Genre Research: Western and Legal Drama

Genre Research: PINK Movie

       One of the movies that fall under the Legal Drama genre is a movie called “PINK”. This movie can be found on Netflix. It’s about a sexual assault victim that is getting charged unjustly with the attempted murder of the man that attacked her. She’s defended by a retired lawyer that challenges the rape laws in their country that is India. This movie was interesting as it brought awareness to the things that happens to people in other countries. I liked the fact that although the lawyer suffered from bipolar disorder that he was ashamed of, he still came out of retirement to defend these girls. Being that the attacker is the son of a politician, no other lawyer in town wanted to take the risk of defending her.
       What I didn’t like about this movie is the fact that it portrays Indian society towards women who don’t follow what they think is the right thing for women to do. Another reason why no one wanted to defend the victim is that they felt that she was in the wrong although she’s the one that got attacked. This movie was overall a whirlwind of emotions.

Camera Shots:
- Extreme Close Up:  First shot of the lawyer. He’s now introduced to the plot.
- Two Shot: The scene where the attacker and his friend were filmed on their way to the hospital.

Camera Angles: 
- Eye Level: This is filmed as the girls are panicking and in a frenzy about what happened.
- Low Angle: The

Camera Movement:
- Zoom: It zooms into the attackers' bruises
-Pan: This was used in the courtroom during the trial.

Costumes-
This movie takes place mostly at the police station, outside in the streets and the actor’s homes.

Lighting-
This film was shot indoors and outdoors. Outdoors there is natural lighting and indoors there is no ring light but there is the ceiling light.

Acting-
The acting in this movie is good. The girl plays her role as a damaged sexual assault victim being that later on in the movie, the attacker found her and kidnapped her. This was to roughen her up. The guy is very aggressive and well executes his role as he does an excellent job of acting in it. The lawyer takes medicated pills to keep his bipolar disorder at bay.

Makeup-
The females in this movie are not wearing makeup. If so, it’s for the scenes where they are crying. This is done to make a dramatic effect. It has the ability to keep the audience intrigued.

Props- 
The props used in this movie were hand props such as the lawyers' briefcase, phones, pills, and weapons.

Settings-
The settings in this movie vary. The setting includes home, hospital, jail cell, the park, and the police station.

Editing:
- Fade-in: This is in the beginning of the movie as it goes from credits to the opening scene.
- Cross-cutting: Camera went back and forth between the girl getting kidnapped to the lawyers house.

Sound:
- Diegetic Sound: Sounds of cars passing by.
- Dialogue: All throughout the movie.

Genre Research: The Judge Movie

     This movie was like many others that I often enjoy watching on my free time. It displayed real-world family problems and relationship issues. What I found the most interesting was when the lawyers' child began speaking to him about the divorce he and his wife were thinking of having. She showed actual knowledge and did not hide the fact that it bothered her.
     The only thing I can say that I did not like about this film was the mother dying and them announcing it in court at the beginning of the movie.

    Camera Shots:
1. Wide Shot: When the lawyers are in the bathroom and Hank is confronted by the counsel on the opposing side
2. Long Shot: When "The Judge" is entering the courtroom
3. Point of View: The conversations in the car
    Camera Angles :
1. High angle: The drive on the way to his fathers' house, showing the city and the water
2. Eye-level: Throughout the dialogue
3. Low angle: The confrontation about the car accident
    Camera Movement :
1. Tilt: "The Judge" entering the courtroom in the middle of the movie
2. Zoom: Hank is on the plane, and receives a phone call about his father
3. Flashpan: Dialogue back and forth with officers in the department

    Costumes: This movie takes place mostly at the courthouse and the homes of the characters. They wear business attire when in the courtroom and semi-formal throughout this film.
    Lighting: The beginning of the movie is filmed outside where there is natural lighting and sunlight. The lighting is the same throughout because they are in buildings, except for when they are in the basement because of the storm. The light is very dim then.
    Action/Actors: In the beginning, they are in a courtroom and there is a quarrel between the two lawyers, in the bathroom one of them urinates on the other. They show the body of the main characters' deceased mother in the casket. Most of the actors are either a part of the trial, policemen, or family members of the main characters.
    Make-up: The deceased mother is dressed up in the casket. Throughout the movie, the attire of the characters does not really change. When "The Judge" is vomiting and defecating himself in the bathroom, he looks rather pale.
    Props: The empty ring box that Hank has. Everything else is inanimate and stays the same.
   Setting: 
- The house of "The Judge"
- The courtroom
- The courtroom bathroom
- The judges' chambers
- The cars

Genre Research: Chosen Genre

        After researching these three genres, we chose legal drama. The reason why we chose this genre is because we felt that it would be more interesting. Also, we would have more availability to get props and costumes for this film. The legal drama would bring a smart but twisted effect for our audience.
      We feel that the western would be too standard. It is unlikely for us to be able to create a desert looking setting with cowboy hats and guns. For a musical, we feel that it wouldn't be that interesting. We wanted to choose a genre that would have our audience on the edge of their seats. With legal drama as our genre choice, that is sure to happen.

Genre Research: Musical Genre

     This assignment was about explaining what a musical film was. We were given a genre and were told to give an example of the camera angles, movements, and shots. Our PowerPoint was to include pictures and colors that correlated with our genre. Since our genre was musicals, we used uplifting colors and the transitions that would help our PowerPoint pop out and be more visually appealing. This assignment was to expose us to the fact that there is more to a genre of a film than what is shown on the surface. After this assignment, when watching other films and productions it was easier to point out movements and shots. I believe the purpose was to do this, and it worked. Musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing.​

Chosen Pitch

        The two pitches that we narrowed the choices down to is 'The Escape Room' and 'Double Deceit'. The reason why we canceled the 'Forbidden Love' pitch is because there is not enough availability for us to film it. It would be too long of a storyline. Even if we tried to fit it in two minutes, it would look very rushed. We also canceled it because Escape Room and Double Deceit. would be more interesting approaches, than an African - American and a Caucasian falling in love. Additionally, those approaches have more availability to film. In the next paragraphs, we will explain why.
        The first pitch is The Escape Room. This pitch is about a group of people who had their drinks drugged at a party, then they find themselves in a room they must escape from. The storyline that we were going to make for this pitch is how different obstacles are in the room, making it hard for them to escape. What makes it even harder is that the pill that was slipped into their drinks has the ability to impair their thinking. Only one person out of the whole group is going to survive this course. My group and I figured that this would be an interesting film to make. However, there is not enough availability. We would have to make an 'escape room' and all the obstacles to suffice our filming needs.
       The second pitch is Double Deceit. This pitch is about a woman who is a lawyer by day and criminal master mind by night. She is defending a woman who is being charged with neglect for the kidnapping of her son. What the woman doesn't know is that her lawyer is the culprit. My group and I decided that this pitch is also a more interesting approach. It also has more availability for us to film. We would be able to incorporate the characters, the plot, and the cliffhanger all in two minutes. We feel that this may be our choice out of both pitches.
         The pitch that my group and I decided to choose was Double Deceit. We chose this pitch because we thought that it would be a good way to catch the attention of our audience. There is no proper way to present a cliffhanger, than to have your character playing both sides. We also thought that it had more availability than the other two approaches. It would be easy for us to film a kidnapping, a law type of environment, and more. We feel that the most important part of this two - minute film is to leave the audience on the edge of their seats. Leaving them wondering is exactly what we will achieve by choosing Double Deceit.

Start of Final Task

        Hey you guys , I’m back. And in case you forgot , name is Micahia. I am still currently in the 11th grade here at Fort Lauderdale High School. If you remember, the purpose of these blogs is to keep track and record of my progress in my AICE Media class. We went on a break for a while but we are back in business now and ready to get started. We are starting another project, this one will be a movie. It’s not exactly us filming a movie. Our assignment is to create an opening for a movie. In my previous projects, I worked with the same group members. However, we’ve decided to add another individual to our group. Janell, Jessica and I added Erik to our group. He will be our cameraman.
         I’m excited for this new assignment because we get to ultimately be on our own when coming up with ideas. With the music video we had certain directions and limitations and the commercial had to follow a certain format as well. But this movie is all from the ideas we have in our heads. The way we want it and we have more time to film. I learned when doing the previous projects that it’s all about time and preparation. Also, location is everything. With a good location you have good props and lighting and that sets the scene of what the idea is.
      The movie requires pitches. A pitch is a Hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is encapsulated in 25 words or less. It’s usually one sentence and explains the entire idea. We wanted to brainstorm ideas so we were instructed to come up with 3 different pitches. 1st Pitch- A group of people have their drinks drugged at a party, then they find themselves in a room they must escape from. 2nd Pitch- A white male, black female find themselves in love with each other and although this isn’t the olden days, their love is still forbidden. 3rd Pitch- She’s a lawyer by day and criminal master mind by night, she abducted her clients’ child and wants to build a new family with him.