Creative Critical Reflection

 

1. This film is something that is relatable to a lot of people in society. For example, in this film the main idea is for the main character (the guy) to be someone who doesn’t necessarily fit into society. He doesn’t seem like your approachable type nor your friendly type. He is a quiet kid that stands out in a group. He’s not your typical guy friend perhaps I should say. He’s the person that a lot of people would try to stay away from. Which nowadays in high school many people go through. There is always going to be that one kid that stands out even if they don’t want to. And the main point of this film is that you are the odd one out even if you don’t' want to be. 

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3. 3. Throughout the film making process, I caught someone being more open, wise, and imaginative with the way we were doing our camera shots. I came into this film thinking I was just going to film the way I wrote down in my shot log but that didn’t happen. Me and my partner ended up adding in a few new camera angles, shots, and even a scene. I started to become more open-minded about the ways we could create this film midway through the first shoot day. I realized many different stories could have been told, through different perspectives, we just needed to find the right angles.  

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   5. Finally, I would like to say I am very proud of me and my partner. The amount of work we put into making this film. I would like to say we did a fairly good job considering it was only the two of us. It was tricky I would add that, but it’s nothing that a little teamwork can’t handle. I am proud of us and the way we handled things. It was definitely something I wasn’t expecting but in a good way. Like I always say, expect the unexpected!  

Pawns in a Bigger Game

And just like that, it's over

 

We finally are down to the final cut of the film. I would say, the film making process was a little nerve wrecking considering it was my first ever film. And I was director. But it was a fun experience. I saw the film for the first time, and all I am going to say is that it amazing. It was something I was not expecting but in a good way. And since it was our first film I did not know how high our standards were suppose to be so looking at the film for the first time definitely eased my nerves. But being the cinematographer and director made me realize a lot of things about film making and the process. The amount of effort and time it takes up. Also having get the angles right and setting up the camera properly. Having to deal with the actors. And also props. It's a lot of work but it's most certainly worth it. But then getting to create such a beautiful masterpiece and being able to share that to the world is beautiful. 

Changing it up a bit

 

This is a little sneak peak of one of the shots we were trying to take. I was trying to mark on were exactly I wanted Andrew to stand which is why I took this photo. And we realized that this wall was perfect because of  the Rule of Thirds. It lines up perfectly! And funny story, this shot was not going to be taken originally. Andrew thought it was better if we didn't do the crowd shot but instead something that has to do with him being the person that "stands out".  So we decided to do a shot were he walks and stands against a wall. And how ironic is it that he is wearing mainly dark colors, and the wall be white. It makes him pop which was something we were going for. And with the crowd shot, it would of been too difficult and the audience would of been lost. The whole point of the second scene was to make Andrew stand out. Make him "known". 

The Crew

 

The crew has arrived! I am the one in the blue jacket, my best friend Isabella is the one in the white v neck shirt who happens the play the "queen",  Nicole is the one that plays the "king", and Andrew is the one that plays the "sociopath". I can say for all of us, this was a very fun experience. Something to remember. Throughout the film making process, the actors actually helped us create some shots. Mini spoiler but, there was this one shot where we had to have someone pass a white shirt in front of the camera. So we would have Isabella pass the shirt in front of the camera as quick as possible, have Nicole catch it, me duck so I wouldn't get hit in the face, and Andrew stand in front of the camera. It definitely took some team effort but we did it. And it turned out to be a very beautiful scene! 

Storyboards!!!

 

Creating storyboards were definitely something a little challenging. I like to think I have a wide imagination. So actually brainstorming film ideas wasn't that hard, but creating a story board was. I can't draw either so it made it a bit more difficult. When creating the story board I was trying my best to not overthink because the film could only be a minute long. So I had to contain myself. Also this was my first time creating a story board as well so I was trying to figure out how to do it as I was doing it. I do wish however I was a bit more specific on my drawings. For example, I wished I put some sort of indication of what camera angle we were doing. Because now looking back at it, the story board drawings are too bland and you can't really tell much based off the drawing alone. So that's something I would for sure look out for in the future.  

The Song

 

We decided to choose the song "dark red" by Steve Lacy because we thought it was a perfect fit. Two of the main reasons why we thought it was a perfect fit was because the lyrics and the type vibe it gives off. The lyrics specifically "something bad is about to happen to me" is the one that stood out to me. It really drew my attention. Because we wanted to make this film as mysterious as we can. We want the audience to expect the unexpected. Considering it's only a minute long we can't do much. So we try make it more of a imaginative type of film. Where it gets the audience thinking about what is going to happen.And also the beat of the actual song is something that catch my attention. Because if you listen to the song, it makes you feel somewhat ominous. It really puts you into this perspective of where it feels like your doing something you shouldn't. Hence the lyrics. We also didn't just want to include a random song either. We wanted our song choice to have a meaning behind it emotionally and also logically. 

Post Production

Now that we are done filming it's finally done time to start editing! I'm not the editor for this project,however my partner Andrew is. I have to give him my respect due to the amount of time he has spent working on the film trying to edit. I possibly can't thank him enough for the amount of work he has done. So thank you Andrew. Also we had to be old school with the way we uploaded the footage. Since we didn't film on a camera but rather on a phone,  I had to email him all the footage that we got so we can still have good quality footage. I didn't really do much for editing, considering it wasn't my job and also because it's not really my thing. I however did help with the song choice. The song choice was the one of the main reason why we created the film we created. 

At last, finally done

 

This photo was taken at the end of the last shoot day. Those two days of shooting were definitely something to remember. I learned a lot of things while filming and creating the film. I learned how many things can be captured in such a little amount of time. I learned how much time and effort it takes to actually create a film as well. For example, throughout the film making process at times I had lay on the ground, which happened to not be the cleanest either. And you don't realize it but there is a big amount of effort that goes into trying to switch the tripod around to get the correct camera angle. Luckily, our film wasn't very crazy, but however it was still a process trying to move around every 15 minutes to adjust the camera. I also learned how it feels to play the role of a director. It was something really fun. I just hope next time I am more prepared because at least now I know what to expect. 

Teamwork makes a dream-work

Andrew! He is my partner for this film. He is the director/editor. And so far he has done an amazing on his end. He has helped me with creating the film and bringing this film to life. I captured this photo at the end of shoot day. It started to rain so we had to stop filming. But we managed to get most of the shots done, so we aren't worried. And surprisingly since there is only two of us for this film we have done an amazing job at keeping up. Obviously it has been our first time creating a film together and I would like to say we are doing a good job. I'm proud of us and hopefully we keep up the good work!

Playing the part.

This was taken on the Thursday. I was directing and we were filming one of the last shots for a scene. We originally were going to do a establishing shot of him standing in the middle of the crowd looking at the everyone. But we decided to change it because of the time frame. The crowd shot would of been too complicated and we had limited time. So we decided to change things up. We decided to film against a white,blank,dirty wall to adds more meaning to the character. Andrew character is suppose to be someone who doesn't fit into society. He stands out. Hence the wall. And for the shot we decided to have him look into the camera but we only capture his eyes moving. Which makes things more intense. And playing director so far has been fun because I get to play around with the shots and create something interesting!