Portfolio Genre Research #1 (Sci-fi)

My opinion is set on making my portfolio film project on the sci-fi genre, specifically space. I initially wanted to do a horror film, but I decided to do space since it is more unique.

The sci-fi (space) genre is usually defined by humanity's, or at least a high intelligence's, interaction with the unknown. Such stories set in space are usually placed beyond Earth, like distant planets or space stations or other galaxies. This genre is usually followed by advanced technology, aliens, and artificial intelligence. The greatest movies that define this movie genre is 2001 A Space Odyssey and Interstellar. These films usually show the vast expanse of space and the uncertain fate that comes with the unknown.

The type of Sci-fi I want do do (Space)

My film does not have a main story or specific narrative that the viewers should only think of. I like to have my films make the audience think on their own interpretations of my work instead of one set definition. This is perfectly explained by Stanley Kubrick according to TvTropes quote page of the famous director. "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film...but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear that he's missed the point.". This point is still evident in the movie Interstellar by Christopher Nolan: many long shots of space ships drifting in space with no talking, music is only used selectively for pivotal moments in the movies, and each film takes its time to flesh out its story. Audience wise, the space genre mostly consists of young adult viewers and people interested in science. 

Other than 2001 and Interstellar, other movies that I have found that define the space genre is: First Man, The Martian, and Apollo 13. I chose these films because I do not want to make my project like Starwars or Guardians of the Galaxy, where the space genre is used to show technology out of bounds within human reach. I want an aspect of realism for my film, as for all films, but I just want my film to be leaning more on the realistic side. 

Analysis of Sci-Fi (Space)

First Man by Damien Chazelle is about the true story of astronaut Neil Armstrong and the long decade it took to get Armstrong to become the first man to walk on the moon. I love this movie because of its amazing use of lighting and color. Not a surprise since Chazelle is the same director who made La La Land and Whiplash, two movies which use incredible use of colors. I mainly want to look into this film because of its realistic portrayal of the space program and the process of men becoming astronauts, along with accurate depictions on how astronauts pilot their space crafts. 

The Martian by Ridley Scott is about how an astronaut named Mark Watney gets stranded on the planet Mars after a severe dust storm separated him from his crew. This movie is realistic in its own way by showing, mostly, accurate science on how Watney is able to survive and produce life on the desolate red planet. I like this film because it shows the big differences between planets like Earth and Mars. People are so used to their lifestyles that they forget that large objects like Mars exist that used to house life, but are now reduced to large red rocks floating about. 

Other space movies I like to use as inspiration

Alien (1979)

Ad Astra (2019)

Andor (2022-2025)

Project Hailmary (Book from 2021)

Transitioning into Cambridge Portfolio Project

 From now on until March 17th, I will be blogging my research and production process of my portfolio project. 

For my stories, I do not like to add much context nor do I like to use much dialogue at all. I prefer to use the classic "Show don't tell" technique, make the viewers piece together the context of the story instead of straightforwardly telling them what the story is about. I prefer this because most of the narratives I make does not have a deep plot that needs a lot of dialogue to clue the viewers in. Instead I prefer to focus on a simple yet impactful meaning to my stories that can still be told through just visuals. 

My first approach is to break my plan down into very simples chunks. For the first week or two I want to brainstorm ideas, along with starting a shopping list of items I need for my project. I also want to make some test animations on lighting and editing for my film. 

For my film, whether it be sci-fi or a different genre, I want it to be stop motion animated. I am mainly leaning towards doing a space film, but I am not sure if most of the film techniques that I know of will work on a significantly lower budget film like mine. So I want to first conduct some film tests, including test footage of animation and lighting. If the test footage comes out not the way I want it, then I will consider other ideas such as the war or horror genre (Although my teacher recommended not do horror). Lighting is the main obstacle I see in my project, since I am not sure if I can recreate space scenes like from Interstellar or 2001 A Space Odyssey in just my bedroom. I am going to have to research more into the film techniques of these space movies to see if I can actually recreate them or not. 

Blog Posting - Music Marketing #2

Link: Music marketing project blog video

Blog Posting - Music Marketing #1

For my music marketing project, each group were given 3-4 songs to choose from. My group decided to choose "We are young" by Fun. My group immediately began to brainstorm ideas for what we want for the presentation, blog, and music video. It was great for us to brainstorm ideas first before starting the project, since we are able to suggest what we want for the project first before exploring the specific aspects of our film. 

My group decided to do a boy band for the music video, specifically a new boy band who just got into the music industry who are all about partying and having fun. From this, my group now has a template to work from. My group named the boy band we are showcasing "One Dream", using boy bands such as One Direction as the main inspirations for our hypothetical band. 

Mise-en-scene project

 In this project, I was put in a group with three other people to make a character station based off a prompt given to us. Our prompt was “Quiet and enigmatic, this character keeps their past hidden and observes from the sidelines. As the story unfolds, their secrets come to light”.

My team's activities consists of: making a mood board, make an interactive slideshow, getting decorations, making a diary, and making a story for our character. 

For the character, my team decided to go with a Hannah Montana type character, a girl who hides her identity as a pop singer. We named the girl Violet Smith, and her pop persona Scarlet. Violet Smith decided to leave the stage of Alabama in order to keep her identity a secret. Now living in Florida, Violet keeps her head down although the risk of someone spying on her is still at risk. 

For the mood board, we did two sides. One side is organized and normal, characterized by purple and blue colors, and a symbol of the moon. The other side is the opposite, being messy and characterized by the color pink with pictures of concerts and crowds. Other decorations were also used, like Harry Potter books and a microphone, both objects showing Violet’s hidden and pop star lives. 

Me and my team organized all these elements by laying out a table cloth, before adding the Harry Potter books and mood board. We made sure that the laptops are open with the slideshow on.

When brainstorming for the prompt, we began looking at well-known films and tv shows that show a mysterious character protagonist like Silence of the Lambs and Hannah Montana. We decide to go with the Hannah Montana type character. When starting our construction, we wanted to first narrow our characters story down, first giving her a name. With the name violet, we built from her story that she is a pop star who goes by the name Scarlet, who selectively keeps her identity hidden with a mask. This would be a boring story without any drama, so certain events would cause Violet to move away because of fear that her identity might be leaked. 

I personally find that our group did a great job at fleshing out our character, especially the story and background of Violet. Maybe we should of been creative, since one of the other groups made a tinder for their character which was very creative. But overall me and my team did a great job. 

Multimedia Mise-en-scene Project

Sound projects 1 and 2

Throughout the lessons and videos on sound design, I got a basic grasp on how sound design works. I learned that sound design can surprisingly be pretty difficult, and that audio tech requires a lot of creativity and ingenious thinking. 

For sound-project 1, two students have to work together to make just a sound stage. Just sound, no visual film. And must also include at least four foley sounds the students made themselves. For sound-project 2, the people from the previous OWF project must now edit sounds into their silent film, with both students editing their own soundstage. 

When approaching sound-project 1, me and my partner used basic methods to narrow the project down. We first begin to brainstorm on what event we should make a sound stage for? And we decided on an event where someone falls on their head and an ambulance comes. Once we decided on the narrative, me and my partner created a list of sounds, which also included splitting the scene into sections to make it easier to simplify the project down. Once we got the list down, we began working on the sounds themselves, first starting off with using stock sounds before moving onto foley sounds we make ourselves. 

When brainstorming for sound-project 1, I wanted to get the narrative down first. I wanted an event where it has lots of sounds, very active. But I also did not want repetitive sounds either, like a mall or subway station. When brainstorming for sound-project 2, there was not a lot of brainstorming except making and gathering a list of sounds to use. 

Making an outline helped with my projects since I had something to fall back on when I was finding what sounds to use. Without an outline, it would have been more difficult to gather the sound effects needed since I would have been constantly wondering what sound I needed next. 

For both projects, Clipchamp was used since it was recommended as a good video editor for sound design. 

Looking back at what I could improve for both of my projects, the first flaw I noticed was for sound-project 2, since all that me and my partner did in that video is just walk and smile, which is pretty boring to edit. And for sound project 1 there is not a very clear sound of the guy slipping, with the him falling and hitting the ground not sounding clear enough. So next time I will create a better and more fun film, and make the sound effects sound more clearer. 

Project Link 

One Word Film Project

My class did a one word film project, where me and a partner had to make a silent film just using the description of one word. It cannot be less than a minute, but cannot be more than two minutes. Also cannot be a montage of clips. 

Me and my partner's word was "loving". Brainstorming for this was hard since loving is such a personal and affectionate action, which would obviously have been very awkward and weird to do with a classmate you never talked to before. Storyboarding at least helped a bit since me and my partner were at least able have a template for our film, and how we want to shoot it. 

Me and my partner used Imovie, which was a bad choice since the final product came out very low quality. So I will definitely use Clipchamp or Adobe next time. I would say that I should come up with a better narrative for my film other than just walking, but then again I have no idea what to do with a word like loving. The ideas I did have would have been weird and uncomfortable to do with another person, so me and my partner were pretty restricted on making a proper story. I do think me and my partner could have taken more creative liberties with the editing than just cutting back and forth between shots. 

Project Link