How Audio Can Be Used

Hey there blog this is my last post for the week, and today I’m diving into something that most people could probably agree being one of the most important aspects of film making, which is audio. Sound design, music, and dialogue all play a huge role in how a film makes the viewer feel, it builds tension, and immerses us in the story.

Audio in film isn’t just about dialogue and noises, it’s about creating an atmosphere. The right sound effects can make an audience feel like they’re right there in the kitchen, experiencing the heat, the movement, and the intensity of the moment. A great example of this is in Burnt (2015), where the kitchen sounds are sharp and precise, reflecting the high-stakes world of professional chefs.

Music is another key element of film audio. A well-chosen soundtrack can set the mood instantly. A light, playful score can make a cooking scene feel warm and inviting, while an intense orchestral build-up can add suspense to a high-pressure competition. For example in Ratatouille (2007), the music is a blend of whimsical and elegant, mirroring the Remi's passion for food and the high-energy atmosphere of the restaurant kitchen.

Another very important aspect is silence which is just as important as sound. In emotional moments, a lack of music or background noise can highlight a character’s internal struggle. Such as a chef staring at a failed dish in complete silence, without sound it can amplify their disappointment. In The Bear (2022), moments of silence or muted audio emphasize emotional tension, letting viewers focus on the characters’ expressions and reactions. Dialogue and voice changes also shape a film’s tone. A fast-paced, overlapping conversation in a busy kitchen can show chaos and urgency, while a slow, deliberate monologue about a characters thought process can add emotional depth. 

For my own film, I plan to use sound to create an immersive kitchen environment. The clatter of plates, the bubbling of sauces, and the scrape of a knife against a cutting board would all be some of the things that will add onto the sensory experience. I also want to experiment with music, using upbeat tunes for scenes of creative cooking and softer, melancholic melodies for moments of struggle.

Thats all for this week I will see you all next week!

The use of lighting in film

 Hey blog! this is my third post for the week, and today I’m focusing on another key element of mise-en-scene—lighting. Lighting is one of the most powerful tools in filmmaking, shaping the mood, atmosphere, and even character development. Since I’m working on a film centered around cooking, I want to explore how lighting can be used to enhance the story and visuals of my film.

Lighting is essential in establishing the tone of a scene. For example, a warm, golden light can make a kitchen feel cozy and inviting, perfect for a heartfelt scene of a family cooking together. On the other hand, harsh, cold lighting can create a sterile, high-pressure environment, like in a professional kitchen where tension runs high. By adjusting the intensity, color, and direction of light, filmmakers can completely change the audience’s perception of a scene, and thats what I plan to use, I want to create an alternating atmosphere for my film.

One classic example of lighting in film is in Chef (2014). In the movie, warm lighting is often used in scenes where the main character, Carl, is cooking with passion, emphasizing the joy and artistry of food. However, when he’s working in a restrictive restaurant environment, the lighting is cooler and more controlled, visually reinforcing his lack of creative freedom. This contrast highlights his emotional journey and makes his transition into independent cooking even more impactful.

Shadows and contrast can also be used effectively. In my film, if I want to show the character struggling at a low point, I might use dim lighting with deep shadows to emphasize isolation and doubt. As well as a winning moment such as finally perfecting a dish could be bathed in bright, natural light to symbolize success and clarity, those are only some of the ideas so far of what I might want to do with lighting. Another great example is in Ratatouille (2007), where the kitchen is often lit with rich, warm tones, making the food appear more appealing and reinforcing the film’s theme of passion for cooking. Meanwhile, the harsh, dramatic lighting in Anton Ego’s office makes the space feel cold and uninviting, visually representing his intimidating character.

Lighting can also be used dynamically to reflect a character’s growth. In my cooking film, I might start with dull, flat lighting when the protagonist feels uninspired, then gradually introduce more vibrant and colorful lighting as they gain confidence and skill. I want to really experiment with the lighting of these scenes and see how well they can fit the film I have in mind.

Prop Use in Film

 Hey blog! Back again with another post for my media class, and today I’m talking about mise-en-scène—specifically, how props play a crucial role in storytelling. Since I’m working on a film centered around cooking, props are going to be essential in setting the tone, developing characters, and driving the narrative.

Props aren’t just background decorations most times they tell a story on their own. In a cooking-themed film (like the one im planning to make), every kitchen utensil, ingredient, and dish can have meaning. For example, a chef’s worn-out knife might symbolize their years of experience, while a spotless, unused apron could indicate a novice stepping into the culinary world for the first time, or even a chef who's a neat freak and is so careful he doesn't spill. As well as a burned recipe card might hint at a past failure or a lost family tradition that a character is trying to bring back.

Props also help establish mood and setting. A cluttered, chaotic kitchen filled with half-prepared ingredients can create a sense of urgency and stress, while a pristine, well-organized space can suggest precision and control. The presence of specific tools, like a traditional mortar and pestle versus a high-tech food processor, can show some type of cultural difference or the experience of a character.

Beyond just visuals, props can be used interactively to develop character dynamics. Imagine a scene where a character nervously adjusting their measuring cups before an important cooking competition, subtly showing their anxiety. Even something as simple as a half-eaten plate of food can tell the audience how a character feels, whether they’re savoring a meal or too distracted to finish it. All of these things might seem like such little elements, but overall they tell a story like no other. 

For my own film, I plan to use props to highlight the character's journey. Perhaps they start with a battered cookbook filled with handwritten notes, symbolizing their connection to a teacher/mentor. As they grow, their tools might become more refined, showcasing their skill development. Maybe a dish that repeatedly fails at the start of the film finally comes out perfectly in the climax, visually representing their growth. Or even the use of skills that might start out bad, uneven, and rushed changed into precise, calm, and organized. 

Im excited to see what I will use for my film, I will keep you guys updated!

Character Development

 Hey blog! Back here again with another post, and today I have to talk about character development for my class assignment. Truly, I think the most important aspect of narrative is character development. It doesn't matter what the medium print, film, or television and if a character is engaging enough for a viewer or reader to dedicate time to it, any storyline will pay off. But how does one go about constructing such characters to make them appear lifelike and not just a two-dimensional cutout inserted into a scene? Thats what I have to analyze for todays post.

Before getting into the details of the plot, it’s super important for us to understand a character at their core. Asking yourself things such as: What do they want the most? What drives them? What are they scared of? What’s their backstory? How do they grow throughout the story? A good character should be unique and stand out. Thinking about how they talk, their little habits, their likes and dislikes, and how they handle stress. Also, a character cannot be perfect either, flaws make characters way more interesting and relatable.

One must also consider their relationships with others which plays a huge role in their development. Who are their best friends? Who are their rivals? These things give us an in-depth basis of the character.  Speaking of change, every well-written character should have some kind of arc right? From my research I gathered that there are three main types: a positive arc (where they grow and improve), a negative arc (where they spiral downward), and a flat arc (where they stay the same but influence others). Using these to figure out what happens to the character or goes on in the story, can add a lot more meaning to the film.

Now, let’s talk about conflict. A good story needs challenges, whether they come from external problems like villains or internal struggles like self-doubt. Conflict forces characters to make tough choices, which helps them grow, therefore deriving to the term "character development" see now it all goes along nicely. So yeah, character development is a big deal in storytelling. It’s what makes a narrative feel alive and keeps the audience invested. By focusing on their goals, relationships, and arcs, you can create characters that people truly care about. 

Alright, that’s all for today’s blog post! 

Analyzing three credit sequences

 For inspirations for our project we have to have to research on three different credit sequences on different movies that fit our genre. This might be one of the most useful as I want to get really creative with mine, and not make it something casual as many films are. 

I decided for my first research the movie Ratatouille, it fits the genre of the film I want to make which is a sort of culinary film. In Ratatouille the credit scenes are portrayed as a hand-drawn storybook in animation style, using a 2D aesthetic style. Which portrays the culinary theme of the film, while using the creative and passionate embodiment of cooking.

For my second choice of film, I choose The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a movie I personally never had too much interest on but I remembered the credit scene for it and thought of how much of a unique one they had. It's actually the opening credit scene, that features a drawn typewriter writing the name of the actors of the movie, with the handwriting of the main character Charlie.

The third and final analysis is The Menu, it doesn't really feature anything as creative as the other two credit scenes. But it cuts to a dramatic black screen at the end, as one of the protagonists escapes the island. It may seem as a generic and bland, but it adds a tense tone to the end, and it uses a typography that is simple and refined, which evokes the aesthetic of a Michelin restaurant, such as the one that the movie presents. I feel this may help me find a way to sort of add a bit of tension into my short film.

Analyzing Three Film Openings

 Now for this part of our project we have to research film openings, which I suppose is to get a better idea for our trailer, due to it being a thing to give an idea of what the film we are making is going to be about etc etc. For my first research, it is one of my favorite culinary movies that I have already researched, its The Menu. This movies opening features the main two characters Margot and Tyler, who are waiting to board a fancy boat/yacht. This boat will then lead them to a fancy restaurant that Tyler was an enthusiast of the main chef Slowik. The overall set tone of the scene is cold, precise, and very sterile as everything around the boat and the people are viewed as rich or fancy, setting a sense of exclusivity. Tyler is like a fanboy of this event so he's very excited, while Margo is skeptical. This simple opening sets up the class dynamics of the movie, showing that it has to do with higher classes.

My second movie choice is Burnt, the movie starts with the main character Adam Jones, shucking oysters in a small grimy restaurant, while keepin a notebook check of him having to shuck 1 million oysters. This scene has a voice-over the scene of Adam revealing his purpose as to why he's shucking oysters, and that he's punishing himself over mistakes made back in his culinary career. His completion of 1 million oysters is the goal symbolizes his nature with obsession and his need for redemption over his mistakes in the past. This scene can help me achieve a sort of plot setting for my film, similar to Burnt.

For my third movie opening analyze, I chose Chef, the 2014 production. This movie starts with the introduction of Chef Carl Casper, not much is shown about him but other than his skills as a chef, being very careful and precise with cutting and cooking. It is a very fast paced scene, going through a lot of the steps of him creating a dish. Involving a bunch of close up, different camera angles and movements creating such a cool and satisfying scene to watch. If I do choose to do a culinary video, I will definetly take inspiration from these scenes, as some are very creative in the way of showing how some things are cut or prepared.

Schedule Illustration

 So for our project we have to design our blog posting schedule! So that you guys know when a new one might come (if I do it correctly in time). But I took the same schedule as my half-partner David because we both agreed on it, and it fits pretty good with my schedule. Here it is:

So we basically took info from the schedule that our teacher posted in Canvas for our grade on our blogs. And we decided to incorporate it into our own as it seemed the most comfortable way of doing it. So I hope you guys look forward towards the blog posts and updates I will be sending soon!

Formatting/order of credits

 For this blog post Im doing a bit of my own research, so I decided to research on formatting and the order of credits. What this means is the way then text and the credits are displayed in as well as their order. Usually credits follow a structured format, they're either traditional as their black toned at the end of a movie, or their more creative side of it which can be displayed at the start or in some other way that differs from most films. 

They usually begin with the studio logo, some production logos as well, then giving out to the creative roles such as the director, main cast, the producers, and the screenwriters which are usually the most "known" or get the most credit for it. Some may prioritize the director with the traditional quote of "A film by..." or they highlight the lead actor's first. This all depends on the creativity of the film and how they want it to be produced and seen. If films are very creative, they will style the credits in a way that has to do with the film, such as Ratatouille, which as I've posted before in my blog uses a 2D animation, that is drawn as opposed to the movie being 3D, but these credits also tell the story of the film very shortly as well. There are overall many ways to display these credits, and they are all up to how suitable they may be for the film.

However, end credits are usually in a more detailed format, that begins with the principal cast, then supporting cast, and then the department heads which include all the producers of certain aspects such as the cinematography, editing, production design, etc etc. Usually ending with the crew members, the visual effects teams and other any acknowledgement, and the final credits are the music credits, any legal disclaimers and, studio logos that are involved within the production of the movie. Sometimes, some movies may sneak in a little post-credit scene. 

Genre Research for Film

 Hey there blog, today I have to do a bit of research for my project. So, as you know since I've described what I've had to do for my project, now I have to research two of the possible genres for the film opening. For one instance, I love cooking it's a thing that I've fallen in love with during my years growing up, and I've always loved food so making it for others is very rewarding. So, because of that, I believe that perhaps culinary drama short film would be very fitting. 

I believe a culinary drama, which there aren't many out there, are made intricately on either real-life people, events, or an idea of following up on passion. One of my research movies for this genre is the movie Burnt, this movie follows the falling out of a professional chef that had fallen into addiction of drugs and alcohol.  And as he gets a second chance at his career he tries hard to prove himself into earning a third Michelin star. The film overall follows a comedy-drama, that also has a suspenseful tone to it as well. Even though the film does concentrate a lot on the side of character development, it also does focus on some of cooking aspect and that is what I will mostly study. The techniques used I will try to use or learn how to use to be able to implement them into my short film.

For my second choice of genre, I might do a COA (coming of age). Most coming of age movies/films are related to the upbringing of the character which goes through several developmental growth through the film. These films are started in the childhood of the character and shows the growth into how they become different into their final characterization, bettering their flaws. For this I might research The Bear, while it is not a film and a show instead, and not fully concentrated on COA, it still has aspects of COA that might be useful as well. It fits very well with my culinary idea for my film.

Initial Plan for Portfolio Project

 Hey there blog! Haven't written here in a while, so sorry for that. Lately I have been pretty busy with things such as work, and school so my mind has been going everywhere. Let me just update you on what we are currently working on. 

For our AICE Media Class, we are currently starting our Portfolio project! It's a really, reallyyyy big project that we have to work on from around this time all the way to March or so. There are various parts to our project, for one part we have to create an opening film, as an example a sort of "trailer" or opening for a movie that is a maximum of 2 minutes, that we have to produce all of it originally and we have to be very careful of copyright and things as such. We can obviously take inspiration from other pieces of film, but we cannot copy them. I have a small idea of what I currently want to do, and I personally love cooking films, shows, etc. So, I might take inspiration from some from movies such as Burnt, and The Menu.

As well as the video comes these blogs! I have to fit a certain amount of them in a period of time, so that I can update you guys on what we are doing and how far we have gotten so far. And to finish we also have to create a creative critical reflection, which we will reflect upon our work with the use of various formats and commentaries, etc. We have to be very creative as stated by the name, when judging our own project.

Music Marketing project

 Hey everyone, glad to be writing here again!

This time we have something a bit different that is due in class. We have a Music Marketing project! This time our teacher assigned us a project as we have been recently learning about the many different marketing techniques that are implored by companies and any sort of media creation that promotes a certain product.

For this project we were first asked to research Record Label companies, which are basically the companies that hire artists or any type of musician to record music for them, help them with producing, and promoting their songs with the purpose of marketing. These artists sign contracts and are supervised on what they can release/promote. Its basically them making a deal so that they have a better chance of their music being promoted and heard all around as they are big companies. We researched an artists of our topic that was assigned, and for our group (yes this is a group project) we had hip-hop/funk. My group researched artists such as Bryson Tiller, 6LACK, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Childish Gambino for marketing ideas.

For my artists of research I decided to go with Donald Glover, AKA Childish Gambino. One of the most influential artists and inspirational of our current generation in my opinion. I learned a lot more than what I had already known about him, and researching him gave me an even deeper depth as to how great he is as an artists and overall celebrity, because music isn't his only specialty, he's like a jack of all trades honestly. 

For the big part of the project we had to come up with a artist/band that we had to completely make up, and design a bunch of stuff for it. Our group decided to go with an artist called Luvstruck, that is a hip-hop funk artist from Chicago, Illinois. Which mainly produces love songs, an targets an audience that is very into love songs, which its age range is mainly around 18-35. Our artist uses a variety of platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, X, Spotify, and Apple Music. The overall branding of our artists includes tones such as romantic, introspective, and soulful. Many of its productions uses warm, moody colors such as red, pink, orange, which is a color palette that represents its main theme of love. He has a minimalistic logo that uses warm colors.

For his social media campaign, he uses things such as Instagram reels, promoting videos that have to do with love messages or even relationship things with Luvstruck songs in the background. As well as photos of his outfits on IG to be able to introduce a target audience that would be into streetwear and fashion. Also using platforms like TikTok to further promote its music by using it in a lyric song for people in relationships, or anything with love related posts. As well creating dances that match to one of his songs which would lead to a huge promotion of the song as most dances in TikTok use songs that later blow up with millions of listens.

We still have a lot to work on, and make sure that everything falls into place correctly, but this is what our group has planned and designed for know.

See you on the next blog post!