Portfolio Project Genre Option #2 - Coming-of-Age Sports film

    Coming-of-Age Sports films typically have themes of self-discovery, determination, and struggle. They are heartfelt stories that heavily focus on only one main protagonist. The main target audience for these productions are usually teenagers ranging from 12 to 18, however they can be enjoyed by anyone. Teens tend to enjoy these types of films because they relate to the conflicts of the characters and find comfort in connection. Sports players are also a main target audience, as it is entertaining for them to see how their specific sport is represented in a certain media. They will most likely understand and relate to it better than the viewers who know nothing about the sport that the main character plays or does. An good example of this is "The Karate Kid (1984)". In this film, the main protagonist learns Karate to defend himself from bullies and gains confidence and discipline in the process.

    The most common content conventions for these sports movies include an underdog protagonist, a skilled mentor, trainings towards a big game or competition, and overcoming personal obstacles. In my example of "The Karate Kid", Daniel LaRusso is the rookie, Mr. Miyagi is the mentor, the "All Valley Karate Championship" was what Daniel was training for, and he overcame obstacles of doubt, bullying, and social life.

      There are other types of tropes for coming-of-age sports films, such as the protagonist who was an athlete in the past and shows up one more time to prove something, and the stubborn and overconfident athlete who learns to become a team player and humbleness. An example of the cocky and stubborn athlete trope is the Disney movie "Cars". Lightning McQueen, the main character, starts off as a naturally talented and boastful car, but learns to understand the importance of being humble, kind, and a good friend.

    In addition, some of the repeated editing technique conventions for sports productions include fast cuts, many angles of the same shot, action scenes, energetic music, and slow motion editing. Making a scene in slow motion can build tension, suspense, emotion, and leaves the audience wanting to know what happens next. Energetic music is also a major part in the immersion of the audience when watching the film. It increases the viewer's emotion, mood, and attention to the story.

Take a look at this example in "The Karate Kid" of the use of a variety of angles, action scenes, and the use of non diegetic uplifting music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjepgHGEqPk

    Sound effects are definitely a huge part of sports movies. They can act as a way to improve and impact the audience's understanding of what is happening in the production. For instance, punching, kicking, cheering, and other diegetic sound effects that appear to be coming from the story world.

Sound effect examples:

Cheering at a sporting event: https://youtu.be/dyqpdqGk8EM?si=2KxdJjrssemulJGE

Fighting (punching/kicking): https://youtu.be/KZcC1oK291I?si=vreq_gdgKPyaKyEM

  The institutional conventions for coming-of-age sports films may include motivational speeches (coach giving pep-talk to athlete), an underdog achieving the impossible, or making a team with untrained rookies who end up learning how to work together. These productions can also follow the hero's journey, as I explained in my last blog post. To recap, the hero's journey includes stages such as the call to action, finding mentors, allies, and enemies, the final battle, and the resolution of the character's personal life. All these narrative images help the audience have a sense of empathy and emotional connection to the main character. Viewers relate to and see the character's personal conflicts as well as their physical conflicts.

    Overall, I believe this is the genre I would like to create my film opening. This is because I relate to this sort of category myself. I am a teen taekwondo player who competes and I know what it is like to have physical and emotional struggles with my sport. (Ex: struggling with countless injuries and not being able to compete). I want to relate to and personalize my film opening so I can produce the best possible result.

Hardacre, O. (n.d.). Target audience research [Prezi presentation]. Prezi. https://prezi.com/u-mzr7kqffc7/target-audience-research/

Rose, H. (2024, June 22). The Karate Kid (1984) is a simple yet spectacular sports movie classic. CBR. https://www.cbr.com/the-karate-kid-1984-review/

Quintanilla, E. (2021, March 7). What is a coming-of-age movie? Medium. https://medium.com/coming-of-age-with-film/what-is-a-coming-of-age-movie-7ebf1121ca1c/

Hellerman, J. (2024, March 12). Breaking down the best sports movies. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/sports-movie/

Metcalfe, B. (2025, October 18). Why sports movies continue to captivate audiences across generations. Stage and Cinema. https://stageandcinema.com/2025/10/18/sports-movies-captivate-generations/

Miyamoto, K. (2018, March 3). 5 key strategies to writing better sports movies. ScreenCraft. https://screencraft.org/blog/five-key-strategies-to-writing-better-sports-movies/

Universal Production Music. (2026). Looking back at the best sports movie soundtracks of all time. Universal Production Music. https://www.universalproductionmusic.com/en-us/news/looking-back-at-the-best-sports-movie-soundtracks-of-all-time/

Portfolio Project Genre Option #1 - Adventure

     Adventure productions are action packed, exciting, diverse, suspenseful, and mission-driven. These films are usually created for all ages, however the majority of the audience are young adults from the ages 18 to 24. The reason being is that they enjoy the thrill and inspiration of relatable characters journeying into the unknown. This escape from reality creates a sense of comfort for this age group.  this genre features exploration, impressive stunts, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. In fact, adventure stories were popular even before the creation of movie making. These stories were read through books and comics. For instance, the Indiana Jones series was based off of the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" novel by Campbell Black from 1981.

       In addition, the main genre conventions in content usually includes a hero, a quest, a team of friends who help the hero on their journey, a dangerous villain or setting, funny dialogue to create comedic relief, and finally, the discovery of treasure or victory in the end. The characters undergo a set of challenges that test their ability to succeed through their journey. Mysterious worlds or lands are also discovered, which can create difficulties for the protagonist.

        Many Disney films fall under the adventure category. The Disney movie "Moana", for example, is an adventure film. Moana is the hero, her quest is to restore the heart of Te Fiti, the dangerous villain is the lava monster Te Ka, and at the end of the movie, Moana successfully restores Te Fiti's heart and saves her island.

       Furthermore, some of the conventions with techniques and editing may include dramatic non-diegetic sound, close up shots and insert shots, eye-line matching, and high key lighting. Parallel editing is countlessly used, especially during action sequences where we can see what different characters are doing all at the same time.

Check out this example of parallel editing used in "Inception": https://youtu.be/KmptU7vEkNU?si=rjfy6WmHkZ9beF5W

       It is impactful when editors use suspenseful or dramatic non-diegetic music because it increases the state of the emotion and the immersion of the production for the audience. Some of these auditory techniques include the use of a violin bow to emphasize that danger is near.

      Typically, these movies require a high budget, especially for the sets and locations they need to film at. Other factors include mise-en-scene such as special costuming, detailed props, and makeup. This is because most of these productions contain fictional characters and worlds that do not exist. That being so, the editing process takes extremely long because they need to add in CGI and special effects to create an alternate universe that looks believable.

Check out this Behind the Scenes of the Special Effects for the production Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4P8FuQJIdM

      The Jumanji movie and the Percy Jackson tv show series are great examples of adventure productions. These creations both follow a hero's journey plot structure, which is an abundantly popular institutional convention in this genre. The hero's journey includes a chronological structure of a call to adventure, the introduction to mentors, enemies, and allies, challenges along the way, the final battle, victory, and finally, the return to their homeland. This narrative image is very often used because it evokes the audience to connect with the emotional conflicts and the character development of the protagonist. The viewers can relate their own lives and experiences as well through themes of failure, growth, self-discovery, and identity.

   After reviewing my research, making an adventure themed film opening would look amazing if done well. However, due to the fact that these types of productions require lots of mise-en-scene elements (costumes, cool locations, makeup, props) and tons of characters, it would definitely be difficult to produce. I will have to pass this genre as I don't have the funds for all the elements I would need to incorporate to make the product look well done.

Resources:

Indiana Jones. (2026, January 4). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones

Gellard, H., Borger, R., & Dicker, N. (n.d.). Themes and motifs. Children’s Adventure Genre Guide. https://childrensadventuregenreguide.wordpress.com/themes-and-motifs/

Paolo. (2023, December 21). Cinematic consumers: A study of movie audience demographics. Gruvi.tv. https://gruvi.tv/post/movie-audience-demographics/

AutoCrit. (n.d.). 8 iconic action-adventure tropes that help shape the genre. AutoCrit Online Editing. https://www.autocrit.com/action-adventure-tropes/

Webb, L. (2012). Editing action adventure [PDF]. Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/doc/96961649/Editing-Action-Adventure/

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Hero’s journey. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

Hellerman, J. (2023, September 18). Unraveling the concept of the Hero’s Journey in filmmaking. No Film School. https://nofilmschool.com/the-heros-journey

Behind-The-Scenes Music Marketing Project

Behind the Scenes Video:

Behind-The-Scenes Music Marketing Project.mp4

Music Marketing Project

    For the music marketing project, each group is given a random genre of music. Every member was to research a different company and two artists/bands from that company. After, we were asked to create a new persona based on the genre and a few songs that the teacher assigned us. Some tasks we are to complete are producing a music video for our character, 

     The genre of rock was selected for my group. I specifically researched the Rock Warner Music Group Company. The two bands I researched were Green Day and Twenty-One Pilots. For the research, I included the formation of how the artists came together, all of the band members, their use of digital and physical marketing, and their brand identity.

     While collecting the research, it was evident that Green Day, Twenty-One Pilots, and many other artists use a variety social media platforms. This is a great tool to promote, share, and sell their products. For instance, Applications including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook have a wide range of audiences. This can attract and engage a diverse spread of age groups who enjoy and interact with the products of these bands.

      The use of non-digital marketing for this genre of music usually included concerts, physical merchandise, and the appearances during events, such as meet and greets. To make their brand more recognizable, both bands created a certain aesthetic and a logo. In fact, they even put these logos on their merchandise, including CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, hats, etc.

Green Day Vinyl

Twenty-One Pilots hat

Green Day T-shirt

      

     Using the information on how bands who specialize in rock come up with their aesthetic and persona, it can be an inspiration for when my group is creating a whole new band identity. That being so, we will mostly likely create a variety of social media pages for our band. This is because many rock bands expand their fans through the internet. Creating an iconic logo that is recognizable can also assist our band to get more popularity. The logo can then be placed on products to be purchased by fans.

     The title of our band is going to be called metronome. This symbolizes the musicality of the band, while also being an icon/logo for the aesthetics.

     Our group had decided to the divide the project into sections: Storyboard/Music Video, Marketing, Background of band, and Presentation. Each member will work on their main focus for a scheduled day. This is so we finish the project by the due date and we don't have to rush the work.

     For the music video, we are going to film a combination of a promotional and storytelling. The lead singer will be the main focus of the video. Our chosen song, "Something from Nothing", by the Foo Fighters, is about creating and becoming something after struggling or persevering through a tough experience. The overall story will be about how the lead singer escapes with music to cope with his negative thoughts of ending his life. It will essentially illustrate how music frees the mind and can help people express their emotions.

RESEARCH PAPER

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