Since the plot of the film has changed after I typed my first project process blog, its sort of harder to find films with a similar plot to ours with the killer working with the police to throw them of the killer trail. Since the killer first stalks then kills their victims after texting them "I see you" its pretty specific on finding the right one as well.
So far the only movie I could think of that has a similar plot is Death Note (2006), mainly the part where the killer is part of the police. It's even a mystery/crime. The budget for this specific film was estimated to be around $20,000,000, according to IMBD. Of course the budget of our film wont nearly me around that amount. I even remember when brainstorming the idea for out film a member of our group complained how the idea kept getting compared to Death Note when they haven't seen it.
It's target audience are adults and teens who loved reading the manga and for new comers who love a mystery film that isn't afraid to go dark. Our target audience are people who are into mystery and would enjoy a good twist that the killer was part of the police that were searching for them.
From what I could find they never specified on how the movie was financed, but what I could find was how films get financed. Movies can get financed by either the studio that agreed to help with the film or the film's producers working on a budget and secure financing for the film, when it's an independent film. When the film is an indie film the filmmakers use their tax credits, grants, and personal networks to fund the film.
*After the creation of this blog post the idea for the film was changed to a story about a stalker who kills people after texting them "I see you"
When it comes to what type of movie we were going for is group has chosen mystery, and the plot is about a person who was found murdered after taking part of a tense argument online. The plot is about a girl who vents about her problems at school to her online friends of whom she doesn't know personally, but still see them as her friends. Suddenly the girl is murdered by one of the online friends after a heated argument, but no one in the group knows who killed her. It's similar to Unfriended, but with a hint of mystery in it. I think it might be part psychological thriller since it kind of focuses on bullying, cyberbullying, and it contains a person getting doxed online (something that many people fear about having it happen to them).
The theme of the movie could be be careful of who you trust online? or be careful of what you share online? Honestly I'm not really sure about the theme yet, but the style it could be like in some scenes we could screen-record the conversation between the group in some scenes and some scenes it could be real life. The characters? Maybe we could try to make the friend group have very diverse personalities. Since their faces and names wont be shown we might have to try to make their online profiles and avatars coordinate to their personality, so when the viewer sees them they could see what they might be like based off of their profile. Mainly got inspired by Unfriended with the profile thing.
After watching the film openings of Get Out and Antebellum, both are psychological thriller and mystery. Both film openings seem to tell a bit of the plot without giving away too much. In Get Out the opening mainly show the couple's mourning routine, even cutting to show how both separately.
Even while watching the opening scene for Unfriended (or at least the scene that first plays in the film) it mostly shows the main characters or some characters doing what they would normally do.
In the first shot of the intro for Get Out it shows someone stuffing what seems to be another person into the back of their car before driving off. Then it cuts to the title card with a forest in the background, but its made to look like you're passing by a forest in a moving vehicle.
Later, it shows black and white photographs of different things on the wall and people, such as white pit-bull and a pregnant woman's bump. It then cuts multiple time to show the main character's home, judging by the decoration and the place's appearance we can assume that the main character is a photographer.
Later on it shows the male character doing his mourning routine and the female character getting breakfast for them, it continues to cut back and forth to them doing this until the female character returns home with the breakfast and kissing male partner. Based off this information it seems that the two are in a relationship together.
There isn't really a setting since we were planning for the film to mainly show like a group chat between a group of people online. If a scene requires to see a person I was thinking it could show it from a view of a camera like in Unfriended: Dark Web.
The intended audience for the film I feel would be teenagers, the plot of the film seems like something teens maybe interested in. Yet, the mystery part may draw in older audiences, I may say that the intended audience would be teens and adults who are into mystery.
They would normally the font looks clean and kind of plan, my guess it's to make it seem serious. Most of the time the font wont take too much space in the poster and in most posters such as The Woman In The Window they mainly show a person's face looking at the camera or from a 3/4 angle.
The stereotypes in mystery films kind of bother me in a way, like the detective's partner whos there for comedic breaks so the audience can take a break from the seriousness of the plot. There's also the detective who extremely serious about their job and the pretty lady who's mainly there for, I want to say fan service, but I feel like that's not the right word, so I'll just say that for now.
The editing website that I've decide to use is called Clipchamp. I mainly chose this website due to my classmates talking about using it, so I've decided why not check it out as well. To use the program you have to make an account first and that's what I did, but I just signed in with my side Gmail to use it. You can collaborate with others, lay music on top of each other, its accessible from anywhere, I'm not sure if you can mute or strip audio from the video because I haven't tried it yet.
Openshot
Openshot requires you to download the program, so it isn't web-based. The site that has the information about the program claims to be able to lay multiple tracks including audio tracks and backgrounds. The site doesn't say anything about being able to collaborate with others. The site also doesn't say anything about muting nor stripping the audio from videos, I'm going to assume that you can mute audio you add in yourself in the actual program.
Wevideo
It is web-based and you and download it if you want to, to use it web-based you just need to make an account just like Clipchamp. Its also accessible anywhere, you can even use it on your tablet, phone, and computer. You can lay tracks on top of each other, it starts off by giving you 3 tracks, but you can add more if you want to. You can't collaborate with others. Judging by how the program is set up I don't think you mute sounds from videos you add in, but you can strip and mute audio that you adding in yourself in the editing program as well.
Film openings are like the first impression of the film, during that time the film will do it's best to grab your attention and make you want to watch how the story will progress. The opening will give a little context on what the film will be about or will give details on something important.
Every detail is important
Every detail of the film is important from the props, to the camera movement and angel, and to the lighting. Even the music can add to the opening, like how in La La Land you can tell that the movie is a musical by everyone dancing and singing happily. Even if you don't know the film's genre the opening can give you clues to what the film's genre is. Like how if a movie is a drama with a hint of mystery it could have dark lighting and low music.
For the portfolio I'm kind of thinking of making like a horror, comedy, or drama. For horror openings they mainly either show a flash-forward, a flash-back to the first kill or sometimes a dream that might predict the events or killings. Comedy can start with a plot catalyst with something that can introduce the story in a comedic way or maybe a silly dream sequence that could also predict something. Dramas can start with something that establishes relationships from the perspective of the characters or also a plot catalyst.
*Since we're not supposed to do animated films for this I have to add in films that weren't on my favorite films list because almost all of my favorite films on that list were animated :')
Escape Room
Escape Room is a horror/ sci-fi film due to the elaborate puzzles they must solve to escape each room to move on to the next and the lives that were taken while trying to solve the puzzles. Just like the Saw movies I think the purpose of the puzzles and the people chosen to participate was to make them appreciate their lives more as more of the participants die after finishing each stressful puzzle or to serve as entertainment for like the game master.
(Warning it does have swear words in it)
The opening scene for this film is a flash-forward gives an example of what to expect for the puzzles through out the film. The puzzles are difficult and are life or death. I find this scene interesting due to the amazing acting and how this scene gives me anxiety no matter how many times I re-watched it. Again I also found the killing game concept in media to be an interesting idea.
Holes
Holes is an adventure and drama film that follows the adventures of Stanley Yelnats as he goes to a camp for a crime he didn't commit. Now the film by Disney is an adaption of the book Holes, which I find to be a good read. If you ask me the book is better than the film because the film leaves out some details such as Stanley's life at school and I don't think the film goes in about the Yelnats's curse. The camp is where they make the troubled boys dig holes in a dried up lake in the middle of an desert that I think have to be exactly 5 x 5 to look for an old treasure.
The opening scene is actually a flashback of a character who gets bitten by a rattlesnake on purpose to try to get out of digging holes. It then uses a match cut as it goes from the camp to Stanley as he narrates how he got to camp and what causes him to go there, but I feel that the book does a better job at describing it I understand that they might have had to cut some details out due to time and it might have made the film boring.
Beauty and The Beast (2017)
I remember watching thing I think either once or twice before. Its just like the classic animated Beauty and the Beast but it does have it's changes such as being darker than the animated one and it tells about Belle's mother. I also found the detail of the beast's castle falling apart as the rose petals fall to be an incredible detail in the film.
An obvious detail is that the beast's curse isn't told by stained glass windows like in the original and it also has a new character, the pianist. This opening is a flashback to how beast got himself and his staff cursed. The enchanted red rose of course adds on to the fact that the beast has to find true love to break the curse.
Compare and contrast🔍
Each films are different in each way. Escape Room is a horror film that makes it's characters go through puzzles as they remember traumatic experiences from their past, like how one of the characters takes survival of the fittest seriously due to them previously surviving a plane crash in the middle of the ocean and them having to kill their friend to live. Holes and Beauty and the Beast are both drama films of the main character being in a different place where they want to leave. What Escape Room and Holes have in common is that they give some backstory to characters seen in the film. Beauty and the Beast's music gives it more of a magical vibe and matches with the year the story is meant to take place. Escape Room has little to no music unless there is an intense scene where a character's life is in danger to add suspense. Holes adds music to add to the scene like when the warden was first on screen it played like a pop song to represent how she's meant to be foxy. The editing in both Escape Room and Beauty in the Beast is amazing in my opinion like how in the opening scene in Beauty and the Beast they did a close up shot of the prince's eyes as he transforms in to the beast. Even in escape room with making it look like one of the rooms are heating up and fire blasting out of the vent the characters used to escape from that room to scorch them if they got out too late.
Mis-en-scène is everything inside a shot. From lighting, to costumes, to props, to even the actors.
Mis-en-scène is meant to create mood in a shot and everything in the shot has it's purpose. Even if an item doesn't do anything in the scene it still has it's purpose, to create the mood in the scene.
The way mis-en-scène works is by different elements working together in the scene to create the mood and to tell what's going on. It also lets the viewer experience a specific time and place.
Mise-en-scène is extremely important to films, it adds to the plot and grabs the viewer's attention.
