AICE Media Studies Blog

     During the re-filming of our film, we decided to allude to previous victims of the monster, to add suspense and depth to the film. We created over 30 Missing Posters, directly mimicking the official missing children's posters for Florida. We used all of our own pictures, asking permission from each of our subjects. Additionally, we printed some of them in black and white and others in color, hopefully conveying a lapse of time. Moreover, we crumbled up some of the posters, further implying a long period of time has passed. These techniques allowed viewers to assume that the being has been killing children for a long period of time. Overall, the use of the missing posters added depth and authenticity to our film.

      In our original film, we used many locations. These included McIntosh Forest and Southside Elementary. When using McIntosh forest, suspense was added to the film, but it was only used to show a lapse of time while Jaxson was running. Moreover, the scenery was breath-taking, which didn't relate to our genre and plot. When using Southside Elementary, it was a fairly short scene, and added holes to the plot, as we had to keep in the time restrictions. Both of these locations took unnecessary amounts of time to travel to and added little to our plot, other then movement of time. With this, we struggled to remain in sunset lighting, as we had to travel separately to each location. Thus, during our re-film, we decided to remain at Christine's house, utilizing her side yard, which had thick brush. This allowed us to quickly switch scenes, while keeping fairly similar lighting. Moreover, without the excess traveling, our actors remained upbeat and cooperative. Furthermore, ...

     While revising our movie, we made the executive decision to change our title. We wanted to change it to something that related with our new film, but remained simple and one word. Therefore, we ended up changing our title from "The Claiming" to "Missing". "Missing" relates to the various missing posters we had throughout the film and to the overall plot of children going missing. We did want to reference something to the black eyes featured in the film, such as: "Black Soul" or "Empty", but were unable to make a decision before the 3rd quarter submission. Consequently, for our 3rd quarter submission we decided to change our title to "Missing".

     In our previous film, the unedited lighting in the scenes was very cheery and beautiful, which didn't relate to our overall plot. We noticed this during editing and we added a grey filter, to attempt to mask the cheery light. However, this filter made the entire film one note, as there we little changes in lighting. Thus in our new film, we set our filming schedule to be close to sunset, adding a natural eerie background for the film. While doing this, we ended up racing through our shots, as we were quickly losing daylight. The lighting was getting darker and darker very quickly throughout our filming, thus making there be a obvious lighting difference between shots. We were left disappointed, and assumed we would just re-film those shots another day.     However, while editing, we realized that the change in lighting throughout our retakes added to our plot. As Jaxson moved into the forest and closer to the monster, the lighting got darker, a...

         After peer reviewing, we decided to change many things throughout our film. To start off the "thing" Jaxson is following will have a face. It will surface many times throughout the film and will be a constant reminder of the horror that awaits Jaxson.     For the costume itself, we plan on staring will a base of white, ideally in a dress. We would basically destroy it, adding a grange and dirty aspect to the look. There will be various holes throughout the dress, and it will be discolored. A white dress was chosen to ironically promote a feeling of innocence on the creature. For shoes, we plan on using simple white sneakers, which are also dirtied to match the rest of the look. Overall, we plan on playing with the innocence promoted from the color white, while representing the creature's sin by the dirt and discoloration.     For the makeup, we first plan on using black selrca contacts, which color the entire...

"Dorito vs. Mountain Dew"        This commercial had the famous actors Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman and was very entertaining to watch. It was meant to be comical. It had Peter Dinklage rapping to Busta' Rhymes feature in "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown. Morgan Freeman was rapping to Missy Elliot's "Get your Freak On". Both of these men are well known for their serious monologues, so it very funny to see then rap. This commercial's target audience can range from teens to middle aged adults. Teenagers enjoy snacking on Doritos and drinking Mountain Dew, and Adults enjoy watching the series and movies that Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman star in.

“Winter Olympics”             The next advertisement that we viewed was for the winter Olympics, and featured Lindsey Vonn, a well-known skier. It showed the successful story of her life, and all the challenges she faced as a snowboarder. For example, she was badly injured earlier in her career, and had to spend a lot of time in rehabilitation, hindering the process of her career. This advertising appeals to memories and emotion, evoking a feeling of inspiration and power. The music playing during the ad was Overcoming Adversity by Alicia Keys. Overall, these aspects convey a target audience of women and parents. The parents see this and are inspired to enter their children in sports, in hopes of them having a similar success story as Vonn. Therefore, increasing the parents want to be involved in their children’s’ lives. Moreover, the television network the Olympics is aired on is NBC, which hosts the Super Bowl as well. This i...

    “Many Touchdown Celebrations to Come” The first advertisement that we viewed was for the NFL. It showed two well-known football players: Manning and Beckum. It highlighted both ballroom dancing. This appealed to humor, as you wouldn’t expect football players to dance or act feminine. The target audience for this ad is 16 to 55, as a famous song from the hit movie “Dirty Dancing” was playing in the background. Moreover, Beckum is a younger, newer football player, and appeals to the younger generation. On the other hand, Manning is a more experienced, older player, who appeals to the older generations. Overall, this advertisement used humor to promote the NFL, and used music, as well as influential figures, to appeal to a larger audience.

Jigsaw is a 2017 American horror film, which focuses on finding a serial killer. This serial killer gruesomely murders each of his victims, and evidence soon points to a man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for ten years.                This film’s target audience was thrill-seeking individuals between 20 and 45 years old, as it showed disturbing scenes that would not be appropriate for younger viewers.              The most innovative marketing techniques this film had, was a Virtual Reality Ad promoting the film. It featured real props from the movie rendered in VR, custom voice-over from Jigsaw-himself, actor Tobin Bell, and even includes shrines to each of the eight films in the Saw franchise. When users first enter the ad, they find themselves trapped in a terrifying contraption with only one choice – to live or die. They must solve a quick puzzle and, if they survive, they can teleport around the...

The 2013 remake of Stephen King's "Carrie", many marketing techniques were used to effectively advertise the film, while spreading awareness. This film highlights an outcast high school girl with a telekinetic power. When she beings to be bullied in school, her powers begin to surface and must face the consequences.   This film’s target audience was young adults and teenagers, as it focused around a high school girl. It also focuses on the topic of demonic possession, which is a horror genre iconically enjoyed by younger audiences.   One of the most media-covered advertising stunt was in a Manhattan Coffee Shop. The directors and actors involved in the new film Carrie, used a variety of wires and lights to mimic a teleocratic scene form the film. The costumers in the shop, were amazed at the stunt, spreading awareness about the film. This allowed their target audience, of teenagers and young adults, to be affectively reached in an innovative way. Moreover, since t...

   The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film, which highlights 3 film students who vanish after leaving into a Maryland forest to a film a documentary to the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only footage behind.    The target audience for this film was young adults and teenagers, as it is high energy, and exhibits large amounts of horror.     Overall, the film had a small budget and marketed accordingly. The film used an online website to mimic and gain attention for the film. It started on the internet. hat sites started picking up rumors of three college kids who were lost in the woods while on a school film project investigating stories about a witch. There were three people who created a marketing company called Campfire. What started off as a cheap and easy way of spreading the word about the film became the perfect forum in which to effectively manufacture the hoax story of the Blair Witch and of the missing studen...

Throughout our film, we highlighted many social groups and interests. We also challenged many of the traditional convections of horror films but encompasses in many of the building blocks of horror.             A horror film is a movie that seeks to excite a physiological reaction, such as an elevated heartbeat using fear and shocking one's audiences. Horror films often aim to evoke viewers nightmares, fears, revulsions, and terror of the unknown. In the production of our film, we tried to create of eerie mood and add suspense to an unknown horror, following the traditional convention. However, we tried to refrain from highlighting an unintelligent main character, who ironically goes straight into a trap. To avoid this, we casted a younger cast, profiting on their innocence and lack of awareness. This allows the film to become a more realistic horror. We followed the conventions with the eerie music and lack of dialogue, creating a sc...