Film Opening

Here is the link to my 2 minute project film opening 

Title: Golden Escape 

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KYi3k8lGmIZpQE44OHhLGmpHvQKmQ9ef/view?usp=drivesdk

Creative Critical Reflection Videos

Here is my 2 media approaches to answering the questions of the Creative Critical Reflection! Please Enjoy and thank you for listening!

PodCast Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19A5TtB84OP3dNIh3p41--WyoXjQRKTRR/view?usp=drivesdk

YouTube Video Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2zkz1ZKcqdv9oXeasNvVBDfMth9neS0/view?usp=drivesdk

Reflection BLOG

WE MADE IT! Never thought I would get to reach this point, yet everything went so fast. You can clearly see my overwhelm and confused state. This project was a learning experience, challenged and motivated. I learned to use the tools, materials, and resources practically available and focus all of my attention to adhering to my pre planned schedule and developing organizational skills. The portfolio project was an insightful task, pushing my abilities to level I didn't know existed, way beyond comfort zones. I evoked and developed a great understanding and appreciation for the film media world.Learning skills of time management and adhering to responsibilities on a personal schedule, and how to combine prior and new information to create the 2 minute film opening.

One of the highlights of the project was undoubtedly being able to apply the knowledge I learned during the school year. For instance, filming perspectives and shots cohering and correlating with my narrative and extending my production abilities to incorporate mi-en-scene which was my absolute favorite. Selecting outfits for my character, props, hairstyle choices, all these details was super interesting and fun! For example, the brilliant idea of symbolizing the heart shaped necklace, how such a simple prop could have so much significance and importance. All these acts, steps, and detail only increase my admirable for such professions for pre existing films. Are feature and specific detail once unnoticed and unappreciated now captures and allures me. Most of all, I am extremely proud of the consistent and effective communication my partner, Camila Sanchez and I had through out the project, from start to finish. There was such an easy flow of ideas, opinions, perspectives. Establishing an open debate maintaining a collaborative environment, we listened to each others ideas, and respectfully agreed to disagree to remain equally satisfied with the project. If it weren't for the balanced responsibility, this project wouldn't have been as successful as it is now. Realizing our mistakes and making cool collaborative executive decisions for solutions. 

As wish to tell old me, starting the project fresh, is to record more footage! For future improvement, I would have rearranged my timeline schedule and planned to meet my partner more inperson during non school hours. However, ultimately I am very proud of both my partner and I because our ideas became a reality and we learned so much about ourselves and each other.

Title & Credits BLOG

Completing all aspects of editing visuals and sounds, my partner, Camila Sanchez and I took on the final stage and step of incorporating the title and credits. Taking advantage of our physical collaboration, sharing ideas and perspectives on selecting the appropriate fonts and colors was beneficial. Fortunately, during the planning and research stage a few weeks ago, Camila and I had already pre designed and narrowed the type of font desired for the initial title slide. This prior foundation was favorable, navigating a more precise path. 

However, we ran into a little situation because Imovie had a limited amount of fonts and the specific font we wanted... sadly was missing. Fear not, because you have to work around our problems and not stress, we found a solution. Scrolling through the options, we found the font "Georgia". Elegant yet effortless, this title was everything we were looking for and was pretty similar to the original font selected on Canva platform. Following, tying in with the "GOLD" from the title, Camila and I just HAD TO pick a darker and deeper golden color that was mysterious and clearly visible layered over the dark screen. For a creative and fluid transition, Camila and I had the idea of placing the title "GOLDEN ESCAPE" at the start on both a black screen and the first establishing shot. Initially, we had planned to place the slide solely on the establishing shot, however, the visuals was too crowded and cluttered, ignoring the significance of the title words. Showing the video to our families and third person perspectives, although they enjoyed viewing the film, there remained constant confusion of the repeating funeral scenes. "What are all these flowers" "Why do we keep going back to the urn and what does it have to do with the girl?" This was definitely not good, a major problem. Although our intention was to evoke skepticism and perplexity, there still needed to be a basic understanding of her intentions, wanting to flee, and faking her death. The curiosity needed to remain with the realm of why? The motives. So we decided to focus and edit the visuals to focus on the funeral picture, and following the title slide, and the time and date of the escaping scene. 

As for the credits, this was much less complex despite not discussing and determining the fonts and color. Prior, we had only decided to distributive spread out the credits on the screen, reaching from different corners. Fortunately, having your friend as your partner, ideas connected and determining the final font was easy as pie! Selecting a basic white font, the intention was not to drive the attention away form the main focus on the screen: Grace. Camila and I divided and distributed the roles of the credits such as director, editor, producer, costumer designer, editor, etc. I super happy with how everything turned out! Here are a couple images from the film for examples. 

Finishing Sound

Following the sound editing process, my partner and I inserted background chatter into the interior store scene to create a public ambiance and changed the sound of the door. Adjusting with the volume of the sound, my partner and I were playing with layering and arranging the intensity of certain sounds to enhance focus on certain objects that synchronized with the visuals on the screen. Creating fluidity between cuts and scenes, capcut allowed users to modify and regulate with fade in and fade out system. This helps introduce a new scene or location that requires various completely different features of background sounds. For example, transitioning from outdoors to indoors, we faded out the traffic, bird, and wind sound to ventilator AC sounds and people chattering to fulfill an overall environment within closed doors. 

Incorporating class practice and prior knowledge gained in class, we fabricated foley sounds from the heels, bag zipper, and sneaker walking. Marching on a concrete floor, my partner put her heels on and paced around in circles while I recorded her. Following the rhythm and movements of the actor on the scene, we attempted to match and synchronize the image with the auditory. Dropping her heel on the floor, my partner mimicked the movements and actions of the character. As for the foley sounds of the zipper, we used our wallet and tightly recorded the zipper sound produced, matching time length, and speed. Instead of recording a male voice announcing a prayer, we decided it best to add a church choir sound in the background since we believe it is too overpowering to add two different voices overlapping and intertwining. Since the main focus was the female voice reciting the monologue, we put the prayer aside and added the element of the funeral through sorrowful religious music. Adapting to the film opening, our final conclusion assured the church choir sounds would play for the entire necessary time because playing it only during the funeral scene was seriously not ideal. Sounded pretty terrible...

The most challenging was ensuring the sounds and visuals were convoluted and interlaced finely together. Not only ensuring synchronization but enforcing materials used for the foley and the sound effects are similar to the actions and props visually performed. Guaranteeing the sound perspective is realistic, production must be representative of life reality.

start CCR BLOG

Getting a head start on answering some of the questions for the Creative Critical reflection, I decided to take a look at the four umbrellas of questions I have to answer. Dedicating my focus to 2 of the questions, I began analyzing the query: "How does your product engage with the audience and how would it be distributed?" Examining the direct target audience, I summed from my understanding young adults and teenagers were the appropriate individuals attracted to viewing such a production. Discussing topics of association and connection, I gathered the intention and objective to gaining such a wide range of majority individuals is due to compatibility and quality relatable. With prior knowledge collected and conveyed in class and research, audiences enjoy viewing an individual with similar traits or emotions resembling themselves. Realistically reaching our intended audience, our distribution method would begin by utilizing YouTube or additional streaming services including Hulu or Amazon Prime Video. Although not a reputable or high-end method of distribution, these platforms are still engaged and utilized by the target audience.

"How does your production skill develop throughout this project?" This is the second question I began answering. More simply and specifically, I reflected on the process of storyboarding, research, and approaches. I analyzed on the challenges and drawbacks from start to finish, discussing solutions to the struggles. I am commentating on the fundamental step, RESEARCHING, which I did a lot on in my blogs, extremely helpful btw! I noted my research on drama film openings, fonts, colors, voiceovers, etc. Following, to give credibility and entertainment, I will provide an example of the Girl Interrupted film opening where I narrate the notice of soft somber music linked with the closeup focused shots of the young girl's disturbed and grim facial expressions. Succeeding, then I analyze the storyboarding process and how the ideas and perspectives from my partner and I flow in a gentle fluidity from nothing to SOMETHING, the project! From brainstorming ideas to writing the visuals pre-write, our design and goals came to life.

Voiceovers BLOG

Voiceovers are disembodied voices we hear throughout movies. A powerful tool in a filmmaker's arsenal.  Voice-over provides a new dimension to a story, offering benefits that visuals alone can't provide. One key benefit in filling in backstory or exposition. Imagine a complex film where understanding a character's past is crucial. A well-placed voiceover can give us flashbacks or insights into a character's motivations without interrupting the flow of the scene. Voiceovers intel the character's internal thoughts through a monologue, allowing the audience to directly interpret their feelings and emotional state. This is especially useful for portraying unreliable narrators or characters with complex inner lives. 

The Shawshank Redemption:

The voiceover in this movie sheds light on the character's emotions following the death of his comrade. The way various synchronized and ambient sounds can be heard in the background of the voiceover is what drew my attention to this voiceover. For instance, the protagonist is shown laboring with other inmates in a cemetery toward the conclusion. The voiceover is now playing, but you can just make out the faint sounds of the workers working on the grass in the background. Another instance is at the beginning when the voiceover is audible together with the background sound of the wind while a guy is seen operating an audible. The voiceover pausing during this scenario and the diegetic sound playing in between was another element that drew my attention. The voiceover paused while the men were eating, allowing you to see the character's facial expressions and hear the diegetic sound of the men joking and conversing. Since the audience is still listening to the surrounding sounds, I believe that this helps to make the voice-over feel more realistic, like you're actually inside the character's head.

My partner and I pitched the idea of a voice-over a few weeks ago to our teacher and she gave us the green light, however, alerting and warning us of her opinion. She believes voiceovers to be lazy and cliche, therefore, she opted and advised us to do a voiceover but not throughout the whole 2 minute film opening.