Inspired by one of my favorite romantic movies, The Best of Me (Micheal Huffman 2014) -cheesy, I know-, I was able to further define what I wanted to create and what sub genre I wanted to use. Deciding that I was going to be creating in the romantic drama sub genre, was really ground breaking for me because it really helped me narrow down my ideas. At the beginning of the week I was really nauseous with all of the possibilities and ideas that I was having, which really confused me and quite honestly it became frustrating as it made me feel as thought I wasn't doing things correctly, so having a solid decision of narrowing down to romantic drama really helped me. My next was researching everything of romantic dramas. This is what I came up with; deciding that I was going to be creating a romantic drama, I knew that I had to research the drama genre.
The drama genre usually entails themes such as; drug addiction, alcoholism, racial prejudice, class division, etc. The main focus of the genre is on creating an in-depth development of character(s) going through a critical moment in their life’s and the journey of going through those emotions. While the romance genre focuses on the development of emotions and relationship between two main characters utilizing themes such as; love at first sight, love triangle, sentimental love, unrequited love, etc. To combine these two genres to create a romantic drama, I have to create a story where two characters are both going through individual problems in their own life's and are trying to learn how to handle these emotions on their own, all while they meet and fall in love. I like this idea because even though the characters fall in love entirely and want to nothing more than to be together, they are the ones who are preventing them selfs being able to do that. How are they supposed to be in a relationship and support themselves through all of their problems and help lift and better one and another, when they can't even do that for themselves. These characters are going to have to learn how to deal with themselves and get control over their own life, before even thinking of being together.
Examples of Romantic Dramas:
A Star is Born is a great example of a movies where both characters are going through their individual problems which in the end, end up taking over their relationship.
Call Me by Your Name, one of the greatest movies of all time, plays this theme out very well, with of the characters struggling with a past, well technically current, relationship, and the other character struggling with his sexuality and trying to understand his needs and desires.
Me Before You, again another great example of the sub genre. Here one of the characters is learning to accept his new disability and how to live with it, while the other is trying to figure out how to help and maintain her family while still trying to find out what she likes and enjoys doing.
In the end...
In the end, I am very gland that I have narrowed down my idea and sub genre. My next step was identifying a specific plot with developed characters and ideas, which I know will probably be the hardest part, but I am hopeful that with such a large age range of 13-55 for my target audience it could possibly be easier to come up with an idea that will please all. With females being my main audience, as they typically tend to enjoy romantic movies more than the average man, appealing to emotions and create a very strong and independent female lead is definitely a very important for me and my movie. For now, as I keep on researching for a more narrow down version of my plot, I leave you with a clip with one of the most beautiful, and also one of my favorite, movies of all time, Sleepless In Seattle.
“It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together … and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home. .. only to no home I’d ever known … I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like … magic.” (1993. Ephron, N. Sleepless in Seattle). Who doesn't enjoy staying inside on a cozy couch with popcorn watching romantic films all day? The fact is that whether you admit it or not, romantic films are everyones guilty pleasure, this is one of the main reasons as to why I choose this particular genre.
Romance?
According to The Script Lab, one way to define romantic films is as a genre where the plot revolves around the involvement of two people. Primarily focusing on the romantic relationship between two people, some of the genre's themes include; love at first sight, forbidden love, love triangles, and sacrificial love (Buffam, N. 2011 March, 26. Romance). Some of the romantic films that show these themes the best include; A Walk To Remember(2002), Titanic (1997), and The Notebook (2004).
The Notebook
Titanic
A Walk To Remember
Sub-genres
Sub-genres are a lesser or subordinate genre or a much larger and broader genre. The sub-genre of romantic films include; historical romance, romantic drama, chick-flick, romantic comedies, and romantic actions among others.
Conventions
Media conventions are general rules that directors follow in every genre. This is used to create meaning and for genres to be easily recognizable to their audience. In other words, media conventions are agreed upon ways of how to do things when working with a specific genre. the typical narrative in a romantic film is; tow people meet, fall in love, someone usually disagrees, and the couple breaks up. Romantic films are usually known for opening with their main characters; a boy and a girl. This allows the audience to understand that these characters will be important. As far as setting, romantic films are usually set in urban places, for example, a school. This is done tp increase the probability of the two characters meeting. In order to set the mood and atmosphere of a movie, directors use sound. In romantic films, this is of up most importance. For example. directors use instruments to do this. To create a sad mood, a director may what to use a violin. Camera movements and shots can also help directors tell a story. For example medium shots can set the scene and introduce the characters. To show attachment between two people, panning and tracking movements may be used. The way that the shots are edited may also help to establish a relationship between two people. In romantic films, fast cuts are used to create emotion and atmosphere, while shot reverse shot is typically used to establish a conversation that is happening between two characters.
As we learned in class, Storytelling is joke telling. Everything that we sayin a story is leading to something bigger and a lot more meaningful. If told correctly, stories can pass the barriers of time. One major aspect emphasized during our in class discussions was in order to be successful at telling stories, you have to be able to make people care. We learned that although there are many to do this, storytelling without dialogue is the best approach you can take. By not adding dialogue you are making your audience work to understand the meanings behind every portion of the story without them actually knowing that they are doing it. Make the audience put the elements together. Stories are inevitable but not predictable. It is important to remember that storytelling has guidelines, not rules. A strong theme is always running through a well told story. The best way to tell a story is to take a step back and use what you know.
In class we were shown a variety of different film openings. This allowed use not only to analyses the choices and techniques that each director took when creating the film opening, but also to be able to analyses the different approaches that one can take when creating a film opening depending on what type of feel and reaction you want your audience to have. To me the most compelling out of all of the ones that we watched was Scream. This is due to the way that the director was able to create a meaningful aspect behind every camera movement, noice, and light at the beginning the tone was calm and then escalated quickly. The use of the popcorn cooking is used as a metaphor, as it cooks and i gets closer and closer to explode, the tone gets more and more intense and mysterious. The start of the slow zoom with one point of view, that starts to develop her fear and ends when she finally starts to reach to her fear.
For the past month, my partner Isabella Gonzalez and I worked together to develop our new artist, Hardin and prepare him for his up coming debut single; "Steps". With our genre being alternative rock, every decision we made as far as marketing goes, we made sure it tailored to our target audience which was male and females in between the ages of 16-25. We supported this with research that we found explaining that 72% of the people that listen to alternative rock where in between the ages of 14-25 years old.
For our marketing we took inspiration and tips from the very famous alternative rock bands; Coldplay and Radiohead. Through them we found out that exposure and fan interaction is most important for this type of genre. For example, to promote their up and coming album in 2012, Coldplay organized an international scavenger hunt for their fans to find lyrics to every song on the album which led to the release of their album. For our marketing campaign, we decided to take inspiration from that idea, but make it our own. We planned to print out Hardin's official logo and wrap downtown Los Angeles -which is where Hardin is based- with it. Behind the flyer would be a discount code which would allow anyone to receive one item of Hardin's merchandise free of charge. Our thought process behind this was to maximize exposure as much as possible and with this idea alone we are getting all different types of exposure simply by printing Hardin's logo. Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest places all around the world, every type of person that you could think of is walking around downtown L.A, so if people see the same flyer over and over again, around every street corner, on every post light, and on every window, they will get curious and try to find out what it is. Secondly, the fact the we are giving them free merchandise will not only serve as a way for new fans to be created and people, to look the artist up and see what the deal is, but it also allows us to advertise in other places around the world without having to spend a lot of money. If people start wearing Hardin's merchandise all over the pace, not only will other people repeatedly see the merchandise over and over, but it will allow people to get "hooked" and want to listen to Hardin's new music and start to build that relationship with the artist that we are striving for. Another marketing campaign that we would use is the use of Instagram and Snapchat filters. Instagram and Snapchat are two of the biggest social media platforms currently out, so this is a perfect fit for our target audience.
As Mentioned above we did decide to release merchandise that includes clothing with Hardin's logo or the name of his debut single 'Steps, as well as tangible merchandise like the vinyl that plays Hardin's single. The reasons as to why we chose to do this is really very simple, it works. With bands such as Coldplay and Radiohead, we found that their merchandise is a good way for them to make money and promote themselves as they do. The designs that we created, we also felt as though they were very in-tune with what are target audience might want t buy and wear as other alternative rock bands also had similar layouts for their merchandise with either the logo or name of the single/album.
To conclude, I would definitely have to say that what I learnt the most, which coincidentally was were I felt we struggled the most, was how to stay or keep within our genre. At times it would get difficult to stay within the lines of our genre and we felt as though we were representing aspects of the pop genre rather than our genre which was alternative rock. To fix this we made sure to research specific characteristics and representation aspects of our genre.
Just as the name suggests, H&M is not only trying to "close the loop" of millions of cloths that get thrown away every year, which inevitably leads to thousands of liters of water to get wasted, but they are also trying to "close the loop" to stereotypical and society set standards of fashion and beautiful.
It is precisely the representation in this campaign that allows H&M to break the barriers, or in this case,"close the loop" of dated rules and standards that society pressures people into.
H&M "Close The Loop" Campaign
In this campaign, historically underrepresented groups are seen highlighted and even used as the main characters of the advertisement. It is common in the media world for women, LGTBQ+, people of color, range body types/sizes, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, and the elderly to be casted into small roles or even worse, not be casted at all. We can see that this is not the case in the H&M Campaign. For example, above is a picture, from the campaign, of what society would label an elderly man completely breaking every single barrier of what an elderly man is "supposed" look like. H&M really did an outstanding job at doing something that most, if not all, companies are afraid of doing. Companies are afraid of showing consumers what real people look like in fear that they will loose followers/consumers, not realizing that by not showing these challenged versions of "normal", they are justifying the discrimination that people who feel different from societies standard have to endure every single day of their lives. This goes back to the question of, what are the possible effects upon audiences when faced with these representation examples? The answer is very simple, these types of campaigns and advertisements are opening endless doors for those who feel like everything they see on TV or in any media, goes against how they feel. It is Ads like these, that give kids, men, women, and people around the world, the confidence to feel comfortable and embrace the differences, the stares, and the whispers because there is nothing wrong with that. Advertisements such as these are finally showing the rest of the world what real people look like.
It, Parasite, The Conjuring, Annabelle, Poltergeist, and Hereditary. These are among some of cinemas most classic horror films, but have you ever stop to ask yourself why. I mean other than the iconic jump scares and the horrifying nightmares viewers are left with for weeks, what connects these films? The beauty of horror films come from the addition of a series of elements and choices that all come together to create the long lasting horror that leaves you checking under your bed for the next couple of weeks. With Ancient Greek origins, the horror genre originally manifested from folklore and religious traditions that told stories of the afterlife, evil, and the demonic. As the genre started to develop productions such as Frankenstein and Pliny the Younger started to engineer what horror would look like for generations to come.
Today the genre is fully developed and is portrayed in many different ways. The typical target audience for the horror genre today is anywhere form 15 to 25 year olds. According to research this is because young adult are the ones who historically enjoy thrills. Therefore, these thrillers are typically better enjoyed by teens and young adults.
Horror films tend to have similar conventions that allow its fanatics to recognize the genre, however, there have been films that have challenged the typical conventions making them original and unpredictable. As far as the Mise en Scene of horror films, the most common setting is in an abandon or isolated location. For example, in films such as Chernobyl Diaries the location is at the town of Pripyat, Ukraine nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant that has been abandon since 1986. This is done to create the situation where the character or characters are alone and vulnerable with no way of getting any help leaving them helpless. Manipulation of weather is another element highly used in the horror genre. A traumatic thunder storm will usually be used to further the feeling of isolation. To enhance the sinister and dark feeling the set design could include props such as weapons, antiques, and/or paintings.
'Chernobyl Diaries(2012)'
'Chernobyl Diaries(2012)'
Aiming to make a film more visual, filmmakers will manipulate the color of the shots and with the help of color correction, gradience, and colored lenses; filmmakers have been doing just that. One of the more common color technics in the horror genre is known as color grading, which sets the mood and allows for symbolism. Some of the most habitual colors in horror films are blue, red, and black. Cold blues and blues mixed with purple will be used to create the chilling effect commonly associated with horror films. In the movie The Ring, the filmmakers manipulated the color blue which then affected the demons' skin, making it look ghostly and dead.
'Us(2019)
'Bug(2006)'
'The Ring(2002)
Red, however, is used to create the feeling of danger and violence. Blood being one of horror's most conventional element, the use of reds not only creates a feeling of unsettlement, but it is also used as an identifying element for its audience. It is impossible to mention the use of reds in the horror genre with out referring to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. In this case, red is symbolizing the evil that is surrounding the family and 'the devil' in some way.
'The Shining(1980)'
'The Descent(2006)
'Us(2019)'
Some of the most recognizable conventions of the horror genre include; lighting, sound, and characters, to name a few. The lighting in horror films is used to create shadows that make the views feel uneasy and scared. The stereotypical lighting in horror films is dark and gloomy, this helps to enhance the mood in the film. The audio in any film, but particularly in horror films, is essential for the filmmakers to create an enhanced feeling. With horror films, the filmmakers are usually trying to build up the suspense and tension. To do this, filmmakers will make use of diegetic sounds which exaggerate tension or fast, and/or loud non-diegetic sounds which will create the typical "jump scare" associated with the genre.
Jordan Peele's Get Out, John Krasinski's A Quiet Place, and Ari Aster's Hereditary were the 'it' movies of 2017, 2018, and 2019, that completely changed the game for horror films. Grossing a joint total of $96 billion on their opening weekends, these films revolutionized the horror genre's marketing and social strategies while fully embodying the horror genre. A Quiet Place did something completely atypical to what typical marketing usually looks like for horror films, they were able to appeal to women and an audience of over 50. Above I discussed the fact that the typical target age for horror films are anywhere from 15-25 year olds, which is why appealing to an older audience is very hard for anyone working in this genre. Although these films did things very differently which resulted in a very good turnout, it is worth mentioning some of the typical 'must-do's' when marketing for an upcoming horror film. Teasing the monster or creature is very important when promoting a horror film. Teasing the audience about the unnatural devilish force in your horror movie will intrigue the audience and make them want to watch more. Another great marketing technique is taking the promotion offline. Making the trailer for a horror film an experience rather than a simple video clip or online banner, will create 'buzz' about the film as well as give the audience a little taste of what is to come. For example, in promotion for Rob Zombie's new film, it was rumored that the recent clown appearances were linked to the movie.
Marketing Project 
For our marketing we took inspiration and tips from the very famous alternative rock bands; Coldplay and Radiohead. Through them we found out that exposure and fan interaction is most important for this type of genre. For example, to promote their up and coming album in 2012, Coldplay organized an international scavenger hunt for their fans to find lyrics to every song on the album which led to the release of their album. For our marketing campaign, we decided to take inspiration from that idea, but make it our own. We planned to print out Hardin's official logo and wrap downtown Los Angeles -which is where Hardin is based- with it. Behind the flyer would be a discount code which would allow anyone to receive one item of Hardin's merchandise free of charge. Our thought process behind this was to maximize exposure as much as possible and with this idea alone we are getting all different types of exposure simply by printing Hardin's logo. Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest places all around the world, every type of person that you could think of is walking around downtown L.A, so if people see the same flyer over and over again, around every street corner, on every post light, and on every window, they will get curious and try to find out what it is. Secondly, the fact the we are giving them free merchandise will not only serve as a way for new fans to be created and people, to look the artist up and see what the deal is, but it also allows us to advertise in other places around the world without having to spend a lot of money. If people start wearing Hardin's merchandise all over the pace, not only will other people repeatedly see the merchandise over and over, but it will allow people to get "hooked" and want to listen to Hardin's new music and start to build that relationship with the artist that we are striving for. Another marketing campaign that we would use is the use of Instagram and Snapchat filters. Instagram and Snapchat are two of the biggest social media platforms currently out, so this is a perfect fit for our target audience.
