Action and Adventure Genre Research

Our new film for AICE Media fits the description of both an action and adventure movie so we researched both genres. We did this to see what the key elements were for each one. This will allow us to properly film our movie. it will also let us know which conventions we might break in order to make our film unique.

In action films long shots and extreme long shots are used to make the subject look smaller than the location making them look unfamiliar. Medium long shots and two or three shots are often used in action movies to introduce the characters and include them all in one shot. In action movies costumes can range from normal outfit, a suit and tie, high tech gear, and mid evil night costumes. Action films typically have low key lighting to represent danger but can also have bright lighting if the director wants to add a comedic element to the film. The actors for action movies can vary but they usually have well known actors taking a lead role and less known actors taking a supporting role. Makeup varies with the film in certain films such as alien movies makeup that that will change the color of the face will be used and in war movies makeup that will make the character look dirty or tired might be used. For props most action movies will have fake weapons and use equipment like binoculars and smartphones. The setting for action movies can range from an urban city, small towns, nations, and different planets.

Common editing for action films include fade in and fade out effects along with burn in and burn out effects. Also in cases where the a certain scene was filmed during the day but the director wants it to look like it was filmed at night they can change the lighting through editing. Editing in action films will also often cut to the actors faces to show the emotion of the film. The common elements of an action film include a series of events that will lead the character into thrilling situations that include fighting and danger actions films will usually have one major protagonist and a villain that they must defeat. Examples of action films include Mission impossible, Inception, and John Wick. Common sounds in Action films are explosions and fighting noises. Elements of action films that I like are the thrilling plot and the suspense and danger. Elements that I don't like are the use of two shots and three shots.

Adventure films are similar to action films in certain ways. Adventure films use long shots, medium long shots and three shots. Costumes will also change depending on the movie and can be anything from hiking clothes to sci fi or high tech military clothes. The lighting in adventure films tends to be bright. Actors for adventure films can have any body type or gender and their popularity is not a factor. Make up usually isn't used in action films unless they are in a forest or outer space setting where they have to look dirty or nonhuman. For props adventure movies may use walking sticks, fake swords, and compasses. The setting for adventure movies is usually an area outside of a large city and can be in modern times or in the future and past. Like action movies editing includes cuts to the face along with fade in and fade out effects. The elements of an adventure film include a protagonist and a location that he must reach, during his adventure he will face obstacles such as enemies and natural obstructions and in the end he will come out a better person. Examples of adventure films include The Hobbit, Jason Borne, and Star Wars. I like the element of an adventure film where the main character is changed as a person from the experience. I don't like the bright lighting in the film and I think that dark lighting would help give it a feeling of suspense.

Genre Power-point Review

This power point is a power point based on the research we did in regards to a random genre that we got. We got crime and I worked with my previous group to complete this project. It's about all the different camera angles and movements that are most present in crime genre. We looked at many different angles and movements like long shot and pan. We also gave our own feedback on the genre. We highlighted what we liked and didn't like about crime movies. One things that we liked was the drama and adrenaline rush that comes with watching a crime movie. One thing that we didn't like is the predictability of crime movies. We all worked equally on this project. We all had parts done by when it was needed. This project was one of the easier ones because we got to work with people who we trust and know. 

Trial and Error

We have decided to narrow it down to two pitches. Out of the three, we chose the criminal one and then the assassin one. We left out the kidnapping one because it wasn't original. We were looking around our class and thats why we didn't choose it. It was obvious that everyone was going to do something like a kidnapping scene and we didn't want to follow that trail. We chose criminal and assassin because we really liked them and it was different. It was something no one was going to do and something that will be easy for us to do. We wanted to do something related to crimes and we felt these two fit the best. And for these we also have a lot of opportunities to make these scenes great. We have a mock court room that we can use.

Pitch 1 is one of the best options that we came up with. It does have some strengths and weaknesses though. One of the strengths is the fact that we have lots of resources to help us make it. We have that mock court room that I mentioned earlier. This is going to make it look realer and put the character and viewer in the environment that we want them in. One weakness however is the fact that we didn't really have the same connection and bounce back and forth on this one that we had on the following pitch. Me and Andrew my partner didn't really have much imput on this pitch. I was the main one that came up with this one and Andrew just agreed to it. This could make it a little harder to record because we both might not have the same image. This is still a very viable option.

Pitch 2 is definitely the best of the three. Both me and Andrew just knew what we wanted for this film. We kept bouncing ideas off each other and we just had a connection with this one. I feel this is something really important to have when your making a film. This could also be applied to any team project. If both parties don't have that same vibe then it's not going to be as good as it could be. One weakness is it's going to be a little harder to do. This film is going to require some props that we don't have. We're going to have to source the props and borrow them for the film. But besides that we plan on adding jokes and put the audience in a kind of environment where you can feel the intensity but the joke lightens the mood and makes people want to keep watching. 

Start of The Final Task

Hello my name is Emiliano Vallejo and I go to Fort Lauderdale High School. I'm a student athlete and I'm finishing my Cambridge diploma my sophomore year. I took 3 AICE classes last year and passed them all. Now this year I'm hoping I'm going to pass all four of my AICE classes. This year I'm taking European History, English I, Media Studies, and Psychology and I expect to pass all of them. I'm really looking forward for this project because all throughout the year I have been thinking of possible films that I would like to do. Unfortunately, I forgot the majority of them and only had a few that I'm going to mention later. I really want to do well in this project because this stuff is interesting to me. Even though I don't want to pursue a real career in this it's still cool to do. I'm really looking forward to doing this. I am working with Andrew Cambron again on this project.

In my last two projects I learned a lot. One main thing was how to use all of the technology we were given. Things like the camera, computer, and editing software were all things that became clearer to me. Ms. Marchiollne has been doing a great job leading us through what we need and how to do things we don't understand. I learned how to better utilize the Pinnacle Studios. I learned how to add transitions quickly and effectively. I learned how to make title screens and add words in the middle of the movie to introduce each character and such things like that. I learned how to export and import quicker and easier. And I also learned how to use the camera and record exactly what I am looking for.

Pitches are really important when introducing a movie idea to producers that may fund and/or create your movie. Officially, a pitch is a Hollywood term used to describe a film in 25 words or less. There are multiple different kinds of pitches like an elevator pitch, which is when you present a producer with an idea in a very short time, like an elevator ride.
Pitch 1- This is about a criminal. It's about him pulling off the biggest heist in the world. We start with a cutt of him in court and then transition into days before the heist.
Pitch 2- The second one is very simple and popular. This film is about a kidnapping. We follow a victim of kidnapping through her battling her way out of this dangerous situation and she eventually escapes.
Pitch 3- Our third one is even better. We start with the introduction of this character who is an ex-assassin we catch a glimpse of his house. An agent comes to his door offers him a job and we follow him through his post retirement adventure.

Planning Music Video

Today we planned out how we will film our music video. We will film the video at our friend's house. We will film indoors.

For safety we will have Luc's father within walking distance of us while we are filming. We will also keep ours phoned charged so that we can call 911 if we get injured. But we will be sure to exercise caution so this doesn't happen.

For props we will use a variety of instruments and other utensils. We will use Luc's keyboard and harmonica for instruments. And we will use cups if we need to have a drinking seen.

Yesterday was an A day so we could not work on our video. Today Tuesday is a B so we are able to work. Today we are planning out how we will film. We are storyboarding our video so we know how each scene will play out. Our video has to be at least one minute and each box is 6 seconds so we are using 12 boxes. Tommorow is a B so we won't be able to work on our video but on Thursday we will look at videos in our song's genre to have a better idea of what to do in our video. Then next week during our thanksgiving break which will be from the 27th to the 29th we will film our video. Then when we come back to school on monday we will edit our video. We will add a title screen and will cut out any unnecessary footage. Then on December 6th we will submit our video after adding all our final touches and rendering our video. 

To recap this process we will first plan out our video. It will be filmed at our friend's house. We will have our phones fully charged as a safety precaution. We will use cups for drinking scenes. And for instruments we will use a keyboard and harmonica. We will look at music videos of this genre to know how to format our video. We will then make a storyboard. We will film the video during thanksgiving break. We will edit our video when we get back to school. We will cut out unnecessary footage and a title screen when we edit. We will submit our video on December 6th. I look forward to filming our video. 

Editing The Music Video

In AICE Media Studies this week we worked on editing our video. As of right now we are not actually done with our editing, but we are very close to being complete. It's just me and Andrew right now and I have better knowledge of how to work the software. While I work on the video itself, Andrew interjects every now and then with his own ideas. My job was mainly doing the editing itself. First thing that I did was have Luc send me the videos from his phone to my phone. I then saved the videos into my camera roll and made sure they were kept in there. The reason we have it being sent from a phone is because, as I mentioned in our first blog, we forgot to bring a memory card to our recording session. Instead of using the camera, me, Andrew, and Luc decided to use Luc's IPhone 10 which has very good quality and sound. After I saved the takes into my phone, I then emailed them to myself. I did this so I had an easy and re-accessible way to get to the videos incase I needed them again. After emailing the footage to myself, I made the folder on our desktop and transported the footage from my email to the folder by downloading it to the computer. Then we finally began using the Pinnacle Studios software. Once I opened it, I imported all of my footage into the program, let it load, and began editing. I moved the first scene into AV Track 1 and then realized that I needed to find the mp3. file for Piano Man and move it also into Pinnacle Studios. I looked for it on Google by searching "Piano Man Free Download." I clicked on the first link that was displayed and clicked download on that page. I downloaded it right into the "Music Video" folder and worked from there. We imported the mp3 file and added it into AV Track 2 and muted the vision on the video. We then worked on the video by adding transitions. I feel like the only thing we really needed were transitions because we didn't really want anything extra in our video. We added scene by scene into the AV Track 1 and timed it well with the music. We put each scene where we felt it fit with the music. For example, in the beginning when Billy Joel is playing the introduction with the piano and harmonica, we used a scene that fit that music. The scene we used was a shot of Luc's hand playing the piano. We followed that up with a shot of Andrew blowing into the harmonica. The transition we used was cross dissolve. We put it in every scene by right clicking on the scene that was already in the AV Track 1 and clicking Add Transition. After that we clicked Transition In and chose cross dissolve, because, in my opinion it is the best transition and the cleanest.

Actually Filming Music Video

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we finally filmed our video. The whole process was really smooth and went well. We didnt experience any problems or obstacles. We found time for everything that had to be done. We first started by all meeting up at Luc's house. Once again Luc is one of or actors. He also helped provide the props for the video as well as the location that we shot the music video. There wasn't a problem with the location at all because we didnt us any of the sound. The only sound that we wanted to come through was the music so we muted the raw footage when putting it into the software. We first filmed the portion that included the musicians. This included the person playing the harmonica, Andrew Cambron and the pianist, Luc Poakeart.  Although I myself wasn't included in the video I still played a big role. I directed the scenes and told everyone where to stand and what to do. I also recorded everything. One small difficulty that we overcame was the camera. We forgot to bring an SD card for the camera so we ended up using Luc's IPhone 10 which has a famously good camera. We recorded the whole thing on the phone and then I had Luc's send the videos to me the morning after. During the recording of the musicians we zoomed in on where they were playing their instrument and some other parts. For example, on the piano we had a view of the entire keyboard and just his hands playing. For the harmonica I zoomed in on the area where Andrew's lips make contct with the harmonica. I followed examples of camera angles in the video. In the original music video they show angles of Billy Joel playing the piano. That's something that we tried to reserve from the original music video. The angles and the cinematography of their hands handling their instruments. Then we moved onto the bar-goers. They were shown at a table with a drink. During the filming nothing illegal was done. No kid drank alcohol and we all had nothing but tap water in our cups. After filming the bar-goers we all went over the footage we had. We came to the conclusion that we were happy with out result and headed out to our own homes.