AICE Media Studies

Question 1 and 2 Question 3 and 4

After many weeks of anticipation, our movie is finally here. Now available in any movie theater not near you.

      Welcome back, Cambridge, to the final blog before you can see the actual project. The only thing we have left is to edit the changes suggested by our peer, and then we will have a finished movie. The first thing we had to do was to make the text more visible. This was more difficult than expected because the backgrounds that the credits were on changed a lot. This meant that we couldn't simply make it one color because basically any color we chose to stick out in one scene would blend in at another scene. We also wanted to make sure the credits were uniform to appear more professional, and as to not shock the viewer with different text colors. Its also a bad idea to change something like that without a narrative reason, and we didn't have any reason to change the colors other than needing the text to stand out. We decided to have the text that appears with a paper background be black with a black outline, and the rest of the text to be white with a red background. I...

      Hello Cambridge! Today we reshot the scenes that we needed to for the project. We needed to get Amelie ready to reshoot some things to make them more fluid in editing, because the original clips were not long enough to smooth this issue out over editing. The only problem was that Amelie had redyed her hair a slightly different way, meaning that we had to find some way to cover this up on video. Otherwise, we would have to reshoot the whole video to cover inconsistencies. Luckily I had a sprayable, easily washable hair dye at home, which I gave to Amelie the day before. This way, Amelie wouldn't have to change her whole look for a couple of scenes in a video. While it wasn't perfect, it's not easily noticeable that her hair is different on camera, so I think its fine. Most of the scenes we had to reshoot didn't really have her hair in it as much, so I think that unless you specifically look for it, you won't notice it, and even if you look hard, it's still ...

      Today we had a friend of ours look over the movie for any potential problems. While I was concerned about having the text both on paper and animated onto the film, they actually preferred it that way. He said that it makes you want to look for the credits. However, he did have some problems with the way the text was. He said it was a little difficult to see with the lighter background. He suggested that we make the text slightly bigger and possibly change the color of the text. We might even add a shadow to the text to help make it stand out. Otherwise, he says we may want to change the music a little bit for where it turns into just voices. I'm not really sure I want to take this part out, as I feel it helps build tension and sets a creepy atmosphere for the video. It also makes the scream that comes a little bit later more jarring, which is what we were going for.      For the most part, he really seemed to like the movie, which I am glad about. He ...

      Hello Cambridge! We will be showing someone our finished movie soon, and I am very nervous. Since the whole movie is not completed, I think they could be very confused by this snippet of the full movie. While I personally am not confused, I think this could be because I know the full story, and an outside observer might be disoriented. I think this is why it's good to get a peer review, so that someone who hasn't been working on your project can tell you what a general audience will think.     I also am concerned as to if we will have to make changes. We have struggled to be able to make a date and time to record normally, and a shorter notice will make this even worse. At least if we have to just edit, we won't have to dress Amelie up again in her crazy person clothes. But still, we would all need to be their to make decisions, so it is important that we don't have any scheduling conflicts. I am fine to do almost whenever, but Lilly and Amelie can't do S...

      Hello Cambridge! We have now finished editing our final task. We added some shots to the video of the bookshelves speeding by. We felt that this helps add to the eeriness of the video and to make the cuts less jarring for the viewer. It also makes it seem like something is potentially following her, or that she is being chased. This chaser may be her own psyche or her past actions that are haunting her and causing her to go crazy. This could be a very interesting thing to explore in the rest of the film if we were to continue past the opening sequence. The sudden motion also builds tension and interest for the viewer to hook them in and keep them watching. This is similar to the shaky cam in horror movies and actions scenes where the lack of orientation builds a sense of unease and fear.      We also put the titles animated onto the screen instead of having them just on paper. We weren't able to just have the names on paper, especially since it could...

      Hello Cambridge! We have been working on getting the music that we want for the film. We want to get Everything in its Right Place by Radiohead, specifically for the beginning noises that builds fear and unease. We messaged everyone we could find related to Radiohead. We emailed the account that their Twitter page linked to for copyright issues. We also directly messaged every member on Instagram and Twitter asking for help getting the rights to the song. We weren't really expecting to get a response, but surprisingly, Colin Greenwood messaged us saying that he would try his best to help us. We were very optimistic that we would be able to get the song that we wanted! However, Colin Greenwood started asking for more information about our project. We obliged, but one night we took a while to respond to his message, and he messaged us the next day saying "hello little baby!" This is obviously very concerning and made us think he was a pedophile. We stopped responding ...

    Hello Cambridge! Today we started our editing journey. First, we had to airdrop all of our files onto a computer. This took a very long time because the wi-fi was not working. I also had to send all of my videos to other people in the group, because my phone does not have the airdrop feature. Finally, the wi-fi turned back on and we were able to start the real editing process. Our first step was to put everything in order, unedited, into I-Movie. We had some debate over how to put things together to make them flow the best. One problem was that we needed a shot-reverse-shot, which we had technically recorded but we didn't particularly like it. We had videos of her looking down and then back up, but we weren't sure what to put in-between these shots. We finally decided to put one of the shots of paper there, which we felt flowed the best. This scene was made even better because the scene we decided to put next was of her ripping that paper off of the page, which helped...

      Hello Cambridge! Today we managed to finish the recording process, or at least until we rerecord. For today, we managed to get some of the shots that we were not entirely happy about from the previous days. The main one was the shot of Amelie walking across the floor of the bookstore shot from far away. We had wanted to get more takes but people had gotten in the way last time. I also wanted this to be a panning shot instead of just a wide shot because I felt that the still camera made it difficult to discern what the focus of the shot was. I recorded this shot to the best of my ability, and I think it turned out pretty good! I don't know for sure if it will be in the final take, though. Not everyone seemed entirely thrilled with the end result. Still, I am glad we at least have options for editing to make the process easier. I would prefer to shoot more than we end up using then to realize that we don't like something in editing.     We then rec...

      Hello Cambridge! Today, we went back to the bookstore to finish the recording process. To keep up consistency, Amelie was wearing the exact same things that she had sworn the other day when we had first recorded. The main things that we had to record were the titles and credits. We were planning on having them on pieces of paper as the "homework" that Amelie would be doing, and we would have the handwriting on them get worse and worse as the titles progressed. To make it easier to keep track of what we needed to record, I wrote down the order that the titles had to be in and checked them off as we went along. We quickly decided that just having all of the titles on paper would get old and boring quickly. We had a couple of other ideas on how to put the titles on screen, namely having one of the names on a pencil and another on a book. We decided to record those a different time to see if we were good enough at editing to figure it out. After a few relatively normal ...

    Hello Cambridge people! Today we started filming our movie introduction. We went to our local Barnes and Noble after school and set up in a small corner in the second floor. We had our star actor, Amelie, do her makeup while the rest of us wrote down the shots we would need for the film. First, we had Amelie walk slowly through the shelves. The first take was way too slow, and the camera was moving around too much. However, we discovered the wonders of cinematic mode on Samantha's camera, which allowed us to remove the motion on the camera and make the shot feel like it was on a dolly. The second take was much better, especially since Amelie was getting into character as a crazy person. The next shot was from across the floor of her once again walking which was shot by Samantha. We had a few takes, but quickly ran into the problem of other people in the shot, since we were not alone in the store. We were not entirely happy with the takes, but since the floor was starting ...

     Hello Cambridge! Today, we were going to start on filming our final project. The plan was to go to a Barnes and Noble, probably record there all day, and hope that we would be able to have the movie close to finished. However, there were a few problems that arose with this plan. The first was that I had been a bit behind on homework the night before and had to stay up late to get work done. This meant that I was very tired and I was not going to be very helpful during the filming process. This problem was amplified by the second, more pressing issue, which is that we hadn't done a storyboard and therefore did not have a clear picture of what we were going to do that day. This meant that our entire project would be improvised, and we felt that the quality of the project would suffer too much if we didn't know what we were doing. I was also nervous about being able to get to the Barnes and Nobles. I live far away from anyone else in the group, so we decided to record a...

An establishing shot of the library. Actor roaming the library halls to find a place to study.  Actor finds a place to study and sits down. Zoom into book spines where title cards will appear. Over the shoulder shot of actor studying. Zoom into textbooks to reveal more title cards in the writing. Shot of actor sitting among the growing books. A bookshelf where more title cards will appear. Actor starts to scribble on her books manically. Zoom into pencil with names on them. Actor collecting herself from her thoughts. Zoom into weird symbols written on her notebook. Insert of 2 other actors speaking in distorted tongues. Zoom into the other actors books with title cards. Actor hears buzzing and static as she goes insane. Title card on a cup of coffee near her. Final shot of a book with "Migraine" scribbled on it. Pencil snaps on paper from the force and screen cuts to black.  

  Participants Actors             Amélie De Kegel             Isaac Gafanovich             Lilly Gonzalez             Samantha Burton Filming             Samantha Burton             Amélie De Kegel             Lilly Gonzalez Editing             Samantha Burton Directing             Isaac Gafanovich             Schedule 1/20/24 - Make props, titles 1/21/24 - Make a list of all titles and roles 1/22/24 - Film at Barnes & Noble 2/3/24 - Edit Location Barnes and Noble  Backup plan If Isaac is unable to make it on January, 22, we will move filming to February 3. If we are not...

Barnes & Nobles Friend 1 Oh. My. GOD. Have you read this book? Its SO GOOD. Friend 2 Yes, I read it in English, with you! Jeez, you are so forgetful. Friend 1 Well, read it again! Edgar Allen Poe is amazing. Friend 2 You've only read The Tell Tale Heart, you can't say all of his stuff is amazing! Friend 3 I've been getting into historical books lately, have you read A Modest Proposal? Friend 4 No, isn't that one by the same guy who wrote common sense? Friend 3 Yeah, he makes some good suggestions on how to solve hunger, I feel like we could use what he says today! Friend 5 I really liked The Yellow Wallpaper-wait, do you see that in the wall? Friend 6 Yeah, it looks like a woman crawling through the walls... creepy. Friend 5 I kind of see myself in it, in a weird way. Friend 6 No, I see myself in it too. Voice 1 Creb sid vensid treg mive senk dem bisard spitalum Voice 2 Spitlem hedwhite meftar hil sloem malolds mosdelium lifraims hardincer

  The opening credits of our film will mostly appear handwritten on pieces of lined paper by the actor, but also in random places, sprinkled throughout the opening sequence. For example, the name on a drink order, the writing on a pencil, a sticky-note to-do list, the spine of a book, or the heading of a page. ● Working Title: The title of this film is likely to be “Migraine” ● For the most part, it will be handwritten in sloppy, script writing. ● Titles will all be shown, written on pages of a notebook, or panned to in places throughout the setting. They will be cut off by the nature of the fast shots we will use, cutting to the next shot and title. ● Titles will disappear after about ten seconds of footage ● We will probably be using a dark colored pen/marker for the writing on the papers, and other colors depending on the alternate shots. ● We are playing with the ideas of which roles will be in what style, or on what object. We had Amelie practice the sloppy style writing she w...

What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? Production company Who the film was made with Studio Starring actresses Starting actors Who casted the film Who the music is by Costume designer Production designer Director of Photography Editor Line producer Executive producers Producers Writers Director Film title What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? A farmhouse Dolls A vanity mirror Main character getting dressed A dark room with mirrors A conversation between the main character and her mother Barn Horses The killing of a duck Walking through forest with a bloody duck Feeding duck to an alligator How does the film's opening sequences make you feel? The film's opening sequences have dramatic shifts in mood. It starts off with a happy, welcoming shot and continues on to harsh dialogue and eventually, a bloody action. 

What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? Location it takes place in Company who made the movie Cast Title of the movie Casting by Music by Costume designer Production designer Director of photography Edited by Based on the novel by Executive producer Screenplay by Produced by Directed by What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? Establishing shot of the woods they are in Girl completing an obstacle course Girl running through the woods Girl talking to an FBI agent Girl running into a military base Establishing shot of the military base Girl walking through people manufacturing guns into social services room Girl walking into different offices How does the film’s opening sequences make you feel? The film's opening sequence give the audience an eerie feeling and leaving them with questions such as "where is this girl and why is she running in the woods?" The opening sequence of Silence of the Lambs does not allude to the movie being a psychological...

What titles are displayed during the opening sequences? They display the production company and the name of the person who created the film, and then the title of the film. They then show the actor's names, then the person who casted them, and then the music supervisor and who created the music. It then showed the costume designer, the editor, the production designer, the photography director, the co-producers, and the executive producers. Finally, it showed the producers and the writer and director.     What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? The titles are usually in the center of the shot, ensuring that the backgrounds are easily visible. The film ensures that we can see the street as someone is packing things in their trunk, the woods as a car is driving past, and unsettling absurdist pictures. It also shows the room where the paintings are in, a person shaving, another person buying bakery sweets and riding up an elevator to the room where the pictures are, ...