Group Discussion (My Birthday)

     Today was the day in class where we were put into groups to discuss our projects and how they are going so far. This was a very fun class as I got to learn more about what others are doing along with if I am on the right track or not. Honestly it was refreshing to hear positive things about my project and it made me feel overall less stressed. 

    Honestly I was the last person to speak in my group and I had very limited time, but from what I heard my idea seemed very unique and everyone in my group reassured me that this is a good idea for my film opening. 

However, I was speaking to my mom about my project as she likes to hear about my day and she told me it sounded like the one film "American Psycho", so know I have to go watch how they did there film opening and here it is below.

The opening scene is so unlike mine honestly nothing about it will help. I just thought since my mom recommended it I might as well watch. This opening introduces Bateman the psycho as a young polite guy and really he is a serial killer. The only thing that really signified killing was the close up of the strawberry dish which was extremely red, but other than that I got nothing. The only thing I could take away was the music because that is the style I am going for as well. The classic old instrumental music. 

I ended up rewatching to see if I missed anything that signified Bateman's future psycho-ness, and at the second 0:44 a knife comes down on the dish and the music kind of fades out into a knife sound. That is something I want to do as I may show the knife and then add the sound effect like that. The credits were very interesting as well as they were displayed on a white background. This type of film usually has darker colors, so I thought this was a very unique choice. I have yet to figure out how I am going to display my credits, but I have a small idea that is yet to be developed.

Well that's all for today next time I am most likely going to speak about credits as they are a more important part of the opening then you would imagine before watching tons of openings.

Opening Shots Tell Us Everything

     The opening shot is extremely important and needs to develop whatever your opening is focused on developing. In my case, I need it to develop my character, my villain which is known known as Hades.

    I was watching the YouTube video Opening Shots Tell Us Everything and saw the opening shot of Whiplash.

Although I did not watch this movie I know exactly what this movie will be abut just based off this opening shot. A lonely and depressed musician who is attempting to become successful. This shots colorway develops the lonely feeling with it being very dark and makes the mood of the room feel gloomy and sad. 

The location of a dark room by himself with one singular light is a great location of filming. This shot shows how the character is in a depressed mood and is trying to find the light or in his case future success in his music talents.

I need to do something similar to this with Hades, but I wat to keep my identity a secret so maybe wear a hoodie and show paintbrushes in my hand and knives on the counter or the other way around because Hades is a painter and a killer.

In "Little Miss Sunshine" I thought the opening shot was very important and really reflected the goals and hopes of the young girl shown below.

The reflection of her glasses off the TV show how she aspires to be like Miss Louisiana who is winning and award on the Tv for being pretty. The close up of her glasses and eyes signify that she wants to be just like Miss Louisiana with her beautifulness.

This is a very unique technique that I could do because I could show my eyes watching a horror movie and then creating one in real life, but it may be difficult considering I am going to be filming on a phone and the reflection will be shown in the eyes.

What I loved most about this shot Is the fact that you can immediately understand the plot of this film from the very first seconds. This is something I aspire to do with my character and will definitely attempt to do because the most important thing from the opening of a film is too understand the plot and what or why this is happening.

Overall, these are 2 very different techniques, but both get their point across to the audience from the get-go. I want to model mine more like Whiplash because It is similar to my colorway I want to establish, but I do love the "Little Miss Sunshine" example because It represents a unique ad alternate way I could establish my character if the attempt at being similar to "Whiplash" is unsuccessful.

Meet Hades Munch

 So I was thinking that I need to come up with a name for my character that symbolizes something more than just a name. I need to have my character have evil origins all the way from Its name to its Brain.

I researched on 200 names that mean death and found the perfect name, Hades. Many think of Hades and immediately recognize evil within its origins. People think of Greek Mythology and then remember that Hades is the "God of The Underworld". 

As shown above all I had to do was search the name Hades and all the colors were red which matches perfectly with the fact that my Film opening has to do with murder. I know In my opening Red will be an essential color used along with other colors like orange that may symbolize Flames and overall seems evil.

For the Last name I wanted to correlate it with the fact that the murderer is also a Artist. So, I decided to research Artists who paint about Murder and found the name Edvard Munch. I then proceeded to research Edvard Munch and saw paintings that have similar colors such as this painting below called "The Scream"

I wanted to honor the name Munch and have it symbolize that my murderer also likes painting and I chose Munch as the last name because of his obsession with painting crimes that the murderer in the opening has already completed.

And there we have our Main Character and Villain, Hades Munch. This symbolization of evil should be abundantly clear from the beginning in my opinion, but I will not be surprised if students do not immediately understand the reference.

Creating My Villain

     I want to make my villain scary and feared, but they need motivation to kill or else the film opening is just another serial killer. I need to find a way to connect the murders in a way that they make sense. 

    I need to make the serial killers actions somewhat justifiable for themselves. They need to fully believe that what they are doing is for the greater good. I was watching a YouTube video about Creating the Villain and the specific analyzation of Smegol from "Lord Of The Rings" caught my eye. Taylor Mowery the creator of video talked about how people believe when they do evil they are doing it to benefit others. This is what I want my character to think. I want him to truly believe that what he is doing is good. I need to find a way to incorporate this. Maybe I could do a voice recording of someone being cyberbullied. Then I could show the person in the yearbook and they are already circled, but then I cross them out to show I killed them and they are no longer a threat to society.

    Also I plan on establishing a background and previous affect of cyberbullying affecting him. Magneto in The "X Men" movies is where the inspiration is from I found this in the same YouTube video Creating the Villain. Magneto witnesses his mothers death and that unlocked his supernatural powers that turned him into a monster. I can show a fake suicide note saying "I can't take the cyberbullying anymore" and this gives my serial killer motivation to kill those who bully others. This is also very easy as I do not need many resources for this.

 

This is the exact scene I'm referring too because it shows how to events of the past affected his thinking and himself in the present day and how this exact moment unlocked his ability and switched his thinking.

   That's all for today I had fun researching seeing different ways to establish a villain, although I only talked about 2 different characters I watched many more that I just could not do based off my resources and just capability.

    

The Art Of Murder explained

    So today in class we watched a film opening with the old-school music and like sort of artistic. This gave me the idea to include this type of music when showing my character cleaning his supplies that he used in the murder. This can help develop the narrative that the character is misunderstood and really is not truly evil, but misunderstood and not payed attention too.

    This music can also show that the character does not view murder as a bad thing, but rather a hobby like art. Also I should display the knives first as dirty to display it as if the character was cleaning dirty paintbrushes. I could also make my title "The Art Of Murder" to show the character is related to art and views murdering as that.

    I need to find a reason for the main character to want to murder people, like there needs to be something that provokes him. I think I know, I could play an audio of a person saying bad things about him, and teasing him. Then I could flip through pages of a yearbook and circle the person in a red marker to develop the plot and show this will be something that happens in the film.

    Also I should include some markers of paintbrushes in my video because It can signify how for the character they are very similar. When Cleaning my knives I will use I can clean some dirty paint brushes as well and make sure the colors continue the dark mood, by using colors like orange, red, black all colors of negative things. These could signify Flames, Blood, and Depression which are three negative aspects the character may think of.

Ok that's all I will talk to you soon. In the meantime I will brainstorm some more ideas.

Even though my ideas are from myself I was watching a video to gain these ideas and Here it is.: Top 20 SCARIEST Opening Scenes in Horror Movies

How to Introduce the Villain

     Now that I have an idea about what I am doing I need to watch some examples of how different films introduce the main villain. I started with the "Dark Knight". 

    This movie introduces several characters who all seem to be robbing a bank together. They start out all as one group. The last one standing is Heath Ledger's Joker and thus we are introduced to the iconic Joker. Although I do not have the budget to do this there are certain takeaways I can have from this opening. For example, the beginning is a loud sting which zooms in on the Joker mask. This foreshadowed the name of the Joker. I can use a certain mask or clothing item to let my serial killer be known as. For example I could wear a hood that covers my face and be the "Unseen Killer" as my name. I think this could be a key mise en scene item and I could place the hoodie in frame many shots.

    Man of Steel introduces a plan to save the planet by looking to outer space, while pitching his plan a loud explosion goes off and shocks the characters and viewers. I haven't figured out exactly how I will do this but I want to have my hook like this early and maintain the viewers attention. 

While thinking about my opening definitely want my character to have just committed a murder. I can have people talking good about me and then cut to me cleaning a knife or throwing away gloves to make it clear who is the killer. I also have not decided from which perspective this movie could be shown because I could show all of this and have a voiceover of me explaining how I'm misunderstood or could use some stings and music. 

Anyways today was another day of progress and I need to conjure up some more ideas for my film opening. See you next time.

Research From

Iacobucci, J. (2023, July 2). 10 superhero movies that introduce the villain before the hero. CBR. https://www.cbr.com/superhero-movies-meet-villain-first/#man-of-steel

I have an idea

Since I have decided my genre I decided to shorten my research field to just horror movies because I need to make a plan and create my film soon. Today I decided to look at a website where it introduces certain types of opening scenes and explains them.

Of course you must have your audience hooked to have a good film opening. I came up with an idea for mine based off the samples my teacher showed in class. This is just a basic idea where I am a serial killer in the movie, but I am seen as a very good person.

 The film opens with my parents telling the police they have not seen anybody who looks suspicious. The police ask if they can talk to their son and my parents defend me and say he would not know he's too innocent and nice to know about that stuff. Then, Boom it cuts to a sting of me in a dark room holding a weapon that has fake blood on it, most likely could use ketchup.

That's all I have so far, so I need to explore more to of course add on to that or even enhance the beginning.  

I was thinking some more and I remember seeing like polaroid pictures used to show each victim in the example. I want to find a way to do that without fully copying their idea. Ok I was sitting at my desk for a couple of minutes thinking how I could do it and I know. I am going to have a polaroid of not old victims of the serial killer, but the target of the next. To build suspense I could have the polaroid circled in a red marker that it somewhat liquidy to signify blood and murder, which is obviously an essential part of horror stories.

Ok well that's all I will think some more and hopefully come up with a good organized plan soon, so see you next time!

I Think I Know My Genre

     I still am struggling on deciding which genre nd method I want to use in my film opening. I have thought about the genre and I'm thinking of choosing horror because It does not involve a big cast and I think that will give me more time to film.

    One way to open is with a flashback and this is very good because it establishes the backbone of the movie and what the movie will be based on. Also it could establish a character's background and past. In my horror film I could include a flashback of the killer hurting someone and that would clearly establish what the rest of the film will be about. I will definitely consider this as it is very easy to do wit only some editing elements that are slightly challenging.

    Or I could begin with a flashforward showing the killer being arrested, but I feel like this will not be good for a horror film as you know what will happen and the point of horror films are the element of surprise and secrecy of what will happen next. Flashforward could be used if I ended with the killer in a psychotic center because this will be evident that the movie will be about a messed up individual.

    My film opening could use the technique "In Media Res" which stands for in the middle of things. This is when the movie begins in the middle of the action or what is happening. This could be used for me because I can show the killer murdering someone immediately and that sets the tone for the rest of the film and establishes the fact that this film is about horror.

    I could maybe use the Red Herring technique which introduces something to throw off the viewers. For example I could have my parents introduce me s a nice young boy and then do a cut and sting of me holding knife with loud horror music. This is very good idea and I'm sure my parents would love to help me. I will definitely ask them If they would let me do this because this is a very good idea.

That's all, I definitely have come up with some ideas today after researching more about film openings.

Heckmann, C. (2021, November 1). Watch: Opening scenes pt. 2 - 6 more ways to start a movie. StudioBinder. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/screenplay-opening-scene-example/

Different Aspects of a Opening Scene

 The Opening scene is extremely important and sets the mood and tone for not only the film opening but the entire movie itself. Today I will be sharing my findings after watching a youtube video on the different ways to start a film.

    One strategy is starting with a bang, but although this strategy may be great for blockbuster films I do not have the resources to create a giant bang such as a man hanging off a plane. Simply this will just not work for me, most likely. This is a great way to introduce the villain of the film as well and give them a memorable opening. Also instead of introducing the villain you can introduce the hero and his background, which may also portray what the film will be based on.

    I noted some important things which is that the opening should engage the audience into the film, so maybe I could start with a very colorful scene to gain their attention, or have a loud sting or voice. Also I saw the use of a voiceover sometimes being effective when establishing a relationship. For example, it can explain the background of the relationships or the certain aspects of a character. The most important thing to do if I choose to establish a relationship is to show what each character cares about.

    The opening can introduce the plot catalyst or what the movie is centered around. For example, in "Uncut Gems" the movie centers around the effects of a certain gem and introduces the effects early by showing a severely injured man and then the gem and its insides. This is something I may have the capability of using as it is not required to have a lot of resources to pull this off. This also seems like a very interesting opening and definitely something I will consider using for the future.

These all will help when deciding how to structure my film opening and I most definitely will consider the last aspect of showing the plot catalyst and its effects on the rest of the movie.

Research From

YouTube. (2021, May 24). Art of the opening scene - how to start a movie 6 different ways, from Nolan to Baumbach. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw_ysaoVlt4

Establishing Background/Establish Conflict

    Today we have finally began the portfolio project. I decided to research about film openings that establish the background and film openings that establish conflicts. When we watched example film openings in class I was extremely intrigued by the film opening that established the background. The world was entirely changed and it really caught my eye. I know all about establishing conflict because I have watched Star Wars which main idea is the conflict between good and evil.

    Establishing setting is a key aspect in some cases such as Home Alone one of my favorite movies as a kid. This choice was essential for this film because the whole movie is centered around the fact that Kevin is left by his family at home, while they go on vacation. The setting may also establish how the world is in that time, for example in Star Wars opens while showing that this is a different planet than Earth and it is clearly indicated.

    Establishing conflict is also very important, for example in the movie Southpaw the main character wife dies and it is clearly understood that the entire movie will be centered around how he deals with that conflict. Establishing conflict is a key part in many action movies as well because it shows why the heroes may be pursuing a certain thing.

Music Marketing 2

    The first item we were given was the type of music, which was HipHop/Funk. We were then given numerous options for our song, which we will market and create a music video for. We listened to them all before deciding on Childish Gambino's Me and Your Mama, which we all knew. We'd all heard of the song, which identified our target audience for the marketing process.

    Then we prepared a case study for this music genre and studied information that would be useful in our marketing strategy, as well as finding artist personalities that we could use and improve further for our artist. Steve Lacy is one artist we explored and found quite inspiring. We looked at how he markets his music and the many strategies he does, such as publishing his song on TikTok, where we found who he was. We also looked at other musicians such as Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and Anderson Paak, who taught us more about how to market this type of music.

    Next, we built a storyboard for the music video, looking at the deeper meaning of the lyrics in our chosen song and deciding on a classic but fantastic objective for the music video: a pair that broke up, with one heartbroken and the other blossoming. The song's lyrics are particularly appropriate for the intended purpose.

    Eventually, we began our marketing presentation. We made sure to look at our case studies and tried to find an artists brand we would like to be similar too. We chose someone like Pharrell or Kanye West who have very successful clothing brands along with loads of endorsement deals. We also decided that one of our main sponsors would be a headphone company like Bose who has endorsed artists who make similar types of music to us like Childish Gambino who did actually create the song we chose.

    Since we looked at our case study we found that people who like HipHop/Funk are usually the ages 18-35 years old. Being around this age we can infer that people around this age are extremely active on social media, so we decided to center our marketing around social media. We took influence from artists like Steve Lacy who also produces HipHop/Funk and has become very popular off social media. We decided to use our own creative and original strategies as well such as coming up with an idea to post a 5 second sample of our song on our website. Not only would this create hype, it would let users be more active on our website which is not very popular within our target audience age.

    Eventually we realized there were many ways to get our music out to the public such as concerts and music festivals. We plan to attend various music festivals to not only connect with our fanbase, but hopefully gain fans considering that music festivals have very diverse fanbases. We also realized that attending music festivals will help us create more friends and get to know more people within the music industry. Also artists do not make a lot of money based off their record sales, so this is a great way to bring in some more money. We also decided to post these festivals and promote our concerts and tours on our social media because we understand our target audience is very active on these platforms.

    Also we had to create our music video we planned to use various angles and colors to give the consumers a way to feel what we feel in our music video. For example, when we were depressed the screen became black and white and when we were happy it was colorful. This is an easy way to exhibit the feelings we supposedly feel in our music video. We also used various different shots and angles like tilts, pans, and long shots, close ups, medium shots to further display certain feelings within our music video.

    Finally, this project made me realize how I need to manage my time way more efficiently. This project was a lot of work and I procrastinated majority of it till the latest I could, I need to be more responsible and understand the due dates are set for a good amount of time because this project is very complex. I learned how much thinking goes into music videos, like shots, props and other elements. I also realized how difficult it is to market for somebody because it is very challenging to try and stand out and be unique.