Creative critical reflection

 

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My product challenges my genre convention. Our genre being military fiction, our product does not abide by the genre convention. Movies that abide by it are Dunkirk, Schindler's list, and Saving Private Ryan (insert pictures of movie covers). My story is not similar. The plot does not revolve around war. It circulates around society and its government. My story also represents the social group of the military, as well as representing the societal issues that some people have in the real world in relations to the government.

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

My partner and I decided on our target audience as middle-aged men. We decided the military would be the common interest for our audience. For our production choices, we used a real JROTC uniform for our main character to attract that common interest in our target audience. The speech at the beginning of our film opening is there to grab the attention of the viewer. It fits in the line of common interest of middle-aged men. The speech does not take up that much time on the film opening either, so their attention will not waiver. It would be distributed through theaters and film festivals as as real media text.

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

At first my production skills were nothing compared to what they are now. Over the course of this project my editing skills have developed immensely. Before, I didn't know how to edit correctly without losing files, but now I have developed the knowledge to prevent any drastic issues from taking place during the course of my editing process. In previous projects I had the task of editing and I had to teach myself how to work Adobe Premiere Pro because I had no knowledge of how it's used. That experience led me to manipulate it better this time for the portfolio project. I discovered how to place text on videos through Adobe Premiere Pro for my credits. After exploring it a bit I got the hang of it.

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

I integrated technologies by using blogger to document the whole process and development of my portfolio project. Blogger was also great for planning and brainstorming ideas. For the script of our project we used Celtx (insert photo of script on Celtx). To film, we used an iPhone camera on a tripod (insert photo of tripod). For the lighting in one of our scenes we used the light of my closet door to create the lighting we desired (insert scene). As for my editing tools, I utilized Adobe Premiere Pro to edit together the entire project. 

Interview

Self- Interview

Day 21

 CCR Script

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My product challenges my genre convention. Our genre being military fiction, our product does not abide by the genre convention. Movies that abide by it are Dunkirk, Schindler's list, and Saving Private Ryan (insert pictures of movie covers). My story is not similar. The plot does not revolve around war. It circulates around society and its government. My story also represents the social group of the military, as well as representing the societal issues that some people have in the real world in relations to the government.

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

My partner and I decided on our target audience as middle-aged men. We decided the military would be the common interest for our audience. For our production choices, we used a real JROTC uniform for our main character to attract that common interest in our target audience. The speech at the beginning of our film opening is there to grab the attention of the viewer. It fits in the line of common interest of middle-aged men. The speech does not take up that much time on the film opening either, so their attention will not waiver. It would be distributed through theaters and film festivals as as real media text.

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

At first my production skills were nothing compared to what they are now. Over the course of this project my editing skills have developed immensely. Before, I didn't know how to edit correctly without losing files, but now I have developed the knowledge to prevent any drastic issues from taking place during the course of my editing process. In previous projects I had the task of editing and I had to teach myself how to work Adobe Premiere Pro because I had no knowledge of how it's used. That experience led me to manipulate it better this time for the portfolio project. I discovered how to place text on videos through Adobe Premiere Pro for my credits. After exploring it a bit I got the hang of it.

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

I integrated technologies by using blogger to document the whole process and development of my portfolio project. Blogger was also great for planning and brainstorming ideas. For the script of our project we used Celtx (insert photo of script on Celtx). To film, we used an iPhone camera on a tripod (insert photo of tripod). For the lighting in one of our scenes we used the light of my closet door to create the lighting we desired (insert scene). As for my editing tools, I utilized Adobe Premiere Pro to edit together the entire project. 

Film Opening

 I have finally produced the final result of my film opening! Here it is, I hope you enjoy!

Monarch

Day 20

 Editing

Today I successfully figured out how to edit in text into my scenes. So, I wrote in the credits throughout our morning montage. For the credits I tried to use a similar font to the main title and color. To constantly represent the theme of yellow during the montage. I also used freesound.org for sounds that I can add in for some more effect. I added in Clair De Lune by Debussy for the morning montage. I also added in an audio that would rise up the tension. I think it adds a great effect to the speech and the words of our speaker. I tried experimenting with stings for the title screen but it just didn't feel right so I just removed the idea of there being a sting there. It just doesn't really fit. This is the Sting I tried using because I liked how it sounded, it was a cool sting. However, after actually placing into my sequence I didn't like how it sounded. Editing has been a stressful process because I have been doing this entire process on an old computer so it's very slow and hard to be patient with. Though, the finish line is really close so I'm putting up with it as hard as I can. I also added in a standing ovation audio at the very beginning of the opening when our speaker is going up the stairs and onto the stage. It really brings it all together, I love how it's turning out. At the beginning of my editing work today I had to fix the media offline issue by moving the MP4 files into a separate folder on the computer. Luckily it wasn't too difficult to fix. 

Day 19

 Obstacles

So, while I was trying to obtain a photo of my progress for editing today Adobe Premiere Pro told me that my media was offline. Which is a situation I have to take care of tomorrow. I got nervous at first but realized what the problem was. It says media offline because I transferred the files to my USB so the files are no longer on the computer where I have Adobe on. So my mistake. I didn't really think of that since I'm kind of a newbie, but now I know for next time! 

Another obstacle that's kind of stressing me out is that Alec has yet to send me the audio he wants to use for the morning montage. I desperately need it to finish the editing process so I can export. All I need is that and to edit in the credits. My plan is to completely finish editing tomorrow and start my CCR tomorrow. Then, on Tuesday I'll finish editing and export both projects and submit successfully. It can definitely be done. I just actually have to put in the work to finish. I really hope there aren't any more problems in that span of time so that my plan can run smoothly.

Day 18

 Editing 

Today I started editing! I tried my best to include all the scenes we took in the two minute span that we're provided. However, while I was editing I realized that we had too much footage. Originally there was supposed to be scenes shot in the outside area of my house in the film opening.

All outside scenes

But, the two minute mark caught up to me when I hadn't really gotten to one of our important shots. So, in order to make it work I had to cut some shots shorter than they were originally intended to be. For example, I had to cut the very first scene short by removing the part where our actor is walking up the stage because it took away valuable seconds that could be used on other shots we took.

Scene I had to cut short

When I first started editing I did have some trouble importing my files. I made sure that they were all already in MP4 file format. Luckily, I downloaded them from my google photos account so they were automatically converted into MP4 files. So that definitely made my life easier. When they were put into MP4 files they were automatically placed in a compressed file, and I tried moving that file into a USB I have where I keep all my online projects. I returned to Adobe to try to import but the files were no where to be found. So at that point I started stressing, but eventually I realized that the only way I could successfully import them from my USB would be by individually taking each download and placing into the USB file. It took me a bit, but I eventually got all 24 shots imported into Adobe. It always takes me a couple minutes to rediscover how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, but I usually get a hang of it. Which is exactly what I did! In the span of about two hours I placed all the scenes I could fit into a two minute sequence. I kept the sound for the speech part of the film opening but I removed the sound for the rest. Because me and Alec agreed to play some music over that part while the credits are playing on the screen during the morning montage.

I think I did a good job at organizing the files and keeping them in one place, and at successfully cutting and putting all the shots we did together. Editing is pretty easy once you understand how Adobe works. I do wish that I had already gotten a hang of Adobe beforehand so I could have worked faster on bringing the film opening together.

Day 17

 Obstacles

    We had set the date for filming on Tuesday at 2:00 pm. However, the day of my mom had told me that my aunt was coming to visit so, we had to reschedule to Wednesday at 4:00 pm. On Wednesday we successfully finished all of the scenes. Which makes me so relieved because we're running out of time to finish. We used my sister, a JROTC cadet, for our main character. So, we basically changed the gender of our character last minute. I was in charge of helping with mis-en-scene and a little bit of costume design. For the mis-en-scene I fixed up my bedroom to look less girly and more serious in a way. Because my room had lego figures of cats and a lot of plushies on the bed. So, to match the personality of our character I removed all of that stuff and made everything look more simpler and less exciting:

Before, and After

We filmed the whole montage of our main character getting ready in my room, in the upstairs part of my house. For the rest of the scenes we used the cul de sac that's right in front of my house and my staircase. As for the costume design I picked out what pajamas my sister would be wearing for the morning scene. I picked out a matching set of blue pajamas on purpose. Blue is meant to represent intelligence, loyalty, and sadness. Which displays what our character normally feels. For the next outfit, I had to pick out something that would allow for her to look as if she had actually just gone out of the shower. 

Outfit for towel scene

So, when she wrapped the towel around herself it looked legit. I also made sure that the tube top wasn't showing on her back. I think I did a decent job at costume design and mis-en-scene. It helped develop the scenes pretty nicely. I'm very happy with the outcome!