Creative Critical Reflection

Final creative critical reflection videos:

Questions 1 & 2: CRR #1

Questions 3 & 4: CCR #2

Film Opening

Hope you guys enjoy the finished result of our hard work!

Project Link:

Film Opening

Editing Timeline

 Bloggggggg! Our project is finally done. Here is a picture of the final editing timeline.

I would like to thank my partner Anabelle and everyone who has supported me throughout this journey. Hope you guys enjoyed sharing this experience with me. And like always, until next time!

CCR script

Video 1:

BLOOOOOG! I'M IN MADRIDDDDD! So nice to see you guys again. And now you guys can see my face now. (sound effects).

Today I will be reflecting on my portfolio project in which I have been working with Annabelle Lopez. Welcome to the video where I will be discussing my new opening scene from "Breakaway". Breakaway is about a teenage couple with a life of robbery and mischief who finally have caught them selves to be in a pickle (laughing background). Our project has been heavily inspired my movies like Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Ghosted which includes the obvious use of a couple in the movie opening. The characters can be interpreted as a rebellious representation of teenagers that take their actions to an extent. The film also includes moments of regret which can symbolize the indecisiveness that teenagers have nowadays. This approach to a film can be bring an interesting perspective to the action and romance drama since it includes an abnormal teenage perspective.

Our film is targeted to girls and boys who are in the age range of 12-18 years old but it could be a movie for all ages. The audience is given a series of shots mostly without dialogue in order to enhance the visuals of the scene. We chose to introduce the context of the movie in the opening scene in order to have the scenes we had in mind displayed on the big screen. The goal for this opening is to get the audience on the edge of their seat throughout the whole opening by displaying shots of action and suspense. Moreover, we plan on using big social media apps like YouTube and Instagram to distribute our product since they are both social media apps that are easy for our target audience to access. The percentage of Instagram users that are ages 13-24 is over 38% giving the growth in distribution a big chance to reach most of those users

Video 2:

Moving on, this project has shown me how much I have grown since the very start of this course. I came into the class without knowing how to edit or how to properly film an opening scene. Blogging and researching has been the highlight of this course giving me a wide range of options to use through out my project. For this CCR I edited all by myself with some help from my partner Anabelle. What made this project so easy was how well we did the pre production phase. After planning the whole production behind strict goals, the filming phase ended up being extremely smooth and fast.

Lastly, the resources I used a long the way were extremely helpful in order to make this project great. The main piece of software was Blogger. Blogger made it so easy to blog and keep track of all my research in one space, while also making it fun to interact with some people through out my journey. I used websites like pixabay and freesound to get royalty free sound effects and music. To edit I used adobe premier pro which is the best editing software in the planet. No doubt about it. The GOAT. And for my research I used websites like studio binder which surprised me how much it helped, and also YouTube. And of course to make all the filming possible, I used my iPhone 14 pro to record the opening scene footage and my ccr footage. That will be it for my Critical Creative Reflection, Thank you for watching.

Developing CCR question responses

    Hello blog! Today I will be sharing my process of brainstorming and developing the commentary on my CCR.

Video 1:

Question 1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Answer will include:

• Characters represent teenagers deeply in love
• Displays the rebellious side of teenagers
• Shows a theme of "Bad actions will catch up to you one day"
• Reminiscing scenes may represent teenagers that regret their actions and wish for a better life. 

Question 2: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Answer will include: 

• It will be marketed through social media apps
• Posters will be hung around busy places
• It will be in screen all over time square
• Audience will be able to buy merch
• Actors and director staff meet and greets

Video 2:

Question 3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Answer will include:

• Editing Skills
• Camera shots improved from research
• Pre-production research and preparation
• Blogging
• Plot development

Question 4: How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Answer will include: 

• Adobe premiere
• Pixabay.com
• Blogger.com
• You tube
• Studio Binder
• iPhone
• freesound.org

    

Well blog, that will be it for today. Tomorrow I will be developing the script that I will be using for my CCR which will be recorded on Wednesday. So excited to be finishing this project soon with you guys. Until next time!

Filming

 

    Hello blog! I have finally finished the filming for my project and me and Anabelle will be moving on to the editing phase soon. Filming went just as how we planned it in the pre-production phase. The techniques that I wished to deliver were filmed just the way I desired it. The story board and the shot list were key to this process and made it a lot smoother than normal. And as promised, here are some pictures of the filming locations and some of the shots.

    

    Hope you guys enjoyed this amazing step. The next large step will be editing. Hope to finish the project as soon as possible. Once again, thank you guys for your time. Until next time!

 

Choosing the right music

     Hello blog! During this post I will discuss the process that I went through in order to choose the right music that should be in the final production. I was searching for an intense track that would get blood pumping through out the audience. I believe that this element would give the last touch of perfection to the piece. For the following music tracks, I used a website called Pixabay which includes the royalty free music that I need. 

For the action scene, I am looking forward to use this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fb1kE_o9U4

    This song has the right tone of urgency and intensity that I want to take place while the thieves are running from the police. 

For the nostalgic scene, I will be using this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUMNLoFu89Q

    This song is the perfect fit for what I am looking to have in the memory of my project.

    After deep research in music, I finally am happy with the songs I have chosen. I will start filming today and hope to get it done by tomorrow. Until next time!

Script

     Hello blog! The script is finally finished!!! Me and Anabelle put our best effort into this script and are even more excited to start filming in these next few days. Hope you are just as excited as us to begin the best part of the project.

https://www.celtx.com/a/ux/scripteditor?id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.celtx.com%2Ffeeds%2Fdefault%2Fprivate%2Ffull%2Ff65d9fa4e80c66b2f4f32525f0245ed889ac94aj#noreload

Title Font

     As I type this post I began to wonder why the font is so important. I have little to no knowledge on why tittle fonts are so important to not only the production, but also the audience. I have read a couple of articles about font psychology but I never really looked into the function of it. After I watched the video below, I finally know how to look for the font, and how to match it with my theme. 

    Since I already had some basic knowledge on font psychology and what fonts I should associate my production with, all I needed was were to look for them and how to pair it with my genre. This video introduced google and adobe fonts to me which are some tools that I will definitely be using for my project. The font will embrace the tone of the scene while representing the production as a whole. I was also interested in making the font animated like in the show Killing Eve. The drop of blood used in the font does an outstanding job in emphasizing the killing aspect of the show. This technique is something that I surely consider doing since it will add some creativity to the production.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post about me researching fonts. Hope to see you guys soon!

CCR Lecture

         Hello blog! Today's class lecture involved an important lesson about what the creative critical reflection should have. During this post, I will be reviewing my notes and my advances after looking at an example of someone's critical creative reflection sample.

https://nicolexmedia.blogspot.com/2021/04/final-reflection.html

        After looking at this student's critical creative reflection, I am definitely in good hands moving forward. This student made everything in their project evidently clear to the audience leaving zero confusion behind. Every question was answered with out getting off topic and illustrated every step of the way. The visual images and examples of her production made this sample an entertaining piece to watch while I directly took notes. I admire the technique she used to show examples from movies to demonstrate what her objective was since the beginning of the project. Although her reflection did not include much movement from her, she did a great job at not making her self look like a "talking head" while the reflection was made.

    As I overlooked this reflection, I scanned for techniques that will be useful for my ccr. Despite it not being in the video, I would like to be active while I record my self for this reflection. Some movement by me while I am explaining the process of my project will keep the audience in treat giving the production a sense of engagement. Most examples will come from my research that I did early on in the project to display what my aim was from the start. I also wanted to include some of the strategies this student made to explain their process of distribution. This student included websites, news stories, and social media posts to gain information on human trafficking in order to find out where and how this type of content is spread.

    This post was something I needed desperately. This sample viewing gave me the guidance that I was looking for in order to achieve my checklist. As I develop my production and begin my ccr, I will definitely come back to this post to review the techniques used in this sample and incorporate some of them into my reflection. Happy to see you guys again blog. Until next time!

Shot list

     Hello blog! The next step in finishing our pre-production phase is the shot list. Me and my partner were not informed in how to make a shot list so we looked through some possible articles that could help us achieve this task.

https://www.techsmith.com/blog/shot-list/

    The link above gave me all the information needed to start my upcoming shot list. I am a fan of this technique since it will help me keep my production in place without any surprise mix ups. Although a shot list isn't a complex document, it will help the process of filming much easier and faster.

    Bellow is the following shot list that me and my partner have developed:

Shot 1 - (MS, low angle, static) Doors swing open as the couple runs away from cops

Shot 2 - (LS, eye level, pan) couple continues to run out

Shot 3 - (LS, high angle, static) couple finally at peace in an abandoned hallway 

Shot 4 - (Zoom in) into the male's head to commence a flashback

FLASHBACK:

Shot 5 - (LS, eye level, hand held) couple happy at the beach

Shot 6 - (Close up, POV) all the luxurious stolen items

Shot 7- (LS, eye level, handheld) couple jokingly flirting while playing around with the items

Shot 8 - (Close up, POV) male smiling in love

Shot 9 - (Close up, POV) female smiling in love

Shot 10 - (LS, eye level, tilt up) couple running into ocean

Shot 11 - (Zoom out) of males head to end flash back

BACK TO REAL TIME:

Shot 12 - (LS, eye level, pan) Couple hiding as cops look around

Shot 13 - Title shot

Shot 14 - (Close up, eye level, handheld) male freaking out as he worries about the situation

Shot 15 - (MS, Dutch angle, static) couple arguing

Shot 16 - (Zoom out) of hiding location

Shot 17 - (LS, birds eye view, zoom out) of parking lot

Storyboard

     Hello blog! I will be sharing my process on how I made my story board with Anabelle. I will be going over our obstacles while making it as well as our advances. 

    Making a story board gives a clear vision to any production as it sketches the ideas you want in your final production. As i started creating the story board with my partner, my drawings weren't matching my expectations and I wasn't drawing what I wanted. After a lot of brainstorming and thinking of how we can come up with my opening scene, we finally began to work smoothly. Thank you for listening to me today blog! Now I will show you my story board.

file:///C:/Users/helio/OneDrive/Documents/Helio%20Ignacio%20Jr/AICE/Media/Portfolio%20project%20Story%20Board.pdf

    That is gonna be it for today blog, hope you enjoyed. Until next time!

Mise-en-scene elements

    Hello blog! It is nice to see you again this week. I have done my needed research in order to create my mise-en-scene elements for this project, and I am extremely excited to share. Before anything is shared, I want to take you through my process of developing the right elements in order to create the best possible scene.

    This video by StudioBinder helped me out a lo in the process of choosing what mise-en-scene elements I need for my project. this video went into depth and also stated all the different elements that should be considered while developing the mise-en-scene. Some of the examples in this video used by directors showed me a wide view of the many different options and possibilities that I have while developing these elements.   This video made me realize that mise-en-scene has to be included in every single shot that is made during filming. This means that I will have to do some more research on lighting, sound, and possibly more research on props.

    Moving on to my project, I am planning to have fake jewelers and money as the main props due to the presence of burglars. The use of jewelry, gold, and money will help the audience understand what the thieves are interested in stealing. As I mentioned in a past post, I am planning to use two different lightings for the two different settings I will be filming in. The lighting will be a key role in emphasizing the tone of both sceneries as well as the importance of one scene to the other scene. The mise-en-scene for the characters while they are on the run won't be too complex. The characters will be wearing all black for stealth, and carrying backpacks to carry what they are stealing.

    All in all, this was a major step in the right direction to make this project the best. We are coming to an end of the research phase and we will soon start filming blog! However, we still need a few more things before we start the magic, but anyways, until next time!   

Project schedule pt. 2

    Hello blog! According to our schedule at the beginning of this project, we should've finished all of our planning components and started filming the opening scene. This extra week of planning did move our planned schedule back but I believe that it was needed for the project.

    Our priorities next week will be to finish the script of the production so we can finalize the planning phase with the shot list and story board. Finishing these upcoming tasks will take some work but we will use all the time that we have next week to finish in order to begin filming.

    As this post is coming to an end, I wanted to take the time and address the topic of the next upcoming blog post on mise-en-scene elements. The final tweaks to the mise-en-scene elements will perfect the story line that we have laid out and will give the production the spices it needs. Lastly, it was great to keep in touch with you blog. Until next time!

Location scouting

     Hello blog! Today's blog post will be about where we will be filming our production. I have been thinking about all the places that could possibly fit the mood for the feeling of the production and I think we have finally found it.

    

    This video helped me out a lot as it gave me the format that I should use for a checklist while I am looking for a location. After researching the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), I have noticed that most action and confrontation scenes take place in a night environment with dark toned lighting. After the tips I received from the group meeting in class, I have decided to follow up with the heavy influence that the color will have on the production. After taking all of the options that we had in mind, I believe that we have finally made a decision on where we would like to film.

    Our final location will take place outside a the AMC movie theater in the plaza that it is located. That plaza has little lighting, cramped spaces, and a cool alley way that I think can be a useful component for our production. I plan to get most of our filming done there since the majority of the shots will take place at that location. The rest of the shots will be a happy memory of the couple so it will have to take place in a place with ambient lighting and vibrant colors. For the memory scene I was planning on shooting the scene at a beach. The beach juxtaposes the dark plaza and will most likely create the delightful tone that we are looking for.

    To wrap up this post, I am looking forward to start developing the story board and shot list of the production. Every post we keep getting closer and closer to filming and I can't wait. Anyways, it was amazing to talk to you again blog. Until next time! 

Group meeting

     Hello blog! In today's class, I had a meeting with a group of my classmates about our progress in our projects so far. This was definitely helpful in order to move in the successful path on our next objective. 

    I was impressed by the work and dedication Victoria and her partner have put into the project so far. I learned a lot from her project and will for sure consider some of the approaches that she is using to establish context and show the credits. She is interested in inserting a montage of clips to establish content which may fit into me and Anabelle's idea of establishing context throughout out opening scene. We also began to consider the idea of starting a part of the movie after the credits and the title is shown in order to not show the title of the movie as the last shot of the production.

    In addition, I felt extremely comfortable explaining my project to my group while I received some of the best feedback and guidance that I have been waiting to hear. As I pitched my idea of a runaway couple fleeing the police, my classmates were hooked on to my Idea but they noticed that it lacked depth. I told them about my ideas of what I was thinking to add to make the opening scene more interesting and they helped me shape it into a better form. My aim was to show a contrast in tones through out the chase scene to show a sense of a regretful tone while they are being chased by the cops. The idea that I ended up going with was showing a comforting memory of the couple in a place where they would rather be while they are being chased by the cops. Lastly, another good tip i received from another one of my classmates was to use a police siren as a sound bridge as I switch between real time and the memory of the robbers.

    As I come to end with this post, I just wanted to say that this group meeting was something I needed for my project and I also had some fun giving advice to some of my classmates. Anyways, I will see you soon blog. Until next time!

How will I develop my script?

    Good evening blog! Today's post I will talk about how my script will be written and what we have came up with so far.

    I have never scripted a movie scene in my life and creative writing has never been one of my academic strengths in my school career. I was extremely confused on how and where to start so I obviously hit up YouTube for some advice. This video did an immense amount of help in teaching me the beginner tips on scripting. It also helped me think of what scenes and what type of dialogue will be used during my opening scene.

     This video helped me brainstorm ideas for the production while also adding a conflict to my story. A possibility for the storyline may be a police chase which will use majority off camera (O.C.) and off screen (O.S.) dialogue. This technique of dialogue will turn the focus of the film to be the runaway thief who is on camera. I am hoping that the use of this technique will enhance the emotions and the visual sensations of the character who is being shown on camera. The scene that I have developed in my head so far involves an outside setting and a lot of camera tracking since it is a chase scene.

    Well blog that will be it for today. Thank you for your attention and I will see you later this week!

    

 

Developing our storyline

    Hellooooo! I am excited to be starting one of the most important stages of my project which is the planning stage. During this post I will discussing the storyline that me and Anabelle are most likely going to use.

    Due to our action genre, we have to create an attention grabbing story that will guarantee that the audience will be interested in our production. I found an article that helped us enrich the most out of our genre and have a large connection with our character and context approaches. We ran into many dead ends throughout our brainstorming process but we the article helped us think through and get our final decision. Our final decision will be based on a romantic runaway thieves who are currently being chased by the police. 

https://raindance.org/how-to-write-a-story-for-film/

    I did some research on movies that I was recommended on and decided to take a deeper look into these productions. One of the productions was Ghosted (2023) starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. This film involves the same mashup that we were looking for and it also gave us great ideas to use on our film. Some of the scenes will be extremely hard for us to attempt them but we will avoid any scenes with massive special effects that we can not add to our shots. I was entertained by the intensity of the gunfight scenes and I will definitely try to get some techniques from the chasing scenes.

    The other movie I think is easier to base of off because it has less editing difficulties and is based more on camera movement. The second movie is Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)  starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The chase scenes in this movie seemed a lot simpler and were fully done using camera movement techniques. The movie used a series of fast pans and also many tracking shots that follow the overall motion of the scene. However, the gunfight action looks simpler in this movie and I don't think I will be using much of it through out my opening scene.

    That was it for today's post. Thank you for your attention blog. Until next time!

Introducing context

    Hello blog! I have great news to begin this post with and I am stunned to announce that me and my partner Anabelle are advancing with the action movie approach.

    We are aware that this will be a rough path but we are willing to do the extra work to make this project the highlight of my Junior year. We will pair the action movie genre with a technique using context and character development. Previously on my blog, I was planning on developing tone instead of establishing the context, but after a lengthy talk with my partner, we agreed to move on with building up the context from the beginning. After reviewing the videos and articles that we included on previous posts, we reflected that developing the tone will not draw our audience to the production. Context is what sets up the film and is what the audience wants at the start of the movie, to be entertained from start to finish. 

    We have been having some trouble on applying these techniques to a storyline that will fit in well with the two approaches. we have developed one idea but we are not sure if this will be our final decision for the production. Me and my partner where brainstorming a film including two lovers who are runaway thieves searching to be out of the police's sight. By showing an intense situation at the start of the movie, the audience will have enough information to know the base of the film and start filling up the puzzle of how the characters will be all throughout the movie. 

    Moreover, we are extremely excited to be making progress and to be reflecting on our previous ideas to take advantage of every opportunity that is given to us. However, we have a ton of planning ahead of us these next few days and we will use it to keep advancing through this journey. That was it for today blog, catch you guys later!

Project Schedule

     Good evening blog. I am back today to explain me and my partner's strict schedule for the next upcoming weeks.

    To start, most of our research phase is done and now we will move on to the pre-production phase next week. Me and Anabelle will be focusing on our story board and shot list this coming week taking one task at a time. We will be sure to take our time with this project and dedicate time and effort to make this project one of the best that this program will ever see. After we are done planning our production, we will scan all our options of where we will be filming our project. After that is done we will be in the last, but long straight of our goal. 

    Week 5: We will initiate our filming while we follow our planned schedule and use all of our planned mise-en-scene elements that we will have planned before hand.

    Week 6 and 7: These two weeks we will focus on making the perfect project to submit and we will make sure to put in an immense amount of time in the post-production.

    Week 8 and 9: The final two weeks will be dedicated to our last blog posts and the creative critical reflection task.

    Evidently, the upcoming weeks will be a handful for us but we will make sure to make this project special. That will be it for today blog. Until next time!