Portfolio Project Genre #2

The second genre that I'm considering for my portfilio project is Thriller. And for the subgenre I'd like to go with is Psychological Thriller. 

Psychological thriller is a genre that focuses on the stuggles of character and their situation in life and this may come from the idea of trauma, morality, and just right from wrong. The whole point as well is to be in the characters mind when it comes to making lasting decsions. Now, the typical audience for this type of genre are usually older teens and adults who engage with topics like these. For example, the movie may want the audience to question their own moraltiy when watching a film with this kind of genre. 

The content of the genre may focus on the mental conflict within the character rather it being shown physically. The characters may also experince situations like trauma or conflict within themsleves. These stories may also include dreams and hallucinations. 

As for techniques, if the characters were to experince trauma, you would expect to see a lot of flashbacks inserted to see the back story of the character. For this, tight close ups are used to show the expression of uncomfort form the character face. Items and props may be used a lot throughtout the film to showcase the characters obssessivness. As well as dark tones and dark shadows, to illustrate the depressing vibe. And dim lighting can be added as well for the tension and the unexpectedness. The sound that comes along with this genre is very minimalistic, with very little music, since this genre wants people to think and not be distracted with loud music. 

For the marketing , trailers would definitely be used to display the film with its dark vibe and tension towards it, to attract the audience. The trailer would also really want to sell it with the moments of emotion and the situations rather than special effects. This films are usually premired in festivals, and after sometime may be distributed onto big streaming platforms. 

One of the two films that really bring this genre to life is "Black Swan". The main character Nina has this idea of obssession of being perfect when it comes to ballet. This movie portrays the pyschological struggles of overworking for your goals and sometimes can harm oneself. Really the mental state of Nina is what really drives the plot, like the extreme close up shots to show Nina's emotions. 

The second film that represents psychologica thriller is "The Shining". The character has a lost of santiy in the film at one point and that becomes the highlight of the film with its unexpectdness and the loss of all morality. Techniques that are used are long tracking shots that shwo uneasiness which adds to the tension. 

Citations:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_thriller

                https://www.vaia.com/en-us/explanations/media-studies/filmmaking/psychological-thriller/

                 https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?genres=thriller

Portfolio Project Genre #1

The genre that I'm considering for my portfolio project is drama. As for the subgenre, it would be realistic fiction drama.

                                                                             DRAMA

Realistic drama is a genre that displays the lives, struggles, and goals of people with drama and authenticity. It represents the hard truth and the complex things in peoples lives. I thought of this genre firsthand, because I thought I could somehow demonstrtae the realities of young lives in this world today. Mainly the struggles is what I thought of orignally since this type of genre is well recognized by young people. 

 Now, realisitic drama aims to engage and resonate with the audience emotionally and intellectually. The audience, such as myself, like to seek a sense of understanding from this genre. For example, struggling with fiances may resonate with others, or struggling to make friends in a different country as a foriegner, these are examples of what the audience may find to be resonating. Not only that, but the audience may enjoy the life lessons from these type of genres. 

Generally speaking, relaistic drama usually has a life lesson added to it, and apply to the majority of society. This genre applys realistic situations and explore issues from there. Common content that goes along with this genre is identity, morals, personal growth, and even love. It also often ends with no resolution as opposed to another type film with a different genre. This goes to show the realsim, since in our day to day lives there isn't always a resoultion to certain situations but we have to move on. 

The techniques that are used for this type of genre are technqiues like natural lighting, to reinforce the realsim of the genre. For emotional appeal, it may use close up shots to capture expressions that may be significant. And medium shots can be used to show the setting that is being established. Now, rather than music that is added, it may use diagetic sound as the genre is trying to be as realistic as possible. The characters aren't usualy loud, the tone is more soft and calming. If anything, soft music can be applied as well for moments that are emotional. As for mise-en-scene, practical clothes are used, as well as realistic props and setting. Settings like, work, home, or school are the usual settings for this type of genre. 

For Institutional Conventions, instituions that work with this type of genre are institutions like A24 which is a indpendent studion as well as Magnolia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Classics. The marketing for this focuses the emotional aspect, like the character and their realtionships. The poster for this type of genre can be mnimalist as it is made to be realisitc with the character in a natural setting. The trailers may emphasize the hardships and the relationships of the character, and really highlight the mood. 

One of the two films that illustrate this genre is "Past lives". This film has the factors of realism like the natural dialouge and the natural setting and clothes that is used. This story also is about love, identity, and a sense of connection, which all go to realsim. 

The second film is titled "Lady Bird", which is a film that centers around a teenage girl and the conflicts with her close ones. This film uses real life situations for storytelling rather than a more dramatic  kind of plot. 

Citations: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/tv-drama-audience-demographics/28493255

               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Lives_(film)

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Bird_(film)

                https://www.clrn.org/what-is-realism-in-drama/

Music Marketing Project #2

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1watF2CIxpPMI2qUFg5wZ_iLYADVgyCik/view?usp=drivesdk

Music Marketing #1

 For my music marketing project, I focused on two  artists from Interscope Records: Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga. I chose these artists because they represent different branding and marketing strategies within the same label, which helped me understand how music companies target different audiences.

For Billie Ellish, I noticed how much her whole brand is authenticity. She leans into being vulnerable and emotional and which is why her fans connect with her so strongly. I paid attention to her darker aesthetic and the way she uses social media. Interscope lets her be herself, and her personality basically does the marketing on its own.

Then I moved on to Lady Gaga, who's career is built on visuals, statement fashion, and storytelling . She has one of the most dedicated fan communities, and as well as her connection to her audience. I looked into how she portrays herself album after album,and how Interscope uses her dramatic imagery to build  marketing strategies. 

Once I had good understanding of both artists, I then researched Interscope Records as a whole. From what I researched, I found that they are very flexible with their artists. They let them express themselves freely and allow them to build their own brand. 

After finishing, we were then assigned with the music marketing project. Unfortunately I left for vacation the day our teacher gave us notes on the project. Fortunately my partners informed me online of what are tasks we’re. We chose the song “We are young” and we must create a music video and give ideas on distribution and the marketing campaigns. Our teacher gave us a list to put down every members names and assigned tasks. I will be taken on the task of helping recording the music video, helping with the final statement and the overview. We really have to start taking action once we get back from break. Overall, I’m very excited to see how our process for the project turns out

Mise-en-scene blog post

Our class was assigned of a gorup project and we had to create a multimedia character station. Our goal was to design and present a character through visual and audio elements that reveal their personality, emotions, and story. Our teacher had provided us with a character to develop the station. My groups goal was to create an environment  that immediately immersed the viewer into our character’s world. 

Our character was a retired firefighter who volunteered at the aninmal shelter. He was also generous, huorous, and full of wisdom. We named our character Bill F. Steel who was a widowed man who lives in california after being a firefighter for 40 years. Bill became a firefighter because his wife had died but thankfully their dughter lived. After he retired he went to volunteer at the animal shelter, and now visits his daugther during his free time. To bring this character to life, we built an animal shelter using materials that I had bought to show where our character spends most of his time. Then one of my group members had created a mood board, and bought the items that had represented him. Another gorup member made audio sounds to tell the history of the items, with music in the background. And our last member made a slide of our characetr description. 

In developing our character we used stereotyping to say where he was from. We said our character was from California which is normal, knowing california is known for their wildfires. When we were organizing our station, we focused on positioning the story correctly. We put numbers for each station to put it all in order. We brainstormed together and cobined ideas together to make the project immersive as much as we can. Overall, this project taught us how to represent a character visually. 

Links to our project: Media Studies Mise-en-scene

Genre Research Activity

 The genre that I will be researching is Romcoms. Romcoms have always been one of the most loved and watched genres in film. These movies focus on love, humor, and how relationships grow and fall apart in funny ways that people can relate to. 

The typical target audience for rom-coms are usually teenagers to middle aged adults. The stories are made for people who like watching romance but also like to laugh. They usually aim towards women or couples. One example of a RomCom that I personally enjoyed was Crazy Rich Asians (2018) - IMDb. When it comes to content, rom-coms always include a few classic things. One of them first funny or awkward way the main characters meet or when couple are complete opposites, which causes lots of funny and romantic moments. 

For production techniques, romcoms are usually filmed with colorfull settings to make them feel warm. They often take place in cities or nice towns that look romantic, like New York or Paris. The music is also with love songs or fun background music. 

The marketing for romcoms is typically showcasing the two characters chemistry and have posters that usually show them both together. Trailers always include the funny and cute moments so the audience knows what to expect.They also release the film with a usual theme to it, whether it is christmas, fall, or summer break. Another example of a romcom is The Proposal (2009) - IMDb. It's about a boss who forces her assistant to marry her to keep her visa.The movie mixes funny scenes with romantic tension between the two. The lighting and costumes are bright and stylish, matching the fun tone.

Other examples of rom-coms include 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - IMDb, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) - IMDb, The Holiday (2006) - IMDb, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - IMDb, 500 Days of Summer (2009) - IMDb.

Blog posting- Sound

  What I learned from the sound lesson is that sounds can change the perspective of what it is that you're seeing. Every sound that you may hear in a piece has a purpose for an overall message. We also learned how different audios layered on to one another can be connected to spread the overall message. The assigned videos helped me really organize how to layer sound on to each other so it could sound natural and realistic to the piece being displayed. 

For our first sound project, our teacher randomized the class in pairs so that we could create an idea of what to make sounds for. For example, me and my partner decided to create a minute long video, only of sounds, of firefighters getting ready to move out. With that, me and my partner had to make an outline of the scenes for our idea onto a WordDoc and list sounds we had to apply for the specific scenes. By creating an outline, we knew where sounds needed to be placed and what specfic sounds we needed to utilize to create the message of firefighters moving out. Me and my partner used ClipChamp for the osund project and it was very simple to use. We were also instructed to foley 4 sounds which is making a sound with the tools we have at home or elsewhere. I believe me and my partner did well at choosing the specific sounds we used, thanks to the outline, and it came out great. What I'd like to improve next time would be layering my sounds better and making them even more details. For example, I want to add sounds that a typical person wouldn't think about till they hear it. 

For our second project, we worked on an assignmnet from before which was only of different kinds of shots with no sounds. For brainstorming, unfortunatley, I had to work on this project alone, so creating my outline for the sounds was my biggest resource I had. While brainstorming, I watched the video from our past assignment over and over again, so I knew what sounds to include. I used ClipChamp again, since I had already become familiar with it, and I believe layering the sounds went more smoothly for this porject.  What I'd like to improve mext time is also adding more details to my sounds. We had to create sounds for the project as well,  which was easier to do since was had just finished our first sound project.  

Project sound 1: BriggsCordoba_soundscape_per4 

 Project sound 2: OWFSound_Cordoba