Research: Industry

This is my research into industry for component 1.

About my opening ₊˚⊹ ᰔ

I’ve decided with my group that we would be creating a thriller movie opening. We plan to target it at a relatively niche audience. We finalized our ideas on the narrative where our opening would follow a teenage girl getting ready for a party which shes attending against her mother’s wishes. She then gets drugged and kidnapped, and who knows what happens next.

Since my project is within the thriller genre and is intended for a niche audience, the company most likely to produce my media text in the real world would be A24. A24 is known for its unique and artistic style in films within the thriller-horror genre, with a focus on character complexity and originality. These films are mostly targeted at a niche and specific audience, rather than a mainstream one as A24 prioritizes creative freedom to differentiate it from conventional films. Since I am making a movie opening, it will be difficult to add psychological depth and moral ambiguity to my characters in the first two minutes. However, with further research, I’m sure I could incorporate some elements that carry connotations that can my character’s seem more interesting instead of cookie-cutter characters.  

Blumhouse would be a suitable company too, however, they focus more on horror movies while my opening is a thriller. Blumhouse implement include social issues and commentary which I also aim to achieve, which would fit well with my opening. However Blumhouse’s extreme focus on horror films overshadows this factor, making it my secondary choice for a distribution company. Even though A24 also has a slight focus on horror films, they usually have psychological aspects to them which could classify them under thriller. Additionally, A24 also includes bits and pieces of social issues into their thriller film’s to add layers of psychological depth, which is why I selected it as the company to produce my media text.

Below is some research I conducted about these two companies and media industries. I choose these two companies as they both have success in the thriller-horror genres and are independent companies targeting niche audiences. This research will be helpful for my CCR2 as I’ll learn about what demographics to target, how to target them, and learn from these companies’ marketing strategies to describe how our movie would reach our audiences. 

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A24

A24 is an independent American film and television company that has become a popular production and distribution company for movies under the horror and thriller genre, particularly for its unique approach to storytelling. A24 was founded in New York City in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges and has since built a reputation for producing and distributing quality films. Their thought-provoking and complex characters and narratives made them stand out from other film companies in the market, and they still carry their unique style today.

-What other content do they produce? ⋆˙⟡

A24’s work includes a mix of psychological horror, thriller, dark comedy, and drama films. One of A24’s early successes was Spring Breakers (2012), a film that started A24’s focus on arthouse films. Since then, the company has released multiple amazing films learning more onto the thriller and horror genre, many of which have achieved commercial success even with it’s indie nature.

In the thriller and horror-thriller genres, A24 has produced Hereditary, The Witch, Midsommar, Uncut Gems, and Good Time. These films are praised for their unconventional storytelling, psychological depth and tension. A24’s focus these factors aligns closely with what I aim to achieve in my film opening, such as focusing on a character’s vulnerability and complexity. 

-Who is their typical audience? ⋆˚࿔

A24 targets a niche yet highly engaged audience, typically within the 18-35 age range a.k.a. Gen Z and millennials. This demographic is drawn to independent films and is particularly interested in artistically ambitious films. Unlike most film studios that aim to appeal to the widest possible audience, A24 focuses on a specific group of viewers who appreciate these types of indie films. The company has created a loyal fan base among movie enjoyers and cinephiles who value new perspectives and quality films, who in turn will most likely to support their new releases.

To connect with its audience, A24 uses an unconventional marketing technique. The company relies on social media, viral marketing, and direct fan engagement to build anticipation and community around its films. This marketing technique has contributed to A24’s reputation as a brand that understands its audience on a more personal level, which could attract more fans. Personally, I’ve heard of A24’s films mostly through social media and recommendations from people I know online and offline, which has influenced me to watch some of their films such as Midsommar.

The company typically distributes its films through limited releases to gain traction and intrigue before expanding to wider audiences. A24 would release films at major film festivals, where they could determine their audience’s responses to the film and build anticipation for it. This also help them reach their target demographic and psychographic more effectively. The company also expanded its distribution methods into the streaming market. A24 has established partnerships with platforms like Amazon Prime and Apple TV. These collaborations allow A24 to reach a wider audience without sacrificing its independent and niche brand identity.

-How big is the company? How long has it existed? ⋆°｡❀

A24 remains smaller in size compared to traditional Hollywood studios like Warner Bros. or Paramount. As an independent company, A24 operates flexibly that supports innovative and artistic projects, which has become A24’s signature “style”. This independence allows the company to take creative risks which is their “unique selling point” that makes them different from other companies which attracts more viewers. 

Since A24 was founded in 2012, it has been operating for almost 13 years now. They started getting more known in 2016 with the release of Moonlight where A24 took home an award for “Best Picture”. Since then, they’ve only gotten more and more popular. In 2022, A24 released Everything Everywhere All at Once which won 10 oscars! So, is A24 considered “indie” anymore? While their status as an “indie” movie producer is questioned, A24 still created a niche for itself with their character-driven stories.

-What is their successful product? ༉‧₊˚.

Popular A24 films in the horror-thriller genre include Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019). Hereditary became one of A24’s most profitable films, grossing over $80 million worldwide on a small budget of $10 million. Known for its disturbing and psychological themes, Hereditary’s success allowed A24 to expand into different genres beyond their original focus on indie and arthouse films. Similarly, Midsommar hooked audiences with its unique take on horror. Both films have developed fanbases and are frequently discussed in horror and thriller circles, further boosting A24’s image as a company who can create lasting cultural impact.

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Blumhouse Productions

Blumhouse Productions is an American film and television production company known for its focus on the horror genre, often with an emphasis on psychological horror. Blumhouse was founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and the company is considered niche in the film industry by producing high-quality horror films on modest budgets. Blumhouse's unique model has allowed it to become a leader in the genre, consistently creating profitable films that resonate with audiences worldwide.

-What other content do they produce? ₊˚⊹ ᰔ

Blumhouse Productions is best known for its focus on horror. Horror movies often do not require expensive sets, CGI, or major stars to be effective, which aligns well with Blumhouse’s niche approach as they have modest budgets. The company has produced a range of horror subgenres, including supernatural horror (Insidious), found footage (Paranormal Activity), psychological horror (Get Out), and slasher (Halloween reboot series). Blumhouse also occasionally explores other genres that have horror-like elements, such as science fiction (Upgrade) and dark thrillers (The Gift).

Additionally, Blumhouse has successfully developed several franchises. For example, The Purge series (which began in 2013) mixes thriller elements with horror and social commentary, resonating with audiences. Similarly, Insidious and Sinister have become highly successful horror franchises, each with multiple installments that continue to attract audiences.

-Who is their typical audience? ⋆˙⟡

Blumhouse’s target audience primarily consists of horror enthusiasts, typically between the ages of 16 and 35. This audience is interested in the company’s mix of high quality horror with relatable characters and themes. This allows audiences to resonate with the movies and characters as many Blumhouse films dive into social issues, making their narratives relevant and impactful for younger audiences. For example, Get Out (2017) addresses racial tension through a horror perspective, while The Purge (2013) explores societal breakdowns and violence. This approach has allowed Blumhouse to reach a wider audience and attract viewers interested in horror with commentary. This is an approach I’d like to incorporate in my opening too as i’d like to address how real certain situations and issues are such as kidnappings in teen parties.

One of Blumhouse’s key strategies is its approach to marketing, which often leverages digital platforms, viral campaigns, and trailers designed to build suspense and curiosity— similarly to A24. Blumhouse trailers frequently capitalize on the film’s concept and intensity, creating strong anticipation among audiences before the movie’s release. The company also capitalizes on word-of-mouth marketing, which is particularly effective for horror, as audience reactions to intense scenes or shocking plot twists often stimulate discussions that generate interest in the films.

-How big is the company? How long has it existed? ⋆˚࿔

Blumhouse Productions was founded in 2000 and was relatively small in size, however over the years its grown bigger and more profitable. Yet, it’s still an independent film company. Its major success came with Paranormal Activity in 2007. This film was produced on an extremely modest budget of around $15,000, went on to earn almost $200 million worldwide. This showed that Blumhouse’s model of producing low-budget horror films had potential to be profitable. Following this success, Blumhouse used the same formula to other projects, creating a production model that minimizes financial risk, meaning they were also able to experiment more with future projects. However, would this model get boring overtime?

Blumhouse operates on a relatively small scale in comparison to major Hollywood studios, yet it has major influence over the horror genre. Since the company produces films at a low budget (often under $10 million per film), this allows Blumhouse to produce multiple projects at the same time with more experimental nature to keep audiences engaged. This flexibility has allowed Blumhouse to support new directors in horror while exploring innovative narratives.

Since Blumhouse was founded in 2000, it’s been operating for about 25 years. They started from struggling to earn profit to becoming a very profitable and successful company in the horror genre. Are Blumhouse still considered “indie”? Overall, Blumhouse are considered bigger than A24, and may now be considered as a major studio. Are they still “niche”?

-What is their successful product? ༉‧₊˚.

Blumhouse Productions has achieved success with a range of popular horror films, solidifying its place in the genre. The company’s major success came with Paranormal Activity (2007) that grossed nearly $200 million and inspired a profitable franchise. The Purge (2013) series explores a world where crime is legal for one night, and Insidious, a supernatural horror, both expanded Blumhouse’s appeal with suspenseful storytelling and the potential to start franchises. Get Out (2017) won an Academy Award and generated big box office returns. Blumhouse’s ability to create successful films with modest budgets allowed them to reach many achievements and a big profit margin.

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Personal Reflection:

Reflecting on my research into companies like Blumhouse Productions and A24, I learned a lot about how different production companies approach filmmaking. Both Blumhouse and A24 are known for unique, impactful movies, but they each have their own style and way of reaching audiences. Both Blumhouse and A24 helped me think about how to market and create my own thriller opening. Blumhouse’s low-budget but effective approach gave me ideas on how to use my resources wisely, while A24’s style inspired me to focus on building a mood and crafting a story that resonates. Researching these companies showed me that understanding different approaches to filmmaking can help create my project’s identity and make it more engaging for my target audience. Once again, this will be useful for my CCR2 as we talk about industry and how I would market my film, and what companies would actually produce and distribute it as a real media text. Overall, this was very insightful and I had fun researching this topic.

Preliminary Research

 Here is the preliminary research for component 1.

Preliminary Research ˚˖𓍢ִ໋❀

Firstly, my media teacher showed the class a video of how to open a film which gave us useful techniques and insights on how to hook the audiences at a film starts. Below is the video I watched.

This video covered 6 main techniques to open a film including:

1. Enter the villain - introducing the villain early on, usually using big action scenes or sneaky crimes will hook the audiences as it jumps straight into what the protagonist will fight against. This will hook audiences and make the villain more memorable. 

 

2. Enter the hero - introducing the hero with action scenes can give context to the audience on their character. Including the hero fighting against bad early on, or even failing at the start serves as a good attention grabber for the audience.

 

3. Establish relationships - introducing relationships early on in the openings gives the audience lots of information and context about the characters, and who they are. These also allows for more emotional scenes and adds depth to a story later on.

 

4. Plot catalyst - this catalyst introduces a problem or event that forces the protagonist to make a choice or enter the main conflict. We skip character introduction this way.

 

5. Follow genre - this is when a opening conforms to the genre conventions in narratives and technical elements. Conventions are what the genre is known for traditionally.

 

6. Flip genre - this is when an opening subverts the genre conventions to create a more memorable and interesting opening. 

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I wanted a few film opening in a few genres to look at the conventions and how these genres usually start their films. After, I’ll discuss with my group mates on what genre we want to use for our movie opening.

Film	Genre/Genre Conventions	How did this scene introduce characters, settings and create intrigue?	What did you like/dislike about the intro?
Extraction 2 (2023)	Action Fight, explosion, loud bangs, violence, weapons, face-paced editing, blood, sound effects to enhance the actions, etc	This opening scene focused primarily on who was presumably the hero or main character of this movie. The instant gunshots, blood and the war setting really made it obvious it was an action movie. It followed the main character and his journey with his injury, and made me curious if he was going to live (he has plot armour, of course he's gonna live). Overall it was attention grabbing and very violent and gore-y.	I didn't like it all that much. The graphic injury may be appealing to some audiences but for me, it was just off putting. It grabbed my attention at first, but I quickly lost interest. The man was being transported to multiple places, having stuff done to him and it became repetitive and boring quite quickly. Maybe this is just personal preference about this genre itself.
Pamali: Dusun Pocong (2023)	Horror Ghosts, dark costumes, blood, screams, running/chase scene, low-key lighting, jumpscares, eerie non-diegetic sounds, etc	This opening scene included a man digging a hole to put a tied up corpse in, however after he whistled, suddenly he was completely surrounded by corpses. This created a sense of mystery and will definitely grab the audience's attention and keep them curious. There was no dialogue in the film, so we relied on the visuals to give us context. However, just by the mise-en-scene alone we can tell this is a horror movie.	I liked the no dialogue part actually, because it kept the scene mysterious. Since the man was alone, and doing strange things, it made me ask many questions like “is this man doing something that could get him in trouble?” and “why are there so many corpses around him?”. I think this is a good effect to have in a horror film.
Uglies (2024)	Sci Fi Robots, tech, space, AI, machinery, mad scientists, robots vs humans, etc	This opening scene included a narration about the world’s past events, which heavily helped give us context on what the plot is really about. Primarily, It told us about how the world in this movie works like.	I didn’t really like this opening scene. I can understand subverting from genre conventions to spice up a movie, but I couldn’t even tell it was sci-fi at first. I don’t think the plot is really amazing either based on what the scene showed us, and I wasn’t really interested in watching more, which is (in my opinion) what an opening scene shouldn’t do.
500 days of Summer (2009)	Romance Couples, roses, love letters, miscommunication, close up shots of intimate moments, etc	It included the backstories and gave us context on the characters. For example, it showed us the two characters first met each other at (presumably) work, and it told us that the girl’s parents are divorced. It included a montage of the two characters' younger selves, with wholesome emotional music over it. It shows the audience a bit of the characters' lives, and shows us what they like. There was a narration, and it told us this story isn’t a love story, despite the themes around the movie being presumably about romance.	The montage of the baby videos and the emotional piano music over it was a nice touch, as it immersed me in the characters. It also gave us time to reflect on their relationship and the characters themselves, which is important for an emotional romance.
Johnny English (2003)	Comedy  Jokes, family or close group of friends, Silence when revealing a joke, funny dialogue, etc	This opening scene included the main character constantly getting humbled again and again, from all the agents in England dying under his protection, to him getting caught dreaming about kissing a woman (???). It's laughable how this man never wins. With all these mishaps being painted in a comedic light and happening at calculated comedic times, we can tell its a comedy film. It also introduced us to the setting, and the main character. We can tell from this opening scene that its not only a comedy movie, but also a action movie.	While this was a comedy and old film, I felt as if it wasn’t that entirely funny, and that may be because of outdated humour. However, it used classic jokes anyone could appreciate. I liked the perfectly timed comedic pauses that made the impacts of the jokes greater.
Don’t Worry Darling (2022)	Thriller Suspense, tension, surprise, low-key lighting, dark settings, dutch angles, fade to black, etc	In the opening scene, we see a neat and almost perfect town. The main character wakes up and gets ready for the day. She makes breakfast and seems very happy with her life, especially with her husband, who is also part of this perfect world. The setting looks ideal, with clean streets, bright houses, and friendly neighbours. However, everything looks so perfect that it starts to feel a little strange.The scene creates intrigue by showing everything in a very idealised way, which makes you start questioning if something isn’t right. The people around the main characters seem a bit too happy, almost like they’re acting. The perfect town and perfect routine feel a little too good to be true, and this makes you wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes.	I liked how the opening made everything seem perfect at first, which built up a sense of mystery. It made me curious about why everything seemed so flawless but also a little off. The setting and the mood created an unsettling feeling, which made me want to know more. What I didn’t like was that the scene felt a bit slow at times. Not much happens in the beginning, so it felt like it took a while to build up the tension or excitement. It was good for setting the mood, but it could have been a little quicker.

After conducting this research on genre conventions (mostly narratives) for these six genres, my group and I have decided to choose thriller as our genre for our movie opening in this project. We will continue to further research this genre and its conventions, taking into consideration the technical elements used.

Personal Reflection:

By looking into different movie trailers, I was able to identify key elements and conventions of the genre that will help me create a more authentic opening. This research also showed me areas where I can play around with the genre and add my own twist. It gave me a clearer understanding of what works and what doesn’t in films, which will guide me as I develop my ideas further. Overall, the preliminary research has been a valuable starting point, giving me the foundation I need to move forward with more detailed planning. Now that i’ve researched all these genres, I think me and my group will go do more specific research into thriller films as we want to create a thriller movie opening.

Weekly Progress + Plan

Here is my weekly progress and plan for component 1.

Term Two

Component 1 (Film Opening)
Week	Start Date		Task		Blogpost Title	Content	Deadline
W1	30 September	Pre Production	Research	1	Brief
				2	Team
				3	Weekly Progress
				4	Preliminary Research	Broad genre research	W3
W2	7 October		Research	5	Research: Industry	Who makes music videos?	W3
W3	14 October		Research	6	Research: Genre	Codes and Conventions of your genre	W4
W4	21 October		Plan	7	Statement of Intent	Your initial proposal	W5
W5	28 October		Plan	8	Storyboard	Shot by shot plan	W7
				9	Script / Screenplay		W7
							W7
W6	4 November		Plan	10	Screen Test	Actor auditions	W7
				11	Classwork	How to: Camera, MeS, Sound, Edit	W7
							W7
W7	11 November		Plan	12	Location scout & Risk Assessment		W7
				14	Filming Schedule	Film over the break?	W7
							W7
BREAK

Week 1: 

This week marked our first week back after term break, and we dived straight into media theory, specifically focusing on industries. The past term, we’ve been working on a school media project (tourism advertisement) to prepare us for this big project, which will be useful as we have prior experience. We began by discussing the three crucial stages of film production: production, distribution, and exhibition. I learned that each stage plays a vital role in how a movie is created and, ultimately, how it reaches its audience. The production stage involves the actual making of the film, including filming, sound recording, and editing. Distribution covers how the film is marketed, sold, and made available to the public through different channels, such as cinemas, streaming services, and DVDs. Exhibition is the final stage, where the audience watches the film, whether in theaters, on television, or online platforms. This is useful to our project, especially for CCR2 as we discuss how we are going to distribute our “movie”, what companies we’d like our “movie” to be distributed by, and how it will reach our target audience. So, having this knowledge will make it easier for me to answer my CCR2 in detail. 

Week 2: 

This week, we shifted focus to researching the genre of our project—thriller! As a group, we began analyzing movie trailers within the thriller genre to understand its conventions, themes, and typical structures. We discussed elements like pacing, sound, lighting, and narrative twists that make thrillers so engaging and suspenseful. Watching the trailers helped us see what works in the genre and gave us inspiration for our own project. It also made me realize how important it is to balance expectations. While we want to include important thriller conventions, we also need to think of ways to subvert them in order to make our movie opening stand out and interesting. My teacher encouraged us to watch some thriller movies on our own time to expand our understanding further, which I will definitely start doing to get a better idea about the narratives and to identify the commonly used technical elements.

Week 3:

In Week 3, we began digging deeper into our research by focusing specifically on movie openings within the thriller genre. My group initially analyzed a couple of movie trailers, but it turns out we needed to focus more on the openings themselves, so we adjusted our approach. Watching and analyzing the openings of famous thriller films gave us insights into how directors set the tone, build suspense, and introduce important plot elements early on. The openings were often full of tension, mystery, and suspense  that hook the audience— leaving them invested. As we went through these openings, we began discussing which elements we wanted to borrow for our own project. I found it useful to look at how these films used the technical elements like camera angles, lighting, and sound design to create a specific mood from the very beginning. While researching, I realized that the opening of a thriller has to hook the audience immediately, so we need to make sure we don’t waste any time in building that initial tension. In the coming weeks, we plan to continue researching more openings and refine our ideas further. 

Week 4:

This week, we started narrowing down our research and began focusing more on how to use technical elements to enhance our movie opening. These technical elements could create a sense of suspense of danger which is crucial in a thriller film. We also started brainstorming ideas for our movie opening, jotting down our thoughts in a statement of intent. Writing this statement helped clarify the direction we want to take, but I still feel unsure about my ideas. They feel a bit basic right now, and I’m worried they won’t stand out enough. It’s also rather predictable, which is something I wouldn’t like in a thriller film, as it would bore me rather engage me. However, I’m hopeful that as we keep working on it and refining our ideas, we’ll be able to elevate them into something more unique and engaging. 

 
Week 5:

Week 5 was all about the practical side of filmmaking. We watched an educational video on how to create an effective storyboard, focusing on how to make it clear, informative, and easy to follow. Last term, I struggled with creating a storyboard for my school media project, so I’m hoping that the tips from the video will make it easier this time. I want to keep the storyboard detailed but simple enough that it’ll be easy to interpret by anyone who reads it. My group also started working on our initial storyboard, focusing on the first four shots of our movie opening. While the storyboard is still in its early stages, I can already see how it will help bring our ideas to life. It’s much easier to visualize the opening once it’s broken down into individual shots. I’m in charge of creating the storyboard, so I plan to bring it home and finish it over the weekend. I’ll then be able to focus on other tasks, like writing reflections and blog posts, which will help me stay organized as we move forward. Even though I’m feeling a little unsure about the direction of our movie opening, I’m confident that once we have the storyboard complete, we’ll be able to see the bigger picture more clearly.

Week 6:

We spent this whole week working our movie project by chipping away at the bothersome tasks at the beginning such as the research, classwork, filming schedule. I forgot how tiring these tasks are, but thankfully my group is dividing the work so it won’t be too burdensome on us. I’m in charge of creating the storyboard (which I’m still not done with), so I’ll bring that home for the weekend and finish it by Sunday so I can start working on other tasks such as reflections and blogs. Starting this work can help get it out of the way, so we can focus on filming, brainstorming, and creating our opening in the next weeks, and hopefully create a good product. I’m a bit worried about recruiting actors, as I have a gut feeling not a lot of people are willing to act in our movie opening. In class, we also made a screen test in class where everybody had to deliver some cliche lines, and the performance of everyone was a little underwhelming. So I fear we might have to look for actors elsewhere. If it comes down to it, I’ll have to be the actor, though I am not confident in my acting abilities. Lets hope for the best. 

Week 7:

Similarly to last week, we chipped away at all the early blogposts. Additionally, my group made our own screen test where we recruited our friends to put on a performance and say one of the lines from our opening in character. This screen test can be seen on my blog! This actually was useful as we saw who actually has some acting ability. However, the problem we faced was just as I expected. Nobody wanted the extra burden of acting in our movie opening when everyone was busy studying. However, most said they’d agree to be background characters in our opening if we ever needed them, which was great as we planned to have a party scene in our opening, which needed to look crowded and full. Additionally, my teacher printed our a checklist for me and my classmates to use where we could keep track of all the blogs and reflections we made!

^Here is a checklist I used to keep track of my blogs!

Personal Reflection:

Keeping a weekly progress log has been really useful for staying organized and tracking our progress. It helps me see what we've accomplished each week and keeps me focused on the next steps. Writing it down also makes it easier to reflect on challenges and stay motivated throughout the project, although I keep forgetting to do it. It’s a bit bothersome, but overall beneficial. It also serves as a place for me to write down information I’ve learnt or realized through each week, which can help me remember it. Additionally, I’ll look back to this blog every once in a while if I forget something.

Term Three

Week	Start Date		Task		Blogpost Title	Content	Deadline
W1	8 January	Production	Shoot		Editing Mini Project	A short recreation of a scene from your genre	W10
					Behind the scenes	Images of your filming shoot	W10
					Filming Schedule
W2	15 January		Shoot		File Organisation	My system of storing video files
W3	22 January	Post-Production	Editing		Editing Process	A description (including screen shots) of how you edited your post	W12
W4	29 January		Editing		Audience Feedback	A review from your target audience	W12
W5	5 February		Editing
W6	12 February		Self Reflection		Self Reflection: CCR1		W16
					Self Reflection: CCR2		W16
W7	19 February		Self Reflection		Self Reflection: CCR3		W16
					Self Reflection CCR4		W16
W8	26 February		Self Reflection
W9	4 March		Finalise
W10	11 March		Finalise		Final Film Opening		W17
					Final CCR

Week 1:

I was absent for almost the entire week because I was overseas and missed a whole filming project. Whoops. However I reviewed my team’s work and they gave me insights on their experience doing this shooting practice mini-project which we can apply to future filming. I’m actually kind of sad I missed this mini-project, it looked fun and would’ve provided me with hands-on learning, but nevertheless I have to make do with what my group mates have told me about their experience. However, we’ve done similar projects such as making a tourism advertisement in media class, so I already have some prior experience on the shooting process and its difficulties. Knowing these difficulties will help me and my group overcome them this time around as we’ve learnt from our previous mistakes, and I think this will help us be more organized and time efficient as we film.

Week 2:

This week, we looked into audience theory such as hypodermic needle, 2 step flow, uses and gratification, and more. This will be useful when we take our media exams, plus it gives us information about how audiences take in messages in the media, which we can consider when make our movie opening. We also started practicing editing by editing a short scene that our teacher recorded. This was useful as I’m not a very experiences editing and have not done any editing projects. So, starting off with this easy project helped me develop my editing skills slowly while I get familiar with the software (Capcut). We learn about continuity editing this way, which we can apply to our opening to make it smoother and more dynamic. This practice also made us aware of how easy it is to have continuity errors, which is why we will also reshoot our scenes multiple times just incase we need different footage to fix a continuity error. Since continuity editing plays a huge role in our final project, this practice was incredibly useful.

Week 3:

This week we learn about many different theories such as reception theory, representation theory, social learning theory, desensitization theory, cultivation theory, and some more gender-related theories by Butler, Van Zoonen and Mulvey. We learnt so many theories this week so I was a little overwhelmed with information but it was very useful as we could apply these theories in our media exams. On Wednesday, my group and I also finished up our filming and started our editing. We decided to start filming earlier because in our previous school media project, we delayed filming which made us finish everything last-minute. This affected the quality of our blogs and reflections, which is something I aim to improve this time around. We actually started filming during school break so we’d have an early head start and time to make changes or reshoot if needed. We looked into our dominant reading and compared it to our statement on intent. We made a few changes but overall kept our planning more or less the same. We’re going to all start on the important blog posts like the production and editing post soon to get everything done quickly.

Week 4:

Since this week was mostly taken up by the lunar new years holidays, we didn’t do much in class. However, we continued working on our important blogs like our “behind the scenes” blog and started with our typeface development for our title and credits. We had to scrap our original title idea “Step Back” as we made some changes to our narrative and our opening no longer had the concept that fit that title, so we asked ChatGPT to generate some titles for us that now we are considering and will hold a group vote for to finalize it. However, we did start testing out which fonts would suit our opening by looking at the font styles with a filler title. We also got some feedback from our teacher on how to make our opening more clean and engaging, which we are planning to make some changes and fix some errors accordingly. 

Week 5:

This week, we made a Google form to collect feedback on our opening. We asked 3 people we knew to answer our google form regarding our video, and we received feedback which we could apply back onto our video. Even though I didn’t agree with some of the feedback such as the title name, and some of the feedback contradicted with each other, it was still useful to see the perspective of our audience. Since a movie opening is made for the audience, it’s important to appeal to them and satisfy their expectations. However, the people answering the form were our friends, so I’m worried if their responses were biased and don’t reflect what actual viewers would answer. I also think we should’ve asked more people, but collecting too much data with too many differing opinions might be difficult to manage and make responses to.

Week 6

This week, we did our media lessons online because of the heavy rain, that prevented us from going to school. So, we started our CCR1 and CCR2 online during media lessons to get a head start on it, as the last time I did a similar project, I did the CCRs very last minute which lead to mediocre work. CCRs make up a decent chunk of the scores for that project. This time, I plan on doing it earlier so I can have more quality and in depth information on them. On Thursday, we also had to reshoot some scenes due to continuity errors and *cough* my bad acting performance. Thankfully, it helped a lot and improved our video as we now had more variations in camera angles to make our video more dynamic and less bland. It also gave us more shots of the party scene specifically, where we were advised by our teacher to film more of as the party was looking rather empty with minimal scenes. I also had a chance to sort of “redeem” myself with more decent acting, however it still wasn’t my strong suit. However, I did try my best to deliver some emotion. In the end, it was worth the trouble. 

Week 7

This week, we had media mock exams so it was very hard trying to balance revising for the exam and working on this project. My editor in my team was also absent these past 2 days, meaning we couldn’t really continue editing the new clips we reshot, which was a bit worrying as time was running low. However, I got good scores on my mock exams so hard works pays off! Studying all the theories and technical elements really refreshed my mind and I thought about how I could apply some of them onto my project, especially as we watched the 5 minute clips for section one during our media mock exams. The more I studied the effects of technical elements for my mock exams, the more ideas I had that I wanted to last-minute implement into our opening. Still, I had to wait for my editor to return to school healthy before we could possibly add my ideas in. 

Week 8

This whole week, we were focusing on media mocks again, so we didn’t use any lesson time for the project as we were using it to discuss the results of our previous mocks and how we could improve for the upcoming one. Additionally, our media teacher had to go camping with the 12th graders, meaning he wasn’t there to give suggestion and feedback when we finally had a project lesson on Thursday. I actually used the time productively and used it to help give feedback on the editing and finish up the remaining blogs instead of lazing off. One thing me and my group were worried about was the time limit. Our openings had to be a maximum of two minutes long, and ours was almost three minutes! We had too many scenes and forgot to consider the time limit. We had to make sacrifices on which scenes/shots to cut out from our opening. We wanted to get suggestions from our media teacher but since he was out camping, we had to deal with this on our own until we see him again next week on Tuesday. On a good note, I got really good scores for my media mocks!

Week 9

It is one week before submission, meaning we should start completing our CCRs and finishing up the production and post production blogs. We spent our media classes working on the project, especially finishing up our editing process. We had lots of problems with editing, because our video was way longer than the two minute limit, meaning we had to cut a lot out of our video, and thats why its currently fast-paced. We asked our teacher for suggestions on what could be cut out or shortened. At first I had no idea how we could do it, however we did it and it was better than expected. I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to do it, but I still thought it was too face-paced as we used many shots but they were all very short. However, we still have time to tweak this next week and hopefully it will turn out great! Next time though, our planning should be better in order to avoid this issue and similar issues. I’m worried about my CCR1 as we haven’t entirely finished our editing, which means I can’t describe the editing conventions we conformed to/subverted in too much detail. This worries me because based on my previous experience on my school media project, my CCR1 wasn’t detailed enough and I plan to explain everything thoroughly this time to score better. However, I know this requires more time, which I don’t have a lot of. This is why I’ll have to work on what I can and really work hard next week to wrap things up.

Week 10

Deadline week! We finally finished up our video and I immediately started working on my remaining blogs. I did so much work, I didn’t sleep at all. During all this, I found out that I can’t put pictures into my blogs (I assume it’s some technical reason), so thats very annoying and inconvenient. To fix this, I had to borrow my boyfriend’s laptop all of a sudden. I then had to log into my accounts, give myself access to all the photos I needed on his laptop, then put them all in my blog one by one. It was a very annoying process but all that matters is I got it done! For future projects, I now know I have to borrow his laptop to add photos into my blog, as it doesn’t work on my iPad for some reason. Somehow I didn’t learn from the previous project that I have to complete my CCRs earlier than one day before the deadline, and it took literal hours (almost the whole day) to complete them all. However, I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder. Next time around, I’ll start my CCRs way earlier and finish up the video at least a week before the submission date. In that way, I won’t have to pull an all nighter like this again, because I felt very sick the day after. 

But wait!

That deadline was just the deadline my teacher gave for him to push us into finishing everything, so he could grade it and input it for our scores for that term. However, that’s not Cambridge’s deadline. So what did I do after that?

Well, I enjoyed a nice term break before getting back to school only to be bombarded with reviews and past papers to study for my upcoming AS-level examinations. But at least I had time to work on improving my video, blog, CCRs, and everything! I managed to make improvements to everything and I can call this project finally done!

Personal Reflection:

Keeping a weekly progress log has been useful as I know what we’ve done over the weeks, and it serves as a refresher on what we’ve learnt in the past. It’s also nice to see how far we’ve come, and low-key reminds me that deadlines are getting closer and closer, which motivates me to work harder. It’s like a mini-reflection every week, making it easier to identify mistakes or improvements in my attitude or my project itself. Seeing how I faced all these problems and how I fixed them/got through them just makes me appreciate my work even more! Overall, this was helpful for organization purposes but also gave me that boost I needed to go ahead and complete everything.