Establishing a Timeline

Timeline

 To stay organized, and have enough time to do everything, and subbed, I’ve learned that it’s really important to create a working schedule, because the times that I did not create one, I run out of time, and had to finish my projects rushing and not in the best way, so for this project, I’m going to create a timeline to which I’m going to stick, follow, and modify (if necessary). First, I have to break down this assignment into its biggest components.

1. Choosing genre and research

• Choose a genre (in this case action), and analyze its openings.
• See what I can take from this openings, and use them as inspiration
• Research about the genre’s plots and its openings

2. Planning

• Create a plot
• Scripting 
• Storyboard

3. Pre-recording

• Find a music or a song that I can include in opening (no copyright)
• Finish editing storyboard
• Choosing the shots, and angles
• Set a prop

4. Production

• Recording
• Record Foley/ voice over (if needed)

5. Editing

• Create credits design, and choose a font 
• Create title and design it
• Put the shots together, and check if should I retake some shot.

6. Revision 

• Review current version of video and make changes if needed
• Re-check editing

7. Creative Critical Reflection 

• Create CCR, like a podcast, or a screencast
• Edit it

The things that I listed are in order from first to last, but to really have time, I’ll create a timeline that’s going to be really similar, but much more specific with the dates.

Timeline

First week (19-25 January)

• Choose a genre and research about it
• Analyze openings of that specific genre 
• Create a plot
• Create 3 blogposts

Second week (26-1 February)

• Create storyboard
• Scripting
• Find a song 
• 4 blogposts

Third week (2-8 February)

• Recording film
• Record foley/VO
• 4 blogposts

Fourth week (9-15 February)

• Put shots together
• Edit first half of film 
• 4 blogpost

Fifth week (16-22 February)

• Edit second half of film
• Check for retakes
• Create title design
• 4 blogposts

Sixth week (23-1 March)

• Create credits design 
• Revise film
• Make changes (if necessary)
• 4 blogposts

Seventh week (2-8 March)

• Create CCR
• 4 blogposts

Eighth week (9-17 March)

• Buffer week in case of any delays.
• 4 blogposts

Credit Sequences

Credits

 Every day I’m are closer to starting to actually record my project. I’m super-exited, but I’m also really nervous. One of the things that I wonder how I’m going to do, and that I yet can’t decide on how, when and where to put them, are the credit sequences. There are so many ways to do it, and they can also work to help the audience identify what is the film going to be about.

3 Action Film Openings

Action Film Openings

 Hey there bloggers! Welcome back to another blog post about my portfolio project. Today I’m going to be discussing 3 film openings of the genre “Action”, which ended up being the genre that I choose for this project. As I said before, action is a high energy genre, and many times it includes scenes where an important character fights for their life. 

Action Films

Research About Action Films

 Hey there bloggers! Welcome to another blog! Today, I’m going to discuss another genre that I could use for my portfolio project, this genre is ACTION. Action is a high-energy genre, that usually includes a lot of physical challenges, and many times include scenes where an important character fight for their lives. The article “The Action Genre In Film And TV”, by nofilmschool, said that “action movies are like riding roller coasters” because they pump up the adrenaline, and take us places we can only imagine.

The typical target audience of action films are predominantly young people between the ages of 18-24 years old. It’s one of the favorite genres, due to its fast pace, and it’s also preferred a little bit more by males. 

Some of the content conventions used in the action genre are that the protagonist is many times is a normal person that is forced into a setting which they are not familiarized into. Also, another common content conventions used is that the protagonist is many times part of the CIA, FBI or some big organization, and they go for a mission that’s going to be really hard to complete. Also, the problem is many times very physical, where the protagonist have to either get something, kill someone, defeat someone or protect someone. Action films are all about spectacle. 

Action film’s techniques conventions include high cutting rates with short shot durations (cross cutting), this is used to accelerate the hearth rate and simulate chaos, and I think that if I end up doing my opening of action, this is one of the main things that I should consider. Also, there are many times a lot of hand-held shots that makes the audiences feel like they are living on the moment, also a lot of low-angles of the protagonist, to make him look like an hero, and powerful, and lastly, the sound that is used is a hyper-real foley, that simulates punch sounds, explosions, and more. 

The institutional conventions used in action works are selling the film based on a known main actor of the film, which is many times a known one, and they market the film all around that specific person, also there’s usually merchandise, because there’s high potential for toys, and video games. Also, action films often feature the protagonist looking at the camera, holding a weapon, with destruction or fire behind them. 

Two films that represent the genre are “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) , and “The Hunger Games” (2012)

Transformers

This film, uses a lot of special effects, and hyper-real foley. The cover of the film shows protagonists with destruction and dust behind, and uses a lot of bright colors. 

The Hunger Games

This film represents survival action, where the protagonist (Katniss Everdeen) has to fight for her life all throughout the film. Also, the cover of the film shows Katniss, with something that looks like flames, which is also something typical from the action genre. Hand to hand combat, with handheld shots. 

Credits

No Film School. (n.d.). The action genre. https://nofilmschool.com/action-genre

Media Studies with Mr. Brankin. (2020, October 11). Action genre - conventions [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kucRqfR6SY

Comedy Films

Comedy Films 

Hello bloggers! It’s been a while, but don’t worry, today, we’re starting something big… The final Portfolio Project. For this project, I need to do a 2 minute film opening of the genre I choose, and this specific blog is for that, to see if making my film opening a comedy would work, and what specific things should the film have.

First, comedy does not have a specific target audience, but it does have a lot of genre conventions. Some of them are “the fish out of water” which refers to placing a character on an environment where they clearly don’t belong, which is unfamiliar and its meant to create conflict. Also, they usually have an “idiot protagonist” which is from where most of the comedy comes from. The mise-and-scene is usually really colorful, with bright lightning, and uses a lot of medium-shots. 

The institutional conventions of the narrative image are the visual simplicity, which the film’s bright colors, and high key lightning indicate that the environment of the film is happy and a “safe” one. The character branding is usually the main character looking directly at the camera with an exaggerated facial expression. The marketing techniques used are that usually the main actor is a known one, because the audiences already know them, also that this films usually have a really funny trailer, which includes a lot of jokes, and sometimes, the jokes on the trailer are all the jokes that the film includes. Another big convention is that comedies for the family are usually released during “tentpole” times, like summer, or Christmas, and adult comedies are usually released in February, March, September, or October, which are the months in which they have the less competition from other big films.

Dumb And Dumber

Two Film/TV productions that represent this genre are “Dumb and Dumber” (1994) (shown in picture below) This film cover nicely shows that the film is a comedy. This is because of the exaggerated facial expressions of both characters (Lloyd and Harry), and they are also shown doing something “stupid” which also indicates, with the tittle, that probably both of the characters are going to face “dumb” problems and they are going to solve them on a funny way.

The Naked Gun

  “The Naked Gun” (2025) is another comedy film which character branding is also the main character looking directly at the camera with an exaggerated facial expression, looking straight at the camera, and he’s doing something unusual, which represents that the film is a comedy. 

Credits

lows, S. (2022, May 9). Patterns among successful comedy movies. Stephen Follows. https://stephenfollows.com/p/patterns-among-successful-comedy-movies

Meegle. (2025, October 24). Film distribution for comedy films. https://www.meegle.com/en_us/topics/film-distribution/film-distribution-for-comedy-films

Transitioning into Portfolio Project!

Transitioning Into the Biggest Project of the Year! 

Hey there bloggers! As I have previously said, my AICE media studies final project is finally here, and I’m super exited about it. From now on, my blogs will be centered to the project, but don’t get too disappointed about that, because what’s coming its really fun. 

For starters, I’m a little frightened about this project, because of how big and important it is, and even though I know that I’m well prepared, with everything that I’ve learned in class, it’s still intimidating.

This project is a 2 minute film opening, in which I will have to create EVERYTHING from scratch. This means that I don’t have any specific directions, only that it should be 2 minutes long, or that I don’t know which genre of films am I going to be working on. Having said that, me and my class learned a bit about this project, and we took notes, which are shown below. 

Out of these notes, I would like my opening to really engage with the audience, and to kind of leave them hoping for more. I’m going to be using a lot of the techniques and requirements listed on my notes, and I hope that my final product ends up being amazing. That’s all for today bloggers! Wish me luck, and see you on the next one!!