SO busy.

Now that I am part of a very responsible and well organized group, we've created a schedule to work on this project. It is a little far-fetched, considering we all have conflicting schedules but we are going to try to make it to as many of our meetings as possible. Right now, we haven't figured out exactly when we are going to start shooting and such other specifics, but we know we want to meet for a little while almost every day. While this might not happen, setting it up to try to do that will make us meet at least multiple times a week, no matter what. Or at least two out of three of us. Paola compiled this calendar on Google Calendars so that we could each edit our availability as time goes on.

I play travel soccer so I have practices everyday, which is why we're meeting early. The good thing about this calendar is that when I find out about tournaments that I will have to be out of town for or at least unavailable to meet up to work, I can just put my availability here for Val and Paola to see.

I'm not lonely anymore!!

Honestly at the start of this project I felt so overwhelmed. I chose to do this project alone at the beginning of the year, but I didn't realize how terrible I am with time management. Luckily, today we were given the option to switch into a group, so I'm now working with my classmates Val and Paola. We're thinking about doing an action film. I feel better working with others because I feel less pressured and I can brainstorm better. There's a huge weight lifted off my chest now.

Some super cool fantasy openings!

The opening to a fantasy film has to be extremely engaging. The audience has to be introduced to the setting and narrative world in the opening, since the genre implies that there are elements in the film's narrative world that doesn't match with ours. These are a couple of films with openings that immediately grab the viewers' attention.

The Avengers

This movie opening does a great job of alluding to conflict. The beginning already shows the audience a glimpse of this magical resource that is clearly being coveted by many. Through the immediate showing of the Tesseract, the audience can assume that there will be a lot of focus on this, and that it will probably be fought over. It's pretty obvious, considering its a glowing blue box of sparkly gas. In the rest of the scene, the power of the Tesseract is enforced through all the security we see around it. This opening really shows the audience a glimpse of whats going to happen, and the state of emergency thrusts the audience into it very quickly.

Star Wars

The iconic yellow text crawl in this opening establishes the context of the film, as it does in every other one in the series. Because the audience is immersed in such a fantastical, different universe, it is important that we are told some information in order to get a general knowledge of what we are about to see. The ships flying through space dazzles the audience and we then see Darth Vader. Through his impactful entrance, we can already tell that not only is he the villain, but he has a lot of power. This scene sets the basis for not only the entire movie, but the rest of them as well.

Shrek

The storybook portion of the scene explains to the audience, again, the background of the film. We are told about the curse placed on the princess, which alludes to the conflict that will be addressed shortly after. Then, we meet Shrek. In going through his disgusting, solitary swamp and watching him in what we can assume is a regular day in the life, the audience very quickly gets a firm understanding of who this ogre is. 

Coco

This beautiful opening not only establishes the background, main character, and conflict, it also is a great portrayal of the culture of the film. Miguel explains his family history and the main conflict, which is his passion for music amidst his family's hatred for it. The use of storytelling through the hung decorations in the beginning make for a more interesting way of showing the past, and further enforce a 'story' theme to it. Then, as we see Miguel go throughout his neighborhood, we get a feel of  a typical Mexican community and its' people.

Fantasy Research

To be entirely honest, I have zero clue what I want to do for my movie opening. I have about a million ideas but none of them are concrete enough to further develop as of now. I haven't decided on a genre, but for now I researched fantasy. I really don't want this project to suck so I am going to continue researching other genres, but so far, I am leaning towards fantasy. I will update when I make up my mind.

Genre Conventions

The genre of fantasy is characterized by the imagination of things that are impossible. Therefore, unlike many other genres, the content one can create is limitless, as it is all up to one's imagination. Fantasy is often known for including elements such as magic, supernatural forces, mystical creatures spirits, and other elements that can't be found in our natural world.

Pirates Of the Carribean (2003) is a film centered around fantastic elements such as the undead and other magical spirits.

Genre Conventions- Production Techniques

The production of fantasy films relies heavily on the mise-en-scene more than anything. With proper execution, the set and decor, costume design, and makeup can help to create a whole world that the audience has never been exposed to, further submersing them into the film beyond just with an interest in plot. The film Alice in Wonderland impacts the audience mostly by exploring the world that is Wonderland, and creating beautiful creatures and natural elements that one could never imagine on their own. The movie is so successful in that the audience fell in love with Wonderland because it was so different than our narrative world.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

In the Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson created what he calls 'bigatures,' miniature set pieces big enough to fill an entire set. The use of these helped instill the sense that there was really a whole world that the characters in the film were living in, and further develops what makes the movie so unique in itself.

Lord of the Rings series

Institutional Conventions

For the fantasy genre, marketing has to be especially engaging. Many fantasy films in today's age are live action versions of novels, such as the previously discussed Alice in Wonderland film. In this, the filmmakers and marketing team have to be able to capture the essence of the original piece while incorporating new and exciting elements to the film. This can be done through the trailers, which have to sell the entire film to the audience in about 3 minutes. Social media plays a big role especially in that a large part of the target audience is in the youth and young adults, who spend a lot of time on social media. Fantasy films also produce a vast amount of merchandise, especially clothing and toys. Most Disney fantasy films are able to milk the film with numerous toys to be sold, creating an even larger success for the movie.

Avengers: Infinity War

This movie is a great example of a fantasy film because it incorporates so many unnatural elements that make the film so appealing. Most importantly, the majority of the characters in the film are superheros with supernatural powers beyond a regular human's capacity, Additionally, there is the use of magic and spirits involved too. The film also features 6 different planets, each unique in their people and setting. The work to create such a vast universe is what gives the franchise such a large fandom, completely obsessed with all the different characters and places.

Coraline

The animated film also embodies a fantastical film because of its plot. The main character discovers a whole other world through a small door in which everyone has buttons sewn into their eyes and lives a seemingly happier, more colorful life. This film used mise-en-scene, particularly in the set design and the costume design to juxtapose the better world from their original narrative world. The film is a stop-motion film, and the effort that was put into creating such small details is what gave the film its personality and success.

More Fantasy Films

• Pan's Labryinth
• Enchanted
• The Wizard of Oz
• Aladdin
• Ghostbusters

https://siobhannmediastudies.weebly.com/blog/three-different-conventions-of-the-fantasy-film-genre
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0192.xml#backToTop
https://www.ranker.com/list/sci-fi-fantasy-movies-sense-of-wonder-tricks/erin-mccann

Music Marketing Project

a.  The genre my group worked on for this project was electronic rock. This genre is characterized by loud, energetic music. The target audience is males and females ages 16-25. The music typically features lyrics relating to love, anger, or in today's constantly progressing music industry, expressing their sometimes controversial beliefs about society or government.

b.  With the target audience being young adults, marketing in electronic rock music is heavily focused on social media. For example, the band Twenty One Pilots has a Youtube account featuring all their songs, music videos, behind the scenes content, interviews, tour diaries and live performances. This gives fans a more personal experience, as they get to know the artist more beyond just through their music. It also gives them a feel for the live experience, which then pushes them to want to purchase tickets for live shows. Another electronic rock band Muse uses their website to heavily market themselves. Their concert tickets, merch, music and more can all be viewed on the website. This creates a hub that fans can easily access everything they need through. It creates convenience and leads to fans learning more even if they just visit the site for one thing. Muse also created Muso, their form of money that fans could get at live shows. Muso has codes on the back that when entered online in their site, revealed exclusive content that could only be seen through that specific code. This creates, again, a drive for fans to go see the band perform live and a memorable tactic that audiences might never have seen before.

c.  We chose to develop our artist to be very close to her fans. Being a part of that target audience, we knew that seeing artists get personal and honest with fans creates for a stronger connection and 'devotion' to them. We decided to make her younger to connect with the target audience better. Her brand is very relatable in the sense of the grungey, spacey aesthetic that the target audience tends to like. The beef between our artist and Third Eye also gives her a stronger look, as well as her straight-forwardness in terms of speaking actively about feminism and other social issues. We wanted to make her very outspoken to show her fans that she cared about issues and wasn't just a washed out artist.

d.  We created posts to promote the tour and EP. We posted these to Instagram and Twitter. These are instrumental to our artist's development because thats where the majority of their target audience receives their information. We also created merchandizing, such as phone cases and sweaters. 

 

e. Through the production of my music video, I learned that music videos are essential to keeping the artist's brand alive. We used it as a dramatic version to keep her pushing more about feminism. Though, it may have been misinterpreted and taken a little too literally by the audience, so maybe next time we have to take a more simple approach to give the female character power. I also learned that we have to create better marketing strategies that are more original in order for our artist to really stand out.