Mise-en-scene

 For our Multimedia Mise-en-scene project, our main goal was just to make our character and her world, feel real. We wanted everything to match her persona and character from the visuals to the audio. At our station, we wanted classmates to picture what her life would be and looked like. Also, they can get a sense of who she was just by what we had put together. 

Our character's name is Angelina, she's a 28 year-old woman who lives in Phildelphia, Pennsylvania. She has short curly hair, dark brown eyes, glasses, and a pale, chubby aspect. She's a housewife who lives with her rich husband and their Chow Chow dog. She loves nature, hanging out with her hippie group of friends, and trying new things. She has a calm, cozy personality to her and also someone who spends most of her time watching movies, decorating her aesthetic room, and walking around the town center at night. Her room has a TV, mini fridge, a valuable shoe rack, and a collection of movie CDs, which all show her love for comfort and little details.

Demonstrating who Angelina is, everyone in our group all took part on working on different factors of the project. To illustrate the character, my friend had traced a design of what she would look like to make her feel realistic, and I made a mood board emphasizing her tones- dark reds, warm tones, black, and olive green. We added pictures of her room, where she lives, flowers, and outfit ideas. For the audio, I picked songs that matched her vibe, like "City of Stars" by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, 
"Celluloid Heroes" by The Kinks, and "Married Life" by Micheal Giacchino. We also used small objects like popcorn, CDs, and 3D glasses in the station to make the space feel more like her world.

When we created Angelina, we thought about representation and how we could show her without using any stereotypical traits. Representation is how media shows people and communities in a way that shapes how others see them. We wanted to make Angelina feel unique and indifferent from others- she's short, chubby, quiet, and real. The way we put everything together, the layout, the audio, and her setting, we showed what her life would truly look like. I think our group did an amazing job balancing everything out and making her world feel complete.

https://browardcountyschools-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/0618004668_my_browardschools_com/Ed0zPTuRH5hBt-jzNCpjIYkBkAWDfRMOigroy-d-MvcQQw?e=m8fcwI

Genre Research

 GENRE: Horror

Horror is the kind of genre that keeps the audience hooked because it makes them feel something like fear, suspense, stress, or even excitement. People love the adrenaline and that rush of not knowing what’s about to happen while watching a film. Horror movies are made and destined to mess up with your brain and make you picture the worst is about to happen. From creepy clowns to haunted houses, the whole point is to scare the audience and keep them on their toes throughout the whole entirety of the movie.

GENRE CONVENTIONS- CONTENT:

Horror movies, most of the time, include people dealing with terrifying situations. Such as getting chased, or trapped. There’s always tension, dark vibes, and that moment where everything all of the sudden goes dead silent before the scare happens. The films usually include death, danger, and something unknown or supernatural. The settings are often dark, isolated, or mysterious, which helps make it even more scary.

GENRE CONVENTIONS- PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES:

Lighting and sound are a huge necessity in horror. The lighting is usually dimmed and low to make the setting look unpleasant to be in, and the sound builds the mood. An example could be when the music gets quiet right before something jumps out. Camera angles are also used to make you feel uncomfortable or like something’s watching. A lot of horror movies use close-ups to emphasize facial expressions or quick editing during chase scenes to make everything feel intense and real.

INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS:

Horror movies are always marketed to give off a instant scary mood. The posters are usually dark and eery with the villain or something creepy front and centered. The trailers show the best jump scares and intense moments to make people want to see more. Most horror films are rated PG-13 or Rated R because of gore and violence. They also drop around Halloween or during fall to fit the season. Studios use social media, teasers, and viral clips to get fans talking about it before it even comes out.

FILM SAMPLE #1 - IT

It is a perfect example of modern horror. The movie has a creepy, small-town sense, a horrific and ugly clown, and tons on tons of suspense. The mix of childhood fear and supernatural horror keeps you nervous the whole time. The production uses dark lighting, eery music, and random loud sounds that make every jump scare hit worsen throughout the movie.

FILM SAMPLE #2- THE CONJURING

The Conjuring is also a great example of what makes horror scary. The haunted house setting, paranormal story, and the use of silence before big scares all build tension. The camera movement and sound design hook the people watching it into every terrifying moment. It’s one of those films that sticks with you even after the credits.

OTHER HORROR FILM EXAMPLES:

- The Shining
- Smile
- The Nun
- A Quiet Place
- Psycho
- Halloween
- Jaws (maybe)

Sound Project Blog

 WHAT I LEARNED
During the sound lesson I realized how much sound actually controls how we feel when we watch something. Like it’s not just background noise, it’s what builds the whole atmosphere. We learned about soundscapes and how layering different sounds can create a full setting, and about diegetic and non diegetic sounds - basically what the characters can hear vs what only the audience hears. We also learned about synchronous and asynchronous sound, sound bridges, motifs, and perspective (which is how close or far the sound feels).
There was also voiceover, epistolary voice (like someone reading a letter), and stings, which are those short dramatic sounds that make moments hit harder. I never realized how much tiny details like that matter until we listened to examples. Sound can seriously tell the story even if you can’t see anything.

sound project 1: fire drill soundscape

For this project, our goal was to tell a story using only sound. Me and my partner made a fire drill soundscape that was about 1 minute and 45 seconds long.

brainstorming: We started by thinking of quick school scenes that could be done with sound alone. we picked a fire drill because it had a lot of energy and different layers - alarms, footsteps, chatter, doors, outside noise, all that.

how the outline helped: Writing out every second helped keep us organized. We planned which sounds went where and when to bring them in or fade them out. It also made recording faster since we already knew exactly what to capture.

editing: we used Clipchamp and Free Sounds to create and mix everything. We made our own foley sounds like footsteps, papers, and the fire extinguisher hiss. Layering was a little tricky at first, but once we balanced the volumes and adjusted how each sound faded in and out, it started sounding real.

what went well: I think the beginning turned out the best because you can truly hear everything come together - the footsteps, the dialogue, and the background ambience sounds all line up really well. It feels the most natural and balanced there compared to the rest of the audio.

what i’d fix next time: We made a few of our own sounds, like the wind blowing and the fire extinguisher using our mouths, but I didn’t realize at first that we were actually allowed to do that. If I knew earlier, I would’ve made more of the foley sounds ourselves instead of depending on the ones we found online.

Video Project.mp4

sound project 2: “hateful” one-word film

For our one-word film, our word was hateful, and our story was about a girlfriend finding out her boyfriend’s cheating. We wanted the sound to show how the mood changes - like it starts calm and normal, then turns tense and uncomfortable.

brainstorming: We planned shot by shot, thinking about how sound could show what the characters were feeling. Like the school hallway noises, phone taps, the music cutting off when the girlfriend walks in, and the intensity when she finds the messages.

how the outline helped: Our outline made it easy to figure out what we needed to record vs what we could find online. It also helped us decide when to use ambient noise and when to use silence for dramatic parts.

editing: We edited in Clipchamp again. We layered ambient sounds under emotional stings, adjusted perspective for certain shots, and played with timing to make it feel more real.

what went well: I feel like the beginning went really well because I layered all the sounds evenly and it truly came together the way I pictured it. I also liked the part when the music cut out right as I walked in and saw the boyfriend texting - it made that moment stand out more, especially when he hit his phone after.

what i’d fix next time: I'd clean up background noise and maybe add more subtle sounds to make it even more immersive.

OWFSound_loburak 1.mp4

FINAL THOUGHTS
these projects made me realize how much sound shapes emotion. even without visuals, you can tell exactly what’s happening just from how it sounds. i used to think editing audio was boring, but now i actually get how creative it is. next time i just want to get even smoother with transitions and layering so it feels more like a real movie scene.