Week Three Post #1

     Hello and welcome! I am continuing to find more resources to research and utilize. I can apply the knowledge I learn to create the best film opening I can by utilizing a wide array of film techniques effectively. One of the resources is a color psychology infographic I found online.

Another resource is a YouTube channel with quality film education presented in an interesting way.

I asked my mother for permission to use her Canon camera and she said yes I could. I also asked my father for permission to use his iPad pro as another method to film. I can also utilize my iPhone X camera. My iPhone camera though will be used primarily to document the production process with the behind the scenes shots.
     My partner and I have decided in our class meeting today that next week we will start filming, and this week will be spent getting everything ready to go. With the research we've gathered, we will make many decisions this week, and by Thursday we plan to have our storyboard completed. We also decided we want to make the majority of our sounds using a foley-stage, made by us. It would be fun to do, and I would be proud of the final result. Tune in tomorrow for more updates!

Week Two Post #4

     Welcome to a special late-night installment of the 'richblogdog.' I have been communicating with my partner this weekend and we were discussing possible title cards and intro credits. We've discussed putting the intro credits on articles of clothing as the spy is getting dressed and ready for his mission utilizing close-up shots with shallow focus. We believe this would be a clean and interesting way to present them, but we will continue to research film opening credits to decide if this is the best choice. Our title card that we'd like to place before the film opening begins is a combination of our two names, either first (R&R for Richard and Ryan) or last(LM for Leon Manella), in a fashionable way, comparable to Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, since that is our inspiration. We think this minimalistic, sleek look is appealing to the eye and it is for that reason that we believe it would make for an effective title card.

Week Two Post #3

Welcome to another blog-dog posting rich with interesting content! It is the weekend and life is good.

     I am discussing plans with my sister and her boyfriend to use his boat in filming our scene. I also am communicating with my friend who has a drone to see if he can film the scene for us. The drone would be the perfect film equipment for capturing the establishing shot of the speedboat spy opening scene. A potential filming location for the boat scene that I have checked out is Markham Park in Sunrise, Florida. This is an optimal place since it is beautiful and close to where I live. It is a part of the Everglades, which would make for an excellent establishing landscape shot. I have been to Markham park and rode in my sister's boyfriend's boat in the canal before, so I know how beautiful and valuable of a filming location it is.

Here is map of the public park, the canal shown is potentially where I'd film

     My partner Ryan and I plan on filming some shots in the coming weeks, but for now we are still researching techniques we could utilize to create the best production we can with what we have. We also are still looking for inspiration and planning things out. 

Until next time!

-Richard

Week Two Post #2

     Helloooo and welcome to another 'richblogdog' posting. Happy Friday, and the first Friday of March! Wow, time sure is flying by. It is my senior year too so it really feels accelerated. I am enjoying all my classes now, and appreciate all my teachers, which is why a part of me wishes I can stay in this moment for years to come, but then the majority of me is excited for my life and what's to come. However, there is still school to be had, and the end is not here yet, so I must stay on track, focused on doing my best.

     In my media studies class today, we had group meetings in which one member of each group was with others members of other groups to be fed feedback that should benefit us through discussion of our process thus far. Overall, I thought it was helpful. My group helped me develop my idea for my spy character a little more, adding comical aspects such as props to him. One idea for my film opening scene is having the spy riding a speedboat, and so my group suggested, to be safer and to add comedy, that my character should wear a funny helmet and a life vest rather than looking super serious as a stone-cold badass spy.

Possible funny prop helmet

     My group also discussed how we can best achieve our ideas for our respective film openings. We discussed our limitations and delimitations. We have two minutes to introduce an intriguing plot and characters, therefore, it is extremely important to situate the context as best you can. This means I need to provide needed background, and the best way to probably do this would be to utilize cutaway flashbacks, cutting back to the main shot, which would be the speedboat. A good example of this in action is the opening scene of 2006's "Casino Royale." I also like the idea of having dialogue to break it up like was shown in the clip, or maybe have dialogue as the voiceover throughout as if the spy was on the phone on his way to the speedboat to learn about his mission then on the speedboat he is thinking about the conversation he just had with his mission director so the voiceover will be playing.

     I am excited for what's to come, I'll keep you posted! Until next time, au revoir!

Week Two Post #1

     Hello and welcome to another blog posting by yours truly, Richard Leon. Monday's Media Studies class was an interesting and productive class period since we discussed this project, looked at blog samples, analyzed some finished products, and had class time to work with our group after. My partner and I had a great brainstorming session during then. We came up with several ideas and possibilities for our film opening, thus begins our planning process as we work towards our finished product.
     I learned a few key things from that class period to keep in mind as my partner and I work. Number one being to keep in mind this is meant to be and play as a film opening, not as a trailer. Secondly, a simple and low-budget filming location that worked well for other groups in the past is a garage. So, my partner and I have our garages as possible filming locations now. I also learned that I should space the opening credits out for most of the opening to support that it is in fact a film opening, and not a film trailer.
     Moving onward, my partner and I are going to stay in touch closely and, through the magic of technology nowadays, communicate every day. We have been texting and calling each other outside of school hours to discuss our plan and the project in general. Thus far, we've concluded we want our film opening to be of a spy, or some sort of undercover agent, getting ready for a mission since that is what is intriguing to us and what we believe we will be able to capture well because it will be fun for us, which will generate a great finished product organically.
     It will be a dramatic action/adventure or crime drama as the genre. We also decided on this genre after researching the greatest movies of all time, which showed the majority of them as dramas, and most of the top dramas were crime dramas. For example, "The Godfather" is acclaimed as one of the greatest films ever made and is a crime drama.

Another drama movie ranked as one of the greatest films ever made, and a personal favorite of mine, is the "Shawshank Redemption." What I specifically liked about that movie is the character development, and the relationship formed between the characters "Red" and "Andy." Perhaps I may draw on their character traits for inspiration in creating our film opening characters. 

An American spy television show that was on the network NBC called "Chuck" is another source of inspiration from which I will draw from since it is well reviewed show by fans and critics alike, but also because it is one of my favorite shows of all time. The main reason I loved the show so much was because of the characters, specifically the main character, "Chuck." He becomes an unlikely, underdog undercover agent after he got sent an email from an old college friend embedded with classified Government files in a computer program called "the intersect" that upon viewing gets downloaded into the brain. Chuck is excellent, the character and the show, so it would be good for me to use him as inspiration in creating my own spy character.

Excited for what's to come!

     Hello blog, it's nice to speak again since it has been an exciting week with the official introduction of the media studies portfolio project film opening! My teacher gave an extraordinary presentation that prepared me for it and made me super excited for what's to come.

     I have been communicating with my partner, Ryan, more now, planning and brainstorming for our film opening. We've grown closer as friends, bonding as we research for this project. We know it must be an original fiction piece, but we are drawing from notable media as inspiration.

     My preferred choice of genre is drama. The drama genre has a broad range of sub-genres that expands my partner and I's options for what we can do. I am inspired by the drama "Cast Away" to shoot the film opening outside in nature with the drama focused on man vs. nature. Nature shots tend to come out beautifully, especially if filmed on the beach like "Cast Away," and the sun being the source of beautiful natural lighting. For this genre, we'd have only one human as the character and then all nature as everything else, including many extreme close-ups of the flora and animal life to show that although the character feels alone, this couldn't be further from the truth as nature is alive. This concept intrigues me since I often think about leaving society to live in the wild, a dream that I'll probably only dream of, or now I can make a film opening about, and I'd want to act as the main character. 

     One show that inspired me to do a fictional dramatic piece of someone struggling with an internal conflict is the FX show "Legion." This show is a a good example of the fictional superhero/ psychological drama, a genre my partner and I would be interested in doing. We could utilize many unique shooting techniques to capture the internal conflict, including shaky and off kilter shots. 

     It is important to keep in mind my limited resources, and I believe these two genre ideas have great potential with limited resources and creativity. Therefore, they are my top candidates for my choice of genre in this planning process. I am going to keep looking for inspiration though as I always feel improvements can be made. I am excited to continue working on this project as we work towards a beautiful finished product. 

Music Marketing Pro.

     It's been a while since my last post, and oh how so much has happened since December. The biggest thing being, I made a music video. For my Media Studies class I was tasked with creating a music video and an accompanying music marketing campaign for the musician. My artist was named "Loveman Hudson." My group and I chose this name since the artist is a romantic soul singer, which is the reason for Loveman, and Hudson is a Southern name, which is where our artist is from, Austin, Texas.  We figured Loveman Hudson would be an appealing name for a wide array of ears to hear.
     For our music marketing campaign, we created an excellent instagram account and website, with each converging by having links to the other.

https://victoriacmilano9.wixsite.com/lovemanhudson

https://www.instagram.com/lovemanhudson/

     The group and I decided it was best for the target audience, as well as staying true to the nature of our artist's music, to have the black and white be our theme. After doing through research we concluded it was best to have a simple, minimalistic black and white theme for our target audience of soul listeners aged 16-40. The music video is about love, a concept that is absolutely not black and white, which is another reason we chose the theme to be black and white since when we did introduce the color, it would be a stark contrast to add emphasize.

     Overall, I had fun with this project and also learned a bunch in the process. I know that what I learned from this experience will benefit me for the final portfolio project. The major way being I feel more comfortable with my filming and editing skills, as well as my choice of shots and angles and how I utilize them for my storytelling to achieve deeper meaning to my product as a whole.