AICE Media Studies

  For our last blogs, we researched the title sequence of the movie Antebellum. We found the titles of the movie on the website “artofthetitle.com” What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? During the opening sequence, the titles displayed are the production companies, the producers, the directors, the names of the actors who played the main characters, the casting director, the movie supervisor and the music producers, the costume designer, the film editor, the production designer, the director of photography, the executive producers and the writers. Something we found interesting, was that the producers were mentioned twice, once at the beginning at once at the end. They also included a quote at the very beginning of the title sequence.  What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?  The images that are prioritized are those that show a racial divide, and that show this film takes place in the past. For example, you can see a confederate flag being ...

  The name of the film in which this title sequence comes from is The Number 23. We got this title sequence from a website called “watchthetitles.com” What titles are displayed during the opening sequences?  The titles that are displayed during the opening sequences are the title of the movie, the producer, the starring actors, the person who did casting, the person who did music, the associate producer, the costume designer, the editor, the production designer, the co-producer, the executive producers, the writer,  and the director. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?  Throughout the whole title sequence, a background of a paper can be seen. In this background, a typewriter font is displayed when showing text. The thing that stands out the most is the repeated use of the number “23”. It is written over and over again in the background of the title sequence. What appears to be blood stains spilling over also appears all through the title sequence. Wh...

The name of the film in which this title sequence comes from is 30 Days of Night. We got this title sequence from a website called “watchthetitles.com” What titles are displayed during the opening sequences?  The titles that are displayed in this opening sequence are the title of the movie, the director, the person who did the screenplay, what the movie is based on, the producers, the executive producers, the co-producers, the director of photography, the production designer, the editor, the people starring, the person who did music, and the costume designer. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?  The images that are prioritized in the title sequence are images of people in photos. Many of these images appear to be in poor condition, with many being either burned, slashed, or damaged. Accompanied by these photos, are gruesome images that include blood, decaying corpses, weapons, and random body parts.  What connotations do these images carry?  These im...

  The name of the film in which this title sequence comes from is The Reaping. We got this title sequence from a website called “watchthetitles.com” What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? The titles displayed show the director of the movie, who the screenplay and story are by, the producers, executive producers, the director of photography, production designers, editors, who the music is by, the co-producer, visual effects supervisor, the costumes designer, and the main actors within the movie. The production companies, such as Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, are shown as well. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? The images of eyes are shown several times throughout the title sequence. Eyebrows and eyelashes are also displayed a few times throughout the opening sequence, but eyes seem to be what is shown the most throughout the opening sequence. Along with eyes, leaves and splatters of blood, liquid, or other objects are seen as well. W...

The next website we decided to view was the Watch the Titles website. This website, similarly to the Art of the Titles website, shows several title sequences from various films. We decided to research this website in order to earn a better idea of what title sequences look like, so that we can include them in our final task.  The first thing we did on the website was view several title sequences. After this was done, we researched what went into the production of these films, who produced them, why some of the creative choices were used, and several more facts about the movie/title sequence. All of these features were included on the website, allowing for more functional, easy research. From this website, we were able to learn about the creative choices used in title sequences and how that relates to the story, as well as how the title sequence was made. Even the smallest things such as the lighting of the title sequence made an impact on the title sequence and how it relates to th...

   The site we are looking at is called Art of the Title. This website shows the title sequences of different movies and TV shows. We are looking at this site in order to learn more about these title sequences, so that we can include elements from these title sequences in the title sequence of our final task. We began by viewing the home page, which included suggested title sequences we should view. We then clicked on a suggested list of title sequences we should view and looked at the title sequence, first, and then the background information next, which was underneath the video of the title sequence. The background information beneath each video helped clarify the title sequence and allowed us to understand how the title sequence was made as well as a little bit about what is included. A few things we learned was the complexity of titles and how they relate to the genre of the movie. The title sequences for thriller films, for example, included elements within the titles tha...

  To do more research on the Thriller genre, we watched the movie Birdbox. Birdbox is a horror, post-apocalyptic thriller that follows a woman as she struggles to find refuge for herself and her children away from an unknown entity who kills people when they look at it. Overall, the film was good with a compelling storyline that made you want to keep watching. The film used many elements usually found in the thriller genre, like for example, close-up shots. The movie used many close-up shots to display the character’s emotions and create a dramatic effect. The characters also all wore clothing with very dark and muted colors, and a large part of the film had low-key lighting to create shadows and build suspense. Many shots were over-the-shoulder shots to maintain a close up as the characters were talking, and many high angles to make the characters seem small and helpless against the entity. There were also a lot of track, pan and tilt camera movements to drag out the revealing of ...

   A movie that fits into the genre we are doing, that genre being thriller, is the movie iBoy. While this movie fits into the sci-fi thriller genre, we thought this would be a good movie to watch because it would take the conventions of a film with a thriller genre while adapting it to fit the sci-fi aspect of it. Even though we will not be incorporating any characteristics of a sci-fi sub-genre film, we thought we could learn from the way they adapted the film to fit this sub-genre, and apply it to our own film. Not only this but we also want to incorporate some of the elements that are used in this film since it is a thriller just like our film. Some of these elements include the suspense filled background music, diegetic sound, tracking shots, cutting between shots, jump cuts, close-up shots, fast paced editing, low key lighting, and hand-held camera movements.      These elements combined build up the suspense and tension throughout the film. The heightened...

   One movie within the thriller genre is Premonition. This movie had a very interesting plot and was a nice movie to watch overall. A few elements of the thriller genre that can be seen within this movie are the closeup shot, muted colored clothing, natural makeup and hair, low and high angles, dramatic, eerie music, zoom, panning, cross-cutting, over-the-shoulder shots, tracking, and the hand-held camera movement. All of these elements were used to create suspense within the movie. The closeup shot was used, specifically, to clearly show the emotions being displayed on the actor's face. There were many moments within the film where the main character was finding a discovery or something odd was happening to them, that used the closeup shot. This choice in shot allowed the audience to clearly see what the main character’s reaction was to those events, how the other characters may have reacted to the main character’s reaction, and vice versa. The high angle used, in particular...

We began our decision of the type of genre our final task would be in by looking at a list of the types of genres there are in film. After researching each genre, we then eliminated the genres that our film couldn’t be, or what we didn’t want it to be. The possible genres we decided on were drama, thriller, and horror. Once those possible genres were selected, we brainstormed and explored what the plot of our movie would be within those genres. We tried to visualize how our project would turn out, depending on the genre we picked, and how much we would like the idea of our plot within the specific genre. If our final task was within the drama genre, we thought that our movie could include love or the main character growing closer to a family member/friend. We quickly decided that we did not want our final task to take this turn and, instead, focused on the horror and thriller genres. Although we had already created blogs on both genres, we decided to delve deeper into what the genres w...

Thriller  Common CAMS in the genre- High angles, Close-up shots, Tracking, Panning, Zooms, Tilted shots, Over-the-shoulder, low angles, hand-held camera movement.  Common CLAMPS in the genre- Characters are typically in dark, muted clothes. The clothes usually cover a large part of a certain character to make them seem mysterious and build suspense. Low-key lighting is also used to produce shadows and create a sense of eeriness and make the audience feel unsettled. Hair and make-up are muted and realistic, and makeup is usually used to create the appearance of wounds.  Common Editing in your genre- Many jump cuts are included and crosscutting is essential to build suspense.  Example films of your genres- A Quiet Place, The Nun, Bird Box, Doctor Sleep  Common sound in your genre- Dramatic, eerie music to build suspense and tension.  What elements of the genre that you like? - We like how this genre is able to make you feel certain emotions as you are watchin...

 This PowerPoint describes the horror genre and the conventions that can be found within it. Common CLAMPS, sound, camera movements, angles, and elements are all found within this document. The PowerPoint begins with a title slide that includes a song, which is played throughout the PowerPoint, and several pictures of characters from horror movies. The song is a clip that was found on YouTube. We used it because we thought it sounded just like a song or sting that would be used in horror movies. The PowerPoint then goes on to the common lighting within the genre. In order to find this, we used background information from previous movies that we have watched. From those movies, we were able to identify which types of lighting coincided with the lighting we normally saw in horror movies. We looked online at different websites as well in order to figure out the types of lighting there were in movies. There are pictures used as well, to show examples of lighting, and a description unde...

    Hello my name is Jessica Guerra. When starting my final task I had to make the tough decision of who to work with. Since this was going to be a very big chink of my AICE Cambridge exam it was vital that I choose who I worked with carefully. At first I wanted to work with three of my close friends, whom I usually work with. However, since I usually work with them, I know from previous experiences that they don’t have the best work ethic which would make the project really difficult. Not only this, but the quality of the work we produce when together is not that great either.      Due to this I decided to work with my two other friends, Harlow Kramer-Dew and Juanita Garcia. I have known both of them for a couple years so I know them pretty well. Because of this I know that they both have good work ethics and will get the job done on time. In the past I have worked with them on several projects and assignments so I know that I am able to wor...

For the final task, after much consideration, we decided on two pitches. The first pitch would be of a girl that finds a journal, while going through her dead mother’s belongings, that sends her on a quest to learn about her mother’s past. For our second pitch we decided to incorporate more of a paranormal type of idea. This story follows a girl who moves into an apartment only to find a haunted light that turns on every time a spirit is present. The girl soon discovers she is in contact with her deceased mother’s spirit through the light. The first pitch, of the girl that goes on a quest as a result of her mother’s journal, has many reasons that could contribute to its production for our final task, such as the ease of production. The other pitch that we chose would be difficult to make, as there would most likely be quite a few special effects that would go into producing it. This pitch’s idea would be much more easy to convey, compared to the difficulties we would face in our second...