As me and my group, continued discussing the storyline of our film. We made sure we kept in mind that we were only going to be shooting the first 2 minutes of the original film. We want to make sure our opening scene grabs the audiences attention from the jump, creating the significance of the scenes that follows after it. While planning the opening film I considered: How will the film opening type "Enter the Villain" be applied to our film as it is the best fit for the genre we have chosen.
Enter The Villain
Scream (1996) (Opening scene)
In scream, the villain is introduced by a phone call which is commonly used in slasher films. The opening scene sets the rest of film for the horror that will slowly be discovered as the audience is introduced to the killer. With the constant call backs every time she hung up the phone and the last time she picked it up they conversated about each other's favorite scary movie letting the audience get a clear understanding already on what's to come next.
How to apply this to our film: In my groups film I envisioned at first their would be a jump scare until I realized their is not many movies starting with a jump scare. After watching the first 2 minutes of screams I would like to introduce the villain through a phone as well keeping the killer known but unknown from the beginning. Also, the scene showing the backyard was a great way to give hints that the killer was somewhere near her.
Jaws (1975) Opening Scene
The open scene of Jaws sets the tone for the whole film altogether as the villain which is a shark in the movie will not be easily spotted and is usually hidden making it easier to have prey. Showing the sharks view is what created suspense making the audience pressure goes up knowing the girl is eventually going to get attacked. In my film I would like to apply non-diegetic sound as seen in jaws as we are seeing the sharks view, that is building suspense because when these sounds are added it makes the audience feel more intuned with what's happening in the scene.
Although my group has not settled on our film ideas fully, me and my group has still decided we will be having multiple different genres in our film including horror, comedy, and romance as a sub-genre. Although they will not all be shown from the opening scene, My group and I are making a plan to use all of the genres we each wanted so it could be a opening film with the genres we mutually agreed on. To expand my knowledge on different genres then what I already know, I watched the video down below to get quick brief description on each film genre.
Every Film Genres Explained In 6 Minutes
These are some of the genres me and my group were interested in with:
1. Horror
Time Cut(2024)
Horror is a genre designed to scare, shock, or disturb the audience. It often focuses on fear, danger, the unknown, or supernatural elements to create tension and suspense. Horror movies usually have a theme like monsters, vampire, ghost, and slashers. Majority of the time it end with a final girl who is able to fight off the bad guy. Horror films often explores dark subject matter. In the movie Time Cut lucy, a high schooler in 2024 accidentally travels back to 2003 and try to prevent her sister from a masked killer attempting to murder her. There were a frequently used amount of close-up/medium shots in this movie for intense and emotional moments.
2. Comedy
The Blackening (20222)
Comedy helps make horror and romance stories feel more fun and relatable by using jokes, awkward moments, and misunderstandings between characters. These humorous situations often bring characters closer together and make their relationships feel more realistic. Comedy usually shows exaggerated characters in a lighthearted way and majority of the time the film ends on a positive or happy note. In The Blackening, the focus is a group of black friends who reunites in a remote cabin, only to be terrorized by a masked killer. In this movie, their are a lot of close-ups that highlights key details on what's occurring in the moment and later on.
3. Romance
To All the Boys I've Loved Before(2018)
The romance genre tells stories about love and relationships between people. These stories usually have happy endings, but they can also show heartbreak and emotional pain. Romance films focus a lot on the characters and their feelings. Music is often used to help set the mood and make scenes more emotional. Similar to comedy, as they both focus on relationships; romance centers on love, attraction, and an emotional connection. Medium close-up shots are commonly used to emphasize characters intimate emotions and facial expressions between the two. To All the Boys I've Love Before is centered around Lara whose letters made for only her to see was mailed out to 5 boys as each boy comforts her causing a lot of drama. My other group members wanted romance although it is comedic for me they were wanting it to be similar to that as it was a funny movie as well since we locked in already that were doing comedy.
In hopes of becoming a better sound designer, I thought to look at videos of sound designers before me. In"The Magic of Making Sound", A couple different sound designers gave advice on how to create cinematic sound for film.
The Magic of Making a Sound
A few main points that were given by these sound designers were, most sounds you hear — footsteps, weather, rustling clothing, animal noises — are not recorded on set, but fabricated later by Foley artists who recreate them in a studio. If done well, the audience never realizes they’re artificial.Sounds change depending on how and where they occur — for example rain hitting a face sounds different from rain hitting the ground — so Foley artists pay close attention to context and texture.Artists use visual cues like a streamer across the screen to time sounds precisely with on-screen action so that every effect matches the visuals.
*Foley artists use everyday objects to mimic real sounds
Creative objects and materials are used in clever ways:
Cornstarch in a pouch can sound like snow crunching.
Gloves with paper clips can emulate dog paws.
Plungers wrapped in cloth may imitate horse hooves.
A feather duster can mimic bird wings.
After listening to such professional sound designers, I feel that I have a better understanding f how to be a better sound designer.
For this film, I will be the sound designer luckily I am familiar with the role as I was the sound designer for my last film. With the knowledge I know already about sound designing, I have the clear understanding of what was successful and not successful during the making of my last film
Successful
Throughout my last film, I successfully communicated with my group whenever I had more information to inform them about or if they needed help. All of our shots were able to be taken although we were in a time crunch. We chose perfect days when barely people were in the way and it never rained on us all we were shooting our film. While we were shooting since I didn't have much to do I helped the actors with their lines one what to say and how to say it. I even kept track of what scene we were on whenever I was able to meet up. and I helped put the characters in the right position.
Improvements
One of things I want to fix is the organization for how things will get done this time. During my last film, I realized the director didn't do exactly everything she should've done, although this time their is a new director but i will still make sure everything is planned accordingly so we have no delays. Also, when we meet up to film we need to limit playing around as it does take away from the time we have to film depending on the day and what time especially since it gets dark earlier .
Another main thing I will improve is my communication with all the actors. I will make sure I give them a date on when to send a recording of themself saying their parts in the film by a certain date and no later then that, because in my last film when the actor did send a. recording in obviously matched how they say the words unlike those who didn't ho had a different persons voice over them it looked and sounded bad
Sound design Tips
Here are som tips taken from the video:
Punctuate:Use strong, punchy sound hits to emphasize key moments or big actions.
Ambiance: Add environmental sounds like wind or background ambience to immerse the audience and add depth.
Contrast: Alternate between quiet and loud elements to make each stand out more.
Build: Use risers or gradual increases in intensity to build momentum toward important scenes.
Repetition: Repeat sound elements to give the feel of a musical score even without actual music.
Titles: Add distinctive sounds to punctuate title cards or text to match the mood of the film
Feeling: Prioritize sound that evokes the right emotional response over strict realism.
Score First: Establish the rhythmic or emotional framework (often with music or sound cues) before final editing.
Pitch Shift: Change the pitch of sounds to make them feel different (e.g., more eerie or dramatic).
Hi guys my name is Chloe, In my future blogs you will come along with me will I am making a film and before that Let me tell you a little about myself.
I am 15 years old and my ethnicity is Black African & American and Jamaican . My plan after high school is to go to college and become a pediatrician or nurse full-time with a part time job as well. My favorite rap artist to listen to is Rod wave. I love to eat, especially candy; I cannot go without eating candy at least once a week. A couple of my favorite foods are French fries, macaroni and cheese, homemade empanadas, chicken parmesan, chicken sandwiches, and a Caesar salad but I will only eat a salad that contains lettuce, olives, pickles, shredded cheese, and chicken, nothing else added. My favorite fast-food restaurant is chipotle. I know for sure in the future, I will have 2 dogs and a cat because I love cats and dogs, I even used to have a stray cat for a year outside I sued to feed and named it Jt.My dream place to go to out of country is Japan!
My favorite things to do!
I have a junk case business @junked.byrii on instagram, and I love making junk cases they are fun and are cute results. I enjoy doing lashes as I would like to become more professional in cosmetology in the future. I love doing anything out the house like shopping. Lastly, I really have been focused on my channel I started on YouTube as I have a a lot of goals for YouTube that I will reach.
