Laura's AICE Media Studies Blog

So it has been a few weeks since I started the planning and filming process for my film opening, but I came across a few issues along the way. When I first chose my genre (comedy), I thought more about what I enjoyed watching than I did about how I would make it happen. Though its easy to be funny and make jokes in everyday life, I underestimated the difficulty of filming in the comedy genre. More specifically, I have had a lot of trouble making my film opening "funny" while limited to two minutes. Though plenty can happen in the span of two minutes, it is difficult to establish a sense of humor without establishing the entire plot of the film. For this reason, I have decided to change the genre. While this does require me to restart the process and plan, storyboard, film, and edit an entirely different film, I believe that, in the long run, this change will help me make a higher-quality film opening that is more manageable for me to create. The genre that I have now chos...

So this week, I finished up filming. I managed to get some better shots of the beach a little earlier in the day and also filmed sections of the walkway, so that I can create some parallel shots between the night scene and the day scene. I also made sure to get lots of varying footage so that I have plenty to edit with. Here are some photos from my shots: I filmed most of my shots as a dolly shot, which was pretty difficult because the floor was not even, so I had a hard time keeping my hands steady. I also had trouble taking a shot away from the sun without the intrusion of my shadow, so if this messes with the film opening, I can try to film the same shot again. I also had trouble getting footage in the dark without introducing too much extra light, but it was necessary. However, the difficult of sight in the darkness definitely added to the thrill and mystery of the shots. I look forward to editing the footage next week!

This week, I spent most of my time scoping out where I was going to film and practicing so that when I get together with my "actors," everything can be set up and ready to go. I also wrote out the script and thought about music choices for when I edit the film. Below is a picture of me preparing to write out the script. First: some problems I faced. This week was a very busy week at school, especially since track season has officially begun and my weekend was full of other school activities. Since my film takes place at the beach, I couldn't film at school, so I found it difficult to find the time to make my way over to the beach and scope out the "set." However, when I did get to the beach, it was way too late in the afternoon, so I had difficulties with lighting, as can be seen in the pictures I took. This week was also a great learning opportunity. I realized that there was a lot more thought that needed to be put into my film opening than I realiz...

While planning my film opening, I realized that my original storyboard idea was much more difficult to do than I had previously thought, so I have decided to change parts of my storyboard (which I will post this week). My new film opening, while still a comedy, will be a parody type of comedy, and so I will follow the comedy genre by being overly dramatic and parodying a scary movie. The film opening will include a group of teenagers walking at night and being scared and creeped out by normal things. My actors will include Sarah Nemeth and Ellie Poling, as well as myself. These people will star as the teenagers that end up being scared by very basic things. I chose these actors because they agreed to help me and they are easy to work with. If for some reason I need someone else to appear in the film, I will be able to ask either some family members or other friends that have already agreed to help. Next, I had to decide on costumes. Since this will be a parody of a scary movie, the te...

This storyboard begins with a shot on a busy street. This shot is an establishing shot and shows the setting, and I want it to be clear that everyone is minding their own business and nothing seems out of the ordinary, until a teenaged boy appears in a strange outfit, clumsily riding a bike. The camera will then zoom in and, as a whimsical song plays, begin to follow the boy as he rides his bike. He should be riding his bike on a very simple surface, like a sidewalk, but then the shot changes to a daydream. I am not entirely sure how I will represent this, but it might require a change in lighting, so that it looks golden and surreal. The daydream will show a professional dirtbiker performing stunts, and as the commentators speak and the crowd cheers, the shot will cut back to the boy, riding his bike, pretending to rev the engine, and narrating his own actions. As the boy voices over, so that it sounds like his inside thoughts, he crashes into something small and falls into the gras...

Since I am working on the film opening on my own, it was important for me to look at various examples so as to get a better feel for different examples. While brainstorming, I came across several realizations. I followed a simple process to organize my thoughts, the first step of which involved research. While researching, I looked for similarities of all of the film opening samples. While the samples were all from different genres, the films each showed an eye catching scene, an open ending, and a very simple concept. The genre was incorporated through a simple story line, but developed using different editing techniques, such as voiceovers that provided background information and cross cutting to show multiple perspectives. By keeping these aspects of the sample film openings in mind, I was able to visualize possible features of my future project and imagine different ways that I can show both a creative film opening and the genre of comedy.

When asked to find a genre for the film opening, I thought long and hard before deciding upon the genre of comedy. However, when I chose comedy, it was for very specific reasons. Almost every night for as long as I can remember, my dad will find a movie and my parents will spend the night on the couch before going to bed. When I was younger, I used to peer through the stairway banister to get a glimpse of the film, but as I’ve grown older and my bedtime has become later, I have started joining my parents for the daily movie night. While my dad’s preference tends toward action and foreign films, I’ve noticed one genre in particular that brings the whole family together: comedy. There are many different sub-genres of comedy, one of which is romantic comedy. Romantic comedy films feature a combination of drama and humor by using predictable plot lines with unpredictable twists. For example, films like “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Clueless,” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin” each follow a simi...