Film Genre Research - The Spectacular Now

In the first two minutes of the movie the tip of the ice berg is touched for this story line. All this is, is one character talking about a misfortune he had faced in a college application essay while the flashback to the events leading up to them.What film making techniques are used (camera shots, editing, sound, mis-en-scene)?It starts with a black screen and the voice over of the lead male character's voice and then cuts to him sitting in his pyjamas typing the answer on his computer. Afterwards it flashes to him at parties with his girlfriend before going to a two-shot scene with him drinking something next to his friend on the stairs of the school telling him how he was going to get him a girlfriend. Most of the first two minutes with the exception of a few seconds here and there were voiced over with what he was typing for his college essay. For this film there are no job titles shown on the screen within the first few minutes of the movie. The film's budget was 2.5 million USD. The film made $6.9 million domestically with earning $63,980 elsewhere for a grand total of ~$6.9 million. The film was nominated for three EDA Awards (Best Writing, Best Breakthrough Performance, and Best Depiction of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction), a Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) Award for Ten Best Films of the Year, a Casting Society of America Artios for Outstanding Achievement in Casting in a Low Budget Feature Drama, three Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA) Awards (Best adapted Screenplay, Best Overlooked Film, and Breakthrough Film Artist), three Chlotrudis Awards (Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay), a deadCenter Film Festival award for Best Feature, two Independed Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Female Lead, a GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics Dorian Award for Unsung Film of the Year, six Georgia Film Critics Association (GAFCA) Awards (two Breakthrough Awards, Oglethrorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema, Best Ensemble, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay), a Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervison for Independent Motion Pictures Budgeted Under 10 million Dollars, two MTV Movie + TV Awards for Breakthrough Performance and Best Kiss, a National Board of Review Award for Top Ten Independent Films, a North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Pheonix Film Critics Society (PFCS) Award for Overlooked Film of the Year, two Prism Awards for Feature Film and Performance in a Feature Film, two San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay, a San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC) award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Seattle International Film Festival award for Furturewave Youth Jury Award, a St. Louis Film Critics Association (SLFCA) Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, two Sundance Film Festival Awards for Drama, a Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Award for Best Youth Film, a USC Scripter Award, a Washington DC Area Film Critic Association (WAFCA) Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a World Sountrack Award for Discovery of the year. Of these nominations the film won a Sundance Film Festival Award for Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, the Seattle International FIlm Festival award, a SDFCS Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Prism Award for Feature Film, a National Board of Review Award for Top Ten Independent Films, one of the two GAFCA Breakthrough Awards, the deadCenter Film Festival award for Best Feature, and the BOFCA award for Ten Best Films of the Year.

Film Genre Research - The Shape of Water

The First two minutes show the lead female character waking up to her alarm clock and fire truck sirens passing by her window. After wards it shows her getting ready for work along with making her lunch, and breakfast for her neighbor before heading downstairs to go to work. Throughout all of this, opening credits appeared at the bottom of the screen. Short takes were used to show the different things that she had needed to do in the morning. A few low angle shots and high angle shots were also used for quick bits to give a little of a different perspecting on what she was doing. There were also insert shots of objects such as a sandwich and shoes that she had chosen to polish. They also used period clothing that worked with the 1960's with the solid colored dresses with full length coats along with simple jewelry and minimal makeup for her costuming. The other furniture in the apartment shown in the beginning fit along with the time period with table trays and the smaller square t.v.'s. In the opening credits the names of the actors along with the main director and producer are displayed on the lower right third of the screen. The films budget was 20 million dollars and made $63.9 million dollars in the U.S. and Canada along with $131.4 million in other countries for a total gross profit of 195.2 million dollars. The film has won 4 academy awards (Best Picture, Best Original Music Score, Best Production Design, Best Director), a Golden Lion, Bandung Film Festival for Imported Film, 2 BAFTA Awards (Best Direction and Best Film Music), 2 Golden Globes (Best Original Score and Best Director), National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - Feature Film,  2 Satellite Awards (Best Art Direction and Production Design and Best Actress), Costume Designers Guild Award for Best Costume Design - Period Film, Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards - Period Film, and 4 Critics' Choice Awards (Best Score, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Production Design).

Film Genre Research - The Last Song

The first thing on the screen is what looks like a church on fire and fire fighters trying to rescue those trapped inside. It then fades out to black before a road appears with a lone car driving along it. Then there is a girl (Ronnie) sitting in the back seat of the car with her head resting against the window as she is sleeping. Then it shows the car crossing a bridge before going back to Ronnie waking up in the car and rolling down the window to look at the boat houses she is passing. Another short take is inserted as the car drives a bit farther before going back to Ronnie and then showing the building that was burning earlier with construction workers on it and then cuts to her mom and younger brother (Jonah) in the front of her car and her mom starts talking to them about the building. Afterwards another shot of the church is seen before having a pan of a neighborhood in Georgia shown from above. It goes back to the car with the mother asking Ronnie to try and make an effort with her father. Jonah then chimes in with asking a question if their dad knows that she got arrested which sparks a snarky reply from her. The next thing shown is the dad standing at what looks like a window sill of his house looking out at his driveway as they pull in. Jonah then runs to the house to meet his dad on the porch and give him a hug. After the first two minutes questions are left about how the burnt church correlates to the storyline, what the deal is that Ronnie has with her father, and that she seems like a disgruntled teenager who is just trying to find her way.  Short takes are taken of the burning building before the fade out to black and then the long shot of the car driving on the highway. There are also credits rolling telling which production company is producing this film along with some of the actors names and the movie title appearing in the bottom right third of the screen. There is also a close up of a teen girls face as her head is leaning up against the window before another long shot is inserted of the car crossing a bridge. Another close up is seen before an eye-line match is inserted of the boat houses the girl is watching as she passes them. There is then an areial shot of some houses with large amounts of land surrounding them. The music we have been hearing throughout this entire first minute then becomes atmospheric sound and we can hear it from how the people in the car hear it. Short takes are inserted of the car driving and the girl looking out the window and the burnt church before going back to the interior of the car where the mom and younger brother are in the front seats and her in the back seats. The girl is dressed in a hoodie and shirt with a messy ponytail and minimal but distinctive makeup. Her brother is in a hoodie as well and their mom is in a short sleeve shirt with her hair down with clean makeup on. Then another areial shot is inserted with an upward pan of a neighborhood in Georgia. It then goes to another shot of the interior of the car before a close up on jonah and then another shot of the car interior before a low angle shot shown of the dad. Then a high angle shot is shown of the car entering the driveway before an arieal shot of the house and ending with a two shot with the father and Jonah. In the opening credits the production and directing companies are named along with the actors and the directors and producers. The films budget was 20 million USD and brought in  $25,950,384 in North America and $26,091,272 in other countries for a worldwide total profit of $89,041,656. It was nominated for Seven Teen Choice Awards (Choice Movie: Drama, Choice Movie: Liplock, Choice Movie Actress: Drama, Choice Movie: Chemistry, Choice Movie: Dance Scene, Choice Hissy Fit: Film, and Choice Breakout Star: Male) and a Kids Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actress. It won the Kids Choice Award and the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Hissy Fit: Film and Choice Breakout Star: Male.

Film Genre Research - Dear John

The first two minutes start with Channing Tatum (John) lying on the ground in a military uniform with a voice over happening. He had just gotten shot and was explaining what had gone through his head in the minutes after he got shot before he blacked out. The first thing to come to his mind was coins. Then it flashed back to him as an eight- year-old boy at a tour at a U.S. bank and listening to the tour guide explain how the coins are made and stamped and inspected to make sure all are exactly the same. Throughout this portion of the voice over we see coins falling from the top of the screen infront of the face of a young boy. Then it goes to close images of the coins going down the assembly line and having the ridges engraved and being stamped. Afterwards it flashes back to the war zone he is in and he said "I am a coin in the United States Army. I was minted." Finishing off the first minute and a half it shows him in his army uniform laying in a shallow creek with a bullet casing lying on the rocks in the creek next to him as he states the last thing to come to his mind before he blacked out "you." referring to the lead female in the movie portrayed by Amanda Seyfried. The next shot after that has incedental pop/highland sounding music over the image of him surfing while the two lead characters names are shown in the bottom-right third of the screen. The camera shots use a variety of short and long takes within the first two minutes of the film. There are a few over-the-shoulder takes while the scene is in the war zone. There are insert shots in the flashback to John's eight-year-old self, along with close-up's of his face in the left third of the screen and a wide shot of him surfing at the beach after the opening voice over. After the voiceover incedental music is played over the long take of him surfing. The only credits shown in the opening are the actors names portraying the lead male and female characters in the movie.Dear John had a budget of 25 million USD and made $80,014,842 in North America, $34,962,262 in other countries for a grand total of $114,977,104 profit worldwide. Dear John was nominated for 4 Teen Choice Awards (Choice Movie Actress: Drama, Choice Movie: Drama, Choice Movie: Chemistry, Choice Movie Actor: Drama), 2 MTV Movie Awards (Best Female Performance and Best Male Performance), a People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Movie, a Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervison for Films, an ASCAP Film and Televison Music award for Top box office films, and 3 CinEuphoria awards [Top Ten of the year (audience award and international competition) and Best Actor]. Dear John won the CinEuphoria awards and the ASCAP award. 

Film Genre Research - Silver Linings Playbook

In the first two minutes the lead male character (played by Bradley Cooper) as a grown man reading a book late at night in his room. When he finishes it he gets frustrated witht the ending. He then goes into his parents room showing that he is living with his parents and starts explaining to them why he is frustrated and how the book should've ended and is yelling this as well. To this his parents responded that it was 3 in the morning and that he should go back to bed. His initial reaction shows that he has some sort of easy anger triggers where some simple things can make him quite upset. There are multiple short takes of him reading the book along with a two shot of the parents in their bed. There were high angle shots done to be of him talking to his parents. There were also lamps on with them in their pj's to help explain that it was late at night when this was taking place. There are no opening credits shown in the first two minutes. The budget for the movie was $21 million and it made $132,092,958 in the domestic box office, $104,319,495 at the international box office, ~$19,914,337 in Domestic DVD sales and ~$11,497,667 in Domestic Blu-ray sales for a total approximate revenue of $267,824,457.Silver linings playbook was nominated for 41 awards and won 34 of those. These awards including Festival Film Bandung, Austin Film Critics Award for Best Actress, Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, 5 Satellite Awards (Best Director, Best Motion Picture, Best Actress-Motion Picture, Best Editing, and Best Actor-Motion Picture), 4 Independent Spirit Awards (Best Screenplay, Best Feature, Best Female Lead, and Best Director), 5 AACTA International Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress), 3 MTV Movie Awards (Best Female Performance, Best Male Performance, and Best Kiss), BAFTA Award for Adapted Screenplay, 4 Critic's Choice Awards (Best Actor in a Comedy, Best Actress in a Comedy, Best Comedy, Best Acting Ensemble), National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, and Academy Award for Best Actress.

Project Selection - My Decision

As my decision I have chosen to do the film project. I chose to do the film project because when it comes to experience that would benefit me, the benefits out-weighed the detriments in the film project opportunity where as I did not have as much beneficial experience that would help me in the magazine project. Between all of my experience in acting, and my interest in the behind the scenes aspect of production, with my current enrollment in Directing 1 Honors this year, all of these skills would benefit my film project. My main determining factors for choosing this project was my interest in learning more about the behind the scenes aspect of productions.For our film we planned a romance general theme with something along a Dear John like script line. I am working in a group for this project. Tamara is great at filming and has a strong interest in it, with this being said I foresee her as being the camera handler and filming the video. Meghan has an interest in editing and would like to edit our video together.