Title Research: Enchanted (2007)

    The movie chosen for this blog is called Enchanted, found on the Watch the Title website.

    The title shown for this opening sequence is way different from the other sequences I've seen. The titles bring an elegant feeling, due to the font and animations used. The transitions from one title to another are aesthetically pleasing to the eye (in my opinion). Images prioritized here are mainly just animations, for example, the dragon breathing out the fire which leads into the next title (or names). Or the mermaid which then transitions into a glass slipper. A lot of animations used here represent what most of the movie is going to be about. In what I've said before, these images (more like animations) all represent something that is most likely to happen in the movie. Take for example the glass slipper, the sword, the horses and pumpkin used to turn into available seating for transport, and more. 

    This film establishes the fantasy genre in so many ways. It's so obvious. The mice turning into horses who then are used for transportation, the glass slipper (which is actually made out of glass, something that wouldn't really fit into today's world, mostly because a lot of people wouldn't wear actual glass heels), etc. I suppose the strategies used to appeal to the audience would be, fantasy. A lot of people enjoy fantasy-based movies, and with the use of elegant animations, it would be appealing to someone who loves fancy, elegant, fantasy-themed things. Once again, technology has been put to use a lot for this opening sequence. The animations used were an obvious showing that technology was used. Nowadays, more technology is being inputted into movies, to bring a more realistic effect onto the movie. Effects such as green screen, overlays, transitions, etc are all used to make a movie better and to make the audience's experience better.

 

Title Research: Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

    The movie chosen for this blog was Mary Poppins Returns. It was chosen from the Art of the Title website. 

    For this movie, the titles displayed were, of course, the names of the movie producers and developers.  Although this opening sequence has a more uplifting feeling, unlike the Pokemon opening, in which that one feels more like a gamer experience if that makes sense. The font feels very fitting to the opening, with artistic scenery, although the pictures do seem to have low-key lighting, it still feels very heartwarming. Images prioritized include several pictures of different places, although they don't look like they were taken by a photographer, the images shown all look painted or drawn. Connotations in these images do say a lot. Some images express several adventures, and it also shows imagery from everyday life (except that it's painted). 

    This film establishes a feeling of pure fantasy, and there are several reasons why. I haven't watched the movie, but I, along with millions of viewers, have seen the trailer, precisely because it popped up on television. And I've seen scenes that have "fantasy" written all over it. But in this opening sequence, the images used help create a more fantasy-wise experience among the audience. Also, the music inserted during this opening sequence brings a heart-lifted feeling to the audience, it brings a warm and joyful sensation when you combine the painted imagery and music. Not to mention, the painted pictures shown during the opening sequence have dark, warm coloring, to a majority of the paintings. This is probably why it brings some sort of "warm" feeling. For this sequence, I can say there wasn't much technology put into use. All you can mainly see are the titles, the painted imagery (which I'm guessing they were all actually painted), and the transitions, which is nothing too big. Just a visible fade-in into the next picture.

 

Title Research: Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019)

    The movie I've chosen for this blog is Pokemon Detective Pikachu. I've chosen it from the Art of the Title website. 

    Titles displayed during this sequence were all the names of the movie's producers. Roles that developed this movie included the director, creator of the story, producers, executive producers, director of photography, production designer, film editors, music producers, and so much more. The names of the Pokemon characters were displayed as well, except that the names are displayed in the Japanese language. Prioritized images would include the Pokemon characters, the design, the movie logo, etc.

    These images represent the most popular characters of the Pokemon universe. Although I haven't watched the movie, I feel as if these shown characters are the ones that are going to be shown more in the movie. This film establishes the fantasy genre because, first of all, the whole movie is based on a video game, which the video game itself includes fantasy. And since the movie is a more realistic version of the video game, the feeling of it makes everything more fantasy-wise, if that makes sense. Strategies used would include the design for sure. It looks really appealing to the eye, it looks adventurous and fun, which attracts the audience. Technology in this movie has been used a lot, and one can easily tell. The editing of the characters and the design makes it easy to tell that technology has been used. You can see there are transitions, a lot of designing (I'd say overlays but I'm not 100% sure), and more. It looks like it took the editors a while to create this. As a video editor, I feel as if it was a bit challenging having to edit the characters and to animate the whole opening sequence.

Genre Research: The Princess and the Frog (2009)

    The Princess and the Frog, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and published by Walt Disney Pictures, is a 2009 American animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film. The film is based loosely on the novel The Frog Princess by E., the 49th Disney animated feature film. D. Baker, which, in turn, is based on The Frog Prince's Brothers Grimm fairy tale. This animated comedy, with a contemporary spin on a classic story, is set in the great city of New Orleans. Featuring a stunning girl named Tiana, a frog prince who badly wishes to be human again, and a fateful kiss that sends both of them on a funny journey through Louisiana's mysterious bayous.

    I found the princess and the frog very scary upon maturing. The evil villain was one like I have never seen before. Upon realizing that it was not real and I was not in any real danger from animations, it was beautiful. I thought it taught me so much about people who struggle and their lifestyle. It showed me that hard work and determination were key in life. Many of Disney’s movies surround purely on romance. Although, this does as well it keeps the theme strong throughout. The characters were executed well and the fantasy animations were so mesmerizing. Elements like transforming and the beauty of the characters are what we are using as a base in our film. Elements of the movie that I did not like were the male character. He angered me very much and the cluelessness of the 2nd female character. 

    The male lead not having any life skills and being a stuck-up brat did not please me at all. Being a child and first watching this movie I was very angry that the prince initially treated Tiana like that. Also, this movie will be big nitration to our film because we have similar fantasy transformations. In all this movie was great for the genre of fantasy.

Genre Research: Death Note (2017)

     Death Note (2017) is based on the manga and anime (2006) of the same name. It follows the story of Light Turner who finds a book labeled the "death note" and proceeds to kill people who he feels justified to do so using the book. He meets Ryuk, the death god who owns the book, Mia, who he convinces to join him, and L, who is out to get them. With that simple synopsis, this movie does sound interesting at the surface level. Death Note has a fantasy/thriller aspect to it. The idea of a book that can kill anyone with just the name is a fantastical (as in fantasy, not amazing) thought on its own. An equally fantastical idea, which is a whole death god that owns a death notebook. These are the fantasy aspects of the movie.

    I liked the fact that it brought Death Note to the western world. Many people don't find anime and mangas interesting, so this adaptation was definitely an attempt at bringing it here. I liked the whole fantasy aspect of the movie. The way that it just magically appeared at Light's disposal when he needed it and that a death god who enjoys apples is there to watch the terror he's bringing. It's also interesting to see this fantasy that's unraveling in Light's head, where he thinks that what he is doing is morally right and should be generally accepted. You see both sides in both this movie and the anime of compelling and contrasting forces, with each character having their own fantasies and what morals they think are right. So all in all considering surface level, this movie could've been great.

    However, that did not appear to be the fact. Death Note (2017) is a complete insult to its original manga and anime. The characters did not seem to have any development. Mia, in the original, was Misa, was what you would consider a "dumb blonde" doesn't have the depth to her character that she had originally, but rather, she's now a devious and manipulative brunette. L is now portrayed as a maniac and spews threats rather than a savant and quiet detective. Light who used to be a cunning and charismatic character is now a crybaby when he doesn't have his way. Probably the only thing I really liked about this movie was the Willem Dafoe was in it.

    Apart from the huge insult to the original that this movie gave, if I hadn't watched the original I think I would've thought it was an okay movie. The acting wasn't all too good, and the character development and plot were rushed. I liked the fantasy aspect of it very much. You get to see, as mentioned earlier, these fantasies unravel in the character's heads. It's cool to see where a death notebook and death god can lead all these characters to in my opinion. Now realizing that I could've written an IMDb review for this movie, I'd give it a 3/10 respectfully. 

Title Research: The Avengers (1998)

     For my title research, I looked for titles pertaining to the fantasy drama on the Art of the Title website (https://www.artofthetitle.com/ ). I found one that I recognized, which was The Avengers. Upon further inspection, it was one that I didn't really know. I recognized and know the Avengers franchise. I've watched some of the movies, but I'm not a die-hard fan of it. The movie that I came across was The Avengers (1998). This movie came out 7 years before I even existed, so I was not aware of its existence.

    The opening credits scene of the movie is both on the Art of the Title website and on YouTube. The titles displayed are credits to the contributors of the movie. This includes the production studios involved, respective actors, and the people who contributed to the movie. Those contributors include but are not limited to the production designer, theme composer, and writer.

    The visuals and are what you would expect from something created in the 90s. It's very bold and eye-catching with its psychedelic imagery. It is a very dynamic opening. A lot was going on in the opening scene and it just felt like a whole acid-trip.

    The opening scene itself shows a whole fantasy aspect. From what I could assume this would also be an action movie, but I do not see any action going on. The whole psychedelic effect and moving text all scream fantasy to me. 

    I feel like its target audience would be people who enjoyed the original British Avengers (so I've heard) and people into action. The opening scene does make it seem like the movie would be more fantasy-like more than action. However, because of the cool opening scene, I feel it would have attracted many people, even people who don't particularly like action. The opening scene gives me vibes of a variety of genres, where I could probably guess what I'm about to watch but at the same time, I wouldn't.

    Oh, I feel technology was definitely used effectively, especially considering this movie was made in the late 90s. I don't know about technological advancement in media much, but I feel like it was clearly a different approach that turned out successful. The movie has contrasting opinions, but I feel people agree that the opening scene was cool. I also don't know how technologically advanced media was in terms of editing, but all the warped and moving text and backgrounds made it seem like it was far beyond its time. 

Genre Decision Blog

     For our finalized genre, we chose fantasy. Aside from the comedic and dramatic aspects that revolve around our film, we saw that a unicorn plushie come to life would be more fantastical rather than the other two options. We debated about all three genres. The comedic and dramatic genres almost won our finalized decision, but in the end, we chose fantasy. A unicorn coming to life sounds more fantastical rather than comedic and dramatic, right?! We even thought of fantasy as our first drama, but still wanted to include more to see more options.

    It would be very comical that a unicorn plushie came to life to save a woman and her daughter. The catalyst would be a very disorderly situation, and the savior would be the unicorn plushie. We imagined the unicorn character to have a witty and disorientated personality who is also a bit slow to come to conclusions. This would ultimately end up the unicorn character to be sort of a hindrance to the development of the woman and her daughter. However, even though it's an impediment, the character would have a redemption arc that would not make her totally useless to the story. Though the development of this character shows a comedic side of the movie, it does not fit as the main genre.

    As for dramatic, we imagined the disorderly situation to be where the woman and her daughter were separated in order for the unicorn character to save them. We visualized a working and single mom who couldn't have time for her daughter due to her work, and a daughter who just wants to be with her mom. They come to find a time where they could be together, however, a villain kidnaps the kid in broad daylight. This would become the catalyst for the unicorn saving the woman and her daughter. Even though this visualization is very dramatic, it does not fit as the main genre just like the comedic genre.

    If a unicorn plushie came to life, the first thing you would think of is not how funny it is or how dramatic it is, but how it even happened in the first place. The fact that a unicorn plushie is now able to walk, talk, and do things rather than sitting idly is a whole fantastical idea, to begin with. The thought of "how did this happen" is a feeling we want the viewer to have. The unicorn character would only do things pertaining to its character that no ordinary character would do. That would conclude our decision-making process for our finalized genre.

Genre Research: Horror

     For this PowerPoint the genre that was used is Horror. The title slide of this PowerPoint was filled with different spooky and scary images to invite the viewer into the horror genre. It was explained in the PowerPoint the different techniques and images of the ones that were used; each slide has a transition that corresponded to the theme of the slide. For example, on the 8th slide talks about Common Sounds of this genre, there is an embedded video of diegetic sounds to establish this point. This was to illustrate how the genre can be used in different ways. Each slide has its own aspect of individuality and correlating transitions to relay that message. Some topics that were relayed in the PowerPoint were Common Camera Angles, Common Camera Movements, Mise En Scene, and much more. These topics were all explained with various examples provided. Many videos were embedded to give the viewer a perfect visual. The videos are on a time so after the information is read, it plays and gives the media. The font that is shown with the large titles is called Joker-man. This specific font gave the feeling of a horror-like presentation. The rugged edges of the font gave the viewer the overall theme of the horror genre and exemplified the terms that were being defined. The media that has been used in this PowerPoint were popular films to be easily identified amongst the audience. Amongst the horror film community, some popular films on the PowerPoint are IT, Leprechaun in the hood, another  Friday the 13th. Common films are used so that it is easily recognized and gives a better understanding on the viewers level. A small detail that we incorporated at the end of the PowerPoint was sound effects. We took a moving gif of the clown in the movie “IT” and put it in the software iMovie. Then we proceeded to put footsteps and a creepy voice that said bye to tie everything together. This seemed like an insignificant detail but in the end, the editing skills paid off. 

Title Research: Art of the Title Website

    When researching titles, I looked at Art of the Title ( https://www.artofthetitle.com/ ). The website has many features. I was clicking and learning how to use the website, and I liked how I can see how the title sequences are made. I searched up many movies that I enjoyed on the website to see if they came up and to see the credits of the title sequences. Upon further research, I searched up movies that I knew were part of the fantasy drama to see the credits to their title sequences. The website I must say is very detailed. I didn't think I would need to know the aspect ratios of the movie posters, but I guess I know them now. There are quotes underneath the displays of the title sequences, and when reading each one, I felt that they really did fit the movie. I can look at the styles of the movies. From what I would thought would be simple animating would actually be something like the 1980s or 2D to get into specifics. I know the title designers now and I can further see their work and what they contributed to.

Our Pitch

"A unicorn plushie saves the relationship between a mother and her daughter in the events of turmoil."

"In the midst of crisis, two people put aside their differences to conquer the universe."

In the process of a two-hour-long call conceptualizing ideas of a movie we could do, we came up with these two pitches for a movie. We were inspired by many movies we've watched before. As a part of our research, we watched many trailers of movies with varying genres. We wanted to add different elements of different movies we watched that we liked into one movie. We had to keep restarting a pitch as many of them had many elements but didn't make sense. We've decided to use the first pitch we came up with for our final task. 

For our second pitch, we wanted to do something relating to alternate universes, where two people from alternate universes meet up due to an accident and conquer the universe. Though a movie with this concept may be interesting, it would not be easy to do considering our limited resources. We would need better equipment, such as computers that can run effects and money for actors. Our teacher said we couldn't use clips from the internet. We also couldn't use things that are out of our reach, for example, we couldn't do a movie about aliens unless we had a real-life alien.

Our second pitch could be plausible and easier to do with our limited resources. We don't need many things, and it would be easier to execute rather than a film about conquering a universe. We spent another hour in our voice chat visualizing our first pitch. We figured the plot, how we're going to transition between a unicorn plushie sitting idle to it helping a family. We decided that instead of going frame by frame making the unicorn move, that one of us would dress up in a unicorn suit matching the plushie.

 

To conclude, our finalized pitch is "A unicorn plushie saves the relationship between a mother and her daughter in the events of turmoil." It would be the safest pick out of the pitches we conceptualized and the one that we could do with ease.

Starting the Final Task

    Hello, my name is Glenna Mae Tomboc. I am a sophomore (10th grade) attending Fort Lauderdale High School. AICE Media Studies is a class that gets me nervous and excited at the same time. The work of creating a film does stress me out sometimes, however, it is also fun to do so. The entire process, from conception to the CCR, is always an enjoyable process. 

    For the final task, I contemplated working alone. The benefits of working alone are that I can set my own deadlines and don't have to worry if the deadlines work for other people. The downside is that I am prone to procrastination, and although having leeway with setting my own deadlines is pleasurable, I might set them all too late. I chose to work with a group. I decided to work with Nikaliyah Barnett and Perla Caceres.

    Nikaliyah and Perla are hardworking people. I've worked with them on other assignments, in both our media class and other classes. Nikaliyah is good at formulating plans and making sure we stick to our plans. Perla is well versed in media terms and visualizing. I feel my strength is making concepts and starting the foundation of an idea. I feel that with our strengths, we can create a strong project.     

    Some of our blogs might be the same due to them being group blogs that we together. It will never be one person conceptualizing and writing a blog from start to finish. It is always all of us working together and all our thoughts are mixed with one blog. My groupmates are considerate and we never leave anybody out when one of us may have an idea; we always listen. I am excited to work on the final task and very grateful that I have Nikaliyah and Perla working with me.