Research- Part 4

    Welcome back everyone, today we are back with some more research on my film project. I have come up with many ideas and I believe I am going to make a Slasher horror film rather than a Supernatural one. I was looking over the film opening clips and I feel as if the Slasher horror film has more versatility than the Supernatural horror film opening. With that being said I have done some research in the aspects of costuming options, location scouting, and target audience. 

    Costuming options is very important when it comes to horror films because of the antagonists or in this case, the slasher does not provoke any fear then film opening won't be as interesting as it would be. Some exceptional movie costumes for slasher films have to be Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw, Scream, and Happy Death Day. These films all have great costume designs and what really stands out about their costumes is the mask. Every single one of these movies is globally known for its masks, especially Friday the 13th and Halloween. This mask has brought a lot of popularity to their respective franchises. The masks are very important in a slasher even though there has been a lot of slashers without masks the most iconic and famous slasher films have masks, and I intend to follow this trend.  

    The location of these slasher films tends to all be usually in the same location, except for Friday the 13th and Happy Death Day, which is the home of people. This location brings a lot of fear to people because when they believe they are safe in their own homes and chances of being killed would be less. These films create that changed feeling to a more insecure about their homes and really frighten people because they thought their own house was in fact very safe. Although Friday the 13th and Happy Death Day do not take place at the victim's house, it is where the victim feels safe. For example, on Friday the 13th takes place in a camp called Camp Crystal Lake. In this movie, many of the victims that are killed are killed in their own little house which they are staying in for the camp. In Happy Death Day the main protagonist always begins in the dorm room of her college and for the first few times she is killed in the dorm but then it changes to more of a public area. Although these films do not necessarily always take place in a house they do take place in areas where many people would consider themselves to be safe. This in turn creates the sensation of fear because it makes people think if there is anywhere where they are safe. I believe I am going to continue with the trend of taking place in a house as I believe it would benefit myself and create that fear aspect that I want in my film.

Halloween 1978

Friday The 13th

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 

Scream 

Happy Death Day 

    My film opening will have a target audience from 13- 24 years because this is the target range where many people go to view these horror films. This target age is ideal because many people in this range want to feel the thrill of being scared and what the adrenaline to circulate around them, while any age group older might still watch it won't be as consistent as this target audience. Also, there won't be much of the audience younger than 13 because they might not want to watch the film because they are scared or because of parental guidance. While the rating for the movies like Halloween, Friday The 13th, and Scream were rated R back then most horror films nowadays like Happy Death Day are now moving towards the PG-13 age group. I will continue with this PG-13 age group because I believe it will be successful for my film opening and will have a broader range of people rather than people who are 18 years or older.

    Throughout my research, I have concluded the location, the costuming option, and the target audience for my film opening. My film opening will most likely be taken in someone's home and the slasher will most likely wear a mask of some sort to represent himself. The one thing that is a certainty is that the film opening will be targeted to the audience of 13-24 and will be rated PG-13. I will continue to further research these topics and figure out what will benefit my film opening. I also will continue to notify you of all on my journey. Stay safe and I will see you all in the next post.

Research- Part 3

     Welcome back everyone, I am here once again explaining the research that I have put in for my portfolio project. I have been contemplating whether if I should do a Slasher Horror film or a more Supernatural Horror film. To be honest I have been leaning more towards the Slasher as for a truly good experience of a Supernatural Horror film opening I would need some state-of-the-art technology and other equipment which I simply don't own. Although I do not own these things it does not mean that I am ruling out the Supernatural Horror film opening just yet. 

    I have begun to develop some ideas on how I will give credits in the film opening and present the title of the film. In doing so I had to research the topic of fonts, and which ones would fit the best for the text that is going to be used in the film opening. I have researched some movies which are very popular and use fonts that make the title pop out. For example The Conjuring, Halloween, Hereditary, and A Quiet Place.

 

    The Conjuring as a whole film opening has been very inspiring to me, such as Halloween has, but what else has inspired me is the font that both of these film openings used to present the title of the film and the opening credits. The font and the film complemented each other wonderfully and I believe if any other font was used then it would have ruined the opening credits and made it dysfunctional. The font style which The Conjuring uses is called Adobe Garamond Typeface, this font is globally known to be The Conjuring film. This font is very recognizable by people and has made a dramatic impact and has such a big influence on the title of the film. The same goes for the movie Halloween, the director decided to use ITC Serif Gothic Heavy. The font of the movie fits perfectly back in its time and era, this font has become a part of the film and just like The Conjuring, this font is recognizable by many people. Other fonts which in my opinion blend well with their films is A Quiet Place and Hereditary. A Quiet Place is a movie about having to be quiet for survival and the font just compliments that aspect of being quiet but still bold. The font which was used was Albertina, this font truly just creates that perfect title looks for the movie. Hereditary is a movie in which a matriarch of the family dies her daughter and grandchildren begin to figure out horrific secrets about their family and try to outrun the sinfulness in the family. I felt that the font Hirango Serif was a great choice as it truly makes the title and the opening credits seem as if they have history and meaning behind it. It complements the movie very well and I don't believe any other font would have done better.

    After researching and putting a great amount of time into the font, I have realized that it is a very big deal which font the director uses because it has to fit the theme of the film or story. This has a huge impact because no font can just be placed in the film opening or else it will just look out of place, and if the font is good enough it can actually cause the film to have huge popularity as many people will recognize the font of the film on other products. The lesson that I learned was that font is criminally underrated and very looked over, and many people may just look over it as a bunch of letters. The reality is that font either sets the tone of the film or destroys the film's theme entirely. 

    This research has really opened my eyes to how significant the fonts have to be in order to capture that theme and present the title as perfectly as you want it. I will continue to further research what font will fit my horror film opening the best, but it also depends on if I will choose slasher or supernatural. I will continue to blog about my journey and I notify everyone if there are any changes. Bye everyone I hope you all have a great day and see you all on the next blog. 

Research- Part 2

     Hello everyone, I am back with some more research. After brainstorming some more ideas on the film opening, I came up with a new idea of a slasher horror opening film. I feel that horror slasher films are great for openings as they truly create that sensation of horror and they utilize a tremendous amount of camera techniques, editing, and sounds. For example, Halloween (1978) utilizes numerous amounts of techniques and different camera angles.

    This film opening utilizes many camera techniques and sounds to create the sensation of horror. At the beginning of the film opening, it uses a black background with a white font to show the date and the location where the film is taking place. There is also a background sound of children playing around and it gets louder until the first scene begins. The camera then uses a pan and tilt around the house to show what the couple is doing. Once the couple goes upstairs and the lights turn off a high-pitched eery sound is played. The sound continuously begins to get louder with a piano note being continuously played and the longer the duration the deeper the piano note gets. As the camera approaches the kitchen and grabs a knife the audience can now tell that it is a point-of-view angle. The sound of the conversation the couple has is very quiet but once the guy leaves the sounds continue to get louder and a clock can be heard signifying time is up. As the camera approaches the girl a loud high pitched sound goes off, then the camera can be seen continuously stabbing the girl and the camera focuses on the lunges of the knife. The camera then leaves to go outside where it meets two older people where the character's name is revealed, Michael. Once the mask is taken off, the camera goes from a medium shot and gets further away until a high angle long shot.

    This film opening seriously inspired me as this is what I am looking towards making. In my film opening, I want a lot of emphasis on the camera shots and techniques to tell the story rather than a lot of character development and dialogue. In my film opening, I want people to want to have to draw conclusions for themselves and figure things out rather than telling them through dialogue what the purpose of the film is going to be about. Halloween (1978) is a great example of the director telling the story through the camera techniques and sounds used. Director John Carpenter used a variety of techniques in his film opening to his own advantage. The film opening perfectly represents what the film is going to be about, Mr.Carpenter uses the camera as the point of view of Michael, who is the main character and antagonist of the film and makes it seem as if the camera were wearing a mask. Then Michael ends up killing his first victim which we see through his own eyes. This already tells the audience the plot and character development of the film. There was barely any dialogue apart from the couple talking to each other and the older people at the end revealing the character's name.

    Also, we have seen a common trend in the audience loving slasher films for example films like Happy Death Day (2017), Hush (2016), Freaky (2020), and many other films becoming very popular in recent years. Hush got a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.6/10 on IMDb, and 63% on Metacritic. These films have always been a hit throughout the years and will continue to be very popular. Halloween (1978) was one of the most famous slasher horror films known to date. The film had a budget of around $325,000 and a Gross income of $47,160,000. Not only is that impressive the rating for the film is very good, with the film having a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.7/10 on IMDb, and an 87% on Metacritic. Halloween is a classic slasher movie that is praised by many directors and seen as a masterpiece, this is why this horror film has motivated me and gave me some inspiration.

    Slasher films like Halloween also do not need to have a large budget to be great, what makes these movies great is the suspense and horror that it brings out while using a variety of camera techniques and sounds. Slasher horror films follow the exact principles and outline I want to follow for my film opening. After conducting this research I will have to decide whether to continue with a Supernatural horror film opening or a Slasher film opening. I will further conduct research and will let you all know later on. Goodbye, see you all in the next blog!

Research- Part 1

     Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am going to further continue to talk about what my plans and my research is for the project. Right now I am still in the process of searching for the perfect topic/idea for what my film opening will be. I have fully committed to continuing the genre horror as I believe it truly fits the film opening I want to create. I will confirm with my teacher about my selection of this genre and listen to her thoughts. As of now, I have researched the genre of this genre and found many movies in the horror genre that are very popular. Many movies such as Halloween (1978), The Conjuring (2013),  Get Out (2017) have all been very successful in their respective time periods. The horror genre has always created one of the best film openings out of all other genres for example The Conjuring (2013) is a great example.

 

    The Conjuring is a horror film about this inanimate doll who has supernatural powers and is possessed by a 7-year-old girl who has died in the apartment these two girls were staying at. The little girl was named Anabelle and all she wanted to do was be with the girls, so the girls believed it was okay to allow the so-called spirit of Anabelle in the doll. Later they realize by the main protagonists that they in fact did not let the spirit of Anabelle into the doll but they actually let an inhumane spirit, otherwise known as a demon, into their home. In this film opening, we can see a glimpse of what the entire movie will consist of and have an entire background of how the demon had entered the house. It is very impressive because at the same time it introducing the main protagonists of the film and why they are going to help the girls with the demon. The theme can be easily portrayed in this film opening and this usage of fear elements makes the opening more intriguing and makes the audience want to watch the entire film. 

    This film has inspired me a lot because of the way James Wan utilized camera shots, angles, lighting, and sound. The amounts of techniques that James Wan uses in the film opening is very impressive, he begins at first with a two-shot, then uses various close-ups, tilts, pans, and jumps cuts. All of these techniques all work in harmony, none of the scenes seem out of place and they all compliment the other very well. What James Wan utilized greatly is the lighting and sound. In the opening the there is a part where both ladies arrive from hanging out in their apartment and they find the doll let in the middle of the hallway and James Wan uses the low key lighting to really create that sensation of this mysterious demonic doll. This film opening has tremendously inspired me when planning out my film opening because the way that James Wan used the camera to film his opening is the exact way I picture myself filming my film opening. 

    A very impressive part of The Conjuring was the way James Wan plot was developed through the opening. The plot of the movie was fairly simple the main characters arrived at the apartment of these two ladies and are trying to get rid of this demonic spirit that is haunting the ladies. Although this seems fairly simple James Wan as well adds a background story on how the demonic spirit got into their home and how the death of the 7-year-old was the reason why the ladies let the spirit in. This is very difficult as James Wan could have easily got caught up in the background story and completely went in a different direction but instead, he perfectly blended a good amount of dialogue with a good amount of action. Once this plot was created his main characters and the other characters just fell into place and the entire plot was created. This is what I want for my film opening, as I want to really focus and put a lot of emphasis on the content and scenes, and not let the characters of the film overpower the film opening.

    My idea in my film opening is to create something that contains the supernatural but keeps it fairly simple like The Conjuring. I would like to continue with supernatural as that topic in the horror genre never seems to fail and always tends to be the most popular in this genre. This helps attract the audience as many people are very attracted to figuring out the unknown or knowing more about the unknown. Also, The Conjuring got an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 4/5 on Empire, 7.5/10 on IMDb, and grossed around $137 million. This film became so famous it started off the universe known as Conjuring Universe. This is like the Marvel Cinematic Universe where all the movies connect but instead for horror movies. Many of these horror supernatural films are still being made such as The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and Anabelle Comes Home  (2019). The trend of these supernatural horror films does not seem to be declining anytime soon and a new Conjuring film called The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is coming out on June 4, 2021.

 

    I believe that I will continue with the topic of the supernatural as there seems to be a very uphill trend with the audience nowadays which love the supernatural. I will continue to conduct further research on the ideas of my film opening and I will inform you all. Bye, see you all in the next blog post!

The Continuation of the Portfolio Project

     Hello everyone, welcome back and happy Valentine's Day! Hope everyone has been having a great day with their loved ones. I for one have been planning this film opening almost all day. There have been many new ideas which have come up but also many other difficult situations. For the most part, these obstacles won't drastically affect my project. I'm still not sure if I am going to film alone or with a partner, but in case I am filming alone I have purchased some equipment that will benefit me for my filming process. I am in the process of planning and organizing the shots and angles I want to use to capture the storyline in the best possible way. Most likely I will continue with the genre horror, as I love horror films and believe they are the best film openers out of all the other genres.

    The storyline is pretty far from complete but there are many ideas that I have for this film opener. The first idea I have is about a person who is in a relationship with someone else, but little does he know she's very possessive and demonic. He fell in love with her solely by lust and wants to see someone else. Instead of telling her the truth, he goes out with the other girl and she figures this out and ends up conducting many rituals and demonic spells. The guy does not know what is happening and is clueless, little does he know death will come his way and the way of his new lover.

    Another idea which I have been planning and really focused on was about a car crash. In this scene, a group of friends is leaving a party very wasted and they are driving home recklessly. One of the friends is actually sober and ends up leaving with them but he continuously has visions of something bad that is going to happen to him and his friends. He doesn't think too deep into them and ends up ignoring them, but when they are on their way home they crash and die. Miraculously, the guy who has visions comes back to the party and goes through the same events, but this time he convinces his friends not to drive off and instead take an Uber. The driver ends up leaving by himself and the other 4 friends take an Uber, the friend who drove off by himself dies and the rest have to survive these supernatural events. A bunch of scenarios happens which lead up to fatal incidents and they all get attacked in chronological order from the first person who died to the last.

    Although these are some of my ideas for the film opening I still am not very sure as to what idea I and going to go with or even if I'm using any of these ideas. I am still researching the genre of horror and the camera shots, camera angles, and sound to see what will make my film opening stand out and be excellent. I will continue to talk with other people to see which one sounds better to film and ask my teacher for her thoughts. Apart from this, I will continue to work and research so that my film opening portrays the storyline as I want it. There will be many more blogs coming along the next week, and I will continue to update everyone on the journey of this project. Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

The Beginning of the Portfolio Project

    Hello everyone, my name is Kenneth Garzon and I will begin my journey of creating a 2-minute film opening during the next 6 weeks. Many emotions are going through my head from excitement to anxiety. This project is very large and will consume a great amount of my time. I will be incorporating all the techniques, camera shots, angles, and knowledge I have learned throughout this entire course. Unlike the past years, there will be many different obstacles that will present themselves because of COVID-19, but just like every other obstacle, they will be overcome.

    As of right now, I am in the planning stages of this project. For me, this is the most complicated part of the project as there are so many ideas that arise in my head and different aspects that I want to cover. All this freedom can end up leading me to get stuck as I have thought so many ideas but truly still don't know what I want to do. For now, I don't really know what genre I will be focusing on but I have eliminated some choices such as comedy and romance. I think I am leaning more to the horror side for this film opening after researching through the genres. I have not yet got a solid answer, but I believe I will also be working on this project for myself as I believe this will be a great opportunity to display my skills in filming and directing. I will further continue my research on genres and put slightly more focus on horror.

    With the knowledge that I have obtained through the course, I feel as if it crucial for an opening to perform a variety of different angles and sounds for a film opening. Especially if I am going to choose the horror genre I feel as if these aspects of the opening need to be perfect. When watching these horror films much of the time there is not a lot of dialogue and the scariest parts are when the camera shots, angles, and sound are used in harmony. That's why I will be going to put heavy emphasis on these aspects of my film opening if I am going to proceed with horror. By Monday I will have confirmed the genre that this film opening will be. I am ready for this challenge and will update everyone through the process and production of this film opening. 

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

    The Music Marketing Project was a project which objective was to create a band. We would create an entire marketing campaign for the band as well as explain how we would distribute the band's music. The group all agreed upon choosing the song Rise Above, the genre of the song is Alternative Rock. One of the most important components of the Music Marketing project was that we had to create a music video that correlated to the chosen song and would be best suited to commercialize. 

    During the creation of the band, the group unanimously agreed upon the name HighTide. We felt as if it gave off the sensation of Alternative Rock while still being a fairly simple and catchy name. As we continued the project none of us really had a firm idea of how to market a band or even what the alternative rock was. The group began to research these topics and discovered two very successful companies, Warner Music Group and Columbia Records. These companies contained many Alternative Rock bands, our group analyzed many of them and there were two that stood out which was Vampire Weekend and 143 Records. After further analysis and investigation, our group adopted some ideas and took inspiration from these companies and bands to create our campaign and music video.

    

    Before we began to create the music video, my group and I drew out the scenes which we all were going to perform and how the music video should follow. During the screenplay, the entire group displayed and collaborated their own ideas on how the music video should turn out to look. The name of the music video was titled Move On which was based on the song we chose Rise Above. The group and I agreed on the fact that the song should be storytelling as the lyrics really made each one of us picture a story in our heads. We all split up the video Jake one of my partners shot the first part of the video, I then shot the second part of the video, and Sai the other partner shot the third part of the video. The entire group split the video according to their roles in the project. 

    

    After the entire group had filmed their parts we all ended up sending it to Jake as he knew the best who to edit the entire video so that it fits perfectly with the song. He also knew as well how to time the video and create better visuals so that it seemed more appealing to the audience. Although Jake did do almost all of the editing, it is not to take credit with the scenes and the contributions both Sai and I made.

    Throughout the entire project, I learned many lessons and new ideas that I would have never known if it weren't for this project. I learned all the aspects it takes to create a new brand and all the marketing that has to go into promoting the band. This will help me in my future developing my Cambridge portfolio because I would have learned how to promote a brand and build one.