Final Task: Creative Critical Reflection

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues? 

Script:

The first question here is “how does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?”  

In response to the first part of the question I would say:  

  This product utilizes common conventions in horror movies. Examples of this include the camera angles, shots, movements, editing, and sound. The movie was mainly based around wide shots, POV shots, over the shoulder shots like the one that you see here in the right corner, and extreme close-ups. The editing incorporated many fade ins to add suspense and create an uneasy atmosphere, directed towards the audience. This is to ensure that watchers are engaged, and almost feel as if they are in the movie. The daunting music also added to the desired sensation. The main character was vividly distraught throughout the entire movie. With this, one can expect that something bad or unforeseen is going to happen and keeps them around until it does. For the so-called normal characters, like the mother, daughter, and news reporters, costumes were on the normal side, t shirts and pants. But, for the “killer” dark clothing, and a hood were used. In turn, all the characters were distinct, and no plot twists were thrown. Which is usually typical for a horror movie, leading me into how and why our group chose to challenge what you would normally see, opting out of some of the common conventions. To start, we avoided gore, e.g. fake blood, murder, and anything that could be interpreted as such. Though horror, this product is aimed at audiences of all ages, and in order to do this, gore was ruled out. Similarly, props like chain saws and knives were not included. The purpose of this is solely to keep a friendly audience.  

Now addressing the second part of the question, which to re state was “how does it represent social groups and issues” 

  The product targets both groups and issues within the realm of sleeping disorders. Especially in this younger generation, more and more teenagers and young adults are getting diagnosed. Some may even call these life-threatening, as a few popularized deaths are surrounding sleep disorders. As mentioned above, it is acceptable to all audiences. However, it has a different meaning for each viewer.  Many are watching it for pure entertainment while for some, it may be comforting, or quite the opposite, to realize they are not alone.  

Thank you for watching my video and in the next one I will cover question 2! 

2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text? 

Script:

• *Rolling in 3, 2 ,1*

Talk Show Host (me): Welcome to the CCR talk show, where we answer your questions. For this next one, we are bringing on a guest speaker randomly chosen from our audience. Her name is Molly! Molly, why don’t you come up here and join us with your question.  

    *Molly comes up, everyone gives her a round of applause*  

Talk Show Host (me): Alright Molly, please read your question.  

Molly: Off the flashcard “How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?”  

Talk Show Host (me): For short, no one wants a boring movie. The audience wants to be on their toes, anticipating something, but something unknown. They don’t know when they are going to jump or scream. But that's the fun in it. And let's just say our video achieves just that. One way we managed to do this was our careful music choice. We wanted a sound that not only built suspense till the climax, but also tricked the audience. It would climb then fall, then shoot right to a scare. Keeping the audience off balance was the key to making sure they were never bored. Some humorous aspects were also added, intentionally and unintentionally, but that is what makes it unique. After all, our actors were teenagers, which made it perfect for lightening the atmosphere. While no one wants a boring movie, at the same time no one wants one that is scary for its entirety. Our product also built a plot of its own, which could be interpreted differently for each viewer? Was the main character stuck in a dream, was it real, or the most common conspiracy we heard was she psychotic and on meds? Yes, crazy right. These opinions lead to discussions, advertising our movie. As more and more talk about it, more and more become interested. As a real media text, this would be a movie series. With this kind of plot, more and more could be added, to describe what has happened previously, or in the future. It would be available on common streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Only the first movie would be shown in theaters, the others, are strictly on these sites. This is so that our main source of advertisement comes from the first movie. Once someone is left off on a cliffhanger, they want to know what comes next. This is also so it is available all day every day, and there will be no wait. These movies come out at the same time the first movie will come out. This is to ensure that the other ones are watched. Sometimes when a company makes you wait forever to see the next part, you loose interest and they loose money.  

I hope that answered your question. Thank you for joining us today and we will see you next time! 

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Script: 

With the next question of our series: AS Media Studies Critical Creative reflection being, drum roll please...” How did your production skills develop throughout this project?” 

  I would say I went from zero to hero. Starting off, yes even on the final task, my production skills were close to useless. However, it did not take long to realize how vital these would be. I was not playing the main character, like on my last few projects. Meaning I was behind the camera a lot more. Specifically filming and directing. I ended up writing the script, and to my team members I needed to be very clear on what I was trying to achieve with it. While filming I learned more and more about camera angles, movements, and shots. For example, which ones went with each scenes, or how to incorporate them without making it seem chalky or forced. I ended up getting the hang of it, obviously with the help of my team members. Directing wise, I was experienced, however I did struggle with how I addressed certain situations. My patience wasn’t all there, but progressed tremendously. On camera was a different story. From the start, I was what some call a “natural”. Just kidding I wasn’t that good, but it was much better. My lines were memorized, so I wasn’t having to look on a phone or piece of paper. With this I did struggle not looking directly into the camera. Which ended up costing us a few takes, but I got more comfortable. Like I mentioned in one of the previous questions, all of the actors were teenagers, so sometimes it got very unserious. I was one responsible for this. I loved to joke around and laugh when someone looked at me funny or said a word or two wrong. But, with the limited time, I did realize that this was not the place or the time for that. So, I put that to the side and took filming very seriously. Speaking about time, my time management was by far one of the worse out of the group. Constant breaks were taken, which in the end hurt a lot because there was already a limited filming schedule between sports and other classes. It took about 2 weeks until the project was due for me to realize this needed to be addressed and the procrastination needed to be stopped. Luckily for me, I was able to turn it around rather quickly. Once this was complete, on other projects whatever was planned to be done at a certain time was we done. No questions asked. Probably the biggest adjustment in skill I made was the editing. I had no clue how to use iMovie or other apps, but I had to figure it out. To make it work I watched countless YouTube videos, asked friends for help, and researched a ton. Slowly but surely, I was making progress. By the end of it, I knew the basics and even some complicated transitions and imports. Overall, I owe it to this project for my current production skills which I able fortunately able to import into new tasks.

4. How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, online - in this project? 

Script:

 The fourth question of the creative critical reflection is “How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? 

 Planning wise, the internet quickly became very helpful. Our entire group was rather unexperienced when it came to filming and editing. Luckily, YouTube was readily available. Tutorials on how to integrate high angles, low angles, sound effects, and honestly anything we had an issue with. This research went far beyond the planning stage. Throughout the entire film and after, the internet was our best friend. Both smart phones and computers were used throughout this process. To film we used an iPhone 13 camera and to edit the same phone and MacBook Air were used. Simply because both had the correct editing software and database. Meaning everything saved on each device. Creating this easy access was probably the smartest thing I could have done. All our group's schedules were packed between sports, homework, plans, and even surgery. But one thing we did have handy 24/7 was our phones. This way each one of us could get our task done in the planned time frame, no questions asked. Another piece of hardware we used was a flash drive. Although applications save all work, I did not want to risk it. So, I played it safe and put it on a hard drive. Thankfully, it did not get any use. Software wise, a few bases were used. To start, the camera app was used throughout the filming portion.  It ended up taking up a lot of storage space because of the number of shots taken. However, it did allow us to choose the best clips as there were so many options. The photos app is where this happened. An album was made with all the clips separated by scene and shared in messages with the group. Speaking about the messaging software, this is where all discussions were held outside of our meetings and filming days. With this we were able to save both time and energy. Important decisions like what music option we wanted, when we were going to post the group blog, or what day we wanted to film next were made here. All of this aside, probably the most important piece of editing used was iMovie. Everything was imported into this app into the movie section. Transitions were automatically placed in, but we did make some adjustments, which thankfully was rather easy to figure out. Titles were placed by us, along with the audio and any voice over we deemed necessary.  

Overall, technology was integrated into this project, including software, hardware, and online usage. I learned, adjusted, and became better. I want to thank you for watching my CCR, hopefully you learned something because I sure did!