2/13/24 - Disoriented Brain

 Hey Blog! If I am being completely honest, I am lost. I realize how significant this project is not only to my grade but what my life will look like for the next few months. I am not super creative when it comes to initiating ideas. I should know more about what I want my portfolio project to look like but I do not have a starting point idea as of now.

Here are some things I do know...

- I want my film opening to be engaging and leave viewers want to see what happens next

- I want to be able to look forward to working on this project

- I want this project to be relatable

-I want this project to educate viewers

When I think of film openings my mind turns to...

                                                              The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

This film opening captures Andrea (Andy) Sachs as she prepares for her first day as a major magazine editor. Not only does it show Andys preparation, the opening shows her other co-workers preparing as well to foreshadow who Andy will be interacting with in events to come. As I instructed, I will not be creating a film opening where the protagonist gets ready for their day. What makes this opening stand out among other films that I have viewed before is the song choice (Suddenly I See By KT Tunstall) By having a catchy song to match your film opening, it helps your film remain memorable to viewers. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_xdkGrwSA

 The Breakfast Club (1985)

The first shots of this opening begin with establishing the idea of an empty school to leave the audience pondering. We see that only five students are entering the school on a Saturday. However, the could not be more different. As described in the film, "A nerd, a jock, a princess, a basket case, and a criminal." This film opening has unanswered questions as to why these 5 students were placed in detention. The director provides a sense of wonder and curiosity for viewers allowing them to stay engaged within the first few minutes of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFyTK3QHuHE

By taking into consideration what I admire about certain film openings, I believe this will help my research and inspiration through out the course of this project. My research has gone well, however, I need to act fast when considering what I will be creating my film opening about. 

2/9/24 - Brainstorming

 Hi Blog! This week is the start of The AICE Media Cambridge portfolio project. After learning the rules and requirements for this project, the first thing that I felt that I needed to do was to organize how I am going to tackle this task. I went to Canva to create a calendar for the month of February to label what task I will be doing for each given day. By doing this, I believe it will help me keep my cool in order to not get overwhelmed by this bulky project. To keep this organization flow, I have set the dates on my reminder app to send me a notification in the morning to remind me that I have a blog post due that day. I may not have an exact idea on what I will be creating my portfolio project about yet, however, this planning before hand will be beneficial during the long run of the next two months. 

When this project was mentioned, I slightly went into panic mode. I knew that it would come eventually but now that it is happening, the nerves of what I will create my film opening on are hitting me. I started my research immediately on who my target audience would be, what genre I wanted to have, and certain topics I may mention. I went on to Blogger to research portfolio projects to gain inspiration on a story, shots I may want to implement, lighting, sound, etc. I know for a fact that I would like to pick a genre and story that I would want to see myself as I will be working on this project for the next two months. For me personally, sitting through an entire film can be too much for me at times which is why I love the idea of simply producing a film opening. Since the opening is only two minutes, my main goal is to make it engaging and make viewers want to see what happens next. 

My first idea of a filming opening would be about a rockstar. She would be in a band and be regarded as one of the trendiest stars across the globe. She is seen as perfect to her fans who could do no wrong. When in reality, her internal struggle is hurting her voice and career as a whole. Through out the opening she would be shown performing with segments of her drug use catching up to her. This opening is slightly inspired by Euphoria. If this were to be produced in the real world, I believe it could reach an audience with fans who are interested in topics presented in shows similar to Euphoria. As cliche and typical this idea may sound, I believe it can inform my target audience about the dangers and side effects that doing drugs can have on your life. It would encourage others that as temping as drug usage may be, it is never worth losing your life over. I want to create this opening with a purpose to educate while also keeping an audience intrigued and entertained. 

My second idea of a film opening idea I envisioned was a girl who is struggling with the idea of turning 16 and not wanting to grow up. As I am going through this right now, I believe that it can be relatable for people around my age. It is a simple and small idea but I will continue to research now going on into the weekend. I do not know exactly what I may want to produce yet but my goal is to have an outline of my idea by Monday. I will be continuing to brainstorm this weekend so I will check back up on soon enough!

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

 Hi Blog! After completing this complex yet rewarding project, I am very proud of the way it turned out. Coming up with ideas is usually difficult for me, however, we had a clear vision of what we had to do in order to implement this project. We began to brain storm about what the band would look like, how they would dress, marketing strategies, etc. We came up with a family band "All 4 One". Since band is new to the industry, the main idea of the band is to spread their name around locally. We came up with posters, a website, and a link tree filled with social media accounts that the band can use to interact with their fans. The website would also include show dates of when the band will perform at live events to reach their target audience. Originally, we made the target audience 14 to 21 year olds but after having a class discussion about what a target audience does for a band or artist, we created a new description. The audience would reach teenage girls from the same age range that would appreciate indie, 90's, and punk bands. The band having this style would be influential to future generations to come. We had members of the band dress similar to school of rock with a slight edge to differentiate the band from others to avoid competition. After finalizing the research for the music video, we created a vision of using promotional aspects to further the bands career while also having a story to go along with it to entertain viewers. One thing I look for in videos is to want to watch it over and over again. I think our video provides the best of both worlds within both the promotional and storytelling aspects to make this potentially a top selling music video. 

After filming the music video, we started our campaign to reach our target audience. All of the members in our group contributed to the Canva presentation about All 4 One. We added slides such as the distribution, target audience, and social media presence. We all worked on different slides and created different images for what we envisioned about the band. I believe our marketing strategies work well with the image of the band. We included in the Canva presentation about doing pop-up performances inspired by Ed Sheeran  and doing local performances to engage with a smaller audience in the beginning of the family's upcoming career. The Canva presentation provides a full run down as to what you can expect for the future of this band. I am especially proud of the creative marketed implemented into our campaign. An example including a TikTok challenge can create videos with the song showing viewers their "Electric Feel"

My primary job was producing the website to inform others on who the band is and what recent/ upcoming projects are. When designing the website, I focused heavily on the display and image that we wanted the audience to see. I implemented bright colors, newspaper clippings, unique designs, etc. The website is a great way to get to know the band for new fans who happen to search up the name All 4 One and will click on the website to become knowledgable about their upcoming songs, covers, and future performances. I put the bands contact information on the website to reach local restaurants and bars to not only raise money for the business but extra money to further our name down the road. Performances like these can directly reach the target audience we set as people among the range like to go out with their friends, party, and listen to music.

An idea of the website

Overall, I believe my contributions to this projects were beneficial to the final product. Every piece of work that every member did crafted into the final result. I am very proud of the level of creativity that went into this campaign and all of our ideas turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Our idea came ton life no matter how impossible a matter may have seemed. If this band were to be produced, there is no doubt in my mind we would have gained a decent sized audience. This project has been a fun one that will definitely remain as a good memory during my time in this class. I learned how important music videos are for marketing artists, the importance of having a specific target audience, and most importantly teamwork. I believe that this project is going to further my knowledge about not only marketing and media but help me before I enter the long term journey of My Cambridge portfolio project. 

Music Marketing Blog Post #1

 Hi Blog! This week, my AICE Media class has been focusing on creating a music video and a campaign for a new artist/group. This past weekend, my group got together to brainstorm ideas that we could do for our project. We were given the song Electric Feel by MGMT. We immediately started to think of the artist marketing and branding. We all agreed on having a band called "All 4 One" it would be a family band. The name is significant because we are highlighting the unity and family values that we are showcasing to our audience. The band will have a 90's/punk/rock feel while remaining light hearted. The costumes consisted of white button ups with ties to have a preppy feel. However, we got creative with ties to have a chaotic and rebellious image. Once we identified what our ideas were for the group, we began to decide what we were going to film for our video. After having a lesson on different types of music videos, we knew we had to make a decision. Since this is a new and upcoming band, we did not want to make this soully a promotional video. Therefore, we wrote a story to go along with our promotion. We came up with a story that a girl and a boy will meet at a party where they both receive an "Electric Feel".  All of this brainstorming led us to our final vision for our production. So... we shot the promotional half of the video on Thursday. Look below for a sneak peak!

The filming on Thursday was successful! We took many shots of each member playing their instrument incorporating different techniques and angles. It is so fascinating to see what we have envisioned come to life. I had to be on drums which was slightly challenging because I was not coordinated AT ALL. In the end, I thought all of the filming was going to look great for our video. Despite scheduling conflicts, I believe we all played our part into contributing what we wanted our project to look like. I believe our marketing and brand ideas are matching with the feel of our band which is exactly how we wanted it. Since the filming, we are beginning to create social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and even our own website in order to reach out to a larger audience. We would make all of our accounts accessible by using a link tree to make it simple yet efficient to view who we are and how we want others to perceive us. On top of using social media, we are creating a flyer to promote upcoming show dates that the band would be performing at. These venues can include anywhere from a family restaurant to a local bar. We would also promote this dates via social media because of that being the main source of communication in our modern day. We have shown off our marketing strategies in our campaign which will be presented next week in class. Now we are shooting the storytelling half on Saturday! 

What now you may ask? We are beginning to edit what we have filmed and creating our social media accounts to engage our audience. Our target is primarily 14-21 year olds who are able to appreciate what our band is providing for others. This age consumes TikTok more than any other group. Therefore, we would start a trend entitled the "Electric Feel" challenge where creators can post under the hashtag to involve themselves with our upcoming song. By doing this, it allows our campaign to grow even further with new fans which can lead to better opportunities.  I think it was a perfect idea that we decided to do a back and forth between promotional and storytelling shots to keep viewers entertained. We tend to watch music videos more because of how timeless a select number are. By differing our from others, it allows us to remain unique. One of the box idea that we implemented was by making an "Electric Feel" using a black sheet as a backdrop to show our lead singer having this feel.  Our target goal is to reach as many people as possible in order to make our band a force to be reckoned with. I believe that all of the strategies that we are implemented can lead this band to the top headlines. I hope you have enjoyed this process as much as I have so far and I cannot wait to see how everything turns out in the end! 

Representation

Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy created by The Warner Bros. that follows a native New Yorker, Rachel Chu. Rachel and her serious boyfriend, Nick Young, are traveling back to Nick's home country in Singapore to attend his best friends wedding. Rachel is nervous about meeting Nicks family as she has no idea what to expect. Rachel learns that nick was heavily neglected during his childhood. She comes to find out that Nick comes from one of the most wealthiest families in Singapore. Rachel being Nicks girlfriend attracts a lot of attention surrounding her intentions with their relationship. Not only is Crazy Rich Asians a story about love, it is a story about family. Nicks mother has an undeniable love for her son. His mom is prepared to sacrifice anything for family but especially Nick. This film is so much more than your typical romantic comedy.

A huge aspect of this movie was representing Singapore's culture and lifestyle. When Rachel first arrives to the country, we see her and Nick tour Singapore with the soon-to-be-married couple. It has a roaring and chaotic feel to provide to bombard Rachel with the new country that she is visiting. We see her try new foods, become familiar with the country, and get a feel to what her trip will have in store for her. The culture seen within this film is helped by the landscapes, costumes, music, etc. 

 

Rachel appears as an outsider to Nicks family as she is a modest American who is an economics professor. In Nicks mom's view, that does not meet her standards of a "perfect wife" for her son. Rachel tends to dress casual and underwhelming. As we are introduced to Nicks family (primarily his mother), we see their lavish clothing worn, word choice, and their sophisticated personalities. Seen in the image below, Rachel is wearing average street wear. Meanwhile, the bride to be is wearing a luxurious outfit with gold sequins to represent her lifestyle compared to Rachels.

When Rachel appears at Nicks childhood home for his mothers party, we see the guests wearing high-end clothing, having fancy food, tasting expensive alcohol beverages, high-end cars, and live music is being performed for the event. The music playing is jazz that is sung in Madarin to display the classy feel to the scene We see that Rachel attempts to blend in with the people at Eleanor's (Nicks mom) party by wearing an outfit that is out of her comfort zone. With everything that Rachel is viewing, she meant to feel overwhelmed by the chaotic environment. 

                                 

As Rachel begins to understand the Young family standards, we see her wear an extravagant gown to the wedding. We see that she begins to feel more confident and comfortable in an unfamiliar setting. Not only have her clothing choices altered, her personality has blossomed into a classy self-assured women. We see this in her interaction with the wedding guests who had treated her poorly during her stay in Singapore. 

Sound Track consisting of primarily Mandarin

SOURCES

https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/crazy-rich-asians

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/08/15/638775885/in-crazy-rich-asians-jon-chu-directs-all-asian-cast

https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Genre Research

WHAT IS THE MUSICAL GENRE?

Musicals are typically filled with feelings of happiness and joy; characters consistently are break into song and dance in order to tell a story. It is considered one of cinemas most unique genres of film. Musical movies typically include an opening number, a love ballad, a villain's song, dance numbers, and many more. Musicals have constant movement, one aspect being dance. Dance can be used to express emotion through movement. The singing aspect of musicals is similar, however, singing expresses emotion through words. Musicals provide a interesting and exciting twist to a movie, keeping their audience intrigued and curious about the story being told. Musicals provide a variety of sub-genres, the most popular, High school, adult, romance, etc. 

CONTENT

Musical films have the main elements of movement and sound to capture a story through a performance. Musicals are commonly described to be a upbeat and cheerful. However, this genre is extremely versatile. One example is melodramas, this is when characters experience much more intense emotions. Melodramas are mainly expressed within a stylistic side (mise-en-scène)

This image above is from the live action version of Beauty and The Beast (2017) Belle is frightened of the beast and also is despair as she will not be with her father because of her imprisoning. This film has a darker aspect of colors as most of the film takes place inside a dull castle. 

Musicals goal is to capture emotions through performance. Musicals have many sub-genres, the most familiar being romance. Many musicals capture two protagonists journey where they eventually fall in love. In The Little Mermaid (2022), we see Ariel saves Prince Eric's life during a storm where they instantly fall in love through this single interaction. As the film progresses, we see the build of their emotions toward one another. 

In this image, a two-shot is shown to establish their relation between the two characters. We can see a connection forming between the two because of the proximity made by the producers. During this scene, the song "Kiss the girl" plays to emphasize the feels that are sparking in the beginning of a beautiful and innocent romance. 

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Musicals rely heavily on mise-en-scène in order for the set to be believable and aesthetically pleasing. The set in this genre is extremely important. When watching a musical film, the set is constantly changing as a there is a quantity of action and movement occurring. Even though musicals came become chaotic, as viewers, we must understand where the actors are performing. 

This image is from La La Land (2016). As we can see, this is a great reference of mise-en-scène. This also reveals a glimpse of their costume choices to reveal their personalities. Mia Dolan has a bubbly and ambitious personality revealed by her bright yellow dress. Sebastian's clothing choice represents his sophisticated and classy personality. 

MARKETING

Musicals have a wide audience range of an audience. Depending on the film, it can either be targeted toward young adults or even more mature viewers. One way musicals attempt to bring in an audience is by adapting a well-known musical into a film. Producers have been applying this idea for the past decade and it has become a wildly popular marketing tool for movie musicals. 

One example is Mean Girls, it is currently one of the most popular musicals on broadway. This musical is being made into a movie that will be released in 2024. The film is already receiving an enormous amount of attention from the media due to the praise Mean Girls has already received. 

Musicals are typically made for everybody, however, the largest audience that musicals receive is primarily driven by women. Producers making trailers and posters that will make women appealed. The attention is grabbed by the coloring consisting of typically pink, purple, or red. Musicals also fill their advertising with corny energy which gains a brighter feel for women who are looking to have a fun time while watching a musical film. 

Singin' in the Rain (1952), provides a look of 3 individuals with expressions of joy. This movie poster provides a fun and inviting feel for viewers.

SAMPLES

High School Musical (2006)

This film follows our two protagonists Troy Bolton (Zach Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens). The two meet at a New Years Eve party where they sing karaoke. They realize that they both have are talented singers. They get each others phone numbers soon going their separate ways. Little do they both know that Gabriella was transferring to Troy's high school. They both get to know each other better and we learn that Gabriella is a talented science student and Troy is the star of the basketball team. They both want to audition for their schools musical which goes against their typical clique ideals. As Troy and Gabriella challenge stereotypes, it begins to cause a riff within the entire school. This film provides catchy sound track with numerous dance sequences while sparking a predictable romance between the protagonists. The film contains numerous tunes such as "Breaking Free", "We're all in the together", and "Stick to the Status Quo." This songs, as well as the rest of the film, have versatile choreography, bright setting, and colorful costumes to keep the film upbeat. The story recaps common high school issues yet still contains optimistic views upon acceptance and friendship. 

Annie (2014)

This film is centered around a foster child, Annie, who is living in an orphanage. She lives with numerous other girls around her age and a ruthless foster mom. She remains with hope as she believes her birth parents promise that they will one day return to her. Annie is naturally a bright and optimistic young girl. We find her throughout the course of the film performing a multitude of numbers on how she is reacting to the world around her and the change that is occurring. As Annie is one day scrambling through the streets, she almost gets hit by a taxi. She is then saved by The New York City mayoral candidate, Will Stacks. This life threatening incident is a light of hope for Will Stacks as he believes this praise from the media will boost his poll numbers in the upcoming election. Therefore, Will Stacks then takes Annie in as his own and slowly but surely begins to consider her family. Annie is not an original story as there was a previous version created produced in 1982. Some of the present-day Annie songs are "The City's Yours" and "Opportunity". The film has bright setting with a wide range of clothing choices and colors to follow the emotions of this story. The film tends to feel more vibrant when Annie is positive and we see more dark colors when her mood seems to damper.

EXAMPLES TO REFERENCE

                                                          Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

                                                             In The Heights (2021)

                                                                 Hairspray (2007)

                                                                    Grease (1978)

                                                                  West Side Story (2021)

SOURCES

https://nofilmschool.com/musical-genre

https://raisingchildren.net.au/guides/movie-reviews/high-school-musical

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1823664/plotsummary/

http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Musicals.html

https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/entertainment/complete-list-film-sub-genres

https://dailybruin.com/2015/01/06/growth-in-film-adaptations-of-musicals-brings-hollywood-broadway-together

Sound Blog Post

 Hi Blog, the assignment my partner and I were given is titled "Sound Project". The intent of this project is to be able to learn how to tell a story through sound effects and other auditory techniques. In order to do this, the soundscape must be realistic and have a multitude of layering sounds for it to be believable. 

When thinking of what to create the soundscape about, we knew it must have a story where there is a clear beginning and ending. Brainstorming for this project was a difficult thought process as you must create a story that can only be told through the use of sound. Ultimately, we had come up with our established idea. The story would be somebody leaving there house to walk there dog. Eventually the dog breaks loose of the leash and runs away from there owner. The dog is sprinting away from its owner until it reaches another dog where they begin to bark back and forth at each other. Soon, the dog becomes frightened and runs back to the owner licking since the dog missed its owner. When generating this project, each movement had to be made precise and clean. For example, when the owner looses control of the leash, the dog runs across the street. This is implied by the sounds of running transitioning from the dog stepping on leafs to then a street. Another way to convey this idea was by a car passing to it then honking to acknowledge the dog. By doing small details such as these, I believe it made our soundscape more enhanced.

To make the soundscape believable, a variety of layering sounds must be included. To make the audience believe the setting is outside at night, we added multiple background noises to imply this idea. We added crickets chirping, cars honking, footsteps outdoors, leafs crunching, etc. I believe this stepped up the quality of this project to the next level. We took into account how each sound effect would be used if the audience was actually taking there dog for a walk. An extended period of time was taken to figure out what foley sounds we would choose, how would we create them, and how they would enhance our story. The main focus surrounding the foley would be the dogs leash. We made the dog leash chankling and the dogs leash being dropped using my own dogs leash. The chankling sound was made by the metal part of the leash being clasped against hardwood floor. I believe the usage of the leash sound effect helped create a more developed plot. Below you will see the clips we created. 

The images posted here are the foley we created. (I wanted to insert the whole video but blogger blocked access) These images capture two different moments of the leash chankling. I provided these images to demonstrate the surface we used and how the product of our foley was established simply by shaking the metal part of the leash back and forth.

I would say the most difficult part of the soundscape process was coming up with an idea for the ending and how the audience would be able to understand what was occurring. We had at first came up with the idea that the dog would jump into the owners arms out of fear due to the dog scaring him away. However, we struggled to find an idea of sounds that would make our audience understand what was taking place. In the end result, the dog ends up running away from the dog barking at it. Which is implied by the fast pacing and panting. The dog reaches the owner and begins to lick of joy to imply that the dog is reunited with its owner. I think we could have came up with a more creative ending, however, I still believe this established that this was the end goal of the story. Overall, I thought this project took our sound lesson to the next level. The lesson taught me that us as viewers take sound for granted in any type of media we consume. Sound typically goes unnoticed but now, I am knowledgable about the importance that sound contributes.

                                                             EDITING OUTLINE

Here is the link to our soundscape, enjoy! :)

1697596458.500808.MOV