AICE MediaStudies

    If I had to pick one feature that distinguishes Double Happy, it is its keen observation of children—their shy gestures and bold dares, as well as the strange sociology of their group dynamics—the constant and fluid shifting of in-group and out-group designations achieved and enforced through secrets and put-downs. Even when you care, you can wind up stomping on each other at this age due to basic inexperience, fear, and carelessness. Rory likes Rebecca, and we get the impression that she reciprocates, yet Rory is a misfit, and the crises this produces can be seen on Rebecca's face.  While he has a thoughtfulness and talent for craft that will serve him well and make him interesting later in life, he currently has companions, particularly the other lad, Des, who are attempting to tear him down in order to demonstrate supremacy. It all adds up to an amazingly clear and nuanced image that Daud is able to create, as Rory's denigration is built up slowly and methodically ...

  This short film is based on a college fraternity house.  A brother in the house almost killed a student by making the student due a pledge task.  In the film, the student is in the hospital after falling off the roof of the frat house.  With the fate of the house and their college careers at stake, brother will turn on brother.  The way this film was developed was more detailed and complex compared to the short film Mutt.  The plot for Mutt was more straightforward and simply portrayed.  Traitor Knight had more mystery to it than the short film Mutt.  Traitor Knight had the audience wondering whether or not they were going to kick out the brother who was involved in the accident.  Both films still fall under the drama genre and I will explain now.  As I researched in the past blog about the short film Mutt, many conventions from the drama genre were used.  This film also uses common convention which makes it a drama.  Common ...

    I watched the short film Fauve by Jeremy Comte. This was a Canadian 16 minute French language film. With the language being one I can't understand I had to use subtitles. When using subtitles you lose some certain aspects of the film. For example you can lose emotions in the dialogue of the characters. Our two main characters are young boys that seem to be living alone out in an abandoned area of town. They seem to be playing a power game where when one would overpower the other they would get a point. This leads the boys to a cement factory where they end up playing. A dump truck drives through and scares the boys into a reservoir where they continue to play their game. On this pit there is a wet area where the boys go. They first think this area is fun to play in but soon find out its hard to get out of. After one pushes the other boy into the middle of this pit he gets stuck inside to where he cant get out. The other boy runs to get help but never finds anyone, once he ...

  The way this short film was developed was very straightforward.  Although the short film is only 13 minutes, it still grabs the audience's emotional side.  The plot is on addiction and is a well known topic to everyone.  The topic can be related to others due to the fact it is a real world problem.  The short starts off by this girl ringing someone's apartment building.  Once she is let in, we see a guy wearing dark shades and gulping down orange juice.  He then takes off the shades and he doesn’t look too well.  The sister then asks if she wants to go to her place.  From just this first scene we can already infer that this film is based on addiction.  The short film is a drama which is clear from the acting, sounds, editing, and more.  The common sound used in this film was diegetic sounds.  The use of diegetic sounds helps to add more emphasis on some of the characters physical state.  For example, as Michael, the alco...

  Watching this video, “How to Make a Short Film,”  helped me gain more knowledge on how to produce my own film.  Although I already had background knowledge on creating films, this video gave more tips that will help me throughout my short film journey.  A film expert gives production tips and post production tips in this video.  Two production tips that stood out to me were, don’t do it if you can’t and mess with the audience's mind and emotions.  A tip that really got my attention was, if you can't pull it off, don’t do it.  The film expert explains that if you can’t 100% pull off something for the film, don’t try to partially do it.  Adding something that isn’t fully portrayed will just decrease the preciseness of your short film.  Although you think adding this cool scene/feature to your film will make it look cool, it will do the opposite.  When it comes to planning out our storyboard, we will keep in mind what we can and can’t do ...

  Part 1-  The main takeaway of the video is what goes into making a good film.  Editing and filming are required for the audience to understand the story.  The video talks about how the film was made and how it was meant to show what is happening.  Editing is important in movies in general.  The pictures put in allow for a clean effect for shots.  The shots and reverses allow us to feel the film.  Long shots allow the audience to better see the film.  The audience was given more time to study the pictures.  The images are each their own story. - How can we better represent situations and emotions in our film?  This film goes back in time in a straightforward manner for the audience to understand everything.  Audio can also be used to enhance the video. A group of monkeys want to find a solution to a problem.  This generates a sense of curiosity in viewers.   Towards the end of the film, the pace of the film increases...

   I first started off with the short film 9. This film was about only 10 minutes long and had no dialogue to it. My first impression of this short film so far was that it should have some dialogue. This would increase the quality of this short film by a lot. Not only would it make it better, but easier to understand. There were many times throughout this short film where I was lost. I didn't know what was happening and where I was. It was hard to follow without any dialogue to listen to. You had to resort to watching these little characters' body language. Or maybe the little noises the characters made for each emotion. Which isn't very easy when they're little rag dolls. If it had this dialogue it would be easier to understand, but they would also be able to add lots more. Dialogue plays a huge role in films. Without it they can almost seem plain and look like there wasn't much work put into it. It is like sauce for pasta, without it its bland, but when it's ...

  I chose this genre because I wanted to film and edit something uplifting. I felt like I could possibly portray a real-life experience of mine. It would be very exciting to write and produce something that could send an important message to many. The other genres were also appealing, but were much more difficult to make considering my low level of expertise. As an example, I consider myself to be fairly funny but writing a comedy film would be so difficult. I am not the creative type, so It would make it even harder to come up with an entire comedic script. As for thriller,  I feel as though the editing would be very difficult. I do not have best of the best editing software nor editing skills. So, editing special effects and such would make the film more thrilling but I don't have the skill set to do it at such a high level. The film wouldn't look good especially since I don't have the costumes or makeup to make the thriller believable. Coming of age is a fair challenge f...

  CAMS: In these films, you will typically see many close up shots to emphasize the character's facial expressions when engaging in dialogue. There are also many two shots because the protagonist is typically talking to or hanging with someone the majority of the movie.  EDITING: There may be fade in and out to show flashbacks for the character and it helps once again to prove growth and maturation. MIS EN SCENE: The characters are most likely wearing typical high schooler t-shirt and shorts/pants. This is to fit the stereotypical adolescent boy. The setting is usually a middle-class town with a high school that the character goes through some sort of bullying or abuse and perseveres through the problems leading to maturity and overall growth. SOUND: There is lots of diegetic sound including dialogue, sometimes police sirens, and as for non-diegetic, there is usually an uplifting song playing over the end scene to make it seem like a "happy ending" EXAMPLE FILMS:Mid90s, L...

  Genre Research: Thriller Close-up- may be used when your attention is intentionally directed to the character’s face and at times what is behind them. Extreme close-up- used as a powerful way to convey the emotion that the subject is feeling. They are used in thrillers to allow the audience to get a clear understanding of the emotions the character is going through. Used mostly to convey fear, pain, and sadness in thrillers. Low angle- to show the power struggles of characters throughout intense scenes. High Angle- to show the power struggles of characters throughout intense scenes. Costumes are more often than not very simple and plain. Muted colors are usually used to not take away from what is actually happening in the movie. For example in the Split trilogy, muted colors are used for costumes when we are to focus on the dialogue and action. And bright colors are used when they want us to focus on a character. Lowkey lighting is a high-contrast lighting technique that is typic...

    Medium shots, over the shoulder shots, two shots, close ups, and long shots are all common camera angles in comedy. All of these camera angles contribute to the success of comedies. A happy and uplifting music, brighter lighting to represent the comic part of the film (making it happier), clothes in comedy films consisting of brighter colors and vibrancy, and props in comedy films are generally wacky, amusing, or stupid are all common Mis En Scene utilized in comedy films. In comedy films, editing techniques include having precise scene timing, editing as though the sequence was not filmed on one camera (using separate clips from numerous cameras for the same scene), Cuts, and adding or removing unnecessary frames. Upbeat cheerful music, laughing sound effects, and character conversation are all common sounds in comedy films. Comedy films include Caddyshack, The Other Guys, Wedding Crashers, Ted The way this genre makes the audience feel is one of the elements in this genr...

   There are a multitude of film genres to choose from. There are so many brilliant ideas and creative twists you can put on each genre. However, I believe that there are three that will work best for me. The three are comedy, thriller, and coming of age. I wanted to include horror but I knew it would be way too impractical to film and edit. I really enjoy the idea of all of them but comedy really sticks out to me. I feel like producing and writing would be so fun, especially since me and my group are funny. I do need to research more but to the blind eye comedy seems like the best pick. I feel like thriller would turn out amazing. I just do not have the facilities or resources to make a really thrilling film. I may be proved wrong however. Maybe once I start looking into the components of a thriller there will be certain types of thrillers. Then, I could accommodate to my skill level and resources. The last genre is coming of age. Typically they are very heartwarming movies f...