Production Journal - day 4 (23/06/11)

This session was great and really productive because we improved the errors that we had in our pitches. When we did all the corrections, we showed them to our teachers and they liked our improvements.

We improved our story boards and edit them in order to have more defined portals. Also, we did a list of equipment we needed.

List of equipment:

• Steady cameras,
• Dolly,
• Tripod

We also did a list of props and costumes start organising our ideas. I feel we did them really good.

I think that I am developing new skills and improving them every time with the time provided and the experience I am fortunately gaining. This session was essential for us to have a plan of the dates exactly that we are filming as well as to have a specific idea of props and costumes. Overall we are advancing well and in order, which is essential in order to maintain our teamwork as excellent as we are doing.

Production Journal - day 3 (09/06/11)

During this session we decided what to include exactly in the project that had been presented to us. We started thinking and taking photographs of the locations in school that we could use then as chases.

After having the final decisions and discussing for a while, we start making the story board to have them ready for the next week when we present our project. We have a rough plan of the plot of the story so it is easier for everyone.

Plot / idea: Our idea is to plan a chase were one girl is following another because she thinks that she has kicked the ball to her, but really it was another girl. The girl who has been kicked will be looking for the girl she supposes that kicked her, and she will be escaping from her. Different locations such as the drama studio, library, staff room, and field will be used to appear as portals. Then we are planning to find the revenge of those girls and the girl which really kicked her ball will have to go inside the pool.

I think we are advancing with our project in a very productive way. We are working in very organized well and developing new skills throughout every week. I am learning how to make a good story board and I am very proud of it. I hope that we continue working like this through all the process of the film chasing project.

Production Journal - day 2 (02/06/11)

During this session, we are planning our initial ideas to make our chase project. I think that this project is fantastic. Our teachers showed us IB films so that we could have ideas of what to do. The other group is finishing editing the last project, but we are already done with it since it was the project of last bimester.

We are planning our story board. Today we showed them the photographs with captions of what our plan was. It was a rough idea and I was very glad that they liked our ideas. They provide us some details in how to improve them. In the storyboard we are adding photographs, as well as drawings showing the movements the actor will need and what will exactly focus the camera. Small descriptions of the scene are being added with captions.

The program we will be using for editing will be Final Cut. It is a very good program and easy to work. I am developing different skills and having a great time as well as enjoying with the project. I am very enthusiastic and looking forward towards this new chasing project which definitely needs our effort and time to be successful.

Production Journal - day 1 (26/05/11)

As the start of the new project, we organised our final ideas and went through the school taking photos of the chases and the specific locations that we were going to choose in order to create an entertaining film. We discussed between which areas of the school were going to be better, as well as the times that we were able to record the videos as sometimes there is lack of people and in other times too much people. We need to decide these important details.

We had to aim in had a good and creative mise-en-shot and mise-en-scene well planned so that our final film would work exactly as we wanted.

 My group consists in Cristina Orellana, Gema Garcia, Yoko Arteaga and Oscar Chavez. I am very glad with this group because I have already had the opportunity to work with them in other opportunities and they are very creative and committed to their work.

I personally think that this time is very useful for our group because we plan our ideas, so we are learning to follow every detail as it is needed and not being in a hurry as well as having the same plan as in the first moment so that our final idea is well organised and presented. This will not always help me in this project but as well in my daily life as it will make me a more organized person.

Genre by description

Positive	Negative
Categorise	Too much blurring of boundaries
Distinguish	Lots of film don’t fit
Helps film industry	Can put you off the movie choice
Helps pitch	Double/triple genre films
Directs the actors

Deborah Méndez ©

Descriptive and Functional approaches to Genre

Deborah Méndez ©

	Film Noir	Gangster	Horror	Western	War	Science-fiction	Monster
Themes	Mystery, investigation, isolation in city	Organized crime, MOB, family values, violence	Revenge, supernatural	Injustice, heroes, power, honour	Fights, death, conflicts, violence, man vs. man, honour	Action, adventure, discovering unknown, man vs. technology/unknown	Unknown places, violence
Mood	Worried	Contrast	Loneliness, scary, terror, suspense	Frustration, agitated, adventure, dramatic, fear	Obedience duty, respect, suffering, patriotism	Sadness, action	Action, suspense, fear
Setting	Naturalistic, urban, B&W, driving scenes	Rich houses, parties, poor houses, rural/urban	Isolated places, haunted houses	Towns, desert	Battle field, trenches, destroyed terrains, real places	The “Future”, big spaces/cities, spaceships, forbidden areas	Empire States Building, islands, cities
Other			Music, different shots	Typical Western movie/music	Epic music	Robot prototype
Examples	The Big Sleep	The Godfather	The Shining	The Magnificient Seven	Paths of Glory	Metropolis	King Kong

Genre study

What is it?

-          ‘Genre’ means type or category

-          To study a film as a genre involves a grouping together a large body of films according to characteristics that they all share

-          There are two approaches to identify thee characteristic: the descriptive approach, an the functional approach

Two approaches:

-          A  descriptive approach to genre study means simply describing the attributes of a film, such as theme, mood, and setting, and assigning it to a genre on that basis (e.g. film noire)

-           A functional approach means defining the function or purpose of a film and linking it to other films trying to do the same thing (e.g. blockbuster)

Genre study VS. Auteurism

-          Seems to be a contrast between these two approaches

-          Genre study is all about thinking what makes a particular film the same as many others, regardless of director

-          Auteurism is all about thinking what makes a particular film different from any other according to who directed it.

Why study films according to genre?

1.      Simplifying and making sense of film (convenience)

2.      Comparison of particular characteristics of films

3.      Tracing and understanding social development

4.      Satisfaction of expectations

Problems with the descriptive approach to genre study

- Boundaries between film genres are fuzzy – some films are hard to categorize

- Genres evolve over time à Thrillers from the 1930s and from today

Problems with the functional approach to genre study

-          The ‘function’ of the same film can often be read in different ways

-          E.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Don Siegel, 1956, USA (written by Daniel Mainwaring)

General problems with genre study

- Who should define genres à film critics, film industry or movie-goers

Criticisms of genre study

-          The main criticism assigning a genre to every film is artificial and contrived

-          Robert Stam: “are they really the construction of analysis?”

Examples of main genres (according to Tim Dirks)

-          Action

-          Adventure

-          Comedy

-          Crime and gangster

-          Drama

-          Epics / Historical films

-          Fantasy

-          Horror

-          Musicals / Dance

-          Science fiction

-          War

-          Westerns

Examples of sub-genres within the crime and gangster genre

-          Blaxploitation

-          Buddy cop

-          Caper stories

-          Cops & robbers

-          Espionage

-          Femme tales

-          Film noir

-          Hard-boiled detective

-          Heist

-          Trial films

-          Lovers on the run

-          Mob films

-          Neo-noir

-          Outlaw biker films

-          Police

-          Prison

-          Private-eye

-          Whodunits

-          Suspense thrillers

-          Vice films


Deborah Méndez ©