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/.