Mise-en-scene

     For our Mis-en-scene project we were randomly assigned prompts for different characters we were to make. My group got the happy, noble librarian who loves children and has a passion for books and all the young minds that read them. We were instructed to create this character with full creative freedom using multimedia resources, at the end of the project we were to create a little station and use all of the things we created to make the visitors feel like the character. Some specific media resources included, tactile, a mood board, character descriptors and even more.

Peter Cook, a 41 year old British librarian who lives in New Jersey, he has 3 children and sadly had lost his wife not too long ago. He pushes through everyday by working hard at the community library and spends most of his time reading or telling stories for the innocent children around town. Family was a huge part of Peter’s life so we decided to make little character profiles for every household member in the Cook Family. We also made a Canva presentation where Peter talked all through it, and to keep them entertained we made a scavenger hunt for them to play if they had spare time.

Some of the media used:

For our station we used 3 computers which were all set in the slideshow, we set up the scavenger hunt with the answer key, and we put some children’s books along with a plushie all throughout the table. We developed our character with so much delicacy and love, we put so much thought into every little piece of his life and all the things an actual human would do. While we might have relied heavily on some stereotypes to create our character, we added our own spin to him with our selection of changes relying heavily on the past he has with his deceased wife.

We divided the work equally and we all put so much care into creating Peter, while I did the character profiles, my group member made the portraits for it, while we might have worked individually in some parts we always did it in a way to push each other forward with the project. The outcome, at least for me, seems to be more than satisfactory, I even got attached to Peter in some way or another. Peter was so fun to make and we really did give it our all, I can’t wait to have more projects like this.

Action Research

 How is it Action?

    Action is one of the most watched genres every year, with it being so popular that the top 10 grossing movies during the past 30 years have been all action films, thats why its so important to classify what makes an action film. These films are heavily characterized by relying on a fast paced, high energy sequences like chases and fights, the main goals of this genre being to entertain rather than make commentary on any topics, even though that might not always be the case.

Content:

    Action films rely heavily on having a clear antagonist, someone that the audience can side against, this amps up the stakes for the story, which gets the viewer more invested in the sequence of events that unfold within the narrative.

    Example: In the film Avengers: Age of Ultron, we are given two easily identifiable sides, our heroes which are made up of Captain America, Hulk, Thor, etc, and the opposing side, the one that would be deemed as evil which is made up of Ultron and the henchmen he made.

    Most action films require for the stakes to be extremely high, usually the stakes can be life or death, success or dishonor, or even world ending, these are used to emphasize how importat the current plot is if our main character does not succeed. This also makes every moment of the movie feel life or death, if the viewer knows how high the stakes are they can feel the rush and the excitement of every fight scene, and have a bigger emotional value when the protagonists succeeds or fails. 

    Along with these, rather than using a slow paced plot which bores the audience and makes the lose interest, a fast paced plot is most likely used, keeping them on their toes. While it is a great way to keep the viewer entertained, the use of this type of plot makes it lack of scenes that might help connect with the characters in a deeper level, which for some viewers might be a disadvantage.

    A specially skilled main character is often seen during these types of stories, many of them have super abilities, or just plain skills that have been practiced to near mastery, while they exceed on their specific ability they are often flawed which helps the viewer make a connection with them given that most people see themselves as flawed on one way or another.

    Example: In the film Gladiator, the main character Maximus is highly skilled in combat, but is solely focused on revenge rather than justice.

Production Techniques

    Since action films are packed with many fighting scenes and are meant to keep the audience on the edge of their seat hand held-hold shots which give a sense of chaos, and danger amplifies the rush that the audience feels when viewing the movie. This also may lead to some shakier shots but it makes the viewer feel that rather than watching a movie, they are instead in the film living what the main characters is living. 

    The fast paced editing is another way that action films get the audience's blood flowing, by rapidly switching shots the viewer is able to see, it creates a feeling of excitement, tension, and a sense of urgency through the rapid succession of shots.

        Example: In the movie Mad Max: Fury Road fast paced editing is heavily relied upon since 

Marketing: 

    Younger demographics are seen for action films, ranging from 18-34 year old, mainly since the younger audiences would rather be entertained than having to listen through a long, slow paced movie, while action movies had been previously marketed for men, both gender seem to be equally interested in these types of films. The marketing for the young audience relies heavily on social media platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube which is the easier, most accesible way younger people are able to view movies and trailers.

    Posters for action films rely heavily on high-contrast, dynamic images with bold fonts and vibrant colors to convey excitement and danger, they usually feature the main character in the middle of it looking serious or in thought, right below them bold, colorful letters are used for the title. The poster shows the relationship they have with the world and the characters around them, which might appeal to the audience seeing it.

Sample #1: Superman

The film Superman (2025) takes us on the journey of the most famous superhero of all, Superman. The movies set off when Superman meddles on foreign conflicts that may have lead into war, while his actions are questioned, multibillionare Lex Luthor takes the opportunity to finally take Superman down once and for all. Superman's partner, Lois Lane, embarks on her own journey to uncover the truth about what's really happening with Lex Luthor and why he seems to be so invested in those foreign affairs that Superman meddled with. This movie embodies what an action movie shoud look like, with its fast paced plot, and its countless fighting scenes it makes the viewer feel like they're fighting right next to Superman. A notably soundtrack plays throughout the movie, which we soon associate with Superman, whenever he does a heroic act, soon after we hear that familiar soundtrack. Unlike many action movies some argue that this specific film does take some political critiscim on our current world, wether it does or doesn't it is completely up to the eye of the beholder. Through the film we're met with some very intersting fighting scenes, for instance, in one of them rather than being person punch person, robots are used to fight while Noah And The Whale - 5 Years time plays on the background, this all combined makes such an interesting fighting scene that the audience can't help but stare in awe at how incredibly well it was made.

Sample #2: John Wick

In the movie John Wick, we follow the main character by the same name, he used to be an assasin but he is now retired, after the death of his wife the retired assasin receives a puppy as a last gift from her, when that puppy is killed in cold blood it sets him off to kill all of those who helped hurt him. The perpetrator of such horrible act is the son of a powerful crime lord, he does this out of malice after John Wick refuses to sell him his car, this event causes for John Wick to come out of retirement with the goal to kill those who helped hurt his dog and steal the car. The movie is visually dark, which helps the audience see how lonely and broken John Wick's world truly is, with the various fight scenes that utilize hand held shots, it makes the viewer feel every shot John Whick takes. Something that this film does that not many other do is how it is able to connect us to a character while still keeping the rush and the action to the max. This emotional connection that the viewer gets with John Wick is not seen in many other films, since many people have grieved the lost of somebody they loved they are able to see why John Wick is acting the he does. When the resolution finally comes the audience can't help but feel relived that he was able to achieve such impossible feat with determination and the loss of those who he loved.

Some Action Films to Consider

Inception (2010)

                                                       X-men First Class (2011)

                                     Murder Mystery (2019)

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

The Terminator (1984)

Sound Projects

 During these two projects I was able to expand my knowledge about sound and really explore how sound is produced in movies and tv shows, this lesson really helped me understand how to properly synchronize sound with what's happening on screen, how to make on screen sounds using a foley stage, and the differents types of sounds on movies and television.

For our first project we were instructed to make a story that was able to happen between 1 or 2 minutes only using sound and we had to make 4 of those sounds using foley stages, no visuals allowed, and for our second sound project we had to add sounds to our previuos project the One Word Film which was a challenge on its own.

For our Sound Project #1 we came up with th idea to make someone going to a pool party which gets raided not long after arriving, for our foley stage we decided to do bottles clinckering, running on leaves, water splashes and a door opening and closing, all this combined and a joint effort from my group made a product we're all proud of. The Sound Project #2 was a little easier than the first one, we just had to find the right elemtents from our video that needed to be added in audio and I had to try my best to match the sound with what's happening on screen, I did a large amount of foley since some of the sounds were too rare to just look up online, and I really am proud of my foley on this specific project.

For the brainstorming on the first sound project we divided the sounds in which part of the scene we where, we began with us walking up to the house and getting off the car, which already on its own had a grand variety of sounds, and then we continued on with the main events that happen in the story. For the second sound project we divided into the constant sounds that keep on happening, the sounds that happened momentarily, and some stings we were interested in adding.

Our outline really helped by giving us a path to follow while doing the different projects, it gave us a guideline to really be meticulous about what we had to do and how we had to do it.

For both projects I utlized clipchamp, a new resource just recently introduced to us, which is not only easy but effective at the same time.

For the Sound Project #1, I really like how creative we were and how we were able to tell a story in the span of a minute, and I am specially proud of a specific foley I made, which is the running on leaves, it was one of the best foleys i think in our project and I'm really proud of it. Some things I could improve is how in depth we went with the sound, I feel like maybe I could've gone a lot deeper than what we actually did, but overall I'm proud of what we were able to achieve in such amount of time.

OWFSound_Gimenez.mp4

MendezNavasGimenez_soundscape_per4.m4a