Getting Outside Ideas

    Hi blog! Today in class, we split into small groups to discuss our plan for the project. Essentially, we got a chance to ask for advice, help fill in plot gaps, expand on individual ideas, etc. My group meeting consisted of Camila, Max, Natalia, Michael, and me. I got some ideas from the other people, as well as some suggestions for how to further tell the story. Although I haven't created an entire plot yet, they helped me imagine the wardrobe of the characters. They also gave me song suggestions to include that would be easy to get permission to use.

    To be specific, I have 3 potential characters that I want to include, one "bad boy", one teenage girl, and one "nerd". I don't want to make the nerd dress stereotypically with suspenders, glasses, and a button up, because that would make the opening too cheesy, and although coming of age as a genre is already a little cheesy, I would like to keep the opening as uncringy as possible. My group gave me the idea of dressing him in black, to contrast the bad boy, who is dressed in white. I want to dress the nerd in sweat pants and a hoodie, with the bad boy dressed in a tight-fitting white tank top to show the difference between the two, and highlight that in their clothes. I will dive more into their wardrobe in a later post once I have developed their characters more, but I got a clearer vision of how I want them to be dressed from this meeting. 

    I was also asking for advice on how to display the start of a love triangle in a mere 2 minutes, and Camila gave me a great idea to do a close up of the girl's eyes between the two, to show how the two guys make her feel different emotions, despite the context of her dating one of them. I also got the idea to have it be based on driving to school instead of just driving somewhere random, to further compare the two guys, the nerd should be riding a bike, while the bad boy is driving the white mustang that I mentioned last post. I sure hope this makes sense, considering you haven't gotten the full plot story yet, but it might make more sense after the rest of this week's post, because as you can see in the schedule, this week is dedicated to developing a storyline. 

    As for the other members of the group, I found that doing a horror genre was the most common one, although Michael is doing one similar to Fast and the Furious movies, which I thought was really unique from any other people. Hearing the other people's ideas made me realize that I really have to develop my story more to make more than just the opening, because it is much easier to develop the opening once I have a full understanding of the entire plot.

    It was really nice to see other people's ideas, because the more minds working together, the more advanced the product will be. Until next time!

Throwing Around Ideas

    Hi blog! It's officially the last day of week #2 and here are some ideas that my team and I have had to give you a small taste of our plot plan. So, we want to use what we learned in the Music Marketing project, and associate characters with colors. Of course, we wont have very long to establish this since we will only have 2 minutes, but we want to imply that more of that development will occur later on in the film. For example, we want a certain character to drive a white mustang, which we are lucky enough to potentially have access to for filming, so having the color white be associated with the character would be pretty easy.

    We don't want to include too many characters, since we will have limited time, but we do think that we want a couple main characters instead of just one, since our potential storyline would work best that way. So, yeah! that's one undeveloped idea that we are throwing around, and I will keep you updated on if that happens. Oh! and more on the mustang thing, we have an idea similar to the movie "Cars" with the "Speed, I am speed" iconic line with a black screen. We want the first thing in the film opening to be a black screen with the mustang revving followed by the music we choose and a bunch of shots similar to the Moxie

intro I researched in a past post. of gradually showing more of the character.

    Similar to the cars intro, we want an upbeat song that creates the tone of driving with the windows down, and the wind blowing in your hair, to make the character come off as that classic, cool, High School kid with a license aesthetic haha. Although we might scrap the idea, that is the direction we are heading in, so I really like the concept we have, and I can't wait to see how it could look on-screen!🚗

My timeline!

 Hi blog! We planned our schedule for the project by weeks, as we have about 8 weeks to completely finish the entire thing. The schedule should match up with my blog posts, as I am aiming to upload several times a week to stay on top of what work we have completed.🎉

Week 1: 1/29/25- 2/1/25

• Decide group

• Discuss possible Genres

Week 2: 2/2/25- 2/8/25

• Decide on singular genre for film opening

• Research opening scenes in genre

• Research opening credits in genre

• Begin planning plot and target audience

Week 3: 2/9/25- 2/15/25

• Meet with Ms. Stoklosa to discuss potential plot idea

• Research media theories to include

• Finalize plot

• Create storyboard and script

Week 4: 2/16/25- 2/22/25

• Expand on characters depth

• Plan props

• Plan costume

• Plan set

• Begin deciding on potential song choices

Week 5: 2/23/25- 3/1/25

• Filming week

• Apply all previous research

Week 6: 3/2/25- 3/8/25

• Editing/ reshoot week

• Make any final details and put in audio and clips

• Begin CCR research

Week 7: 3/9/25- 3/15/25

• Finished with film opening

• Research for CCR

• Begin production of CCR

Week 8: 3/16/25- 3/22/25

• Finalize CCR

• Final reflections

• DONE!!!✨

  
  
  

Credit Sequences Research

   Hi blog! It's now time to think about what I am going to do for the credit sequence! Since the whole project is only 2 minutes, this aspect will take up a big chunk of time, although I am pretty sure that I want the credits to appear over a background video, so that I can get the story stared without wasting any of the two minutes, as I will need as much time to develop the start of a plot as possible with the plot-heavy genre I am doing.

    As I discussed in a recent post, "Perks of Being a Wallflower" (2012) is the definition of a coming of age film, which is why I decided to use that one for research. One of the first things I noticed was that the credits were in the same font as the title on all the posters an advertisements, which is a typewriter font. The very beginning of the credits before showing the title was simply a black background with the white letters, which emphasizes the names on screen. Upbeat music begins playing while the background video enters a context of driving under a bridge, which is where a major scene in the film takes place. What I learned from this opening was that the focus was mainly on the words, while still subtly foreshadowing a future scene. 

    The next one I chose to watch was a classic, "The Breakfast Club" (1985). This opening scene starts with another upbeat song, in this case, one that is quite drum heavy. Similar to Perks of Being a Wallflower, it displayed the logo early on, and was simply the classic yellow colored font with a black screen. However, unlike the previous researched film, the background stays black while the credits in the same font are shown, and it

continues that way until it uniquely shows a quote by David Bowie that captures the essence of the film. The transition from the credit sequence into the film was a shattered screen into an establishing shot of a school. This film gave me an idea of what to do in the case that we decide to do a credit sequence. 

The final credit sequence that I analyzed was "The Outsiders", and I did so keeping in mind that it was created over 40 years ago, in 1983. However, I still appreciated the unique style of the credits, as it runs similar to the end credits, as it is a constantly scrolling display of names. It may be a result of the limited technology, but I really liked how the text font was the same as the iconic bright yellow title logo. The font was also the same, and I found that every film I studied

included that detail of the logo and credit names in the same font. I will definitely be including that aspect into my own project. This film also relies heavily on the characters, so before the credits or the title appear, the first thing shown is Ponyboy looking off into space, and although it was made so long ago, it has our same target audience of teenagers. 


    This information has made me consider what I want to do with both the credits as well as the logo, however through doing the research, I am leaning towards doing the same font for both. I will keep you updated with the process, but I'll see ya next time!💕
 

Opening scenes

 

    Hi blog! So, it's officially week #2 and my team and I have continued brainstorming for the project! You may be thinking, "Kenna, you never told us your genre". Well, my group and I have officially decided on one genre to focus on is.....drumroll please.....Coming of Age! So to gain some inspiration for the film opening in this genre, I decided to watch 3 different openings from other coming of age films.

 

The first film opening I decided to analyze was "Moxie" (Paper Kite Studios) it's an empowering coming of age film, and the target audience is teenagers, specifically females or LGBTQ+ individuals. It instantly begins with foley sounds of someone running through a forest, followed by the matching clip to go with the sound, which grabs the audience's attention with the mysterious lighting. It flashes in between that clip and a black screen with the credits, which is a suspenseful way to display credits

that I enjoyed. The character development of this genre is the main focus, so we gradually start seeing more of the girl's features, such as her hair, face, outfit, etc. The creepy sounds continue as the girl screams inaudibly, and eventually we hear a jingle sound that could be a phone alarm, followed by the dream ending, and the girl sits up in her own bed, partnered with the movie logo. The girl then starts looking at a college essay question, which introduces what the plot will be about. I loved this excerpt, and I liked the style of gradually revealing more about the character, as it fits the genre very well, and I will try to utilize that for my own film opening.

The next film I decided to research was "13 going on 30", which I mentioned in a recent post. It begins with a blue screen and some upbeat 80s music. The screen became glittery as the credits roll, which is certainly foreshadowing to the movie, the blue background fades into the clouds of the classic school yearbook picture backdrop. This establishes the setting of middle school, and the main character is displayed sitting down in the chair. The picture is  taken, and ends up very

poorly, which is a classic way to represent a "messy" character who is in school. The logo is then shown with the same sparkly background as before. Although this is not the most interesting intro in terms of production, it was a nice way to establish character and tone with the consistent upbeat music that will play throughout the entire film. Same as before, the character development is the most important thing for coming of age films, so I will certainly be using a similar technique of developing character.

    Finally, I researching the film "Thirteen" (Searchlight Pictures) (2003), which is a coming of age film that is very similar to the target audience of our project, as we would like to aim it to teenagers. The intro began with another black screen with white typewriter font in the corners featuring the studios and companies that created the film. However, unique to the last two, it instantly introduces the main character by showing a shot of her face with heavy metal rock in the background, since the aesthetic

and character building are the most important aspects of the film.an entire scene occurs between the two characters, followed by another black screen with the logo of the same font as the opening credits. This movie is so reliant on how the characters interact with each other throughout the film, so including the characters in the opening scene is extremely important.

Through doing this research, I learned several things that I will and will not be including in my personal project when it comes to opening scenes. Until next time!❤️

Film Opening Genre Possibilities

    Hi blog! Choosing the genre and plot of our film opening is extremely important, as it can make or break a project. For this posting, I am going to discuss two possible genres that my team and I have been considering, which are coming of age and horror.

Coming of Age

    These films are defined as pictures that have plots based on the transition and complications of growing up psychologically as well as physically and morally. The target audience of coming of age films are typically teenagers, as most of the films highlight that time period specifically. Although it is a somewhat broad genre, it is a very popular one. The coming of age films often are paired with another subgenre such as romance, comedy, or musical.

    Perks of Being a Wallflower is a film that dives into the trauma as well as the drama of being a teenager, and the storytelling in this film was so well done, and truly is an inspiration for a potential project in the coming of age drama.

    Mama Mia follows the story of a mother and a daughter through the storytelling in the musical/comedy subgenre of coming of age. It is a very popular film, and a huge hit especially among teen girls for the iconic representation throughout.

    Finally, 13 Going on 30 describes the psychological aspect of growing from a preteen into an adult through comedy as well as romance, as it is one of the most well-known films in the coming of age genre. It is a beloved movie for it's perspective on maturing, and the techniques utilized throughout are certainly inspirational for a project in this genre.

Horror

    This genre is classified as a production that leaves the audience feel disturbed, scared, or shocked through specific techniques such as suspense. The target audience is typically teenagers and older, as they are not especially certified for children. Many horror films are based on the supernatural, while others may be psychological thrillers that are more based on the mental horror than physical.

    One example of a supernatural horror film would be Tarot, which is based on the tarot cards that are often associated with witchcraft. It has a frightening story, and has a target audience of teenagers, as implied by the cast being young.

 

    A Quiet Place is an example of a psychological thriller, as it is based on a family, including several children, to further portray the emotional horror. As the name describes, it is a nearly silent film, so it creates an intense and suspenseful tone that is an inspiration in the storytelling perspective of the horror sphere.

Both of these genres would be extremely rewarding to work on, so I will update once again once my team and I decide which one we will be studying for the next few months!

Switching gears to Cambridge Portfolio Project!

  Hi blog! It's officially 2025, and I'm so excited to begin working on the Cambridge portfolio project! For the next few months, all of my blog posts will be centered on this project, which I can't wait to start making progress on. I am thrilled to put my knowledge that I gained from the first semester into my own production in semester #2 of my AICE Media Studies AS class. I have learned so much from class discussions, to lessons, to specific past projects such as the music marketing one that I recently completed with my group. 

    Speaking of, I plan on working with the same group to complete the Cambridge portfolio project, as we worked together so successfully last semester, and I feel confident in our ability to create the best production possible, with our individual skills. Madison, Lee, Sophia, and I genuinely work so well together so I am so excited to turn a new page to start this process with such talented people!

Here's a photo of us in the making of our music video for our recent music marketing project!

    We have started coming up with plans for our Film Intro, and so far we have some ideas thrown around, but nothing decided yet. We have been deciding what is the best genre to present all of our assets, since we did so well on the last project together. It is such a big decision, considering it will establish how we do on the Cambridge exam, and we will be working with and studying that genre for the next couple months. Since it is such a big decision, I am going to make another post about the two genres that we were throwing around the idea of. Here's to a new page of such an exciting project!