It's Such a Thrill

     The best way to reach creativity is by inspiration. Not everything creative comes from a blank mind, there are times that the work of others can inspire or create something new and that's what I'm trying to accomplish with my opening. I've decided that it'd be best for me to watch film openings associated with films I've never watched, just to have a more broad source of inspiration. 

VERTIGO:

    The opening for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo  is very interesting to say the least. It starts off with intense music that makes the audience know there's something going on. Which is then followed by two hands going holding up to a bar, straight into a police chase where the officers are jumping over roofs. As the last officer tries to jump he nearly falls but luckily saves himself by catching on to a ledge. This causes the other officer in front to stop chasing for the culprit and try and save the falling officer. Unfortunately, the rescue takes a bad turn, as the officer who is trying to save the other officer falls down to his death, concluding the end of the opening. 

    Now, the reason why I wanted to summarize these events is to explain how effective and engaging this opening was in the span of 1 minute and 30 seconds. It gives me the realization that a lot can be done it in a small amount of time, but besides that it also shows Hitchcock's genius. Hitchcock used elements like synchronization to bring the viewer into the near fallen officers world at that very moment. This specific moment, at least when I was watching, made me feel anxious on whether or not he was going to fall or not, but it also makes me wonder how he is able to survive after the opening. Overall, Hitchcock creates a wonderful opening that causes viewers to already be attentive and interested in a limited amount of time. 

THE PRESTIGE:

    The Prestige by Christopher Nolan starts off with an opening title with a background that fades in from black to a field of magic hats. It then goes straight into narration describing the 3 acts of a magic trick. There is a back and forth between two different sets of magic tricks where one is a more serious life threatening act and the other a more friendly, childish act.  Both acts are played through, but just as the more threatening acts is about to enter its 3rd act it is revealed that the magician is struggling to escape a water tank. This pretty much concludes the scene and creates a cliff hanging.

    Personally, I thought that the way this opening scene was constructed was genius. The calm narration describing the 3 acts of magic then having two polar opposite acts simultaneously works tremendously. It gives the viewers the extremes people go in order to create intensity. Something else I found to be very interesting was the lighting of the scenes following a warm but fulfilling atmosphere that makes the audience want to continue to watch do to the lightness on the eyes, which doesn't overwhelm whoever is watching. I also wanted to add on to my previous summary of the opening scene by talking about the man who becomes curious on how the magic is done, which breaks magician's code of not revealing secrets. By breaking this code it could be a reason why the magician ends up drowning as a form to tell the audience that the world being shown is something out of the ordinary. Although, this could potentially be a reach, I find it to be a very interesting idea. 

MEMENTO:

    The film Memento directed by Christopher Nolan, begins through opening credits in blue text. The background then fades in from back into the hands of a man holding a polaroid. The person shakes off the polaroid every few seconds and the polaroid begins to lose its color. When it fully loses its color the man inserts it back into his polaroid camera where he takes another picture and the camera cuts to blood, a bullet, and a dead body. Then all of the sudden the film reverses and it shows the man with the polaroid was the man who killed the person lying dead.

    What I find to be very interesting about this opening is the reverse at the very end. I've looked into the movie and found out it relates to a man who is trying to find his wife's murdered, but the man loses his memory every 5 to 7 minutes. Now, this takes me back to my interest in the reverse at the end because to me it resembles how the protagonist is constantly losing his memory. It's a fascinating way to showcase the plot in a very simple way. It also acts as a source of confusion for the audience as it uses an unusual technique. I also found that the opening was very simplistic and did not have a lot going on compared to Vertigo and The Prestige right up until the end. This gives viewers a sense of eeriness that then gets answered. Additionally, I wanted to discuss the sound which intensifies the eeriness and gravitates that feeling.  To end things of with Memento, the overall feeling just from the opening is one of a kind and gives a lot of important context with barely any dialogue. 

The Timeline

    In order, for this portfolio to be properly done, time will be very valuable. Time is defined in this work as a tool that guides how me and my team are going to face this opening. It's value comes from the fact that it will allow us to stay organized and focused through the next two months. This leads me to showcase the schedule that will be referenced for these two months:

THE SCHEDULE:

• Week 1 (1/16-1/23) - Research
• Discuss plans
• Identify specific genre (learn about chosen genre)

• Week 2 (1/26 - 2/1) - Research 
• Analyze different film opening & credit scenes
• Begin script and storyboard

• Week 3 (2/2 - 2/8) - Research/Planning 
• Media Theory linkage
• Finalize script and storyboard
• Hold first group meeting

• Week 4 (2/9 - 2/15) - Planning
• Character development 
• Plan mise-en-scene
• Organize audio

• Week 5 (2/16 - 2/22) - Production
• Begin film production
• Audio development
• Company 
• Week 6 (2/23 - 3/1) - Production/Editing
• Finalize filming
• Begin editing process

• Week 7 (3/2 - 3/8) - Editing/Research (CCR)
• Begin researching CCR
• Finalize/revise editing

• Week 8 (3/9 - 3/17) - CCR
• Post-production CCR
• Revise everything

WILL WE OR WILL WE NOT?

    Now that my schedule is done the most important aspect is to follow it. As someone who procrastinates a lot this will definitely be a challenge and I'm very much so hoping to prioritize this project in order for me to have a good product. It's also cool in a way because it'll help me see how college will be in terms of constant work and pressure, but besides that I know it's going to be hard especially knowing the length and I hope to stay on track and enjoy what's to come. 

Portfolio Project Genre #2

    While exploring different genres that could best represent my films style I've come across the genre of thriller, but another genre that I believe could create an interesting atmosphere is drama. Drama focuses on serious realistic events that develop the character. This is something that can intensify the retaliation from the bullied kid. Overall, creating a more realistic conflict that the thriller genre may not portray in my film. 

CONTENT RELATING TO DRAMA:

Forrest Gump - 1994

    The drama genre is frequently associated with an audience between ages of 25-40 which have a deeper understanding of films relating to personal struggle. They value societal issues that allow them to have a more meaningful understanding of people's hardship, and that is something drama films normally portray. These types of situations are important towards the drama genre and could help develop my films conflict. 

    Drama films are usually in relation to another genre like family, war, or social problems. My film is yet to be categorized in any, but if it were it would most likely be associated with social problems due to my film focusing on a kid that retaliates against someone who's an intimidator.

    Forrest Gump is a great example of a drama film that faces issues between society. It argues the psychological backlash of the Vietnam War and questions racist ideologies from the 1960's. This film also used specific camera techniques to create a more dramatic ambience that helped develops Tom Hanks character.

TECHNIQUES RELATING TO DRAMA: 

The Godfather - 1972

  Similarly to Forrest Gump, The Godfather was very successful in grasping the drama scene by the use of camera techniques. Some of these techniques include extended takes that help create tension between characters; this can be seen during the Don Corleone cat scene. Another technique is the gradual zoom to emphasize a serious moment that the audience should be focusing on. Drama films also use lighting to shape the atmosphere, like using low-key lighting to highlight shadows which contrast a more dramatic scenery. The Godfather relied on low-key lighting a lot and became one of the reasons why the film had such an intense and eerie feel to it. This film also used practical lighting in to create depth and accentuated a more realistic tone to the overall result of the film. 

Fiveable Content Team. (2025, September). Cinematography techniques for dramatic films [Study guide]. Fiveable. https://fiveable.me/cinematography/unit-12/cinematography-techniques-dramatic-films/study-guide/mCoqaVetIZ0jqKR5

FilmGrail. (2024, April 1). Cinema audience demographics analysis: Insights & data. FilmGrail. https://filmgrail.com/blog/cinema-audience-demographics-analysis-insights-and-data/

DeGuzman, K. (2024, December 3). Drama: A guide to the genre. Backstage. https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/drama-genre-guide-78027/

Hellerman, J. (2023, December 6). Explore the drama genre in film and television. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/drama-genre

Portfolio Project Genre #1

    In the film industry one of the most successful genres is allocated within "Thriller." It's suspense and plot-driven characteristics create a engaging and brilliant atmosphere. This is why I've decided to look into the thriller genre for my portfolio project. Personally, this genre is very interesting to me, through the movie Parasite that gives the audience a feeling of anxiety that drives people's emotions in a fascinating way. Which to me is something that I want to recreate in my film with a kid that retaliates against his bully.

CONTENT RELATING TO THRILLER:

    Normally, films within the thriller genre are suspenseful and are in relation to darker tones that build up an intense atmosphere. This suspense is frequently related to the plot and how serious the situation is in the protagonist world. Often times these films incorporate some type of revenge; which is something that our film will likely be based around. 

John Wick - 2014

    Specifically films based on thriller also display marketing strategies with the use of posters that highlight dim lighting to provide audiences with an idea of what the movie is partaking in. This is something that John Wick (2014) does very well to indicate the level of seriousness without even watching the movie. These movies also use one or two characters to show who the main characters are. Moreover, a lot of these films are promoted through social media to target younger/adult audiences.

TECHNIQUES RELATING TO THRILLER:

    In order to develop a good thriller film specific techniques are used to enhance the feeling of anxiety and fear audiences feel. There is one director in specific who does this in such a way that people relate thriller with him. That director is Alfred Hitchcock, considered to be the master of suspense. Some films he's been involved in are Vertigo and Rear Window which changed the way that people in the film industry view cinema. His style of thriller is known as "Hitchcockian" and it involves the use of camera movement in order to imitate characters facial expressions and the framing of shots to deepen people's anxiety. This technique can create suspense and it's something that will likely be used in my films opening. 

Vertigo - 1958

Sajunan. (2014, February 4). Films posters and conventions [Blog post]. WordPress. https://sajunan.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/poster-analysis-seven/

Accio. (2025). Thriller sales trend. Accio. https://www.accio.com/business/thriller-sales-trend

Hellerman, J. (2023, December 6). Defining the thriller genre in movies and TV. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/thriller-genre-definition

Target audience – Thriller films [Prezi presentation]. (n.d.). Prezi. https://prezi.com/jzs6b3a9ykxn/target-audience-thriller-films/

The Beginning of the Portfolio

    Now it has officially begun, the start of a project that I'm very excited to begin. Through everything that I've done in the last six months, it's time for me to incorporate that into a bigger stage. This next step is going to be very exciting, but like many things in life it will be hard. Through my 3 almost 4 years in highschool I've never had so much time to dedicate into one piece of art and I'm eager to put my best into it. This will give me an opportunity to see what level of dedication I can put myself through no matter the obstacles. Nonetheless, it is time to take a dive into the world of film openings and their importance, as well as what approaches are best suited to create a lasting impact. 

    It's always important to establish a tone and to give the audience a feel of what genre the film is going

to partake in. This can be done through the use of color and lighting, which help set the mood and create an atmosphere. The use of these two techniques are always in connection with the development of characters through mise-en-scene. Which personally seems like a phenomenal way to approach the film opening, as it gives the audience the idea of what environment the protagonist is in, along with their background. 

    Another fundamental that is great in relation to how a film opening can be developed is establishing a certain conflict. When doing this you give the viewer an idea of what the film is about, which is crucial in helping the viewer gain an understanding of what they are getting themselves in. It's a symbolic technique that is extremely useful when lacking certain pieces of visual context. 

The Behind the Scenes of "Echo of Us"

 

Here is the behind the scenes of my groups work in our Music Marketing project involving "Echo of Us" 

Musical Marketing

     Music is a big component of what media is. It showcases many different ways in which artist are able to market, distribute and produce art. This is why we were tasked to create a case study of a randomly chosen genre. This case study directly involved a company and two individuals from the given genre. In my case, the genre in which I was given was Country/Bluegrass. 

    After a while of research, I was able to find a well known and successful record label, Reprise Records. This specific record label is home to many notable artists/bands like, Greenday, Michael Bublé, and Deftones. During my research of this label I found two exceptional Country/Bluegrass, Billy Strings and Shawn Camp. These were two unrecognizable names to me, but their ethic and influence gave me interest in them. 

    I researched them through their websites and social media platforms, which effectively gave me a perspective of how they brand themselves and how they market their talent. What gave a good insight on how they functioned was their websites. For Strings interface, it was very much marketed and developed to promote his latest album, Highway Prayers, it also marketed his social media platforms in an effective way, which was by having the platform's icons below the sites header. This is something that Camp lacked, his site did promote his socials, but in a horrible was as you could barely see icons due to them having a similar palette to the background. 

    These two artists also had a distinct feel for how to promote their music itself, as Strings was more heavily in tune with digital marketing whilst Camp was more leaned towards non-digital marketing. 

    Then after our case studies we were asked to create a music video from our selected genre with the people that also got the genre. The song for the video was given to us by our teacher. My group decided that it'd be best to make a storytelling type of music video due to the lyrics from our song. Yet, we are to create a story but it will definitely involve one girl and one boy as that's what the song revolves around; and although we haven't developed a clear story we want it to have a Country vibe that creates a similar environment to the song.