Credit Sequences

Giving and Incorporating Credits

    The last thing I need to do, before creating my storyboard, is my research on credit sequences. My current plan is to have my credits be shown subtly throughout the opening, that way the audience is more focused on the piece itself rather than the titles. For a little bit of background, my opening will take place in the characters home, therefore, I'd like to have my credits be displayed on objects within the narrative world. For instance, the characters notebook, fridge, pieces of art, tables, windows, etc. By doing research on credit sequences, I hope to figure out ways to do this, or get new ideas for my credit sequence.

    Credit sequences are meant to give the creators the recognition and praise that they deserve for producing their film. Credits will often include the directors name, the producers, writers cinematographer, editor, and the major actors of the film. There are multiple different ways to incorporate credits into your film and it all depends on the style you're going for, or what you want to highlight. Some films want to highlight their creators or famous people who've worked on the piece, possibly to draw more peoples interest, while other films choose to not draw too much attention to the credits in hopes of keeping the attention on the actual piece itself.

FILMS

    10 Things I Hate About You, a 1999 film by Gil Junger, is a coming-of-age romance about the unexpected romance between Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona. This film chooses to make the credits the focal point of their opening, as whenever they appear, they're at the center of the screen. This means that the opening doesn't focus much on what's going on in the narrative world, and when they do focus on it, the credits stop appearing and they only reappear when the focus doesn't need to be on the characters anymore. Furthermore, the font that the creators chose to use is bold, messy, and raw, which is meant to represent the characters, who are designed to be different than other kids their age. Not only is the font itself eye-catching, but the text also changes colors throughout the credit sequence, and any side text that needs to be added, such as "and," "production," etc. is shown to be significantly smaller than the main text, and it has a different font that makes it less noticeable.

    Billy Elliot, released in 2000 and created by Stephen Daldry, is a coming-of-age story that follows Billy Elliot in his journey to becoming a dancer. This film, unlike the first one I analyzed, uses a more sleek and clean font in their credit sequence, this is so that the viewer is more focused on the character. However, the film still brings emphasis to the credits by having them be shown once the character is off screen. In other words, the character is jumping on the bed and since we only see the character when he's up in the air, the credits appear when Billy is preparing for another jump. The only credit that is larger and has a different color than the rest, is the movie's title. This credit is also the only one thats shown alongside the character. Also in contrast to 10 Things I Hate About You, the movie title is the last credit shown during the opening. 

    The Man in the Moon is a 1991 film directed by Robert Mulligan that tells the story of two sisters and their shared love for Court Foster, a local boy. This credit sequence is shorter than both of the previous films I analyzed. It starts off with black screen, and the credits are shown in the center of it. The font is similar to the one used in Billy Elliot however, it has more details. The black screen transforms into a dark night as the camera pans over to the moon, in which the movie title appears. After the movie title is shown, the rest of the credits appear on the left corner of the screen, rather than the middle of it. All of the credits fade in and out, much like the ones in Billy Elliot did.

WHAT'S NEXT?

    After researching credit sequences, I've learnt about the different ways to incorporate credits into my opening and how to make them the focus or make them appear more natural. Personally, I believe that I'm still going to go with my original idea to add the credits throughout my opening subtly so they're not the main focus. However, now that I'm done with my initial research, I can begin creating my characters, storyboard, and script.

Morán Gurrieri, G. (2024, October 18). Movie review: “10 Things I Hate About You”. Blue & Read. https://blueandread.asbarcelona.com/?p=1551

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Billy Elliot. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 31, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/billy_elliot

Mulligan, R. (Director). (1991). The Man in the Moon [Film]. Google Play. https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Man_In_The_Moon?id=WHu4x9ZCmyE.P&hl=en_US

Film Openings

All About the First Impression

   Before I begin working on my script or storyboard, I'd like to do research on other film openings to learn more about the tactics that are used in coming-of-age films and get some inspiration for my own opening. My current plan for my plot, though it needs revision, is to show how society holds children back from pursuing their passions. The message that I'm hoping to convey is meant to empower children to go against those societal standards and pursue what they truly love, rather than what society tells them to love. I hope that by doing research on coming-of-age films I can find a way to accurately communicate the genre and my plot.

FILMS

    Dead Poets Society, a 1989 film created by Peter Weir, is a coming-of-age drama that tells the story of an English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams,) and his students. It shows how he teaches his class to seize the day, or "carpe diem," which is the overall theme of the story. The movie reflects on self-expression, liberty and learning to live true to yourself. I chose to do research on this film since it particularly relates to mine, it discusses how society, the school, restrains kids from being individual and unique by pursuing what they love. 

   This films opening uses a lot of close ups and medium shots that are meant to show the audience how the school runs a tight ship, this is also reinforced by the use of wide shots that showcase all of the characters in uniform, sitting and acting the same. Director Peter Weir does this to establish background and develop context through mise-en-scene elements, such as the four pillars, or principles, that are shown to be extremely important to the school and the character's development. One banner in specific, the one entitled "tradition," is used to foreshadow what will happen later on and to, once again, reinforce the schools values. At the end of the opening, the director chooses to introduce the teachers character and reveal that the teacher was an old student for the preparatory school.  

    The Half of It is a film created by Alice Wu that was released on Netflix in 2020. It is a coming-of-age romance film that tells the story of a high schooler, Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), who ends up in a love triangle after agreeing to write lover letters for Paul that are dedicated to his crush, Aster, who also happens to be her crush. The story delves deeper into themes of friendship, self-discover, and the unexpected nature of love. Overall, the movie demonstrates how love isn't always perfect and you never know when, or how, you'll find your other half.

    Much like Dead Poets Society, this film uses their opening to establish background information, however both films do this in very different ways. Unlike Dead Poets Society, this movie uses a voice over to narrate the story of the drawings and pieces of paper on screen. By relying on visual storytelling, the director is able to reveal what that the movie will be about soulmates and finding "your other half." Towards the end of the opening, the director uses a match cut to transition from the pieces of paper into an actual high school. The audience is then shown a computer screen filled with the dialogue from the start of the movie, this conveys to the audience that this girl is our main character and storyteller.   

    The last film I've decided to research is Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Released in 2023 and created by Kelly Fremon Craig, this coming-of-age story is an adaptation of Judy Blume's novel. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. tells the story of Margaret Simons (Abby Ryder Fortson), and her struggles as a teenage girl who's just moved to a new town and is now questioning her beliefs and life. Throughout the film, Margaret relies on her relationship with her mother and grandmother to help guide her through these struggles. The movie discusses themes of puberty, family, friendship, and religious skepticism in a teenage girl.

    Unlike the two previous movies, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. chooses to establish character throughout their opening scene. The director achieves this by using multiple medium shots, wide shots, and a few close ups to showcase their main character as well as others who are, supposedly, friends with Margaret. The audience can infer that the girls are all friends because the film shows that the girls are at a summer camp and they appear to be close, given the fact that they're doing all the activities together and the lively background music sets a positive mood. Furthermore, this film, unlike the others I've analyzed, makes it so that each shot revolves around the main character, whether Margaret is by herself, or with a group of people, the camera has always made her the main focus. The opening ends when Margaret comes home from camp and has an endearing reunion with her mother. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

    After my doing research on film openings, I now know what I want to establish during the 2 minutes and how I'm going to do that. After analyzing all of the films, I realized that I preferred the way that the last film, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. developed their character. Even though the films atmosphere and aesthetics don't match the visions I have for my own opening, there are certainly other devices that I could take from this and implement into my own piece. Furthermore, even though the first film I researched, Dead Poets Society, matched my openings themes and ambience more accurately, I don't believe that I want to establish background in my piece. Thus, I know that I definitely want to take inspiration from Dead Poets Society, even though I want to focus more on the characters in my opening. Lastly, after doing my research on The Half of It, I decided that I did not want to do something similar to this. Despite it being a very creative and fun piece, as well as a coming-of-age film, both of our plots are different and, as I mentioned, I don't want to establish background in my opening. Nonetheless, the last thing that I have to do before I begin planning for my piece is to research different credit sequences, that way, once I do begin planning, I'll be ready and won't have any delays.

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Dead Poets Society. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 29, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_poets_society

IMDb.com. (n.d.). The Half of It (tt9683478) [Film]. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9683478/

IMDb. (2023). Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9185206/

Portfolio Project Genre #3

A Shift in Direction

    While considering the two genres I did research on, as well as potential storylines that went with those genres, I came up with one storyline that I loved and felt as if I could correctly execute. However, this storyline did not fit in with the genres I had previously done research on, therefore, I am dedicating this blog post to my research on this new genre. 

COMING-OF-AGE DRAMAS

    Coming-of-age is a term used to describe the transition from childhood into adulthood, in media, films will often follow the protagonist as they go through this transition by showing key moments in their life, such as their first love, conflicts with peer pressure, moving away from home, and graduating. These films are meant to draw out emotional reactions from their audiences by creating relatable and nostalgic dialogue and scenes. Coming-of-age dramas can also be classified as teen movies, both genres discuss similar themes and they both target audiences from the ages of 12 to 25. However, coming-of-age dramas mainly focus on that transitional period, while teen movies are more focused on the high school experience. 

    When advertising coming-of-age dramas, media industries will tend to lean onto more authentic and relatable forms of advertisements. They will create social media accounts, the two most common being TikTok and Instagram, in which they'll share behind-the-scenes content, fan art, fan letters, and other work created by users. As well as relatable or funny clips from the film itself to increase interest in the movie. Many marketing campaigns will include interactive content such as polls and Q&A's on Instagram that will allow the audience to engage with the film even before it's release. On another note, some films will take a completely different approach in order to remain new and unique. For example, an article by Three Girls Media, Inc. entitled "4 Powerful Marketing Strategies of 'Lady Bird' That Charm Every Generation," discusses how throughout Lady Bird's (2017) marketing campaign, the movie chose to steer away from the classic extravagant advertisements and instead be more honest and authentic with their audiences. This allowed the film to gain as much popularity as it has.

CONTENT & TECHNIQUES

    Coming-of-age dramas will generally address social issues and common experiences that teenagers face in real life to create a stronger connection with their audiences. To quote MasterClass's article "Coming-of-Age Movies: What Is the Coming-of-Age Genre?", films will often include themes of teen pregnancy, coming out, or even violence to build that bond with their viewers. For instance, Berry Jenkins's coming-of-age film Moonlight (2016), tells the story of Chiron, a gay man, coming to terms with himself and his identity. Other films might follow their protagonist as they work to navigate their high school life, friendships, family, and their own personal battles. 

    Another thing you'll notice in coming-of-age films is the amount of attention that they give to developing their characters, rather than establishing background information or the setting. This is to bring further emphasis to the character's transition into adulthood and how they deal with it. Films might focus on creating a stark contrast between the character at the beginning of the film, who is more youthful and juvenile, and the same character at the end of the film, who will be more mature and responsible. A way to communicate this change is through dialogue, which is why coming-of-age dramas are heavily filled with conversations. Directors will choose to do this so that they can convey stronger message to the audience, which is something that I personally want to do within my opening. Even if I can not develop the full story, throughout the 2 minutes, I'd like to at least show that the film is heading that route.

    Much like my previous point, directors could also choose to develop character through the set design. Films will create specific locations and environments that are heavily inspired by the characters personality or emotions. These environments could either be the protagonists' bedroom or usual hang out spots with their friends. Nonetheless, it's very often that the specific set will be critical to the movie and the protagonists' emotional growth development. For instance, one film that uses the set to show how the character develops and matures throughout the film is Lady Bird (2017) by Greta Gerwig, Christines bedroom throughout the movie represents her messy, cluttered life and how she works towards new beginnings.

    Similarly to how the set conveys the characters development, the lighting in coming-of-age dramas will reflect on the characters mood and emotions throughout the film. A text analysis on coming-of-age films explores the different ways lighting is used in scenes, it mentions how a character crying in a dark room symbolizes their grief and pain, while the suicide scene from Romeo + Juliet (1996) uses candles with warm yellow tones to, and I quote, "symbolize a sacrificial alter." However, in coming-of-age dramas, directors will likely use a lot of high-key lighting for positive and lively scenes, as well as soft and warm lighting to evoke nostalgia and comfort in the audience while also creating intimate and gentle scenes.

FILMS

    Award winning Dead Poets Society, a 1989 film created by Peter Weird is primarily a coming-of-age drama film. It tells the story of a group of students, and their English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams) as they are taught to embrace individuality and challenge authority. As an article entitled, "Dead Poets Society: A Film That Changed My Perspective on Life" by Medium claims, the films main themes are passion, freedom, and learning to seize the day. This film connects to my own personal idea as I want my opening to be about a girl who hasn't been able to pursue her passions due to school work and the unspoken rules of the world. Much like the Dead Poets Society, I wish to make a point of going against authority and finding love for yourself and your passions.

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Dead Poets Society. Retrieved January 27, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_poets_society

    The film 17 Again, released in 2009 and created by Burr Steers is a comedic coming-of-age drama that focuses on second chances. The film tells the story of Mike O'Donnell, who's older version is played by Matthew Perry and his younger version is played by Zac Efron, a renounced high-school basketball star who gave up his dreams of playing professionally to marry his girlfriend and take care of their child. As an adult working a 9-5 office job with a failing marriage, Mike regrets his previous choices and wishes to go back into the past. His wish is granted once he is magically turned younger and he is given a second chance at life, however, at the end of the movie Mike realizes his true purpose was to be a loving and present husband and father thus, he is turned back into his older self where he can personally fix all of his mistakes. 

Amazon.com. (n.d.). 17 Again [DVD]. Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/17-Again-DVD-Zac-Efron/dp/B0027UY81S

Creating a Schedule

     Before I officially start working on any project, I like to plan out the things I need to do and when I need to have them done by. This helps me stay productive and on task as it lets me have one spot where I can look at everything that needs to be completed, rather than having multiple spots that I need to check. Making a schedule for this project will help me thoroughly, as it'll allow me to do just that.

TO-DO

    List of all the things I need to do before submitting my project.

        1. Research

    -Research and analyze film openings as well as how they build up to the plot within my chosen genre.

    -Research and analyze examples of credit sequences within my chosen genre. 

        2. Planning

    -Come up with potential plots and characters.

    -Create a script for my opening.

    -Create a storyboard for my opening.

    -Find actors and crew members. 

    -Gather pieces of costumes and props.

    -Figure out times and days for filming.

    -Figure out filming locations.

        3. Production

    -Film scenes

    -Record foley

    -Record voice overs (if needed)

        4. Editing

    -Edit the footage together

    -Incorporate all necessary institutional conventions 

    -Re-record any scenes, foley, or voice overs (if needed) 

        5. Creative Critical Reflection

    -Research and answer all CCR questions.

    -Brainstorm CCR production ideas.

    -Film CCR

    -Edit and review any work. 

TIMELINE 

    My teacher has given us 7 weeks, starting now, to work on this project. This timeline will take all the things on the to-do list and organize them into specific days or weeks to help me manage my time more wisely.

    Week 1: 1/26 - 2/1

• Research and analyze film openings and credit sequences within my genre
• Begin planning
• Plan out and create plot
• Create characters 

    Week 2: 2/2 - 2/8

• Finish planning
• Write rough draft for script
• Create storyboard
• Find people to act
• Find/order props and costumes
• Choose filming days and locations 

    Week 3: 2/9 - 2/15

• Pick out songs and sound effects
• Production
• Begin filming
• Record foley
• Record voice overs

    Week 4: 2/16 - 2/22

• Edit footage together
• Corrections and tweaks
• Re-record foley (if needed)
• Re-record voice overs (if needed) 

    Week 5: 2/23 - 3/1

• Touch up editing
• Creative Critical Reflection
• Think about ideas for CCR production
• Research and answer questions
• Create script 

    Week 6: 3/2 - 3/8

• Creative Critical Reflection
• Film
• Edit footage together

    Week 7: 3/9 - 3/17

• Week to work on anything thats not finished or needs re-touching

MOVING FORWARD 

    Now that I have this plan, I will strive to stick to the schedule and avoid procrastination by frequently looking at this calendar. I'm also hoping to be able to work ahead of the schedule, which will help me be prepared in case anything happens or comes up. For instance, if I'm having troubles with editing and need more time, I'll at least already have some of the work I need to complete done. 

Portfolio Project Genre #2

ROMANCE

    After doing my research on the mystery genre, and deciding to leave it as a possible option for my film opening, I decided to look into another genre, so that I can have a larger variety of things to do. The next genre I've chosen to look into is the romance genre. It is one that I've been very interested for a long time and I feel as if there are many different ways to go about creating an opening for this genre. 

    By definition, romance is depicts feelings of excitement, affection, love as well as deeply emotional and idealized feelings. There are many different ways to approach romance in media, and films will often go for a broader appeal with diverse formats and tropes. Romance films don't have a specific target audience as it is such a broad genre, however, different sub-genres of romance will have more specified target audiences. For instance, romcoms will typically target people who are in their teens all the way to people who are in their 30s. However, the general target audience for a typical romance film would include women from the ages of 35 to 54+ who, as an article entitled "The Genre Review of Romance." by Medium states, seek to relive the heartwarming comfort and heartbreak that comes from love.

    When advertising romance movies, media industries will tend to lean on crafting emotional connections with their audience by posting visually appealing content on social media platforms, hosting exclusive streamings, creating emotion-driven trailers, and social media engagement, including behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, and partnerships. An article by McNutt & Partners entitled "6 Marketing Lessons to Learn from a Rom-Com" covers different advertising techniques that film directors use to market their movies. They talk about being authentic, sticking to what works, embracing happy endings, knowing your audience, and how you can fit all of that into your marketing campaign.  One film that has recently done this is the film "Regretting You" featuring two popular actors, McKenna Grace and Mason Thames. While promoting the film, the actors showcased their close friendship through multiple interviews, whether they were specifically about the film, or just about themselves and their acting careers. 

CONTENT & TECHNIQUES

    One thing that you can always find in romance movies is a specific character or romantic trope. Tropes are fundamental pieces of the film that dictate how the character's story will look and even what challenges or obstacles they might face. Popular tropes found in romance movies include enemies to lovers, holiday romances, soulmates, and meet-cute. However, as an article by Briar Black, "127 Romance Tropes We Love And Love to Hate" argues,  in order to have a compelling story, directors must challenge these tropes make them as authentic and realistic as possible so that the audience can feel more connected to the movie.

    Another key feature in romance movies is the classic "happily ever after" trope. Directors strive to give these films emotionally satisfying endings as they are, in general, supposed to be light-hearted and soft, comfort films for people to enjoy. Romance movies tend to be very cliche and they create this idealized version of love where there is always a happy ending for these characters, even if it doesn't make much sense. This is meant to give people who didn't get their happy ending comfort and, in some ways, closure, as they get to pretend and indulge themselves into a happier, healthier outcome for their own love story.

    Romance movies, unlike mystery movies, will often have warmer and softer lighting, candle lit, or magical string light moments that create intimacy within scenes and between the characters. An article by Medium entitled "Filming Romantic Scenes" goes more into depth about how to create that romantic lighting. It talks about different colors and what feelings they display, for instance, red indicates love and passion and therefore, as the article states, we associate warm lighting with "intimacy and comfort."

    Furthermore, the soundtracks for romantic movies will more than likely include intimate and slow songs that help to further build up the emotional tension between the characters. Choosing the right song, as well as the right moment to use it in, is critical to how the scene will end up looking. As a director, you want to make sure you pick the right song, whether its an upbeat jazz song, a slow song, or an acoustic soundtrack, and the right moment for it. Ilmstro's article, "The 3 Elements For Evoking Romantic Emotion in Films and Video" goes more into detail about this topic, they cover what moments you could use specific songs in, such as a wedding or a date night at a jazz bar, and how to make it flow smoothly through the use of editing. 

FILMS

    The film Flipped, published in 2010, tells the story of a one-sided crush between two characters, Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) and Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe). It starts off with the characters meeting in the second grade, and it immediately shows the audience that Juli is in love with Bryce, even if he isn't in love with her. As the story progresses it shows how the two characters grow up together and slowly lose develop feelings for one another, even if it was at different times. The film ends by giving the characters love story closure as they work to resolve their problems together. This movie includes many popular tropes, such as opposites attract, childhood crushes, girl next door, reluctant hero, and many more. 

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Flipped. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flipped

    The Titanic is a classic movie from 1997, it was created by the famous movie director James Cameron and is now recognized as being "one of the best movies ever." The movie revolves around Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), a poor artist, and Rose (Kate Winslet), a rich lady, and their forbidden love story while on the unsinkable Titanic. However, their story takes a turn for the worse once the ship hits an iceberg. The movie uses multiple romance tropes, like the previously mentioned forbidden love, as well as the class divide, the free spirit vs. the trapped soul, and of course, the tragic romance. This film is one of the cases were there is not a happy ending for the characters due to their respective fates and paths. Furthermore, this movie relies on it's soundtrack to make emotional and intimate scenes more impactful. For instance, during the famous "Jack, I'm flying!" scene at the edge of the boat, the director chooses to incorporate a song that captures the feeling of freedom and love as they share that moment together.

GreatestMovies Wiki. (n.d.). Titanic (1997). Fandom. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from https://greatestmovies.fandom.com/wiki/Titanic_%281997%29

Portfolio Project Genre #1

MYSTERY

    Throughout the week, we've been looking at and researching different types of film openings so that we can be more prepared coming into this project. My class and I have learnt that the first step of creating a film opening is deciding what your genre and storyline will be. One of the genres I'm considering doing for my film opening is mystery. In my previous blog post, "Transitioning into my Cambridge Portfolio Project," I briefly mentioned wanting to create suspense throughout my film opening and I believe that I could come up with multiple ideas for a film opening that includes this genre. Thus, I've decided to do further research about this genre, which will give me a better look at what I'm dealing with.

    By definition, mystery is something that is difficult to understand or explain, in media it usually embodied by a puzzling crime, which is typically a murder. Films will follow the main characters as they investigate and work to resolve the conflict using clues they find or that are given to them by another character. These types of films are usually made to target adults from the ages 25 to 55 who enjoy movies that encourage the audience to indulge themselves in the film by thinking about the mystery and working alongside the characters to solve it. To put it another way, people who enjoy analytical and intellectual stimulation in media, are more likely to favor and be the target audience for mystery films.

    Media industries will often use specific marketing tactics to reach their target audience. Some of which include, withholding information, even during the marketing campaign. There are films that will avoid spoilers and plot points in their advertisement which makes the plot twists and overall viewing much more thrilling and exciting for audiences. Furthermore, some films, such as The Blair Witch Project did real world stunts, stagings, and online puzzles that audiences could watch or complete while waiting for the movie to release. Other films such as The Matrix, will have a tagline throughout their marketing process, this creates more audience engagement by using word of mouth techniques. As an the article entitled "Mystery Marketing in Action: Lessons from Psycho, The Matrix & Inception" by Biztal examines, the question "What is The Matrix?" went viral on social media and allowed The Matrix to have a very successful marketing campaign.

CONTENT & TECHNIQUES

    Generally, films within this genre will tend to rely on something called the enigma code, which, according to a Media Studies article entitled "Action and Enigma Codes," is also known as the "revelation of truth." This tactic is used by writers when they wish to withhold information from the audience to keep them hooked and engaged. In film, you will often see this shown through a character who is interrogating people and talking to others for information. Then, the character, as well as the viewer, is expected to have a realization moment where all the pieces of information come together to reveal the truth, thus, the theory's name. 

    Films within this genre will also use red herrings throughout the film to keep the audience thinking about and engrossed within the mystery. This is mainly what draws in most audiences, as people enjoy getting shocked by plot twists (also common in mystery films), after being presented with a multitude of predictable movies. One film that successfully utilizes a red herring is Stephen Kings movie "The Mist." Here, the audience is led to believe that the characters are being faced with an unworldly six-legged monster, whereas the ending reveals that the monster was, in fact, the US Military.

    Mystery can also be developed through production techniques, one of which include low-key lighting. Low-key lighting is very common in these types of films as they help create that atmosphere and build up that tension. This type of lighting is not only used in mystery pieces but also in horror ones. As an article by El Raton Media Works entitled "30 Film Techniques for Horror and Halloween Movies" explains, directors will often use this type of lighting to create specific shadows and silhouettes that may appear distorted or menacing.

    Another common production technique that directors may use are dutch angles. These are commonly used to create a feeling of imbalance and can be found near the beginning of the film, when something initially goes wrong, or towards the end of the film, when the protagonist comes to a realization that helps them resolve the conflict. Though this type of angle isn't used often, when it is it creates a remarkable and particular moment of unease and tension in the movie. 

FILMS

    The Sixth Sense, a 1999 film created by M. Night Shyamalan, is a mix of a mystery and psychological thriller. It tells the story of a child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who after being shot by an old patient, attempts to redeem himself by helping out a new young boy, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who hides a disturbing secret from the protagonist. This movie uses many of the mentioned techniques, including red herrings, enigma code, and low-key lighting. It also incorporates an unreliable narrator, foreshadowing, and major plot twists.

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). The Sixth Sense. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sixth_sense

    Ghost, a film created in 1990 by Bruce Joel Rubin and Jerry Zucker, is a mystery piece mixed with romantic themes. The film is about a banker, Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze), and his lover, Molly Jensen (Demi Moore), who's also an artist. The movie entails the protagonist being murdered and then working together with a psychic to help save his lover from suffering the same, if not a worse, fate. Much like The Sixth Sense, this movie relies on the enigma code, foreshadowing, plot twists, and low-key lighting to create that tense and mysterious atmosphere.

Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Ghost. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1031086-ghost

Transitioning into my Cambridge Portfolio Project

     Hello and good evening! From this point onwards, my blog posts will primarily be focused on my journey as I develop my final Cambridge Project. My previous blog posts document what the class has taught me throughout the year and they show all the things I've learnt about creating a meaningful and beloved piece. Finally getting to work on this final project is as exciting as it is nerve-racking since it's something we've been heavily building up to since the start of the year. However, thanks to my teacher, I feel confident going into this project because we have completed similar projects to this one in the past, giving us plenty of experience and knowledge. Furthermore, as we began working on this project, my class was shown and taught more about film openings and how they help to develop purpose in a film. Below are some notes from said lesson...

    After learning about all the ways to develop your opening scene, one approach that caught my eye, and I would be interested in doing, is developing character. I would be interested in this approach as I enjoy films that start by introducing the character to the audience, it makes you feel more connected with them and builds interest for the viewers. There are many ways to develop character, for instance, one of the things this type of opening relies on is the mise-en-scene elements. This includes costume designs, props, and setting. Another way to develop character is through dialogue and interactions with other people in the scene. Going with this approach would give me plenty of creative freedom, as I get to fully develop a person, and it would help me engage with the audience better, as this specific type of film opening is a common one that people are familiar with.

    Another approach that I was considering was to create mystery. Since the film opening is supposed to be two minutes long, by developing mystery I would be able to spend my time on creating tension and alluding to future conflicts that are engaging to the audience and leave them wanting to know more. There are multiple different tactics that could be used to create a sense of mystery, which gives me plenty of content to work with. Some ways to develop mystery include mise-en-scene elements, whether its the costume design, props that are used, or the kind of lighting implemented in the scene, there are many different ways to build up that tension in your opening. Furthermore, you could also use sound techniques, such as a motifs that will be prominent to the movie later on or mysterious music that helps build up that tension. Using the content that was mentioned, I could create different elements and plot points that will eventually become crucial to the movie.