Drama film openings!

Film openings are the key to engaging audiences on whether they will enjoy your movie or not. In Drama, there are various different film openings that really inspire and engage me as an audience member. There are many things in which film openings could do: introduce the main character, set the tone for the movie, and introduce the setting.

Lady Bird (2017)

This film opening is great for many reasons!! It first introduces our two main characters Christine and her mother in which both of their personalities are really shown. Christine talks about her wishes for the future, moving to the east coast where she prefers to be. Meanwhile her mother tells her she can’t leave because they can’t afford it. They fight for a bit, which shows the strain in their relationship. Additionally, the music at the beginning of the opening was soft and quite, but as they started to argue it increased in pitch and became louder. Lady Bird is a great example of setting characters, tone and the setting.

Moonlight (2016)

This film opening is a great one for showing the setting of the movie. It shows the low economic status of the characters and how they will possibly live through that struggle. Additionally, it shows one of the main characters which will be essentially later throughout the movie. (P.S this movie is great if you haven’t seen it go watch it! it’s one of my favorites.)

Once upon a time in Hollywood (2019)

This film opening is great at showing the two main characters and who they are. We’re first shown Rick Dalton who is seen to be a movie star, where he is being interviewed and speaking as well with his stunt double Cliff Booth. This shows us the tone of old Hollywood where we will get to know these characters more in depth. Additionally, the use of black and white is a great way to differentiate when they are on-screen and off-screen.

Marriage story (2019)

Now this film opening is a real tear jerker... but it really shows exactly how to introduce a character and show their personality. Here we are shown Nicole, where Charlie is heard talking about his favorite things about her. It really captures how much the two characters really love each other but still have a strenuous relationship. This film opening is just beautiful and I can’t describe how much I love it.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

This opening is different from the rest, this one includes credits at the beginning and really shows who the character is without any dialogue. We are introduced to Freddy Mercury whose personality is mainly shown through mise-en-scene. We see his elaborate outfit choices and well as his own home, which show his ornate style. At the same time, we can hear “Somebody to Love” by Queen which gives us a little preview to what’s about to come.

Drama!

Drama is one of my favorite genres and will be my portfolio project genre! There are various types of dramas that make it a broad genre, aka why it is my favorite! Although this is true, there are certain conventions that Dramas usually follow, for example having a relatable character and having the character go through ups and downs. One of my favorite movies, Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) is a drama that constantly uses this technique. Such as showing the main character Christine go through a teenage realistic part of her life, as well as showing economic issues that the character and her mother face. This shows relatability to most audience members, who consist of young-old viewers, mainly middle-class and female. Additionally, Drama's use a lot of coloring techniques that represent/symbolize something. Typically a color palette of cool hues such as blues, purples and neutral colors such as brown or beige, are used to represent the main character. I would really love to use drama as my project genre because it is a beautiful category that includes various conventions and can be used for many ideas.

Lady Bird (2017)

Music marketing project

Our band New York Revival was a creation of our genre Alternative Rock which we took inspiration from in many ways. This genre was found to embody from the '90s where it became popularized, thus our band's aesthetic. Alt. Rock usually consisted of ages 15-24 years old with a middle-class socioeconomic status, as well as both male and female and people who typically have a fun and rebellious side to their personality. During our research, we found many Alternative Rock artists who use simple and interesting marketing and distribution tactics. For example, The Neighbourhood and Foster the people both use engaging methods towards their fans, such as including a Twitter hashtag (#TheNeueTimes) where they can interact with audiences and having an Art contest on, popular distribution streaming service, Spotify where fans could draw album covers that the artist may use in the future. In addition, these artists used social media to attract new audiences. Some of which included Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. On Instagram, The Neighbourhood would "go dark" which is a method of deleting all posts whenever a new song or album is on the way, this creates a mystery to what happened to the band which can attract more people to your page. As well as social media, In Alternative Rock, most artists have a website in which they can have a clear path towards reaching audiences, but also a way to shape stories, share a merch line and view their music.

How did we develop our brand?
- To do this we mainly tried to use social media as our number one way to increase our audience. For example, we used Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok and made sure that audiences could access these through a mobile device. On Twitter, we found that 44% of our target audience resided on the app and we decided to create a hashtag #NYREVIVAL where fans could share their thoughts on our song and we could engage back to them creating a closer bond. On Instagram,  we decided to use the "Go Dark" tactic to make us seem mysterious to our rebellious target audience, additionally, we wanted to create an Instagram filter, which has been extremely popular in 2020, that says "Which Ny Revival Band Member Are You?". On TikTok, we felt that we could place our Alternative Rock song on there due to another similar genre artist MGMT gaining over a million streams with their song. On there we will have exclusive content and dances that will follow our band's aesthetic.  Additionally, we wanted to have “pop-up” performances in local places such as coffee shops (El toro cafe, Ella Cafe) and small venues (The venue Fort Lauderdale, Revolution live) gaining attraction to new people. 

Marketing Products

- Our marketing products were created to fit our target audience. For example, our merch line that is environmentally friendly with biodegradable phone cases/ reusable clothing. This will appeal to our 15-21-year-old target audience who mainly care about the future of our planet. Our merch also includes a 90's aesthetic which is exactly what is brand is going for.
 

- We also created an app where fans can view our music video hours before it is released to the public, which can create more people to download our app. Additionally, for every stream on our app, we will donate to Onetree.org where a tree is planted in Australia for every dollar donated. ( We hope to collaborate with them.)

What did I learn?

- This project really allowed myself to understand the world of music production and how much it really takes. During the making of the music video, I took the skills that we had been learning during the year to implement them into our video. For example, the different kinds of shots we wanted to include, using a storyboard to really plan out and have an idea set out for filming, and seeing how the final product will help set up our band's brand. When we were researching marketing skills for our music genre, I learned a lot about how artists put out their music and how target audiences are the most important thing for a marketing campaign. We also learned how huge social media is in marketing strategies, where it can reach new people and attract new listeners. 

Representation Analysis

Axe Bodyspray commercial

 

The Axe bodyspray commercial is an underwhelming view of representation and places a certain gender community to be seen in a negative light. In other words, this commercial over sexualizes women and overgeneralizes exactly what women look like.  The first point I would like to talk about is the harmful view that the Axe commercial is placing on females. As seen in the video, the premise of the commercial is to show a group of "savage" and animalistic women chasing after a man who is spraying the Bodyspray. This clearly makes it seem that all women want is a man and that we are chasing towards them. Notably, this does not include any representation of the LGBTQ+ community and makes women seem like objects. Another point I would like to include is the lack of body representation in this commercial. As we can tell, the video shows women with thin bodies and a "perfect" example of what women are supposed to look like. This can be detrimental towards anyone who has body image issues or a young person growing up, causing psychological harm towards anyone. Additionally, another point is the lack of race/ ethnic representation in the video. Clearly, all the women in the video are white, completely disregarding people of color. The Axe Bodyspray commercial is a great example of a lack of representation in the advertising world and in race/ethnic, gender, sexuality and differing body type communities.

H&M "close the loop" Ad

In the H&M Ad, we can see a completely different and diverse view on representation and instead sheds a positive light on certain communities. First off, we do see more modern 21st century views on many different ideas and narrations of things that may seem like "breaking the rules" in the fashion world. The first community that is seen represented well in this commercial is the gender community, as males can be seen wearing skirts, makeup, etc. which many people may relate to, especially in this day and age. We also can see women dressing up in "men's clothes" and vice verse. This is extremely beneficial towards the gender community, as most of the time, these people are never well represented, such as in the Axe commercial. Not only is the gender community represented, but so is the minority ethnic/ race group, as well as religion. We see many diverse groups of people of color and other race groups. Additionally, the commercial is much more body representative of people, ranging from all body types. This also can be helpful as people may feel more confident in themselves and feel like they are being portrayed well. Finally, the commercial ends showing that we must recycle our clothes, which can be seen as a representation of people who do indeed care about our planet, which should be portraying all of us. The H&M commercial does a very good job of showing a range of diverse groups and communities, which is exactly what the world is like. 

Drama

Drama

 Stating that Drama is anyone's favorite movie genre is a widespread and universal statement. The Drama genre consists of a huge spectrum going all the way from "Historical Dramas" to "Romantic Dramas." Typically, the main target audience for Dramas are younger and older viewers typically consisting of females, due to its broadness. The main reason why I personally enjoy and love this genre is that it can depict anyone's life perfectly or similarly. 

 Although the genre is very broad, there are many ways or conventions that allow viewers to understand that it is in fact, a drama movie. The first primary technique derives from the content, such as creating characters that are relatable that the audience will show sympathy for. For example, the character, Christine, from Lady Bird  (Greta Gerwig) which many teenagers may relate to. Another important content technique is having the Character go through ups and downs, with some climaxes and "anti-climaxes", which is seen in La La Land (Damien Chazelle) in which the two main characters go through a rollercoaster of emotions in their relationship. 

 The Drama genre also uses production techniques such as lighting which sets a tone for the audience,  The use of a color palette, typically cool hues (blues, purples, etc.), and the scores and music typically alternative or mood genres. 

However, even if these techniques are all set in stone in a drama production, mainly what attracts a viewer is the use of a marketing team. Clearly, movie trailers, famous actors promoting their movie through the press and using an appealing movie poster is a huge factor in the marketing aspect, but particularly what is seen in drama movie marketing is the use of " Based on a True Story" or " Based on the famous novel " such as the movie Beautiful Boy ( Felix van Groeningen). 

La La Land 

The film La La land ( Damien Chazelle) beautifully embodies the essence of what the romantic drama genre is. In the first few scenes, the two main characters Mia, an ambitious actor, and Sebastian, a jazz player, meet when they get stuck in LA traffic ( realistic setting). The movie's love story begins when the two main characters see each other at a "1980s pop" party, where they begin to have chemistry. A few months go by and Mia and Sebastian have moved in together but have heated arguments. Five years later, Mia has married another man and she sees Sebastian at his own club, imagining what life would have been like if she would have stayed with him. The specific drama techniques that are used in the movie are the Character ups and downs ( Moving in together, getting into arguments, not ending up together), the color palette such as cool hues ( Blues expressing their sadness, and violet expressing inspiration with both of their aspiring dreams) and the classic marketing technique of the catchy "City of Stars" soundtrack. 

Good will hunting

The film Good Will Hunting ( Gus Van Sant) is a fantastic film that also demonstrates the drama genre in a beautiful way. The premise of the film is about a young boy by the name of Will Hunting ( Matt Damon), a genius who works as a janitor at MIT. A teacher by the name of Professor Lambeau challenges his students with a difficult math question and Will anonymously answers the difficult problem. Eventually, the professor catches him and acts as a mentor for him, and helps Will with a psych therapist named Sean, who will forever change his life. This movie can be interpreted by many as something they can possibly relate to and talks about mental health, which many enjoy and usually occurs in the drama genre. The tone of the movie progressively grows and the color palette is neutrals expressing sadness. 

Roma ( Alfonso Cuaron)

The devil wears Prada (David Frankel)

Once upon a time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)

Love, Rosie ( Christian Ditter)

Bohemian Rhapsody ( Bryan Singer)

First blog!

My name is Gaby Tramonte and this is my first time trying out a blog! I am currently creating a portfolio project for my Aice Media class and will be using this form of media to record my progress.