Cambridge Blog Post 5

    Some Reiterations and Some Improvements on Some Previous Ideas  

    I've had some trouble finding a suitable setting to do the film in. I wanted to do a factory warehouse setting, and I have a friend who has a father who owns a warehouse. I asked him recently whether or not he'd be willing to let me use it and I have to follow up. As a backup I will use my house in the dark. I believe that some off the flooring will give a nice contrast to the consume design and the other mise-en-scene.

    The John Wick movie feature a lot of violence and action. However, I will insinuate violence through particular pictures and sounds rather than portraying actual violence. For example, I'd like to portray a character dragging his leg as if injured, being pursued or hunted, and then being shot. I believe that shooting this sequence in the dark will allow for minor acting faults while keeping the characters' identities hidden.

    I think in the end I will use my house for the film opening, as it will provide me the opportunity to film whenever I want, and in an environment I can control.

Cambridge Portfolio Blog Post 4

John Wick and the Creation of Implied Action and Mystery Part 2

    In completing my research, I have begun to watch all three of the John Wick movies. Some may say they are bad, but they are my guilty pleasure to watch. I love the constant action and the revenge story of Mr. Wick. While watching the second film, a certain shot caught my eye. 

    The shot was composed within a train. Where two men, John Wick, and a man sent to kill him, were fighting. This shot encompassed the exact idea I was going for. The man was wearing a dark suit, and the lighting was a cool, but dim scheme. I especially LOVED the lens flare on the lights in the train, and I believe my piece will take a lot of inspiration from that. I feel like some lens flare on a flash light in the dark scheme I want to film in will give the film opening a professional feel, rather than an amateurish one.

    In the past days, I have added to my notes. I added information while reviewing some notes for even different classes. I added notes based on previous films created by students in the past. I will include a picture below. When the ideas come to me, Ill add them to my paper even if it is out of no where or in a different class. I also asked my teacher for the names of films that were done by students in the past that contained action. I have also included that slip of paper in the picture below. 

Cambridge Portfolio Blog Post 3

John Wick and the Creation of Implied Action and Mystery

    As I continue the process of planning this film opening, I decided to watch the John Wick break-in scene at the beginning of the first John Wick. I have embedded the video below. I noticed that John Wick incorporates a dark, bland color scheme. I want to do the same because my film opening should not be colorful and bright, because that completely contradicts the genre ideals.

    While watching the film clips I noticed that the character's costume design was primarily a black suit, and in some portions he was wearing bland beige and white clothing. Even the setting utilized contained beiges and browns. I want to incorporate such aspects into my film as well to show that the film is not bright and up beat, but rather intense.

    Moreover, I would like to clarify that the John Wick films show frequent violence and action. However, I will not be showing the actual violence, but implying violence through certain shots and sounds. For example, I want to show a character dragging his leg as if he is injured, and he is being hunted or chased and is finally shot again. I believe that if I shoot this scene in the dark, it will allow for possible minimal mistakes with acting, while concealing the identity of the characters. Thus, anonymity and mystery is created, without the graders having to think deeply about the scene.

    

John Wick. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://youtu.be/CdHKXmEn4l8. 

Cambridge Portfolio Posting 2

    Since my last posting, I have decided on a genre for my project. I decided to do a film opening for an action film. I would like to have it look and feel like a John Wick film. While taking notes for how to write the blog, an idea popped into my head. Even while writing this blog post, I was writing down new ideas for my project. As seen in my notes, I want my film opening to be dark, with greys and deep darks within the scene. I also want to have dark, ominous music playing in the background. I want the film to have a character versus character conflict. By creating a film opening that needs few different characters, I eliminate the possibility of having a lack of resources. In fact, my film opening can be geared to only have me as the actor, because in some portions I will not be showing faces to keep the identity a mystery for the rest of the film. In fact, I have included the notes that I took down below at the end of my post.

    I want to make sure that my film truly encapsulates my genre choice. Therefore, I will be doing research on action films similar to John Wick, Mission Impossible, and Jason Bourne. To do so, I will be looking at the film openings specifically, but I will also watch the movie as a whole to obtain knowledge of the genre. More specifically, I want to see how the films use color grading, costume design, cuts, shot types, and sound design in order to convey the theme and genre.