Title Research (Dark)

How may titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 9 titles displayed during the opening sequences to the film.
What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images that are prioritized during the opening sequence are images that depict certain aspects of the film. There are mainly images of hands and eyes in a kaleidoscope view.
What connotations do the images carry?
These images all carry an ominous connotation, as these hands and eyes are clearly valuable evidence to the mystery in the film. Additionally, the fact that they are  shown with the kaleidoscope effect might be crucial to the plot as well.
How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre is reinforced through the actual images themselves, their effects, and the song that is placed in the titles. These images of hands and eyes are being repeated throughout the titles, reinforcing the key aspects to the mystery. The effect placed on them must have a significant meaning as well, as it is enforced on every image in the opening titles. Additionally, the music adds an extra effect of curiosity that engages the reader even more.
How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
The film establishes an enigma through mainly the effect. Any romance movie, comedy movie, or any other movie besides mystery would not generally use this effect. The kaleidoscope effect is placed to purposefully confuse the readers about the plot of the mystery, and furthermore obtaining a specific meaning within the film itself.
What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
For this film specifically, the director is aiming for the audience to have an emotional appeal to these titles, and more specifically the film itself. The images of hands and eyes in creepy surroundings shown with an effect is purposefully designed to engage the audience in this film, by having them wonder why these images are so important.
How has technology been used effectively?
Technology is being used effectively through the connection of the music and the effects of these titles. Between the mysterious music and the confusing effect of the images, this effectively achieves the curiosity of a mystery film.

Title Research (Lost Highway)

How may titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 9 titles displayed during the opening sequences to the film.
What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images that are prioritized during the opening sequence are images of a single road in the dark. This is sown clearly in relation to the title, "Lost Highway", as it is the only highway shown in the picture.
What connotations do the images carry?
These images all carry a mysterious connotation, because the audience doesn't know what this road symbolizes, or what is going to happen.
How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre is reinforced through the simplicity and question depicted within these images. All the director shows is this single highway from the beginning, leading the audience to be curious about what this highway is all about.
How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
Just from looking at the first few titles, you can tell that this film is a mystery solely from the single image that is being shown. A lone highway with no other context would leads the audience to believe that they are expected to make a n inference about what will happen, which is the goal within mystery movies.
What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
For this film specifically, the directer uses the strategy of simplicity. These titles are so simple, leaving the audience curious as to what will happen. The audience will be curious and they will be drawn into the significance of this road.
How has technology been used effectively?
Technology is being used effectively through the connection of the highway and the sound that corresponds with it. The sound that is playing is the sound of a car driving down the highway, while the highway is being shown. This makes the audience feel as if they are driving on his lonely, mysterious highway.

Title Research (Casino Royal)

How may titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 9 titles displayed during the opening sequences to the film.
What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
Since the movie is created around a casino and the dilemmas that occur there, the images that are prioritized are all different elements to a royal casino. Even the font that is used is somewhat royal, against relating back to the title, "Casino Royale."
What connotations do the images carry?
These images all carry a mysterious connotation, relating to the theme of the movie. For example, at one point in the titles, they show an image of eyes looking around inside of the royal font. This is typically an element used in mystery movies, as these eyes show that something myserteous is about to happen.
How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre is mainly shown through the sound, and font of the titles. The sound that is placed behind the titles is very mysterious, and a sound that you typically would not expect to hear during a comedy, or a romance film, for example. Additionally, the font is very appropriate to the title of the movie.
How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
Just from looking at the first few titles, you can tell that this film is ominous from the font, the colored images and more. It also does not give the entire plot away, leaving the audience interested in what is going to occur later in the film.
What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
For this film specifically, the author really focuses on the visual appeal of the titles. He adds color to every image, even if it is just eyes that are looking around. This gives an eerie aspects that appeals to all audiences.
How has technology been used effectively?
Technology is being used effectively through the font. Not only is the font in royal print, but there are also images that are moving and coming out of the font at the same time. They are using special effects to enhance the visual appeal of the titles.

Title Research (Murder By Death)

How may titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?
There are 9 titles;es displayed during the opening sequences to the film. These titles include a combination of the major company in which the movie is being created from, the director, the writer, the main characters, copyrights and more.
What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images prioritized in the opening scene are main characters, and the main props shown in the film.
What connotations do the images carry?
These images are depicting the main pieces of evidence, and main characters in the movie. During a mystery movie, any piece of evidence is important, wether it is the people or props.
How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?
The genre is portrayed through the music. This music is mysterious and ominous, leading the audience4 to believe that something is going to happen soon. The music is crucial in the mystery genre, because it adds to the effect of the audience not knowing what is going to happen.
How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?
Right from the beginning of the opening titles, I can sense the feel of the mystery genre between the music and the pictures itself. For example, it shows a chest. This chest is a prop in the movie that is crucial to solving the mystery.
What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
The strategy that is being used to ensure that the right audience is being appealed is that they are not giving the plot of the movie right away. This is effective in interesting the audience to become mentally involved with the movie and become curious of what will happen. For example, they do not give away what will happen or who committed the crime. Instead, the just include certain aspects of the plot, like the chest, or the main characters.
How has technology been used effectively?
Technology is being used effectively through the sound, pictures and transitions between them. Between every image, there is a smooth transition between every picture, showing proper use of technology. Additionally, they include mysterious sound to correspond with the genre, and images that directly correspond as well.

Title Research www.watchthetitles.com

Previously, we conducted research on a website called www.artofthetitle.com and we learned the basics of creating a title sequence; specifically for the mystery genre. Before starting our own, we need to conduct more research first. Once again, we typed into google "title sequences" and a different website appeared, which we think can be useful to enhance our current knowledge. This website is called www.watchthetitles.com. Once we arrived at the website, we searched mystery again. However, this time no results came up. Therefore, we clicked on the movies section, and investigated how these titles were formatted. These results were very similar to the last website's. I realized that it is crucial to have all of our information together beforehand. This will make this process much easier, so that we can have all of our information together before we begin to format properly. If we don't, then it will make the process much more difficult and we might even need to restart multiple times to ensure that everything is included properly. Just as the other website stated as well, we will need to put our titles in front of different pictures. These pictures will be relevant to our mystery. Specifically, certain elements that contribute to the plot like characters, props and more. After conducting this research, we have a much better understanding of what we need to do now.

Title Research www.artofthetitle.com

To begin our title research, we came across this website called www.artofthetitle.com. First, we googled title sequences, and we arrived at this website. This website is designed to explain to the readers the most popular title sequences, and how they are formatted. We researched this in the first place so we know how to properly create a title sequence for our movie. Currently, both of us do not know how to format this, so this website will assist with this. From exploring this website, I learned many things. Once we arrived at this website, we immediately typed into the search bar, "mystery." In order how to learn how to create a title sequence, we need to research information directly relating to our genre first. I arrived at an article that provides an example of a title sequence from a mystery movie entitled, "Murder by Death." This article shows us how to correctly format a title sequence for a mystery movie, just like this one. I observed that each title was placed in front of a picture relating to the movie. These pictures are all different, including different clues that are relevant to this movie. If we follow these instructions, our title sequence will be properly formatted. From this website, we have a better idea of ow to create our own title sequence, for this specific genre. However, we need to be sure to include all titles necessary, or else it will not be correct.

Mystery Film Analyzing- Game Night

The movie Game night recently came out in 2018. The setting first takes place in a bar. A group of friends are playing a game against each other. This women and men find each other while playing the game and they fall in love. Lots of medium shots are incorporated into the movie. Then Max and Annie's weekly game night gets switches up one night. That's when Max's brother Brooks arranges a murder mystery party. This includes fake thugs and federal agents. So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it's all supposed to be part of the game. As the competitors set out to solve the case, they start to learn that neither the game nor Brooks know what is about to happen.
   The friends soon find themselves confused and scared. Each twist leads to another unexpected turn over the course of one night. This is when the setting changes to the house. The actors are all dressed in normal clothes. I noticed some pan and over the shoulder shots. Something I liked about the movie is that it was also funny. Something I didn't like to much was it wasn't too much mystery. The actors were pretty good. A huge prop would be the board games. The editing was clear with good transitions.
  This simple game turns into much more than everyone expected. I like that it took me by surprise. Just like many films there was mediums and medium close ups. the movie ends with Them playing Pictionary. Annie uses it to announce to Max that she is pregnant. The two of them embrace while their friends congratulate them. While all this is happening there is two guys in masks with guns preparing to go into the house. It keeps you guessing. In my opinion it was a good movie and I enjoyed it. The lighting varied from being inside with artificial lights to being outside in daylight. For the most part the setting didn't change to much. This movie will definitely help me and my group member with ideas while making our video.

Mystery Film Analyzing- Us

    This movie falls into the mystery/thriller category. The beginning of the movie starts of with a flashback to 1986. It first begins with an establishing shot, which then leads into a few panning shots which show a family at a festival with rides. The setting takes place at this amusement park. It also night time so the lighting is dark. The little girl wonders away from her parents and she gets lost. She walks around exploring but that's when it starts to get creepy. This lighting is still normal lighting, as it is dark outside. She goes into this hall of mirrors and sees a replica of herself. After this small beginning it goes back to present day. This little girl is grown up now with a husband and kids.
    Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen. Everyone is dressed in normal clothing. This includes shorts and t-shirts. I noticed many tracking shots and medium shots. there was also some eye level shots. This family decides to take a trip to the same beach where the assessment park is.Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilson into a fight for survival. The masked strangers look identical to the family. The bad family wont stop until they get what they want. The actors did an amazing job in my opinion.

    They genuinely looked scared which really made it seem like they weren't acting. The sound was very precise and detailed. P.O.V shots were included because it helped the watchers see what the actors were doing. A suspenseful story and marvelous cast I would say. I really think there was so much talent between the actors because you could really see the pain in there eyes. I enjoyed that there was lots of suspense during the movie. The close up shots made all the details clear.The costumes also consisted of the Bad family wearing red jumpsuits. While the Regular family was dressed in normal clothing. I believe the movie was directed very well and the actors were amazing.

Mystery Film Analyzing- Get Out

   The award winning movie Get out is filled with lots of mystery and thriller. The movie begins with a man walked down the street late at night and notices a car following him. The setting is very dark and creepy. The actors are all dressed in causal clothing nothing out of the ordinary. For a portion of the time the camera tends to film his body and not face. A lot of wide and long shots are included. This movie is a great example of mystery because for a big portion of the movie everything is okay. The main actors in the beginning of the movie is a young relationship between a Caucasian female and African american male. This couple decides to drive up and met the girls parents. The setting switches from their house, to the car, to the parents house.

    The makeup/hair is pretty basic because they are just regular humans. Once you get to the middle of the movie things start to get very weird. He realizes there is something wrong with the workers in the house. The boyfriend is starting to freak out because hes surrounded by all these white people and everyone's acting different. The movie includes many close up shots. They also like to add in Medium-closeups, high angles and long shots. The directors made such that there was a lot of eye-level shots which helped the watches connect to the actors. One thing I don't like too much about the movie is that it takes a lot time for something to happen. Its a little boring before it reaches the climax. Something I did like was that towards the end the movie really surprised you.

    I enjoyed that it kept me guessing the whole time. The story line was filled with mystery and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole movie. The ending also took me by surprise. The girls family tricked him so now hes trying to escape. I believe the editing was done really well because there are smooth transitions. The sounds that was included were great because it was very detailed. I could hear the foot steps, breathing, and the door cracking. Most of the lighting took place inside with artificial lighting. I also noticed some tracking shots. I personally find mystery/thriller very interesting so this was a great movie for me.

Mystery Film Analyzing -Murder Mystery

In order to create our film, we need to research actual films that have been created within this genre. To start off with, we watched the movie, "Murder Mystery" by Kyle Newacheck starring Adam Sandler, Jenifer Aniston and Luke Evans. The movie begins with an ariel shot of the city to establish the setting for the movie. This could be considered the establishing shot, as most mystery movies include. Following this, they incorporate a tilt shot, which leads down to two characters talking. Once they have established the characters and setting involved in the film, they use a handheld shot of the two characters talking. This technique is placed here to make the audience feel as if they are involved within the movie as well. There are no extravagant examples of make-up, props or costumes yet. Since the characters are living in a city, they are wearing normal clothes and makeup. When researching this genre previously, it stated that this would occur, as mystery is more natural; not needing to incorporate these aspects a lot. As for sound, the beginning of this movie is using dietetic sound. You can hear the wind blowing, the people talking, cars honking and people talking in the background.

Now, we have reached the middle of the movie. So far, they have established all the characters, the setting and the problem. The problem is occurring when all of the characters are on a boat and different characters keep getting killed, but nobody knows who is committing his crime. In the middle of the movie, (and beginning) the lighting throughout has been normal, either sunlight, or common room lighting. As for camera movements, we are beginning to notice a lot more instances of zooming in and out. This is used when a character says something important, most likely pertaining to the crime. Furthermore, there are many instances of cutaway shots. These are used throughout conversations, especially important ones where both sides of the conversation have important things to say. There are many two-shots, as the two main characters are a couple exploring together. As we have now reached the middle of the movie, more characters are being introduced that are wearing different costumes from the rest of the cast. 

Now that we have reached the end of the movie, the character that committed the crime has been revealed, and the mystery is solved. Throughout the film, the director incorporates hidden clues to make the audience guess who was the culprit. The way that he accomplishes this is through certain camera angles, shots and movements listed above. Specifically in there end, there are many examples of tracking shots. Since the characters are involved in a car chase, the camera is following the cars on a track so that the camera stays steady, and that the audience can feel as if they're involved in it too. As stated before, there are many zoom shots. Since the characters are in a crisis, they want to show the audience each of their emotions up close, by using the zooming technique. The new aspect that is incorporated into the end of the film is that they are using makeup to represent blood from the mystery. Once the movie is over, they run the credits at the end with a song playing in the background (non-dietetic sound). Overall, we realized that there are many specific aspects that are used in this genre in order to be successful

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Deciding Genre- Mystery

After conducting research on the two genres that we were debating between, we finally decided to make our movie fall under the mystery genre. We decided that horror was too basic, and too hard to make our movie different from the rest. A lot of horror movies follow the same plot, and we do not want to copy any ideas unintentionally, as our idea is original. Since we decided on mystery, we have more freedom to stretch our plot and make it more original. Additionally, with horror, most of the time extravagant costumes, makeup and props are included for that. Since we are young and not experienced enough to incorporate these aspects, mystery is a better choice. Furthermore, our idea just overall aligns better with the aspects of mystery. We are excited to experiment with different camera angles, lighting and movement particular to this genre.

Genre Research- Horror and Mystery

For our film, we are now conducting research on other genres. We are currently debating between horror and mystery because each of these could fall under the category of our film. This powerpoint attached below, is our research for the horror genre. We conducted research about the CLAMPS, CAMS and overall elements of genre. Additionally, we included the elements of comedy that appealed to us, and those that didn’t appeal to us. I learned that in horror, there are many different camera angles being used, many of which are high angles. High angles in horror are used to show weakness of a character, or portraying the victim of the plot. Also, there are many close ups, and extreme close ups. These are used to show very specific aspects of emotion, like extreme fear that can be clearly seen up close. Overall, there are many specific aspects to horror that stand out from the rest of the genres. Below is a powerpoint with all of our research that we conducted particular to this genre.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XeFHPDCEAS5GLX3yJztfkkdLi8lRJbOrf7FS7MYi4X4
Overall, we are debating for our movie to fall under either the horror, or mystery genre. Since we already conducted research for horror, we decided to conduct research about the mystery genre. Mystery is also a very specific genre, that includes many elements specific to this genre. We included information about the CLAMPS, CAMS, and the elements of drama, along with the elements that appealed to us and did not appeal to us. Some elements of mystery that appeal to me are the overall curiosity that lies within the plot, and the hidden clues that are placed within the film. I enjoy, as the audience, watching a mystery movie and attempting to predict who is the culprit, and who assisted in the mystery. This is appealing to many audiences, as they can become emotionally involved into the plot itself. One element that does not appeal to me is if the mystery is poorly constructed, and not leaving the audience with enough clues to predict the ending. This can lead to confusion, and overall dislike of the movie. Below, is a powerpoint with all of our research conducted on this specific genre, mystery.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QNAZkRVF1YYnvQr0ErkltneH7psZfYqzk7nulGnTG60

Genre Research- Comedy

This powerpoint, attached below, is research for a genre of film. This is a project that we have completed this year, in which we were randomly assigned a certain genre. The instructions said that we needed to research this genre, specifically the CLAMPS, CAMS and more. My group was assigned comedy, which was helpful to learn even though that our movie does not fall under this category. I learned many different things about this genre, of which I would not have known if i did not conduct this research. Specifically, I did not know about the certain camera angles being used. For example, I never realized that most comedy is filmed at eye level, as most comedy is shot in real life situations. Additionally, I didn’t realize that there are a lot of zooming in and out shots, until after I conducted this research. Overall, this project was helpful for our movie, in the way that we can now eliminate comedy as one of the options for the genre of our film. The research we conducted does not match up with the description of the thoughts for our pitch.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VDqgqkRIPMCkwmtJVh_fVPPv5Ppyww7XSZMs6vDYqi0

Narrowing Pitches Down

Today, 1/16/2020, my group decided on our 3 pitch ideas (as listed in the previous blog). Upon debating between them, we realized that there are many pros and cons to both. We based our decision mainly on two different factors: originality and drama. Accounting for this, we decided to narrow out our first pitch. This pitch was described as a horror, kidnapping film. This pitch is much different from the others, as the others are mystery and this one is horror. We are aiming to stick with mystery, so automatically we decided to narrow out this pitch. Additionally, we determined that this pitch was not very original. There are many movies that have been created involving kidnapping. We created this idea originally because we thought that it would be easy to work with. After long consideration, we decided that it is not original and not within the right drama that we had envisioned doing.
Now, we narrowed our options down to our last two pitches. One being the pitch involving an abandoned house, and the other being about the restaurant poisoning. After discussing each one in depth, we decided to then rule out our abandoned house pitch. Even though it does fall in the right category, it would overall be too complicated to film. I believe that we would have trouble securing the location because we would have to find an abandoned home. Along with finding a good place, there is also a major safety issue involved. Abandoned houses are not safe, and we would be trespassing on private property. This situation is not ideal for the filming of our movie. Even though it would be a fun movie to film, it is not ideal conditions that can guarantee success of our final project. Accounting for this, we decided that this pitch would not be a good fit for our movie.
On the other hand, we decided that the pitch about the restaurant poisoning is most likely the best idea that we have thought about so far. We believe that this idea fits all of our requirements and in the end, will hopefully turn out the best. Beginning with the genre, we believe that mystery is going to be the easiest and most interesting to film. As this film is involving the poisoning of ones drink, this causes it to fall under mystery because the goal is to figure out who did it. Additionally, we believe that our idea is very original. We intend for the movie to begin with a normal group of friends casually going out for dinner. Following this, they all order their dinners and drinks, and the waiter comes back to deliver them. However, when she hands back the drinks, she makes sure to give one of the girls a certain drink, even though they all order the same thing. Shortly after, the girl that was given the certain drink falls ill. The rest of the movie will show the characters trying to determine who poisoned the drink. This idea was envisioned by us, and not based off of any other movie. Therefore, it is original, and the perfect fit for our movie.

Start of Final Task

My name is Danielle and I am a student at Fort Lauderdale High in Florida. I am in 10th grade and I am currently 16 years old. I am currently taking 4 AICE classes, including this class. The AICE classes that I am taking are Thinking Skills, Media Studies, English Language and European history. This is a big challenge to take on as a 10th grader, but it is very important in order to achieve my AICE diploma. I am looking forward to graduating with this extra diploma, with hopes that I can get into a prestigious college that I wish to attend in the future. I am aspiring to get accepted into University of Florida, and I strongly believe that my AICE diploma will be a prominent feature in this journey. In my free time, I go to dance every day after school. I have been dancing since I was very young and I hope to continue my journey throughout college. I aspire to dance in college as well, to keep me busy and in shape.
Before taking this class, I did not know much about editing and filming. After filming our commercial and music video, I have learned many different ways to film, plan and edit a video successfully. In our first project, our commercial, we used pinnacle studios to edit. However, using the school computers for this combined with this application, did not result so well. Our final project was successful, but there were many malfunctions along the way dealing with the computers. On the other hand, our music video that we created turned out just the way we had planned. We decided to film with our iPhones and edit on iMovie instead of using pinnacle studios on the school computers. It was much easier to edit and manipulate. For this project, I am working with Julia and we are very excited to begin. We are planning on using iMovie this time, as it was the most successful application to use.
To begin working on our project, the first step that we need to approach is creating our pitch. A pitch is a hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is encapsulated in 25 words or less. It took us a while to think about, but after long discussion we finally narrowed it down to 3 ideas. Our first idea is, “As normal, a mom comes home from work, excited to see her daughter. However she is not there... where did she go?” This idea is inspired from our idea to create a horror movie involving kidnapping. Our second pitch idea is, “Its Halloween and as a tradition, a group of friends explores an abandoned house. However this year turns out different... what do they find?” This idea is a mystery movie involving a group of kids finding a bottle with a note in it that takes them for a journey. Our last idea is, “A girls night out goes wrong and someone ends up with a poisoned drink. Who poisoned them?” This idea is also a mystery movie, involving a group of girls who go out for a normal night. They are all given waters, and the waiter gives them the drinks in a weird way, causing them to suspect something. One girl falls ill, leading them to believe that someone poisoned their drinks. So far, we are leaning towards this idea because we believe it is the most original and creative. Below, are pictures of us working on our blogs and pitch ideas today, 1/16/2020.