Media Theory!

 Theories of Media 

HI BLOG!! As part of our media context essay, we are instructed to incorporate Media Theories in relation to our case studies.  We were given a paper listing various Media Theories and theorists. When developing our film case study, as part of the sections to research, we were asked to research a Media Theory that relates to the film and explain how it relates. For our film opening, we are tasked with selecting a media theory we'd like to incorporate and explaining why we have chosen it for our intended purpose. 

After further thought and research, my partner Jake and I agreed that the best Media Theory to include is the Active Audience Theory. The Active Audience Theory by Stuart Hall claims audiences are not passive recipients of media content but actively engage with, interpret, and create meaning from it. This theory emphasizes the role of audience members in shaping their media experiences, highlighting their ability to select, negotiate, and resist messages based on their own backgrounds and contexts. In other words, audiences are more likely to want to consume media where they feel as if they can interpret what comes next or feel engaged. We are going incorporate this with our plot idea with the idea of this mysterious figure. You may be asking yourself how a mysterious figure is going to make the audience feel as if they can interpret the scene, well heres how! During this part of the scene, a woman is going to see a figure in the distance of the parking lot, but it will be backlit, so you will not be able to see the face, only the silhouette. This builds that eerie suspense, with the woman being all by herself in an empty parking lot with a creepy figure under the street light, which will allow the audience to start thinking about what could possibly happen next. Will the figure attack her? Will it start creeping closer? Is it someone she knows playing a prank? This is an example of Active Audience Theory, which is getting the reader to feel engaged in the film, well, in our case, the opening. 

Here are some images of what we are trying to acheieve of this figure that is meant to get the audience engaged. 

Group Meeting

 1st Group Meeting 

Hello blog!! To start off the 3rd week of working on our portfolio project, in class, we did our first Group Meeting. First off, I want to tell you about the group I was in. It was me and 7 other classmates: Trisha, Samuel, Christian, Avery, Ethan, Meliyah, and Sonakshi. They were probably one of the best groups I could've had to start off my first group meeting of working on this project. Everyone was so kind, helpful, and attentive. 

To begin the group meeting, we all went around telling eachother their genre they are trying to demonstrate and what their initial ideas are. Samuel is working with a group of 2 other peers, where he stated they are trying to demonstrate a hospital operation while a robbery is taking place. We all agreed his idea could work really well if filmed correctly and made well, where we also suggested to him some shots and angles he could utilize for this plot. Christian went next, where he talked about his group and his film idea of beginning the scene with a group of friends in a car when they spot a mysterious bag in the road, and when they open the bag, they get sent into a trance. Because Christian had more of his plot already thought out, it was much easier to provide him with more feedback and help. I gave christian and idea for when to cut off the opening to make it cliffhanging. I suggested he cut it off while the camera is at a low angle of the group of teens looking into the bag, so it builds a sense of wonder in the audience of "what is in the bag", and then that's where it cuts. He was very appreciative of all our suggestions to further improve his opening, and that's another thing I loved about my group, we were all very open to people's opinions, honest criticum and help! 

However, of course everyones plot and ideas were great, but one person's plot that really stood out to me was Trisha's. Trisha's plot is that she wants to base her plot on a more modern or futuristic technological paranormal story about a woman or girl who has many different types of technology within her house. This includes her TV, her iPhone, an Alexa, and anything else technology-wise that she can program to do what she needs to build her plot. Her main idea is for everything to start malfunctioning against her; however, it is settle and makes her second-guess whether her technology is really trying to ruin her. I told her I think her idea is very smart and creative because of the world we are living in currently, with everyone being digital natives and the world being centered around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology. Her idea reminded me of an episode of the show 9-1-1, during which a woman is spying on her ex-boyfriend through all of his surveillance cameras and AI devices all throughout his entire house. However, while he goes to shower, she begins messing with the temperature through the app that's connected to that device in his house. However, because she keeps messing with it, it begins to malfunction, and the temperature keeps rising, and he begins to burn in the shower, meaning it kinda worked against him, like what Trisha is trying to portray in her opening. I recommended she watch that scene of the episode to allow her to kinda see a different perspective on a plot she is similarly trying to create. Overall, we all praised her for her super creative idea for her opening and provided her with loads of feedback. 

Now, for my ideas, as my turn came around during our circle. I told my group that my partner and I don't entirely have a concrete idea of what we are going to do, but we do have a small idea. I told my circle group all about how we want to utilize the Tree Tops to create a thriller or horror opening. I admit that we were leaning a little bit more towards horror because that is something Jake and I both love and have seen many films in that genre, making it easier for us to have an understanding of what we can do to pull this off, even though our teacher stated to kinda stay away from horror because it is very commonly used. I also told them some of the idea of a girl running through the woods and trying to figure out whether to start it off as she is running from something or she is just running because she likes to run, but there is something there she doesn't know about. They thought our idea of using the Tree Tops is smart espically because of how it looks at night, and would be a great way to portray that darkness in relation to horror. Ethan also suggested we research more horror openings and see if we can find more inspiration because he believed that the idea of running from something may be commonly used, but the idea of using the setting of the forest was a great idea. So I am very open to researching a little more, but tomorrow when I am in class discussing with my partner, we then hope to have a concrete idea so we can get up to pace and make sure we don't fall behind espicallt when the time for filmimg come, we need to be ready. 

In The Trees

 The Tree Tops 

Initial Ideas:

After my partner Jake and I had been doing our research on openings with the genres we are interested in portraying, we began brainstorming, but we agreed lets come up with a setting for the opening and then try to build a story or plot with that setting. Jake has been pretty stuck on the idea of a dark forest, which I think is good due to the fact that we are going for a horror or thriller opening. Now the part we struggled with is living in Weston, Florida, where are we going to find a forest? So we had to think outside the box, which really meant outside of Weston. That's when I remembered a while back I went to a friend's house who lives in Davie, Florida, and she took me to this big forest area by her house, which is really a park with a big tree house, a lake, and trails everywhere hidden by the trees. It is known as Tree Tops Park. 

 This is an image of one of the many trails that The Tree Tops has to offer for us. These trails, especially at night, can be used to build that eerie feeling or sense of thrill if utilized correctly. 

                    This is a picture of the tree house that The Tree Tops has available. The tree house is relatively old, but still sturdy and well-maintained. The tree house provides Jake and I many more potential plot ideas bc not only is it all, but it also has that old run-down look to it, which can build off of that scary or thrilling feeling. 

Last but not least, The Tree Tops also has a lake that includes a wooden boardwalk, also known as a footbridge. The boardwalk leads to the middle of the lake and can be used as a fishing spot. This is another aspect of the park that can be well used to develop a horror or thriller plot. 

Overall, The Tree Tops has so much to offer for filming, and is a great place to let creativity run wild in terms of the number of different plots or stories we can develop. My initial thoughts before really brainstorming a plot or discussing our idea with our teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, I am thinking about opening the scene with someone running, however, it would be running away from something or even going on a peaceful run abloivous of everything outside of their headphones. I feel this is a great way to build curiosity or chaos from the start, which is something I stated I wanted to do in my previous post. Adding on to the idea of someone running, they could run to the boardwalk, where there would be something watching from the water or even someone following them, making them trapped since they are in the middle of a lake. As you may be able to see, there are so many ideas for stories to develop within this plot, and I hope my partner and I take the most advantage of this to make a very good film opening. 

Credit Sequencing

 Credits! Credits! Credits!

In this blog, I will be discussing credits with you. In your head, you may be thinking "pttf credits are the boring part of the opening that just tell you who's in the movie, BORING". But no credits are actually more than just the characters/actors, and they can actually help develop the film. The credits also include key cast and crew members, typically highlighting the production companies, major stars, director, writers, and producers. See! Credits are more than just a list; they are HONORABLE MENTIONS. Now I'm going to talk to you about my research on credits and the different techniques that filmmakers use to include their credits in their films.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 

Napoleon Dynamite is a very funny comedy coming-of-age film that was released in 2004. It is about a teenage boy named Napoleon who is just a nerdy teen trying to live life and deal with all the bullies at school while living with his grandmother and having a technology addicted bother. This film has a very interesting yet one of the most creative ways of integrating its credits into its opening.

As you can see, the producer used food plates, highschool ID's, and library book slips as a way to include their credits, which is such a fun and smart way to do it, as the objects help to build that nerdy, funny tone of the movie itself. As I stated in my previous blog, including the credits on a blank screen wastes seconds, although this doesn't quite introduce the characters on provide dialouge it is useful bc it sets a comedic tone. This may not be exactly how I would integrate my credits into the opening; however, I still feel this is an honorable mention of the creativity of the producers. 

MAMA (2013)

Mama is a supernatural horror movie that is about two young sisters found feral in a cabin after being abandoned for five years. The girls are adopted by their uncle and his girlfriend, but they bring with them a vengeful, protective spirit they call "Mama". Within the opening scene, the credits are displayed in a way that provides some context for the movie itself. 

As you can see from the opening, the credits are displayed over what looks to be children's drawings; they are not happy drawings. These drawings of what seem to be little girls provide context for what these little sisters may have encountered. This is used to provide context while also including credits in a way that doesn't seem wasteful of the 2 minutes my partner and I have to make our own film opening. This is a great example of a way that I may include in my film opening if our idea aligns and it goes well with the plot or theme of my opening. 

Analyzing Opening Scenes

 Finding The Right One

As my partner Jake and I are doing our research on many openings of the two genres, we are both considering them as our official opening. We both agreed to break it down into two individual openings of Thriller and Horror that really stood out to us in terms of inspiration and eye-catching. After constructing some ideas for an opening following will be the openings that stuck out to us, and I will be explaining why they stood out to me in the sense that this could have some inspiration on our opening. 

Fear (1996) 

Fear is a psychological thriller film that is based on a wealthy family known as the Walkers, who have a daughter named Nicole. Nicole begins to date a boy her age by the name of David McCall; however, he is not who they think he is. The character of David is meant to be a charming, good-looking teenage boy, but he is really a violent, manipulative sociopath. However, within the opening scene, it establishes the background and introduces the two main characters. Here is the opening.

  

After reviewing the opening scene and analyzing it, I noticed techniques that I would like to integrate into my own opening, but there was one thing that I did not like, and I will talk about why later. In the opening, the credits were placed at the beginning on a black screen, which I believe to be boring and a waste of seconds that could be used to actually have towards the scene itself. Nevertheless, a little later in the scene, the producer did incorporate the credits into the scene, which is what I would prefer to do with my own. Following the credits, the scene begins with what looks to be an overview drone shot of the city and the forest where the Walkers live. I really like this idea because it builds the character's background and where they live. I also find this smart because an idea my partner Jake and I are considering is to potentially build off of a dark forest setting. Now, for the one thing I didn't like within the opening scene. Throughout the scene, it just shows the characters of the daughter in the shower and the father running, which the father running could develop his character or even been foreshadowing of a time he might need to be running from danger, but there is no scene of danger or anxiety within the opening. Within my opening, I would like it to be sorta thrilling from the start. I want it to be nerve-racking in a way that draws people in due to their curiosity about what could happen next or throughout the rest of the film. 

Friday the 13th (1980)

Friday the 13th is about a camp in 1958 where an unidentified killer stalks within the premises; however, the campers and counselors are completely oblivious. Two counselors sneak away to make love when the stalker finds them and, unaware that this stalker is a killer, they begin to attempt to explain themselves before the killer takes both of their lives. Fast forward, there is a group of teen counselors awaiting incoming campers after being warned about the camp's past, they do not listen, and the murders continue. Here is the opening. 

Within the opening scene, I saw a lot of techniques I really liked, and I felt they really made an impact on the development of the film. To begin with, the setting being nighttime really developed that dangerous feeling or that sense/initial thought that bad things always happen at night. Then the scene cuts to a point of view shot of a figure who is seen to be walking into a cabin where the camp childern sleeping. This not only builds suspense, but the use of the point of view shot allows the audience to understand that this is a stalker or someone the camp is unaware of. Then, following the scene, the stalker is creeping up on the two counselors who snuck off into a barn, and the point of view of the figure is still used. Then the murder occurs, and I find the first murders occurring in the opening very valuable to the film as a whole because it establishes the plot while also building curiosity about the next murders. These are all great techniques and ways I would like to include in my own film opening. 

Scheduling of Portfolio Project

 MY SCHEDULE 

One thing I've learned from 10 years of schooling, especially the two years of high school, is that scheduling and time management are very important. Between outside of school hobbies and also having other classes that I might need to complete homework and study, and having an agenda to keep track of every class, the homework, and when upcoming tests and events are scheduled, is what works best for me. So with that being said im going to show you and explain how I'm planning to complete this project within my agenda. 

This my agenda I use! It is a weekly agenda because that's what works best for me, but it also works best for my project since I need to post weekly blogs, and I can schedule accordingly for the days my partner and I will film. 

Here is also a more in-depth weekly timeline of everything we will be doing throughout classes and the duration of the weeks. (Week one is already done, so this is currently week 2)

Week 2:

• Work on blogs 
• Brainstorm initial thoughts about opening (what genre, what concept, etc.)
• Ask Mrs. Stoklosa any questions if necessary 

Week 3:

• Have the genre chosen 
• Watch and analyze very well-made openings of that chosen genre. 
• At least have some ideas for potential opening stories
• Have storyboard and script done
• Make sure all blogs assigned for week 3 are completed

Week 4:  

• Discussion with partner characters for the film 
• Discuss settings and plot
• Have almost everything written down to conclude ideas 
• Find sounds or songs if necessary, or come up with foley sounds to create

Week 5:

• Begin filming 
• Do some revision if needed 
• Be sure to film behind the scenes of filming the actual opening 
• Finish filming (hopefully, if not finish first thing week 6)

Week 6: 

• Finish filming if hadnt already 
• Begin editing 
• Film editing to include in blogs 
• Hopefully finish editing and make sure everything is smooth and intriguing
• Begin CCR question 

Week 7: 

•  Finish all CCR questions 
• Finish all of those blogs 

Week 8: FINAL WEEK 

• Make sure EVERYTHING is done, finalized, and looks great. 
• Submit links 
• All done, send it to Cambridge!!!!!

Transitioning into Portfolio

Introduction to beginning my Portfolio

Created by: Selena Anciso

Hellooo Cambridge! Moving forward, my blog postings will focus on my production and research for my official Cambridge AICE Media Studies AS Final. These blogs will also consist of the behind-the-scenes production of mine and my partner's film opening, along with our whole thought process throughout the duration of the 7 weeks. I'm so excited to begin this huge project, and it's so crazy to think about the school year being almost over, along with this course. Without further ado, let's transition to the project!!!! Utilizing the knowledge I’ve learned, I feel as if I can put together a great film opening. To start this project, my teacher provided us with a lecture on film openings and the importance of creating a clear purpose from the beginning, while also not telling the full story and drawing people in. Here are some of the notes I took throughout the lecture: 

One of the purposes I would like to use for my film opening would be to develop characters. I feel this is a good purpose because when developing your character, you have total freedom and lots of ways to allow your creativity to let loose. Also, when developing a character, I can utilize techniques I've learned previously throughout the course to help me. Such as mine-en-scene, mise-en-scene is the use of costume design, make-up, props, and setting, like a character's room, to help develop that character. Dialogue is another technique that can be fun to mess around with when it comes to developing a character. You have the total freedom to decide how you want your character to talk, or the words used to develop them (the character). This is why I believe this purpose can be used very creatively to create a well-done film opening. 

Another purpose I would like to use would be to establish a background. Establishing a background is another great purpose that allows lots of freedom and lots of creativity. When establishing a background, you can use scene elements such as a TV or radio to help provide context, or also stated previosuly mise-en-scene can also help develop background even without relying on heavy dialogue. However, some short dialogue or even a voice-over (short meaning no more than 30 seconds) can also help build context or develop story/character background. With all that has been said about both purposes, I feel as if my partner and I have lots of freedom and lots of room for development, creativity, and just overall have a fun time working on it!