How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
I'll split this post up into three parts to make it easy to navigate (mostly for myself)
- Software
- Hardware
- Online
Question 3 time! Since I've already explained my video ideas (that might need to get changed due to my Sunday rehearsal getting cut short), I will just get straight into the question!
How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Now let me say, they developed a LOT. For starters, I went into the project clueless. Barely any filming experience other than past group projects from this class, and even with those I had group members to help me out. I was really nervous! I really locked in when it came to research, so the filming at a point came easy to me. I learned a lot about filming techniques and how important behind the scenes aspects of film are during this project, too. I had a LOT of lighting techniques I utilized for the film since I needed it to have very specific looks most of the time.
On top of this, my skill that improved the MOST was definitely my editing skills. When I say I COULD NOT EDIT before this project I am not lying. And even during the process of this I would've said it too, but somehow I just started playing around with the buttons and figured it all out. I'd say my film opening came together really well with the editing I did. My friends who took AICE Media in the past gave me a ton of tips, like how to make text fade in and out, or how to make the audio seamlessly flow into the next clip. All of these tips came out to be super useful to the final product, and I'm super proud of how it turned out. If you were to check back at my editing timeline from before learning all of this and now, you would see a MAJOR difference in me just incorporating more techniques into the film.
Now that I'm researching for the second question, I want to have my second CCR video idea too. I was thinking about splitting it up to be 1&3 then 2&4 since I know some of the questions will take longer for me to answer.
How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
First of all, my film's target audience is definitely Gen Z. Knowing how they are evolving with technology, social media would definitely be a good way to engage with my audiences. Having an Instagram and a TikTok account just for the film would be a great way to promote, and then actively reply to fans. Another thing I would do to engage with audiences that I see often online would be having the cast members do Q&As on social media sites such as YouTube to have some sort of interaction with viewers. I would definitely also post a bunch of behind the scenes on these sites to make the filming process feel more relatable to audiences. In my research, if a viewer feels as though they could connect to a piece of media, they are more likely to continue to come back to those works. This will help me a strong fanbase through these methods.
As for distribution, first thing I would do is release it in local movie theatres. Locally, this would be big for me, and in any given city if the right people showed up to the screenings it could be huge. Next I would post it for free on YouTube (with ads). After gaining profit and some recognition through this, I would contact a few streaming platforms to see if I could get it licensed to be streamed on those. Of course, I only think that part would be successful if my film got a lot of attention through my first few distribution strategies. I would also create a lot of overall hype around the film through releasing promotional trailers or clips of the movie, so that I will be more successful in the distribution part.
Today we did our second group meeting! We discussed everything about our films production and such, and I got a lot of great feedback from the group that will definitely help my project improve!
The first person to present her film was Brynn. She had trouble coming up with a film name so we had given her some suggestions. What we settled on for her was "20 Questions" since the film is a Romcom about a girl getting a mysterious message from a boy in her math class asking to play 20 questions. The film is shot in her house and she mostly focused on using lighting to convey meaning in the opening. She said the film is meant to represent girlhood and femininity. She is also filming her CCRs today which is ahead of the rest of our group!Now for answering the first question, how does my product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
First let's discuss genre conventions. My film had utilized a multitude of genre conventions considering Psychological Dramas. First of all, all of the films I have seen in this genre also take the approach of specific color schemes to make the main character specifically stand out. A good example of this (Like I had mentioned before) would be The Joker. I had also taken a lot of inspiration from the opening credits of films like these (ex. Whiplash). Though, I had challenged some conventions, too. The main thing I had challenged was the main character being the protagonist. In my film, the main character is actually the antagonist of the film, even though that isn't specifically brought up in the opening. I had also made the psychological issue of the main character something a lot more abstract (I mean, I don't think films usually have a clown that only one person can see putting tape over people mouths...) But in all seriousness, I think I stuck to the genre pretty well, even though I took a bunch of my own creative liberties with it too.
The next part of this question is representation, and that is a big one for me and this film. I had specifically planned out for the two main characters to represent a new oppressive government and revolution. Though, it's a bit hard to make that clear within the opening. The whole concept of the film itself is representing how some countries take away freedom of speech for their citizens. The whole point of the silencing is how Charles, the 'new government', doesn't listen to things he doesn't want to hear. There is slightly more to it than that though. While that description is baseline, I could honestly argue instead of it showing Charles not listening, it shows Charles genuinely not allowing that person to express that idea anymore after they speak out against him. This is why within the opening I show Jackson, the revolution, rip his tape off. Some people will put their lives, or in the case of the film friendships, on the line to actually be able to voice their opinion. While the film itself may have a less serious tone, it represents a much larger issue.
Finally it's time to edit! As I've most likely mentioned before, I'm still relatively new to editing, so this has been a challenge for me the past few days. Figuring out everything on my own was super difficult for me, but I'm glad I got it done. To edit this film, I used Adobe Premiere Pro.
For the sake of my project, I had watched a ton of tutorials on YouTube for more techniques than just basic ones. My top concern was the final clip of the opening with all the overlapping audio and video. Luckily, I was able to figure it all out with the tutorials. Since a lot of this film is back and forth between the actors, I definitely utilized shot-reverse shots a lot here. While doing this, I filmed in the exact spot one character was while I filmed the other one as they both would say their lines that come before and after each other. This made editing a lot easier for me, too, since I didn't have to cut out unnecessary silence in the beginnings and ends of clips.
Today was filming day! FINALLY all my actors were available to film! Luckily, school wasn't an issue today since all my actors were able to come at the same time after school and they were so easy to work with it was so quick! Jumping into filming from weeks and weeks of planning was honestly a bit stressful. Thankfully, my actors made it so much easier. They all gave me their input on some of the acting choices and really made the characters their own.
My actors also made the whole process super quick since all of them do theatre outside of this film. They really knew how to understand the characters and also memorize their lines. Of course, we still had some slip ups here and there, but it made the whole filming process a lot more bearable. Not saying I hated it, but it took a lot of stress off me since they made it feel more like a hangout with my friends while still taking it seriously.
Finally, the last CCR question! You know the drill, since I already explained my filming ideas I'll just get right into the questi...