Costumes

 Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! Today I wanted to share my plans for my film opening's costumes!

Before I do that, I have a quick update about the music. Yesterday, I sent the creator of the music I plan on using for my project a message confirming I had permission to use his work on my project. He responded and gave me permission! Can't wait to use it.

So. Costumes. I have an idea of what I am going to try to do. Since there will only be two characters shown in my film opening, I only need two costume designs.

Hero

For my main character, the assassin, I wanted to go with a design that's heavily inspired by military uniform.  I was thinking of something like this:

Of course, it wouldn't have so many equipment and details as seen in the picture, mainly because my character isn't in the military. Quite the opposite, he is actually a fugitive. 

To achieve this look, I would need to find some black clothes that cover my whole body and a black ski mask. I could also find some boots to complete the look. I think this is very do-able.

Villain

For my villain, I am thinking of going down a different path. Since the villain will not be completely shown and will be seen using a computer in a dark room, I was thinking of basing this costume on a "hacker". Hackers are usually shown in a dark room wearing a hoodie covering their head. That's how I want to depict my villain. Something like this:                                                                                            

This can be easily be done by using a hoodie and filming in a dark room.

 

In conclusion, these are the two costume designs I want to use for my film. Can't wait to create and use them! If anything changes, I will update you all!

Audio

 Hello all! Welcome back to my blog! Today I am going to plan audio elements of my film opening.

Non-diegetic

For my non-diegetic sound, I wanted to use a menacing and slow music. This will help build even more tension and mystery. 

This is the music I plan on using:

Although this is copy-right free, I messaged the creator asking for permission just in case.

Diegetic

For diegetic sound, I want to use various sound effects, such as thuds, gunshots, and loud footsteps. I will use various sound effect databases for this, and I will also follow Sofia's (my classmate) tip, and use Youtube Audio Library for sound effects. I plan on making the film very quiet (excluding the non-diegetic music) so that every sound effect will stand out as much as possible. 

I also plan on making many foley sounds! I learned how to make foley sounds this year, and I will definitely be utilizing foley sounds for this film project.

Mise-en-scene: Props

 Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! Today I want to discuss another mise-en-scene element; Props.

According to studiobinder.com (2025), "A prop is any inanimate object that an actor interacts with in a film". Props are used to "move a story forward, define a character, or become a symbol in and of itself". 

Additionally, I think props are important so that scenes can actually take place. For example, for my film, I will use a toy gun as a prop so I don't have to use a real one. (I also don't have a real one).

                                  

                                   PROP                                          REAL

Along with this prop, I will also use a cellphone. This prop will be used when the character is talking on the phone. Also, I was thinking of integrating a scene where the villain is "kind of" shown. In this scene, there would also be a cellphone, along with a computer (monitoring our character).

So far, these are the props I will use, but this can be subject to change. How many props will actually be used? Only time can tell!

Mise-en-scene: Lighting

 Hello!!! Welcome back to my blog! Today I want to discuss lighting. I am excited to talk about this because ever since the beginning I've had an idea of how I would like it to be!

My film is gonna take place at night. So, naturally, the lighting is gonna be dark. But, I want to take this to the next level. By this, I mean that I want there to be a reason for the dark lighting, not just because of the time.

I was thinking something similar to this:

Of course, my film would mostly be inside, but I think this a good representation of how I want the lighting in my film opening to be like.

backstage.com (2025) states that "low-key lighting create a muted image that complements the tense drama created through the plot and characters of the film." This definition shows why I want to use low-key lighting. I want to build as much suspense as possible in order to convey a menacing/suspenseful mood.

Okay, but how will I achieve low-key lighting? 

This video really helped me understand HOW to achieve low-key lighting.

You should definitely expect low-key lighting when watching my film opening! I can't wait to start filming and editing to implement this!

Character development

 Hello everyone! In today's post, I wanted to discuss character development. According to study.com (2025) , character development is "the collective observable changes in an individual's defining characteristics over the course of a narrative". 

Here is a video I watched that helped me further understand character development:

So, in order to have character development in my film opening, I must indicate how my character will change throughout the film

The first thing I could do is to try to show his feelings in order to develop his character and personality. For example, when the police storm in, I could try to focus on my character's expression/reaction. This can convey how the character reacts to certain things, which can also show a glimpse of the character's personality.

Also, I can use interaction between characters to indicate character development throughout the film. This will be quite tricky, as I have a very limited amount of time, but a good amount of planning will help me make this possible.

Story Board

Hello everyone! Today I am going to share something that I think is one of the most important parts of planning for my film opening...

The Story Board!!!                                     

Here is my storyboard:

The story board is gonna be crucial in helping me create my film opening. It helps organize my ideas and illustrate my thoughts. I'm gonna use this a lot when doing my project. Can't wait!

 

Summary of my idea

 So... I have finally finalized the idea for my project. I am going to summarize it for you all.

Summary

My film will start off with a dark screen with some text showing the date, time, and location. Perhaps even the title of the film. Then, an establishing shot of a house will be shown, which will be followed by a low angle tracking shot that goes through the most of the house. It will go through a long dark hallway, like this one:

Throughout this shot, credits will appear and broken items and unconscious soldiers/agents will be shown to indicate a fight of some sort went down. At the end of the hallway, aa character will be in a room. He will receive a phone call, and in this phone call will realize he has been set up and that cops are coming to arrest him. As he hangs up, police enters the house and he must think fast to escape. I will finish off with an eyeline match to the window and a zoom in to indicate he escaped through the window. After the zoom in, the screen will go black and the scene will end. I could also put the title at this moment.

This is a basic summary of my idea. I will also make a storyboard to help illustrate this idea. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I finish!

Media Theory Research

 Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I wanted to share some research I did with you all. I researched a media theory, Vladimir Propp's "Character Theory", because I heard that integrating media theories into my project would make it even better.

According to a handout given to me by my AICE Media teacher, an oversimplified version of this theory is that characters can be classified into different roles. According to Propp, there are 7 different roles:

1. Hero- protagonist
2. Villain- antagonist
3. Dispatcher- character who sends protagonist on their journey
4. Helper- character who aids protagonist
5. Donor- character who provides the protagonist with something that will help them succeed.
6. Princess- reward or motivation for protagonist
7. False Hero- character who may not be initially set up as the villain, but works to prevent protagonist from succeeding.

Although a movie doesn't need all of these, these are the roles characters can take.

For my film opening, I think I can assign some of these roles to my character. I believe my main character could fit into the hero category, while I could include another character who would be the villain.

Hero

According to Media-Studies.com (2025), Propp defined two types of heroes. The one I was thinking of using is the "victim" who "directly suffers from the action of the villain at the start of the story". This action could be a betrayal or turning my hero in to someone, such as the police.

Villain

My other character would be the Villain. According to Media-Studies.com (2025), "the villain causes some “form of misfortune, damage or harm”...Their evil action will, of course, lead to a fight or another form of struggle with the hero". Like I said before, this action could be a betrayal or the turning in of my protagonist.

Retrieved 2025 from https://media-studies.com/signs/.

Group Meeting #1

 Welcome back, everyone! Today was group meeting day in class and I'm going to share the experience with you all.

My groupmates had some great ideas. We set up our tables in a neat circular way so that we could all talk with each other. It felt like a mini Socratic seminar! 

                                                                      

Group Mates

Brynn, Sofia, David, Santiago

Brynn wants to make a romantic comedy. Her idea was great, and she already has a lot of stuff planned, such as setting, camera shots, and most of the story. She made a comment about how she will use music to affect her film opening, and I realized I should do the same. A good music choice will help set the mood for my film.

Next, Sofia pitched her ideas. She wants to do a mystery comedy. At first, I had a hard time imagining
what this would look like, but then she compared it to the movie "Knives Out", and I understood it better.

Sofia gave me a great tip: to use YouTube Audio Library for sounds. I will probably use this, as many sound effect websites were lacking the sounds I needed for my Sound project I did in December.

In continuation, David told us his ideas. He does not know exactly what he is doing yet, but it is most likely a noir black and white film opening. He made a very important point, which is that similar to sound, color also affects the mood. I will look into how I can use colors to affect my film opening.

Then, I pitched my idea to the group. They liked it and gave me some great ideas. Brynn gave me an idea of ​​cutting to another character and also of showing security film footage of my character. Sofia gave me a good idea for the title. She said it should start with "Mission", then end with something interesting. I will probably implement these ideas to my project. 

Lastly, Santiago went. His group is working on a thriller film. There was not a lot else discussed, other than that it might include shots of them running away from something. 

The group meeting was fun and productive. I loved hearing my classmates' ideas and feedback. I will definitely keep those tips in mind!

These are the notes I took:

Project Schedule

 Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! Today, I will share something that will be very helpful for me in order to complete and manage my project. I made a schedule in order to help me be organized, and I wanted to share it with you all.

2/10-2/16

On Tuesday, we will have a group meeting. We are gonna get into groups and discuss our projects and progress. I plan on posting here about the meeting on the day it happened. I hope I get a lot of good feedback and tips! After that, I want to conduct more research, specifically on media theories, so I can integrate one of them into my project. I will share with you all the results of my research as soon as I finish it. I also plan on finalizing my project idea this week. I will post a summary of my final idea once I finish it. Finally, I also want make my storyboard. That way, I will have my scenes for the film on paper. I will post it here when I finish.

2/17-2/23

Initially, I will look into character development. I will plan how the character(s) in my film develop and present themselves throughout the film opening. After that, I will take some time to focus on planning mise-en-scene elements. Since many elements will need to be planned, I will separate my mise-en-scene planning into two posts so I can share each element and discuss them in depth with you all. After I finish with that, I will look into audio. I will analyze/discuss how it can affect my film opening. I will plan how I will use certain sounds to make my project as good as possible. I will update you all with all of my planning processes.

2/24-3/2

Before I start my production, I will take a small amount of time to finalize my planning. After that, production will finally start. I will keep all of you updated. Because production will be such a long process, I will separate it into 4 posts, one of which will only be posted the following week.

3/3-3/9

I will finish up my production and my production posts, then transition to a post-production reflection. I will separate this topic into two posts so I can describe everything more thoroughly. After this, I will transition to research for CCR questions. Although I am not sure what this is yet, I will soon find out and it should fit my schedule. I will research question #1.

3/10-3/16

Now that I have transitioned into the CCR, most of this week will be research for it's questions. Since I will already have researched question #1, I will only need to research for #2, #3, and #4 this week. After this, I will share some production ideas for my CCR on here.

3/17-3/25

For the last few days of this project, I will finish production of my CCR, and I will also talk about the post-production of the CCR. Then, I will make a post with a final reflection of the WHOLE project. In the end, I will make a post with links to my CCR and my film opening.

 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Blog!

Today I will be analyzing 3 different opening credits from action movies.

All of the opening credit sequences were watched on Art of the Title. Check it out for yourself!

Smokin' Aces

I like how this sequence slightly introduces the characters. Also, The music is perfect for setting the tone of the rest of the film. I think I should learn from this movie in order to properly utilize music in my credit sequence.

                                                     MacGruber

This sequence introduces the main character by showing his characteristics and what he is doing. This introduces him as a big strong man. I think I can also use this, by showing my characters qualities/characteristics.

                                               DeadPool

I like how this scene uses 3D figures in the background during the credits. Also, it shows the character in various situations, which could have been done to introduce the character. One thing I took from this is that I could utilize 3D figures in the background

Analyzing 3 Film openings

 Welcome back to my blog, everyone! today I will be analyzing three action movie film openings to see what I can learn for my film opening.

    The Fugitive (1993)

The opening immediately sets the standard for the movie. Since, the beginning, Dr. Richard Kimble is presented is going to be hunted down while trying to provide justice to his wife, who was murdered. Kimble is being transported by a prison bus, when the bus crashes. He sees an opportunity and escapes. I like how this scene introduces the idea of a manhunt to the audience. I could use this in my film opening.

                                 The Bourne Identity (2002)

In this opening, the main character is introduced by showing some fishermen finding his body in the middle of the sea. This introduces Bourne in a way that leaves viewers curious about him. For example, I asked myself: "How did he get there". I love how the character is introduced, but stays mysterious. I should definitely use this in my film opening.

 

John Wick Chapter 2 (2017)

This film opening shows an unknown character taking out a few people before revealing him. I like how this contributes to the character's identity by showing him as mysterious and strong. I liked this sort of idea, but I could change it up a little. If I could do the same, but without showing the fighting, I think that could really fit my film opening.

Transition to Portfolio Project

 The day has finally come... The day all of my friends who took this class before me were telling me about... We are going to start  our portfolio projects!! Finally!

There's so many ways to approach this! But I think I already have one in mind... Before Mrs. Stoklosa even finished giving us instructions, I already had this in mind. I would love to make a film opening for a spy movie or assassin movie of some sort. I don't know why, but this idea immediately came to mind. Actually, I might know why. Maybe it's because I've been watching too many action movies.

I can't wait to start. I have to ask some friends to help me with my filming process. I also need to do some research on film openings of films from this specific category. Oh yeah, I also need to plan how my film opening is going to be! I'm so excited. I will update here every time that I can. I can't wait to spend these next weeks working consistently on my project!