Final Film Opening

Here is my groups AICE Media Studies Final Project Video. Hope you enjoy it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwwXXzWCOGczOGJBd05JOHBrcDQ/view?ts=570af8cd

Creative Critical Reflection

Below is the link to my Creative Critical Reflection. It shows how we went "Into the Woods."

http://prezi.com/qqsgbcfk1dwm/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Permission for the Song

In order to use the song we found from the free music archive, we had to follow certain steps based on the copyright of the music. Here are screenshots showing the directions we had to follow. All we had to do was give credit to the creator in our video, which we did.

Finishing Touches

After a long and complicated process our film opening project is coming to an end. Today we completed the whole film opening with all the credits and sound elements. As expected Warner Brothers never got back to us on the Frank Sinatra copyright so we found a free song with no copyright online. It was much faster and easier. We also added all the credits and added the title "Into the Woods." Throughout this project we had some complications with our setting and filming process, but my group members and I got through it. It really wasn't as difficult overall as I was expecting in the beginning. When you are just thrown a huge project like this, it can be pretty intimidating. Since we broke it down step by step, in the end it wasn't that bad. We all survived.

Now since the film is complete, my group and I will start to work on the Creative Critical Reflection. We aren't completely sure how we want to individually present our information, but we are going to meet up to collaborate and answer the four questions provided as a group. This will make it easier and we can give each other ideas on who to present the information and help create them. After this we are finally done with the project after 6 long weeks. It was fun while it lasted.

Sound Element

Last night my group and I finished editing the film opening and just have some small touch ups left to make it more clear. The only parts left are to add the sound elements, which would be the song "Strangers in the night" by Frank Sinatra, and create and insert all the titles that will pop up on the sides throughout the film opening. Today our focus is to add the sound elements so we can be finished with the entire film opening by tonight.

In order to be able to use the song we want in our film legally, we have to get permission from the owner of it. Frank Sinatra created his own record label, Reprise Records in 1960. This label was then bought by Warner Brothers. Yesterday during class my groupmate Dylan and I sent an email to Warner Brothers asking for permission to use the song in our school project.






Just in case we don't get permission to use this song in time, we are searching for other possibilities on a free music archive website. This will allow us to use a song without getting permission, so if worst comes to worst and we can't get the Frank Sinatra song we can quickly input the other option with no legal problems.

 "Reprise Records Story." Reprise Records Story. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. 

 "Welcome to the Free Music Archive." Free Music Archive. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. 

Strangers in the Night

Last night my group and I got all of the filming done for the film opening and have began editing on Imovie. The filming went very well and we got all of the shots that we planned out and some different ones that were interesting and stood out. I also think we found the name of our film, which would be strangers in the night. This title comes from the song "Strangers in the night" by Frank Sinatra which we will be playing in the background of the opening.

We are down to the final week of the project and everything seems to be on schedule. For the film opening all me and my group have left is the editing, creating the subtitles and title and finding where to insert them, and to make the song flow well with the film opening. We plan on getting all of this done mid-week so we have time to look everything over and finish up the entire project with the Creative Critical Reflection.

Lights, Camera, Action

We have solidified our plan to go shoot all of the filming we need tomorrow. We are back on track with our schedule from my first post. I am pretty excited to get this done and see what the full film opening will look like. We have decided from previous experience to film on my Iphone with the Imovie app. It is simple and easy to use and makes the editing at the end less difficult.

Location, Location, Location

So yesterday my group and I traveled to our new location in a county park called Markham park. We somewhat knew of where we wanted it to be because we are pretty familiar with this park. In the back of the park there are mountain bike trails in the woods that were made naturally. In the back of the woods there is the perfect setting for our film opening. Since we no longer have an abandoned building as our setting were going to have to work with what we have and change the plot a little bit. We were thinking of instead of having the mysterious woman keeping people captive in jail cells, we can have people tied up to a tree or in a cage that we found in the woods. Besides that everything else will remain the same with the plot. 

Before we visited we also did a very rough storyboard to make sure that everything was planned out and ready to be filmed. We are planning on filming sometime this weekend to finish up this project ahead of time so we can review it before it's due.

Here are some pictures from our trip to our new location:

Minor Setback for a Major Comeback

So yeah about going to visit the prison and take pictures for our storyboard..... turns out its illegal and considered trespassing to be there. One of the members of my groups' dad is a Broward Sheriff and when he tells you its a bad idea to go, its really a bad idea. Ever since that day my group and I have been researching other abandoned locations to try to find a place to storyboard then film.

Yesterday I found this place not too far from where we live called the back wall forgotten home. There were pictures and everything, but when we got there and searched around we couldn't find what we were looking for. Here is a link to what we were looking for and I am attaching the pictures other people have taken of this place. 

Today we came up with the idea of visiting a local park called Markham Park at night in the woods to still give the film opening the abandoned feel and thriller aspects, except it will be legal to be here and film without worrying about getting arrested. I will post some pictures tomorrow when we go visit the location and hopefully we can begin storyboarding tomorrow as well.

 "Taking Pictures at Back Wall Forgotten Home, a Photography Guide of Best Places." ShotHotspot. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. 

The Visit

Today one of the other members in my group and I are planning to go to the abandoned prison in order to get an idea what it looks like and to start on the storyboard. Im not so sure how I feel about this. I've watched a lot of horror movies and an abandoned prison doesn't look like the best place to go or two teenagers to explore. But, since its for the project we're going to make it happen and make the best out of it. I'll pretend like I won't be scared, but I definitely will be. Hopefully this goes smoothly and we can get in and out of there quickly and start on the story board later today.

The good news is that after this visit today and start of the storyboard, we will be on pace with our schedule to get this project done at a reasonable time before it's due to make sure its exactly what we want. I will keep you updated on how this visit goes. :0

Research?

Lately I have been doing some research to help get a better idea of how our opening should be created. This isn't like normal boring research for a 10 page paper. I have been watching films and tv shows either relating to the genre or setting in order to get some more ideas flowing. This kind of research is fun for me because I am a huge movie fanatic and watch them all the time.

First I looked at our genre of a thriller movie to try to get some ideas. One of my favorite movies, Seven, directed by David Fincher, has a very unique and interesting opening. It combines several creepy elements with great artwork and works to create suspense for the viewer. The music in the background fits perfectly and helps to create suspense as well. That opening can be viewed here.

I began thinking of what else I have watched that could possibly relate to our film opening and could give us some ideas. One thing that popped into my head was the show prison break created by Paul Scheuring. It has some aspects that relate to the thriller genre, but what I was more interested in was its setting, a prison. In this opening there are many quick shots that fade in and out to develop the setting mostly, and some of what goes on during the season. I really like the use of the fading shots, maybe we can incorporate that into our film opening.

 "Forget the Film, Watch the Titles." Seven Title Sequence. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. 

 MrIslamZidaN. "Prison Break Main Theme ( with Intro )." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. 

Week 2 Update

This week my group and I started creating the plot of our film and how we can fit it into the 2 minute film opening project. We want to show to the setting for the film and show the main character through many different camera angles. This is what we have so far: The main setting for our thriller is an abandoned prison and the film opening will focus mainly on developing that setting. The plot is about an old run down woman who lives alone at the prison and seems normal at first glance, although, she really doesn’t live alone. In order to build up suspense we won’t show the woman’s face until the very last shot of the opening.

            

             When the sun begins to set and she goes back into the prison after gardening and feeding the birds on her long walks, normal activities an older woman would do, we are going to show the creepy side of her, in which she is holding people captive in the jail cells to keep her company. We will show this by throwing a piece of food into a cell and showing a skinny arm and hand reach out slowly to grab it from the floor. Directly after this, the woman’s face will be shown for the first time. The song Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra will be playing as diagetic sound throughout the entire opening to help build up suspense.

            

             Since we have a lot to show in the short 2 minute time period we have decided as a group to show the credits spread out while the opening is playing. The title will appear quickly right at the end, after the woman’s face is shown.

              We will continue to talk through the plot of the story, but that will be the main scheme of it. We plan to start on the storyboard this weekend and go visit the prison to give us a better understanding of our setting and story.

 "Strangers in The Night - Frank Sinatra." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 17 Mar. 2016. 

What is a Thriller?

I've been talking about this thriller genre a lot. You're probably wondering what exactly is a thriller film? Is it the same as a horror film? A thriller is a genre that is based mostly on suspense and anticipation. Usually the protagonist has a problem that he/she faces and works to solve throughout the film. This problem is built up throughout the film and ultimately leads up to an emotional climax. Not always does the film rely on blood and guts and killing to scare the viewer, like in a horror film.


A horror films' main purpose is to frighten or create panic within the audience. Unlike thriller films, they usually focus around an evil force such as a ghost or spirit. As I said before, the fear in the audience usually comes from killing or a lot of gore in the plot.

My group and I decided to choose thriller as our genre because that is one of the genres we are familiar with and will watch several examples of thriller film openings in order to gain knowledge and ideas for our own. We are leaning towards mostly establishing setting with our film opening, but we will continue top think it through.

 "Thriller." Genre:. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.

"Horror." Genre:. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. 

We Found the Perfect Thriller Setting

Yesterday we met as a group and continued to discuss our genre and began brainstorming where the setting for our film could be and thought of some possibilities for plots and how we would approach the  film opening. Obviously the setting of a thriller needs to be somewhere to draw the attention of the viewer and to do this we picked an old abandoned prison known as the Broward Correctional Institution, which is about 15 minutes from where we live. It was a maximum security prison that was shut down in 2010. It was home to several serial killers and even inmates on death row.

If this isn't an ideal location for a thriller film, I don't know what is. I get scared even just looking at the pictures, much less going and filming a film opening there alone. I'm going to be thrilled, while making this thriller film, because I'm already scared.

 "Local 10 News Gets inside Look of Abandoned Broward County Prison." WPLG. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. 

Introduction

Hi, my name is Brett Andjich, welcome to my blog. After a year of learning and talking about the final project, my group members and I are ready to give it our best shot. We began by creating a schedule (shown below) for the 6 weeks to stay organized and to make sure everything is done well and on time

WEEK 1 (3/7-3/12)

Ø  3 postings

Ø  Conduct research and think of idea

WEEK 2 (3/14-3/19)

Ø  3 postings

Ø  create a storyboard, script, find location for filming, find actors(depends on genre selection and amount of cast needed)

WEEK 3 (3/21-3/26)

Ø  3 postings

Ø  Continue research

Ø  Finish final prep for filming

Ø  Start filming

WEEK 4 (3/28-4/2)

Ø  3 postings

Ø  Continue research

Ø  Finish filming

Ø  Start editing and working on sound elements

WEEK 5 (4/4-4/7)

Ø  3 postings

Ø  Work on and finish editing and sound elements

Ø  Make any final changes and corrections to the project

Ø  Start creative critical reflection

WEEK 6 (4/8-4/10)

Ø  Continue on blogs & research

Ø  Finish reflection

After we went to the basics of a film and began brainstorming the genre and target audience for our project. We took into account the difficulty of our acting, the setting, and what would be able to capture the audiences attention in the short opening. We decided that our film would be a thriller/suspense film. Through some research, I found that thriller/suspense films were the 5th most profitable from 1995-2016. That info can be found here.

We will pick back up tomorrow and research more on these types of films, what typical characteristics they need to have, and maybe even begin plotting out the beginning of our film opening.

"Market Share for Each Genre 1995-2016." The Numbers. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.