Movie Research "Limitless"

1. Mis en Scene in "Limitless":

Costumes- Many suits are worn throughout the movie to dress the high profile characters, like the businessman in an early scene. Also, the main character often has scenes in worn-out clothes.

Lighting- For the most part the lighting in the movie is darker, but to show a transition from his nightly outings to the next morning there is brighter lighting.

Acting- The main character, Bradley Cooper, acts in a serious manner throughout most of the film, but also charming and cunning when he needs to. Overall, most characters are either serious or confident and clever.

Makeup- Besides everyday casual makeup, makeup was only seen in some violent scenes where fighting would occur and makeup was used to make realistic cuts and gashes of blood on characters.

Props- Many props were used throughout this movie. There was the computer the main character uses to write his novel, the magic drug he was later given, some guns in violent scenes, phones were also used throughout the entire movie as the main character spoke on the phone many times.

Setting- The movie takes place in New York City, however, some scenes like the car-chase scene was filmed in Purto Vallarta.

2. Camera Angles, Movements, and Shots

Angles- Low and High angles are used throughout the film, for example in the first scene as the main character is on the edge of a building the use a high angle to show how far he is from the ground and a low angle to show him standing tall. Also, eye-level shots and shoulder level shots are used throughout the movie when the main character is talking to another person.

Movements-A pan is used in the first scene again where he is standing on the roof to show all of his surroundings. Also, the zoom is used when the main character takes the "drug" and immediately feels all of its effects. Tracking is used as the main character feels very confident and he is walking down the streets of New York.

Shots- Many close-ups are used in serious conversations, where the viewer should listen closely to what they are saying. Also, many birds-eye view shots are used like in the car chase scene. Lastly, long shots are also used throughout the film to show entire rooms and characters within the room.

3. Common Sound in "Limitless":

All types of sound are used in this movie, with a focus on non-diegetic sounds to emphasize each little thing that happens in the scenes. For example, in the first scene when the main character is on the roof, traffic sounds and city noises are very present. Also, in the first scene, a voiceover is used as the main character explains he is about to tell us how he arrived in the situation shown. Additionally, Dialogue is one of the most important sounds in this movie and it can be found in almost every scene. For instance, in the very beginning when he has a conversation with an acquaintance about a mystery drug.

4. Common Editing- 

Since this is a complex film it included many editing techniques. For example, many jump cuts are used like in a scene where is he in a park on a bench and it cuts to a fast-moving work scene. Then, in the same scene, an eye-line match is used to show him reading numbers on a  computer and analyzing extremely fast. Also, in a later fighting scene, an action match is used to show him mimicking certain moves he had seen in a movie before.

5. Elements of Thrillers seen in the movie "Limitless":

Like a common Thriller movie, "Limitless" has a very engaging storyline especially since it starts off with a scene with the main character standing on top of a skyscraper. Also, in Thrillers, you often see the protagonist fall victim to someone else scheme or plot, and while in this movie there is no clear antagonist, it can be said that the magic drug he takes is the scheme he has been taken advantage by. Moreover, when it comes to the special effects in Thrillers, this movie follows typical effects of the genre by not including anything out of the ordinary like lasers or animation.

6. Elements of the genre "Limitless" had, that I liked: 

I always enjoy the engaging, on the edge of your seat, plot thrillers usually have, and this movie definitely had it. Also, I liked how this movie contained complex scenes that made you focused and not mindlessly watching. Lastly, the intensity of the movie like most Thrillers kept me engaged and always excited for the next scene

7. Elements of the genre "Limitless" had, that I did not like: 

Some things I did not enjoy about this movie, which many thrillers have is how it is unrealistic.  Many movies are enjoyable to watch because viewers can relate or almost think its real, however, in "Limitless" the plot of the movie seems surreal and very unlikely to happen. Also like many other thrillers, it is a very serious high-action movie so it is not suitable for casual viewing.

Movie Research "Get Out"

This weekend my group and I watched 4 thriller films individually to write our blogs on them.  I picked the movie, Get Out, to watch and write about. While watching I was looking for certain things including the camera angles, shots, and movements. As well as common costumes, makeup, and props. Lastly, I specifically looked for common sounds and editing techniques. The common costumes I found in a thriller film particularly "Get Out" were, regular clothes and masks. They did not have any extravagant costumes because most of the time the actors are pretending to be normal people, not anything special that they would have to wear costumes. Sometimes however, thrillers include scary and creepy masks that the 'stalkers' use. It creates a suspenseful and scared feeling. Lighting that thriller genres commonly use are dark and eery lighting. Most scenes in a thriller usually take place during the nighttime to make the audience anxious, thus creating the dark lighting. In thrillers there are certain acting techniques used to enhance the scenes. Regular acting in the genre include a lot of terrified expressions, for example screaming and crying. Makeup techniques are used as well in thrillers. There are two certain makeup looks that are the most common. These include simple/normal looking makeup and bloody/dirty styled makeup. Most of the time the 'victims' will be hurt from the antagonist so they will have cuts and dirt on them to enhance the actions of the antagonist.
Another thing I was searching for while watching, was props. I found that all the props had violence in common. A lot of the times they used knives, guns, and bats. Most of these props are used to harshly hurt or kill actors in the film. Lastly, there is common settings in thrillers. This usually includes an outside setting for example when the 'victim' is running from the bad guy. As well as inside a house. These settings mostly allow for the enhancement of suspense in the film. We were also asked to look for camera angles, shots, and movements. I recognized that there was a certain pattern when it came to camera shots. The most common shots used were wide shots, close up, point of view shot, and long shot. Most of these shots were used in the point of view of the protagonist/main character. The camera angels used were, low angels trunk shot. It allows the audience to feel what the actors are feeling and put the audience in their shoes. This makes for a better movie and allows for more sales.
Lastly, I observed particular camera movements. The important ones that I witnessed were tracking shot and pan shot. I found that a tracking shot was used very often to follow any character. For example, during the movie, there was a scene that I recognized as an important tracking shot. The character was on the phone while the kidnapper was following him in a car, however it used a tracking shot to follow the guy while being able to show the reactions on his face. This added a dramatic effect to the scene. Next, I looked for sounds. The movie included many sounds like diegetic sound, sound motif, dialogue, score, incidental music, and ambient sound. Much of this occurred when an intense scene was taking place. Then I searched for certain editing techniques. I found that cross cutting, cutaway, insert, and eye line match were the usual in a thriller. Throughout this assignment I learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have previously looked for if it wasn't for this. I noticed the specific techniques they used and realized the effect it had on helping to enhance certain parts of the film.

Genre Research Explanation

As a group, we researched 3 specific genres we were interested in using. The first genre of epic, Montana and I 
researched for a prior activity. We didn’t think this fit our ideas very well because we only had one idea that wasn’t
a horror film and it was more of an action. The second one was drama, which Lucy and James had researched
for the project before. I thought the drama genre could be a potential option to use for our film but we thought of
one more that might change our minds. This was the thriller genre. We all unanimously decided to pick thriller as
our genre. This was because of our interest in the genre from our favorite movies to the enjoyment in the project.
However, once we picked the idea of a scary film we had to choose between horror and thriller. At first, we did not
know the difference between the two until we had researched the two genres. The horror genre was more gory 
and violent while thriller is psychological and sneaky. Since our idea had to do with a stalker we decided that the 
thriller genre better fit our idea.

Genre Research

We chose to research 2 genres for our project, the first one is Thriller, and the second one is Epic.

Thriller-

Camera Angles:

Common camera angles used in a thriller movie include high angles/birds eye view, eye level, and a dutch angle. These are all used because they create a dramatic and suspenseful effect.

Camera Movements:

Common camera movements used in thrillers include 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.

Camera Shots:

Common Camera shots used in thrillers include Point of View shots, close-up shots, and long shots. These also help explain the story and depict the whole scene while also including shots like close ups to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.

Mis- En- Scene:

There are a wide range of costumes that can be used in a thriller depending on the story. It could be regular outfits or lab coats for a creepy doctor thriller. Next, the lighting in a thriller is typically darker and not so colorful to make the film feel more sinister and suspenseful. Actors in a thriller movie should be fully involved in the thriller and convince the viewers the events taking place in the film are almost real by maintaining the suspenseful tone and expression of the genre. Furthermore, makeup used in a thriller is normally minimal makeup to show the characters as regular people and to not distract the viewers from the intense plot. However, when appropriate like in a violent scene gory makeup is commonly used to show scratches and blood. Next, props that are used in thrillers are things like guns, knives, and other violent weapons. Also, sometimes in movies that are outside or about survival use things like ropes or tents. Lastly, common setting in a thriller can be many places, like outside in the woods, or a creepy doctor lab, and some thrillers even have the whole movie taking place in a secluded room.

Elements of a Thriller:

A thriller needs to have an engaging story line because the basis of a thriller movie is all about suspense. Also, and essential element of a thriller is a 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. Moreover, some thrillers don't use many special effects to make the plot and characters feel realistic, while some are the complete opposite and use many effects if they are more along the lines of a Sci-Fi thriller.

Examples of Film in this Genre:

Examples of Thrillers include movies like Bird Box which is about a family trying to survive in an apocalyptic world, and Limitless, a movie about a young man who is taken by foreign business men and given the potential to unlock full capacity of his brain.

Common Sounds:

Sounds that are used in thrillers can be either very loud and intense or purposeful specific sounds, depending on the movie. For example, a thriller that has a lot of action and fast moving plot will use a lot of nondigetic sounds to increase the intensity of the film, while thrillers like the TV series "You" use almost all digetic sounds and a lot of voice over that make the movie feel creepy and suspenseful rather than fast-moving.

Elements you like:

A thriller movie typically has a very engaging plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat which we like a lot. Also, thrillers often make you think and use your brain to understand the complex plot, unlike genres like comedies which you can just mindlessly watch and sometimes get boring.

Elements you don't like:

Sometimes in a thriller, the plot is either too confusing or unrealistic which can make it hard to watch. Also, if you get scared easily then a thriller is not the best to watch since it will leave you thinking about the creepy plot after wards.

Epic-

Camera Angles:

Common camera angles are high angles, birds eye view, and hip level angles. These help show what is going on in the epic and develop the story line.

Camera Movements:

Common Camera movements used in an epic film include Tracking shots, tilts, crane shot, and flash pan. These help the viewer see all the fast action of the epic

Camera Shots:

Common camera shots used in an epic film include wide shot, aerial shots, establishing shots, over the shoulder shots, and close ups. These help show all the action involved in an epic as well as the characters.

Mis- En- Scene:

Costumes in an Epic can range from avatar creatures with blue feathers to warrior costumes on a strange island. Epics typically have an "out-there" plot and setting so it could have very strange costumes. Next, the lighting in an epic is normally very bright and colorful like it is outdoors. Then, the acting in an epic is normally very serious and there is not too much casual conversation, typically, the characters should act very heroic. Additionally, the makeup in an epic is used when trying to create a creature like the blue in avatar, or sometimes in a violent scene but epics don't tend to get gory. Common props in an epic are guns, spears, and swords. Lastly, common settings in an Epic are outdoor locations, and areas with very specific natural terrains.

Elements of a Epic:

Epics typically focus on a heroic character. There is also normally a historical or mythical event that takes place. Additionally, there should be lavish setting and costumes, and elevated writing style. The story normally takes place during a societal crisis or time of war/conflict. 

Examples of Film in this Genre:

Common Sounds:

Epics include a wide range of sounds like ambient sound, voice-overs, digetic/nondigetic, and always a muscle score at some point throughout the film.

Elements you like:

It is often focused on a heroic character, so it makes the protagonist more likeable. Also, it its set in a time of crisis which makes the film more interesting and it helps appeal to a wide audience.

Elements you don't like:

Epic films are usually very long, taking over 2 hours to watch. They are one of the most expensive genres to produce, and sometimes not very exciting because of the complex and fantasy-like plot.

Genre Powerpoint

  

For this project, we got assigned a certain genre. As you can see from the pictures above, we were given the genre of drama. First we discussed certain elements of a drama like the camera angles and movements. From our research we typically see close up shots in this genre since they do a good job at creating a dramatic feeling. Additionally, we discussed certain elements of genre we like and dislike. For example, we said some aspects of dramas we like are how they teach lessons and are very engaging. On the other hand, we typically see many drama movies over exaggerate some things which make it feel unrealistic or hard to relate to. Overall, most dramas include normal shots and angles like close ups and medium shots, but they still are able to maintain a story line that intrigues the viewer. 

Final Decision

Since the last class, we have been debating our three main pitch ideas as to which one we will be doing for our final task. So far, we have decided that we will be using our first pitch idea as well as our last pitch idea as we try to narrow it down to the one we will be basing our 2 minute opening entry to our original film.

    Our first pitch is about a girl who gets up in the middle of the night, only to find her worst nightmare waiting to take her, she has to escape her kidnapper and find her way back to society, only to find out that they have moved on without her. We believe this idea would be good because it develops a suspenseful opening. Having a suspenseful opening leads to people wanting an explanation. Leaving the audience eager to watch the rest of the movie.
   Our second pitch that we chose to continue with, is about a girl who is running from her fears, getting caught and right before her chaser strikes, she gasps for air only to realize it was all a dream...or was it. Our group has not decide the specifics of where the girl is running, why she is running, and what she gets stuck with. As a group, we believe that this is also a great option due to its flexibility and suspenseful quality.
   As a group we decided to go with our "dream murder" idea, this didn't lack the flexibility and potential that we did not see in the other two pitches.

Round 3....Final Task!!

Hey it’s your homie Reese, back at it to complete my final task. It’s a new year and a new decade, and I have decided to work on my responsibility.  I chose to work on my responsibility to please my mom.  She feels that if I were to show more responsibility I would get more respect. I have some exciting things to look forward to. This year I will get my license, go on a road trip for spring break, go back to my summer job, take a trip to Europe, go to the Bahamas, start my junior year, take the SATs, study, study and study a little more. I get my license next month and I am excited to get more freedom. My license will help me get to and from my teammates for filming this final task. My teammates are Lucy, James, and Montana. We all decided to be a group because we could combine all of our creative ideas together to make a really good final task.

At the beginning of the first semester of taking this class, I thought that these film projects would be really easy. I thought of cool, elaborate ideas for my projects, thinking they would be super easy to recreate. After going through the first and the second projects I can safely say that I am lower to the ground and have lowered my expectations to be just above reality. I feel that I did contribute this improvement to my group, when trying to come up with pitches. I also feel that my planning has improved. For the last two assignments the plan didn't exactly work. So for this one I am already planning out little detail, to try and make this project go more smooth. I worked on my editing skills over the break. This way I can contribute with the editing rather than trusting my teammates to make it come together. I think that since three out of the four in my group has worked together in the past, we are now building on that rather than completely starting with a whole new group.

A pitch is a Hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is encapsulated in 25 words or less. Usually in one sentence, taking the form of one of the most common 60 second elevator pitch.

1. A girl gets up in the middle of the night, only to find her worst nightmare waiting to take her, she has to escape her kidnapper. 
2. Two cops go in. to save the a day, but only one comes, 12 hours on the clock left until a cop is gone forever.
3. A girl gets caught by what's chasing her, right before they strike, she's gasps for air, only to find out it was all a dream...or was it.