Final Blog Post - CCR SUBMISSIONS

 Question Number 1 - "How does the product change or challenge conventions, and how does it represent social groups or issues?"

Interview With Director

Question Number 2 - "How did your production skills develop through this project?"

Director's Commentary over Video

Question Number 3 and 4 - "How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - into this project? How would your film engage audiences and be distributed in a real setting?"

PPT on Technological Convergence

                                             

Final Brief Submission

 DHOST

Directed By Sherjil Munir and Isaac Gonzalez

This is our final project; we've spent a few months researching and getting this ready for you, so we hope you enjoy it!

Production Blog 1 - Asset List

 Hello Everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I'll be recapping our first production; or at least, parts of it! We'll be going over the list of assets; Characters, Props, and Tools used

PROPS

For our production, we used four major props; Fake Blood, a Mask, a Chainsaw, and a Red Light.

The fake blood was used after the scene where Sherjil is knocked out - it was applied to the doctor's coat and the chainsaw in order to make it seem that the killer has had repeat victims.

The mask was used first in the Garage Scene where Sherjil is knocked out; It adds menace to the villain by concealing their face, and also adds a layer of creepiness to the ordeal

The Chainsaw was used in the scene of Sherjil being cut up, in order to contextualize the following scene with his body in the bag.

The red light was used in order to add on to the unboxing scene; adding menace to it. It was placed over the box, with the lights in the Garage turned off.

Characters / Project Members

For our project members, we had three people in total; Isaac (Me,) Who worked on Filming and Camerawork;

Sherjil Assad, who was the director of our production, and was the victim in our film opening;

and Sherjil's Cousin, who played the main antagonist and offered to drive us around for our film;

Planning Post 3 - Assignment and Designation of Roles

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog! We're making pretty significant process on the planning stage, but we're going to need to assign the roles of everyone around here, and define each aspect of our jobs, so that we'll properly be able to work on this efficiently. With all that said, lets meet the members!

Starting off with Isaac Gonzalez - Me! I'm about 16 years old, almost 17 now, and I'm currently teamed up with Sherjil on our project, 'DHOST.' My jobs are as follows:

-I am the Cameraman, Meaning that I'll take all of the shots, and I'll also be in charge of storyboarding. My job is important, because Camerawork is inheritly important in every movie, especially thrillers. By capturing the right moments at the right time, Audiences can feel much more connected to a character, and the Director can properly project his vision on the project. through the visuals

-I am also assisting Sherjil with creating the Script for DHOST - I've come up with the second draft, and am currently working on the final draft with him. This is also a very important job - as we'll need to properly refine our vision quickly with our sped-up production schedule from outside circumstances

-Lastly, here's a picture of me! :

Sherjil Assad is the next member of the group. He, too, is 16 turning 17, and his jobs are as follows:

Sherjil is the Director, meaning that he controls the creative vision for most of the project, and also has the final say on most if not all matters regarding the project. He's got a finger in almost every aspect of its creation, from the scriptwriting to the editing, to even aspects of my job, like camera shooting. While refining the aspects that fall under my job are, of course, my purview, it's up to Sherjil to proofread and approve them

Sherjil is also an actor in our film opening, acting as the 'Protagonist' for our opening, Sherjil will be playing the role alongside his cousin, who will be playing as the actor for the Antagonist in 'DHOST'. Sherjil's role as the 'protagonist' is simply to act as fodder for our villain to kill off so the Audience has reason to fear him, as well as build the mystery

Here is a picture of what Sherjil looks like! :

Planning Post 2 - Camerawork

 Hello Everyone! Now that we've done our script, you'll notice that I have quite a few tricky angles that I'll need to be shooting from, so we'll go more into depth about how those angles will be used, how I can achieve those angles, and, more importantly, how I'll maintain 'continuity' within the piece, as well as the equipment we'll be using to film.

So, starting off, there's a shot in Scene Five that's taken from underneath the table - this is suppoused to be the perspective of the doll we see later on in the scene, and this shot is there for an important reason. It helps build the tension, making it feel as if someone is watching our protagonists as they wander the house. After all, tension is incredibly important to movies like thrillers. 

As you can see, the shot is done so that it overlooks the room from the bottom, but angled to mimic the tilt of the head, which is crucial for a POV shot. It gives the impression that we are indeed seeing the shot directly from the eyes on the character, while telling the audience that the threat is nearby, and danger is imminent, creating a sense of impending doom and suspense to draw them in.

Another shot that we'd utilize during filming can be found in the Sixth Scene of the script - with the camera looking up at the character from the Pot. In order to get this angle, the simple trick is to place the camera within the empty pot, and then edit in anything afterwards that would be needed to maintain the illusion that the view of the audience is actually inside the broth (Like coating the image in a red filter). Here is an example of the shot:

Focusing on the reaction of the character while concealing the contents of the container that the camera is looking up from adds onto the audience's natural sense of curiosity, and further entices them to watch the rest of the film. It also helps conceal the villain's nature, so as to keep the Audience guessing and the Villain intimidating. Shots like these that focus on human emotions are very important

On that topic, I also plan to use an extreme close-up shot to capture the Character's emotions during the climax in the Fifth Scene, with the Character being grabbed by the villain through the window. As can be seen here, Extreme Close-Ups allow you to get a glimpse into the state of mind of a character without the usage of much dialogue, and can be very useful for expressing emotions like fear:

And that all the shots I have planned for filming! Which one do you think would be most effective? Leave a comment telling me why, and make sure to come back next time!

Planning Post 1 - Scriptwriting

Hello everyone, and Welcome back to my Blog! Now that we're done with the research phase, We'll be transitioning into the planning phase - so that means things have to become more concrete, and we need to get ready for filming, and all the stuff that comes after! But first, before we film, we'll need a script. A script will determine how the characters interact with each other and how the film is directed.

Contents of the Script

A script for Media Studies will be broken up into around six scenes - the same number of scenes present in the storyboard.

The script must contain enough context for the audience to discern just enough to understand the threat of the antagonist, but not quite enough that they are able to fully understand what the villain is, and what their motivations are, in order to keep them threatening. 

The script should introduce the main setting and the characters involved, and should entice the audience to continue watching the rest of the film.

The Script Itself

SCENE ONE

Character A sits in the back of a car - his face is reflected in the window, which the camera looks out of. Unnamed Character A's face is visibly disturbed. His head turns

C-A: "Look, man, I.. I believe you, I really do, but.. Can't we at least save this for the morning, yknow..?"

The shot changes - the back of Character B's seat can be seen - muffled music plays in the background. Character B looks frustrated, as he turns his head slightly

C-B: "Dude, I already TOLD you we HAVE to do it at night; It's CLOSED every morning. it's always closed; I checked twice, thrice, four goddamn times; IT'S ALWAYS CLOSED IN THE MORNING!"

Character B turns his head back to the road. He sighs deeply.

C-B: ".. Look, I just.. I just need to make sure I'm not going crazy, alright? We'll.. We'll check it, yeah? Take a look around, five minutes tops, and if we see ANYTHING, we'll book it. Okay?"

The shot pans back to C-A. He's slightly disturbed by his friends' outburst, but he turns back to the window, and grabs the door handle.

C-A: "Alright, Fine.."

He seems not to think that what Character B is saying is real, there's a hint of annoyance in his voice.

SCENE TWO

The two stare at a house outside of the parked car. The headlights are the only source of light, it's almost pitch black outside. A sign says 'FOR SALE' in the front yard. The garage door is wide open. Character B runs up to it, pointing

C-B: "SEE?! See?! Look; LOOK! THE DOOR'S OPEN!"

C-A: "I.. I dunno man, maybe you just left it open when you-"

C-B: "Nooo Nonononono.. I know for a FACT I closed that door. A-And look, I can PROVE it to you! Here!!"

Character B digs through his pocket and pulls out his phone, he taps the screen a few times while walking over to Character A. He shows him the screen - one of the cameras. It shows Character B closing the Garage door, dated at 9:36 - Only an hour beforehand

C-A: "Well, wait, if the cameras work, why dont you just..?"

C-B: "I DID! Just.. Keep LOOKING!"

Character B goes to another clip from the camera footage, where it detected movement. An ominous figure in all-black, whose face cannot be seen, opens the door. The camera footage cuts out immediately after the Garage door begins opening. Character A looks scared, and his speech reflects it

C-A: ".. I.. I dunno about this man.. It's.. It's probably just some crazy homeless dude or whatever - maybe a squatter.. I-If we just call the cops, they'll just arrest him or whatever, and that'll be the end of it.."

C-B: "HELL no! This house's got, like, twenty windows and a backdoor! Plus, it's ten, maybe eleven in the morning! Even if that old coot sticks around long enough for the cops to show up, AND if the cops believe us , he could just book it when he hears sirens, the cars, the police coming in through one of the doors.."

C-A: "But isn't that what we want? Yknow.. the guy to leave?"

C-B: "What? You think i'm just gonna let him leave?! After all the grief I'VE been getting over a bunch of buyers getting cold feet from this head-empty wacko breaking in every night? Yeah right - you're funny! I'll have him swallow a few teeth first, THEN we'll let him go."

Character B walks up to the garage, but Character A lags behind. The camera turns to the inside of the Garage and Character B's back.

C-B: "What, you wanna wuss out on me now?.. Look, if you're so worried about it, then just get something from the garage to whack the old guy with if he gets too uppity.."

C-A: "Yknow, I'd rather NOT whack the guy at all if I can help it!"

C-B: "Yeah right; you're just SCARED that you'll get overpowered by some rotten old lunatic who hasn't eaten in three days! Just get in here before I decide that maybe I wanna start tearing you a new one, too!"

Character B goes inside. Character A looks around, debates going inside with himself for a moment, and then runs in behind him, grabbing a wooden plank from off the wall as he does so. The scene cuts

SCENE THREE

The two are walking down a hallway into the Living Room. It's dimly-lit.

C-B: "Where'd I put the lights..?"

The sound of the Garage Door closing is heard. Then a door slamming. Both characters turn - Character A looks scared, and jumps, clutching harder onto the plank of wood. Character B turns and turns on his phone's flashlight

C-B: "I HEARD HIM! HE'S MAKING A RUN FOR IT!! THAT SLICK PIECE OF - CMON! GO GO GO!"

Character B rushes Character A out, back from the way they came. the Camera tracks them shakily as they run back through the house, but when they open the door to the Garage, it sets on their faces. They look confused. The camera cuts back to the room - It's the living room, not the Garage

SCENE FOUR

C-B: "What the..?"

Character A is scared, very scared. He goes behind Character B, who looks more confused than anything

C-A: "M-Man, I swear to god, I-If this is a joke or something, I'm gonna KILL YOU!"

C-B: "No.. No wait a minute.. It.. No this is.. I.. Wha..?"

The camera cuts away from the two; It pans around and circles them. They scan the room as it does. It then cuts again - under a table.

SCENE FIVE

A man drags a chainsaw outside, across the grass. Only his boots and the saw itself are seen, and he walks and the camera follows.

MURDERHOBO whistles a tune to himself, the lyrics cannot be heard. The music increases in intensity, as he approaches one of the windows. Character A can be seen, his back to the same window. It cuts to his point of view; a pair of red dots glance at him from under the table. He clutches the wood, as Character B backs up as well, to the opposite wall. The music cuts out, and zooms in on Character A's face.

C-A: "W-What is that thing..?! WHAT-"

MURDERHOBO knocks on the window. Character A freezes and begins to turn around

C-B: "WAIT! GET AWAY FROM THE WIND-"

MURDERHOBO'S Hand breaks through the window and grabs Character A by the neck. The camera cuts to black; the sounds of a chainsaw can be heard, and then dripping. 

SCENE SIX

Cut to the morning; Cops are inside of the house, staring at a pot left on the stove. A doll, with the pot's contents - a blood red soup - poured all over it's mouth and wearing a bib, sits on the counter. The police take a ladle, and sift through the soup in the pot. The camera does not show whats in it, but the officer's eyes widen in horror as he looks into the pot. He screams, and it cuts to the titlecard. 

END OPENING

Research Post 11 - Storyboarding

 Hello, and Welcome back again! This time, I'll be outlining the six major storyboards for the project - Shots, angles, and the script will be outlined in this post. 

For the first scene, The camera should start off with a closeup of the character's face, as he enters the garage/storage room. It should be dark, and he's holding a flashlight that only partially lights the room. As he enters, the Camera zooms out. Only ambient sounds can be heard, accompanied by only a shrill violin - the floorboards creek, the shadows shift. Behind boxes and under tables, only a purple tint can be plainly seen mixed in with the inky blackness. A sound is heard as something shifts behind.

In the second scene, the Camera is taken from an over-shoulder point of view. The back of the character's head is obscured - only the flashlight offers the reprieve from the darkness. We only see asinine antiques, dusty shelves of bits, bobs, and all other manner of odd ends and whatnot, scattered about. The character holding the flashlight moves his head around - the camera makes the appropriate 180 turn to the opposing shoulder. Again, only inconsequential items, tokens and trinkets can be seen. Alongside them, sewing kits, dolls, and other rather unsettling memorabilia from a time long past. Sounds of shuffling can be heard. The character swings his flashlight around again.

In the third scene, the shot is finally taken from our assailant's point of view. Carefully concealed from the light, we see the character's back and feet, as he sweeps around the dark. The camera slowly pans to the right. The character takes a few steps back, before turning back around and advancing further into the darkness. The flashlight sweeps over the camera's position. Only partially it is illuminated; the shadows the flashlight casts keep the villain and the camera hidden. The Character moves on.

The fourth scene is taken from above. A dusty, dinky fan spins, covering the camera momentarily every so often. Below, the character rummages through a pile of trinkets. He's looking for something. The flashlight has been put down as he does so. It partially illuminates his body, but in the inky blackness, movement. He stops, hesitating, and reaches for the flashlight. The character backs away, and debates leaving - turning for the exit... But, after a moment's hesitation, decides to advance only a slight bit further, having spotted the object he was looking for.

The fifth scene is another over-shoulder. We see the character, preparing to open a box. He sets the flashlight down to illuminate it. The music cuts out - only the ambient breathing and the dusty fans' slow spin are audible. With a deep breath, the box is opened.

The sixth and final scene set us within the box as it opens. The cast shadows keep only half of the Character's face illuminated, but we can clearly see the contortion of horror as the Camera rapidly zooms in on his face. After that, it cuts to black...

... And, that's about all for the Storyboarding plan! Let me know what you think; I'd really appreciate some honest commentary on my skills! Until next time, though.. I bid you Adieu!

Research Post 10 - Outlining a Script

 Welcome back, Everyone!  Now that we've got all the research out of the way, We have to start outlining the script! Before, I know we wanted to go for a Sci-Fi and Supernatural mix, But lets try to refine that further, so we can make a script to submit for planning!

Now, every single Horror-Thriller needs a villain; So what should the villain for my opening be? Well, the most important part of any Horror Movie Villain is mystique, dramatic flair, and aura. The villain NEEDS to be threatening; and these three aspects are the biggest pieces of that puzzle. Unfortunately, due to our position, we're not exactly able to create a big, threatening villain with a lot of makeup; nor is the advanced setplay or costumes of a major studio readily available to us, so instead, we'll have to make use of camerawork

In order to hide our villain and make him menacing we'll have it be that he's small - possibly a doll, or some sort of other miniature monster, allowing us to shoot from angles from the monster's point of view - under the table, inside of a cabinet, or even from directly above a victim. In that way, we can create plenty of suspense without actually even having to show the villain of the charade we're putting on for the Audience.

Additionally, since openings as we are doing are not usually accompanied by dialogue, sound will take a backseat - instead, lighting will be the pivotal to enhance the menace. As the main focus of the scene, the actor, advances deeper into the set, we'll need to increase the amount of shadows - Light needs to come from a very specific angle in order to obscure much of the room. The concentration of the color purple, as well, would be important to establish. As many other movies I've researched beforehand have done, I'd like to make the color purple a signifier for paranormal events and crossing over to the other world, or death. To do so, as the scene progresses, I'd like to make the tint more purple-ish, as well as have certain objects, like the areas under tables or behind boxes that the villain would hide in.

Research Post 9 - Studying Openings

 Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog! In my last post, We had finished up research for distribution and marketing for the opening. Now that we've finished up on that, and researched the movies in general, Lets look into more targeted examples of openings so that we can get ready to move into our planning stage!

First off, lets establish what makes a film opening good in the first place. The most simple things that every opening needs to do is to hook the audience and to establish the plot and world. These two things are incredibly important, and the success or failure of a film could very well depend on the proper execution of these two aspects of an opening. To hook an audience, a Film opening, particularly a horror film, needs to interest them with the central plot. To this end, there are a great number of stories that begin at a pivotal moment, maybe with the protagonists in a life-or-death situation that occurs near the end of the story, before winding back to the beginning, or maybe with a side character meeting with the main antagonist and, shortly after, a terrible fate. Both of these entice the audience to continue watching, and also fulfill the second purpose of a film opening - to establish the plot and set it in motion. Setting the plot in motion is a very basic aspect of any story, and they are always at the beginning. 

A horror film opening, in addition to doing both of these things, also has to establish the Main villain. Ideally, the villain should remain menacing; In order to keep their mystique or terror, the villain will often have much of their identifiable features obscured, and the method by which they execute the first sacrifice is usually also kept unclear. By doing this, Horror Openings can perform all three of their requirements - Gripping the audience, establishing the plot, and revealing the villain.

It Opening Scene (2017) | Movieclips Trailers

The "IT" opening scene takes a very different approach to the traditional horror movie. Rather than conceal the villain's face, "IT" makes it a point to show, specifically, the whites of Pennywise's eyes, which would usually be an odd decision, because the eyes being concealed are usually the most important part of keeping a villain's mystique, as the eyes are described as a "window to the soul." In simpler terms, unoscured eyes make thing appear more human, and the Whites of one's eyes are also very important to making them appear more human. But, in this case, Pennywise's big, focused eyes, as well as his unsettling bright red makeup that contrasts with his obscured, darkened face and dirty yellow teeth.|

The extreme color contrast in Pennywise's face, between bright reds and whites, as opposed to the dark yellows of his teeth and all-encompassing blacks, makes Pennywise appear unsettling and, suprisingly, inhuman, without having to obscure his eyes. His dialogue, despite being mildly friendly, mismatched with his face. You can tell, even if he doesn't pull the child down in the opening scene, or doesn't kill him on-screen, that he is not well-intentioned, and that he is not human, even if you can see into his dead, white, eyes.

Blog Post 8 - Distribution Practices

Hello, Everyone! Now that I've looked into the marketing practices of movies, The next important step is, obviously, distribution! Distribution is a very important part of movie-making. After all, it doesn't matter how well you make or market it; if you don't distribute it, then nobody can watch it.

The first step of distribution, for most movies, is a Theatrical Release. A theatrical release is when a movie premieres in a Theatre for about two weeks, where the bulk of the revenue comes in. Any movie's Theatrical Release is usually their "make or break" moment, and while revenue can be earned later through DVD or Digital releases, the big bucks are the Theatrical Release.

Sometimes, a Movie will get a Platform release. A Platform release is usually just a release taken by Indie films due to a lack of budget, and therefore only is featured in certain locations in few cities. A platform release does not usually get a digital release, and they are much more contained than a Theatrical Release. Platform Releases are also usually reserved for award contender. Platform Releases can expand into a full-blown theatrical release if reviews and box office numbers are higher than anticipated.

But, once the average Movie's theatrical is done, they move onto Digital releases, like on streaming platforms. Digital releases allow the movie to be watched and downloaded by subscribers and usually contributes the least to the movie's actual revenue. The Digital Releases are still important to draw subscribers to the platform, however, so they are usually staggered out by a few weeks after it's theatrical release to entice subscribers into seeing the movie anyways, so they don't have to wait until it's available digitally.

After a Digital Release is done, the Movie then can be transferred into Physical Media, although the popularity and widespread transition of movies onto Blu-Ray has become less prevalent in the movie industry nowadays. Physical mediums are usually either for International releases without the means to access digital copies, or for collectors and bonus content to be distributed and entice diehard fans to buy the movie.

Finally, through physical media or digital media, an International Release is performed with an accompanying dub. These international distributions are usually more measured and have seperate deals with regional distributors, and may also be edited in order to fit the culture of the area or to comply with regulations regarding film within the country.

Blog Post 7 - Promotion and Selling the Movie

 Welcome back to my blog! Now that I've done a deep-dive into the Market Viability of the genre, I think it'd be best to understand how I'd want to market my movie. As such, we'll be looking into past examples again, to take inspiration for what the movie should look like!

Starting off, I established that I wanted it to be a Sci-Fi, Supernatural Thriller. Movies leaning more towards Supernatural elements, however, as discussed in Blog Post 6, tend to sell better, so leaning into those aspects more should be more beneficial for the movie if it were to hit markets.

In order to look into an example of a successful campaign and what should be done for it, I have once again looked into the movie IT - which had an incredible marketing and PR team that helped get it off the ground. The first example of this very clearly refined campaign can be seen in the first advertisements they ever dropped.

In this particular advertisement, two striking colors - Yellow and Red - become the first things the audience will lay their eyes on. The characters Pennywise and the child he inevitably kidnaps are ominously, barely lighted. While this helps create suspense for the film and how the characters will be brought to life, the striking colors and imagery of the raincoat and the balloon make them instantly iconic. In following campaigns, real-life viral stunts centering around the balloon as the "Symbol" for the film made marketing for the movie recognizable by a glance, constantly bombarding the public with a stream of marketing for the film to encourage them to go see it.

These viral stunts didn't stop at the red balloon, however. The studio organized other things, like a parade of clowns who cried that the movie ruined their livelihoods by making Pennywise, a clown, scary to children. A stunt that was only revealed to be fake after the Journalists looked into the 'Victim businesses' of the movie and found that none of them actually existed. What was also incredibly important for the movie's advertising, however, outside of simply being viral, was the people who helped encourage fans to watch the movie by giving it their seal of approval. Namely, Stephen King, who wrote the original source material for IT and was a well-known and highly respected individual when it comes to Horror.

So, it might be beneficial to base the movie off of a property - or at least have someone working with the production closely vouch for it's quality.

All in all - there is a lot that can be learned to make a movie a marketing sensation, and IT does them all very well. Hopefully, I can mimic tactics like these in my own movie!

Research Post 6 - Market Viability

Welcome back, everyone! I've come back! Now that we've got a basic plan and what we want to do, I want to look in to the Market Viability of the Horror genre. After all, we need to understand how to market or make the movie.

Now, looking into the projections, we can see that the Horror market has been growing in recent years, signaling a resurgence of Horror, especially with themes of Paranormal activity and other supernatural events. Additionally, market projections for the Horror genre, as seen in this graph, set the genre up for substantial growth in the following years. Additionally, the safety of the genre is assured. In 2025, many movie categories struggled at the box office in order to break even, while the Horror genre was more than capable of holding its own in a hard year at the box office.

Poised to become a billion-dollar baby for the industry, It'll be highly likely that studios will not only pick up a horror-related project in the future in the hopes of franchising it, but also that horror movies will succeed and perform well at the box office. The general audience of a horror film tends to be for younger people; as they can have provocative themes, actions and imagery, it's only natural that the genre favors the young. As such, the opening that my group seeks to crate should not contain exceptionally gory elements (especially also because it IS a school project..)

Now, the one issue with our genre could be that it's potentially oversaturated and risks going over-budget. According to data collected by the 2025 Market Research Report, approximately 30% of Horror movies, despite usually being high-grossing, never break even on their budget, and 25% struggle with market acceptance due to several factors. As such, to produce a movie such as the one that I will be making an opening for, Project efficiency is required. A clearer plan should be laid out for what we want to do to reduce the need for retakes that will cost precious money.

All in all, I think horror films in the current market, while definitely suffering their share of risks, do indeed have plenty of upsides as well, and have a proven track record when it comes to bringing in profit. And, with projections of the market for Horror movies set to make it a Billion-Dollar industry from just the domestic market alone, I believe that the film has true market viability. What do you think?

Sources:

Horror Film Market Forecast 2026–2035 | Growth Trends & CAGR Insights

2025 Horror Movies Box Office Trends: Record Growth & Top Films

Research Post 5 - Determining the Shape of the Film and Making an Outline

 Welcome Back! In my previous post, I did research on some of the highest-grossing Horror films, and now that we have our examples, I want to define what my goals should be for the upcoming film, and how I want to accomplish them. To help with this, I'll also be going over how some directors, namely M. Night Shyamalan, created their beloved works, and how they were inspired to do so.

First off, we do need a basic outline for a plot; Nothing too fleshed out, just something to go for in our opening. For that, I believe that a mixture of both the Supernatural and Science would be something interesting, and could bode some promising mysteries for the Audience, which is the backbone of the suspense that Thriller Horror needs to thrive. Additionally, these two elements were present in all three of these high-grossing movies, so I believe that they'll have a high retention rate and attract a good amount of people to watch.

Now that I have a basis to go on, we should look into the Cinematography of movies like the Sixth Sense and IT. Both of these movies had a heavy emphasis on lighting. Many horror movies do, in fact. Lighting is very important when discerning emotions of a character, but even more important than that is making the character being protrayed seem either human or inhuman. When a character's eyes are obscured, that Character becomes much harder to discern the emotion of, and also appears to be less human.

In the images provided, both women have a rather blank expression, and nothing about their facial features are particularly grotesque or wrong. Instead, you'll notice that the first images' lighting obscures the eyes and has much less color, therefore giving that "Inhuman" effect that we discussed. And, as I just noted, Color is also important to the cinematography of a movie. A prominent example of this can be found in one of the three movies we researched; 'The Sixth Sense' uses the color red to potray a relation to the Afterlife, ghosts, the supernatural or the grotesque. While color can be used to convey a message, it can also be removed from a shot to add suspense or improve the "dehumanizing" effect of lighting.

Now, since we're only doing an opening, our loose plot idea will do just fine. Instead, we should focus on how we want our shots. Conveying a character's emotion is vital to a horror film, but we also need to build the audience's tension, so our opening should employ the usage of the previously-discussed visual techniques, as well as a POV from the characters' vision, an absence of music in favor of ambient noise, and several shots from odd angles that will be taken, from the audiences' point of view, from the eyes of our "Aggressor." While I do want our antagonist to be threatening, the constraints that come with only being a student of film and not an actual director make me believe that, instead, our final shot should focus on the Character's visage, contorting in horror. A sudden scream will play to break up the noise after an uncomfortable resting period on the Character's face.

And, with that, we have an outline for what we want, and what we should do, for our opening! It's a little more than an outline, but any ideas are always welcome in the world of film! Maybe you can even use some of these ideas for yourself! Anyways, see you now!

Research Post 4 - Researching Examples

Welcome back, everyone! Today, I thought we would research some of the highest-grossing horror films out there, now that we've determined what Genre we want to go for! Hopefully, these films offer some sort of idea on what I should do for my film - and maybe they'll inspire you, too!

The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense, released in 1999 by M. Night Shyamalan, is the second-highest grossing Horror film to date, and it isn't hard to see why. The plot revolves around Malcom, a Child psychologist, who works with a boy named Cole, as he helps him with his strange condition of being able to see Ghosts. The major twist, however, comes when it's revealed that Malcom himself is a ghost - Earlier, he had been shot by a former patient, Vincent Grey, who had accused him of 'failing him,' which had in actuality caused his death. This excellent twist, once revealed, is then also evident in the cinematography as well. The movie uses the color red conservatively, only being shown when it has to do with the 'Afterlife' or 'ghosts.' Even specific choices, like what Malcom wears, hint at this twist and further the movies' story.

I Am Legend

'I Am Legend' is an interesting case from the other two movies. Set in 2012 after a post-apocalyptic event, Dr. Neville, portrayed by Will Smith, works to find a cure, alone and barricaded in his house. While the creatures hound him outside, however, his isolation is what truly gets to him. According to reviews, the Cinematography isn't anything to write home about; Additionally, the plot, while good, does have its weak points, especially in the third act, which is where most criticisms arise. The lure of 'I Am Legend' is instead found in the acting. Will Smith's performance in the movie captivates the audience, and even without any other characters for the majority of the movie, he still overcame the challenge to make Dr. Neville believable and enjoyable.

IT

IT is the highest grossing Horror movie currently. Released in 2017, IT is about a group of kids as they combat a supernatural entity they know as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown," who takes the form of their worst fears in order to scare them and then kill them. IT has been praised for it's pacing and Cinematography, both of which took considerable time and effort to produce. The movie's Cinematography focuses on character reactions, so that the audience can truly connect with them and their fear.

Research Post 3 - Determining a Genre and Genre Conventions

 Hey All! Welcome back to my Media Studies Blog! In the previous blog, you'll remember that I studied a few Sub-Genres, and how those Sub-Genres are often structured. Well, today, I've finally made a decision on the Sub-Genre I wanted to use for my Final project - Thriller Horror. Thriller Horrors try to keep the Audience engaged with often shocking and disturbing imagery or plotlines, as well as keeping the audience glued to their seats with engaging mysteries and villains. But that's not all that goes into making a film. Lets dive into the other aspects of Thriller Horror, and really see how to make a good Horror Movie!

Thriller Horror is renowned for it's cinematography - and rightly so. As the name suggests, it needs to build up "tension", and it does so by using several techniques. Most commonly, Camera angles will feature Extreme close-ups that capture small visual details, changes in expression that signal how the character feels. They help us connect to a character emotionally as well, and make us fear that they may die, or care when they are in danger.

-An example of an Extreme Close-up shot

Another staple of Horror's cinematography is sluggish camera movement, in addition to shooting from the character's point of view. They make us anticipate that something may come to attack, and naturally make us scared and feel anxious and wanting to escape. When done right, these movements add dramatic amounts of tension to a scene, and they make the Audience scared, even before the actual scare happens.

-An example of a limited Point-Of-View Shot

In addition to the many camera-angles that they implement, Thrillers also tend to make use music to heighten tension. Long, drawling tracks, those that instill a sense of fear or suspense, or even the absence of music in favor of ambience, can help greatly enhance a scene to help build an audience's tension.

Thriller Horror revolves around themes of morality, moral ambiguity, and mystery - Antagonists are usually either human or otherworldly, and both of these forces are utterly inexplicable in their power. Or, if they are a comprehendible threat, they are utterly terrifying in what they have done and what they can do. 

An example of a comprehendible threat is the 'Grabber', from the Black Phone. The Grabber is a kidnapper who takes children hostage, and does unspeakable acts to them, exactly what being unknown. The grabber, while very much a human threat, is still utterly terrifying thanks to his well built form and presence, as while perhaps not as imposing of a threat as someone like Pennywise, the Grabber is still very much a good example of a human antagonist.

An example of an inexplicable antagonist would be from something like 'The Exorcist,' where the antagonist is a demon who has taken over a child, and therefore must be, as the name implied, exorcised. The antagonist isn't something that abides by human law, nor is it something that can be easily comprehended with how we view society and our world - rather, the Inexplicable antagonist acts as both a mystery and a fear of the unknown.

Now that we've explored Thriller Horror - what do you think of the Genre? And how would you implement it into your own film? I think I've already got a pretty solid idea!

Alright, everyone! 'till next time!

Research Post 2 - Exploring Subgenres

Hey! Welcome back to my blog! Today, we'll being exploring Subgenres - essentially, just genres, but set in a more specific scope.


Western

A subgenre of the typical western film is a "Spaghetti Western," ironically the most influential subsection within the Western Genre. a "Spaghetti Western" is a Western film created primarily in Italy by Italian nationals. Arguably the most influential movie within the Western Genre, a "Fistful of Dollars," falls under this genre, and was the film that first caused the subgenre to emerge. The film popularized the image of the gritty, lone desperado wandering the frontier, enforcing his own brand of justice among the usually-lawless frontier, infested with gangs, degenerates, and criminals galore. 

Another change that are often present in Spaghetti Westerns are that the protagonists are often sympathetic Antiheroes, as opposed to having a clean Good vs. Bad split. While the protagonist is often the character the audience sympathizes with most, Spaghetti Westerns introduced the masses to the moral ambiguity that often comes with vigilante justice. While these may be staples within the wider Genre now, Spaghetti Westerns were the primary influence for all of these changes

Historical Film

A subgenre of the usual Historical film is Historical Fiction. Historical Fiction doesn't follow events exactly; while they are used for the setting and contextualize the events occurring within the movie, the Movie is not based around a real story, and is instead heavily dramatized or even entirely made up. Historical Fiction is a rather popular genre, and has many examples among the film industry that are very influential.

An example of a Historical Fiction is Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. While taking place within the setting of the late 1930's, Events that did not occur at the time are shown within the movie, especially the mythical "Lost Ark" that melts the antagonists within the movie. Additionally, the film, the "300," which follows Spartan Warriors fighting against the Persian Empire despite being heavily outnumbered, could also be considered Historical Fiction. The reasoning behind this lies in the fact that while the Battle of Thermapolye did occur, many events within the movie are dramatized and never actually occurred, and there are many inconsistences with the events in the movie and the actual events.

Horror

the Horror genre focuses on capitalizing on fear for entertainment value or to provoke philosophical introspection on aspects of society or even reality itself. One of the most common types of Horror is Thriller Horror. Thriller Horror intends to keep the Audience glued to their screens with an engaging plot, mystery, and antagonists, making the stakes high to keep audiences glued.

The most classic example of a Thriller Horror is Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M For Murder," which uses many elaborate angles in order to make the Movie, which would otherwise be rather forgettable due to it's subpar plot and lack of action, into a Thriller classic that set the standard for today's industry. Thrillers like this have taken after Hitchcock in this way, and use brilliantly-done set pieces and cinematography to heavily enhance the suspenseful elements of the story.

Research Post 1 - Exploring Genres

Hello! Welcome to my Media Studies blog; Today I'm doing some research for three Genres for an upcoming Project, namely the film opening, that I have fast approaching. For my three Film Genres, I chose Historical, Western, and Drama. Each of these genres have a long history in the film industry, and for inspiration I will be exploring the Cinematography, Conventions, and Narratives that each of these genres uses as their bread and butter that keeps audiences coming back again and again.


Western

Western, as a Genre, refers to a Genre shot in the backdrop of the American West - In the periods between the 1840's and 1890's. Westerns can be considered the precursor to the more modern Action Film, and additionally the Adventure Genre as a whole. With roots all the way back to the start of Silent Film Era (1894-1930), Westerns are one of the oldest genres in film.

The first true Western, shot in 1899, is "Kidnapping by Indians" - a short 2-minute silent black-and-white film, depicting two women being kidnapped by stereotypical Indians, and a group of 'Cowboys' fighting back, with one of the girls saved by him. 

On a side note, this depiction of Indians derogatorily would be a prominent theme in Western media for a very long time, however there were notable exceptions to this, such as the 1930 film 'The Silent Enemy,' which depicted a tribe of Indians' struggle against starvation in northern Canada. 

Western Film would continue to thrive after the Silent Film Era, with films such as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which was praised long after its time for it's brilliant storytelling and cinematography. 

The final scene of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - a freeze frame, with a hail of bullets sounding off in the background from the Bolivian Army. Their fates are more than clear - but without visual confirmation, the viewer has just a little bit of hope that they survived. A hope that they had escaped impossible odds, yet again.

Western films will typically follow stories with Male leads, who patrol the deserts alone - either for Revenge, looking for prospects, or simply by a twist of fate. They often have very cut and dry morality - however, they also can explore themes of moral greyness, more often with stories following outlaws. Those who exist outside society's set standards, but are still loved by audiences. In this way, Westerns are very unique, and have continued to Stand out past the Neo-Western revival of the 1990's and 2000's.


Historical

Historical Films follow stories that have occurred in real life - some of which are dramatized for the screen, but are at the very least inspired by or are directly reminiscent of these stories in the real-life setting. Sometimes, Historical pieces are set in a certain year or time, and follow that setting, but have fictional places, events, or characters that change the outcome.

An example of a Historical Drama or a Docudrama, one that follows historical events closely and is meant to convey the events of such accurately, would be Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer follows the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer - the scientist most accredited for the creation of the Nuclear Bomb, aside from Einstein. It stays close to the concerns of the time, and shows the life of the genius scientist, and the regrets that making the bomb made him have. 

Historical films are often character-driven, as they seek to make messages beyond what their historical constraints would usually allow. 'Oppenheimer' is the most evident of this, with the entire film revolving around his point of view, his life, and how he views his invention that changed the world.

Historical films are also usually ripe with representation; they seek to tell yet-unknown stories from many corners of the world and from many points of view. While it is regarded as a generally bad movie, "The Woman King" Is an example of a Historical-Fiction movie that focuses on underrepresented or lesser-known groups, namely the Kingdom of Dahomey and other West African Kingdoms. "Inglorious Basterds", on that same token, tells the story of a unit during World War 2 that, while not having a direct combat role, was nonetheless invaluable in retrieving Europe's stolen art from the Germans at the time.

Drama

Drama is a very ambiguous genre - but, to put it simply, It's any film that decides to focus moreso on serious moments than comedic or other entertainment value. Because of this, Drama has many different subsets - Dramedy, Drama-Action, Historical Dramas - most genres have a Dramatic subset thanks to it's wide interpretation.

Drama is very old - As it's an integral part of storytelling as a whole, Drama cannot be pinned to any one source. However, there are many examples of films that fit Drama's specific tenants. For example, a Tragedy is a type of Drama that explores the downfall of the protagonist for any number of reasons - often exposing fundamental flaws in personality that people have, or the subtle imperfections that drive us so very mad.

An example of Tragedy would be the film "Requiem for a Dream" - a movie that showcases the downfall of it's three protagonists as they hopelessly chase their dreams, and are pulled apart and lose everything they have worked so hard for, for something they may never achieve. Requiem for a Dream is deeply thematic, and deeply thought-provoking, and it's a perfect example for Tragedy.

Many Drama-films are like this - they are Character-Driven and want to be taken seriously. They expose things that we as people deal with in our lives, and how we react to that. Philosophically, it could be said that Drama is a Genre that explores humanity as a whole - which could also be the reason why it's so widespread among many different genres, as all stories are about human lives and human experiences, which Drama is deeply invested in.



Having explored so many Genres, it's hard to pick just one - but, If I had to say, I'd go with a classic Western. A lone gunman out in the old west, a storyline as old as time, that also incorporates many of the tenants of the other genres that we've explored (Historical and Drama)

But it's ultimately up to you to come to your own conclusions - I've only explored three genres here, but there are many more for aspiring storytellers and filmmakers like you and me to delve into!

Sources

What Is Drama? Tracing Its History and Evolution [With Template]

Zack Snyder's Film "300" tops in Golden Icon Awards - Axcess News

Oppenheimer (film) - Wikipedia

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Wikipedia

Watch Kidnapping by Indians (1899) online - BFI Player

Magazine Reflection

 For my Magazine, I wanted to do a topic related to the field of business, which I'm not certain I potrayed so well with the conventions of the cover. While the articles were related to Business, sure, and the logo was simplistic and sleek, with good, contrasting and bright colours to catch the eye, Not a lot of about the colours I chose, nor the fonts, particularly got across that feeling of it being a financial magazine, which I do think I should've reworked. Other than that, however, I think I did do the conventions of a Magazine fairly well, at least in a general sense. Everything was well-organized, I felt - the main article had different colours to make it pop, while the others still had stylized blurbs, so the reader's visual journey should usually start with the main article and the picture, and then the blurbs on the side, which was the goal, anyways. Because of a little glitch with InDesign, I did have to do it on Adobe Express, but I still managed to make it well enough, anyways, and with all the limitations considered, what with the lack of self-taken pictures and such, I think I did pretty well for myself. Next time, though, I'll have to take my own pictures when I get the chance, instead of relying on my cameraroll. 

Media reflection

Premier Pro was certainly a challenge, at first. The videos were a little confusing, and there were so many things that I still dont and probably will never figure out how to do, but it's fine. Getting into it was the hardest part of making the clip, really; frankly, I felt really confused when I first opened Premiere. I had to rewatch a lot of the videos carefully, and it didn't help that they weren't exactly attention-grabbing and I kept getting bored and having to do them all over again and again. Eventually, though, I managed to get through. That's when I realized how hard making a clip actually is; It's honestly harder than I thought it would be. I kept thinking back to stuff I watched on Reality TV; how would they clip it? What would they do? What I came up with wasn't perfect, and I'll tell you this much, it gave me a whole new perspective on how clips are made in Media, but I think I've got the groundwork laid out for a deeper understanding. I think if we keep doing projects like this, I might be able to make a decent portfolio submission for a movie, as long as I can learn how to make clips come together more seamlessly, and learn how to properly layer sound over B-Roll.

Anyways; Here's the project editing screen! It doesn't look like much, but like I said, it was suprisingly hard to even get what I got:

Camera Projects Reflection

For the Camera Movements assignment, the learning curve was very smooth. It was a very easy assignment, all I had to do was write a few things in my notebook and I was all set. It was a bit of a hassle to coordinate with my group, but since the project was, as I said, pretty easy, there wasn't an issue and we got the project in on time. The only real problem was that sometimes we'd have a technical issue with a shot, and we'd have to keep cutting it, or sometimes we'd accidentally shoot in portrait and not landscape, but other than that we got it done fast. Next time though, I have to find something to signal my actors to move other than snapping so my group members knew when to move, because then they'd look at me and go into the scene, and that's very immersion breaking.

And the Camera Angles project, that one was pretty fun I can't even lie. It was so easy to do, in fact, that we had the time (and an excuse) to watch Shaolin Soccer mid-class. I will admit, getting the pictures from the guys did end up being a major issue, and it caused me to turn in the whole assignment late, but once I did the rest was a piece of cake. And, to top it off, I do think it was fairly educational. I do notice now that I'm seeing shows and movies a little differently now because of it. Still though, next time I'm 100% just going to take the pictures myself, because I had to turn in the project late because of it.