Media theory examples

     

        In my aice media class throughout the months the class has been learning about different media theories and how we can integrate them into our work, so I have decided to use the cultivation theory throughout my film opening. you can use the cultivation theory to catch someones attention through different types of media so I have chosen to use it in the social media sphere since my project is going to relate a lot to social media. There is a lot you can work with using different theories so i think it's super cool to finally be using it for my project. 

      When using the Cultivation theory it can change how people use social media and how they consume it without even realizing it. people will use social media and compare themselves to what they are seeing and anything will catch a viewers attention. The more time that is spent on each social media platform the more viewers are exposed to a false reality which is mostly highly exaggerated online. using these platforms constantly and comparing yourself can really affect someones mental health and physical health well being. The cultivation process is happening a lot through active participation of what people are viewing when something is being posted.

    Since my project involves a lot of social media within my idea I think the best media theory to use would be the cultivation theory. Cultivation theory focuses a lot on views and opinions through repeated exposure to media over time. Since my character is a girl who is very self conscious and insecure about herself because of what she sees on social media I think I should use this theory since it talks about how views and opinions are developed overtime because of repeated media exposure. The cultivation theory reaches viewers attention in different ways and shapes users perception of its reality. social media is filtered to make it seem like everyone's lives are perfect just by little pictures or short video clips, this gives users a false reality they are looking at so it shapes peoples perspective into something different.  

  

research/analyze/discuss three credit sequences from films within chosen genre

    

     My partner and I haven't figured out what type of credit scene I want to do yet, but we know that is it very important to include all of the correct names like directors, editors, writers, actors, etc. Picking a font in your credits is also an important factor. I don't know if I want something simple that doesn't take too much attention away from the opening or something that would be very noticeable and loud. Before choosing what I want to do, my partner and I have decided to do proper research first to get a good idea of many different credit scenes.

  The Breakfast Club credit scene- 

    The breakfast club took a traditional route when choosing their opening credits, they started the movie straight into the credits starting by showing that the movie was produced by universal pictures. instead of the movie playing while the credits are rolling it is shown in a simple way with a black screen and yellow font with their iconic song "Don't Forget About Me" playing in the background. Once all of the actors names are listed they made sure to put them in alphabetical order. After the actors names are listed they made sure to include all of the costume designers, production supervisor, producers, etc. At the end of the credit sequence it shows a quote by David bowie basically talking about how kids are smarter than what you think which kind of shows the movie is going to have a correlation to kids being under estimated and looked down upon.

Grease opening credits-

    I thought Grease had an amazing way of doing their credits. Grease starts their movie with their credits but as "cartoon" animated people. It is almost a music video while still being an opening credit for a movie. As each character is shown they are made as little animated people doing something that replicates their character. For example as you see John Travolta's character "Danny" being introduced, it shows him using his iconic hair comb and hair grease. in a clip you can see a car driving down the street with billboards in the background showing all of the producers, names of the actors and who they play, and directors. At the end of the credits the car officially arrives at school while still being in the animated cartoon world but slowly goes into the real world as you can start to see the movie is officially starting. This idea was so fun and such a smart way to do their credit scene.

 

Perks of being a wall flower credits-

 Perks of being a wall flowers credits are done to be very simple but set a sad emotional tone. As soon as the credit sequence starts the sad emotional song "Touch me" starts to play as clips from different scenes start to play. Each scene goes by and just shows small parts that will be important in later parts of the movie. As each character is shown there are subject bars showing their name and the character they play, the names of all of the editors, producers, and so on are all shown just in different lo0cations throughout the clips. At the end of the credit sequence it is shown that the movie is based off of a book and who the movie is directed by. The credit gives a lot of detail on what the movie is going to be based on.

I think out of all of the credit sequences I have done research on I think I would like to do one similar to the breakfast club and perks of being a wall flower. Perks of being a wall flower is a very emotional yet capturing sequence but also The Breakfast Club is done very simple but gets the job done very nicely but doesn't take too much away from the movie itself.

    

    

Character background

    At the start of my process for this project, I have learned that it can be very overwhelming to try and come up with so many things at one time, but it's best to start small and then go from there. We began by first coming up with the character so we could get a general idea of who they are and how I can develop my story around them. For us, it is very normal to compare ourselves to what we see on social media. Watching how some influencers try to make their life look so perfect will make you second-guess yourself, especially since you never see the reality. We have taken our own personal experiences of that and tried to put them into a character for our opening.

    The character that Peyton and I have chosen to create is a teenage girl who would be in the age range of 15 or 16 and is in high school. This girl would be a teenager during this generation of time, where social media is used a lot and is very prevalent. Since social media can take such a toll on people, I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate how scrolling on social media can be so toxic and give you such a different perspective on your own image. She would be very outgoing and fun with her friends, but in private, she is very insecure about her looks and herself overall. I think making the genre of this opening coming of age could work well since the teenage girls in coming of age films usually are always a little insecure no matter the generation it is. Since my character is also outgoing and fun with her friends, I think it is important to show and incorporate scenes that show all of the different emotions she goes through. 

    I was looking at pictures online to get an idea and inspiration on who she is. I thought all of these pictures were a good representation of the character I am trying to create. 

research-analyze-discuss three film openings from coming of age

     Coming of age film openings usually set the tone for the movie and help develop who the character is. I have picked to research the three movies Sixteen candles, to all the boys I've loved before, and 13 going on 30. Since I want my character in my opening to be the age of 15/16 I think its important to look at film openings that the main character is a female who is in that age range. 

To all the boys I've loved before opening scene- 

To all the boys ive loved before is based on a book turned into a movie produced in 2018. The story was written by Jenny Han and directed by Micheal Fimonari and Susan Johnson. The film is about a 17 year old girl Lara jean who writes 5 letters over the years to her "crushes" that she never sent out until her sister found them and decided to send all the letters out to all of the boys. One of the boys that was sent the letter turned out to be her older sisters ex boyfriend. With one of the letters being sent out to a guy named Peter she wound up getting into a "fake" relationship with him until one day the "fake" feelings started to get a little real..

The opening first starts with the main character Lara jean in an open field running towards a guy, there's no background to him other than Lara just talking about true love. eventually her sister throws a pillow at her and she snaps back into reality. This shows that she was reading a book and will eventually lead to a movie about her lust for this guy. As we see her get out of this trance of her imagination she walks downstairs and we find out the guy in her imagination when reading the book is her sister's boyfriend. 

When I first decided to watch the film I knew it would be a little cheesy and cringey to watch but for my project I am trying to make the main character a girl who is around the age of 15 or 16 and I think watching this movie helps me figure out how to make my character outgoing but also very quite and insecure at times. 

Sixteen candles opening scene-

Sixteen candles is an 80's coming of age classic comedy, the movie is based on the main character Samantha Baker who is a 16 year old girl whose birthday is forgotten by her whole family. Samantha has a crush on a popular jock named Jake Ryan, he is the definition of a classic high school jock who is so much popular than Samantha. Samantha eventually meets Farmer ted who seems to be an awkward teenage boy who is the complete opposite of what Jake is. This movie explores all the sides of being an awkward teenage girl in high school from being insecure, awkward, and also simply growing up.

The opening scene starts with Samanthas family at home that is super busy running all over the house trying to get ready to leave. Samantha comes down the stairs with a disappointed look on her face realizing everyone forgot it was her birthday. She sits on the stairs waiting for her family to say something that would be important to her. Her mother and father are having a conversation about going to a wedding instead of them figuring out who else's special day it was. This obviously makes Samantha feel forgotten, overlooked and not important to anyone. 

I decided to watch this movie because as the movie goes on you can see her character develop into less of an insecure shy girl who wants to be more outgoing and not live in the shadow of her own big family. I think this would help my opening because it shows how someone could be so overlooked and forgotten about not knowing what happens behind closed doors in someones head.

13 Going on 30 Opening scene- 

13 Going on 30 is a movie about a young teenage girl in junior high named Jenna Rink who is fed up with middle school, she is tired of dealing with mean girls and being treated like a "little girl". Jenna really wants a boyfriend and always romanticizes being an adult. She thinks being an adult will be awesome and such a piece of cake.. little does she know being an adult is so hard. Her wishes eventually come true when she is sleeping, she wakes up to being a 30 year old women living in New York as a magazine producer. She eventually goes through all of the trouble and stresses an adult goes through and really regrets her decision she made. 

The opening scene starts with Jenna Rink taking her school picture which shows she is a classic awkward middle school girl. As she takes a look at her picture she has a disgusted look on her face, as she is looking down disgusted a boy who seems to be her friend named Matt comes up to her and is saying hi, As the music in the background plays it eventually gets very loud when the "popular girls" start walking down the hall. The girls come up and talk to her and turn out to be very rude and make rude comments to her friend Matt which eventually makes Jenna laugh and try to fit in. this shows Jenna is just trying to fit in with the rude popular girls for a better "status". The girls invite Jenna to a party that night not realizing the girls had bad intentions but Jenna doesn't care because she just wants to fit in. little does she know what was going to happen when she got there.

     

Project schedule

     I have decided the best way for me to stay on track is with a schedule and timeline. For me that is the best way to stay on track especially since I have a very busy life and so does my partner. There is exactly 8 weeks to get this project done but at the time I am doing this is 7 weeks left so each week needs to be extremely productive. So far I have only come up with a rough draft of what I think my schedule should contain to stay on track so I can have my opening completed before the due date. The most important way to stay on track is planning and that is what my schedule should help me with.

I need to keep in mind I need to make time in the last week for revision and make time for the CCR part of the project.

    Week 1: 1/29-2/2

1. Pick genre
2. Get a basic idea of what I want in my opening

    Week 2: 2/3-2/9

1. Storyboard
2. Script
3. Figure out filming days

  

    Week 3: 2/10- 2/16

1. Pick locations
2. Start filming
3. Take many shots to go through rough drafts
4. Come up with film name

    Week 4 2/17-3/23

1. Continue filming
2. Start working on credits scene
3. Record any foley if I use it
4. Record voice over if needed

    Week 5: 2/24-3/2

1. continue filming
2. continue working on credits
3. Start working on CCR

    Week 6: 3/3-3/9

1. Finish film

2. Edit and complete film

3. Complete Credits

4. Continue working on CCR

    week 7: 3/10-3/16

1. Finish working on CCR

2. Use this week as your fix up week, if there is something we don't like fix it

    week 8: 3/17-3/25

1. Finish CCR completely

2. Finish ALL filming, editing, recording

3. Try to submit by 3/20 latest would be 3/23

    

    I want to try and stay on track with this schedule so I am not getting super stressed out and cramming in each week what I need to do. If anything changes I will try and update it and keep it in my notes app on my phone or computer so I can update it at any time during the day. I think majority of filming being done at school will help me stay on track especially working on other parts of the project at home like editing or the CCR. I know nothing is perfect and mistakes will happen but I want to try my best to make this process as organized as possible so I get the best grade.

Genre choices

     For genre choices I have chosen to research about Drama and Coming of age. Those two genres have a lot of fun and different ideas you could work with in my opinion. Since I am most likely going to have to film my opening in school I'm trying to utilize the area I am in and the people I am around. 

Drama focuses a lot on real life experiences that can happen with an emotional appeal. With drama you can focus a lot on different tones, romantic appeal, funny but also serious moments, and create a realistic theme. Movies like mean girls shows the funny but also semi realistic side of growing up as a girl with a lot of extra drama and it ends with us shows a realistic side of a relationship with a lot of drama in it. These are the sub-genres of what drama is and what it entails. Drama focus's a lot on character driven stories.

 

Coming of age films focus on emotional and growth of someone especially how they transition from a child to an adult. Many coming of age films start with a kid growing up and realizing the hardships on what a teen or adult faces. These movies usually focus on discovering yourself and milestones reached in life. there's many self conflicts and navigating through the rough ages or situations of growing up. These movies usually take place in high schools, neighborhoods, or usual places a child would be growing up around. The movie sixteen candles focus's on a teenage girl who is going through all of the motions of growing up, the humor, and self discovery. The movie shows a lot of family struggles, first love experience, and growing pains which are all apart of the coming of age genre. 

Drama and coming of age movies have a lot in common but both can be very different. Using sub-genres of each genre gives many ideas you can choose from in making your opening. Both of the films utilize similar ideas like growing up, self discovery, and figuring out how to get through challenges of on growing.

Portfolio plans

    This past week in media studies we have been talking about the upcoming Cambridge exam. It seems super intimidating but also from past experience with smaller projects I know it will be okay. For my first inital plans I am starting to get used to blogging and developing an idea for what I want to do my 2 minute opening. I am going to take a look at different genres I want to focus on, I know some genres of films but need to come up with a good strong idea I know will do well. My goal is to try to find other people who want to join my group so we all will have ideas together of what we want to add onto this project. I am laying down a calendar of days I should be working on my opening as well as trying to balance the blogging parts.

   I have taken many notes, as well as watched different openings on the nearpod clips to help me become successful. My first plan is to develop a general plan of what it is going to be about. Figuring out those initial plans will lead me into other options of what I want to figure out like my character and what their purpose is. In class I took notes on exact instructions of any small details I should include in my film. It is important I add any small details that will set me up best for success.