Week 2- 2/25-3/3

2/26- Today Connor and I did not have class but we agreed we needed to cover a very important aspect, the lightning. In the early stages of development, we have a rough plan to shoot at a karate studio that he is familiar with. However, based on the timing and weather outside, we can't rely on luck to get the perfect lightning, so we have to create our own, but How? Well good things week 2 is focused on research, here is how.

First off, the type of light. Since we are high school students we don't have the luxury of dropping 3 racks on a beautiful LED studio kit. Instead we will go with some low end clamp lights, ones that we can mount onto walls or posts, or set up on a camera stick. We next want to place them properly. A 3 point lighting scheme is perfect. That means, we need a key, fill and backlight. The key, being the main light source at the right side, fill being on the left, that eliminates the shadow from the key, and the back light that differs you from the background. Ik Im not the tannest but I can't be blending in with a total white background. Overall this lightning technique will cost us around 30$ total, 18 for the lights and about 10 for the stand. We plan to build the stand out of PBC Pipe. We can go to our local home depot and scoop it up real quick before filming.

• Sources: 
• https://www.techsmith.com/blog/get-perfect-lighting-video/
• https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-8-1-2-in-150-Watt-Aluminum-Incandescent-Light-Fixture-with-Clamp-277894/202847393?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CPB%7C59-6_HOME+DECOR%7CHDC%7CBT3%7c71700000008491697%7c58700000361343535%7c92700010059931788&ds_rl=1178140&gclid=Cj0KCQiA5NPjBRDDARIsAM9X1GK5wWOXnP2M49kZxDF_ZWx1WWS6omxlXALd0zKUddUD5_tm0DiLC9YaAo0fEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
• https://www.homedepot.com/p/VPC-1-2-in-x-2-ft-PVC-Sch-40-Pipe-22015/202300504
• https://filmanalysis.coursepress.yale.edu/mise-en-scene/

Week 2 - 2/25-3/3

2/25

Today was our first meeting in class since the project was assigned. Me and Connor quickly covered the most important things, the title, editing software, and basic plot line. The title is going to be called ROUGE. We are naming it after the weightlifting brand and I feel like it would pop on the screen in big bold red letters. The editing software we had two main options. 

1. NCH- Video Pad. This is going to be the one we use. On its website we both agreed for the price of 40, it had everything we were looking for, especially the aspect of it being a movie centered editing software. Here are some of the key features 

• Overlay text for captions and movie credits
• Chroma key green screen video production
• Import and mix music tracks like a pro
• Use sound effects from the free Sound Effect Library
• Fine-tune color and other visual effects
• Slow down, speed up or reverse video clip playback
• Reduce camera shake with video stabilization
• Add photos and digital images to your sequences
• Share online or directly to Facebook and YouTube
• Save to PSP, iPod, iPhone or 3GP mobile phone
• Export movies in multiple resolutions including full HD, 2K and 4K (720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2160p and more)

 

2. The other option was Adobe Premiere. Some if its main features are (source)

• Premiere Pro supports high resolution video editing at up to 10,240 × 8,192[10] resolution, at up to 32-bits per channel color, in both RGB and YUV. 
• Audio sample-level editing, VST audio plug-in support, and 5.1 surround sound mixing are available. 
• Premiere Pro's plug-in architecture enables it to import and export formats beyond those supported by QuickTime or DirectShow, supporting a wide variety of video and audio file formats and codecs on both MacOS and Windows. 
• When used with Cineform's Neo line of plug-ins, it supports 3D editing with the ability to view 3D material using 2D monitors, while making individual left and right eye adjustments.

 Due to the pricing of over 200$ we decided not to go with this, we also did not want to use WeVideo because we have been unsuccessful accessing the shots offline and for a project of this magnitude we don't want to take any chances.

 

Week 1 2/18-24

2/23:

Looking further into the topic of boxing I recollected on my favorite piece, Creed II. Drawing inspiration from a movie in the same genre that is visually entertaining and appealing to the eye is definitely a direction I want to follow with my film opening. Here is the trailer. Although it is just a trailer, it can draw some motivation and ideas to our opening. 

Some key takeaways

• There are lots of zoom in and outs with pans and tilts.
• Favorite shot was opening shot on street tracks- may want to simulate that on the beach 
• There are a lot of contrasts between light and dark colors some being shown simultaneously.
• Conflict is clear and rift between fighters is evident. 
• Portrayal and impact of girl in life is strong. I believe Connor has a girlfriend so maybe we can use his. 
• Diversity** Black vs Foreign fighter.- Connor is hispanic I am jewish we can play along those lines to break some stereotypes and genre conventions. 
• Soundtrack- Slow to upbeat- Since big time rap artists have their music copyrighted, I will use FL Studio to create the music. 
• A car scene. Want to have a masculine broad car in a shot to add to the tone. Preferably a dodge challenger, as my friend Christian has, we can add that to the pro/antagonist to develop a sense of power. 
• Lastly the type of shots, lots of moving close ups, handheld will probably account for most of ours. 

Next class Connor and I will begin storyboarding and plot planning. 

Week 1 2/18-24

2/21
Wow! We are really here. It is the biggest and longest project of my life but I got it no problem. Easy cheese. My plan for the film opening is to base it off the idea of a boxing match. Obviously, this falls under the action category. In an action movie all most all follow the same plot. They are are a form of escapism. There is always a protagonist (usually a well known actor) that puts themselves through a series of challenges that leads to violence, contain high speed chases, and lots of fight scenes. There are lots of guns and blood mixed with extreme stunts. The end result usually involves the protagonist coming out on top. They are usually based in well known, urban cities and span to multiple locations. During the mission, conflict with a girl usually comes in play like a damsel in distress. There is drama that builds with the protagonist that leads them to try to save the girl. The overall tempo is very fast paced, hence the genre, the opposite of boring. The protagonist usually has strong big muscles and appears likable to the audience. The antagonist in the movie usually is foreign and draws a contrast to the protagonist, although usually being muscular as well. What they believe in are usually opposites. They make the antagonist unlikeable to the audience by their actions, usually harming a loved one from the protagonist. Although they are predictable, action movies are very entertaining.

There are lots of sound and special effects creating a relationship between diegetic and non diegetic sound. There could be a fight scene with some rap/up tempo music playing in the background, or you can hear them actually fighting and hear things exploding. As far as costume design, the antagonist usually wears dark clothing and the protagonist wears bold colors, not necessarily light colors. Being said, I want to follow most of these conventions. My partner Connor and I will be the two main characters. I pride on my self on being ripped so showing off muscles in a boxing movie will be no problem. I workout at Midtown and they have boxing equipment in there. We could do some shots in there just as an idea. But to start off we want to establish the plot, know what we are gonna do in the start, middle end, and go from there. For now, this is just an intro on the genre (action) that my film opening will be under.

Source for image: https://www.corusent.com/brands/action/ 

Sources for Research:  https://prezi.com/bv6yzdksczgu/conventions-of-the-action-films-genre/?webgl=0

https://brianair.wordpress.com/film-theory/codes-and-conventions-of-action-adventure-films/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPAnl7wVwGM&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQNocXiY3Ww&feature=youtu.be

https://www.slideshare.net/LillieCram/conventions-of-the-genre-action

Music Marketing

Music Marketing Recap !!

• A- The purpose of the project was to create a full marketing campaign along with a new music video that would debut your new artist into their respective genre and target audience. We had to meticulously choose selling and distribution practices, venues, and strategies. 
• B- We focused our research heavily on our target audience of teenage males in the rap genre. We wanted to make our campaign as relatable to them as possible as they would be the ones consuming the music. So, we used modern case studies like social media sensation Tekashi 69, and lyrical rapper J Cole. We also used rapper A boogie with a hoodie to showcase the rise of online streaming compared to physical. Less then 5% of his total album sales came from physical copies. 
• C- As far as reaching our target audience through marketing we wanted to explore the avenue of a super villain. Creating a notorious social media figure and viral sensation gets you trending and your name relevant in the media. Doing that will put our rapper in the best position possible for success. In order to reach our young target audience we will market ourselves through the YouTube channel, No Jumper which focuses on upcoming rappers, do a Breakfast Club radio interview which is the largest station dedicated to rap artists, and through social media apps and collaborations with social media stars, Dj Akademiks, Supreme Patty, and distribution platform WorldStarHipHop. 
• D- This project was a wake up call. I definitely need to improve on my time management skills as I underestimated the length of the project which was about a week. If my group had an extra day of prep and had everything ready to go before we presented, it would d have been a whole different game. During the presentation we were not all on the same page and felt kind of rushed. In the future for my portfolio project I will make sure each day we drill down on a specific task rather then categorize certain things. I am happy I got to make that minor mistake now as my partner and I can crush it when it matters most.