Creative Critical Reflection

1. Creative Critical Reflection Megan Kelsey US679 Candidate Number 9044

2. 1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? Our romantic comedy features two black leads, the main focus being on the woman in the opening of our film. It is representative of a younger social group, and it reaches out more to the POC community, as it is not very common in today’s media to see black leads, especially in a romantic setting. Also, our film features an interracial friendship, which is becoming more increasingly popular in today’s media, although it was not in the past. This makes it more representative, as many interracial friend groups would (theoretically) be able to watch our “film” and laugh along, as our situation mirrors theirs. Our project tackles the “issue” of young love, and the somewhat comical stress of a proposal. The issue is easy to turn into a comedy, because it is very easy to relate to, making our project representative. For one, those in a relationship may be represented by both main characters, Niyah and Nicho, and the nerves they feel as they know their relationship is soon to take a major step. The married, older social group is also represented by our project, as they know the stress and pressure that may come from the events we have attempted to capture, such as purchasing a ring, proposing, being proposed to, and getting married. I think how relatable and representative our film is of multiple social groups truly aides the comedic aspect of our piece.

3. 2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? Our product has a clear level of engagement with the audience.  Just like any film, the audience is able to know exactly what the main characters are thinking and feeling, although the main characters themselves are blind to the other’s feelings – they do not know if the other will propose or will say yes.  This allows the audience to feel more engaged with the product, as if they are the middle man within this romantic comedy. Also, the main focus of our film opening is when Nicho drops the ring box on the ground of the restaurant parking lot, where it is implied that he is about to propose to the other main character, Niyah. The audience is the only group that knows this, creating dramatic irony and allowing for the audience to truly engage with the project.  Theoretically, if it were to be a completed film, the audience would feel a sense of relief once Nicho realized the ring was missing, began to search for it, and eventually found it. This lets the audience feel more involved and connected to our product. As a real media text, there are multiple ways this product could be distributed. For one, I uploaded our video to Youtube.  Youtube has a movie platform where social media influencers are able to produce or star-in their own films, called Youtube Red.  The video could be distributed through this company, along with advertisements on the website, and even promotions with social media influencers who use the platform. This could also be accomplished through partnership with larger media outlets, like the Big Six.

4. 3. How did your production skills develop through this project ? Before this project, I did not realize what truly went in to film production.  I thought actors would memorize lines, were well lit, filmed, and then the movie was cut together. I learned that a lot goes into the production of these films, especially when it comes to the miseen scene of the piece.   For one, I developed a skill for being able to light a film production, utilizing the main, fill, and back lights.  I also learned how to manipulate these lights to create different effects within an film, which I did not realize was so important.  For example, in order to keep the tone of our project light, we used soft, rembrandt lighting in most scenes. Also, I learned how much you truly have to prepare for a film.  To even film a two minute opening, we had to conceptualize an entire film.  We then had to develop a script, and cut the script down for time. I did not realize every single scene had to be planned out with storyboards, and now I will be able to utilize all that I have learned in future projects to ensure they’re not lacking in continuity. I learned that music and symbols take more work than you would think. We definitely got better at implementing these symbols in our film by the end of this project, including the ring box, roses, pictures, and a phone background. At the beginning of this year, I recall barely being able to understand how colors contribute to the overall feel of the scene, like the red roses we used in our romantic comedy.

5. 4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? My group relied heavily on technology for this project. For convenience, instead of shooting on a standard camera, my group used an iPhone for all video and audio, with a microphone attachment for a couple of car scenes. With this iPhone, I also edited our video together using the iMovie application, pulling music and sound effects from Youtube. In order to use the font that appears in the first few seconds of our film, I switched to edit on a Macbook, which was significantly harder to work around than iMovie on the phone, although it did present us with many more editing options. To share all that we have done, my group as relied on technologies such as Google Slides and Google Documents, allowing for us all to edit at the same time. This was very effective when we had to write our script together to make a deadline, and transfer information when we aren’t together.