David Le's Final Project Blog

 1. What genre have you selected and what is the history of that genre? What were key landmark films for this genre and why were they so impactful? Important actors, directors, etc. for the genre. Be as detailed as possible. (18-20 sentences) The genre I selected is the mystery genre. Key landmark films for this genre include Knives Out (2019), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Chinatown (1974), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and it's remake in 2017, Death on the Nile (2022). Mystery films first started appearing in the early 1900s with the advent of cinema itself, before it's popularity soared during the 1930s and 40s. The first mystery films in the 1900s were based off of the Sherlock Holmes novels, which are cited as the first murder mystery films. While the genre is not as common as other mainstream titles, it is still able to hold it's own with critics and at the box office with films like Knives Out (and its sequels) and the Hercule Poirot film series (which includes Mu...

Production paragraph: What scale of production would you want your film to be? Would you want it to be financed by a studio or be independent? Who would you want to star in your film? Any other details you think are relevant to discussing production      During the production phase of this project (if it was to be created into an entire film), preproduction decisions would need to be grounded and envisioned before shooting and filming begins. First, the genre could be some sort of small town mystery, taking place in a city of around 20,000 residents, with areas like a downtown area of small businesses, shops, and lively spaces of a small town atmosphere. The premise would be teenagers in high school, dealing with the stresses, positives, and experiences of life as they stumble upon a mystery at their school and notice something is quite off, but cannot be pinned down to what it exactly is. If the final project movie opening sequence was to be completed into an entire film...

     Over the first Semester in this class, my relationship with media, outlooks and views on media, and what I look forward to in Semester 2 in this class has changed from my original expectations when I envisioned joining this class. Since late August 2025, I feel that I have been able to appreciate how films are made to a greater extent, and the course's units such as cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scene made me realise and understand how scenes are put together, how everything can be extremely deliberate to create the desired scene and action on screen, along with using this knowledge and thinking about it in the back of my head as I am watching clips from a film and being to analyse them in ways this course requires for exams and sometimes just for fun. With the knowledge taught in Semester 1, it will allow me to fully utilise the tools we have been taught for the Final Project video such as applying cinematography to film scenes. For me, this course has been e...

For this post, please consider and reflect on your responsibilities as a filmmaker when it comes to the groups of people represented in your film. Do you feel you have a responsibility to represent groups of people "correctly" when creating media products? Do you feel that other filmmakers have represented groups of people in their films well in the past? Please provide examples of what you think has been positive representation and negative representation in some films that you have seen. Then add any other discussion or thoughts you would like to your reflection.  As a filmmaker, it is arguable that there is a responsibility to represent groups of people "correctly" when creating media products, such as not making them look stupid, as an idiot, or to represent individuals in an undignified and negative manner (such as being outright sexist, racist, or portraying certain groups with stereotypes that would be offensive) that would be seen as harassment and looking d...

Transitions: ellipsis, shot/reverse shot, flash forward, point of view shot, graphic match cut, fading in/out. Under your video, you should have a 10-12 sentence paragraph describing what you learned, the process of the project, and what role you played: David's AICE Media Studies AS Editing Project Video In the process of this project, I learned a useful things about video editing and learning/getting hands on experience with video editing for the first time with software and technology that is designed for the purpose using CapCut. I learned how video editing works in the sense of moving around, reducing lengths of shots as needed (to omit elements such as me saying "action" or unneeded footage) to create a seamless transition/flow as possible. In a way, these useful skills could be used if I decided to ramp up social media content for the Speech and Debate Team and see what I can do with video editing in my free time (alongside photography this school year, which have ...

Prompt: Think of the last two movies you have watched. For each of the two films, research into how they were made (specifically, what companies made them). Give explanations of the companies behind those films you watched. Then look at your own consumption habits, do you tend to interact more with media that is created by larger companies? Or do you tend to look for more independent content? Write about your own habits with this then discuss if this is something you are aware of when choosing content to consume. Finally, discuss whether you will be more conscious of who makes the content you consume in the future.  The last two films that I know I have watched are Top Gun: Maverick, and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. TG Maverick was made by Paramount and Skydance (at the time, these were separate companies, but as of November 2025 the corporation is now called Paramount Skydance after the merger), big media corporations and major players in the media industry with supp...