Preliminary Research

 This is my preliminary research

Film	Genre/Genre Conventions	How did this scene introduce characters, settings and create intrigue?	What did you like/dislike about the intro?
Extraction 2 (2023)	Action Fight, explosion, good vs evil, hacking, war, gunshots, bullets, martial arts, bulletproof vests	Introduction by plot as it introduces to the audience what’s happening and what it’s gonna be about from the plotline, the music, as well as the place. It takes place during a war, which is very clear from the mise-en-scene with the props lighting ambience etc. It isn’t an introduction of a villain or a hero because it isn’t clear who the person shown is, it doesn’t establish any relationship and it could be genre but it is better suited as introduction by plot as the plot is clearly introduced. In the intro, it’s in war, there are gunshots and bullet holes, as well as protection vests.	I liked how they hooked the audience with an immediate gory scene of the war, followed by a gunshot targeting the first character introduced to us. This immediately makes the audience immersed into the storyline. Although not my favorite, I always will appreciate a good action movie as it is mostly interesting when done well. I think action movies are interesting and can easily hook their audience into the film and this film (judging by the intro) has done it quite well.
Pamali: Dusun  Pocong (2023)	Horror Eerie music, dark places, abandoned, trapped, ghosts, possession, murder, death, torture, in the past, curses	Introduction by genre as there is no dialogue. This helps eliminate the chances of the introduction being about plot since there’s little cues that tells the audience what’s happening in the intro. We also do not know who the person is in the movie, which means it is neither the hero nor the villain. Lastly as there is only one person and because of the action of burying and unburying corpses, there is no relationship being established in the opening.	I liked how it immediately jumped into a scary, suspenseful atmosphere where the audience would be looking for clues to find out what’s happening in the scene. This acts as a hook to keep the audience watching. I didn’t like how unrealistic the makeup artist did the scars on the corpses. However, I do appreciate the whistle sound effect, that becomes the main horror thing in the movie signalling that danger is coming or another plot.
Uglies (2024)	Sci Fi Futuristic, aliens, nurture vs nature, ai world domination, powers	Introduction by plot. The intro talks about what’s happening in the scenario, what it’s about and the background. It isn’t villains nor heroes as it isn’t clear if the main character is any of them. It doesn’t establish the relationship between anyone or anything, and it doesn’t make it obvious what genre the film is. In the intro it displays futuristic features such as the ability to go through perfect operation.	I liked how the story's introduction is realistic and relatable to real life problems and possibilities. The introduction talks about the future and how technologies have developed and perfect can be achieved yet there are still problems which are the division of class and superiority. I like how well they make the intro and how interesting they worded the narration so that it makes me want to watch and know about it more. However, they didn’t exactly demonstrated their point very well because they chose an actor that clearly follows the world’s beauty standard. Although that can be debatable, I think they could’ve done a better job picking the actress.
500 days of summer (2009)	Romance Heartbreak, misunderstandings, dinner dates,	Introduction by Genre as the narration tells us it’s a story about love. The intro mainly talks about the 2 main characters being introduced and their 2 opposite perspectives of life and the topic of love. Their relationship is not yet established which means it isn't a relationship. It isn’t a plot because the scene displays little action and plotline happening. In the movie intro, it displays main characters interest in the female main character	I liked how it immediately introduced the audience and informed them on what the story is about. Especially the quote “this isn’t a love story, it’s a story about love.” It helps make the movie stand out amongst other love stories. In the opening credits, they used childhood videos of the actors to provide realism, accompanied by cheerful music.The narrator also talked about the 2 characters' different outlook on love, leading to the audience’s questioning on what's bound to happen between the 2 main characters in the story.
Johnny english (2003)	Comedy  Jokes, uncomfortable awkward situations, pratfalls,	Introduction by plot as it immediately tells us about what’s happening in the scenes shown. It shows that he is having a fantasy of being an agent. It then shows that the main character works in a company with real agents doing cases. In the movie intro, there are jokes and awkward silences.	I liked the acting in the intro, how Rowan Atkinson can be immersed in his characters so that everything he does comes off as comedy. However I think the script can probably be improved to be a little funnier, the stories are easily missed.

this research was done to help with our understanding on genre conventions.

Weekly Progress + Plan

 This is my weekly progress and plan for this year

Week	Start Date		Task		Blogpost Title	Content	Deadline
W1	30 September	Pre Production	Research	1	Brief
				2	Team
				3	Weekly Progress
				4	Preliminary Research	Broad genre research	W3
W2	7 October		Research	5	Research: Industry	Who makes music videos?	W3
W3	14 October		Research	6	Research: Genre	Codes and Conventions of your genre	W4
W4	21 October		Plan	7	Statement of Intent	Your initial proposal	W5
W5	28 October		Plan	8	Storyboard	Shot by shot plan	W7
				9	Script / Screenplay		W7
							W7
W6	4 November		Plan	10	Screen Test	Actor auditions	W7
				11	Classwork	How to: Camera, MeS, Sound, Edit	W7
							W7
W7	11 November		Plan	12	Location scout & Risk Assessment		W7
				14	Filming Schedule	Film over the break?	W7
							W7

Week 1

This week we learned about industry and audience. We learnt about the producer of the films, which are companies who makes them, then the distributor which are companies who help spread the films to the exhibitors, which are platforms or places that people go to in order to consume the media provided such as the cinema, netflix, HBO+ and Disney+. We also planned a bit and gathered ideas on what genre we want our film to be for this project. I am doomed.

Week 2

This week we began our research into the genre of our film. We used examples from the opening of horror movies and analyzed it according to what we like, dislike, its conformity and what it subverts against. We looked more into horror genre and discussed and contemplated a lot of things.

Week 3

This week we talked about media consolidation, vertical and horizontal integration. Media consolidation is the ownership of other media companies. Vertical integration is the ownership of multiple companies in different sectors (production, distribution, and exhibition). Horizontal integration is the ownership of multiple companies from the same sector whether its production distribution or exhibition. 

Week 4

This week i finished and polished my 2 big research and 6 small researches in genre. I got a 95 which im very satisfied with bc i did know (a little too late) that i wasn't using enough media technical terms and was too lazy to polish all 8 so i only inputted a few. Me and my team has different ideas on the movie. I think we should conform to most of the tropes, but not entirely. Our film will subvert the isolation feature and probably more features such as psychological harm instead of physical (paranoia, schizophrenia) We also did statement of intent.

Week 5

This week, we are going to be doing storyboard and script. My group has to think of the location scout because we plan to do it in the forest, and it isn't easy finding a place to shoot in Bali, especially because we're doing the horror genre. Me and shannon did the storyboard. First, it's going to be fire crackling, then a shadow will zoom past it making the fire dim a little. It then cuts to 3 teens (1 girl and 2 boys) inside the tent playing board games. One of the boys will then get out to retrieve food in the car, this is where the killer will inch closer and closer to him. By the time he sees the killer in the reflection it is far too late, and it cuts to black with a slashing sound. Then it cuts to the girl alone panting and running, chased by the killer. I really like this plot so i hope we find a good location for the camping area that won't disturb other people especially because we'll have a screaming scene.

Week 6

This week we're going to be focusing on the project (finishing up some blogposts, and making all the blog posts needed). I changed positions with kenneth on the script (which i will be doing now), and Behind the Scenes (which he will be doing now). We were given a sheet of paper with checklists on all the blogposts needed to be done. Shannon is doing the storyboard. im going to do the screenplay as well as the location scout. for the location, i chose taman festival bali because it is abandoned and creepy.

Week 7

This week is review and exams. Media studies exam is next week and this week we're just focusing on completing our work and planning for our filming scenes. We've already planned the spot and created as well as altered the storyboard accordingly to our likings. These media classes are also for people who hasn't completed any part of their blog or has missing assignments. For most my team though, we finished with everything and basically have free time.

This term went well. Although the final project could've been better, we did our best and learned from our mistakes. I hope term 3 will be better with practice and a deeper understanding of film making.

Week	Start Date		Task		Blogpost Title	Content	Deadline
W8	6 January	Production	Shoot		Editing Mini Project	A short recreation of a scene from your genre	W10
					Behind the scenes	Images of your filming shoot	W10
					Filming Schedule
W9	13 January		Shoot		File Organisation	My system of storing video files
W10	20 January	Post-Production	Editing		Editing Process	A description (including screen shots) of how you edited your post	W12
W11	27 January		Editing		Audience Feedback	A review from your target audience	W12
W12	29 January		Editing
W13	5 February		Self Reflection		Self Reflection: CCR1		W16
					Self Reflection: CCR2		W16
W14	12 February		Self Reflection		Self Reflection: CCR3		W16
					Self Reflection CCR4		W16
W15	26 February		Self Reflection
W16	3 February		Finalise
W17	10 February		Finalise		Final Film Opening		W17
					Final CCR

Term 3

Week 1

This week we learnt about new media and technological convergence. New media is media that requires internet such as smartphones, laptops, computers. Old media are TVs, radios and newspaper. Technological convergence is the combination of multiple functions to be made into one device to improve efficiency, such as smartphones and social medias. This week we also did a horror movie scene recreation although the scene we were recreating was only a speech scene. This practice helps us improve our filming skills as well as putting the acting skills to the test. We had some trouble getting the timing of the speech right, but it wasn't a bad try.

Week 2

This week we learnt about editing, we tried to edit a simple scene that our teacher has recorded the scenes for. We revised some editing techniques, did some media text analysis, reviewed some theories we've learnt such as hypodermic needle, uses and gratification and also two step flow. We also learnt about social learning, cultivation theory, desensitization, dominant oppositional and negotiated reading. This saturday we are going to film our project scene so i hope we can do a good job.

Week 3

This week we learnt many theories including reception and representation theory by stuart hall. Reception theory is how audience can choose to accept certain parts of the media. There are three types of readings which are dominant reading, oppositional reading and negotiated reading. Representation theory states thar media does not reflect meaning, it creates meaning. Any object in real life has no fixed meaning as it constantly changes. However the media gives it meaning. We also learnt about 3 feminism media theories which are judith butler, laura mulvey and van zoonen. They all have similar ideas about how the media is created by men for men therefor the male representation is more accurate than female. More male characters are active characters and female characters are more commonly passive. Active characters have an influence in decisions and the plot of the movie while passive characters mostly serve as the purpose of being looked at. (such as female characters seductive poses or camera angles). We also had time to continue our project. We shot our film on monday and got most of the scenes. Kenneth will try to manipulate the lighting to make it appear darker but if it doesn't work we will plan to reshoot at a more darker time.

Week 4

This week is limited due to the cny holiday. we mostly focused on our projects, completing 5 blogposts which includes dominant reading, production behind the scenes and organizing footage, post production editing and typeface development. We discussed the meanings behind different typefaces and fonts, and we will use what we know in order to find a suitable typeface and font, to create a good meaning.

Week 5

This week had national holidays and i did some of the work at home. We started editing and our teachers assigned audience feedback for us to handout to other people for feedback on what to improve along with opinions on which title our group should pick for our film project.

Week 6

This week we studied online as the weather was bad. We started with CCR1 and discussed briefly over CCR2. CCR1 consists of how our product conform or subvert against stereotypical features of our genre. it also talks about the social groups that we represent. 

Week 7

This week we reviewed, had mock exams then started on CCR3 and CCR4. It consists of our reflection on our skills, a comparison between last semesters project and this semesters project. CCR4 consists of softwares, hardwares and online platform we used for the project such as editing softwares, cameras, phones and whatsapp and google. 

Week 8

This week we had our second mock exam. I did quite terrible on my first so i think i hopefully did better this exam. We then continued with our audience feedback blogposts and finishing other things that we havent finished. We already had 3 people for our audience feedback so now we just have to wait for shannons summary.

Week 9

This week we had our last mock exam and finished up some unfinished blogposts. We only have several lessons left to complete all our CCR and editing. We are done with the audience feedback and i just have to finish my CCR 4 and start on my CCR 2.

Week 10

This week we finished up on our blogposts and posted our final product. Kenneth gave us a little scare as he was offline on the last few hours before final submission. But we finished the blogpost on time and we finished on all our CCR.

Team

 This is my team for this project

Bams: https://bams-regentsmedia.blogspot.com/

Kenneth: https://kenneth-regentsmedia.blogspot.com/

Shannon:https://shannonregentsmedia.blogspot.com/

For this project, these are the roles of my team members:

Me: Actor, Location Scout, Screenplay

Bams: Risk Assessment, Filming Schedule

Kenneth: Behind the Scenes, Editing

Shannon: Storyboard, Audience Research

I am quite exited on this project, I hope me and my team can connect well and plan good and our final project can exceed our expectations. I'm mostly nervous about the location scout because i do not know any location that is fitting and efficient for the project.

Brief

This is my Brief

Reflection: For this project, we had to make a film opening with the genre of our choice. My group consists of shannon, bams, kenneth and me. We chose the genre of horror involving serial killers and rituals. I hope this project will help me improve my production and research skills in media studies.