Genre Research

INTRO 

Today, in media studies, we were assigned to research genres for our 2-minute film opening that we are filming in groups. I am extremely interested in many genres; some examples are mystery, horror, and thrillers. I am also interested in learning the process of making movies or films, I am a huge fan of good shows or movies, and this is a wonderful way of diving deeper into that world that I have loved since little. 

RESEARCH 

On my research I not only explored what genres there is in the film world, but I also learned what is and why we should learn about film genres. Genres are categories that movies are placed in; each genre has several types of plots, characters, tone, mood, and many other characteristics that make each genre unique. 

Some examples of genres that I would like to use for my film opening are Thrillers, Romance, or Fantasy   

Thrillers  

Thrillers are designed and have the purpose of playing around with emotions, mostly dealing with suspense and anxiety. One advantage that thriller movies have and why they are so popular is that they always keep the audience on edge. This makes the audience pay attention all time, because if they look

away for too long, they can miss key details of the movie ruining the experience. 

Romance 

The genre of Romance is also defined by playing with emotions, but these emotions are different one example is LOVE. Romance revolves in intimacy and relies in the relationships shown throughout the film; however, not all the time is a happy ending , these movies can sometimes del with the death of a loved one, and shows how the main character has to deal with the pain of losing a loved one. 

 

Fantasy 

Finally, we have fantasies; fantasies are often characterized by ideal or fictional settings. They can be endless and can deal with human myths, and unrealistic worlds. This genre is entertaining because it gives you knew settings and different latest ideas, not mattering if it makes sense. This can keep a crowd of people entertained and add a good plot. 

As I read what genres are and why they are important, I found out one key point that made me realize why Genres are so important to the film industry. That key point is uniqueness; each genre has their unique touch to them; they have unique, themes, narrative structure, visual style, moods, and many other elements that make genres unique and interesting to use.

Overview

This research really helps my project because it gives me more insight on how movies are categorized and gives me ideas on how I can style my film or what theme I would like to agree with my partners to used when filming and directing this film. Researching about genres opened my view on the many types of movies that can be made and how these are the broad categories. It opens my ideas and expands the type of film that i would like to make, between these three thriller are probably my top 1 right now to make because I like the suspense that they make the audience feel.

 https://www.foximusic.com/the-12-basic-film-genres-and-their-sub-genres/

 https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/movie-genres-list/

Youtube video

Magazine Cover Conventions Blog Reflection

Magazine Conventions   

    Next thing we learned in Media Studies was all the conventions of a magazine. An important feature that a magazine needs is to be appealing to the human eye; a magazine should be the creation of creativity that is well structured and targets the right audience. A magazine should include things like a masthead, date line, puff/plug, barcode, coverlines and more features that make a magazine more popular among the people. Along with those features magazines need an appealing image to better connect with the audience; magazine makers utilize celebrities to achieve the purpose; thus, making better sales. 

 

 

    For the genre of my magazine is chose environmental awareness, in 2025 there is a lot of pollution that is taking over oceans and harming forests. The title I chose for my magazine was Plastic Reign; This is because I feel that over the last decade plastic has been taking over the environment, harming millions of acres of land and water. 

My magazine has a picture of a plastic bag of chips on the grass which will break down into harmful microplastics; thus, polluting the environment. 

I used coverlines to show what things are being done or what is happening today around the research on plastic, along with using coverlines I used puffs/plugs to capture the audience's attention on something that is especially important on the magazine cover. Date shows how updated the cover is, and it can give more credibility to the reader. Also, I use an intriguing headline to capture the audience and make their curiosity keep reading the magazine. 

 

Final product 

 

 

    While creating my magazine cover I faced some challenges that frustrated me because I took longer on creating it than I expected, per example I had to learn how to use a new software ,which was adobe InDesign, and at first it's very intimidating not knowing how to start or what to do. 

However, after watching the tutorials and getting comfortable with the software, I did solidly. On the other hand, one success I believe I had was getting a genre and making it look appealing for a target audience. I achieved this by picking appealing colors for the plug/puff and banner. 

    Something important that I take away from this assignment is that everything has features that make media more appealing to someone, even something as simple as a magazine. Learning the conventions of a magazine helps my portfolio project by not only teaching me more about all types of media, but also it could be a second option for my final project if the short clip does not work out. 
 

 

Video Editing Practice Blog Reflection

   Editing Process

  A few days ago, we started our editing learning process. As our teacher introduced the premier pro software, we had to watch a series of videos explaining how Premiere Pro works. A well-designed course that goes into detail on how to get started with the whole editing process of media. This was necessary for us because we had to create a short film clip.  

    The tutorial goes over all the essentials like how to insert a clip, organize, insert text into a clip, do voiceovers, and create a new project, all through 13 short videos. The tutorial gave me a good understanding, allowing me to defend myself against this intimidating software, and getting my classwork done. 

   My experience of creating the clip was smooth after a tutorial was provided. We had to create a clip explaining what Pineapple Whip, a family business, is. A bunch of B-rolls and a few interviews were given to us, and we had to watch and pick what we thought was the best for our own clip. Everyone had a unique clip combining a mix of ideas from each person. 

Process of making the clip

The clip had to be at least 45 seconds long, which was easy because there was a lot of material which you could choose from. I had a clear idea of what I wanted because I have seen these types of clips before. I wanted my clip to look well done so that if someone looked at it, they felt like it was done by someone who knows how to edit well. I had fun creating this clip because it let me understand more about the editing process there is into making media like movies and videos, which I like a lot. 

  Throughout the process of completing this clip I learned that editing is a process of creativity and freeform, you can edit anything you want however you want in any way you want, which makes editing fun. 

    However, I had some challenges like not knowing how to insert a text and how to make a voiceover, these were not hard challenges to solve, I just had to finish watching the tutorial videos and it all made sense. On the other hand, a success I had was that I was able to make the clip look good and sound good, giving that feeling of professionalism. 

    Final clip

    

        
Something I take away from this whole experience is obviously how to edit, but also that some things look intimidating but with the right about time, patience, and right tools you can learn new things quickly. At the beginning of this process, I had no idea of how to work an editing process and honestly, I was scared, but now I feel better about it. 

   This would help my final portfolio by allowing me to talk about the processes I learned throughout this class, and it would help me with my final project.

    

    

Camera Work Reflection

   My Camera Handling Experience 

  As we progress through this class, we have learned camera movements ,shots and angles.

    First we learned camera movements which I thought it was pretty easy and interesting, the same with shots and angles; however, I learned that angles cannot be be alone you have to pair it up with a movement or shot. In class my teacher showed us a video of how each camera technique or movement looks like giving us an example on how it looks like. To show what we have learned we've had 2 projects.

  Camera Movements Projects 
    For the first project we had to create a short 6 shot video with the theme of surprise, we had to use  the camera movements learned in class. Some examples of camera movements we used were static, tracking ,pan ,zoom, pull out etc... It was a real easy experience that we got done shooting in one class period, after that we edit it and we were done. 

Some challenges we had were that it was hard  to keep the camera stable because we had a student recording and holding the camera for a long period of time and have it stable is pretty hard ,and editing the final product because we didn't have any experience on how to use a editing software .

    On the other hand, some successes were that we got it done quickly, finishing recording in less than one class period , and we were pretty satisfied with the final product for being our first video. I learned that there's a lot you have to have in mind while you create a video or film knowing how every camera movement works and what is trying to show. 

For the next project I would like to have a more elaborate project with better editing and more props that will make it seem more professional 

Here's our video project

Camera shots/angles project 

       The second project we had to do was a 15 or more pictures combined in a  short story with inanimate objects, me and my partner made the story of two water bottles that encountered each other and started fighting. We went outside for this project and got it done pretty quickly with a lay out already done in class. 

However , some challenges we had were that in one shot the water bottle had to jump to attack the other one and my partner had to hold it in the air while i took the picture, another challenge was that we forgot to add a shot in the story board and had to add it before turning it in.

     Some successes we had were that we got it don't pretty quickly giving us time to know what we were going to say in the PowerPoint and turn it in in time. 

I learned that camera shots with the right combination of shot and technique can transmit the right  energy even when you have no actors that show it with facial expressions or actions. For the next project i would like to make with more shots and shows the story way better and more detailed.

Here's out PowerPoint : Media Studies Presentation.pptx

  

Here's out story board