Group meeting

Group Meeting #1

Hello! For the start of week three, my teacher put the class into groups so we could discuss about our project ideas. I was in a group with Simona, Emi, Sofia, and Isabel. The point of the meetings were to gather feedback from our peers.

Simona started with her project. She seemed to have most of her plan already. However, she was still deciding where to fit in dialogue, and the environment in which she was going to film. She has all her blogs posted and they focus on analysis and the reflection of her choices. Although she had a great idea and was headed in the right direction, we were still able to give her feedback. Also, is one of her blogs she already incorporated a media theory, the Active Audience Theory. The group also suggested it would be important to have diegetic audio, such as the sound of a shovel digging up grass.

Then, Emi shared her story of a western-style film opening about a cowboy that has a bounty. She already had the title "Death Is No Friend." Due to the surrounding environment where we live, we were skeptical how she was going to make a western-style opening. Western movies are typically shot in a desert, but in south Florida, grassland is everywhere. However, she was able to find a close spot to film that had the same style, but with a modern touch. It was also important to have the right color for the film. If she is going for an old-fashion western film, she may choose black and white. But if she wants to make it modern, she could film at sunset to make the film have a yellow hue. Additionally, her costume design ideas were very complex. We were surprised to hear that her group member was going to make the costume. The group gave her some ideas about what she could possibly include in her costume design. This could be a more modern-style western outfit:

I shared my idea next, and although I wasn't clearly sure which direction to be headed in, after the group's suggestions, I now know what I can do. I knew that I wanted to do an interrogation scene, but I didn't make a script yet. They recommended that I make a script ASAP. Also, they gave me some ideas for the plot. For example, Simona said that I could add a flashback to explain how the character got into the situation that he did. For my plot, I planned to have a criminal be interrogated by a CIA agent, who would use methods of getting him to admit what happened during an investigation. The group discussed that it was really important for me to get the lighting perfect as well. Without the key lighting, it would mess up the mood of the scene. After discussing with the group, I feel a lot more confident about my project.

Isabel went up next. Her opening scene was about a serial killer. The group was impressed about how she was going to do her opening credits. She got inspired from the movie "Se7en". Honestly, this is one of the best opening credit sequences I have seen. For her set and costume design, it was important to get the lighting down and get the costume design right. For her costume design, we recommended scrubs that a doctor would wear, as well as white gloves. Other than that, her project seemed already developed.

Last was Sofia. She was doing a dystopian film. For me, the story was a bit unclear how it was going to work. She wanted to base her movie off of "Divergent" and "The Maze Runner" by having society revolve around who has power. In her film, she wanted two girls, and one would be given the power. While making a dystopian film, it is necessary to film in the right environment. A farmland looking environment, dry and barren, would be great. The costume design was also important. The girls could have damaged clothes with stains on them. She was torn between doing a futuristic-style dystopian film or a film set in the present. We recommended that she should do a film set in the present. 

During this meeting, everyone got great feedback from our peers. It was nice being able to communicate and listen to other people. This helped me gain an understanding for where my project is right now and what I should be doing.