AICE Media Studies AS Level 2020-21

Schedule for remainder of the year: 2/14-2/15 - Create storyboard for final film project 2/17 - Create script, gather actors for a scheduled day of filming 2/18-2/24 - Start filming and editing 2/26 - create short interviews for actors on their experience of the filming process 2/28 - Go over the draft of the film; tweak it, submit final/complete version 3/3 - Start on the first evaluation/reflection question 3/4 - Finish first question 3/6 - Start on the second evaluation/reflection question 3/7 - Finish second question 3/9 - Start on the third evaluation/reflection question 3/10 - Finish third question 3/12 - Start on the fourth evaluation/reflection question 3/13 - Finish fourth question 3/15 - Start on the fifth evaluation/reflection question 3/16 - Finish fifth question 3/18 - Go over all blogs, fix/tweak any problems; improve them

 The last essential of a film opening is conflict! Conflict in an opening scene provides entertainment, excitement, and introduction to everyone and everything. However, it cannot be just any sort of conflict. There are certain types befitting for certain genres. By adding the right sort of conflict, friction in the story is created and can leave the audience to ask questions and become intrigued for what happens next. For my blog, I added a fight sequence to create anticipation and introduce the main character as what type of woman she is and how capable she is of herself. By fighting strategically and using her surroundings, she was able to be the last one standing in the dual. Since my genre was mafia/criminal/action, I thought that a short fighting scene (since I only had 2 minutes as a maximum limit) would be best. It had to make sense of course, so that's why I had my actress reach for a metal object to inflict heavy damage and get away quick and fast. Based on the dialogue ...

 4th Essential of opening scenes is foreshadowing Foreshadowing is very important because it helps have the audience know what to expect and build anticipation for your film. Subtle hints of information, feeling or sensation, and clues are things that can be found in the opening scene of many films. By placing them there, you leave the audience to expect and predict what happens next as well as leaving them to want to watch more.  In my own film opening, I did not account for making foreshadowing elements, I didn't think of putting anything like that. Next time, for my final project, I will make sure to include elements of foreshadowing to have my audience wanting to watch more.

 3rd Essential of opening scenes is World Giving details and facts about the film's world helps to have the audience gain knowledge of how things work. Worlds can vary depending on the type of genre. For instance, adventure and sci-fi can be exaggerated and fantasy-based. Films like action, romance, and criminal tend to be more realistic and in-tune to how our world works. With all genres, it's important to not pour so much information because it would only confuse the audience to make sense of the whole lore behind the film.

 Second Essential: Tone The overall feeling and vibe of the opening and film in general is the tone. It's important that the film begins and flows to the end with a relevant tone. This is because if the opening were to be completely different from the middle or end, the audience would become confused and put off by the inconsistency and no relevancy.  In my film opening, I tried to keep the tone serious and intense. I attempted this by taking fast-paced shots, filter some scenes to look a bit darker, and keeping the dialogue aggressive. I feel as though the techniques I used fitted the genre the film is categorized in.  

One of the five essentials for opening scenes are the main characters This is because the main character usually is seen and introduced in the opening scene. The audience is subjected to get to know and grow attached to the main character for a reason. For instance, in my film opening, the main character (played by my friend Elizabeth Lopez) is a young, capable woman who was part of the mafia and has a mission to get revenge and learn more about the reason behind her friend's death. When introducing the main character, it is very important to not overshare more details about them than necessary. This is because the rest of the film is supposed to have that job. The opening only shares certain characteristics in order to draw the audience in and allow them to assume how they are as a person to move forward into the plot. An example of this in my film opening is when Elizabeth's character is calm at first even though she is abducted and questioned. She waits for the right opportu...

  This was my first attempt at making my preliminary video. I recorded this on December 5th, 2020. This was created entirely on a whim without much discussion and planning (which is very evident).  Although I'd say the camera shots and movements were decent, but the plot, acting, and execution were subpar in my opinion. My peers also agreed when I showed them the video that I could've done a better film opening, and that's when I decided to take it more seriously and redo everything from scratch.