Audience and Institution Practice Essay

1.   Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied. 

“The process of film distribution is incredibly interesting and somewhat complex,” Jonathan Paul said in his Hollywood film distribution article. Marketing plays an important role in the success of a movie. Major movies use some of the following techniques to market a movie; synergy, cross media convergence, and cross promotion. 

Synergy is a common use of marketing in big Hollywood films. One of these films is ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’. This film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, a big Hollywood production company. Warner brothers teamed up with AT&T to use synergy to their benefit. This boosted the film and created major publicity. Another film that used synergy was ‘Beauty and the Beast’ produced by Walt Disney Pictures. ABC and Walt Disney pictures teamed up in promoting this release, by having some of the stars from the movie host a special edition of ‘The Bachelor’. Both of these large Hollywood production companies use of synergy to market out their newest films, attracted more of an audience allowing an even greater success. 

Cross media convergence is another great way for producers to market their films. Not only did ‘Beauty and the Beast’ get marketed by synergy, but Walt Disney Pictures also used cross convergence to get people interested in their upcoming film. Disney teamed up with twitter, allowing exclusive ‘Beauty and the Beast’ themed stickers to be added to photos. Walt Disney Pictures also played the 1991 animated version more often on tv, to generate excitement for the newer film. Seeing how well known this film is, Walt Disney Pictures definitely used this marketing strategy wisely.
         Cross promotion also helps Hollywood films get on the audience’s radar through marketing. ‘Black Panther’ a film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Motion Studios, used cross promotion. The trailer was debuted during an NBA finals game. This meant many people would be watching, increasing audience intrest. ‘Fast and Furious 7’ is another big Hollywood film that used cross promotion as a marketing technique. Fast and Furious was under the Universal Pictures production company. They teamed up with OPPO, a phone brand featured on some of the movie posters. Both of these top Hollywood movies were a success and one common denominator is using cross promotion as a marketing strategy. 

As shown by the four Hollywood films mentioned (‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Black Panther’, and ‘Fast and Furious 7’) marketing helps them through their success. They all use many of the same marketing techniques such as, synergy, cross media convergence, and cross promotion. I feel that marketing is one of the most important factors when distributing a film.  

CCR

Commercial

This was my first project in my AICE Media Studies class.

Music Video

Re-Edit minus one

 Today two of my other group members and I met up to edit our footage from our reshoot. One of our group members did not show up. Can you guess which one? If you guessed the same one as the last 4 times you got it! Her excuse for not coming was that she was "sick" and was on quarantine. However her social media posts say something different. Even though Lucy wasn't there, we were still able to complete almost our entire project. Besides a few minor changes that still need to be made. We started the editing process by finding the music.  We went to a website that was a royalty free music finder. We downloaded the music and imported it into iMovie. Placed it under our footage panel to insure that it would be our number 1 sound. We began by placing each video in order of our storyboard. This created a rough copy of our footage, before fixing and cleaning up the film. We then trimmed the footage, cut, and removed, to insure the best fit for the overall meaning and concept of our film. When we began to add titles we noticed how they didn't come out as we wanted and noticed some minor issues that needed to be fixed. We decided to fix them tomorrow and for now, just start planning out our CCR.

Re-Film minus one

Today we did our re-filming. As you can see by the title, one of our teammates didn't come to help re-film. Since we never actually filmed, this was technically just our filming. We filmed at birch state park. It is on the water and is filled with nature trails. So we felt this would be a perfect spot to film given our films plot. I got to the park early because I wanted Chick-Fil-A breakfast and they were about to stop serving it. So I sat in my car and waited for my teammates, Montana was late ofc but we all anticipated that. So after we all met up in the parking lot, we went on a search to find the best place to film our first scene. I think I played a big role in deciding which areas we should film, because I had been to the park before so I knew if there was a better area. I also helped Montana with filming and directing because I edited the film we put together for the peer review so I knew what parts looked bad and what looked good. This way we didn't make the same mistakes we made the first time. 

I feel like today was productive. Even though we were only out there for a few hours, we still got every scene we needed, except for one. The one scene we didn't get was a POV scene and I was recoding it and I kept accidentally stopping and starting the video. So we got clips of before and after each take, for this scene. We didn't notice until after we left that we didn't get the whole thing. Other than that all of our other scenes came out fine. So I would call today a good day. 

Planning the Rest of Our Reshoot

It is getting closer to the end of quarter and spring break. This means we start to get days off from school. Next week we have two and a half days off from school: Tuesday, Thursday (half day), and Friday. I thought it would be a great idea to use next week to our advantage and reshoot on our days off. My group members did not immediately shut down my idea. I guess that is a good sign, given everything that has happened in the past. One of the group members won't be able to film on Friday, but are available, Tuesday and Thursday. We made a flexible decision to film as much as we can on Tuesday. Leaving Thursday as a day we could either use to edit or continue filming. We thought it would be best if we all got together to edit, this way everyone is participating in this process.

I spent today trying to get confirmation from my group about these dates. However, only one out of my three other members was in class today. The other did not come to school today, for unknown reasons. I tried contacting one of my group members that wasn't here today. I have yet to hear from her since yesterday afternoon. I tried texting her to get some kind of confirmation about reshooting. The reason I feel it is important to get confirmation a week in advance is because of our groups track record. They are know for trying to push off dates and deadlines, and flaking last minute. However, this time is different, this is our last chance to get this done before the deadline. I am not sure if my group has processed that yet. I am trying to everything I can to get this done in a timely manor, and to the best of our abilities.

First Try at Reshooting

After our peer review it was clear that we would need to reshoot our entire film. Last Thursday was the day my group planned on re-filming. On the day of, one of my group members had their flight get changed to that day, so of course my "productive" group thought that since one member wasn't going to be there that we would just need to push off filming for even longer. I told my group that we could easily continue to film as planned, without him. One of the group members no longer wanted to drive to the park that we need to film at. So we decided to only film our closing scene, at one of our friend's house by the school. When we got there our group began to procrastinate, by waiting around and deciding what to eat. We finally decided it was time to start filming, so we went to find where the best place to film would be. We felt that our friends bedroom was the best location for filming. This had to do with the accessibility of filming angles, along with good dark lighting.  We also felt that her room fit the setting of a teenagers room. This puts the film in a more "real-life" setting. We then decided on good costumes that we could match when shooting the rest of our film. The wardrobe that we needed to match was the attacker's. Since we are using two different actors to play the same character, we needed to make their costumes compatible. That is why we decided to go with the all black as you can see in the picture below. For the victim (me) we decided to have me wear a big t-shirt and shorts, to fit what a teenager would normally wear to bed. While filming we decided to change a few things from the storyboard as we filmed. We kept the closing scene short and sweet leaving suspense for the rest of the movie. We are currently trying to plan out when we will film the rest of our film, and I will update once we decide.

Peer Review

Yesterday we did the peer review. My group reviewed a film about a love story, kind napping. Their film was extremely better then expected. During their death scene, the lighting could have been darker, somber lighting. The group that we reviewed needed to fix the order of their titles. They also lacked, a low angle, a shot reverse shot, eye line match, and an action match. Their transitions are a little choppy. However, if they spend just a little more time editing, this problem could be fixed. One thing that I really liked about their film, was how clear their storyline was. It was very easy to follow. No one in my group was confused. The music was a little fuzzy so I suggest, finding a cleaner sound. If this group works on these during their reshooting process, they should get more than a passing grade.Looking for all these details in their film made my group rethink our film. It allowed us to look at our film instead of as a film and more as a final exam. It allowed us to replan for our film and let us look deeper into what Cambridge would be looking for. We decided to reshoot tomorrow and we are planning on fixing a few problems that the group we reviewed had.

They Still Haven’t Done it

Just for a recap, my group will be filming without me since they decided that my schedule was one they did not want to work with. Well... a few days have past and yet they have not filmed because one of them flaked, AGAIN. She told them she had homework to do. The other two members in my group were upset with this and believe that they filmed today. However, I am not sure of this because if one person flakes they all like to. I am getting a filming update from them tomorrow, in class. We had planned on using tomorrow as an overflow date incase we needed it. However after the filming argument I decided today that I wasn’t going to count on it, and made plans for tomorrow. My other group members however are going to have to film tomorrow if they want this done by the peer review.
As for me, today is my birthday!!! I turned 16 and got my drivers license, but not a car quite yet. I have decided to mention my birthday since that will be why I can not film tomorrow.My group will most likely get mad at me for saying I’m going to dinner with my family. Then we will have the same argument that we have had for the 20th time in a span of two weeks. Anyways, once my dad gets my mom a car then I will get his, and freedom here I come. When I drove his car today by myself it felt weird and different. I was able to listen to music, roll down all the windows, and not get yelled at. Today I spent the first few hours of my birthday, at the DMV. I was super excited when I passed. Here is a picture of me with my dads truck after I drove it to my dance class. 

My Group Flaked

You might remember how in previous blogs we had decided to film this past weekend. Well, apparently my group forgot, or they just did not care to remember. After I got off work on Saturday I had arranged a ride for me to get to the filming place. However when in asked for a time and address my group decided to ignore me, so i sat around waiting for answer for 45 minutes. Until, I finally had enough, and decided to call each group member. When i had finally reached them i had come to find out that they decided that they would rather put off filming until it was on a night that they didn't have a chance to hang with friends or go to parties. After I became Furious I Reminded them that dates were set two weeks ago and that i had already worked around them and planned around them and i had no other time on my schedule that i could film. So after many, many arguments and yelling. I finally gave in and told them to film whenever they wanted but they would have to film without me. They then told me on Sunday while i was at work that they would be going to a different park and will be filming before i would get off of work, plus this short notice denied me of a chance to arrange a ride, since i am the ONLY one in the group that does not drive. So while my group was filming i was scooping ice cream, making milk shakes, and explaining to tourists what is in vanilla ice cream.
My group plans on filming again sometime this week however i ca not make it due to my previous obligation of having a game and that it is my birthday. However, I am planning on missing practice on Friday so that i can film, even if it causes me to be benched in my Saturday game. Since i wasn't able to film, i have provided a picture of me at work, making an iced latte.

Didn’t Film Yet

We have not filmed yet because our first planned day of filming is on the 22 of March. So to prepare for that what we did was, We planned out our filming place. We had already decided on a place we just did further research to make sure it would be open where within the location we would what scenes we would be filming on what day and we planned out who we would safely get to the location safely.

After we decided almost two weeks ago about when we would film, one of my teammates, Montana, decided now to disagree with the dates we had set and said that we needed to film during the week. When making these dates we all collectively decided on these dates and tried to work around everyone’s schedule, however some people did have to make sacrifices, for example I am going to have to leave work early for one of our filming days. Due to my commitment to softball, I can’t film during the week because of games and practice, along with my birthday being one of the days that she wanted to film. After informing her that I would not be able to film late at night during the week due to previous obligations with my birthday, softball games, and practices, Montana said that I needed to skip class me of my games or practices in order to make her life easier, however our group came to an agreement but voting 3 against 1 that it was unfair for her to want to force me to cancel my previous obligations.

Storyboard for final task

In the past few days, we have worked on our storyboard. Our storyboard consists of 10 different papers, equaling 2 minutes of footage. We did our storyboard so we could turn our ideas and words into pictures to understand them better. This is helpful to our filming process because it is very beneficial to have a clear outline of what we will be doing so we can use our filming time more efficiently. However, we also came across some difficulties while story boarding. We realized that it is difficult to depict our ideas since all of us are not skilled drawers so it took longer than we hoped. We helped overcome this problem by taking turns while drawing, so one person did not get too tired. Additionally, to not over complicate things, instead of coloring our drawings, we shaded them with a pencil since color is not an important aspect of our film. We asked our teachers about this to assure that this was the correct way to storyboard, and they allowed us to do this since it would save time. Overall, the story board came out similar to what we expected it to look like, but unfortunately took a lot of time to complete.

Plaining: Titles

After planning which titles go where in our shooting script, we have now decided on the design of our titles. We decided on the font, point size, entering, and exiting of these titles. We used our previous title research, and examples from the film, “Split” to help us determine these details. We felt that it was best to try and go into depth to limit the amount of work and processing later in the project. We did this by explaining each title individually. In our shooting script we only listed the title’s “title” rather than listing the name/company for each with exception to the first few), we added this in with the title design to easily be reflected back into our film. Despite all of this thorough planning, we do expect some changes and bumps along the course of this project, and we have prepared for that by not making anything set and stone yet, leaving us with back-up options.

Plaining Research: Schedule, Location, Health and safety, and Participants

For this week of planning, we discussed certain elements that will be important when we film. Specifically, we went over health and safety, location, participants, our schedule, and title design. When discussing Health and Safety, we thought it was important to discuss how we will navigate through a wooded area since it will most likely be at sundown when we film. Additionally, as I just mentioned we will be filming in an area that resembles the woods, most likely a large park nearby one of our houses. Then, for our participants, it will only be my group mates and I acting and producing the film. Since there are 4 people in our group, we decided it was best to have a loose schedule since there might be days where something unexpected comes up, but we are also hoping to only film twice at most (2 separate days).

Planning: Dialogue and Sound Script

Since we have prepared our final task we began to plan and make our scripts for the introduction of our two minute movie beginning. In our dialogue script we decided that we will be separating our opening sequence by scene (due to the small amount of time for our actual film, we made the script VERY detailed) and indicate exactly what the audience will be hearing in each scene. In the topic of sound we covered every piece of it, from the Voice overs to non diegetic sounds that will be played through the course of the film. When writing our sound scripts for our film, we stressed the importance of it. Sound scripts allow us to plan and hear what the audience will be hearing, also, it lays down a foundation as to how the movie will move along with the sound alongside it. In the case that the sound script is ignored or isn’t prioritized, the quality of the film would greatly decrease as the movie will be lost. Since sound is the major accompaniment to film, these reasons are why it is so important to have a huge priority over them.

Planning: Shooting Script

The shooting script blog is different from the sound script as the shooting script includes some if not all camera movements and angles. The reason that we included a shooting script is because it is a written form of the storyboard with the same amount of detail. Once again we broke down the film into multiple scenes and described briefly the action that the character is doing as well as the camera movement around that character. Without the shots script, film makers would have a much more difficult time shooting film because they have no plan. Also, as students we do not have film sets so we must film wherever we possibly could and not be able to shoot retakes as we are crunched for time.

Title Research: Hostage

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were about 29 titles in the introduction of the movie Hostage. The title of the movie (hostage) was in the middle of the titles rather than the end like I thought was a waste in suspense. The film has such a great title, and I feel it was wasted by putting it in the middle rather than the end. 

What images are prioritized in opening sequence? 

During the opening sequence, it was an animated showing of the city and how the city should appear in the movie. When the opening sequence ends it changes to a real actor screaming in a caged area.

What connotations do the images carry?

They show that struggle, distress, and ruggedness of the city. This lets the audience know what the rest of the movie is going to be like. This is important to draw in the targeted audience. 

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre of action is shown through the chaos of helicopters, guns, army men, etc. However, there is a slight showing of a thriller towards the end of the opening sequence, when they show a character screaming. 

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

It shows signs of war and distress, leaving the audience with suspense, wondering why the city looks this way. This leaves them intrigued and continuing to watch the movie. 

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? 

The film is appealing towards what can only be assumed to be the male audience. This is because the film shows everything that a boy is told they should like, hence why this film would try to target them. 

How has technology been used effectively?

Technology has been used through the use of editing animation. This leaves a lack of detail in the opening sequence, leaving the audience hanging with just enough information to have them intrigued. The last edit used at the end of the introduction really shows the transition from the intro to the core of the movie. This shows the audience a piece of what they will see throughout the rest of the movie. 

Title Research: Split

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

There were 23 titles displayed in the opening sequence which included the starring actors, production company, casting agent, the editor, and more.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

The opening sequence contained quick clips and images of the kidnapping situation that that takes place throughout the movie. The clips are scattered and quick as to not reveal too much about the film but still create a suspenseful introduction.

What connotations do the images carry?

The images create a feeling of suspense and fear through the fast unexpected cuts and the terrified expression on the young girls face. The images in the sequence also set the mood for the film by depicting a frightening kidnapping situation, which will clearly contain a lot of thrill and terror.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

The genre is reinforced by through the symbolism of the frightening images. The images symbolize a situation that is supposed to seem intense and thrilling. These qualities match and reinforce the Thriller genre. Additionally, technical codes like the splitting of the screen into flashing boxes help portray the thriller genre as well.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

The tiles and strange building briefly shown every few seconds establishes an enigma. It confuses but engages the reader as to what the images could mean and why they are significant. Additionally, the images of the girl also establish an an enigma since the audience would be confused as to why she is screaming.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

For this specific movie, I would say the target audience would be someone looking to enjoy an intense thriller, and could most likely endure violent or frightening scenes. So, the film appeals to this type of viewer by maintaining elements of the genre and insuring the film appears to be thrilling and frightening from the start. The title sequence conveys these moods by quickly cutting from the fast appearing titles to disturbing clips of the victim being kidnapped while also including intense but eerie music.

How has technology been used effectively? You want to consider camera angles, transitions, and editing techniques?

Technology has been used effectively through the use of color, and simple, but purposeful effects that align with the common elements of a Thriller. The use of color is seen by the absence of it, when I say this I mean how the film maintains a black and white color scheme that clearly depicts not only the seriousness of the film but also the intensity of a physiological thriller. Additionally, the effects used in the title sequence appear to be minimal but this only adds to the mood that is typing to be achieved. The effects are the flashing back from each title and the random but fast-moving appearances of phrases across the screen that almost indicate a theme of horror.

Title Research: The Notebook

In the movie, The Notebook, there were 10 titles in the opening sequence of it. During the opening sequence I noticed that the most common images used were characters that are going to be in the film; these images carried a sense about the movie, kind of like giving the basis of the film. For example, the characters appear as ink blots on paper to symbolize the film being about a notebook of someone, this reinforced some background as well as fits the theme of the movie being a literal notebook. The outset used in the opening sequence creates mystery about the film by introducing it with soft music as well as the way the background is. The background seems to be a page with light writing in it indicating it being a notebook of some sort, but it does not answer who's notebook or its significance. Some strategies used to ensure that the film appeals to the target audiences are the slower transitions as well as placement of the characters. In the opening sequence the titles are written in normal print to capture the viewer as it being a person handwriting the titles in. Also, the transitions in the film play a large factor as they are slow fade outs of characters as well as titles that are replaced slowly. The images that come in also captivate the viewer as they are ink dots of characters to show it's being written in or made by a pen. The slow fade outs of the film are what really tie it together as it will present that the film will be more relaxed and not as tense as other thrillers. This goes for the angles as well being that the camera is held steady as POV in the beginning to show hands on the side holding a notebook, once the camera zooms into the pages the camera is held steady to make it clear that the notebook pages are the main focus.

Title Research: Se7en

For this project my group and I researched the opening titles of movies. I chose to do the movie se7en which is the same genre we chose of thriller. During the opening sequence 27 titles are displayed. They included the directors, producers, actors, and etc. from the movie. Throughout the 2 minutes of the opening scene there are many images shown to represent what the movie will be about. It mostly incorporates slides that can be interpreted as setting up or hiding a murder. The images make the movie seem very mysterious and frightening as it does not show the face of anyone but includes hair, razor blades, and pictures of potential victims. The images carry a very threatening, sceretive connotation. As the images play out, it reveals more about the murders and persuades the audience to want to keep on watching.
Throughout the opening the theme of thriller is heavily carried out. The use of mysterious pictures, notebooks, and forensics helps to portray the thriller theme. As well as the pictures, the text titles help the genre to be carried out. The font and the effect of the glitch on the titles carry the theme even further as it makes the movie seem suspenseful and spooky. Enigma, which is an object or person that is mysterious, puzzling, or hard to understand is represented through the opening title sequence. The opening purposely includes objects that are interesting but confusing so that it leads the audience to keep watching. This was presented by crossing out a child's face and writing notes in a book. It doesn't fully show you the what he writes but you know it is important because of the continuous videos they show of it.
Strategies that I noticed are used to appeal to certain audiences are the ability to make the scene look very secretive and show that something horrible is about to happen. Technology has been used very effectively whether it pertains to the camera angels pr the editing techniques. By the images being all close ups it portrays that the movie is going to be a suspenseful movie because they won't tell you important details, like who the killer is which makes it very mysterious and appealing to the audience. The editing techniques depicted, also allow the audience to feel thrilled and scared by the transitions of the titles and the effects used, such as the glitch effect.

Title Research: Artofthetitle.com

Since we have started our final task, we began with finding our genre as well as researching it for our final task; now we began researching the titles of movies in our genre. After researching websites, we found the website artofthetitle.com. In this website, it has an overwhelming amount of movies as well as series, however, this website focuses on the titles of movies. For example, you are able to click on a movie such as "Venom" and see the opening 10 minutes to see the titles that pop up and pertain to that movie, the same thing with the final 10 minutes of the movie. For our purposes we will be focusing on the movies that have titles within the first 10 minutes as it is more relevant to our final task project. Also, we will be researching movies and movies only as our final task is the first 2 minutes to a movie. On the website you can search the designers as well as studios involved in the title sequence that would pertain to your movie for further research in your film. Finally, on the website you are able to directly search the movie you would like to see the opening or closing. This allows for a more direct search for specific kinds of movies that someone may have previously thought of.

Title Research: Watchthetitles.com

One of the websites that my group is using for title research is watchthetitles.com. This is a website that is used specifically for studying the art of title making. It has over 200 title sequences and interviews for researchers to choose from. Not only does it provide us with example opening sequences to show the titles, it also gives an explanation of why they were chosen. This website was launched in 2006. Making it the world's very first web page that is dedicated to title design.

The website opens up to a slideshow of potential films you can research. Underneath this, is a choice of interviews you can use as research. Once you get past the interviews, it brings you to the six different research categories. These categories consist of: feature film, TV shows, Event titles, student projects, video games, and French Fridays. At the top of the screen is where you can find the words "Title Sequence", clicking on this brings you to the many opening sequences that my group will be able to use for our title research. This website offers TV shows, student films, and movies of a variety of genres, making it the perfect website for my group to use. Some of the films that you can research on this website are the Pink Panther, The Dreamers, Splice, Sky Fighters, etc. After clicking on the film you choose, it will show you their open sequence, insider information, information about the film, and it will allow you to leave a comment. After researching this website my group feels more confident about of title research process. We will now pick a film(s) off this website and use them for our research.

Movie Research "Bird Box"

Bird box

1.     Common clamps: 

a.     Costumes: Ragged, dirty, and distressed clothing and blindfolds. 

b.     Lighting: Dark and dim lighting, creating suspense. 

c.      Acting: The acting with the victims (sane characters) was always in fear, always ready for survival mode to kick in. While the insane characters were as happy as ever, and they wanted to share that happiness with the others. 

d.     Makeup: The makeup and hair in this movie is used to make the characters look dirty and distressed. They also use makeup to apply blood, gashes, cuts, bruises, paler skin, gun shot wounds, etc. 

e.     Props: The props used, resemble survival equipment. This is to help the characters play their parts as “potential survivors” of the end of the world. 

f.      Setting: The setting changes from inside to outside. When the scene is outdoors it is more intense because the characters are at more of a risk. However, when the scene is indoors it is more suspenseful, in trying to determine what will happen next, or information, giving the audience a second to process what just happened. 

2.  Common Cam: 

a.     Angles:

b.     Movements: A common camera movement was a tracking shot. This was used to keep up with the characters while they were running or trying to navigate while blindfolded. 

c.     Shots: There were a lot of point of view shots, this let the audience experience what the characters were experiencing. Another shot that stood out was sort of a trunk shot it was from under the boat as the characters flipped it over. A shot that was used a lot during scenes on the river, were birds eye view shots. These shots showed the boat and the path they have taken along with the emptiness and loneliness around the characters. 

3.  Common Sound:

a.     A common type of sound was diegetic sound. This was the sound of the wind, bushes rustling, a character falling, the water rushing in the river. 

4.   Common Editing: 

a.      Wjsvc

5.  Elements of Thriller: 

a.      The movie fell under this genre, because of its phycological standpoint. The movie is about the survival of facing these creatures that take your greatest fear and deepest sadness and make you commit suicide. They get inside your head and if you open your eyes outside then you can see them. 

b.     The movie also used suspense by showing what the ending was and then flashing back and forth from the end to the beginning. 

c.     This also creates excitement by allowing the audience to create an explanation for the ending before it is shown. 

6.  Elements I liked:

a.      I liked all of these elements because I think they truly made the movie a must watch. They have your feelings running from excited to sad to relieved to scared and back to sad. 

7.  Elements I disliked: 

a.     I did not dislike any of the elements in the movie, I actually feel that the movie did its job, in leaving the audience wanting more to the story. 

Movie Research "Taken 2"

Common CLAMPS-  Costumes used in Taken 2 are used to represent real people/groups in the world. For example, the antagonist group are dressed as regular men as well as the protagonist in Taken 2 because in thrillers you want it to be like real life. As for the lighting in the film, it was the same as real life as they used natural light in some scenes and lights for others. An example would be as the protagonist is captured the lighting is more dim and sinister to build on the suspense of him already being captured. The make up used in the movie is limited to show bruises, cuts and injuries of the protagonist's journey to find the mother/ ex-wife. Make up was used to the damages after a fight so mostly commonly bruises would be on the face and cute on the chest/arm. The props in Taken 2 were all used in a sense of violence as there were guns, knives, and other objects used in combat. The setting of Taken 2 is in Istanbul, Turkey as it is the main place for the vacation. The significance of this setting pertains to the story line of a group who originates from there.

Common CAMS

Angles-  The angles used in thriller are high angles/birds eye view, eye level, and a dutch angle. These are all used because they create a dramatic and suspenseful effect. In Taken 2, the most obvious camera angle was the dutch and high angles. For example, during most chasing scenes, the camera is at a higher angle to capture the full essence of one character being right behind the other one. Also during the more serious scenes of the film, the camera tilts toward a dutch angle to maintain the build up of suspense.

Movements- The most common camera movements used in thrillers are tracking shots, zoom shots, and pan or tilts. These are used to help develop the story and keep the viewer engaged and make the movie feel suspenseful. In Taken 2, the camera is often tracking the protagonist as he runs throughout the city looking for the mother who was kidnapped. Also, during Taken 2 zooming in was a large part of the film's technique of building up suspense. For example as the protagonist would talk on the phone with the antagonist, the camera zoomed into a close up which further developed the suspense in the film.

Shots- Common shots in thrillers usually are Point of View shots, close-up shots, and long shots. The reason being is that these shots develop a more intense scene. An example would be the close-ups used in Taken 2. Each time the protagonist goes on the phone with the antagonist, a close up is applied to strengthen the scenes intensity.

Common Sound- In thriller movies,  common sounds are sounds that can be either very loud and intense or purposeful specific sounds in order to draw in the audience. In Taken 2, I noticed that a majority of the film was accompanied by loud action music with upbeat noises. The diegetic sound used in Taken 2 were common noises such as a cars honking to represent the genre's theme of real life events. This completes the movies spot as a thriller film as it maintains the genre's high intensity events

Common editing- The editing in thrillers is usually fast, rapid changes from scene to scene. Examples of edits used are jump cuts, flashbacks, action changes. Any kind of edits that move the story along while maintaining suspense are used in thrillers. In Taken 2, an example of these edits are in the middle of the movie as the protagonist moves through a city and the angles and shots change rapidly due to the editing styles implemented.

Elements of Genre- The elements of Taken 2 closely fit with the Thriller Genre. Thriller Genre films usually contains victim falling prey to someone else's plan or scheme. Additionally, thrillers should be told from the point of view of the victim or protagonist. In taken two, the story is a sequel to a daughter being kidnapped by a foreign group and the father of the victim racing to find her. The description of the movie shows every common element in a thriller as it is shown from the protagonist's point of view. Also, thrillers are meant to cause extreme amounts of suspense and in Taken 2, viewers are overwhelmed with suspense as they wait for the story to play out.

What Elements do I like- The Elements of the thriller genre that I enjoy are how the story revolves around a person. For example in Taken 2 the story line revolves around the ex-wife/mother and her journey of being kidnapped. It keeps the story in line and organized as well as keep the viewer engaged throughout.

What Elements I dislike- One of the elements of thrillers that I personally dislike is that sometimes the suspense can be too much at times to the point where the viewer is puzzled a little bit. For example, in Taken 2, the beginning of the