Thriller Film Opening

Hi! to anybody who might be reading, I want to tell you that after talking to my partner extensively, we decided that we want to focus on a genre that will have our audience on their tippy-toes, and we believe that there is no better genre to do that other than thriller and suspense! We have viewed multiple film openings in class relating to the genre and we have also created some sort of plan we want to follow in order to deliver the most amount of information within the time limit; however, we're both scared. My partner and I go a long way back in regards to this class as we've worked together on multiple projects, including the music marketing campaign, and the film pitch project. Both of which we have successfully completed and have been able to entertain the audience due to our vision and ideas. Now, we are scared because we think that we may possibly overdo the transmission of information and reach a pint in which the audience does not understand it, or even create a meaning to the scene which is difficult for the audience to understand without explanation, which is what happened in our music marketing video. In order to evade this, we have researched heavily on film openings of the genre in order to base our ideas on that. We landed upon some ideas. After seeing the film opening of "Get out(2017)" and "Joker(2019)" we discovered that thrillers often begin by introducing the audience to the main conflict. Watch for yourself:

The film opening of "Get Out(2017)" begins by the main character, Daniel, Getting abducted by two mysterious men. This opening lets the audience know that there will be large amounts of problems throughout the movie and that they will have to wait in order to understand the purpose of that scene.

The scene to "Joker(2019)" shows the main character getting ready for work as a clown. However, the conflict is first introduced to the audience in a psychological manner as they are shown that the main character has an emotional problem within. This is shown by the tear coming out of his eye. In this opening scene, we are also shown that the character is literally kicked around by the world. These conflicts let the viewer know that a reaction to these emotions will come, which will create a response from the character.

My partner and I want to also introduce our audience to a conflict that will leave them wanting more. We just don't know exactly how...

Research: Thriller and Suspense Genre

Definitions:

A thriller is a genre of literature, film, or any type of media which provides the audience with high levels of emotion during the time of exposure. Suspenseful films are ones that provide the audience with a feeling of uncertainty during the time of exposure. These films accomplish this by putting the audience in a situation in which they don't know what will happen in the following sections of the scene. An example of this includes jump scares. These are techniques that are often used in horror and suspenseful films to fill a scene with emotion and uncertainty.
You can see a remarkable jumpscare in the following video:
This jump scare comes from a film called "Annabelle: Creation(2017)."

Target Audience:

The target audience of many psychological thrillers are 18+, this is because they contain many disturbing characters with psychological illnesses. Some common themes in most thriller films are violence, psychological issues.

Thrillers and suspense films may contain many similar characteristics; However, with a thriller, you might know who the killer is from the beginning of the movie, but you’re intrigued and insecure by the chase — and the action needs to be punctuated at key moments. For suspense, you might know who the killer is from the beginning but there could be a slower pace and you’re still insecure by the sense of danger. Also, thrillers normally contain action as well as danger, an example being "It"(2017), while suspense films may contain danger but not necessarily action, such as, "Buried"(2010).

Music Marketing Project

For my music marketing project, I had to work alongside two of my classmates(Ana C. and Juana D.) to create an upcoming artist as well as her marketing campaign. We decided to call her Liliana Reed, we also utilized her name as her brand name as the name has a classy vibe and successfully appeals to our audience, which is supported by other artists in the pop genre such as Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Harry Styles.

As stated above, we decided to place our artist withing the pop genre boundaries as our brand's goal is to distribute media awareness on political and societal issues, and the target audience for this genre includes a large portion generation Z(specifically 16-21-year-olds), which evolves around digitalization and has reported increased levels of interest in social media awareness.  Also, Pop is to be considered the second most heard genre after Rock, which means that we would have endless possibilities to the people we could reach. More specifically, our target audience will focus on American individuals between the ages of 16-21 years of age who come from mid socioeconomic classes and are concerned about the societal and political issues of the world.

Current marketing trends in the pop genre have shown that the target audience mostly consumes media in a digitalized manner, which means that they don't commonly purchase albums or hard copies of the content. This is why our artist will sign a label with Atlantic Records, and American label company which has represented over 300 worldwide known artists such as SIA, Danny Ocean, and Bruno Mars. Through the label company, she will produce and distribute her music through streaming applications such as Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, and Youtube. We will release all content on these platforms as they control the majority of the audience, therefore providing us with a chance of captivating a larger audience. 

In the social media aspect, our target audience is mostly known for utilizing social media platforms. This is why we want to base Liliana's marketing platform on the most recognized social media apps which captivate our audiences such as Instagram(the target audience of 18-29-year-olds), Twitter(the target audience of 18-29-year-olds), and Snapchat(the target audience of 18-24-year-olds). Since these platforms attribute to different demographics, we are also planning on approaching each one differently to provide a different perspective of the artist in each platform. Instagram will be used as our main marketing platform as it has the largest consumer group and attributes most to our target audience. On this platform, we will keep consumers heavily updated on the content released through teasers, short clips from music videos, cover pictures for the new releases, and important information such as concert dates and events to which the artist attends to. Snapchat will work as a way to provide the target audience with a closer insight into the artist's work as well as her daily life. This concept will be transmitted through a daily vlog on her Snapchat story in which she posts what she is doing regularly, as well as by providing an insight on how she records the content that she releases to the audience. The Twitter account will focus more on the societal and political conflicts that Liliana cares about. She will distribute messages through regular posts on her opinions of these controversial topics and through reposts of influential people which she supports.

As stated above, we decided to name our artist Liliana reed due to the ongoing, widely-known names in the industry such as Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus, in addition to the classy vibe that the name provides. We decided to develop our artist in a way that would captivate the consumer's attention due to her rapid growth and unraveled talent. The artist comes from Long Island, California, from a middle socioeconomic class. We decided on this background since many influencers such as Laura Riihimaki and Alisha Marie live around the area. She was first recognized by consumers through these influencers and from there, she began building her consumer base. after gaining some consumer support, she started singing on her Instagram, and due to high levels of support, she decided to enroll in "The Voice" competition, season 18. She competed and grew her fan base throughout the competition until she finally won the competition, along with the $1 million rewards which she used to compose her first single called "Royals." This single became widely known within the consumer base and gained her wide support from the audience, making her known for her music. 

We decided to develop "merch" which we would sell to the consumers to promote Liliana's brand. We decided to focus our merch on the current clothing trends that have been ongoing with our target audience, which includes loose clothing and comfy clothes such as sweatpants. To further promote Liliana's brand and encourage people to purchase the merch, we would donate 20% of the profits monthly to a charity of our choosing, this month being the NRDC. Some examples include: Sweatpants with the artist's logo and hoodies with the artist's logo as well as the lyrics to her release.

"Royals" theme revolves around the idea that people nowadays live in a materialistic world and Liliana does not associate with those people. To do the video, we wanted to express this idea artistically through the representation of objects, such as a bathtub filled with gold glitter which represented the materialistic world. We also used editing techniques such as fast editing to evoke a sense of climax in the scene.

Genre: Action

Genre conventions – content

The convention of action films normally includes a plot that revolves around a villain, a hero, and a victim. In these types of films, the hero normally attempts to save the victim from the villain. Most of the time, he/she accomplishes his goal of saving the victim and defeating the villain. These types of films appeal normally to people between the ages of 15-40, making this the target audience of these movies.

Genre conventions – production techniques

In action films, directors regularly utilize high levels of contrast between colors in the frame. This is realized to create a sense of intensity normally used in these types of films. In addition, these types of films require fast editing techniques. This means that these types of film utilizes many different shots to also add that sense of edginess and intensity.

Institutional conventions –  how is genre marketed

The genre can be marketed in multiple ways. Each genre is marketed differently; however, this genre is meant to appeal mostly to teenagers up to middle-aged people. Because of this, actions films attempt to use platforms that appeal to these age groups. For example, the marketing directors can use adds on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat to promote the movie in an attempt to reach a larger target audience.

Film sample #1 

 Black Panther(2018):

This film includes a fantasized character which turns inherits the legacy of his father as protector of a region called Wakanda. He then loses the throne to a villain competitor and this villain turns Wakanda into a corrupted place. This hero attempts to save the region of Wakanda by fighting the villain in order to defeat him and gain the power back to the good hands of the people.

Film sample #2 

 Avengers: Endgame(2019):

This film evolves in a fantasized world that embodies people with many different inhuman abilities. These characters are both heroes and villains. The plot revolves around a villain who is trying to take over the world and kill most of the human population. A group of heroes with superpowers attempts to save the planet from falling into the hands of the main villain, whose name is Thanos.

Other Examples:

Opening post

Create an opening post during which you introduce yourself and discuss your purpose for this blog. 
Hi, I don't necessarily know who will be reading this blog right now as well as in the future; However, for a long time, I've wanted to create a blog in order to share my ideas on multiple topics such as my personal opinions, in addition to a school assignment from my media studies class. I'll begin by introducing myself. Most of you may not know who I am, my name is Luis Plaz. I am currently a senior enrolled in a High School located in Weston, FL. 
The purpose of this blog is for me to openly share my ideas on various media topics. Following this, I plan to use this blog to post my opinions on ongoing situations that affect the general public. Ultimately, I want to be able to express my opinions freely and utilize this blog as my gateway.