Plans and Major Inspiration

For this project, my plan is to make the introduction about a robber (or more than one, I have not decided yet) going inside a home and getting chased by the police. My approach would be introducing the character, why they are robbing, the robbery itself, the events after the robbery, and how the main characters live. My idea is that the robbers are in desperate need of money and can’t get any, so they take the desperate measure of stealing. I was also thinking of setting the story in a country with a lot of class disparity (the main reason for the main character being so poor) and showing how they start to make a living by stealing from people and how that affects their mental health, like being paranoid about being caught.

My main inspiration for the opening scene would be the opening of the movie Nightcrawler (2014). I really like the lighting in the first scene where he is talking to the police officer, since it is dark but not so dark as to make the scene completely black. I feel it could work really well with the theme of poverty and the sketchiness I am trying to achieve. I also think the movie Joker (2019) is a very good inspiration, since the main theme is the poverty and neglect that the main character experiences, working as an example of the theme I want to achieve.


NightCrawler (2014) opening scene | Full HD [Video]. (2024, June 18). YouTube. https://youtu.be/7m1_mZxbs‑I

Studio Binder. (2019, September 26). JOKER (2019) movie first scene [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/w9qGyev-Q0U

Different Film Openings

 
Drive (2011)

The movie starts on a black screen with police sirens and then cuts to a city skyline with the song nightcall as the only sound, then the camera cuts to a man on the drivers seat of a car on a low angle. Then the scene cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the same man driving the car connecting the audience with the feeling of the man driving. Then the scene cuts to a POV shot showing the road and a more detailed view of the city on a more normal point of view instead of the city skyline we saw before. Then there is a view from the sky of the road and also a zoom out to make the road look bigger and the car smaller. The scene later is set to a parking lot where we see the car with ore detail, the car looks  abit outdated compared to the cars next to it. After that there is a scene were the main character goes into a room with a bag and seems worried, then he leaves the bag behind and goes out of the room then goes back to driving. This opening scene is really effective in setting the tone for the movie, the main character is seen as a serious driver that leaves a mysterious bag on waht seems to be an hotel room. This makes the viewer intreged on what the character is like.

Good Time (2017)

I think this opening is really good because it establishes the movie’s tone with the many scenes that are uncomfortable to watch, including the close-up of the main character being sprayed as a result of two other inmates fighting. The music selection is really good too because it gives a fast pacing and intensity and at some point the music gets a bit overwhelming, especially in the scene where the inmates are fighting in the cell with all the screaming and the music. This introduction is really effective because it introduces the main character, the main problem of the movie, the different characters, and the way they are related to each other.

Transition into Cambridge Portfolio Project

 From this blog post on all my blogs will be about how I progress on my Final project. Most of this course has been really hard to me since I am not really a creative person and more of a numbers guy, but I will still try my best to complete this project to the best of my abilities. 

The way I was hoping to complete the project was to make an introduction to the main character of the film in an intresting way. I was tinking of maybe doing something like a criminal being chased by a police officer into a home but the criminal escapes in a mysterious way like going under bed sheets and when the police officer goes to check the criminal escapes by leaving a pillow instead of his body. If I could not do that for any reason of it being not practical or me not being cappable of completing that I was thinking of taking inspiration from a major production for the film opening. 


Another aproach I would take is developing a background and a setting for the story. Since this the project is about making a two minute movie intro I think this could be very intresting since it can develop the story and many different themes within the two minutes, one of the themes I am very intrested on is class disparity, because I feel this is a very intrasting context for a movie.


Before being introduced to the instruction for the project the teacher taught what the opening should do to introduce the movie: 

Music Marketing #2

Behind the scenes of our group recording the music video


 

Music Marketing #1

At the start of our music marketing project, our group is planning a 1 minute and 30 second music video for the song “Cold” by Chris Stapleton. This week, we are picked the song and started planning the storyline, the actors, and the location where we are going to film in. Since the song is about a breakup, we are planning to show this feeling in our video with visuals that show hurt. The group is also watching country music videos to use as inspiration and to help develop the country "brand" for our video. We will focus on pre-production next school week by practicing, talking about costume design, and beginning our presentation. After that, we will plan a full week for filming, where we will film each day. Later, we will finish filming and start editing the presentation. 

Mise-en-scene Project

Our goal in this project was to create a multimedia representation of a character through the principles of mise-en-scène, combining space, visuals, and sound. The purpose was to design a character station where visitors could experience Josefina’s personality and emotions through setting, sound, and tactile details.

Our character, Josefina, is a Latina jazz singer living in a New York apartment filled with large windows, and a record shelf, She is known for her wavy brunette hair, honey-brown eyes, and red lipstick, always dressed in elegant, fitted clothing that shows her confidence. Once a famous jazz artist in Colombia, Josefina moved to New York with her husband Antoni, where their love and music fused. After his tragic death, she found a hobby in baking.

To represent her space, we created a setting inspired by her New York apartment. The setting Representation board includes a city view at night, a luxury kitchen, and a hanging chair to symbolize reflection. A saxophone stands as her musical voice, while Colombian crafts connect her to her roots. We brought tortilla with dulce de leche, a sweet, simple food that represents her Colombian roots and her connection between home, love, and memory.

Josefina’s representation was developed through setting, costume, lighting, sound, and props. Her apartment functions as the key setting, while her red lipstick and elegant clothing act as visual codes for confidence and passion. The jazz music playing softly in the background reflects her soul, and the tortilla with dulce de leche added a tactile and cultural element that visitors could taste. Together, these details allowed us to create a portrayal of Josefina.

Overall I think my group did well organizing and creating all the elements for the representation. The outcome was a very pleasant presentation. Presentation that we organozed with four computers where the visitors to our stations after finishing using the materials would switch computers to access all of our presentation.

Josefina playlist.mp4
mood board

Link to all project elements
Mis-en- scene project

Sound Projects

 During the period that we learned about different sound techniques like diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, sound motif, sound bridge, sound perspective, synchronous sound, non-synchronous sound, and voice-over. We also saw examples of each one being used in big movies. 

Sound Project #1 

For this project we had to create a 1-2 minute long story using only sound effects and using 7 words or less. I chose to do the story about a medieval war and used 4 foley sounds that were the following: Drawing sword, the heavy thud of a ram striking a gate, the heavy thud of armored boots, and the swish of debris being cleared. During brainstorming I thought about what scene I could make, what sounds would be present during the scene, and how I could make the plot understandable using only sound. The outline I made helped me organize the sounds by making me able to see all the sounds I needed to use at one time and the time they had to go away.  I used Clipchamp to edit the sounds. I think I did well putting toghether the sounds and layering them. I would like to improve the amount of foley sounds I used to make it a more personal experience. 

Link to project #1: NayyarMelita_soundscape_period1 - Made with Clipchamp.mp4  Sound project #2 For this project we had to add sound to our One Word Film project. I chose to add walking sounds, people talking in the background, the sound of a door being opened, and tried to add a lot of sound that would not be percieved at first but makes sense to add. During brainstorming I watched the One Word Film project many times to make sure I got most of the sounds that would normally be in the clip. My outline helped me organize my sounds by giving me a plan of what needed to happen in the scene and when each sound should occur. I think I did well in choosing what sound to add and searching the sounds, but I would want to improve way the sounds got in and out of play. Link to project #2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pDUkiz9dbkS93mPsdJCCWonQP3W6l9nS/view?usp=drive_link