Mood-boards

 Character Mood Boards

Sheriff Wright Moodboard:

Otis Moodboard: 

Names

 Developing Character Names

   Surprisingly, this process did not take very long. We wanted to come up with two names for our first main characters that will have the largest impact on our movie. 

   We first wanted to come up with a name for our main character. The name has to reflect his personality. Someone that is very quiet and could have lots of hidden things going on in his life but they are not shown as he hides his feelings. That's the type of person our character is, very quiet and mysterious. When we looked up names that could represent these types of qualities we immediately found what we were looking for. The name Otis is what represents those specific qualities. There aren't many Otis around the world as it represents a very unique name.

   Next we wanted to come up with a name for our sheriff or policemen. We believed this could be easy as we were looking for a generic name that represents a good and family man that cares about protecting his family and his town. We found names like Sheriff Jack or Sheriff Bart and these names weren’t what we were looking for. Until, we found the name Sheriff Wright. His first name will be Robert, but throughout the movie the viewers are mostly going to hear Sheriff Wright.

Movie Plot

 Plot of the movie after the Intro

   Creating the plot for the intro is essential, but coming up with the entire plot is very important. As our main character hears the sirens is about to take his mask off and get in the car, the cop manages to get a glimpse of our main character's side profile. The main character manages to get away but he knows that the cop has seen what he looks like and knows that the cop will be able to put the pieces together. 

   The policeman has been there in that small town for over twenty years. Towards the beginning of his career there was a killer in the town that he was never able to catch. He killed his victims very specifically and always at night. The cop once saw his face and never forgot it since as it still haunts him to this day. The name of this killer was the Charleston Wood Killer. 

   The policeman realized that after seeing the current killer, which is our main character, he looks very similar to the one from 20 years ago. Both of their masks are very unique and similar at the same time. He realizes that there has to be some connection between the two and it gives him hope that he can catch both killers. The conflict is that now that he saw our current killer, he will be chasing after the cop and his family.

Intro Plot

 Intro Plot

   After we selected horror and decided that we were going to shoot it from the killers point of view, many ideas were thrown around. We decided to stick with what we thought was best. For our two minute intro we plan to shoot what is listed below.

   The main character of the film is a high schooler that is on his way home from school and stops into a pharmaceutical or grocery store.As we follow him, his face is never shown and only his body and feet. By doing this it keeps the audience on edge and wanting to see what he looks like. When he enters the store, he sees that the news is on. The audience would only see our main character's body while listening to the news reporter talking about the deadly killings in their local town. The killing is very specific as he breaks into houses and kills the entire family. In the next scene, the main character gets back to his house, and the television is on. The television talks about the same killer that is at large. In this scene we will see the characters mask on the side or somewhere where the viewers can see that alludes to the person we’re following is the killer. The next scene transitions into nighttime, where our main character (still no face reveal ) grabs his mask and leaves his house. He then drives and comes to a stop at a house where he commits another murder of an entire family. The viewers will be able to see a silhouette of the main character stabbing a woman and seeing blood. As the main character/killer leaves the crime scene going back to his car while covered in blood, he hears police sirens in the distance, and right before he takes off his mask, the introduction is over. The main character's face is not revealed because it adds to the horror and creepiness of the character.

Movie Example

 

Psycho

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock surprised viewers at the theatre. Opening with the scandalous scene of Marion Crane with her lover Sam Loomis during a mid-lunch attempt, she then steals a large amount of cash from her boss and chooses to move to California. On the way, she ends up at the Bates Motel, where one of the most famous film scenes takes place: Crane is murdered in the shower by the mother of Norman Bates, the plucky hotel owner. Psycho was also among the first to make its killer empathetic, unprecedented for its portrayals of violence and sexuality. In the shaping genre, the killer's knife, the first-person viewpoint, and the unnerving manner in which viewers sympathize with Norman Bates all played a significant role, and its DNA is all over eventual slasher classics such as Halloween and Scream. Psycho utilized never before seen shots that changed shots technique forever. They also utilized a record breaking amount of cuts. Both of these techniques can improve our film drastically in many ways. 

Show Example

 

Dexter

   Dexter Morgan is a Miami-based blood splatter expert who doesn't just solve murders; he commits them too. In fact, he's a serial killer -- but he only murders the guilty, so he feels justified with his lifestyle choices. His policewoman sister and his cop co-workers have no idea Dexter lives a double life; however, adoptive father Harry knows his secret, and does, in fact, help Dexter hone his "skills." It's a unique brand of justice for which charming Dexter feels a psychological hunger.

  This show is perfect for what we are trying to achieve in our own film. They show the main character commit the crimes and solve them at the same time. This example that Mrs. Stoklosa gave us is perfect for us to study and extend our research on. From this show, we can take shots, editing and sound techniques that we can implement in our own short intro film. 

Purchasing First Prop

 First Purchase of Prop

We have purchased our first prop of the production that we will need. This prop is essential to the title and plot of the entire movie. We were stuck in between two masks: the pig mask or the bunny mask.

We went ahead and bought this one:Our next step was to buy the killer's weapon. We went and bought a fake knife that is used as a weapon. When both of these items arrive soon, it’ll put us one step closer to begin filming!

First Check Up

 First Meeting

Yesterday, I had my first meeting and check up with Mrs. Stoklosa. I was eager to tell her my idea regarding the horror movie. After telling her the idea that we came up with, she told us that she loved it. The reason that she loved is because filming from the murderer's point of view is rare and very unique. After discussing this with her she gave us examples of films and questions that we have to think about. For example, she asked us whether we want this to be a horror movie that deals with people around our age or adults. If we decide with adults, we need adults that are willing to be in our film. As we thought about it, we don’t really know any adults that are willing to participate so we have to use a story that revolves with people our age. Mrs. Stoklosa gave us a couple of movies and shows that we need to check out. One of them being Dexter. On my next blog, I will be discussing Dexter and how it will help develop my own film.

Finalizing Genre

 Finalizing Genre

   After many discussions, me and my partner were able to select a genre. The genre we are using is horror. By selecting horror there are many ways we can go with this. Horror allows us to show our creativity and many shot techniques. When we selected horror, I did not want to do something that is very common. For example, someone showering and getting murdered. We want something that has been rarely done. 

   We decided to film an intro to a movie that is done in the perspective of the killer. The intro could be used to develop his character, show how he was made into who he is, or just show what he specifically does through his perspective. By us deciding to film from the killers perspective, it gives us many different ideas and unique ways we could go with this intro.

Genre Ideas

 Genre Selection.

  With our Portfolio project, we want to select a genre that we are very familiar with and have done previous research. My partner and I have done extensive research in the comedy and horror genre. We have this knowledge and previous research due to a previous assignment that Ms. Stoklosa assigned us to do. This assignment will help us be more comfortable in the selection of what genre our film will be best in.

   Comedy films can be hard to create due to how subjective comedy can be. We believe that going down the horror path can be much easier to create a short intro in our film. By doing a horror film, we must understand the key things that have to be done with the editing, camera, and lighting for it to be an effective horror film. Horror films don’t only rely on those things as it also needs specific sounds. 

   With these production techniques, I believe that a horror film opening can help us develop a creative, effective, and high quality Portfolio Project.

Intro to my Portfolio Project

 The Beginning

   Now it's time to move on from the Music Marketing Project to the Portfolio Project. In order to do this, it is very important for me to understand and examine what I did incorrectly in the Music Project. During the research, I could have studied more cases and developed a deeper understanding of my genre. It was very important for us as a group to understand the genre to our best ability and then be able to display it in our presentation. So I think that we incorrectly researched our genre which caused the marketing plan to not be as strong.

In addition, I believe that the editing portion was great. I incorporated many special effects and good transitions. However, during filming there was a lack of shots taken and we were forced to repeat shots. For the future, I plan to shoot more that we are supposed to just in case something goes wrong. 

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

 

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

My group and I started our music marketing project by figuring out what specific genre we got. We figured out that our genre is rock. The research conducted was very useful to develop our artist, as our knowledge regarding rock is very minimal. With our research, we were able to see various examples of bands and artists that are successful in the rock genre. For example, there are 21 pilots and Jxdn who both interact with their fans to increase their engagement and popularity. The research helped us develop an artist and a brand. The name of our artist is Issac Grey. With Issac, we tried to create a brand that matched the music that he would put out. For example, his merchandise matched the emotions and feelings that the songs would bring out.

In order to market our artist we had to do a numerous amount of things. We started by figuring out the target audience we were trying to reach and we were set on the age range of 13-18 years old. By figuring this out, we had to select what social media platforms our artist would be a part of and each of their individual purposes. We were set on Issac having a presence in Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter. We also created a website for fans to find out information regarding Issacs music, merchandise or personal information. Instagram would be used as a way for Issac to promote his entire brand and a way for him to communicate with fans. Issac would post on Instagram stories to get feedback for each song and understand what his fans were saying. Twitter was used as a platform for Issac to speak his mind whether it was his own feelings, global issues, or trending topics. Lastly, Tiktok was used to promote individual songs through viral dances Issac could create or his own fans could make. The merchandise we created for Issac was customized hoodies and shirts with his logo. We also created custom masks with Issac’s logo due to the current pandemic. For his first song named My Name is Human, we decided to shoot a promo video. Through the editing process, we decided to use trippy colors and shots that would match his brand and identity. After having everything set up, we had to present our information to our class. We used powerpoint slides and showed samples of our website, social media accounts, merch, music video, and who Issac was. 

The project at first seemed a bit overwhelming but after everything started to come together and things were clicking. I believe this was the case as we took our time and conducted research. We planned everything that was part of our project and never left anything for the last minute. This project taught me a lot regarding time management and planning. Nothing is built and perfected in one day, everything needs to be conducted with a calculated plan that may take days or even weeks. I also learned a lot regarding shooting and editing music videos. It is very important to film extra shots to have during the editing process as you never know what will work and will not. My editing improved by a large amount because of this project. I believe the music marketing team project has gave me skills and qualities that will help me for the portfolio project.