Multimedia Mise-en-scene project

 Monday, October 27, 2025

Mise-en-Scene

Hello!

These past two weeks, me and two partners created a multimedia representation of a given character. We picked a description of a person from a cup and were instructed to create a mood board, playlist, and setting, along with a physical object to immerse our classmates into their world. Our paper described-

"A high school athlete with a secret passion for poetry. Torn between expectations and self-expression, he learns to balance ambition with authenticity."

Immediately my entire group's heads went to Troy Bolton from High School Musical, so we decided to create similar stakes to intensify the conflict in his life, specifically his family. The character we created, Jason Craw, (who I later found out was the name of one of my partner's friends who also plays football,) is a running back on his school's football team. Both Jason and Troy have families who are reliant on their performance in their sport, Troy's dad wanting him to carry on his legacy as MVP and Coach, and Jason's parents relying on him to get a scholarship for collage, which is difficult for his parents to afford otherwise. We decided to put a more realistic lens over Jason's backstory, as there are people currently living his life now. We also figured realism would help our audience connect better with him. 

In order to illustrate the inner workings of Jason's mind, our mood board was made to look like a bulletin board in his room. This layout shows his priorities and his full personality no matter how much he tries to cover it up- emotionally and physically. Photos of him and his family after games show he prioritizes them, and how they have a close bond. Photos of his teammates show how his team serves as a second family to him, and how multiple groups of people are tying Jason down with their expectations. You can see short poems on the board and a list of books Jason wants to buy. Though they are overlapping or crossed out, symbolizing the pressure Jason feels to put football above his other passion, they still share the same space. This depicts the attempt to balance his ambition for football, his dedication to his family and team, and his love for poetry. 

Our setting was made through the mini game Bloxburg, on a video game called Roblox. This was a surprisingly perfect medium, and it allowed us to interior design Jason's bedroom completely. I preferred using this game rather than a stock image or an interior design website, as I was more familiar with it and it was very useful when looking for specific items Jason would have in his room. Filled with football memorabillia, trophies, and weights, Jason's commitment to his sport is evident, as well as the books stacked onto his nightstand. This demonstrates a look into his brain and respects the balance between his interests behind closed doors. The link for this is down below if you want to check it out!

Setting link

Our playlist is significant to our character in multiple ways. One being rap music, which is very popular among high schoolers already, adds to the realism of Jason's persona.  It is also evident in each song that although it is rap, all 4 songs have a sample of classical music either in the beginning or throughout the beat. Although it is a very slight and seemingly random choice, it was completely intentional. Each part of the songs represents his internal conflict- the rap representing his love for football, fast-paced and ambitious, and the classical sample representing his love for poetry, melodic and intellectual. These songs illustrate how his two sides are able to overlap and how it is possible for him to balance what he wants to do and what he feels he has to do. Here are the songs if you are interested in listening!

Mise-en-scene playlist

Finally, we added two physical items to our presentation- a poetry book, and a running shoe. These two items serve as tangible representations of Jason's internal conflict regarding his two interests. They also show the audience- people at our station- what Jason's two most used objects are. They contrast each other in composition and in color, one being a green floral poetry book and the other being a dirtied, white and red sneaker. These show the two sides of Jason that he aims to balance and the details in both help to get a closer look at his personality (dog-eared pages, rips in the sneaker, etc.) Both the book and the shoe show his dedication to his passions and overall use of both throughout his everyday life.

We set up all of these elements on different computers, including the short description of Jason next to the moodboard. The playlist was connected to a computer and headphones to fully immerse those who came to our station, and while they listened they could read the description, take in the mood board, and thumb through the poetry book. 

I think that despite having a slight disadvantage without another member in our group, I loved our creativity and I thought we worked very well together. We were efficient, creative, and communicated well. I enjoyed doing this project a lot, and I hope you enjoyed my summary of it!

Genre Research Blog Activity

Hello!

This is research I have conducted on the Rom-Com.

• Genre- Romantic Comedy (Rom-Com)
• Genre Conventions- Content

-Focuses on love stories

-Mixes humor with emotions and vulnerability

-Conflicts revolve around mistakes, misunderstandings, or differences in the love interests

-Obstacles work to drive the couple apart

-Ends in personal growth and discovery and a typical "happily ever after"

-Themes revolve around self-love, growth, communication, discovery, and tension between emotions and logic

-Lighthearted, silly, relatable, and optimistic tones

• Genre Conventions- Production Techniques-

-Pop music or indie music for a playful atmosphere

-Warm, bright, inviting color schemes and soft lighting (like rose-colored glasses)

-Montages to show development of relationship/characters

-Two-shots and close-ups for connection between characters and with the audience

• Institutional Conventions- How The Genre Is Marketed

-Popular music or phrases in ads to attract younger target audience (teenagers, young adults)

-Trailers have funny moments or tension to draw audience in

-Posters have main characters together smiling to introduce the genre visually

• Film Sample #1: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

-Popular indie/pop music

-Uses a popular "fake dating" trope

-Soft pastel tones and dreamy lighting

• Film Sample #2: 10 Things I Hate About You

-Uses upbeat popular indie/rock music throughout

-High school setting

-Humor and wit in dialogue, causing audience to connect with and relate to characters

-Popular "enemies to lovers" trope

• Other Movies Within This Genre-

1. How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days https://youtu.be/EiHLFK7Fo0s?si=fsP_378GxgTeNKLq
2. Clueless https://youtu.be/KeGqX4GVBZE?si=tKrjd_z9fQ1oVn0b
3. She's The Man https://youtu.be/n0nVmgIgWGs?si=NjSbdv5VhOMlPusQ
4. 50 First Dates https://youtu.be/17KJk3ErIx0?si=xXtfDzDvZ9rFLONE
5. Mamma Mia https://youtu.be/8RBNHdG35WY?si=P3KuWD-LRd-gFUX6

Sound Projects

Hello!  

Our next projects in class were both related to sound and how it adds emotion, depth, and context to a film. 

In Sound Project #1, my partner and I had to create a soundscape for a roughly 1–2-minute story. We were not allowed to use any video. We had to pull audio from online sources and create our own foley sounds to layer and create our soundscape and storyline.  

My partner and I wanted to make a fun, creative story for this project. Since we were required to record only 4 foley sounds, we were able to consider abstract ideas that we normally would not have been able to recreate well. We decided to tell the story of an alien invasion through sound, where a dog is abducted by a UFO and disappears without a trace. We also utilized silence as a sound effect itself to build tension and suspense. We decided on a farm-like, countryside atmosphere because we figured a cityscape would sound too chaotic and become unclear, rather than the mysterious sci-fi tone we wanted to create.  

To brainstorm, we filled out a sheet of sounds we needed to complete our soundscape and make it the most realistic to get our message across. Our outline helped us to form a vision for how we wanted the project to be and served as a checklist for when we gathered our audio so that we didn’t leave out an important element of our soundscape.

For this project, my partner and I used Clipchamp. I got much better results this way. There were no glitches, no limits on imported files, and we were able to work on the project on two different devices simultaneously, which is actually a very unique quality for a free editing tool to have. This was very helpful and also encouraged teamwork with me and my partner.

I really enjoyed this project. I thought my partner and I did a good job with communication while gathering our foley sounds, and I think we also did a good job with our creativity and overall efficiency time-management wise. I would have liked to exercise an even more bizarre concept for our soundscape or had more time to experiment with different ideas regarding our storyline, but overall, I had a good time making it and I think my partner and I did a very good job while working together. Here is the link to our project!

RamsayStark_soundscape_per1 

 

In Sound Project #2, we had to go back to our One Word film project, when we were told to record scenes to convey a specific word and delete its sound. For this sound project, our job was to add it in back! We had to create a soundscape that matched the scenes and the speed of our previous project and include realistic sounds to complete the story.  

We decided to keep our sounds relatively realistic to those in the courtyard at our school during lunchtime- birds chirping, people talking, and the footsteps of students walking to their lunch tables. That kind of low chatter in the background really helped to emphasize the loneliness of our main character and served as a reminder of her argument with her best friend. We recorded many sounds that are normally overlooked, like walking on different surfaces and setting down different items to mimic the way it looks on screen. On top of our normal schoolyard sounds, we added the sounds of both a phone call and a phone call declining. This made that part of our One Word project a lot clearer, since it was more obvious to the viewer that our character was attempting to reach out. Finally, we added music to make a more emotional story and to contrast the happiness of the first flashbacks to the sting of the regret in the later ones. 

To brainstorm, my partner and I made two lists. One was for sounds we needed to find online, and another was for sounds we had to record. This helped us to remain on task and keep track of what we still needed to record after finding our sound effects.  

My partner and I both utilized Clipchamp for each of our projects. The application of sounds in that app was seamless and neither of us had any trouble with importing our video and audio together.  

I think that our sounds recorded were done well since we had filmed in that same place. We were very efficient with our time and even had extra time to strategize our individual approaches after importing. Next time I would have liked to start my project a little earlier and record my foley sounds ahead of time so I could just import all of my audio at the same time from a single day. Here is the link to our project. I hope you enjoy!

OWFSound_Stark.mp4