Research for #1 Question of CCR Post

What's up blog, tuning in for my second post of the week. I am still feeling very meh ever since I got the flu. However, I must keep fighting so that my body can reach its equilibrium. In today's blog I am going to be conducting research about the first question of the Creative Common Reflection portion of my project. Hopefully you guys enjoy, thank you.

Understanding the Question

Before we can start research on what the question is and how to answer lets first learn what the question means. So what does "How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?" mean? The question is basically asking how my film follows or breaks the normal rules of my genre, and what my film says about real people or real-world issues. 

 

So we are going to want to answer this question by not only discussing about what conventions are but also discussing the conventions I used and discussing whether not my conventions are for or against general conventions. We are also going to want to finish answering the question by ending with a discussion about representation. Representation refers to the choices made in how individuals, groups, events, and issues are illustrated within a production.

 

Genre 

Production Post of Your Choice

What's up blog, I know its extremely late for this to be my first blog post but on Tuesday I found out I had the flu and since then I've had a nonstop migraine along with body aches, today I woke up feeling a little better so I decided to start working on my blog. I hope you guys enjoy today's blog, thank you.

Costume creation

I am going to be creating Maverick's costume. Since me, Sam, and Santi decided that we would be directing the film and having our dads be the actors, I thought that I should start coming up with a costume for my dad who will play Maverick to wear.

The costume of Maverick is all about identification of himself and the adversity he faces throughout the film. The leather jacket and the jeans make him appear to be a rough, self-sufficient man who can take on anything that comes his way. We want Maverick to give off an adventuresque style because that's what you will see in the film. Right now I am thinking about having him wear a motorcycle jacket because when it is not zipped up it gives off that vibe plus the strap that will be hanging off the neck also helps reinforce what we are looking for in Maverick's character.

 

The coarse jacket shows that he is not afraid of danger and the jeans make him look practical and willing to move. We are going to have him wear blue jeans because they will look better with the jacket he will be wearing and they are more common then any other color jean. Maverick is going to appear to be prepared to act in an instant, instead of appearing as a person trapped in a laboratory. 

 

Another main look that Maverick has is that leather strap bag. He is constantly searching and experimenting with things. The bag is something that he cannot afford to leave behind because it has many of his values. It demonstrates that he is ready and willing to do anything, he carries notes and tools with him at all times. His costume does not make him look too good or too professional, but rather makes him look real and down-to-earth. The jacket, jeans, and bag all put Maverick in the image of a person who is always in a hurry, running against time and is determined.

 

Production Post of Your Choice #2

What's up blog! Tuning in for my last blog of the week. In today's blog you are going to see the process of uploading the videos we filmed from the last production post and adding our credits into those shots to make our credits sequence. Hope you guys enjoy, thank you.

Credit Sequence Part 1

Me and my group focused on the liquid mixture in the glass bowl to hint at the outbreak of the doctor's medicine, without giving everything away. The close-up feels both scientific and a little mysterious, which fits the story.  As the camera moves up you see the bubbles show something reacting or spreading. This ties right into the plot. It aligns with the plot because as the foam goes up, the audience is not sure what will happen next, creating a mindset where the viewer is trying to figure out the problem.We chose to do this shot as the opening shot for the credits because it grabs attention right away- like a hook in an essay. It took us a whole day to get these shots right since we knew the credit sequence had to be more than just cool visuals—it needed to add to the story.

 

We used the shadow of hands on the wall to show fear and anxiety. By not showing a face, the scene feels anonymous, like whatever is about to happen or whatever this person is about to do can affect someone. The movement of the putting the gloves on adds tension and makes things feel uneasy. We chose this for the credits because we want to reinforce the mystery of the outbreak without needing any graphic images. We wanted the credits to mean something, not just your traditional black screen with rolling list names, but something that will attract an audience and entice them to keep viewing.

 

This shot shows the audience the title of the movie, it develops meaning and contributes to the overall moral of the film. A mystery, everything in the film is a mystery to the point of the medicine to when Maverick is trying to find a cure. The messy desk indicates that there is a person who may have caused the crisis, which is in line with the plot with the main character trying to find a cure. The lights make it dramatic creating a serious sense of urgency. This shot was selected to formally introduce the title since it draws the audience into the investigation aspect of it. With the credit sequence being among the most difficult elements to do correctly, we took a full day to make sure that every shot, including this one, contributed to the plot and created suspense even before the main story has begun.

 

And last but not least we have the audio, I chose this audio as the sound for the credit sequence becausing it is suspenseful, yet scary at the same time. It makes the audience feel engaged and keeps them on there toes, questioning, what's about to happen?, who is about to get hurt?. This is exactly what we wanted our audio to sound like in the credit sequence.

 

 Citations:

Uppbeat. (n.d.). Soundroll – Nightfall [Music track]. Uppbeat. https://uppbeat.io/track/soundroll/nightfall

Production Post of Your Choice #1

 Whats up blog today will be the day I post my third blog of the week. Today's blog is going to talk about my production process recording our credit sequence. This blog is going to be full of roller coasters but I hope you enjoy, thank you.

Publix

The process began when we to Publix striaght after school. We did some research trying to figure out what products and baking items we could use for shots of our credit sequence. We wanted the credit sequence to give off a scientific type of vibe. So, as we made our way to Publix we researched what two liquids we could use together to make bubbles, like science experiment bubbles. We found out that Vinegar + Baking Soda would get us what were looking for. We weren't sure if we wanted to get food coloring because we weren't sure if would tie well into the plot of the film, but we did end up buying it so that we had it just in case we'd use it. And we did end up using it. We also bought glycerin gummies because it was the only glycerin product they offered at our nearest Publix, but when we used it, it did not work like people said it would, it might be because we got gummies but in the end it worked.

 

House

These were all the products we bought:

 Once we had the shots planned out in our head we started conducting some experiments to see what would work, we first tried with the glycerin gummies plus water, we thought they'd dissolve in the water because that's what we read. However, that did not work out they stayed to the bottom. We then tried the baking soda + vinegar mixture and wow, to our surprise it worked magically well. We then put some drops of green food coloring into the mixture and it produced this.

The glycerin + water made this👎:

Once we figured out that baking soda + vinegar was the done deal, we started preparing for the shooting. The shooting was set to take place in Santi's room.

 

Shooting

We knew what to use for the bubbles so know we started making some Mise-en-scene elements around the room, we wanted the setup to look like a messy science office. Here I am making a prop that would later be utilized during the production. You can also see Sam looking on the other monitor for a background, for the shooting location. We included the food coloring tubes as props because we thought they aligned with the scientific vibe of these shots.

Once we got done setting up all the props we began to shoot. We had ideas of shots we wanted. Even if we weren't going to use them in the eventual production it was better to have them there as an option. Santi recorded some shots and so did I. I forgot to mention before we entered the room we explored with different colors and concluded that red would be what we'd go with. Here is a shot of what it looked like.

 

After we were done with the super foam scene, we wanted to aim for a calmer shot that would transition smoothly with credits. This was going to be one of the shots that culminates the credit scene, so we wanted it to be one to remember, here is a picture of Santi getting the angle right to this.

This was the second the last shot that we were doing of the day. The last shot we wanted was a shot of a shadow. It was going to be a scientist putting a glove on in the dark, the shadow allows it to be a little suspenseful and that was what we were aiming for. Here are some snippets from to shot.

Citations:

Home Science Tools. (n.d.). How to make super bubbles – science project. https://www.homesciencetools.com/article/how-to-make-super-bubbles-science-project/?srsltid=AfmBOoqPnaH7nUSgtWswqJTUEnA8btl5WN0mYopxObuHqYJEi6xqnxAd

KiwiCo. (n.d.). Fizzing colors: A crazy chemistry DIY science experiment. https://www.kiwico.com/diy/stem/crazy-chemistry/fizzing-colors?utm.com 

Planning Post of Choice (Titles - Fonts)

Whats up blog, tuning in for my second blog of the week. Last blog focused on the process of creating our logo, that process was fun and enjoying. Today's post is going to talk about the title and font we are going to use for the first 20 seconds of the film.

Font

To begin our film opening we are choosing to display our logo to the production company we made, SSJ Entertainment. The font we chose for the logo was Gagalin because it fit vibe of the logo, the cool color hues, the blues mesh together well, and the calming Gagalin font helps to demonstrate the calmness our logo gives off. We choose for this to the first text because we want the audience to know who they are working with.

 

Following the logo we move on to the credits. We are not done with the credits however we have started by showing our director and illustrator for the film, these will appear on the same shot so that we can have enough time to include all the credits without using up too much time. We are choosing not to show the credits in a large font size, this is because we don't want the credits to be overpowering, meaning, we want the audience to be able to enjoy the shots we have to offer in the background, and not be stupefied. As a group we also decided to make the font subtle yet legible and easily recognizable for any audience. This is because we want the audience to be able to read the credits with nothing impeding them. The Lazydog font fits our needs perfectly.

 

The last type of font we will use the film is called Norwester. I chose this font in specific because it ties to the theme or our film mystery/thriller/sci-fi, I also chose thing font as the title because when animated it looks extremely well. You know when you watch numbers flip on certain clocks or even on pieces of paper. That is the intent because our title includes a number, a number that is very important for the overall theme of the film.

Title

Now for the title. The title we chose for the film was hard to decide on. We struggled because what if the title sounded corny or it didn't fit the theme of the film. The title is one of the most important aspects of this project because that's how people are going to recognize the film. However, we got it "Case 48". I'll break down both words so that you can know the reason why we chose this title. First the word "case" refers to the investigation Maverick will do throughout the film as too why a problem surfaced after the medicine was made. And then "48" comes from the amount of time the doctor said that the people who took the medicine have left "48 hours".

 

 

 

Production Company Logo Post

What's up blog, this is my first blog post for the week. I know it is late for the first blog post, but my group and I have been working on most of the work for this week's blog posts. Today I hope to finish two blogs, and work on my next one tomorrow. Anyways, the main point of today's blog is to show you the process of how me and my group produced our logo.

Planning

The planning began when we(my group) talked amongst ourselves on what we wanted the name to be. We weren't sure what could be a possible name for our company, we new that many companies end their names with production, then and there I remembered the word "Entertainment" from there we were all in agreement that we wanted it to end with entertainment; now, what to name it after, well not much thought when into this one and we went for the traditional first letter of our personal names' name. SSJ. Santi, Sam, Jalin.

 

After we agreed on this name we decided to ask our instructor, where to find some inspiration for our logo, she recommended us Canva. I've used Canva in the past, but this time I learned there was a lot more to it. We scrolled through some templates, we weren't sure if we wanted the logo to be a circle logo, or just a no shape logo but that's when we stumbled across a cool template that we could use and customize. From there we went to work designing and creating our logo.

 

Here is a video of what we made:

The logo itself:

 

I thought I had made a better video of recording the timeline but when i clicked record and ended it at school nothing saved.😕

 

In the end, I believe we were pretty creative with our logo. By the way, Sam pitched in the idea of adding the popcorn to the sides of the logo for a nice finishing touch. I didn't want to leave that out of the blog because that is one of the factors that makes our logo unique.

Mise-en-scène(Set and Lighting)

What’s up blog, checking in for my fourth and final blog post of the week. Oh, what a drag, the long weekend is coming to an end, but like they say good things don't last forever. Anyways today's post is a planning post, I will be focusing on the mise-en-scène elements of our film opening specifically the set and the lighting. Well I'm not going to yap to much, that way we can dive in. Hope you enjoy today's blog, thank you.

Set

We set up the interview space with two white chairs facing each other, making it clear right away who’s talking to who. The set is going to look like your typical podcast show, we want the film to be as real and authentic as possible. Using this it makes the conversation during the film feel serious, intentional, and straightforward. The curtains around the set close everything off, which makes the whole scene feel more real and a little mysterious. It also allows the audience to just focus on the people in the interview and nothing else.

Having everything closed in like this makes the interview feel tense and serious. Since you can’t see much outside the set, it feels like the characters are stuck in the conversation, which adds pressure. The film is going to be filmed in other areas like during Maverick's scenes but this is the main set; where the interview and start of the film where happen.

Lighting 

For lighting, we used studio softbox lights and overhead lighting to keep the scene well lit while still maintaining a serious mood. The overhead lighting is intentional especially during the interview because the audience can clearly see facial expressions and emotions. The light reflects off the white furniture and curtains, creating a cool, clinical atmosphere rather than a warm one. Together, these lighting choices help create a controlled, tense environment that supports the mystery narrative. To add-on, it reinforces our intent that a setting can from 0 to 100 meaning calm and cool, to blank, crazy, unspeakable; in a second.

The lighting for Maverick's shots are still being determined but for now, I think low-key lighting can he used during scenes where he is doing intense work. This gives the film a mysterious, eerie setting that ties back to the crux of the film opening.

 

Video Link

YouTube. (n.d.). Set and Lighting [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/shorts/aIaY6U97ZzY

 

 

Audio Planning Post

What's up blog tuning in for my third post of the week, I know its kind of late for only my third blog but I've had a busy week. However, no excuses. Lets get through this that way you guys can learn my team's ideas regarding the audio for our film opening. Hope you enjoy, thank you. 

Intro

When people watch movies, they are lured in through visual effects, but sound is just as important and often gets overlooked. Audio elements like sound effects and background music might seem small, but they can totally change how a film feels. My team and I want to use both because we know they can make a movie way better if we do them right. We’re going to make our own sounds, which lets us get creative and have fun with it, instead of just grabbing free sounds off YouTube. 

You know when you watch an action movie and you hear the stings and the sound effects that are used to show all the crazy and fast-paced things that are happening? Those are the type of audios that we want to integrate in our film because they help create emphasis on something that is going on in a film, they can also help with the film's overall main idea.

Audio Plans

We want to begin the opening film with Maverick watching Dr. Mueller about to break the big news with mildly intense background music along with the audio from the interview. The audio of the podcast will sound like it is coming out of an audio source because the films going to begin in Maverick's POV. The film will transition into the actual show, maybe with a zoom, we're not to sure yet. Anyways this will help enhance the immersiveness of the film, portraying as if the audience were actually watching it live.

After the interviewer introduces himself, there will be a  hand-clapping sound effect added as if there is an audience watching it in person. This is common, especially in films where there are performances or introductions of people, in this case a interview.  At this point you can infer, the show appears like it’s got a status, maybe a fanbase behind it. It's ironic though; considering the emotions and tensions that are yet to come. This part right here is intentional because we want to create that feeling of happiness that gets reversed in an instant, forming that thriller/mystery genre.

Once Dr. Mueller reveals the horrific news about what happened as a result of the newly created medicine, all audio will be cut for a second or two. This further reinforces the overall impact of the event, there will be no movement, everybody still. The silence is meant to create an uncomfortable feeling for the audience.

Then, there will be a cut to Maverick’s face showing his reaction to the news. He’s freaking out in this scene, worried how, what, when, and where it all went wrong, and it’s done with dialogue; which feels very personal to the audience. They can see everything that’s going on in his head, as if they(the audience) is right there with him.

A quick, cut back to the show, complete with a sound bridge of intense, "breaking news" background music, follows. It comes in quick and is dramatic, almost to the point of becoming overwhelming, even to the point where to viewer is not sure if they can keep watching. The show then cuts back, one last time just to show that Dr. Mueller is no longer on the set of the podcast show. This raises the shock to an even higher level and making the scene even darker than before. It'll have the audience questioning everything in an instant.

After cutting back to Maverick again, he is typing, but instead of downloading a typing sound, we are actually recording one. It is more creative and, honestly, more fun to do. It will also sound more crisp and precise, no editing will be done just to show how real the situation is. If you couldn't understand what we mean by recording and creating our own sounds, I'll briefly explain it to you. 

 What is foley?

Foley sounds are referred to the custom, diegetic(existing or occurring within the world of a narrative rather than as something external to that world)  sound effects recorded for a specific moment. Below is an image of what making these sounds look like.

You can see him using celery to create the sound of a supernatural organism.

 

CITATIONS:

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Diegetic. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diegetic

What is a Foley artist? (n.d.). Yelzkizi. https://yelzkizi.org/what-is-a-foley-artist/

Chillingworth, A. (2024, February 6). What are foley sounds and why should you use them? Epidemic Sound. https://www.epidemicsound.com/blog/what-are-foley-sounds/

 

Mise-en-scène Elements (Costume and Props)

What's up blog, tuning in for my second blog of the week. This is going to be a part one to the Mise-en-scene elements blog post. In today's blog we will focus on costume and props and for our next blog we will focus on set and lighting. Hopefully you guys enjoy today's blog, thank you.

Costume Design

To start off, we are going to talk about the costume design of our characters and then go into the props that will be associated with them.

Starting with the doctor we are going to have him in nicer clothes. This represents his sophisticated approach. He is not going to be in his traditional doctor outfit because the film opening is going to take place in a podcast office room. Given he is a doctor he chooses to dress semi-formal when he is out of work, for this particular occasion he will be wearing a collared shirt accompanied with a quarter-zip sweatshirt over. We are still choosing between pants and jeans for his lower body and as far as shoes goes we have yet to decide.

Moving on to the interviewer’s costume, his design will take on a formal and polished approach. He will be wearing a collared dress shirt paired with tailored pants and clean dress shoes, giving him a neat, professional appearance. This choice is intentional because it presents him as composed and respectful, helping the interview feel structured and serious. The interviewer adopts this formal style because the doctor requested his presence and invited him onto the podcast. Accessories will remain minimal, possibly limited to a watch.

And finally, we decided that Maverick will indeed be wearing jeans and a leather jacket. This is not based on a personal choice. There is a message behind it. If you examine protagonists in films that have faced similar challenges, it appears that they tend to favor more rugged attire. The jeans are utilized to help the viewer infer he is on a mission and he means nothing but straight business. This is more akin to Maverick’s character and his on-screen representation. As far as accessories are concerned, it has been decided that Maverick would don a pair of glasses to represent his nerdy personality.

Props

There are going to be little to none props for the majority of the characters, the doctor and interviewer may have a pen and paper to help make sense of a point visually but nothing other than that.

But Maverick's primary props will be his computer.  Funny enough, the computer I am using to type this up will be used as a prop during the film. You will see why soon, I will have a picture attached at the bottom so you can see. The computer will be used to reinforce that nerdish persona Maverick carries. The computer also functions well due to it's stickers, as they go along with Maverick’s style. Another prop Maverick will be shown with is energy drinks; as he will be getting little sleep due to the very tight deadline he is working with.

 

Focusing on Character Development

Hey what's up blog, this is my first blog post of the week, feels good to be back on here and writing for my project. We've made many advancements in our portfolio project. First, we have our official idea for our project set in stone, some of you may have already knew, but yes. For today, you will be learning about the characters in our film. Hope you enjoy, thank you.

Character Development 

The film opening is going to center around three main characters who will all aid in assembling the storyline. Every character is going to bring a different perspective, this allows the audience to slowly make sense of the opening to the film.

First, there is the doctor. The role of the doctor is a very important one, setting the tone for the entire film opening. This character is the one who created the medicine, so he knows a fair amount about what this medicine was intended to do. However, what makes him very interesting is the guilt he feels about the matter. This character knows a good deal about medicine itself but is quite unsure why this medicine is implicating such negative side effects. This makes him seem nervous and a lot of pressure during the interview, this causes the audience to learn something has gone terribly wrong.

Then there’s the interviewer, a middle-aged man who keeps the conversation going. He asks the questions that reveal what is going on with the medicine and its side effects. He kept the conversation under control and went on to ask those very important questions that delve deeper. He speaks calmly, but insistently-not allowing the doctor to dictate the truth. His reactions make the audience continue to feel stressed and worried about what is yet to come for those who took the medicine.

Even though the doctor and interviewer help set up the crisis, the story really starts to focus on Maverick, the guy who actually took the medicine. He’s the one living through the chaos, so he becomes the main character, or also known as the protagonist. Implications lead him to finding out he has 48 hours left, thus entailing Maverick to find a solution; not just for himself but for everyone else who took the medicine. The thing is, he doesn’t know too much about medicine, so he has to rely on his own knowledge from experiments, research, and quick thinking to try and save everyone affected by this crisis before the time runs out.

Citations:

Ionescu, I. (2025, December 15). Character development worksheet: An essential writing tool. Iulian Ionescu. https://iulianionescu.com/character-development-worksheet/ 

Script

What's up blog, this is my third blog post of the week. Me, Sam, and Santi made this script during class. We knew what he wanted to do from the jump and after a quick meeting with our instructor we got to work. Although we knew what we wanted to do from the jump, our idea was a little confusing, so the meeting helped us make our idea more comprehensible.We all took turns pitching in ideas to come to a final say on who we wanted to base the film on and how we wanted the dialogue to be ordered. In the beginning we weren't sure if we wanted to make the film centered on the doctor or the people affected by the medicine, but we know what we want now. Anyways I'm going to let you guys read the script, hope you enjoy. Thank you.

Interviewer: Welcome to the Daily Updates Show. I am your host David Litmen and I am thrilled to have the highly distinguished clinician and researcher Doctor Mueller.

(Claps in background)

Mueller: Thank you so much for having me here today. It is an honor to be on the big stage.

Interviewer: Well, let's get started. As many of you know, Dr. Mueller requested to be here today.

Mueller: Yes, I did, and the reason for that is a big announcement regarding my newest medicine released just 3 days ago. All 2 million of you who bought it will likely want to hear this...i know after announcing this many consequences will come that will derail the rest of my life.

Mueller: With that being said...You all have 48 hours to live.

Patient: WHAT?!

Interviewer: Laughs sarcastically* Ok let's get serious now

Mueller: I am being serious... I’m so sorry, I will work endlessly to find a cure ASAP.

Patient: This mother fuu

Interviewer: 5 hours later* I know nobody was expecting me to be back so soon but I must inform everybody doctor Mueller is no longer with us. He took his own life moments after his announcement.

Close up of patients face on the computer

Over the shoulder* of both moms looking up ways to cure this 

 

Project Idea and Major Inspiration

What's up blog checking in for my third blog of the week. It's Saturday and I am happy very happy that I get to sleep in tomorrow, haha. Anyways, lets get right into today's blog. For today, I will be talking to you guys about our project idea and inspiration for the project. Hope you enjoy thank you. 

Major Inspiration

I am very happy to say that the idea that we came up with as a group, is one that we are going to keep and say with. Me, Santi, and Sam spent a little while on FaceTime talking about and tweaking the idea we had in mind, until, bam, we came up with the solidified idea. But before I talk you through our idea let me bring you back to where it all started. On the first day we were assigned the project Sam pitched in about an idea he had that was inspired from the movie Sorry, Wrong Number. We all knew that we wanted to keep the movie sort of a mystery/thriller vibe but we weren't sure about how we were going to execute it. 

Project Idea

We pitched in the idea to our instructor, but after a little meeting, she thought that it would be kind of hard to include a train going through a ladies apartment(our initial intention) and eventually kill her. So this led us to come up with the idea that we wanted to center the film about an interrogation. And that idea stuck with us, partially. And then Santi came up with an idea about including a doctor in the film. That eventually led us to create the idea about interrogating a doctor who had been accused of murdering somebody, although he wasn't even in the room that the person got murdered in. Finally, this led us to our final conclusion, which is where we are now. 

We are deciding to stick with the idea of a doctor who gets put in a super uncomfortable situation. But like I mentioned earlier instead of him being interrogated he's being interviewed. The first scene will begin with the doctor being interviewed on a podcast. The people who will be watching the podcasts live will come to find out that he’s got a big reputation and that a lot of people respect him. Until, this happens....right in the middle of the interview, he is going to admit that a new medicine he produced is actually deadly because of a mistake he committed throughout the production process. He apologizes and tells everyone that whoever took the medicine had only 48 hours to live. At this point the doctor becomes extremely frustrated, we want to key in on this scene because it would play a huge role in the development of opening up the blog, for the eventual film. 

As he tells this news to the person that is interviewing him. We are going to cut to people, specifically women, that took this medicine that are reacting to this horrific news. We are going to have these women look visibly stressed as a result of finding this out through an exchange of intense shots. We will show that the women are now trying to figure out how to relay this information to their loved ones.  

Santi suggested that we create scenes where the medicine is being made. While this would be extremely cool and fun to film and to make, it is going to be hard to fit it in to the actual storyline because we're not sure if time will permit. Even if we were to be able to fit this in to the film's opening. We would need some sort of chemical reaction with water that would be hard to find. 

The dialogue for the opening currently has approximately 150 words. As far as casting goes, Santi told us that he's thought of the idea of his dad playing the doctor. And have some of our moms play the women in the film. Well, now that our idea is for the most part complete, me and my group look forward to beginning our production process soon. Below is a picture of us on the call btw. See you guys later! 

 

One Media Theory that you wish to integrate into your project

What's up blog, tuning in for my second post of the week. Today at school was a Professional Study Day and it's basically a day where we get released a couple hours earlier then normal time. Well today's blog is going to be about; one media theory that I wish to integrate into my project. I was stuck in between two theories but I came to the conclusion that I would pick this one because it made more sense in accordance to my film.

Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium

To understand the overall meaning of this theory and how it would link to my project, we first need to break down and understand what the main points mean. Narrative in this context is basically how a story is told rather than what is told in the story and it focuses specifically on the structure and the order of events that cultivate the audiences understanding of the film. Equilibrium is known as a state of balance or normalcy within a narrative, where the characters would live their lives like they do everyday. 

 

So that brings us to what the theory is, Todorov's theory explains that there are five principles that follow a pattern in a narrative story, however in the purpose of our class we will only be focusing on three of the principles. Equilibrium; Disequilibrium; and New Equilibrium. Todorov's knows that a story must begin somewhere. This somewhere is also known as your typical introduction or exposition. This is where he introduces the first part of the theory: Equilibrium. I stated earlier the general meaning of equilibrium, but the equilibrium part takes place in the beginning of the story. After the equilibrium stage is the Disequilibrium, this is basically the initial conflict and its something that disrupts the protagonist's life. The conflict takes place before the climax of the story, the conflict happens in the film so that it can get controlled and cause the turning point of the film. Once the conflict is controlled this is when the new stage starts, this final stage is called the New Equilibrium, and if you put both pieces together it basically means the characters' everyday life after the disequilibrium takes place.

 

Background 

Now that you understand Todorov's theory lets talk a little more about where and how he developed this theory. Todorov used a story from Boccaccio’s “The Decameron” to illustrate this three-part structure. By using an example from a story by Giovanni Boccaccio in his famous book, Todorov was able to show how the presence of patterns that are used in modern day film were present in media even before they were recognized. 

Todorov also created his own vocabulary to explain the different parts of a narrative. He described a story as having a kind of “syntax,” similar to language, where characters act like nouns and their actions act like verbs. This means the characters are the focus, while what they do is what moves the story forward.

He also referred to each key moment in the story as a clause, with clear connections between every event. These connections can show changes in time or place, like moving from one day to the next or switching locations. They can also show cause and effect, whether something positive or negative happens as a result of earlier actions.

 

 Citations:

Media Studies. (n.d.). Todorov’s narrative theory of equilibrium and disruption. https://media-studies.com/todorov/

YouTube. (2017, July 24). Todorov’s narrative theory explained [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7AfnJd55PI

Document102.docx(Personal class document/ click to see image with all media theories)

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Research Post Target Audience Make up for Group Meeting #1

 What's up blog, checking in for my first blog of the week. I was supposed to do the Group Meeting #1 Blog, but I couldn't attend school the day it had to be done. As a makeup, I will be doing a Research Blog of my choice. I will be doing a Target Audience research post for my genre of Mystery/Thriller.

Target Audience for Mystery/Thriller

 

Demographics

To start off what are demographics? Demographics are the statistical characteristics of human populations. So things like age, gender, income, and education are all different ways to classify a population. Today I will be talking about gender and age; and how they are targeted in the Mystery/Thriller genre sphere.

 

There isn't a specific gender that Mystery/thriller films aim for. Some studies say Women enjoy these types of films more then men because Women don't have as much products or activities that appeal to them as much as men do which allows them to  be more emotionally engaged, whilst other studies state that men enjoy these types of movies more because it was shown that they remembered more turning points from the film then women did, which could suggest they were more engaged while watching unlike women. 

 

Age is another demographic, while age may not seem like something that could be used to differentiate populations in a film aspect, they surprisingly do. The age range for mystery/thriller films is definitely more of a mature audience specifically ages 15-40, I say 40 because I've seen multiple studies show that after the ages 40-50 they don't understand the intent of the film or its just to confusing for them, therefore giving the film the genre of mystery.

 

Psychographics

Psychographics are another way to partition Target Audience, psychographics is the study of people according to their attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. 

 

• What is common in many mystery lovers is a love for intellectual stimulation. Another common trait is that they love a problem and solving it (These viewers enjoy trying to figure out what will happen next , who could be lying, and how the story could unfold. They also like to wonder how they would solve the problem and what they would do if they were the ones investigating). Mystery Crime films are very popular amongst these types of movie-watchers.
• A lot of people however watch these movies just because of the suspense and tension that builds from them. They like the feeling of being hooked on and on edge on what will happen later on in to the film.

 

Citations:

BotPenguin. (n.d.). Psychographics. https://botpenguin.com/glossary/psychographics

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Demographic. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demographic

Meegle. (n.d.). Film distribution for mystery films. https://www.meegle.com/en_us/topics/film-distribution/film-distribution-for-mystery-films

Paved. (2023). How to find your target audience. https://www.paved.com/blog/find-your-target-audience/

Prezi. (n.d.). Target audience of mystery genre. https://prezi.com/zo52brfllqiu/target-audience-of-mystery-genre/