Title Research: Se7en

1. There are 27 title sequences in this movie.
2. Images shown in this opening scene are of dead bodies, police reports, scattered newspaper articles and a razor blade.
3. The images give the impression that this movie is going to be a bleak, psychological thriller that probably focuses on a murderer as evidenced by the police reports, classified dossiers, and pictures of corpses flashed around the title sequence.   
4. This genre of thriller, especially a murder msytery thriller, the notion that the serial killer is multiple steps ahead and always elluding the authorites is a common motif in these type of movies. It seems that every image that flashed before the screen has a symbolic meaning to it. The sequence where a person seems to be weaving a bunch of papers together with a needle, seems to be a calling card of the murderer.
5. To show the narrative of this movie, the title sequence sprinkles in clues and evidence from the supposide murder case. In doing so, just the opening sequence tells a story, the background to what’s going to happen in the movie.
6. Presumably, those who watch this movie are fans of thriller/mystery movies. To catch the audience’s attention, the title sequence depicts gruesome murders, interwoven between shots of someone cutting out newspapers and conducting research on the murders. This aesthetic of a grimy, ambiguous setting for the movie, intrigues the audience into watching. 
7. The editing in this title sequence consists of purposefully choppy edits; almost like a T.V losing signal effect in its transitions. The names of producers, actors, and staff are shown in creepy lettering and flashed before to the screen as to invoke an uneasiness. The whole sequence as a whole emotes the feeling of fright.      

Title Research: Hostage

Hostage

1. There are 29 titles in the sequence.
2. Pictures of heavily armed police and swat members surrounding the house are shown in cartoon style black and white still frames as accents of red are in the background and bleeds into some objects for detail or importance.
3. The images presented in the sequence imply the notion of high stakes. Just from the images alone, one can tell that the police are moving into action and something is causing this disturbance. The title ‘Hostage’ is well complemented by this title sequence as it shows a hostage situation taking place. 
4. The genre of Hostage, which is a Drama/thriller, is expertly conventionalized through the black and white filter placed on the title sequence as accents of red slip in to provide depth. Images of swat teams lining up at a door and snipers posted up throughout a block gives off a sense of suspense to what would happen next. 
5. The film establishes an enigma by using a transition that goes from the still framed black and white to the actual start of the movie. Anyone watching the title sequence will be intrigued to what happens next. Does the hostage get away? Does the swat team successfully infiltrate the house with the kidnapper? The answers to these questions are answered in the movie, but the title sequence catches the audience's attention and tries to hold it.
6. To keep the audience interested in the movie, the opening scenes have to build suspense. They cannot reveal too much of the plot to the audience, but they still have to earn their attention. 
7. The title consisted of animated still shots of buildings, police and the house that they’re surrounding. There are a lot of pan shots that move up to display the title content on the actual buildings. Zoom ins and dutch angled pans are used to display the producers, actors, editors, and etc. Fades are used to transition from frame to frame showing the audience how the swat members are set up waiting for breach and entry into the house where the hostage is held. 

Title Research: Dr. No

Dr. No

1. There are 28 titles in this title sequence.

2. Images prioritized are the image of a gun barrel, old technology light board, and silhouettes if people dancing.

3. The images give a connotation of suspense and danger with the many images of a gun barrel scoping the target. The blinking lights make the movie seem very technologically advanced.

4. Genre is reinforced through suspense with graphics of guns and dark backgrounds making it suspicious. This leaves the main character seeming to have a darker backstory.

5. The circles moving towards the right in the beginning are a subliminal message of a scope going across the screen preparing to shoot at James Bond.

6. This title sequence entices the audience with its bright colors on the dark contrasting screen. They make the technology look new and exciting to appeal to a younger adult audience.

7. Technology was quite effective in making this title sequence. They were fond of animated graphics then fade into the real people at the end. The director uses a POV shot with the barrel of the gun looking at James Bond. The entire theme was also scored with a unique theme.

Title Research: Charlie’s Angels

Charlie’s Angels

1. There were 23 titles in this title sequence.
2. The image of a woman's silhouette is emphasized in orange tones. In addition, the sneaking around and danger aspects of spying are also shown in clips along with others that are more comical.
3. These images make a connection that these three girls have a bond like no other when they fight crime.
4. Genre is reinforced through the fight scenes and the teamwork portrayed in brief clips between intense graphic changes of bright orange and red.
5. An enigma is created with the orange printed dividers that create movement towards the clips inserted towards the side. 
6. They use young actors and silly clips to help engage a young adult audience.
7. Technology was definitely effectively used to edit and make this sequence engaging. Editing consisted of inserts and innovative mix of graphic and video clips. There was also a full song scoring the title sequence. Camera shots were tracking shots to show movement and medium close ups to show off certain actors.

Title Research: Art of the Titles

To further my group’s knowledge on titles we looked to another resource. This was another website tool entitled "artofthetitle.com". This is a similar website to "watchthetitles.com" but this is slightly different. This website has the same functions as the other website with holding a variety of movie title sequences in one easy to access resource. However, I do find this website easier to manage because it is much more organized. This website has all programs queued in one central area. They also have title sequences organized by designers and studios. This further organization can be more helpful to find thriller examples. I could simply research common thriller designers/studios to try to filter through the website's large selection. I feel I could use this website to filter to find thriller sequences top try to find the true elements of a good one. Once my group understands the similarities of most thriller title sequences we can better plan our movie. They also curate the top 10 best title sequences on the home page of the website. In addition to purely thriller titles it may also be good for us to watch some of the "best title sequences" to get an eye for what is engaging and aesthetic. We want our title sequence to entice the audience and set a mood for the film ahead. This website will be an important resource for us in order to research our genre.

Title Research: Watch the Titles

Today, my group was going to complete some further research on titles for a feature film. This website is called “watchthetitles.com”. This is website is a data base full of title sequences from all types of media. They feature films, television shows, video games, foreign films, and more. This can be useful to us to just look at at the titles of a film without having to skip forward or back trying to find when they truly start in a movie. This website is organized by which platform of title sequences you would want to view. My group would select “feature films” and start looking for some thriller title sequences. My only complaint of this website is the organization there after. The title sequences are just listed as the title of the movie with corresponding video beneath it. It could be helpful if they put the movies in alphabetical order or even categorized the by genre. Our group wanted to see the common elements between different thriller movie’s title sequences. This should hopefully give us an idea so we can better our plan for our 2 minutes of movie to make. This website can show us the importance of titles to set a tone and create a mood for the audience can get wrapped up into. I also feel that this website can show us how to create subliminal messages for the viewers. Watchthetitles.com will be a total resource in regards to our movie.

Genre Research: Parasite

CAMS: The premise of the movie is to highlight class diversity. The director, Bong Joon-Ho, marvelously uses different camera angles and shots to create a splitting camera composition. The poor Kim family is shown to be consistently lower in camera angles, than the rich Park family. Establishing shots of the Kim family shows them living in destitute and the direction further embraces poverty by showing the Kim family through shaky flash pans and distorted camera compositions. On the other hand, the rich Park family is shown through wide angles, to display their wealth, and elegant transitions whenever their scenes shift. Shot, reverse, shots are also prevalent and used to parallel the two families’ socio-economic class. In dialogue, the Park family is almost always shown in a low angle to give a sense of superiority to the audience and other characters in the film.

CLAMPS: The costumes for this movie is fairly basic. The characters wear regular, age-appropriate clothing and give off the perfect suburban city vibe. Obviously, the park family dresses in more expensive clothing than the Kim family, whose clothes are slightly ragged. Lighting in this movie is discriminatory, here’s why. The Kim family is portrayed to be living in the slums of South Korea, so the lighting has a hue of mustard yellow to truly encapsulate the dirty and mangy environment they live in. The Park family, however, lives in a mansion whose lighting directly deifies the Park family. The actors in this movie are all Korean and the movie is subtitled in Korean and directed by a Korean director. All in all, the acting in this movie is pretty spot-on as the characters perfectly embody their character’s quirks and social normalities. No absurd amount of makeup is used unless it is used for blood or damage effects. Props in the movie mainly show the wealth and poverty of the two families. The Park family’s porcelain and Range Rover are used to showing their immense wealth, whereas the Kim family uses disposable and fairly second-hand items and eat junk food. The scenery in the movie is the most impressive when displaying the Park family mansion. All the extravagant items and architecture accurately presents what the 1% would own. The Kim family, however, lives in a basement in a direct line to fumigations, floods, and drunk urinators, all of which are used to paint the decrepit environment of the Kim’s. 

Common Sound: The non-diegetic sound used in this movie are mainly eerie. In one scene where the Kim family discovers a couple living in the Park family basement, the scene is blanketed with anticipatory music before the reveal of the couple. In chase scenes, the score is upbeat and meant to parallel the distress the characters are feeling, with the audience. As for diegetic sound, it is interlaced with non-diegetic to further build the suspense of the scene. Sound is also essential in the storytelling of this movie and events are preceded by a confirmatory sound effect.

Common Editing: The editing in this film primarily is meant to show the class division of the two families. There are parallel shots of the two families essentially doing the same things, but split in between to further emphasize the divide. Not until the two families converge, do the shots begin to distort as the two’s polarity starts to clash and is shown by frantic cuts and dramatic zoom-ins.

Elements of a Thriller: Elements of the thriller genre mainly focus on building suspense. The wonder of “what happens next” to a character keeps the audience hooked on the story. To effectively have a thriller, the audience must have to know a possible end goal of what the protagonist is journeying up towards. The addition of time sensitivity helps push the pace and anticipation of the film. Finally, the story must progress in difficulty for the protagonist. Increase antagonistic forces must be presented for the audience to stay intrigued in the plot. 

What I like: The movie had an extremely interesting plot and theme of class diversity. The cast was completely Korean and this is good for international cinema. Almost all of the scenes have a symbolic meaning to them. The acting was convincing and moving. The structure of the story progression was unique. The ending was truly impressive.

What I didn't like: No real negatives except that one needs to understand Korean or read subtitles to understand the movie. 

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Genre Research: Get Out

CAMS: This movie is very visually stimulating. They characterize the main character, Chris as a very visual person. They use this to film the rest of the movie as Chris’ ability to observe and see is found to be quite important. Close-up and extreme close-up shots of his eyes tell a lot about the situational drama. Get Out also featured wide shots of the terrain to highlight the “plantation” feel of his girlfriend’s house as it relates to racial tension and unbalance. Flash pans create much of the drama when it comes to the horror aspects of the film. 

CLAMPS: The costumes in this movie held a significance in illustrating racial imbalance. Costumes seemed to be normal clothes for most people but the black “workers” at the house seemed to be dressed in clothes that resemble what they might’ve worn in the slavery time period of America. Makeup was kept simple other than some special effects to make Chris’ eyes red watery and in pure terror. The actors needed for this movie needed to be able to show a lot of emotion through facial expression as that’s how the characters were seen developing. Props included travel items (for their road trip) and other household items. The scene was a modern “plantation” home that featured fields.

Common Sound: One of the more pivotal scenes is when Chris is hypnotized. Missy’s voice drones through part voice over as you see Chris in cold fear. Dialogue is also very prevalent in this film as Chris tries to figure what to listen to as he’s in such a strange “frozen in time” place. Lastly, this movie has som significant scoring that helps to introduce characters and their backgrounds.

Common Editing: Editing in this movie made the audience feel suspense and fear. These action parts were cut very fast together with short clips to make it seem as if you didn’t know what was coming next. 

Elements of a Thriller: This film was definitely more than a horror film, in fact it was a thriller. This movie not only scared you but, it also made the audience think ethically about racial injustice and then illustrated that injustice with creepy characters and historical setting.

What I liked: I enjoyed the complexity of the plot in this movie because it was not only frightening but challenged your brain too. The director didn’t take the easy way with a “monster” but took a concept and made that more frightening then ever before.

What I didn't like: I didn’t like some of the random “scary things” that occurred that didn’t align itself with the racial dilemma that the characters are experiencing. (The deer running in front of the car out of no where.)

Genre Research: A Fall from Grace

CAMS: The premise of this movie is to get a woman who was viewed as guilty of a crime, with overwhelming evidence against her, to be seen as innocent. So much that the woman who was accused of the crime, at first, wanted to confess about the crime, and plead guilty for the deal of a lesser punishment. The camera angles, or rather the camera work in general, isn’t anything special, and the quality of the film could honestly be better. The film looks like, based on the quality, a youtube video rather than a film. There are a few establishing shots, eye-line matches though, but overall, one can see the overwhelming low quality for a film at this caliber. The director chooses to use many two shots, eye-line matches, and aerial views to best capture the story.

CLAMPS: The Costumes were basic clothing, normal everyday people would wear; nothing that stood out, same goes for the characters in the film, except for one who seemed to be a little psychotic. The lighting was significantly different between Grace's present-day and Grace in the past. The "present-day" lightening was a sickly blue darker light that cast shadows on the character's faces when they were in jail. In contrast, the ideal "past" lighting was warm and glowy- almost like a dream sequence. The actors had to portray deep untold emotion due to past life significance in this film. Makeup was kept simple unless to make present-day Grace look much more tired and old. Props included items found in a jail and law enforcement and everyday items (nothing was too over the top nor dramatic). The scene was a cold empty jail interrogation room and the city where the couple falls in love.

Common Sound: This movie features a lot of dialogue between the character's as that is how most of the character development happens. In addition, the ending had a voiceover of a news reporter explaining the fate of the main character's as B roll plays in regards to his statement. Non-Diegetic sound is added in fight scenes like gunshots etc.

Common Editing: This film manipulated some footage to make it slower to add drama and add suspense as a score plays. It was also edited with longer shots to allow the story to drone on and build up a connection to the characters. Cut-aways were also common during action scenes to keep the viewer in suspense to what was about to occur.

Elements of the Genre: This movie was most definitely a thriller. The director instantly connects you with Grace the main character and lets you experience her turmoils and triumphs with her. This film was overall giving the viewer so many different emotions of excitement, apprehension, and pain which a true embodiment of a thriller.

What I liked: I liked the genuity of the characters because it was very easy to connect with them as they all seemed real and relatable. I also enjoyed that this movie highlighted African American and women leads.

What I didn't like: I didn't like how long it took to receive the message of the film. The story seemed long and repetitive with its points.

Genre Research: Choosing a Thriller

Throughout our thorough research of different genres, we have finally selected one for our movie. We have decided on a Thriller. It embodies the suspense and interactivity with the audience that we wanted. We also feel the genre is a large umbrella idea that we can add horror, comedy, and drama aspects to as long as we keep the plot developing with suspense and tension for the audience. Our movie, Hit(wo)man, will have both mental and physical aspects of the Thriller genre. Movies with a female lead are becoming more and more popular in today's film industry so, we wanted to film our movie in a genre where they aren't many female-lead movies. Due to the graphic storyline, vulnerability shown from main characters, and central dilemma expressed we felt a thriller would best hold up our movie.

Genre Research: Exploring more genres

Western:
Camera angles, movements, and shots: Many Westerns use panoramic shots to establish a scene. Tracking shots are also used to emphasize action happening during the plot. Westerns also try to use camera angles that will still show as much of the background as possible. Quentin Tarantino uses quick flashes and cuts between characters to show action and reaction. Many directors use zoom-ins on faces to show reactions to developing plots.


CLAMPS: Dark lighting is common in the natural and scenic areas. Lighting is also used to convey drama and suspense for the upcoming confrontation and gunfight. There are often old outhouses, shacks, saloons, and banks all there to represent the American frontier as part of the intricate scenery. Props can include bandanas, guns, horse gear, and other things found in a dusty ghost town. Props build characters as stereotypes like the sheriff, bandit, and the classic cowboy.


Common Editing: Westerns have many two-shots when characters are dueling or talking. In addition, they feature extreme close-ups on eyes, mouth, and sometimes a gun strapped to their hip to show emotion or specific attributes of a certain character. Cross cut-ins are also common during fights and general action in the West.

Common Sound: Diegetic sounds like the wind whistling on the sand set the setting of the scene. Instrumental scores with high bravado are used to indicate the harshness of the wild west. Sound motifs used include the rattling of a rattlesnake, the crackling of a whip, and the click and clang of saddles and spurs. In some westerns, you can somewhat hear the abandonment of the scene as it depicts the wilderness of the west.

Elements of the Genre: Revenge stories are prevalent in classic westerns. The story of a lone cowboy seeking revenge for their loved being killed is quite common. Escaping urban expansion and industrialization and the development of populous cities is seen as the enemy in many westerns. The fight between the lawfulness and unlawfulness are common themes of westerns as it furthers the motif of “civilized” society versus the perceived “uncivilized” society. Lawmen, bandits, cowboys, and prospectors are common characters in westerns.

Elements I like: The Western genre encompasses the pure will to be free. The American frontier has long been an escape, a new life for those who seek to escape the hustle and bustle of the cities. The Western genre also comprises of suspenseful action sequences that bring the audience closer to the aims of the protagonist.

Elements I don't like: Some negatives of the genre are the less than stellar character development or character evolution. Many of the characters stay the same, they have the same directives throughout the film and very little changes in their resolve.

Example Movies: True Grit, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Unforgiven, High Noon

Thriller:
Camera angles, movements, and shots: High angles and birds eye shots are used to make the characters look vulnerable. Fast pans add suspense during action shots. POV shots can put you in the character's shoes as they go through their dilemma at the moment. Close-ups show emotion, vulnerability, and reactions of characters. 

CLAMPS: Costumes usually fit the time period usually either present time or could be adapted based on location (ex. Space). Lighting is very contrasted. Some scenes may be shot with bright lighting to make sure the audience has a full understanding of everything that is happening or the scene while, other scenes may be filmed in darker more moody lighting to add drama and suspense to the unknown, the situation, or the antagonist. Makeup is usually done pretty natural for characters. In addition, some scenes require special effects for injuries and gore illustrated on film. Props usually are survival gear, new technology to defeat the antagonist thing, and everyday objects. The scenery is usually a type of post-apocalyptic abandoned scene. This can include empty houses, stores, shacks, etc.  Actors are usually method actors, performers who can invoke a believable and emotional experience to the audience. Thrillers hinge on suspense, so the mis-en scene of the film has to focus on building anticipation.

Common Editing: All thriller films use fast and slow-paced editing in their films. This is very good at creating suspense, tension and also conveying emotions and/or representing characters. Most commonly, thrillers use fast and slow-paced editing specifically to create suspense and tension within a scene. Jump cuts, for example, can be seen in the thriller genre due to their disorientating effect on a character or scene. Shot reverse-shot is another editing technique used especially to show the audience something that the characters do not know. Another editing technique used is parallel editing; where the audience is shown what two characters are doing at the same time. One-shot usually has an effect on the other in these types of shots.

Common Sound: Thrillers have eerie scores to direct the narrative of the story. The aim of the music is to keep the audience on their toes.  Silence is widely used to create tension in a certain scene. The non-diegetic music in thrillers is fairly repetitive, creating anxiety and agitation for the audience. The non-diegetic sound used to increase the tension and create a sense of pessimism, desperation, and paranoia. Sound bridges are used to cut to another shot, without the action being interrupted, this is very important in a thriller as it allows the audience to still feel the tension even when the action is no longer viewable. Finally, Dialogue is diegetic, and often the dialogue creates a very tense atmosphere.

Elements of a Thriller: The main element of a thriller is suspense; putting the audience on edge through impactful storytelling. Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense as if one simply shows the audience a room full of people and it explodes, the only shock is felt. However, when an audience is shown of a room full of people and a ticking time bomb is about to go off then,  suspense is built. Thrillers are meant to heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra- heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety, and even terror.

Elements I like: The suspense keeps the audience engaged. The themes of the story are usually interesting. The story usually develops pretty quickly with fast-cut editing. The story is self-contained and is not reliant on a series or sequel. They use visuals and audio to invoke suspense.

Elements I don't like: The genre is not accepted by all as it is not as mainstream as action/adventure films. Sometimes the storyline can be too complex to reveal itself all in one movie. Actors have to be skilled to truly connect with the audience to evoke a sense of tension or suspense.

Example Films: Get Out, Ma, Bird Box, Gone Girl, The Silence of the Lambs, Glass

Genre Research: Bird Box

 

CAMS: The movie features many pans to show scenery. Bird Box also likes to use close-up and extreme close-ups to show the morphing of the character's eyes when they see the "monster". This movie also uses wide shots to show the aftermath of the "monster" hitting initially. Then it is followed by low angles to show bodies on the ground and how lifeless the scene is after disaster hits. Medium close-ups and close-ups are used to show reaction especially fear. Throughout the film, they use a POV shot where the camera is covered with a blindfold. Over the shoulder, shots were also prevalent throughout to show vulnerable conversations between people. Lastly, throughout the film, they cut back to the river with an aerial shot to show how long the journey is on the river.

CLAMPS: Costumes are normal everyday clothing but some people are highlighted in a more blue-toned outfit to show the significance of their characters. Lighting is very bright because the outside is very important to highlight as it accounts for all the deaths in the movie. Actors are all very diverse with different personalities to show the end of the world unlikely opportunity that these people would ever meet. Makeup is very natural or in the later scenes they emphasize how dirty the people are from being out on their own for so long. Props include blindfolds as they hold a deep significance to the plot. Additionally, there are other normal survival props for the plight they face in the movie. The setting is barren California with some post-apocalyptic houses and other infrastructure.

Sound: This movie featured many examples of diegetic sound in outside scenes like wind, leaves rustling and water rushing down a river. Non-diegetic sounds are also featured like a whispering noise that is supposed to represent the presence of the "monster" in the film. In addition, birds chirping are also a significant part of the plot where if the birds go crazy with shrieks then the "monster" is present. The dialogue was used throughout this movie to illustrate the disagreements, pain, and spread of ideas in the midst of a disaster.

Editing: Bird Box is full of many abrupt cuts between shots to add suspense and speed in scenes of action. This movie also features added text during the river shots to show how much time has passed. In the middle of the plot, they used a cross cut-in to show what's happening on the river and related activities in the past. Cut-aways show the build-up during the rapids scene.

Elements of the genre:  This movie is considered a thriller because, it displays scenes of action, drama, and fear. This movie shows characters to you and makes you close to them as they face the perils of this unknown "monster". Bird Box gives the audience a sense of uncertainty as the plot unfolds. There are aspects of terror and tension with certain scenes that are compensated by sweeter and more vulnerable scenes for character development.

Things I liked: I enjoyed this movie very much as I felt it was unconventionally quaint. As horrible as some of the scenes were with graphic tragedies the movie stilled ended with a happy and hopeful ending even though the main character truly went through it all and lost so much. I also enjoyed the cinematography of some of the shots with how beautiful they were. No shot was too over the top as it was simple but showed the truth to the characters shown. Finally, I enjoyed that they never showed the “monster” which added to its mystery and terror because you can never fully understand it’s capabilities. 

Things I didn't like: I did not enjoy some of the decisions the character's made in the plot as I felt they would've learned their lesson with some of the previous tragedies experienced. In the end, I feel that this was more of a personal issue and the directors added things like this to frustrate the audience in the spirit of a true thriller.

Genre Research: Powerpoint

This was a project we were given in class earlier this year. We were instructed to deeply research a film genre. Nyaira selected the genre of "Horror" by random draw for our project. This project required us to go into detail with different aspects regarding filming shots, editing, sound, and mise en scene.  We thought the added pictures will illustrate the true essence of the Horror genre. We learned that the horror genre is much broader than it seems. Directors can make a plot scarier by making a movie much more realistic and plausible in everyday life while older films play on the gore or imaginary aspects which can make it more comical yet scary.

Final Pitch

Yesterday my group brained stormed three awesome pitches for our potential movie we are doing the title sequence for. We then needed to debate to narrow down 3 options into 2 options. We thought of all of the pros and cons of each idea. We wanted to consider logistics with scenery, props, and acting ability. In conclusion, we decided to eliminate pitch #3. We felt the romantic comedy would not work for a variety of reasons. We felt the scripts would be difficult to write to keep from being cheesy but, equally keep the audience entertained to continue watching. In addition, the genre is hard to build up suspense as an easy technique to keep audiences engaged. Overall, we felt the first two pitches are much better suited for our group dynamic. On to narrowing it down some more.

Pitch #1 was a concept entitled "Hit(Wo)man". It would be a girls' tag-team duo that wanted to diminish any disrespectful boy that interacts with them until one of them falls in love. The friend would then try to eliminate the boy on her own terms to save her friend. This production would be easy to leave the audiences "hanging" as it will be interesting, new, and exciting. We would also have enough actors/actresses to play all the parts and accomplish it reasonably. The cons of this idea include difficulty filming due to multiple locations and props. In addition, this plot could get very messy and confusing. 

Pitch #2 was a concept entitled "Radioactive 235". It would be a post-nuclear disaster interview with a man that's been working towards freedom from government standards in a deep tragedy. This concept could be good to test different angles and shots to show and emphasize the dramatic effect. In addition, it would be a simple film to shoot considering plain locations and props. However, special effects may be hard to articulate without it looking laughable due to lack of skill. In addition, we would also really have to shoot the title sequence a certain way to convince the viewers to be enticed by a tragic story without going into detail too soon.

With all of this in mind, our group decided to go with option #1. We felt it would be exciting to work on which will help with the motivation and quality of this project. In addition, we felt this project will have a better suspenseful output making it easier to attain the goal of enticing the audience.

Starting the Final Task

It's been a while since my first blog in September. Since that time, I have changed as a person. I have developed more as a leader, musician, and friend. I have endured the college application process as I am a senior in high school. I have learned to put myself out there and present myself in the best light in terms of colleges and universities. I have celebrated my acceptances from schools and have tried to learn and grow with my rejections as I look to the future. I have also taken up water coloring and sketching to hopefully improve my skills for my future field of theater production.

For the past two projects, I have worked with just one partner, Nyaira. I was comparing notes from the past projects with another friend in class and realized we should join both of our pairs to form an ultimate group for our final project. Our group consists of: Nyaira, Anjun, Preace, and I.

In the previous filming projects, Nyaira and I have learned a lot. I have improved my filming skills with repetition and trial and error. I have learned what is good lighting, how to keep a steady shot, and how to truly express a creative idea on film. In terms of editing, in the beginning, I only knew how to do the basic trimming of videos and maybe add some simple effects. Now, I can trim, control the speed of clips, insert text and graphics, and transition between shots. I am excited to try some more advanced shots to add suspense to the content. I also want to try to use more advanced POV shots to establish a relationship between the audience and the character's feelings. I really enjoy being on camera and translating an idea to a finished product film. I hope that by adding 2 more people to the original group it will improve production quality. With editing, we want to do some more graphic design with the titles.

Our new group discussed many ideas when it came to a concept for our final project. We were tasked to come up with a pitch, a 20-25 word synopsis of the entire movie idea, for this title sequence for our movie.
Our pitches were:
1. Hit(wo)man- A vengeful lady, tries to prevent a friend from falling into the arms of the wrong guy, by going to the extremes.
2. Radioactive 235- A post-nuclear disaster interview that reveals a deeper tragedy in the eyes of a hardworking man working towards freedom
3. Isn't it Ironic- Two people meet and get off to a rough start until they keep ironically meeting and realize they were soulmates the entire time.