Mise-en-Scene Project

      For this project, we were assigned to create an interactive station that immerses others into the world of a character. This needed to include elements of audio, setting design (Ex: character's bedroom), character's appearance/costume, and tactile objects that represent the person.

Our character (Brady Beckham): A high school athlete with a secret passion for poetry. Torn between expectations and self-expression, he learns to balance ambition with authenticity.

    One of our team's goals for this assignment was to create a physical journal that symbolizes Brady's confliction between poetry and football. We included drafts of poems he has written to express his vulnerable and soft side. However, we also incorporated his football side, as there are sticky notes inside the journal with reminders to go to practice. The main goal was to express his complex personality from the look and style of his bedroom, to written love letters from his girlfriend, Gia.

    Brady Beckham is a high school senior who plays football, while also having a secret passion for poetry. He is a White teenager with black hair and blue eyes, from Michigan. He first got into poetry from his girlfriend, as she encourages him to go to Stanford. Although he is an amazing writer, he is also a pro football player. For this reason, his dad would like him to go pro at Yale. This complex decision is going to be tough for Brady because he got accepted into both Stanford and Yale.

Examples of Brady's persona: 

Mood Board

Bedroom Design

Some pages in Brady's journal

Brady's Spotify playlists

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3s8IaGIW3pkCyWddG7xhbO?si=85b86266fb5f4a8b

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lz05rotWNidE2OST3vYS5?si=a134d0cf1beb47d4

     To display and organize our station, we utilized one computer for each element of Brady's persona. In total, we had four computers on display that included the mood board, bedroom design, costume design, and his Spotify playlists. We then had our textile objects laid out on top of our desks. These objects included Brady's journal, his football jersey, a love letter from his girlfriend, and his acceptance letters from both Stanford and Yale.

     When developing our character, we based him off of the stereotypical football player. For example, they always have food, a football, and trophies in their room, and a pretty girlfriend. However, we also implemented stereotypes of a poetry boy. This includes, always writing everything down, having a bunch of scrap papers in their room, enjoying musicals like Hamilton, and always listen to music for inspiration.

   I believe our group did a great job in creating Brady Beckham's character. Our textile elements such as the journal and acceptance letters were interactive and creative. Though I wish we could've explained or expanded more on how significant getting accepted to both colleges added more tension between Brady's decisions. We had the physical letters but we could have added a page in the journal where Brady is expressing his feelings about which college he wants to go to. Other than that, our project came out as we wanted it to and many other groups enjoyed our station.

Genre Research: Fantasy

 Fantasy

      The fantasy genre is categorized as a type of fiction, in which it includes magical or supernatural aspects and characters that are not present in real life. This genre is used throughout numerous different medias, such as books, comics, films, and video games. It is a very diverse category and can usually be viewed by all ages. However in some cases, younger consumers tend to gravitate towards it more. For example, fairy tales and Disney films are generally for the younger audience.

Genre Conventions

     Most content from the fantasy world includes the use of magical spells, objects, and powers, talking animals, a creatively detailed fantasy world, and mystical creatures. There is usually a good vs. evil trope as it is in many princess movies. These pieces also add a mentor for the main character that helps them throughout the film, book, or game.

     There are various production patterns that producers and directors have done while creating a fantasy based story. They will make extremely detailed worlds so consumers are able to be fully emersed in the media. CGI and visual effects play a huge role in creating realistic but mystical settings. This can also be used to created non existing creatures such as unicorns and dragons. Motion capture is another tool that is used to bring a mystical creature to life. The use of green screens allow seamless transitions from real sets to fake sets.

Institutional conventions

    The usual tropes used in this genre are the hero's journey, good vs. evil, the chosen one, and coming of age. There is most likely a parallel world in which the main character travels to. The audience's expectations of a genre have a significant role in how well media is consumed. This is why authors or directors usually rely on embracing traditional characteristics such as magic and quests, but adding their own spin or twist to the story so it seems more interesting and engaging. Many advertisements for these specific types of movies include dramatic moments that draw viewers in. For instance, battle/fighting sequences, entering parallel world, romantic scenes, and emotional deaths.

Film example #1: Harry Potter (2001)

    Harry Potter is a series of movies about a young boy "the chosen one", who figures out he is a wizard. This story was first a book and then became a movie because of its popularity. He enters a new world where wizards and witches live. The world is magical and full of mystical creatures including trolls, unicorns, dragons, and dementors. There is a trope of good vs. evil, as Harry is the hero and Voldemort is the villain. Harry Potter takes on many quests as he journeys throughout the wizarding world. This story is known by and popular in all age groups as it is a very diverse and fun genre. The movies contain countless battle scenes, romantic scenes (Ex: Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny), and various emotional deaths (Ex: Dumbledore, Harry Potter's parents, Severus Snape, Sirius Black).

Film example #2: How to train your dragon (2010)

     The How to train your dragon trilogy is about a young boy named Hiccup who is an outcast from his community(Vikings). He doesn't like to kill dragons like his peers. He befriends a dragon named toothless and brings his community to love dragons the same way he does. The story is based off of a medieval time period and takes places on an island called Berk in which the characters live. The story contains a romantic trope between Hiccup and Astrid, who the best Viking Warrior. There are also emotional deaths (Ex: Stoick-Hiccup's dad). This movie is generally known by all ages, however it is mostly aimed toward the younger audience as it is a cartoon and is family friendly film.

Other Fantasy Genre Examples

The Legend of Zelda (2017) - Video game

 

Percy Jackson (2005) - Book series

Frozen (2013) - Disney Movie

The Jungle Book (1967) - Disney Movie

Narnia (2005) - Disney Movie

Alice in Wonderland (1951) - Disney Movie

The Little Mermaid (1989) - Disney Movie

Sound Project #1 and #2

     During class, we discussed the usage of sound in films. They can be used to create a realistic atmosphere based on what is shown on the screen. For example, environmental sounds including the wind, trees rustling, birds chirping, and rain, can all be used to create a soundscape of nature. Other sounds can enhance a scene or story, however it is not actually a sound in that created world. For instance, music and dramatic sound effects can be added to add some type of emotion to a particular scene. We have also about the creation of foley sounds on a foley stage. These sounds are created to produce a more realistic sound of something onscreen. To illustrate, a foley artist can record the sound of breaking an asparagus in half and can use the sound as bones cracking in a film.

     For the first sound project, we were to come up with a scenario that can happen in one to two minutes. We then had to create the audio for the story using different sounds with no visuals. For the second sound project, we were to add accurate audio to the one word film project that was filmed with only visuals and no sound.

   

Sound project #1

      My partner and I came up with a scene where a celebrity is on her way to a dance club. When she steps out of her limo, she encounters the paparazzi and then trips in front of them. She then runs inside the club bathroom and starts to cry. We created foley sounds to incorporate in our project, which include footsteps, car horns, voices, and a car door opening and closing. 

     To brainstorm, we listed which significant sounds would be included, such as the noisy paparazzi, the celebrity's voice, and the music and people from inside the club. After, we listed the more secondary sounds, including car noise, footsteps, and the flushing of toilets and sink water running when the celebrity enters the club bathroom. This process helped us understand how to volumize each sound accordingly. For example, secondary sounds are often more quiet and less noticeable than primary sounds.

     I believe the project was done very well, as we used and layered countless different sounds. Our foley sounds came out amazing and they worked perfectly into the soundscape. It was expressed clearly, understandably, and all of the sounds correlate to the story.

Sound Project #2

For this project, my partner and I looked back at our soundless video to see what type of environment it took place in. Since, the video took place in a school classroom, it needed to have a soundscape relating to that. For instance, we would need to incorporate sounds of the AC, the bell ringing, and students talking. We created foley sounds of footsteps, opening and closing calculators, and the voices of the two students.

Our brainstorming process was similar to the first sound project, as we recognized the primary and secondary sounds that could be included in the video. We used this information to create differences in volume throughout the project. To illustrate, when the bell stops ringing and the students are seated, the student's chatter begins to die down.

   The finished product of this project was great and I think it was a fun way to look back on a past assignment while also including a new element to it, which in this case is adding sound. I believe I did a great job syncing all of the sounds with the context of the video. However, I think I could've added more sounds to the timeline to add more layers. Overall, it was a very detailed oriented, but fun project to work on.

I used Clipchamp as my editing resource for both projects.

Sound Project #1

Foley sound creation link:

https://browardcountyschools-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/0616009567_my_browardschools_com/EUmwAcx3yflKnT2Lm-c9lfAB49ZvhMLuROPEU77r_xGsCg?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJTdHJlYW1XZWJBcHAiLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJTaGFyZURpYWxvZy1MaW5rIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXcifX0%3D&e=sIh5TA

Soundscape link:

https://browardcountyschools-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/0616009567_my_browardschools_com/EYIGPU6QlGhMm2C_BYhyNJsBCpvDhNukxxoKHw6MyiCXkQ?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJTdHJlYW1XZWJBcHAiLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJTaGFyZURpYWxvZy1MaW5rIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXcifX0%3D&e=942ngB

Sound Project #2

OWF project sound link:

https://browardcountyschools-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/0616009567_my_browardschools_com/EuHyNh85cKZKu9_AXvAz1ywBpbq-koznIHqkPDHaTysHzA?e=Tvbz5H