An entire album was created solely based on the movie with Kendrick Lamar as the executive producer. He performed a single off of the album at a college’s Football Playoff National Championship Game. Similarly, the movie’s trailer was first played at an NBA Finals game. Marketing anything in front of a large audience will definitely boost the popularity. Marvel’s marketers continue to promote the film in other ways such as the movie’s artwork, on the radio, a partnered commercial and mentioned a previously made cartoon series. All the promotion and anticipation was apart of what made the movie how big as it is.

           Another Marvel movie that also did really well was Spiderman Homecoming. The companies tactics are essentially the same as what they did with Black Panther. Although the biggest difference that was made was creating an entire video game partnering with Sony. As a Playstation 4 exclusive, a Spiderman game was created before the movie was even released to greatly promote even more. The video game itself did really well and was even the game of the year. Toys were largely sold to aid to make kids want to watch the film. There was a period of time when they partnered with Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which was also promoting the movie. Spiderman is already a favored superhero between all kids and has had multiple movies previously, so there wasn’t much promotion needed to have a large revenue. With just this promotion, the amount of money made off the movie worldwide was close to one billion dollars.

            The Lego Movie 2 had a slightly different approach but one that also worked well. The movie is a sequel although it’s still originally based on a toy set. There was a videogame that was created for the film before it was released with a similar play style to previous Lego videogames. The movie also had cross-promotion with discovering as one of the characters play as a bank teller. Along with that Legoland recently opened up going perfectly with the movie. A specific Lego set was created with characters and pieces from the movie-making kids wanting to play with these toys. All these events happened as marketing for the release of the movie. The first poster promoting the movie announced that the first trailer would be released the following day. On Black Friday for only one day, the Warner Bros. Company released the first Lego Movie on YouTube for free. Other brands partnered up with the company for cross-promotion leading to the success that came after the release of the movie.

            Jurassic World is another large movie that has made a huge name for the trilogy. The official Jurassic World website has tickets to go to their theme park based on the movie. This is a great marketing strategy as the audience can visit the park and see things from the movie and previous movies in the trilogy. Jurassic World had cross-promotion with Lego releasing a Lego set and video game before the movie was ever released. Another game was created for all mobile devices that users would be able to make in-game purchases. Not only were their trailers posted online but they also had reserved spots on TV. To really engage their fans before the release of the movie, a Jurassic World egg hunt took place online where fans could figure out and find Easter eggs about the movie. Close to the movie’s release date, Universal Studios got Comcast to play old reruns of Jurassic Park movies. Jurassic World had other cross-promotions done such as have a regular toy set and being promoted on Mike and Ike’s candy and having a special flavor at Dairy Queen. Jurassic World had a lot of marketing done to have such excellent promotion.

            The marketing for any movie largely affects how much its seen when released. The popularity of a movie often depends on all the publicity given to it. The tactics for marketing are also similar to big movie companies like Marvel and the Jurassic trilogy. Often times being promoted through a toy set, a video game, or more commonly a candy or food. With months of anticipation, a movie can be more appreciated when finally released with a great marketing scheme.