Preproduction: Production Company Logo Design

 Introduction

Our group discussed how our production logo would correlate with our general film theme, genre, its message, and what we stand for. We found that our original film idea that included a group of students going against the grain of their majority mind-controlled populated school, in a way related to out new film's story idea which includes an obsessive stalker falling deeper down the rabbit hole of her feelings, which causes her to become possessive, invasive, and manipulative. Manipulation and possessiveness are common mind-controlling tactics and are not uncommonly seen in film relating to mind control. In movies a common symbol of someone being put under mind control, like hypnosis or MK Ultra for example, a white butterfly is used to represent that person's new found innocence, oblivion, and vulnerability to influences, which is why our group decided on using a butterfly. Butterflies across many cultures are seen as an auspicious symbol of purity, kindness, hope, and good fortune, therefore, referring to "Milagros," which means miracle in Spanish, we figured that butterflies would also fit the meaning of our production company's name. Additionally, we figured a nice touch would be to add a wreath of flowers with blood dripping from them, which symbolizes a false sense of security, and a juxtaposition of what is perceived versus what is the actual message and portrayal of the symbol. Juxtaposition is commonly used in both horror and comedy to set up the audiences expectations, or to point out absurdities, and we found that would hint and prepare our audience for what is to be expected our two-minute film opening.

Short description of logo composition: Milagros Studios

Our group symbol is of a butterfly with all our crew’s favorite colors in a darker shade, for a mysterious effect, seated next to a flower wreath with blood droplets on it.     Connotation of Butterfly: butterflies are commonly associated with miracles (our production company name in Spanish is Miracle). The butterfly has fang-like teeth to put more emphasis on the type of movie we will be making.    Color meanings: The colors are chosen on the butterfly and the flowers as the production team’s favorite colors. The colors have a darker shade to them to represent the darker theme of the film we will produce.    Connotation of Flower Bush/ Wreath: Flowers shown up as wreaths are also commonly associated with the hope of a miracle, such as an unfortunate event that may or may not get better. It shows both the positive and the negative suggestive themes of our film.    Connotation of Blood: The blood represents the misfortune that occurs before a miracle. It also helps with attracting an audience that is interested in our movie genre (drama and thriller).

Preproduction: Group Responsibilities

 Introduction

Welcome dream team to the beginning of the next chapter in my group's filmmaking process! In this stage, we will collaborate on a series of planning sheets, storyboards, shot  lists, and editing to perfection, up until the point where we are prepared to begin recording footage for our film! Our group may help each other with our sections, and we decided on each of our tasks that we would complete based on how we preformed on previous assignments. Our entire preproduction planning process should be about a one week span, and we plan to record our film in the middle of March.

Below a table of our team's responsibilities were documented.

Teammates	Responsibilities		Work Completed
Group Leader/ Khloe R	-Research and Annotation		-Audience  -Defining Your Characters  -Supporting Characters
Peyton P	-Research and Descriptions		-Defining Setting of the World  -Exposition  -Film Crew and Cast
Marley B	-Research and Annotation		-General Information of the Film   -Create A Tagline  -Defining Setting of the World
Lexi M	-Design, Descriptions, and Annotation		-Production Company Logo Design  -Save the Cat Beat Sheet Narrative Structure

Research Part 6: Sound Codes

 Introduction

The objective our production team wanted to note was the strategic use of sound (particularly music) and other audible codes to support our films genre while immersing our audience in a realistic world of film. Noting how in previous research, we found the teams behind creating White Noise highlighted the struggles and anxieties of keeping up with daily life, even after a disastrous event like a gas leakage that affects the whole town, which is a theme that many relate to, and more so young teens and adults. This is useful, as it denotes the drama genre, and establishes the tone and sets expectations for what is to come in the film. Furthermore, in the beginning of the film opening, viewers are immediately met with bright color and lighting, neon, vibrant hues in the characters' costumes, and a a curious tone as the Gladney family intensely zoned out into the store before entering it. Later in the opening, "New Body Rhumba," begins playing and reveals the true meaning of what the film symbolized, and the audience is meant to realize the juxtaposition between what is shown versus the reality of the film. The mix of eccentric, synchronized dancing along with the characters serious expressions, the audience is meant to find humor in those events, as White Noise is considered a a comedy, as well. Therefore, viewers are meant to expect a combination of both horror and comedy blended together to engage the audience, while also sharing a serious, and relatable story about how the monotony and short-length of daily life possibly having negative effects on one's mental health. Below, sound is one of many elements the creators of White Noise used to clearly, and effectively demonstrate the tone and message of the film in the form of a catchy song, to maintain the audiences' interest.

Sound Techniques and definitions	Document sound	Meaning established by sounds to support the genre.
Dialogue - a written or spoken exchange of words between one or more characters	List 2 lines that connect audiences to the genre of the film and connotations of the film’s opening.  How does the dialogue define the main character? Their personality and their world.   There is no dialogue present in the film opening	The no dialogue presented in this opening relies on visual humor and situational scares, enhancing atmospheric tension and allowing exaggerated expressions.
Sound effects- A sound effect is a synthetic or digitally altered sound that is used to highlight certain parts of information in movies, TV shows, video games, cartoon series, and music, among other media.	List 2 sound effects that connect audiences to the genre of the film.  Shopping carts rolling (underscored)  Ruffling of plastic bags (underscore)	Everyday supermarket items that might not be there soon, due to an unfortunate event
Music- the soundtrack that plays throughout a movie to set the tone and atmosphere, complement the speech and images.	List the music used in the film opening that supports the tone.  "New Body Rhumba" by LCD Soundsystem	An upbeat music intro is ironic for a horror film to play.

Reflection

In this task, completed by Marley B and Lexi M, and with the additional help for examples by Peyton P and I, our team managed to briefly annotate the instances of sound that we picked up from the film opening of White Noise. Each research blog analyzing this film has taught our group valuable types that we intend to keep in mind such as using juxtaposing songs over gruesome or unsettling scenes, using unconventional color patterns of styles for characters and the set design, using conventional props to indicate the horror genre, using absurd, spontaneous, or dramatic events to signify the dramedy subgenre for our film, and using brief or little dialogue that can still communicate a thousand words through nonverbal cues. Our group utilized our school laptops and I used my personal laptop to research and analyze each research section and to make notations in charts and paragraphs to ensure that the information we gathered would stay organized. With the knowledge that we gained from this experience, we are eager and confident to begin the next journey of our filmmaking process. 

Sources:

-Netflix (2022). White Noise | Official Clip | Netflix. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJblPY5hVHI [Accessed 18 Feb. 2023].