Media Theory research

Hey everyone! In this blog post I will be talking about media theories and some ways that I can incorporate them into my project. 

I used a Media theory sheet that my teacher gave us in class to do my research and choose the media theory that I would like to use in my opening. Here are the pictures of the handout sheets: 

One media theory I want to use in my film opening is Roland Barthes’ theory: Enigma Code. This theory is about creating mystery by not explaining everything to the audience. Instead of giving clear answers, the film leaves questions and makes the audience feel confused so that it makes them want to keep watching to find out more. 

In my film opening, the Enigma Code will be used by keeping important information hidden. In the beginning of the film, the audience can see a mysterious folder with the FBI symbol on the desk with a file inside that folder containing a crime report and a case number with a blurred picture of a woman. However, we don’t know who this woman is yet, but it hints at the audience that she is probably the criminal that committed the crime they are trying to solve. Still, we don’t know her motivation and who she is, but by using this theory, it gives us the idea that she is dangerous and that she will be important for the rest of the story. Also after that, the scientist is working on a DNA test, but we still don’t know who does the DNA belongs to either (until the last scene of the opening).

Also, in one of the last scenes of my opening, the scientist says “I found her” and this part also uses the Enigma Code. The word “her” is very unclear, because we don’t know who this girl is, whether is the criminal or the victim, which makes the audience wonder who is her and why is she important.

By using the Enigma Code, it helps my film opening feel more suspenseful because it leaves questions unanswered and the audience becomes more interested in the story and wants to continue watching to understand the mystery. At least this is what keeps me engaged in suspense/thriller movies and I hope it creates the same effect in my opening!

My final project idea!

Hi there!! Today I will be explaining a little bit more about my final project idea and some of the inspirations that I had to create it. I hope you enjoy it!

So, for my final project, I will be creating a 2 minute suspense film opening called  “The Hidden Match.”  The opening focuses on a scientist working alone in a lab while running a DNA test of an  unknown person. At the beginning of the opening, a folder with the FBI logo is shown, as well as a crime report file with a case number, the suspect's name and a flyer with the woman’s face saying "WANTED". This makes the audience realize that the story has to do with something about a crime suspect. While hinting at what the story is about, we still don't know who the suspect is, why she has done that and why are DNA tests being done by the scientist, which works perfect to create a suspenseful and mysterious opening. 

To give a little bit more of context, the woman that is shown in the crime report is actually the missing daughter of my main character, the scientist, who was mistakenly swapped by the hospital when she was born. She murdered the last director of the FBI forensic science department, which is written in the case report that will be shown really quickly at the beginning of the opening with a close-up shot. However, I can’t include all of these informations right away in the opening because it would end up with the suspense and I want to leave the audience wondering who is the woman, if she has any connection with a character shown, and why did she do that, maintaining the suspense of the story.

At the end of the opening, the scientist evaluates the result of the DNA test, which is positive, and makes a phone call where he says, “I found her”  to an unknown person, leaving the audience with unanswered questions and building up the tension to keep them engaged and interested in keep watching the movie to get answers.     

My main inspiration for this project comes from suspense and crime films that use mystery to keep the audience engaged. These films withhold information at the beginning and slowly reveal details over time. I was especially inspired by stories that involve science and investigation, where the audience needs to connect clues together rather than being told everything directly.

While I was researching for some suspense film openings to inspire myself, here are some of the ones that I liked the most: 

   Se7en (1995

  Gone girl (2014)

  Zodiac (2007)

I really like these three openings and they inspired me because they are suspense and crime films that create mystery by not revealing everything at the beginning . In  Gone Girl , the opening leaves questions without clear answers, which helps to engage the audience right away. I also really liked  Se7en  and  Zodiac because of how they  use darker and colder tones, investigation and how they build tension slowly, and that's exactly what I want my project to feel like. They inspired me to focus on mystery and suspense rather than explaining everything in my opening. I also watched the video below to help me get more ideas of more elements I could add into my opening to make it better: 

I hope you enjoyed reading my project idea and I can't wait to begin filming it and turning it into a real story! 

Group meeting #1

Hi there! 

For our first in class group meeting, we had to share our blogs, the ideas that we had for our project and our opinions about it. I was in a group with 7 people, Maia, Mia, Isa, Luke, myself, Emma and ​​Vanessa, and we spent the whole class discussing and helping each other with our ideas. 

Maia was the first one to talk about her project, and she explained that she was doing a coming of age story about a girl who started her own blog and shared her thoughts and experiences about her life through her posts. I really liked her idea specially because she was very creative when developing her opening title. She showed us the many different versions of titles with very diverse fonts and all of them looked really beautiful. I truly loved her project idea and I thought it was so unique and personal. 

Mia went second and she also wanted to do her project about a coming of age story. She explained that she was inspired by the sitcom "Boo B...", and her story will be about two best friends who used to hang out at a park everyday, but suddenly, one of the girls gets hit by a car and ends up dying. However, the other friend realizes that she can actually see and hear the ghost of her best friend. I really liked her idea and I thought it was pretty engaging. I suggested Mia to end her opening as soon as we hear the car crashing sound, and Maia added up by suggesting that the title could be "Best friEND", which I thought it was really amazing and creative because it relates so much to the story. 

Isa went next and she wanted to do a coming of age opening as well. At first, the movie would seem like a horror film about a mysterious person knocking on one of the main character's house, but that unknown person would actually happen to be the protagonist best friend, turning the film into a coming of age comedy about two bffs. I thought her idea was great because I love watching movies that reveal something I was not expecting, and I would definitely watch a coming of age movie, which is my favorite genre, that looks like a different genre at first, but it's not. 

Then, Luke went. He said he was still thinking more clearly about the project, but his main idea was to do a drama/comedy opening about a dialogue between two best friends. One of them would happen to be really extroverted, while the other extremely introverted, highlighting their differences and how opposite they are, but both are best friends still. I thought it was fun and different!

After Luke, it was my turn. I started the group meeting without being so sure about what I would do for my project, but I ended up choosing an idea afterwards. I was in doubt between doing something in the suspense or coming of age genre, (Two complete opposite genres, I know), but I chose to go with suspense. I told the group that I wanted to do something within the science field about a scientist doing something mysterious in which I'm still unsure about what exactly he will be investigating. The group helped me a lot and Maia and Mia suggested that I could do something DNA related and use science labs elements like beakers for example. Vanessa and Emma told me that I could use the liquids in the beakers to introduce the title in the opening and I thought that was genius! Having that in mind, I thought about doing a story about a scientist investigating someone's DNA (probably a criminal or suspect), adding a bit of crime to the story. 

Emma went next and she explained that her film opening will be a mystery story about a disturbed girl who is in jail. She said that there will be scratches on the walls showing a name that becomes important later in the film. Emma also showed us some of the set pieces that she bought to make the video, including jail cell bars and a grey background to help create the setting. I really liked her idea because I love mystery movies and I thought it was very creative.

And then, Vanessa went and was the last group member to explain her project. She said that her and her group’s idea was a thriller film about a victim of bullying who fights back by killing the bully. She wanted the film to focus on how and why the victim makes this decision and to show that the character was mentally unstable. Honestly, I think this was one of my favorite ideas. 

Overall, the group meeting was so fun and it helped me a lot. At the beginning, I was unsure of what I should make my project about, but in the end, I had a clearer idea of what I wanted to do. Everyone was so nice and gave such great ideas and advices that I would have never thought about on my own. Now I’m really excited for the next group meeting because the first one was so fun and engaging!

 

Project schedule

Hey Cambridge! Here is my project timeline and how I expect to follow this schedule to finish my final project. 

Timeline

Week 1 (2/2 - 2/8)

• Research film openings from the suspense genre so I can inspire myself
• Plan and write the script for the opening 

Week 2 (2/9 - 2/15)

• Start creating my storyboard 
• Look for places where I can start filming 
• Set the filming days
• Maybe start filming during the weekend

Week 3 (2/16 - 2/22)

• Continue production and filming
• Start to record foley sounds 
• End the filming scenes by the end of this week

Week 4 (2/23 - 2/28)

• Editing
• Start and finish at least the first 20 seconds of editing

Week 5 (3/1 - 3/7)

• Keep doing at least 10 seconds of editing per day 
• Finish the editing by the end of this week. 

Week 6 (3/8 - 3/14)

• Revisions
• Revise my project and see if everything is fine
• Creative Critical Reflection
• Research information relating to the reflection
• Create the reflection
• Edit and review CCR

Suspense film credit analysis

 Se7en (1995):

What the opening credits are like:

• The credits show quick and messy images of notebooks, writing and photos.

• The text doesn’t look neat and it’s kind of hard to read it. 

• The music is loud and chaotic and it can make you uncomfortable with all those sound effects. 

Why this fits the suspense genre:

• They use fast cuts so it makes the audience feel nervous.

• The messy effects that they used suggest that something is very wrong.

• Even with the credit scenes, we don’t get many answers, but more questions, which creates a lot of suspense.

Why it’s effective:

• It’s effective because they set and keep a dark and tense mood right after. 

• They make the audience feel confused on purpose and it brings their attention expecting that something will happen.

• It makes you feel the danger and fear before the story even starts. 

  
  

The Silence of the Lambs (1991):

What the opening credits are like:

• The scene shows a character running through a forest.

• The colors are darker. 

• The credits show up slowly over the scene.

Why this fits the suspense genre:

• The forest is very quiet, which makes the moment way more tense and scary. 

• We don’t know why the character is running and this creates curiosity and mystery.

• The credits are very slow paced, so it makes us feel more anxious for what is about to happpen. 

Why it’s effective:

• It feels very realistic. 

• Since the credits are very calm, it makes you expect that something bad will happen.

• It introduces suspense without using violence for example. 

Zodiac (2007):

What the opening credits are like:

• The scene starts during a normal public event.

• The credits are very simple and natural. 

• The music starts to become more serious and we become more and more tense. 

Why this fits the suspense genre:

• The normal setting makes the tension stronger.

• The audience knows something bad might happen, but not when.

• Since it’s also a more slow paced credit scenes, it also creates fear and anxiety because we know that it’s not normal to be that calm in a suspense movie. 

Why it’s effective:

• It shows how danger can appear in everyday life.

• The calm opening makes the suspense feel way more real.

• I would say that it creates a bit of discomfort without needing to use fast action scenes for example. 

Suspense film openings

While researching for examples of film openings from the suspense genre, I've come up with three openings that I really liked and that I think are perfect examples of good suspenseful openings. 

Jaws (1975):

What happens:

The movie starts at night on a beach while a girl goes swimming in the ocean. While she is swimming, we can’t see the shark, but suddenly she gets pulled underwater and gets attacked. She starts to get really scared and scream but no one can help her.

Analyzing the opening:

This opening is really good for many reasons and they use many elements that makes the audience feel scared in the first few minutes because: 

- We can’t see the monster (shark) at first, which is scary

- The camera acts like the shark is watching her 

- They used a tense music in the background to create tension and mystery 

- The shark attacks her out of nowhere, which shocks viewers since no one was expecting that attack. 

Why it’s a good suspense opening: 

I really like this opening because it makes you scared and tense from the very first scene of the movie. It shows how the ocean is dangerous and that the shark is a serious threat that will probably be a big element for the plot of the movie. Also, it makes us curious because we want to know what is this monster and if anyone will be able to stop it and save the girl. 

Scream (1996): 

What happens: 

A teenage girl is home alone when she suddenly gets a phone call from a stranger. At first, it seems like a joke and it seems like he is flirting with her, and he looks like a very friendly man. Then, he starts asking creepy questions and says he’s watching her. After that, she gets really scared and starts locking her house doors and closing her curtains and at that moment we realize that she is really in danger.

Analyzing the opening: 

-The scene starts normal and it shows the girl comfortable and cozy in her house, which makes the danger more shocking later

-The phone call starts to slowly turn from friendly to creepy and it helps to build up the tension

-We don’t see the killer and we only hear his voice, which makes him scarier

-When he says he’s watching her, the house stops feeling safe

-The scene shows the killer is smart and likes to play games

-By the end, the audience is really scared and hooked because it makes people want to watch the rest of the movie to see who is he and what he’ll do next. 

Why it’s a good suspense opening: 

This is one of my favorite film openings because it makes you scared and it hooks you from the beginning because it makes you want to see what will happen to her and if she will be able to scape. It shows that anyone can be in danger and that no place even our own house is safe. I like how the opening makes us feels scared for her like we were the ones who are actually running from the killer.

The dark knight (2008): 

What happens: 

A group of masked robbers rob a bank and one by one, they secretly kill each other and at the end, we find out that the last robber is actually the Joker. 

Analyzing the opening:

-We don’t know who is really in control and they reveal the plan really slowly

- There is tension because something feels wrong from the plan

- The twist at the end of the opening showing that the Joker is one of the robbers surprise the audience and makes us want to keep watching to see what will happen next. 

Why it’s a good suspense opening: 

I think this is a great opening because it shows that the Joker is smart, dangerous and unpredictable. It makes us feel excited and nervous about what he will do next.

Transitioning into the Cambridge portfolio project

Hello Cambridge!!

From now on, my blog posts will focus on the progress and process of my Cambridge final project, which is creating a film opening of two minutes that I will create by myself. I learned many different and new things about film in my AICE media studies class, such as the different types of shots, angles and representations that you need to use to create a good production that will engage people. Since I learned many cool things about media as a whole and film productions, this project will be a great opportunity to put everything I learned in practice and I will try my best to do so. 

To start the transition, my class learned about film openings as I mentioned before and why they are so important when introducing the story to the audience, since it will be the first impression of your film and make people choose if they want to watch the movie or not. The opening needs to be catchy and unique, using specific elements like sound or color representations depending on the kind of tone you want to approach to grab the audience’s attention. 

One of the approaches I’m thinking about doing for this project, is developing character and using scenes like “a day in the life” to show the protagonist and create an idea about their personality right in the first view of the film. This would work really well in a coming of age genre for example, which is one of the genres that I’m thinking about doing for this project. By developing character, I can use many elements such as costumes, makeup and representations of how the protagonist interact with other characters and even the environment itself, to help shaping their identity and create and idea of how they are dealing with the situation of growing up, which is a major theme in the coming of age genre. 

The second approach I might consider is developing the environment of my film. One of the genres I thought about doing for this project was suspense, so I really think that this approach might look very good in that type of production. I can mix many different elements like low-key lighting, dramatic sound effects or extreme close-ups to build up tension and force the audience to focus on the fear of the unknown and influence them to watch the movie in order to answer their questions that the opening left unanswered.

I am really excited to begin this project and put my ideas in practice in order to create a good film opening!