This Is The Research Blog Of My Choice

I'm not going to lie I lowkey do enjoy this blog stuff more than I'd like to admit. Anyway, I do not have the biggest-scale project in mind but I do want it to have a connection with the audience. Inspired by the real-life relationship with my best friend who I would call my brother we both push each other to be great whether it's football, academics, the weight we move in the gym, or who dresses better. We always have had a friendly competition during our everyday lives since the second grade. I want my film opening to have a realistic representation of a friendship as strong as mine that can resonate with anybody who watches it. It's going to contain a montage-like thing of us competing in an assortment of things. I'm planning to film on the fields, weight room, a classroom, and a road or some running trails. It'll show how hard we push one another and the blood, sweat, and tears put into our everyday 24/7 grind to be the best version of ourselves together and the never-ending strive to be great.

Creating The Project Schedule

 

This is my 6-week schedule for my film opening project.

6 Week Schedule

Week 1 2/10-2/16: Research & Planning 

• Research film openings and plots.
• Finalize movie idea and start scripting.

Week 2 2/17 2/23: Pre-Production

• Finish script.
• Find crew and locations.

Week 3 2/24 3/2: Production

• Film scenes.

Week 4 3/3 3/9: Editing

• Edit footage.

Week 5 3/10 3/16: Revision

• Finalize the film.

Week 6 3/17 3/25: Reflection

• Research and write reflection.
• Edit and submit.

Discussing Credit Sequences

 Rocky II (1979)

Directed by Sylvester Stallone the credits are shown at the end of the film and I really like the artistic and bold approach taken. The credits are very readable with a nice contrast between the gold and black.

The Iron Claw (2023)

Directed by Sean Durkin the end credits are accompanied by pictures of the cast and the real-life family the film is based off of. I like the inclusion of the pictures of the main cast. Very simple and classic but well done.

When We Were Kings (1996)

Directed by Leon Gast the credits are shown in the beginning accompanied by dynamic pictures of the cast in action and because it is a documentary it shows pictures of them in real life. The contrast again with the gold and black is beautiful and very pleasing.

Discussing Film Openings

 The genre I chose was sports. Many incredibly real, and emotional stories within the genre inspired me to finalize my decision on a genre. I will discuss the opening sequences from three films I will be taking inspiration from. 

Rocky (1976)

Directed by John G. Avildsen the opening scene of the film begins with panning across huge text saying "ROCKY" in big bold letters. It then zooms out of a mural of Jesus and shows a boxing event taking place in an old rundown church-turned-boxing ring. Here we see Rocky fighting and looking very beat up. He goes on to beat his opponent to a pulp.

    This scene is very raw and shows what this man does regularly. I enjoy the realism of his struggle and again the rawness of the whole scene displaying two men trying to kill each other while in a religious place with a mural of Jesus Christ watching them. The zoom-out of the mural of Jesus which is a symbolic representation of peace and kindness then shows two men fighting represents the realness of the world Rocky is living in. I'm greatly inspired by how something so little that isn't even talked about holds so much symbolism.

The Iron Claw (2023)

Directed by Sean Durkin the opening scene in black and white shows a lit-up ring with darkness all around it then fades into a wrestler's screaming face while he is beating his opponent up. It then again fades to display text saying "THE IRON CLAW" in black bolded letters. The rest of the opening sequence contains the wrestler greeting his wife and two sons outside the event their father then begins talking about how to be successful and that you have to be the toughest. There is an emphasis on one of his sons while he is talking showing that he is really listening and taking this to heart.

This scene inspired me because of the way it depicts the grit and fearlessness in this wrestler to then him being vulnerable to his family and having a meaningful heart-to-heart with his sons.

Facing The Giants (2006) 

Directed by Alex Kendrick opens during a football game and we are immediately shown a player tackling someone. We see the coach on the sideline call a play and then the players break the huddle. This next play is important because the announcer reveals that if they win the game on this play it will be the first winning season for this head coach in 6 years. After the play is started the player just can't make the throw leading to a big loss for their team. At the end the announcer while blocking the microphone talks about how the head coach might not be keeping his job next year.

I enjoy this opening scene because it displays something that happens quite a lot which is losing. As a football player myself this was realistic. Not every play is going to go your way. It sets the rest of the tone for the film and does a great job of expressing how important a moment it is for the head coach.

 

Exploring Possible Genre Choices

 For the 2 minutes of a film opening, my first thought of a genre for this project would be sci-fi due to being mainly inspired by the film TRON: Legacy 

While also being one of my favorite movies it also has a lot of great cinematography and stunning visuals. This movie's genre is science fiction, or "sci-fi", a genre of fiction that explores the possibilities of the future through advanced science and technology. It often features space travel, time travel, and other imaginative concepts.

The second genre that came to thought was sports movies. While being underlined with motivation to get you going Rocky is a generational classic. 

This would inspire my film due to the many training montages and high stakes set for the character. It wouldn't have to be a good guy. It could be menacing, vigorous training depicting a certain character. Either take on this could be great.

Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

 My blogs for the next few weeks will be all about my Cambridge Final Project. With all the notes I've taken, I'm starting to form some ideas. I looked at and studied many film openings and how to make them interesting.

My main idea consists of developing a character in 2 minutes that the audience finds mysterious. I need to find out how to make a 2-minute film opening without giving too many details about the character. To do this, I need to figure out how to grab attention and make people want to know more, but without giving away too many details. I’m exploring different ways to make it work.

The second idea consists of focusing more on the character's world and surroundings. Which could consist of a couple things shown in the film opening that revolve around making it feel familiar to the character in a way that the audience understands and believes this is a "real" person going through the motions of his "routine". I'm using that term loosely because my video will not be a getting-ready type of thing more of a montage to go hand in hand with my first idea of developing the character and his surroundings.

Music Marketing #1

 Planning My Music Marketing Project

For my music marketing project, I focused on research and simple planning. Here's how I worked:

1. Learning the Market

I studied music trends, popular artists, and how they connect with fans. Social media was great for seeing what works.

2. Knowing the Audience

I figured out who would like the music. This helped me decide where to post and what content to make.

3. Creative Ideas

I thought of ways to make the campaign fun, like social media challenges or playlists.

4. Making a Plan

I created a timeline for releasing content to keep people excited.

Here is a picture with my group working hard!