Links

 CCR 1 & 2 (Podcast)

CCR 3 & 4 (Day in the life)

Final Project

I had to make a YouTube account just to post these because I was so scared people would not be able to access it.

Final Reflection: On The Greatest Project Ever!

     Well as the title clearly suggests, in my personal opinion, this was a fantastic project experience. Not only was it fun and engaging but I learned A LOT.

    Believe it or not, this film opening situation taught me to be self-sufficient because despite the facts I was in a group with another girl we did NOT know how to do a lot, and it was up to us to go figure it out. Like with editing my knowledge was limited since all I knew was from middle school and I didn't have a fancy camera so I HAD to fix things that I literally could not have avoided. Like lighting in specific scenes, speeding things up, making sure the audios matched the scenes and were at a reasonable volume.

    If I were to change anything about my film, it would probably be that I would rent out a professional camara so that my vision could come to live in a better elevated fashion. And since we filmed in the dark some scenes look almost grainy which definitely throws me off.

    Even so, I loved learning all about how much of a difference lighting can make both in context and creating a concrete mood. Not to mention this project solidified the importance of planning for me and I think it is a skill I will carry with me forever.

    I also wish I could have devoted more time to this class but some of my teachers were just giving me so much work, even so my grades clearly show I put this class above the rest. We are NOT going to talk about it.

    I'm just glad I got to do this all with my best friend and partner Elisa, this is my final goodbye to the greatest project ever!

Post Production Of CCR: Podcast + Day in the LIfe

    I had the brilliant idea to make a podcast dedicated to up-and-coming film makers as my first CCR. I made myself the host and the guest appearance to add to the appeal that it is unheard of.

    I made sure all my scripts were answering the questions clearly and not leaving things up in the air. One of my scripts is posted along with my research/preparations for my CCR question 2 so you guys can check that out if you really really want to.

    First, I turned to The YouTube Audio Library for the song for my introduction. And I'm so glad I found the PERFECT one, since it's very silly and allows for some of my personality to come through. I am a very goofy, Smily, person and I fell that because my genre was horror/thriller a lot of it got lost in production, so I am taking this opportunity to let my authentic side shine through my CCRs.

    I'm reallyyy thankful I had a script even though I kept on forgetting my lines and stuttering. I thought it might be fun to share some of my bloopers with you all, since it may seem like an easy process but it takes time and patience which I certainly did NOT have.

    For editing, I used the platform Adobe Premiere, as I mentioned in my last post, since I was using it anyways to finish editing my film. I just layered some sound effects and put everything together as well as included my song. It was great and super-duper easy.

    All I really did was fix the lighting and tweak the audio a little bit, alsoooo I kind of forgot I was going to Chile so I was forced to edit at the airport and on the plane but it's okay it was fun.

Production Process of My CCRs

     I finally got to start working on my CCRs and I have been super excited to finish this all up. During the time I've been doing this project I've learned a lot about time management, teamwork, and tips and trick to split up the work and make it easier for myself.

    I have every intention of using Adobe Premiere to put them all together when all is done since it is the platform I am most comfortable in. Also, I know it is where I'm going to achieve my best result possible. 

    As you can clearly see, I've been working HARD on my scripts. I really want to make it super duper clear what questions I am answering whilst still making them seem like they flow. I realize I haven't really told you guys what my idea is, and so that's what I want to do!

    For my first CCR I'm doing a podcast where I am the host and interviewee since the idea is that I am a fairly unknown up & coming media producer. I really want to make it silly since my idea is for my personality to finally show through. For my second CCR project I am answering 3&4 and I'm going to do a "Day in the life of a detective's assistant" which I think is a good idea but my twist is going to be that I'm not going to interact with the camera person I'm going to make it look like I'm being watched and simply talk to myself. 

 For the most part I recorded audio memos of me speaking in my laundry room since it is the place in my house with the least echo and it allowed me to get a pretty clear recording. Nevertheless, I also recorded in school during my study hall class because everyone there is boring and does not talk which was perfect!

    Anywayssss,

        WISH ME LUCK!!!

Creative Critical Reflection Questions 4: Research

     We used a plethora of different technologies whilst producing our film opening for Amber. Some of which include Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, and a multitude of browsers. 

Specific uses

    We used Adobe Premiere as our editing software and that's where most of the magic happened. 

    I was already familiar with the software, so I was more than willing to use it for the editing and finishing touches of our film. I color corrected, sped clips up, and fixed audio tempos as well as volumes. 

    Then I turned to Photoshop because to be quite frank, I was unfamiliar with how to add text directly from Adobe Premiere onto the film. So, what I did was make a title onto a green background and used the ultra-key feature on Adobe Premiere to remove the background. I essentially just used green screens to add my title.

    And of course, I was not born with all this knowledge of the characteristics that make up a film opening, and the conventions of horror, or any other specific used in my film. Therefore, I had to research this somewhere. Which is why I turning to Microsoft edge, DuckDuckGo, and Safari for input. Which of course led me to decide to include all my sited at the end of my CCR via rolling credits.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 3: Research (Breakdown)

How I got Started/Process

    When the project was first introduced me and my partner sat down and quickly started jotting down ideas and making copious voice messages to remember aspects we wanted to cover. We were both pretty set on creating a horror, gloomy, dark film. From there we really started brainstorming. Later that day we both got an Amber Alert alarm on our phones, and suddenly we had our idea. We decided to make our film based on Amber Alerts but focusing primary on the disappearing aspect rather than casual kidnappings. 

Planning Period

    During the planning period me and my partner started thinking about who we would cast and what we would do for the mis-en-scene. 

When it came to casting, we referred to our storyboard and screen play and realized the person with the most screen time in the opening was Benjamin. Because of this we made it our mission to find someone perfect for the role. We decided to narrow the casting down by only asking people who are known for their emotive nature and that would be compliant with our requests, whether it be making a face or completing an action. For the other people featured we honestly just asked people who we knew would be free and available during our filming times.

Mis-en-scene

    For this part a lot more thought and preparation went into the costume, lighting, and setting than what went into casting our actors. 

    When it came to costume choices me and my partner decided to base our outfits on 2000s teen fashion. By what we saw it was a lot of baggy lose clothing, almost conservative. We thought this stylistic choice highlighted our representation for the age group of innocence and naive-ity. From there what was left was the colors, which we ended up picking a very dark color palate with black being the focal color. We chose black because it represents death and loss which is very on theme for our film. 

    Later, as we discussed lighting, we remembered that when we were researching key conventions to horror films lighting techniques formed a great part of the list. We chose to use mainly lowkey lighting with a couple of back lighting shots to add to the mystery of the events as well as create tension. 

    We had a pretty clear idea of where and at what time we wanted the film to take place since it was almost a given that in most films all "horrific" events take place during the nighttime. So obviously, that's when we filmed. We also decided to film in an area resembling the woods since in a narrative there are many unprecedented factors of such a wild place which is why it is reasonable that such activity would happen there.

Production Scheduling

    When it came to when we were going to film and edit it was a bit of a challenge since it had to be convenient to both members of the groups. We had to work around each other's extracurriculars and sometimes film specific scenes on our own since it simply was not possible to meet up.

    Fortunately, after discussing this issue upfront we were able to find the days that worked best for both of us and everything worked out great! We had a super solid schedule which we followed perfectly for the most part.

Before & After Thoughts

    Going into this project I definitely overestimated how much time we had and started a little rough. Certainly though, it got way better as time progressed and I realized we were given so much time because the project truly required constant thinking and evaluation. 

    After finishing my production, I feel like I would have liked to better space out each aspect of the project but am overall content with our outcome. I knew from the beginning we would be capable to convey out thoughts into media and to I'm just really glad that, that's exactly what we did.

How The Project Changed My Perception

    My perception with most tasks has always been, leave it till the end. But with this project I got to truly understand the importance of having effective time management and how much it pays off. I firmly believe my outcome would not have come close to what it is if I had left it till the end. I also learned that I really enjoy editing and playing with the software.

---. “Horror Movie Lighting: Techniques That the Masters Use.” Scary Studies, 2 May 2023, www.scarystudies.com/horror-movie-lighting/.

Creative Critical Reflection Question 2: Script

 Brief Preparation

    The primary audience to our film is young adults and teenagers. This is because we chose to interpret the target of the disappearances as teenagers whom we are attempting to represent as somewhat dimwitted and naive. Our goal with this is to cause some tension between these generation by which we predict they will be inclined to interact with our production, even if it is just to argue the stereotypes it would be great for the film marketing.

    The distribution method we have chosen is a film festival local to us. The Cypress Bay Film Festival. This would be a great way to distribute our film because it would directly target our sought audience.

Script

Podcast

music will play

    Hello! This is Lucia the host of the Up-and-Coming Media podcast. I'm super excited to share with you guys my newest film, Amber, but before I do that, I want to address some aspects about it. 

crowd clapping sound effect

    Let's start by who my target audience is and what I did to engage them. It's... drum roll please... teenagers to young adults! Well Lucia isn't your film about this age group going missing and not being the brightest? Exactly. That is how I believe it targets them because since it uses a controversial representation of their generation, they will be more enticed to interact with my production, even if it is via diatribes and what not.

ooos and aaas

    Not only will my take on representation cause our target audience to engage with the film but it will also be fantastic for film marketing!

Ad break (The purple mango tree wallpaper factory)

Wow now I'm really enticed to wallpaper my studio! Moving on, I'm sure you guys have heard about the oncoming Film Festival at Cypress Bay Highschool. This is possibly the smartest way for me and my team to get the film out there since the event will be crowded with our target audience. We talked about why we're distributing our film originally in a festival and honestly, it's because I'm not famous yet... I know it's crazy but yeah, I can't afford to drop a lot of money to have it shown in theaters and things like that. Even so, after a week of the premiere at the festival I'm going to release it on YouTube since some people will already know about it and so it won't be unknown.