Our Title (DON'T MOVE)

We have finally come up with a title for our film. The process of coming up with this title took longer than I expected but has been selected after an extended list of good and bad ideas.

These are all the ideas of we initially came up with:

• I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
• FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS
• CODE BLACK
• AMERICA
• HUMAN
• HUMANE
• TUESDAY BLUES
• Things Falling Apart
• Half of a Sun
• Bondage
• Amerikkka
• Passage
• Strange Fruit
• Sierra Leone 
• DON’T MOVE

The ones that are in bold were our runner ups for the title. The last one is what we decided on- DON'T MOVE. Others were more symbolic and contained references but we decided that something simple like this one works best.

This phrase is easily recognizable as a phrase said by police officers as they are detaining someone. As a title of our film, "don't move" stands as a metaphor, it has double meaning. Similar to being detained by an officer, "don't move" symbolizes how the black community lives in a society that has historically oppressed them and now struggle to thrive due to systematic racism.

I believe that this title well-encompasses the overall theme of police brutality and the essence of the story we want to tell.

Inspiration

Today we are going to talk about art direction! It seems that in any film project I work on, I always tend to gravitate towards art direction. I end up taking roles like Director of Photography or something in design or colorist. I feel like this is because I have grown a big interest in the visual experience for the viewer. I like to determine the feel or style that is unique to a film and how to creatively complement it to the story we are trying to tell.

The art direction that I am pursuing for this film is somewhat similar to that of Moonlight or Atlanta. 





More specifically, though,  I am really liking the coloration and lighting and overall art direction of the music video for the song "Sweatpants" by Childish Gambino:

This music video using a coloring technique in which it relies on the bright and rich colors and lights of the mise en scene yet is slightly desaturated in color grading. It also has green hues in the shadows and oranges in the highlights along with some film grain to simulate the look and feel of old-school film cameras.

I want to use these techniques in a similar manner for our film opening. Using an old-school film camera look will be used to symbolize that the underlying issue that is racism has been embedded in American society and history for as long as anyone can remember. The use of colors and lights will be used to give a dreamy, yet dramatic atmosphere that highlights the paradox of inhumane and unbelievable acts of racism becoming a very real struggle and every-day concern for black people in America.


CITATIONS:

D. (2017, March 13). Adding Moonlight aesthetics to your brands visual strategy with no rights violation. Retrieved March 05, 2018, from https://artplusmarketing.com/how-to-incorporate-oscar-winners-to-your-visuals-with-no-rights-violation-16e1bddcaf7d

C. (2014, April 14). Childish Gambino - Sweatpants ft. Problem. Retrieved March 05, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExVtrghW5Y4

Crime Dramas

We now have somewhat of an idea of what we are going to do for our film opening. Were are expanding upon an idea I had for a conceptual art project I worked on a couple months ago. The theme is about police brutality and racial profiling. Although we have not developed a script yet, we had initially decided to go for the genre, Crime Drama. For this blog post, I will be conducting research on crime dramas.

Crime drama is a subgenre that has elements of both genres: crime and drama.

The Script Lab describes the drama film genre as, "a genre that relies on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters. While Drama film relies heavily on this kind of development, dramatic themes play a large role in the plot as well. Often, these dramatic themes are taken from intense, real life issues. Whether heroes or heroines are facing a conflict from the outside or a conflict within themselves, Drama film aims to tell an honest story of human struggles." 

The crime film genre is characterized by a large plot focal point on criminal acts or a criminal investigation and police officers. Sometimes it is encompassed by a lawsuit or court case that drives the plot.

I am hesitant to step too far into the crime genre because that's not what I want this story to be about. This is not some gangster/hood film where I highlight any stereotype of the black community and immediately associate it with crime and rebellion against the police. The purpose of this story is to drive empathy by telling of real-life struggles that concern black people in America that other people would otherwise be blind to. I want to get rid of the idea of victimization and demonization because of one-sided polarization by showing that there are real logical and human qualities and motives behind any side of an issue.

After the research I conducted, I realized that the essence and story of our film opening is better defined as a drama film, rather than crime. However, it does consist of aspects like court cases, police officers, and some form of crime that remotely make it a crime drama.

Some examples of that we can relate to are Detroit and the TV show, Atlanta.

CITATIONS:

Drama. (2011, March 15). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/952-drama/

Film Genres: Crime films. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres/crimefilms

EntertainmentJessica McKinney | July 6, 2016 - 1:07 pm. (2016, July 06). Donald Glover Stars In Official 'Atlanta' Trailer. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.vibe.com/2016/07/donald-glover-atlanta-trailer/

A. (2017, November 24). Detroit | Kino. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.constantinfilm.at/kino/detroit.html

Welcome! (this is weird, I've never had a blog) :)

Hey! I'm Carlos Ramirez, for those of you reading my blog for the first time, (technically this would be everyone because this is my first post) I have made this blog as a part of a project for my AICE Media Studies class. We are currently stying the medium of film, more specifically, technique for film openings.

In this blog, you will get a glimpse into my creative process and the making of my group's film opening. This will also be interesting for me because I have never recorded myself during my production process. I will have an opportunity to look back and read about the experiences I went through in the making of this project and get to learn some things about myself.

A little bit about my self:
I'm a senior at Cypress Bay High School and I am an aspiring filmmaker and photographer. This project is a great opportunity for me to practice and learn things that will help me in my career.

Enjoy!