Recently, I have been learning about mise-en-scène (staging) in class. I take a French course, so I knew what the word's translation was, but I had no idea what it meant to include mise-en-scène in a film. To obtain this skill, my class was assigned a multimedia project that was all about creating a immersive experience for an audience using mise-en-scène. Before starting, we were divided into groups and given a character to develop. However, the trick was that each had a niche personality; something abnormal they enjoy that you wouldn't necessarily guess according to their stereotype. Our job as the project developers was to utilize visual, audio, and tactile elements to clearly develop the assigned character and make it abundantly clear who they were and what niche thing they liked.
My group was given a particularly interesting character: a high school football player with a love for poetry. As a group, we decided that our ultimate goal was to show our character's manly, football side while developing a soft, sensitive side. This would create a balance between the his two hobbies and make them more apparent individually. Brady Beckham seemed like a fitting name for a high school football player, so we agreed this would be it. He dreams of going to either Yale or Cornell as he admires their football teams and incredible literature programs. In fact, he often finds himself writing poems in his playbook and hiding it from his friends, keeping it a complete secret to everyone but his girlfriend Gia, who is part of the reason he discovered the writing genre. Brady and Gia are very close and love spending time together. In his room, Brady keeps a teddy bear Gia gave him on a date (part of his more delicate side). He also loves listening to music to gather inspiration for his writing as well as before games. For his outfits, we portrayed him as someone who loves comfortable, casual attire such as tee-shirts, jeans, sneakers, and sweatpants.
In order to follow project guidelines, my group included numerous elements to create an engaging presentation. For the visual aspect, we worked to create an intricate mood board, a detailed bedroom design, and a fitting costume design board. The mood board was made as a PowerPoint presentation, so, to make it more interesting, my group animated each of the items shown. Upon clicking each item, a short description would appear, explaining why the item represented a part of Brady's personality.
Next, Brady's bedroom design was made using a Canva presentation. We wanted it to look realistic and fitting to a 18-year old guy's bedroom. To do this, we made it look somewhat messy and random, adding pictures of snacks and posters. We also added some of the elements that were included on the mood board such as his teddy bear, headphones, backpack, and quill to keep them constant throughout the entire project and emphasize their importance to our character's niche.
Last of the visual elements, my group created the character costume board. Although it looks simple, we realized that the costume design process is incredibly detailed and well though out. Because we wanted his exterior to appear like that of a stereotypical high school jock, we made his costume design resemble this. The outfit we picked for Brady looks trendy and comfortable, just like most people his age.
Here are pictures of the mood board, bedroom design, and costume design board, respectively:
For the audio portion of this multimedia project, we decided to gather some songs we believed represent both his personalities (and added them to a Spotify playlist). This way, our audience could listen to music as they swiped through our visual and tactile elements. To help our project flow better, we decided to name the playlists so they appeared to be Brady's inspirational/motivational playlists that he plays for himself. Some songs included in the playlists are "My Shot" (from the Hamilton Musical), "12 to 12" (by Sombr), "We Will Rock You" (by Queen), and many others. If you're interested in listening to the exact playlists, here are their links: ("Friday Night Lights 🏈🏈") & ("📜🪶").
Finally, it was required to have some sort of tactile element for the presentation. Something the audience could touch or interact with. For our project, my group decided to create a copy of Brady's playbook/poetry book so that people who visited our station could get a glimpse into what he writes. Each page was filled with football play scribbles and writing drafts, as well as sticky notes, reminders that Brady left himself for important dates. We also slipped some envelopes containing college "acceptance letters" from Cornell and Yale into the book to tie in his educational goals. Unfortunately, because this is a physical journal, I am not able to link it to this post, but if you picture a leather journal with a quill attached to it, you won't be far off at all. As an extra tactile element, we also brought in a football jersey with Brady's number on it so our station visitors could see.
Our station consisted of four desks, each with a laptop on them. Two of the laptops displayed the mood board PowerPoint presentation while the other two displayed either the bedroom design or costume design board. We turned the laptops to face the center of the table, so screens would face each other and visitors could see all the presentations simultaneously. Also, to listen to Brady's playlists, we connected headphones to each of the laptops. Our tactile objects were placed in the center of our setup as the focal point of our station.
Brady's character development relied heavily on breaking the stereotype of a typical high school jock. Jocks are typically portrayed as tough, serious, and even dumb at times. However, Brady does not exactly follow this description. He has a soft side for his girlfriend and poetry (developed through the poetry book and explained by the mood board) and is very intelligent, especially in subjects such as reading and writing (developed through the poetry book and college letters). Overall, I think we covered a lot regarding his dual personality/niche. Something I wish we would have included was a copy of his report card or some of his notes so that it would be clearer how he was accepted into two ivy-league schools.
As a group we divided the creation of elements between members. For instance, I was the primary creator of the mood board while other members focused on developing the costume design, audio design, bedroom design, and tactile element design. However, even though the work was divided between us, we worked together constantly and provided each other with tips and suggestions on how to make our parts better. This way, we could manage our time more effectively while still giving each other feedback on our parts.
Overall, I believe the outcome of this project was very positive. Those who visited our station found it very engaging and had a lot of positive comments. I believe we achieved our goal for this project and used mise-en-scène to develop Brady Beckham in an in-depth manner.
Currently, my class is learning about the many different genres of media there are. I myself really enjoy comedies, so I decided to choose the genre and do some research on it. If you haven't watched many in your life, here's a very brief description of what (most) comedies are like. Basically, to achieve their purpose of amusing the audience, comedies follow lighthearted plots, exaggerate scenarios, and end in a positive manner.
While researching, I noticed that there are a couple content conventions that most comedies share. To start, many films within this genre include some sort of funny, physical scene. These scenes are often exaggerated actions such as chases/falls that have no apparent effect on the characters, but appear to be painful. Next, it is extremely common for comedies to have a lots of verbal wit. The dialogue that is exchanged between characters is clever, fast-paced, and often paired with misunderstandings and irony. Similarly, situational humor is another common characteristic. Many comedic films place normal characters in strange circumstances in order to evoke a feeling of "fish out of water". Finally, comedies like to focus on class differences, relationship problems, or plots where the "underdog" is victorious.
There are also many production techniques that can be associated with comedic films. One of them, for example, is the use of high key lighting. As the most commonly used lighting style for this genre, bright high-key lighting is used to minimize shadows and help create an upbeat mood. A quick-cut and invisible editing style can also be linked to comedy. The use of quick cuts emphasizes character responses to humorous situations, while invisible editing is used to enhance the sense of realism in many films, even when the situations are abnormal. Similarly, the natural camera movements (with lots of mid-shots) also help keep the scenes relatable. Wide shots are also used occasionally to show the full body of a character when something physical occurs. In these particular shots, low and high angles may be used to exaggerate the amount of power/lack of power the character has. Finally, some common sound effects such as "boings", crashes, and accents emphasize climax scenes and their humor. If musical elements are also included, they are most often light and upbeat as well.
Comedy films have a universal appeal, so I believe they aren't typically the most difficult to market, even if some are more culturally specific. Most of the marketing for comedic films relies on showing the lead actors and making it abundantly clear that they will make you laugh. For example, posters for these films may show a popular actor that is associated with the genre while including bright colors/simple layouts. Trailers may show clips of the best jokes that occur in the film to give the audience an idea of what the comedy will be like. Most comedies are marketed using sub-genres. These can range from teen comedies (which are more appealing to young audiences), family comedies (which are more family-friendly), or even romantic comedies (which may appeal to young adults). Each sub-genre may tailor to their target audience slightly, but uses the same fundamental strategies for marketing a comedy.
Here are two examples of popular comedies:
1. elf
In the film "elf", the plot is focused on creating a contrast between the naive main character (Buddy the elf) and the real world. He is depicted as a "fish out of water" as he makes his way to New York City during Christmastime. His ignorance to human customs in the film makes for continuous comedic moments. Also, while playing Buddy the elf, actor Will Ferrel exaggerates his movements and actions in a childlike manner, creating a funny and original personality. Finally, the comedy includes scenes where the main character irritates the adults and "normal" people around him with his overly jolly and friendly behaviors (as shown in pictures above). The antagonist in this film isn't necessarily evil, but rather the non-magical, real world that we live in, which is the opposite of what Buddy believes it to be.
This film is mainly targeted towards families, and is marketed in this way. As previously discussed, the poster uses bright colors and simple designs while clearly showing the lead actor. Because it uses these elements, it is almost undeniable that this is a comedy just by looking its poster. Similarly, elf's trailer (inserted below) uses the common elements of comedy trailers, capturing some of the film's funniest moments and jokes. To families, these elements signal that the movie is a great one to have a good laugh together while getting in the holiday spirit.
Movie Trailer:
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Another classic comedy is "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". The film follows the rebel protagonist Ferris Bueller and his two best friends as they skip school for a day and venture out of the Chicago suburbs and into the city. Throughout the film, Ferris' clever planning helps him outsmart the school system and give him a day of freedom. The humorous attempts by his principal to catch Ferris in the act of skipping makes him seem almost like a cartoon character (image shown above). Also, Ferris' dialogue in the film is incredibly witty, another common element of comedies. Last, the movie uses situational humor throughout to evoke laughter. For example, the scene where Ferris crashes a parade float to sing "Twist and Shout" spontaneously.
This movie is both a teen comedy and situational comedy (sitcom). The marketing team for this movie used methods such as taglines, nice posters, engaging trailers, and a heavy emphasis on the director's name (John Hughes). It's poster, as shown above features the main actor, Matthew Broderick with a smug look on his face. Its design playful, simple, and uses lots of red (bright colors). Also, famous taglines are used to identify the film and serve as a marketing strategy. For instance, lines such as "While the rest of us were just thinking about it... Ferris borrowed a Ferrari and did it... all in a day." as well as "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it". Next, the trailer uses bright colors and fonts to highlight the playful nature of the film. At the same time, the narrator is Ferris himself, which further engages the audience, immersing them in the scenes and encouraging them to watch the film. Additionally, some of the most notable moments from the movie are included in it. To finish, the movie is heavily marketed by using the director's name. At the time of it's release, director John Hughes had (and still has) an incredible reputation in the filmmaking world and had many other notable films such as "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles". As a result, his name would likely influence many people who watched his previous works to view this one.
Movie Trailer:
If you're interested in checking out some more films in the comedy genre, here are a few classics and their trailers:
The past couple of weeks my AICE Media Studies Class has been all about learning to use sound elements in films and how they can make an audience feel a certain way.
In class, we took notes on some of the key features of sound design and I learned so much! I used to think that there were only three sound types used to develop a soundscape (music, dialogue, and sound effects). However, I was shocked to figure out that creating a soundscape is much more complex. There seems to be infinite possibilities. As a class, we discussed things such as foley and diegetic/non-diegetic sound. Additionally, our homework after class was to watch a couple videos on the foley process and then take notes on them. I found the process quite fascinating and exciting. It was so interesting to learn how some of the sounds foley artists created were made. Contrary to what one may think, most of the time the objects foley artists use to make a sound are completely different to what is shown on screen.
After our lesson, my class was tasked with two sound-related projects. The first project was, for me at least, especially challenging. We were divided into pairs and had to develop a 90-120 second soundscape. For this particular project, we were not allowed to use any sort of visuals, it had to be purely sound. To develop an interesting plot, my partner and I brainstormed for a long time to thing about how we could make such a short story capable of maintaining a listener's attention. Eventually, we created an outline to a soundscape about a man who lives in NYC and while on the metro to work realizes he is extremely late. We then hear him running through the busy streets, dodging bikers, traffic, and even dogs! Eventually he arrives at this office and can start the day. For this project, planning was extremely helpful, the outline we made was very detailed and helped us organize all the sounds we wanted to add to the soundscape. At first, I found it difficult to layer the different sounds to make the soundscape more realistic but once I got the hang of it, I quickly fell in love with sound editing. To edit the sounds together, I used the Microsoft ClipChamp and found it super useful. Overall, I was very happy with how the project turned out and in my opinion, it is a quite accurate execution of the storyline. For next time, I would like to use more of the fade tool to help smooth some of the sound transitions more. (Below I attached the link to my project and part of my editing timeline!)
On a more recent note, this last week my class started another sound project. This time, we needed to add sound to our existing "One Word Films". For me, adding sound like this to an existing project was even harder than starting something from scratch, but once I finished I was also quite happy with the results. For this project, brainstorming was much easier because the sounds I had to find/create using foley were those that were shown on screen. Once again, I developed a detailed brainstorming sheet that included everything from background noises to scene descriptions. I honestly don't think I could have completed my project without this careful planning step. If you don't recall from my last post, my "One Word Film" was on the word "loving". We still couldn't use dialogue, but we were allowed to edit in a music track to add more feeling to the film and evoke a certain emotion for the viewer. Apart from background noises (birds chirping/wind/heartbeats/breaths) and foley sounds (writing utensils/paper moving), I added in the song "Space Song" by Beach House. I found this was the perfect song to represent the couple falling in love as it starts of very quiet and then slowly ascends to a happy tone. To edit both the video and sound elements, I imported my video prom Premiere Pro to ClipChamp, as I was already familiar with its sound editing tools. On the whole, something I believe I did well in this project was finding accurate sounds that fit with the visuals of the film, For next time, I am going to work some more on making the timing for the video/audio even more accurate. (Link to my project below)
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