Thriller vs. Drama

 Thriller vs. Drama

My partner and I haven't decided which genre to do, so we decided to research a bit more on which we would rather do. Instead of researching 4 genres, 2 of mine and 2 from my partner, we just decided on either thriller, which we both researched, and drama, which my partner researched. Although I would like to make a decision at the end of these two openings, I don't think I will because I'm VERY indecisive and I love both drama and thriller. So, I will probably talk to my partner before making a decision.

Thriller: (1 of my 2 genres)

The Dark Knight (2008): 

    The opening scene of The Dark Knight is a bank robbery. The heist was planned by Joker, except he wasn't part of it. Five masked guys with similar "war paint" on them enter a bank, but it's not just any regular bank; it belongs to the mob. As they go on, they all start killing each other after they do their part to get a bigger share of the money, as they were instructed by Joker to. It happened until there was only one guy left, who was, surprisingly, Joker. 

    I think this opening scene was really good because it shows Joker's deceitful and malicious ways of doing things, and that his goals have no limits, as he went as far as robbing a mob bank and killing all his henchmen. In the beginning, as three of the robbers were in the van, the two people in the front started talking about how Joker doesn't deserve a share of the money, as he wasn't doing anything. Other people would stand up for themselves if they were in his position, but he waited for them to finish their job before getting rid of them, which was probably because he wanted the money for himself, but it could also be revenge for how they were talking about him. 

    During the whole opening scene, I noticed that the Joker (who wasn't revealed until the end) didn't talk much, or really at all, until the end, right before killing his partner, and until he revealed his face to the bank manager. This was most likely done to conceal his identity from the others, but it also creates a sense of mystery because the other members were so chatty, which makes you wonder why this one person is so different. Also, there was a string that played when Joker revealed his face, which represents the shock of his identity. The lighting at the time of his face reveal made him look menacing and terrifying, as well as emphasizing his large scars and wrinkles. 

    I also noticed that in the very beginning, they zoomed in on the mask the person is holding, which I found odd since they usually zoom in on the head in these scenes. As they zoomed in, the music was also getting louder, but it came to a sudden stop as a fully black van pulled over to pick him up. This builds up the intensity and suspense, which adds to the slow zoom into the mask, leaving the viewer to question why they did that. 

Link to The Dark Knight film opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLcHPsWK5xg

Drama: (1 of my partner's 2 genres)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994): 

    The opening scene for The Shawshank Redemption is of a man who found out his wife was cheating and was accused of murdering her and her lover. It starts off with what sounds like a song about heartbreak and love with a black screen, and suddenly, a long shot of the front view of a house appears. It pans to the source of the music, a very dimly lit car with a man in it, staring at the house. He reaches for a gun and his alcohol. Still staring at the house, you hear a man start speaking, but it's not someone you can see. It suddenly cuts to a courthouse with the same man with a lost look in his eyes.

    The last scene was most likely a flashback, trying to tell the viewer he's still in shock, stuck at what he found out and what he may have done. As the prosecutor interrogates him about his wife and what he did, the flashbacks continue. It's clear as the opening goes on that Mr. Dufresne is still numb and in shock, until the end of the opening, when he finds out his sentence, which is two life sentences, he stays the same. At the end, when he was getting sentenced, he finally showed an emotion, it was a look of panic. This leaves some viewers questioning whether he actually committed the murders or if he's devastated because he has a look of guilt, but also looks disoriented.

    Similar to The Dark Knight, when the Joker revealed himself, the lighting was dim and from the side, creating an intense, uneasy tone, as a courtroom for a murder trial usually would.  However, unlike actual courtrooms, it didn't seem to have actual lights, which would be odd, but for this scene, it's used to show his emotions and the tense environment. 

Link to The Shawshank Redemption opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrpVQpKseXU

Final Decision in the next blog!!

Portfolio Project Schedule

Schedule/Timeline of my Portfolio Project!

Hopefully we can follow our schedule and finish everything on time...

Week 1 (1/16-1/23):

• Research different genres 🗸

Week 2 (1/26-2/1): 

• Create Timeline/Schedule 🗸
• Decide genre, start analyzing different film openings of decided genre
• Decide on how to include credits
• Start brainstorming ideas/start storyboard
• Try to set location, dates/time, and actors if needed for filming days

Week 3 (2/2-2/8):

• Finish Storyboard
• Set location, date/time, and actors for filming
• Start researching/purchasing/planning mise-en-scene needed
• Research on music/sound effects needed
• Potentially start filming

Week 4 (2/9-2/15):

• Start Filming 
• Start editing if done filming
• Start sound/foley if done filming

Week 5 (2/16-2/22):

• Finish Filming for sure
• Finish foley/sound after all filming is done
• Still editing
• Film BTS for blog while filming

Week 6 (2/23-3/1):

• Start CCR #1 research
• Hopefully finish editing

Week 7 (3/2-3/8):

• CCR #2 research
• CCR #3 research
• CCR #4 research

Week 8 (3/9-3/17): 

• Finish BEFORE due date (finish on 3/14)
• CCR Posts
• Buffer Week

Portfolio Project Genre #2

    The second genre I'm researching would be science fiction. What got me interested is the dystopian science fiction Gattaca, which I first watched in my biology class. Also, one of the most popular shows on Netflix, Stranger Things, is also sci-fi, which I haven't watched yet, but I probably will this summer. 

Typical Audience:

    (1.) The typical audience for sci-fi content globally is shared equally between males and females. Among the age groups, it's most popular for Millennials (30 yo -39 yo), who are about 27.7% of all viewers, with Zennials (23 yo - 29 yo) in second place at 25.3%. 

Genre Conventions with Content:

• (2.) Characters: The Chosen One (usually main character), the destined savior. The Mentor, someone who helps the protagonist grow or discover their abilities. The Mad Scientist, someone who creates or discovers something that usually leads to danger. The Survivor, who can be the main character(s) in some shows, someone who survived a disaster. The Tyrant, or the antagonist/villan. The Rebel, which is often also the main character(s), they fight against the Tyrant. 
• (3.) Themes/Characteristics: High-tech gear, utopias/dystipias, AI, aliens, space travel.
• (4.) Props: weapons, transportation (rockets, portals, teleporters)
• (5..) Color: almost always cool tones because it makes everything look more futureistic, dystopian, and unsettling

Genre Conventions with Techniques:

• (4.) Music/Sound: Exaggerted diegetic sounds, sound effects (usually for aliens/monsters, explosions, machinery), slow to crescendo music to create suspense.  
• (5.) Lighting: No specific lighting
• (5.) Shutter Speed: Sci-films typically need a higher shutter speed because it get’s rid of motion blur that makes it look natural, so it creates a more futuristic look
• (4.) Editing: rely on special effects and CGI to make the world look more dystopian, also because people can’t really travel outside of Earth to film, or what they are trying to film doesn’t exist in real life. Quick cuts are often used to create suspense.

• (6.) Camera Angles/Movements: Close ups, used to emphasize elements. Low/High angles, used to emphasize the power of a character.  

Institutional conventions: 

• (7.) Setting: Space, dystopias, Alternative Earths, Parallel universe, spaceships/stations, different dimensions, futuristic cities, far away planets
• Marketing: Partnerships with popular brands. Stranger things collabed with a lot different brands: Nike, Gap, Funko Pops, Eggo. Social media posts/campaigns. Trailers, Behind the Scenes, interviews. Ads, target audience based on their algorithm, suggest films. Noticeable movie posters, a lot of posters have bright, contrasting, colors .

Stranger Things Cast Play Truth or dare: https://youtu.be/JR0xm-nc1Hc?si=tPWnMW6ojcI-0kus

Two Films/Tv productions that represent the genre:

• Gattaca: Set in the future where in a dystopian society, genetically inferior people aren’t able have professional jobs and were stuck with manual labor. The main character, who had a heart disease wanted to achieve his dream of going to space took the identity of someone who had superior genetics. Everyday he must be careful to avoid detection by using the DNA of the superior character, as he is working in his dream space institution after his real DNA was found at the crime scene of a murder. 

• Stranger Things: A group of kids and adults in Hawkins, Indiana discover an alternate dimension called the “Upside Down” that a secret government lab accidently opened a portal to. It’s where they find and fight monsters that invaded their town because of a missing boy, Will and the apperance of a girl with powers named Eleven that escaped from the lab that helps them fight the monsters.
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1. Parrot Analytics. (2022, November 23). Which streamers are using sci-fi and fantasy to win over audiences? https://www.parrotanalytics.com/insights/which-streamers-are-using-sci-fi-and-fantasy-to-win-over-audiences/

2. Kenworthy, C. (2023, July 24). 10 character archetypes in science fiction. ScreenCraft. https://screencraft.org/blog/10-character-archetypes-in-science-fiction/

3. Hellerman, J. (2023, September 21). What is the science fiction genre? Definition and examples. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/science-fiction-genre

4. Petcher, J. (2016, May 6). Typical conventions of sci-fi [Slide show]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/typical-conventions-of-scifi/61742126

5. Fauer, J. (2016, February 16). 5 ways to nail the sci-fi look. PremiumBeat. https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/5-ways-to-nail-the-sci-fi-look/

6. Kirton, J. (2015, October 7). Sci-fi conventions pre-exam task 2 [Document]. Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/doc/283942479/sci-fi-conventions-pre-exam-task-2

7. Gurung-MediaStudies, S. (2015, September 23). The generic conventions of sci-fi films [Slide show]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/the-generic-conventions-of-scifi-films/53109658

Portfolio Project Genre #1

     The first genre I decided to research was thriller. I wanted to look into thrillers because of the survival game/dystopian shows I've watched, Alice in Borderland and Squid Game. Even though you can probably guess the ending and the survivor(s), which is usually the main character, it's fun to watch, and I wish there were more shows like that. 

Typical Audience:

    The typical audience of this genre is usually teens and young adults. (1.) From a survey done in 2019, it was shown that the 18-29 age group enjoyed these shows the most. However, they only surveyed people who were 18+. (2.) Another survey done in 2018 showed that both men and women enjoy this genre equally, everyone was also 18+. (3.) Since the surveys didn't include teens, I found an article from The Michigan Daily about a teen expressing their obsession with dystopian books and movies. They said that teens crave this genre because they can relate to the feeling of the main characters of rebellion, which is totally true. 

Genre Conventions with Content:

• Crime: Revenge, kidnapping, investigations
• Characters: Criminals, stalkers, investigators, victims
• (4.) Themes/Characteristics: Suspense, fear, betrayal, mind games, escaping and surviving, mystery
• (5.) Flashbacks: usually show the backstory of the main character. If it's the antagonist, then it usually shows the motivation behind their choices, it also adds to their character, and helps the viewer understand the character better

Genre Conventions with Techniques:

• (6.) Music/Sound: Non-diegetic, could be used to intensify the scene. Silence technique builds tension. 'Calm before the storm,' where the music goes from slow and calm to a faster tempo to create tension and suspense
• (6.) Lighting: Lowkey lighting used in tense scenes, shadows represent evil and darkness
• (6.) Editing: many jump cuts, dissolves, fades, and superimpositions (layering), all to build tension and suspense
• (7.) Camera Angles/ movements: close-ups, high angle, tracking, tilted, low angle, over the shoulder, dramatize scene, add tension, suspense, emphasize expression/details 

Institutional conventions: 

• (8.) Structure: Usually, always calm before something terrible happens
• (8.) Characters: the protagonist is usually an ordinary person, maybe in trouble with something like debt, vs. the antagonist, powerful and evil, who can make the debt go away, but does it at a price. There is also a 'shapeshifter' who leads the protagonist to fail
• (8.) Clues: the main character/protagonist finds out clues, connects things together, and ultimately leads them to the antagonist after a lot of trouble
• (8.) Deaths: There are always people dying because the protagonist can't stop the antagonist in time
• (8.) False Endings: When everything seems like it's over because the antagonist got caught, but then a big fight or something similar happens that makes everyone think that the protagonist won't survive. 
  
  

Two Films/Tv productions that represent the genre:

• Alice in Borderland:

Alice in Borderland is a dystopian game survival thriller, released in 2020, with 3 seasons that ended in 2025. I only watched up to the second season because that's where the main story ended when they escaped the game. The third season was unnecessary because they were sent back to a game again right after they just escaped and recovered. The characters were transported to an abandoned Tokyo after what seems like a meteor hit them, but not everyone in Tokyo, just a select few who were all dissatisfied with their lives and all had a heart attack at the same time, almost dying. They had to compete in survival games every few days to survive, or they would be shot and killed by lasers above in the sky. To escape, they had to collect the whole deck of playing cards. Each game they played could result in death if they didn't beat it in time and represented a different card, difficulty, and type of game.

• Children of Men:

Children of Men is set in a dystopian future (2027) in the UK, where it is now a police state, and humans are no longer able to reproduce and will soon go extinct. However, one day, a woman, who was a young refugee, mysteriously got pregnant, and was the only one in the whole world. Another woman named Julian wanted to take her to a research group, trying to cure infertility in humans. They have to keep Kee, the pregnant woman, safe as they wait for her to give birth, from the government and other groups, as she may be the only hope for curing the extinction crisis.

1. Morning Consult. (2019, July). Utopian vs. dystopian movie/TV preference by age U.S. 2019 [Graph]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1016271/utopian-dystopian-movies-tv-preference-by-age-us/

2. Morning Consult. (2023, December). Favorite movie genres in the United States as of December 2023 [Graph]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/254115/favorite-movie-genres-in-the-us/

3. Gagnon, S. (2022, November 9). The teenage dystopian film obsession. The Michigan Daily. https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/b-side/the-teenage-dystopian-film-obsession/

4. Hellerman, J. (2023, September 14). What is the thriller genre? Definition and examples. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/thriller-genre-definition

5. Paredes, A. (2022, October 15). 10 best thrillers that use flashbacks to tell their story. Screen Rant. https://screenrant.com/luckiest-girl-alive-best-thrillers-use-flashbacks-tell-story/

6. Connor, T. (2016, October 23). Codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Taryn Connor AS Media. https://tarynconnorasmedia.wordpress.com/2016/10/23/codes-and-conventions-of-the-thriller-genre/

7. Gemini Productions. (n.d.). Camera angles types in thriller films. Windsor Girls Media. https://windsorgirls.weebly.com/gemini-productions/camera-angles-types-in-thriller-films

8. Gilbo, S. (n.d.). The 7 key conventions of a thriller novel. Savannah Gilbo. https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/thriller-conventions

Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

     Its hard to believe we're already starting to work on our Cambridge portfolio projects. It feels like we're still in the first semester. I hope when I look back on this in a few years, I'll be proud of it. Time to get started! 

    In the last two classes, we were getting ready to start the project. The first day, we did a NearPod (an interactive learning tool), took a few notes on film openings, and answered some questions. The second day, which was Tuesday, we went over what a blog should include and a few more parts of the portfolio project. 

    Today, on January 22nd, I have officially started the project. For the past 2 hours, I've been looking at past examples through my teacher's website (tstok.net), where she includes all the links to her past students' blogs under "Projects". She has all her students on there since the 2014-2015 school year, which is impressive, because I can't imagine copying and pasting every link of all my students into a website, including their last name and Cambridge number. I tried to go through a few from every year, but I realised that some of their projects were different than mine (I may have been looking at the wrong place). Also, a few projects were unavailable. 

    I haven't been through that many, but I found one that I enjoyed watching. I'm not sure what year it was from, but I'm pretty sure it was recent (2021-2025). I think what caught my eye was the quality of the video, since many of the projects I watched were a bit blurry. Also, their introduction was creative. I like how they included the credits (on paper and pinned it to a board), how the flashlight guided your eyes around the board, and how the title was shown (looks like cut-out letters from a newspaper, and they move around a bit).

This is the link to the project:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KzF2TxB136UVhf9FCINklVVpzj1FjE7n/view?pli=1

Link to my teacher's website: 

    tstok.net    

Photos of what I liked:

    Credits + Flashlight:

      

    Title: 

    

Blog for my Music Video!

 

This is my blog for my music marketing music video, edited by my partner, Alana. Most of the footage was taken by me, but I still show up sometimes! Our music video’s song was “We are Young”, by fun.

Music Marketing #1 (Research and Planning Process)

     The research on music marketing was pretty simple. I decided to do UMG since it was the parent company of Island Records, which both my artists were under. The artists I decided to research were Chappell Roan and Keshi. I chose them since the artists had to have music released in the past 5 years, and both of them are pretty popular now and have just released some music recently. Their background was from articles or interviews, their brand identity and marketing were from their social media and music. They both post on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. On Instagram, both of them post photos of their aesthetic and of them singing at concerts and live performances. 

    However, their TikTok is a bit different. Keshi posts more content, engaging with his audience, but also promotional content, while Chappell Roan only posts videos of her singing live and special dates, like when her merch is released or tour dates. She doesn't interact much with her fans. YouTube is where they post their music videos and lyric videos; they also post BTS videos of the process, which I haven't seen a lot of artists do until now. I think this makes their audience feel more included and important. 

    The planning process of the actual Music Marketing project involved reading the directions and writing down what we needed to do. Such as creating a brand identity, the actual artist, or band, in our case. We also split some of the project so we could all focus on one thing. I decided to create the website, posters, and the cover of the song. We all will contribute to the presentation, of course, the making of the music video, editing, and research. Even though each of us has our own responsibilities, we do ask each other if anything is missing from our part or if it needs to be changed to match the band more.