Social media thriller research

 Today, in class we were tasked with researching 3 social media pages that would reflect the social media page we would end up creating for our own portfolio project, so me and Alejandro decided to go in different directions. He'd research comedy short film social media pages while I'd research thriller short film social media pages and we'd share our findings to create the ultimate thriller-comedy social media page synergy.

Media text: Crash Site (@crashsiteshort)

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: Posts typically highlight milestones the film reached after its release, and audience reactions to the post via YouTube comments. 2 brief trailers and teasers were incorporated, appealing to the unique sci-fi aspects of the thriller production. Some attempts at behind the scenes process was included, but these were low effort and seemed to be posted for the sake of being posted rather than appealing to the audience's interests, like a picture of the characters on production day as opposed to behind the scenes video.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): This short film's Instagram marketing made it very clear what not to do when marketing my own film. To its advantage, renowned actor Steven Yeun starred in the production, meaning audiences would be naturally gravitated and the film did not require relentless, excessive marketing. The only posts working to develop any sort of branding are the trailers, and release date reveal. The release date reveal had stylized text that fit the color scheme and sci-fi styled branding of the piece itself, and the trailers each focus on separate aspects, one the thriller aspects and one the comedic aspects.

Posts such as this serve absolutely no purpose to develop branding, and instead conflict with the intense, high stakes nature of the teasers, creating branding that reads as ambiguous.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: I will certainly incorporate teasers of the production, and an original element I can incorporate from Crash Site's social media is two teasers organized very differently from one another, one emphasizing the comedic nature of the film, and another emphasizing the thriller aspects to appeal to both ranges of my genre's target audience. I will also ensure, before making any post, if it works to either further develop my branding, or serves any other significant purpose that would market my film more effectively as opposed to posting for the sake of posting and entirely diminishing the creation of a cohesive brand within my production.

Media Text: Format (@formatthefilm)

Social Media Tool: Instagram

Description of Types of Posts: The very first post took place before any production had begun whatsoever, simply announcing that the film was in it's preproduction phase, giving a brief plot synopsis and introduction to the short film. As the creators grew farther into the production process, interview-format videos with actors and directors were used to reveal more about the content of the short film as well as the process used to bring it to life. Individual posts are designated to casting decisions for each major character, and any short film nominations were given their own individual postings. Only one real post was incorporated closer to the release date that functioned as a teaser, and worked to establish tone and mood as opposed to giving virtually anything away regarding the plot.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): The branding of this particular piece did not seem to become clear until the creators were clearly far along in the post-production process. Before a clear brand was evident, posts seemed kind of random and uninspired, focusing solely upon behind the scenes images. However, branding was eventually made super clear in the later half of their postings through a consistent color scheme, visual style, and text font. Most images on the cover of posts did not make it clear what exactly we as the audience are supposed to be looking at, but demonstrated a clear, consistent style and chilling mood that would intrigue a sci-fi thriller driven audience to want to watch the production. 

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: The use of visually stylized stills from my film to accompany any important information, like new film festival screenings, or special events would ensure that as I draw closer to release day, by branding grows more and more cohesive. Additionally, my teasers can lean more into conventions of the genre and developing tone as opposed to focusing on the plot of the film to keep it ambiguous. Early on in the production, behind the scenes type content, while detracting from the creation of a clear band from start to finish, appears excusable as the intention of these posts was not to reinforce or emphasize the film's style, but rather to  humanize the production and break it down into clear phases for the audience to understand. I can mirror this aspect through making one or 2 posts highlighting the creation of my original score as this would clearly depict what effort went into the production, beyond what the audience sees on the screen.

Media text: Spoor (@spoorshortfilm)

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: Jarring, uniquely framed shots from the film are set as standalone posts when announcing important information such as film festival announcements. Brief teasers that serve to establish an eerie tone through hollow sound design and abstract shots rather than outline the plot. Pictures of the cast and crewmembers at festivals after the films release. Some behind the scenes editing is included but not a lot of emphasis on the production process.

Description of how branding is developed (or not): Consistent color scheme across all posts and the repeated emphasis on jarring, outright odd shots creates a clear discomforting branding. The brand being developed is made so clear by the repetition of the orange, warm color scheme and chilling shots that the story is virtually irrelevant, and the audience of abstract psychological thriller lovers are intrigued by the consistency in branding alone.

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence: This page served to show me just how important repetition and consistency are in the creation of a cohesively branded social media page. The other pages I researched made some attempt at developing branding, but this short film understood the vision it wished to reflect and embodied it within each post. Thus, me and Alejandro will decide on the vision we wish to reflect for our project before setting out on churning out different posts, as not only will this drive the social media page, but constantly having our branding in mind will help drive the overall look of our production as well to ensure branding is consistent across all 3 components of our project.

Having a Good Time (Thriller Analysis)

 Today is an intense day. Today I'll be talking about and critiquing one of my favorite thrillers of all time, Good Time. I know I've talked about this production before, but I didn't really go into as much as depth as I would have in an analysis, and this piece is something I'm heavily inspired by, both thematically and stylistically. 

Good Time follows a young man Connie, and his brother Nick, who has a mental disability. Connie elects to rob a bank with his brother to get enough money to leave town, which ends up triggering a sequence of events that doesn't let up until the movie concludes. After a successful heist, Nick opens up the bag with money in it, only to find it has been rigged with explosive paint, causing him to start panicking until the commotion eventually draws cops, and Nick is arrested while Connie barely escapes.

Two elements I am most inspired by are the overall look of the production, and the way it manages to blur the lines of what is moral and what is not.

As in many other of their films, including Marty Supreme and Uncut Gems, The Safdie brothers have an iconic, grainy, gritty look which adds to the overall intense tone that defines all of these productions. Whether this have to do with a specific camera or post-production is something I'll be sure to delve into in my planning phase, but this look truly elevates these films from a story to what feels like an experience.

What further immerses the audience into the Safdie style is their immersive dialogue, characterized by mundane realism, and often interruption and characters speaking over one another to the point where it grows overbearing.

They also use immersive long takes focusing on one specific action to make the experience of their films grow more immersive, even on the most simple, seemingly insignificant tasks, such as when Connie dies his hair to conceal his identity.

Connie goes to extreme lengths in order to attempt to free his brother from jail, even breaking into the hospital in which he stay in attempt to break him out. However, after doing so he realizes he broke out the complete wrong person, and instead uses him to get enough money to pay Nick's bail. This, to me, embodies the concept of blurring the lines between morality, as his overwhelming love and worry for his brother forces him to commit felonies and even steal people's identities in hopes to even potentially help his brother escape. 

In my own short film, an idea me and alejandro have been messing around with is the image of a school custodian who forgets to put up a wet floor sign late after hours, resulting in the death of an employee, forcing him to hide the body. He has some sort of ulterior motivation to keep the job like keeping his family fed or something along those lines, and he fears losing his job. I think it would be really interesting to explore the concept of what is moral and what isn't like the Safdie brothers in this scenario and simultaneously see just how intense I can make it. 

Comedy Short Film Analyses

Today, I'll be watching two short films that fall primarily within the comedy genre and analyzing how they recreate this genre most effectively.

Lie Detector:

This film was hilarious. It essentially follows a man as he undergoes a job interview, but as you might've guessed, he is attached to a lie detector which obnoxiously beeps whenever anyone in the room tells a lie. 

The mise-en-scene elements work to assert the environment quite vividly, as both the costume and set design make the office setting come to life, and it is truly believable that this could be a real job interview.

For the most part, the use of editing is limited, but extremely motivated, as whenever a character has a notable reaction or response, the continuous two shot cuts to one of their faces on a close up. However, something that this film does that I would really like to create is the interruption of some sort of third party on a continuous sequence, as this serves as a nice break up from the continuous dialogue while also reinforcing the comedic aspects

The repeated interruption of the lie detector in response to anything separate from the truth helps the short film use this repetition to its comedic advantage. The lie detector even turns on the interviewer as his boss comes in to ask if he's finished an assignment, to which he must reveal he hasn't. 

Overall, this film is hilarious not only because of the writing, but also in part to its masterful use of deadpan delivery to make certain lines all the more hilarious.

Stapler:

This film was very over the top and best serves as an example of the power physical comedy holds on creating absurdity and humor. It follows two office employees as they discover that they are both out of stables, and engage in an extreme face off to let fate decide who ultimately deserves the staples retrieved from the other side of the office.

It uses really unique visuals to amplify the overall absurdity of the film, such as following the staples as they fly through the office like bullets. The use of action-packed, fast paced music accompanying these absurd shots reinforce the degree of action. The overall juxtaposition of two such unlike concepts, an office building and a high-stakes fight sequence works most effectively to create the level of ironic humor this short film contains.

Something I really enjoyed and can take inspiration from is the ending. The film ends just how it started, only this time, both employees realize they are out of coffee, ending on a cliffhanger suggesting these unlikely and over the top fights are seemingly a neverrending cycle. I feel like the thrillers I watch that most stick with me are the ones with inconclusive endings, so incorporating something like this into my own production would be cool.

Thriller-Comedy Short Film Analyses

 I've decided it would be best for me to first research short films that blend thriller and comedy aspects, and then research short films that are more comedic and more thriller-like rather than a blend of the two to ensure I get an equal balance of both of these aspects. Today I'll analyze two thriller-comedies.

"Put Your Shopping Cart Away"

This short film follows a man who shops at a grocery store late at night and decides to not return his shopping cart after loading his car, despite a sign clearly asking all customers to do so. An employee is then seen menacingly staring straight at the protagonist, who then terrorizes him and his family for the rest of the piece, dismantling their home and even killing his wife. At the end of the film, the main character is homeless and sleeps outside of the grocery store and sees another man decide to not return his shopping cart, and before being able to warn him, the same employee holds him back and gives rge man the same menacing stare.

The thriller elements of this film come most directly from the soundtrack and lighting, as whenever the protagonist feels as if his antagonizing cart-pusher is nearing, a bone-chilling, eerie score is heard in the background. The combination of this with low-key lighting such as when he sees his wife's lifeless body laying on the ground ultimately work to create unsettling sequences with claustrophobic and seemingly unescapable circumstances, aligning with thriller conventions.

The comedic aspects of the film come from its overall absurdity in terms of plot, and physical comedy as well. I mean the entire concept of having a cart-pushing, psychotic killer is pretty absurd in and of itself. Additionally, the concept of dragging out aspects of everyday life to completely new extremes is evident here, as it is common knowledge that grocery store employees are inconvenienced by those who refuse to return their carts, but this film questions how psychotic this aspect of everyday life could possibly make someone

The protagonists questionable and often abnormal response to the terror he is experiencing also add to the overall comedy in the film. For example, when he hears his wife and daughter screaming and begging for help, when he sees his wife recording, his first response is to fix his hair in the mirror as opposed to rushing in to help them. 

Overall, it feels like this film's absurdity in terms of plot help reinforce both its degree of being a comedy and being a thriller, as the plot is equally as comedic as it is intense

CROOK$:

This film centers around two friends who decide to rob a liquor store for reasons that aren't made abundantly clear, but have something to do with their dog Heisenberg's health. Once they infiltrate the store, however, they find that the cashier is actually another robber who was knocked out and taken the place of the actual cashier, and therefore can't access the cash register. Alarmed, the girls flee the scene, but ultimately decide to return to defeat robber and claim all the liquor in the store for themselves.

The most clear convention of thriller followed by this film is how it blends the line between good and bad, as obviously robbery is a crime and moral wrongdoing, but it is difficult not to sympathize with 2 friends who just wish to help their dog. Thriller is further reinforced through intense visuals and the use of violence, such as when the girls break a bottle over the robber's head.

The reveal of the unconscious body behind the cash register is equally as intense, and the change in sound from completely diegetic and empty sound to a haunting score help intensify this reveal and make it clear that the threat of another criminal is deathly close.

The comedic aspects of the film come almost entirely from the use of dialogue. For example, in the very opening sequence of the film, the two friends argue over whether or not they'll wear a mask during the robbery as the other friend wishes to look 'cute' on camera. Continuous, uninterrupted 2 shots where you can clearly see both character's expressions help enhance the comedic effect of this particular sequence.

Despite clear attempts at it, I feel this film falls a little short in terms of its degree of comedy. Just relying on dialogue rather than working some funny elements into the story itself is pretty risky unless you know for a fact your dialogue is hilarious, which in this case, quite honestly it felt kind of unnatural and unnecessary.

Overall, from my delving into hybrid thriller-comedies, I've found that the most engaging and enjoyable ones find a way for the plot itself to create the comedy and thriller instead of forcing one aspect for the sake of forcing it. I'll be sure to keep this in mind as I continue crafting my finalized narrative for my short film.

Thriller-Comedy Genre Conventions

 Over the past week of deliberating with my portfolio project partner Alejandro, we've pretty much settled in on the thriller-comedy genre. In this blog post, I'll be researching the conventions of this genre to help ensure I know what rules to follow and which ones I might decide to break as I further develop my narrative.

Thriller

First and foremost, a common mistake film viewers make is grouping thrillers and horrors into the same group, which is incorrect. The goal of a thriller is to induce anxiety and keep the audience on the edge of their seat, while the goal of a horror is to terrify, frighten, and even revolt the audience in some cases. Some defining characteristics of thrillers are:

• High Stakes - Something of great value to the main character is in jeopardy
• "Unity of Opposites" - A character is locked into a problem and unable to escape the situation
• Odds that seem impossible for a character to overcome, even to the character themselves, making the audience feel greatly uncertain to what the outcome will be
• Ticking clock - A clear shortage of time on the protagonist's hands in order to ramp up the amount of tension in the film. Picture a story where a man must drop off money by midnight to save his daughter and now must scramble to get the money for his daughter.
• Moral struggle, blurring the lines between what is objectively and subjectively good and bad based on the character's needs and priorities.
• Intelligent protagonists and antagonists aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses
  

The rivalry between Batman and the Joker best embodies these thriller archetypes, as they are so familar with each other they are virtually always in a game of chess, predicting the other's next move before they are even able to act.

Comedy

Originally, the definition of a comedy was anything with a happy ending, but it has evolved over time to be known as anything containing elements of humor, and is therefore super easy to fuse with virtually any genre. Some defining characteristics are:

• Relatable reflections of the truths of everyday life, but in greatly exaggerated manners. Think McLovin from Superbad, a reflection of typical depictions of relatively unpopular high school kids, but with virtually everything cranked up to 10
  
  
  
• Shot composition and camera movements that are motivated to create comedic effect
• Specific character deliveries that suit the comedic needs of a media text at a given point in time. The needs are entirely contextual and can range from dead pan to overly emotional and dramatic.

  
  
• Slapstick - physical humor created from over the top performances or uncoordinated movement, or violence

In my short film, where I seek to create a blend of these two genres, some conventions of each I most definitely plan on recreating are deadpan delivery, blurring of morality, and impossible odds. I feel like my sense of humor in real life is pretty deadpan so I would like to see how I can recreate this in a thriller comedy, and I feel like these thriller elements are the most iconic and reinforcing of the thriller genre.

Portfolio Project Schedule

 Below is the schedule me and Alejandro plan on following for the next 2 months to complete our project in the most organized and efficient way.

Week One:

-Select project route

-Brainstorm plot/soundtrack ideas

-Settle on choice for genre

-Watch short films for inspiration

-Complete blog posts
 
Week Two:

-Further develop story/outline of plot

-Research thriller genre conventions

-Watch more thriller short films for inspiration

-Research desired techniques to implement within the short film

-Write/Start recording 2 pieces for the soundtrack

-Complete blog posts

Week Three:
-Complete rough draft of script

-Research social media pages for similar short films

-Research more desired technique to include within our short film

-Begin storyboard

-Meet with other groups in class

-Find actors and reach out to them

-Create Instagram page

-Complete blog postings

 
Week Four:
-Finalize storyboard

-Settle on shooting locations/get permission to film

-Finish 2 pieces for the soundtrack

-Construct/find needed mise-en-scene elements

-Film opening sequence

 
Week Five (Spring Break):
-Finish filming the short film

-Begin editing

-See if soundtrack pieces work well with the video component

-Post to social media

-Research similar short films and brainstorm ideas for the front and back of the postcard

-Finish blog posts

 
Week Six:
- More editing

-Rewrite/Rerecord any soundtrack songs if necessary

-Find SFX from online databases

-Rough draft postcard

-More social media postings

-CR research

-Complete blog posts

Week Seven:
-Finalize editing/Soundtrack

-More social media postings (Edit potential teasers/bloopers)

-Finalize postcard

-Research for CR/Begin writing CR

-Complete blog posts
 
Week Eight:
-Last touches to short film

-Final social media posts

-Finish writing CR

-Reflect on project as a whole

-Post all components to blog

I really want to take advantage of the free time of spring break to knock out the most intimidating part of the project - filming. Not only does doing so ensure the filming gets done early on, but it also leaves us with a lot of time to edit the project and designate proper time to fulfilling the other project components. I've never really edited an original narrative of this length so I want to make sure I give myself enough time to learn and adjust.

Additionally, I made certain I left time for the whole soundtrack thing because, as I discussed in my last post, something I really hope to do in this project is create an original score. The approach I think would work best is settling on a mood/tone and then writing 2 instrumental tracks and scripting to fit this tone. By knocking out the soundtrack early on, I have more time to write new tracks or change my approach altogether if I feel it doesn't necessarily work.

I didn't use this last year what are you talking about

 

A Level Project Thoughts and Deliberations

Hey there. Remember when I told you guys that I'd be back on this blog during and after the documentary project? And then didn't say anything for like 2 months? Well I'm actually back now! 

This week is a very important week, as it marks the official start of the A Level Portfolio Project. This past week I've been thinking constantly about what route I could possibly want to tackle for the next 2 months, as each route is so separate from the next yet interestingly challenging. However, after a few days of deliberation and finding who I think I'll be pairing up with this year, Alejandro, we're definitely leaning towards making a short film.

Our instructor has been going over each individual project choice in class and even showing us past project examples, which has been pretty awesome. Alejandro and I both share a very strong interest in music and we've been sharing some songs we like throughout the year with each other, so we know one thing for certain - music must play a huge role in this film, whether it be through the narrative or soundtrack, or both. Over the past few months, I've gotten super into media where stuff just happens. Sure stuff happens pretty much all the time. You could listen to a Bon Jovi song and argue that stuff is "happening", even if it isn't because it's a Bon Jovi song for god's sake, but I mean media that's just as eventful as it is immersive and sticks with you long after you consume it. A film that perfectly captures what I mean is the 2017 thriller Good Time. This movie was insane. Every plot point in this film could probably be expressed in like 4-5 sentences, but it's just so immersive and raw each plot point occupies like 30 minutes of the entire film.

Within the short film, I can see this style of immersive and intense plot as well as raw dialogue being influenced heavily by projects like this. Additionally, while Ale and I both hold a deep love for music, a significant obstacle I also ran into last year is the enormous task of getting permission to use the songs we wish to use. Therefore, something I've been contemplating for a while is scoring my own short film. While this sounds like an enormous task - creating a short film and also scoring it - not only will lit let me carry out a specific vision to a greater extent, but it also adds a unique aspect to our project that not many people will have attempted before.

That's pretty much all we know about our future project so far. While the plot is still in the air, we definitely know the approach we're going to take, which I think will prove to make our project all the more stylistic and reflective of the vision we wish to bring to life.