Short Film vs Feature Length Film

     I watched both the short film and feature film 9. The short film was seven minutes while the feature film was one hour and twenty minutes long. The short film and feature film were very different but contained the same core elements mostly. The first big difference was that there was dialogue in the feature film. The short film contained no dialogue at all. Another difference was that instead of it being 5 who was attacked by the spider robot it was 2. Also in the short film the small spider robot had taken the souls instead of the main big robot. The feature film had much longer to further develop its plot and characters. In the short film it is not explained where the rag dolls come from or what exactly happened when 5's soul got snatched. In the feature film it is explained why the rag dolls are made and what happened to the world. The feature film also developed the characters more. In the short film we did not get to know 5 and 9's backstory or their personality traits. In the feature film we know how the characters met and what they are like. 2 is very smart and a skilled inventor. 9 is very righteous. 3 and 4 are very organized and curious. 7 is very tough and nice. 1 is selfish and blunt. 8 is somewhat of a bully and always agrees with 1. 6 is very artistic and knowledgeable. 5 is very smart and a scaredy-cat. The short film also did not give us any of the other rag dolls only 5 and 9. Personally I preferred the short film because it gave a more eerie and mysterious mood. I still enjoyed both films and think the plot and characters are very unique.

Research 9, The Feature Film

    Today I watched the film 9. The feature film 9 is based of the short film with the same name. I watched the short film yesterday. The feature film 9 is about one hour and twenty minutes long. The plot revolves around a group of 9 rag doll robots. The main character is 9. He was the last rag doll robot built. When 9 awakes he soon finds another rag doll robot named 2. 2 is taken away when they are both attacked by a spider robot. 9 gets hurt and is rescued by 5 who is also a rag doll robot. 5 brings 9 to where the rest of the ragdolls are living. 9 and 5 decide to go and find 2 despite the leader rag doll 1 telling them not to. When 9 and 5 find 2 they meet 7 who saved them. Soon after 2 is found he ends up getting his soul snatched by a machine that 9 fixed. 9,5, and 7 end up running away from the machine and go to a library to find answers. At the library dolls 3 and 4 help the rest find out what the machine is. 5 and 9 end up going back to where the others are while 7,3 and 4 refuse. 9 sees what 6, another ragdoll, is drawing. It turns out to be a key to the mystery of the machine but an argument breaks out over the machine. 1 and 8, who is basically 1's bodyguard, oppose to going back but the fight is interrupted by a monster. 7 comes along to save them but it ends up being 5,3 and 4 who end up rescuing everyone. After finding new shelter and getting attacked one again everyone goes back to where the machine lives to destroy it. 8 and 6 end up getting their souls snatched. This is when we find out their souls are in the machine. In order to save them 9 takes a piece of the machine as it snatches 1's soul. 9,7,3 and 4 end up releasing their souls into the sky to free them. The sound in the movie is good and I really enjoyed the diegetic sound. The voice acting and animation was also quite good. Overall I thought the movie was okay but it is not really my style.

Research 9, The Short

  Today I watched the short film 9. This is a seven minute animated short film. I really enjoyed this short film. The characters were really unique. I liked the rag doll appearance of some and the robotic appearance of others. The setting was also very cool. It had a post apocalyptic feel and somewhat reminded me of Wall-e. The sound is what really made an impact on me most though. There was no dialogue in the short film. The only sound really heard is diegetic and score. The sound and lack thereof helped the mood of the short film a lot. It made moments feel more scary and suspenseful. The sound of the robotic spider characters made me feel as if I was inside the film. The plot was interesting too. The main character is a rag doll like with a 9 on its back. 9 seems to have had a mentor or a friend in the past. 9's friend has the same appearance but with a 5 instead on its back. The mentor/friend seems to have saved 9 and died by the hands of a spider like robot. 9 seems to have grown up and faces a spider again. 9 survives this incident and is seen putting two pieces of something together. One of these pieces is something 5 had given to 9. The pieces drop on the floor and begin to show a bunch of holographs with the same appearance of 9 but with different numbers on their backs. One of them is 5 and the short film ends. The ending confused me a bit but overall I liked this short film a lot. 

Genre Choice for Film

      We have researched 3 genres for our film. Our genres were romance, comedy and coming-of-age. Out of these three choices, we have decided to do a romance genre with comedic elements. We decided on romance because our main plot point revolves around 2 girls falling in love. Therefore, we decided romance was the best fit for our film over coming-of-age and comedy. We decided to add comedic elements because we wanted the movie to be light-hearted. We had more of a liking toward romance aside from our research also. The genre is very versatile, so they're many roads you can take with the a romance film. We really liked the freedom the versatility provided us with. This freedom is also why we added comedic elements to our film. We have grown up watching numerous rom-coms. When we've pictured our film, we didn't think of our film being dramatic. We wanted the romance to be more happier instead of a sad and intense film. We were also inspired to add comedic elements because of our own personal lives. Our interactions with our own friends are more humorous than serious. Average teenagers are more easy going than they have been portrayed in recent media. Many TV Shows and/or movies, like to have teens act like adults. However, teens still are kids and like to banter with their friends. We don't need to modify our pitch because we've already corrected our mistake. We are very happy with the genre we decided for our film and are excited to film.

Genre Research: Coming-of-age

        Our last genre we researched is coming-of-age. Famous coming-of-age examples are Eighth Grade and Little Women. There are not a lot of angles used, but there are some high angles every now and then in this genre. There's not much camera movements, however, they would mostly be tracking and zooms shots. The different camera shots used are establishing shots, wide shots, two-shots, close-ups, eye-level shots, medium shots and point of view shots. The sound is mainly diegetic, non-diegetic and dialogue. There's also voice-overs, ambient sound, and a soundtrack of happy upbeat songs and slow sad ones. Costumes are normally everyday clothing and something a teen or young adult would usually wear. Lighting is usually natural or bright for the happier scenes while dark and neon for the sadder ones. Actors in this genre are mainly Caucasians. Fortunately, the media is starting to diversify the actors/characters in this genre. There is normally minimal to no makeup used on the characters. Makeup is usually used to show an emotion like crying or injury. Props are mostly personal items like a phone, skateboard, notebook, etc. Settings are predominately high schools or homes. Editing in these movies consists of cutaways, shot reverse shots, eye-line matches, reactions shots, and jump cuts.We liked that coming-of-age movies are ones that everyone especially teens can relate with. We didn't like that some of the characters' problems seemed vain and that these movies are not diverse; usually only having one person of color or one gay person throughout the whole movie.

Genre Research: Comedy

       The second genre we researched is comedy. Some examples of comedy films are Ghostbusters and Jumanji. Common shots in comedy are usually close up, mid-shot, long shot, two shot and over the shoulder. There isn't much camera angles used in comedy, they're normally shot at eye level. Common camera movements are pan, track and zoom shots. The sound in comedies are diegetic, non-diegetic, ambient, score, dialogue, sound motif and incidental music. The costumes depends on the plot of the movie and can range from normal clothes, uniform and costumes. Lighting is normally bright or mainly directed towards the speaker(s) in the scene. Actors are normally adults but sometimes there are teens or kids incorporated. Many of these comedians are Caucasian, but there has been more diversity in the recent decades. The makeup also depends on the plot but it's normally natural or something that goes with the costumes. Props can be anything ranging from furniture to food or even stores. Setting can be anywhere like a park or a restaurant. Common editing are shot reverse shot, eye-line match, action match and cross cutting. We like comedy movies because the jokes match our humorous personality. However, some of the jokes can be offensive to minority groups which we don't support because we believe in equality.

Genre Research: Romance

          One of the genres we are researching is romance. Examples of romance would be the Twilight series or the movie Your Name. Two-shots, over the shoulder shots and mid-shots are the main shots used in romance movies. Tracking shots would also be used when the character walks  to or runs away from their love interest. Pans would also be used during romance movies. The camera is normally angled at the same level as the subject, there isn't really a high or low angle used. Most actors in romance movies would normally wear everyday clothes as costumes, or dress for the occasion they're attending. The lighting depends on the scene. If there's a dance it would have darker lighting than if it was a brunch date. The actors could vary to anyone, but the main actors in most films are Caucasian. Makeup is normally used for special occasions the characters attend. Common props could be anything from keys or a phone to a cake or a car. The setting also depends on the scene, it can be anything from a castle to a sketchy ally way. There are a lot of shot-reverse shots and an eye-line match to capture the characters' dialogue and some cross-cutting to show what events are about to happen. The main sound in romance is the dialogue but there's also ambient sound and score. Elements of the genre we liked were the versatility and the feel good effect. Romance is very versatile in the way love is portrayed whether through tragedy, happiness, etc. There is also a feel good effect that romance has when the couple is together and happy that makes the viewer feel happy. We disliked the lack of diversity in romance movies as many of them are heterosexual with white leads. We also disliked how many romance movies follow the trope of falling in love with someone who bullied you or did bad things to you. We think that arc is somewhat toxic because many of these bullies/ bad people do not have a good redemption arc all that happens is they apologize once if at all and the main character falls for them or stays with them.

Genres I Would Like to Research

      For the movie my group and I will be filming soon we have to pick a genre. There are three genres we decided to research. The first genre is romance. The second genre is comedy. The third genre is coming-of-age. We felt these genres would be potentially the best fit for our movie. Our movie's main plot revolves around a girl who likes another girl. This is why we chose to research romance. Also, when planning this movie we didn't want the mood to be heavy we wanted it light and comedic. This is where we got the idea to research comedy. Our movie is also set in high school which is where coming-of-age movies are primarily placed. That is why we decided to research coming-of-age. These genres not only go with our pitch but we also have interest in these genres aside from that. Coming-of-age movies especially have an impact on us since we are high school students. There also many romantic and comedic elements in coming-of-age movies. This also influenced our chosen genres to research. We have seen many romance, comedy, and coming-of-age movies that are set in high school. This will give us experience and a feel for what our movie will be like. We are excited to research these genres. Since we have watched so many of these movies casually it is nice to analyze these genres. It's fun to see what makes that genre so nice to watch.