Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

     The short film had mystery, which the feature length didn't have, everything was explained. We were left wondering why there were no humans, why some robot was chasing this doll, how the others died, and what the significance of the green glowing device had. 

    The feature film answered all the questions the short film left me wondering about. There were back stories to the dolls, and a scientist who literally poured his soul into these nine dolls that the short film didn't include. 9 seemed more reckless and clueless in the longer one. In the short film, 9 seemed more heroic, if not honourable, fighting for his friends, and letting them free at the end. Although 9 bossed up and took responsibility for what they did. 

    I enjoyed watching the feature film more than the short film because I like wasting my time, which is my genuine answer. I seem to gravitate toward things that make me feel unproductive. Sitting and watching a two hour movie on Netflix is the definition of ✨ unproductive ✨. 

    I enjoyed watching the short film more than the feature film because, like the rest of GenZ, we hate spending too long on anything, we can't focus. I'm surprised we don't all have some form of ADHD, honestly. Being able to speed up the seven minute movie even faster was also a plus. Also, since I watched the feature movie before the short, I already knew what it was about, regardless of no dialogue and the feeling like the short film was basically just an ending of a movie that I missed. 

    Considering both movies, I have to choose the feature film over the short film because it answers my questions and if there's one thing I like more than fast videos, is my questions answered. I hate not knowing things, and the feature film is very thorough.

Research 9: Feature Film

     This movie started with a man building the future main character of the movie. There is a voice over that gives a brief explanation of the plot. When 9 comes to life, they find themselves in a post-apocalyptic world where humans died out. The only signs of life are rag dolls like 9 and the machines that hunt them. 9 convinces the others that the only way to survive against the machines is to stop hiding, and fight the machine. As 9 and the group learn, civilization is relying on their success or failure. 

    1 seems to be the leader, who is very defensive and willing to sacrifice  the few for the many. 2 is the first one 9 meets while they are in the middle of rubbish, and both end up fighting off one of these robots. We don't get to learn much about two because they were taken by the robot early and killed shortly after the others go to rescue them. 3 and 4, we learn, are twins. They don't speak much, they like to catalogue everything and are able to recall what they saw through projection. They are mostly cheerful the entire time. 5 and 6 both seemed to be friends, they were both willing to fight for their friends and do whatever it took to rescue and protect each other. 7 was a fighter, they were more rogue than the others. the dolls in 1's group were all about staying in hiding while 7 was traveling and fighting the robots when they crossed paths. They seemed to be protecting the twins. 8 seemed to be the bodyguard of 1. They had no problem doing what 1 said, and eventually got taken by a robot while on lookout for 1 and the others. 9 was the youngest, but worked their way to being the leader of the group. The were very ambitious and all about fighting for their friends. 

    The film consisted of many camera angles and edits that contributed. There was a lot of suspenseful and action packed music in the background as the numbers were hiding or fighting for their lives. There were many tracking shots as we watched many chasing scenes. There were also shot reverse shots when someone was in trouble and someone else was trying to figure out what to do. 

Research: 9 The Short

     The short film starts off with an establishing shot of the character I can assume to be 9 that is hammering a short of pole to a light. The light then shifts and the scene cuts to a monster, which I can only assume is looking for nine. Then 9 is found cleaning a device and a flash back happens. The flashback has another person in it, and they are showed fixing a light bulb into a portable torch for them. The monster approaches and the other doll has glowing green eyes. The take a device, which could be the same device 9 was cleaning before the flashback, out. They seem to know that the monster is near by, so the one eye'd other doll, hands the device to 9 and gestures them to hide while they fight off the monster. The monster captures one eye and takes out another green glowing device, similar to the one 9 has. This device kills one eye and 9 is left alone. The monster starts looking for 9 but gets distracted by another sound away from 9 and 9 is able to escape. The flashback ends with 9 running away and present 9 sitting in the same spot they ran away from with the device that is glowing green again. They run into hiding, and the monster follows. They end up in a chasing scene with tracking shots, pan angles, and wide angles. The scene ends with the monster being killed and cuts to 9 looking at a cloth with the number 5 written on it. 9 puts the glowing pieces together and out comes eight souls hat all walk to their respective graves. The doll labeled 5 turns around and nods at 9 before disappearing, leaving 9 alone. 

    There doesn't seem to be much character development except for the inference that I made which is that 9 was and the others were all about fighting and surviving, but as they all slowly died off, they became more humbled and played more defense. There were no people in the movie, and lots of rubble, so I'm assuming it's a post apocalyptic world where all the humans died. There is no dialogue. There is only music during the chasing scene and sounds from moving objects that contribute to the noises.  

Final Decision

 Going through my choices, I decided, off the bat, horror wasn't the right move for my project. Now it was between adventure and drama. I tossed both idea's back and forth, it was really hard for me to choose. On one hand, I could make a story about a girl who moves away from her family because of family problems and uses college as the excuse. But, the story could also be spun as a good thing, as someone starting a new chapter and making the good out a bad situation. 

At one point I thought I would try to mix both of the genres but I spent too long trying to figure out how to do that. I also realised I wouldn't have enough time to get both genres in the movie in a good way. 

I ended up making a list of the pros of each genre to figure out what I should do. It ended up coming down to what I thought my actress would feel better acting in. I took in account that my actress is a very happy person. I feel like she would feel better acting in a movie that didn't involve getting angry at someone who she wasn't actually mad at. 

When I made the list, some of the scenes were very similar and the only thing that would be different would be the mood that would be set. 

If the drama was about family, I feel like my pitch would have to be changed around if I did drama because then the story would be more focused on family issues than on the pandemic. 

I finally decided that writing and filming under the adventure genre. It made the most sense at the end. 

If a girl was moving, that already has a sense of adventure, so it also felt right to run with that instead of writing it under a different genre. 

Genre Research: Adventure

 Common CAMS are pan and tilt, crane shot, high angles, and hand held shots, which are more popular in todays time.

Common sounds are the sounds made for a fight scene, the intense music for the climax or fight scene, and the dialogue that is in every adventure. 

Common CLAMPS:

Costumes can range from normal hiking attire to a superhero's tights and cape. 

Lighting is usually bright, even at night, to make sure the viewers can see everything, unlike horror, which can get dark to add suspense, 

Acting is usually on completely different ends, like horror, there is a pro and antagonist, both against each other. 

Setting is usually in the big city or a jungle, there is no in between. 

Common edits are characters flashbacks, fades, and shot reverse shot. 

Examples are the Marvel franchise, just, the entire thing. Jumanji is on the opposite side of adventure. 

Elements I like are plot twists. When the bad guy goes to the good side, or the good guys lose. 

Elements I don't like are suspense. If you don't know who is fighting who or when or where it is, I feel like that's a part of adventure movies that can ruin the whole movie. 

Genre Research: Drama

 Common CAMS include zoom, pan and tilt, close up's, and cross shots. 

Common sounds are the music for intense scenes, as well as yelling, and voice overs.

Common CLAMPS:

Costumes can be anything in the setting is placed in. There could be a drama in outer space, in the 1600's or even under water. 

Lighting is usually bright. 

The acting can be fighting, or manipulation, usually one or the other. 

The props can be anything the setting calls for.

The setting can be anywhere. If there are people, people can and will always cause drama. 

Common edits may include flashbacks, cross cutting, and shot reverse shot.

A few films are 'Five Feet Apart' about two people who fall in love but can't be any close than five feet away due to a health condition than can lead to the death of one of them. "Little Women' is another example, it takes place after the civil war and is about women fighting for their rights. 

Elements I like are how wide range drama's are. A drama can come out of any circumstance at any point in time.  

An element I don't like is usually the plot of most dramas. Unless it's a sub genre for a movie, the plot usually turns out to be a sappy love story and chic-flics are so unrealistic it hurts my soul.

Genre Research: Horror

Common CAMS in horror are tracking, low angles, tilts, and close ups.

Common sounds are obviously the eerie music, whispering, and outside sounds to make the main character feel like

they may be going crazy.

Common CLAMPS:

Costumes - the main characters outfit, usually ruined by the end of the movie, and whatever the antagonist likes to

wear, usually dark coloured.

Lighting: Light before the problem is introduced. It get's darker as the movie reaches climax, then get's light again as

the problem is solved.

The acting is usually one person is overpowering the other, to get an end result of terrifying or killing them.

The make up for a horror movie without a supernatural villain will usually include the main character having no

makeup,

or it being completely ruined throughout the movie.

The props can be a weapon for protection or damage, as well as a vehicle that everyone in the movie will ignore or

forget about.

The setting can be anywhere, as horror movies like to remind the viewers that your life can turn into a scary one at

any

time in any place.

Common edits may include flashbacks for the villains back story, voiceovers, cut scenes, split screen, and shot by

shot

scenes.

Examples include '#ALIVE", a zombie movie based in Korea, 'SCREAM' a movie about a serial killer, and

'Halloween', a movie also about a serial killer.

I like the element of suspense in a horror movie. There's always the scene or scenes that put the protagonist in

danger, and leave the viewers wondering what will happen next.

I don't like the element of surprise when it's late in the movie. I feel like the movie is wasted potential.

Three Genres

     Genre research is fairly simple. When thinking of a genre that my movie could fit under, I first start by thinking about the movie itself. I can't work with a plot if I have no idea for any scene. Since I have a specific scene in mind, I want to form my genre based on that scene. Obviously the story isn't a happy one, a girl is moving away from her family to live in an unknown place with unknown people in a time period that is fairly new. It is a big and sudden change for anyone. She lives from one big roller coaster loop to another. 

     One genre that I would like to research would be horror. I feel like horror could be a good fit for the short film because in will be something short of a historical horror. We are currently living through a pandemic and there are plenty of students who are going to college, and for the first time. It has to be a scary thing to up and move during a time where everyone is to be avoided. 

     For genre number two, I would like to research drama. Since she did decided to move away from her family during this time, there has to be a reason. Why not take a gap year or take classes online? What made her move a better choice than staying home with her family? Drama is a big part of any family. Not every family is picture perfect and no family is expected to be. For a person to jump head first into a new  , they would have to have spent a long time convincing themselves it was a good idea. Or not and they had very good reason for doing so. 

     The final genre would be adventure. Being by yourself for the first time is a sort of adventure by itself. Learning the area, the people, the way of life by yourself is quite the journey. Now doing so when you have to avoid everyone and everything as much as possible is even more challenging. Dealing with a new chapter in your life that is crazier than you anticipated is makes the time an even bigger adventure.