Title Research: Art of the Title

     We researched the website artofthetitle.com. This website has a very neat design. It is also easy to navigate. We are researching this website because we are creating an opening scene for our movie. This website contains the opening scenes to many movies. Opening scenes usually include titles which are an important aspect of a movie. Seeing many examples can help us gain inspiration. Titles are important not only because they help set the mood but it is also important to credit the people who took part in the movie making process. The website also credits the designers and studios who take part in creating the opening scenes. We also recently found out that there is a whole career dedicated to making titles in the opening scenes of movies. We want our titles to give the audience a good idea on what the movie is about. We also want the audience to be entertained by our opening scene. This website has great examples of what we want to do. This project is something we are really excited about as we can be as creative as we want. This website overall is a great website to use for our research of opening sequences.

Title Research: Watch the titles

     We researched the website watchthetitles.com. This website contains the opening scenes of many movies. It also contains the opening scenes of video games and tv shows but we the movie opening scenes is what we really focused on. The reason we are researching this website is to help us with our new class project. This project is to create an opening scene for our own movie. Opening scenes are important as they set the mood for the rest of the movie. We want to have a creative opening scene so we are using this website to help. For this website it is better to search the movie title rather than the genre. This website not only has the opening sequences but the studios and designers that made them. If we find a designer we like the website can give us our name so we can search their other works so it is very helpful. The website also ties the relation of the opening scene to the movie. This can help us gain an understanding to the thought process of making an opening scene. The website also offers a wide range of movie selections from different time periods and in different languages. The website definitely shows creative title sequences. Overall the website is very helpful in our research in opening sequences and gives us many ideas of what our opening sequence could look like.

Genre Research: Good Boys

     Good Boys is about a group of middle school boys who has a high school neighbor they spy on. The camera angles were high when someone was talking to the boys but low when the boys would talk to someone else. There were establishing shots before every scene and a lot of over the shoulder shots between the talking characters. Aeriel shots were used when they would spy on their high school neighbor. There wasn't much camera movement other than track and tilt. One scene had a selling deal going on and the camera would follow where the characters went and tilted at the objects they had. The cutaway and shot reverse shots were used whenever the characters were talking. The action match help shows the time passed between the scenes. The main sound was the dialogue and diegetic sounds. The sound motif would occasionally happen when something went wrong or something sneaky was happening. The costumes were just regular clothes. Natural lighting was used throughout the whole movie. The house would be lit up from the light outside or the street lights. The actors are young middle school boys and some high schoolers and adults. The boys didn't wear makeup. However, the girls would be shown putting some makeup on but it looks natural still. The main places the characters went to was each other's houses and school. We like the maturity these kids have at some parts of the movie and other parts they wouldn't know how to act and be scared. We dislike how they talk about girls because it sounds like they're objectifying them for their own needs.

Genre Research: Booksmart

     We researched Booksmart a coming-of-age movie about two teenage best friends who seek to have fun before graduation. Many angles used in Booksmart follow the conventions of the genre. These angles include close ups, eye level shots, high angles, low angles, medium shots, medium close ups, medium long shots, and over the shoulder shots. The camera movements also follow conventions as the movie uses many tracking shots but also pans, tilts, and zooms. There are many wide shots, two shots, and three shots with some establishing shots throughout the movie. The costumes are everyday clothes at the beginning but towards the middle the characters dress in fancier clothes which consists of suits and dresses. The lighting is dim or neon in the night scenes but in the daytime scenes the lighting is natural. The actors are mainly young adults who are Caucasian there a few who are people of color though. The makeup is mostly minimal to none with only a few characters wearing a visible amount. Props in the movie are mostly phones or cups. The setting changes a lot from school to a car to a ship and to a house. The editing has a lot of cut aways, eye line matches, reaction shots, and shot reverse shots but there are also cross cuts and jump cuts. The sound has dialogue, diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, and ambient sound. The score is made up of many different genres from pop and mellow pop to funk and hip hop. The movie was filled with awkward moments, funny moments, parties, high school crushes, and friendship. We liked that the movie was funny and that the main characters were likeable. Also, that there was a main character who was a lesbian and wasn't treated like an outcast or weird. We didn't like that they made a teacher having a relationship with a student normal.

Genre Research: American Honey

     American Honey is a coming-of-age movie about a girl from a bad neighborhood who lives to provide for her needs while she moves across the west. The camera angles were at the regular height of the actor most of the time, there were some scenes that were shot at a low angle. The main camera shots were two-shot, establishing shots and mid-shot. Most of the movie was following the main character and the struggles she deals with on her trip. The camera movement was tracking Star (the main character) and the interactions she encounters. A lot of jump cuts and eye-line matches were used to show what Star was doing. There are some scenes that fade out into the next scene to signify it's the next day. The sounds in the movie were dialogue, score, and ambient sound. The movie mainly showed what Star experienced in public areas like music playing at stores. The costumes worn were regular clothes you can buy anywhere. There wasn't really anything extravagant worn. All of the movie was filmed with natural lighting from outside or store and street lights. The actors were a diverse group of teens and young adults. The actors weren't really wearing makeup or it would be natural. The main places Star went to were different neighborhoods and most of the time she was being transported. We like the story of what an independent girl can do to fix her financial issues and finds herself through the process. We dislike the age gap because we think the concept of older adults shouldn't be hanging out with teens.

Genre Research:The Edge of Seventeen

     We watched and analyzed the coming-of-age movie The Edge of Seventeen about a teen whose life starts spiriling after her best friend starts dating her brother. The angles in this movie are mostly eye level, over the shoulder, point of view shots, close ups, medium close ups, or medium shots but there are some high and low angles sprinkled in. The camera movement consisted of pans, tilts, and many tracking shots. This movie had many of this genres conventional shots such as wide shots, establishing shots, two shots, three shots but also had some hand held shots. The costumes in this movie were everyday wear made up of jackets, long sleeve shirts, and skirts. The lighting was either dim or natural throughout the whole thing with a few scenes having neon lighting. The actors were Caucasian young adults who played the teens and Caucasian middle aged actors who played the adults. Makeup was never heavy it was mostly minimal to none. Props were things such as backpacks or phones. The settings were mostly school, a house, restaurants, or a car. Editing was mainly cut aways, shot-reverse-shots, eye-line matches, reaction shots, and jump cuts with fade ins and outs appearing once or twice. There was dialogue in the movie along with diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, voiceovers, ambient sound, and music consisting of rock, pop, and melancholic songs. The elements of the movie were awkward moments, sarcasm, arguments, emotional scenes, and funny moments. We like that the movie was realistic and funny. We did not like that the movie tried to push the brother and best friend having a deep connection even though there are no scenes really showing the audience proof of that.

Genre Research: Choosing Our Genre

     The genre we decided to do was a coming-of-age movie. We like the concept of the character growing mentally and/or physically. We also decided to do this genre so we can implement political issues in the movie. We couldn't find a way to put that into a romance movie. We wanted the movie to be relatable to the audience. This genre is easier to film than a romance movie. We need fewer props and actors in the coming-of-age movie than the romance movie.