Eriberto Mendoza's AICE Media Studies Final Project

Obstacles are roadblocks in trying to achieve something. Obstacles can come in many forms— emotional, physical, moral, or even logical. A form of emotional obstacle would be something such as the loss of a loved one. A physical obstacle would be well, a roadblock, which doesn't allow you to pass. A moral roadblock could be a religious value for example, which could prevent you from doing certain things. A logical roadblock could be something such as not knowing how to do a math problem. Picture of a roadblock, from impactplus.com  In my case, an obstacle is something that prohibits, delays, or prevents me from progressing in my project. A major obstacle I have faced is coming up with new topics and ideas to write about, and research for my blog posts. A solution I have come up with while trying to push through and overcome this obstacle is to go through my classwork and look for vocabulary terms and topics to write about.  An example of this I have taken inspiration from is a ...

Lighting is an important aspect of any film, it can influence the mood and tone of a scene, and the visual storytelling of a scene. Lighting helps to guide the audience's attention to certain key elements and can enhance the impact of an event in a film. More specifically, in crime films lighting techniques help to create tension, surprise, and suspense, and helps to set an intellectual mood.  Low-key lighting is a technique in films that results in emphasized shadows and a high-contrast look. It is used in films— typically thrillers, dramas, and horror films— to create a dark, mysterious, and dramatic mood. An example of low-key lighting in a film is shown below. This information is from studiobinder.com . Picture of a cat with low-key lighting, from videomaker.com Key lighting is the lighting facing the direction the camera is shooting from, while fill lighting is the opposite— It's the lighting that is not facing the camera. Low-Key lighting is when the key lighting is dimme...

 In this post, I plan to give a general, current visual representation and sequencing for my project, and the scenes within it. These scenes include Fern and Ed speaking in the detective's office, Fern and Ed exiting the detectives office, Fern and Ed entering the car and driving in it, Fern and Ed appearing at the crime scene with the dead body, and possibly a scene featuring the killer.  This picture is a representation of the first scene, featuring an over-the-shoulder shot behind Ed, facing Fern reading the "S.K.B.D. News" This picture is a representation of the second scene, showing Ed and Fern leaving the office, through a two-shot, with Fern in the background, and Ed in the midground, picking up keys in the foreground. I chose this configuration to put emphasis on the keys.    These pictures are a representation of the fourth scene, which starts with an action cut from the last seen, showing Ed and Fern leaving the office driveway, through a wide shot. This th...

In this blog post, I will be interviewing people to be actors in my project. The process I'm using to interview these people is to— Take a picture of them, ask them about their skills, and see when they'll be available.  Dead Body Brayden Dean Preston Eugene Lacey This is Brayden Dean Preston Eugene Lacey, he will not be playing anyone in my film. I decided not to use him because he will not be readily available to be filmed in my project. His strengths are to quickly speak, speak with emphasis, and use expressive bodily language. He was auditioning for the role of the dead body in my film, but he will not be doing this role. Lilli This is Lilli, she will be playing the dead body in my project. I decided on her due to her frequent availability to act and help record in my project. Since her face will be covered in this role she will be able to fill in for other roles if needed. Fern Fernando Mesa This is Fernando, he will be playing 'Fern' in my project. He was my plann...

A script is to a film what a blueprint is to a building, it is required to record, produce, and market a film. A script is the written text of a movie, including the dialogue, the actions of characters, the description of a scene, and sometimes even things such as sound effects and score. Scripts help filmmakers tell a story through their works— to set the tone, pace the film, develop the narrative, and even cast characters. They influence every aspect of the movie— the planning, the recording, the sound, the lighting, the environment, and even marketing. Next, I plan to storyboard this script, and within the next few weeks start production of the project.

 In my previous blog post, I discussed the process of creating a title for a film— which must reflect the theme, characters, and overall story of the film. It should also be as short as 1-3 words, to be memorable, and unique to the audience.  My project is in the genre of crime, which usually contains a title that reflects on the setting, the protagonist, or the committed crimes the film revolves around. I aim for my project to be lighthearted and humorous, while also being dramatic at times, resulting in a varying tone from scene to scene. My project's protagonists are the characters Ed and Fern, who are in a suburban environment. The crime they are trying to solve is committed by a black-hooded killer. I have several ideas for the title of my film— but none of them resonate with me, two of them include; The Black-Hooded Killer— Which is named after the outfit the antagonist of the movie wears.   Ed and Fern— Which is named after the two protagonists of the story, a...

You know a film by the title it was given, Avatar , The Avengers , Inside Out ; But how are the titles for these films chosen by their creators? While some are more obvious than others, like Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3 , some are more obscure choices, such as Disney's Coco , where the film isn't named after its main character, but his Grandmother. Miguel, the protagonist of Coco . Guidelines Raindance.org provides insight into how to create the title for a film, and why it is so important to the film. It says that the title of the film is the brand of the movie, which affects how it is perceived, and remembered by an audience. The title of the film can also cause the audience to feel different emotions. It also provides recommendations for the visual characteristics of a film, stating it should be 1-3 words long, to be easy to remember. The title of a movie should also reflect the film's characters, themes, tone, or narrative, and be unique to be reflective of the movie...

  Sonic the Hedgehog 3  is a Comedy Action-Adventure film released in December 2024 which, as of writing this, is the most recent movie in a trilogy of films, centered around the character Sonic the Hedgehog. This trailer was released just under 4 months before the film was released, and it's purpose was to bring attention to the movie, and to inform the audience on the topic, and narrative of the movie. The purpose for researching this trailer is because it is a comedy film, such as mine will be, this will help me to further understand comedy in movies. This trailer opens with short, rapidly changing clips of Sonic, the protagonist of the story running around happily. This array of shots helps to give the audience a feel for the movie's comedic and fast nature, and Sonic as a character's agility, and lighthearted nature. Along with the visuals, the audio of this sequence helps to give the events of the scenes more weight, featuring dramatic score, sound effects such as Son...

 The angle at which you record is very important to a scene. The angle at which a shot is recorded can impact a scene massively, it can reveal a character's intentions or motivations to the audience, help to amplify a character's emotions, influence a scene, and reveal a character's authority in a narrative. Take this as an example: If you take a picture from a level, forward-facing angle, that will fail to reveal what a character is looking at if they are looking down; Using this technique will make what the character is thinking a mystery, leaving the audience to anticipate what is happening.  The video above is an example of the previously stated technique. In this picture, the angle hides what the subject of the video is looking at, then when the shot changes it reveals what he is looking so stressed over, relieving the mystery of his focus.  Low and High-Angle Shots  Using a Low-Angle shot, which faces upwards towards a subject, makes the subject seem larger, an...

A genre is defined as "a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.". This means that each genre has a specific set of characteristics, or conventions that they follow. For example, the conventions of a romance film include the development of a relationship throughout time,  romantic relationships, flowers, warm lighting, passion between individuals, and marriage. A few conventions of a Sci-Fi film are futuristic technology, space exploration, time travel, aliens, and alternate universes. Crime films follow this pattern, having distinct conventions of their own. Photo from  Elizabeth Nelson, mountainhouseestate.com Crime films vary in topic, some feature the criminal of the film as the protagonist, while others, such as my project include the protagonist being the one to solve a crime. Conventions of a crime I can think of from memory include; a detective/investigator who tries to find a cri...

 There are many different noises that are required in order to make up a great film, ranging from the noise of cars, to people speaking, to cats purring. Foley sounds are diegetic sound effects produced in post-production order to enhance the realism of a scene. A few examples of foley sounds include rain, footsteps, and explosions. My goal for this post is to explore and discuss methods to imitate the sounds of wind and rain, that I may need to recreate during the process of filming and editing my project.  Photo from oceanclock.com , "Why does it rain ?" One sound I may need is the sound of moving through air, as you would hear when moving in a car (with the windows open), being outside on a windy day, or going on a bike. Using foley techniques, there are many possible ways to go about creating this effect. After researching this on futurelearn.com , i learned a few methods to create this sound. One way is to blow air through a bamboo cane, creating the noise of wind flowin...

 Props are used in all forms, across all genres, and various media forms, such as TV Shows, Advertisements, Film, and more. Some props are generally utilized in specific scenes, such as couches when the setting is a home, office chairs in an office and beds in bedrooms. Some props are generally used in specific genres, such as medical equipment for a drama set in a hospital, flowers in a romance film, or even something like capes in a superhero film/show. Photo by DesignersCircle Interior Designer from PxHere In the crime genre, many different props are used to suit the needs of different characters in a narrative. One example of this is the simple items that people may think are obvious for a police officer may have on them, such as a taser, handcuffs, a weapon, a radio, and a vest. Some less obvious items would be; Keys, for their car; Glasses if they are needed; or even something as simple as a shirt. According to  EnergyElectronicsLLC.com , police carry many various, and u...

This picture is supposed to depict two friends having fun and connecting with each-other during school. I made the decision to use an over-the-shoulder shot to put the viewer in the kid with the black hair's (Brayden) point-of-view. The actor's bodily expression was chosen to exemplify the high-energy and positive emotion of talking with friends in a positive environment. The casual clothing was chosen to convince the audience of the presence of a school-like environment, which we were in but may not be obvious without this detail.  The warm lighting of the scene was to convince the audience of a feeling of past memories, as is used in many different forms of media. This picture represents a struggling student, which many young people may relate to. The papers help to show the audience that the person represented in this picture is a student, and the hunched over, face down, hand on neck helps to show that he is stressed. The pencil on the paper helps to show the audience that ...

Characters come in many different forms with many varying characteristics. Vladimir Propp's Character Theory helps to simplify and categorize these different types of characters, also known as an archetype. Propp's Theory categorizes these different archetypes into seven distinct categories. The hero, who is the protagonist, the main character of the story. The villain, who is the antagonist of the story, antagonist meaning the enemy of the protagonist. The dispatcher, who sends the protagonist on his/her mission; The helper, who accompanies the protagonist on their mission. The donor, who provides the protagonist with an item that will assist them on their mission. The princess, who can be a person, or even an item, is the reward/motivation for the protagonist. And the false hero, who is a character who is not initially revealed to be the villain, but then is revealed to be at the end of the story. For example, Propp's Character Theory can be applied to the film Sonic the ...