AICE Media Studies

 Dearest reader, Below is our research on the movie leave the world behind directed by Sam Esmail The movie follows a family whose matriarch spontaneously decides to rent out a house for the weekend to get away from the city. After a few suspicious incidents, the owner of the house and his daughter show up because they have no where else to stay. There is constant suspense throughout the movie and we do not find out until the very end that the cause of these incidents is due to the attack and attempted eradication of America.  The movie had many conventions, most of which added to the purpose of building suspense and anxiety throughout the film The largest contributor to this was the music decisions. The non digetic music was fit the scene and often had an eerie feeling. A common strategy in the film industry is to use synthetic music as well as string instruments, which many find to be uncomfortable or cause uneasiness in the right context.  The dialogue of the actors ad...

 Dearest reader, Below is our research on the thriller movie Get Out directed by Jordan Peele. Jordan Peele's sensational film Get Out, which debuted to great acclaim, redefined the thriller genre. In addition to being a financial success, this provocative movie has generated heated discussions regarding racial issues and societal criticism. Get Out is a psychological thriller with social satire aspects. It tells the story of a young African American man who spends a weekend with his unseemingly harmful white girlfriend's family. Chris soon learns the sinister truths lurking beneath the surface of the seemingly perfect suburban community, turning what begins as a harmless visit into a terrifying and unsettling encounter.  The film Get Out is well known for its astounding plot twist ending that stunned viewers. Plot twists appear frequently in suspenseful films. Its unexpected turn of events and the additional intricacy it brought to the narrative elevated it to a new level of ...

 Dearest reader, Today we researched the psychological thriller "Don't Worry Darling" directed by Olivia Wilde. This film stars Harry Styles and Florence Pugh two well known celebrities.  The premise of this movie is that Alice, a stressed surgeon is in a relationship with the lazy, lowlife Jack. In a last ditch attempt to keep her affections, Jack places Alice in a simulation town called "Victory". The husbands each day leave the wives and return to the real world to earn money to keep the simulation going. Meanwhile, the wives enjoy a luxurious and Idyllic life, believing that the husbands are simply working on a "top secret project". Alice begins to see cracks within the simulated reality and questions the deeper meaning of this.  Conventions of the genre this film includes:  -The costuming uses darker colors for the men who know that they are keeping the wives in a simulation. The women are wearing brighter colors synonymous with the atomic era way...

 Dearest reader, Below is our genre decision!   After some tough decisions with my group, we have finally decided on making our pitch a thriller movie! We all had great ideas on which direction we could take our final task in but I think we made the best decision. At first, we wanted to do a romance genre, but there were some complications. Mainly we would need a love interest and this genre does require a lot of emotionally packed acting. The essence of a romance film lies in the intricacies of relationships, the emotional rollercoaster, and the chemistry between characters. However, with a limited timeframe of two minutes, capturing the depth required for a compelling love story seemed daunting. Also, it could possibly come off as corny since we are all high schoolers acting.  Then we looked into comedy which was our close second choice. All of us love watching comedy movies so we focused on this genre. Effective comedy often relies on context, buildup, and timing eleme...

 Dearest reader,  Below is our research on comedies.    The main and most important quality in a comedy piece is that it is amusing and invokes laughter. The types of camera angles, mis-en-scene, editing, and sound is often pivotal in whether or not the audience will find the media amusing. When choosing camera angles, it is important to note that suspense and irony are key factors in humor. Some popular angles commonly used in comedy are hand held shots, which creates a realistic perspective that can be seen in various shows such as “The Office” or “Parks and Recreation”. Another type of shot is a counter shot, which is most commonly used when showing a conversation between two people. Although this shot can be used for any genre, it is a particularly useful technique in comedy when wanting to show the reaction or facial expression of both characters. Mis-en-scene is another huge factor in defining a genre. One example is the color of lighting. Colors such as yellow...

 Dearest reader, Below is our research on thrillers. Common camera angles, shots, and movements in the thriller Low angle shots to depict the antagonist as having complete power and invoking fear while the protagonist is in a vulnerable and helpless situation. Close up and extreme close up shots are typically used to emphasize an important emotion or reaction from a character. Tracking shots are used in these films to create suspense or anticipation to develop the story. Long shot's are used in thriller films to create an isolated feeling among the audience and actor. Point of View shots are used to connect the audience and character to share a sense of fear or terror that the character feels with the audience.  Over the Shoulder shots can be used to display the character's reactions in relation to each other and further amplify the fear of the protagonist and build tension. Common costumes, lighting, acting, makeup, props, and setting/sets used in thriller Costumes typical...

 Dearest reader,  Below is an analysis of the techniques and conventions used in creating romance movies! Camera Angles, Shots, and Movements:  -Close Up: Used to express the emotions a character is feeling while the romance progresses. -Extreme Close Up: Typically used when a character cries during a romance whether tears of joy or sadness. -Wide Shots: Used to showcase the setting the romance takes place in to signal the nature of the love story. -Low Angles: Used to covey an inspiring feeling within the romance. -High Angles: Portrays vulnerability within the characters. -Two Shot: Used to capture the two love interests. -Three Shot: Used to capture love triangles or the love interests and someone they trust, usually serving as a catalyst for the realization of their feelings. -Shot Reverse Shot: Used to express conversation between characters. -Long Shot: Used to showcase the entirety of a character. -Pan: Used to show contrasting emotions or reactions from characters...

 Dearest Reader, Below are our pitches: Pitch A: Gustav Pavel has plans to spend a nice quiet evening alone but fate, and a door-to-door girlscout selling cookies has other plans.  Pitch B: Four friends embark on a road trip to fulfill their bucket list, but their journey takes unexpected turns.  Pitch A: The first issue we ran into with pitch A is that we would need a girl scout uniform or something to signal the door-to-door seller as a girl scout. Since we are older and finding girl scouts is already hard, we figured this would be an added strain. Also, most of the girl scouts our age do not wear a uniform so it is unlikely that we could get the materials needed. Additionally, we are a group made up of all girls. This pitch would require us to find a boy willing to film all two minutes without complaint if we wanted to do retakes. Pitch B: This pitch is pretty feesible since we would realistically not need much footage. Since the final task is the opening sequence this...

 Dearest reader, I'm going to say something that will shock you. I'm working in a group for this final task. I was originally going to work alone. I usually prefer to work by myself on big creative projects because a lot of times, if you are not with the right people, it can turn toxic. I was asked by a friend I adore if I wanted to work with her. She was already planning to work with another mutual friend and I decided it was time to branch out. I can't even lie and say I wasn't over the moon excited when she asked me. It sounds like a lot of fun to have camera people and actors and editors. We also have an excuse to get together. While stress puts a strain on everyone, I trust myself and my friends to stay positive. Hopefully, we will even make it a better experience for each other.  I met these friends through a best friend I've had since second grade. When we started school in ninth grade, we sat with different groups of people at lunch. Eventually, it got narro...

 Dearest reader, Guess who's back? Another media studies assignment has just been given to me. Our job this time around is our final project for media studies AS level. We are tasked with making a 2 minute opening sequence to a movie. The idea has to be our original plot that we came up with.  A little bit about me: I am in my second year of earning my AICE diploma and I will be finishing it this year. My more "creative" class last year was AICE drama. It was nice but not my cup of tea. This year I decided on media studies because I really enjoy watching short films on YouTube. I have always had a passion for making videos ever since I was little. This course is the only time I have really paid attention to the quality of my projects and it had made a world of difference to insist on taking a re-shoot sometimes.  I want to be an engineer of some sort but I cannot decide between aerospace, environmental or software engineering. Right now my dream college (which changes dai...