Critical Reflection

 1. How do your products represent social groups?

    Over the course of my journey through the planning, story-boarding, filming, editing, and uploading process I was able to think about what I wanted or hoped to get out of the film. Overall, I had multiple scenes that I had to cut out of the finalizing of the film as it was just too long and way past 5 minutes long. I tried to make my film as concise and easy to watch as possible. I really wanted my film to have three different and unique woman of different ages and personalities reaching their goal of taking down Itai a man who has been giving Ace the main female character a bad reputation on her soon to be insurance company Rawling Rivers. I wanted my movie to inspire young girls and women that we can have such positions and work our way to the top which in this case was to get their hands on a document that Itai has been hiding as it could possibly expose his true intentions. People also in any business work force could also relate to the fact that businesses also don't always play fairly with others especially their competition. I wanted to make the leading roles, females as I believe not enough women have such leading and important roles so I wanted to change that by even casting myself to play a male role. Another social group I believe my film might also inspire or relate to is teenagers as I am myself one and tried to brand my social media sites with lots of pictures and an attracting description to attract my audience as much as can. I also posted mostly on Twitter and Facebook in hopes to attract more mature audiences as much as I can. 

2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of "branding"?

    I didn't start thinking about branding my movie up until I started doing my storyboard and thought about all the different ways I could advertise and different content I could post on my social media sites and even YouTube. Once I actually started filming that is when I realized how much harder it really is and why most companies and businesses have people that are specifically working on that department. Once I started posting was when I realized that I am probably not the best at keeping up with social media and keeping up with my followers making sure that content is always available for the audience. Looking back, I am glad that I was able to start learning about branding as I really didn't know how much goes into making a brand stand out such as Paramount for example when you see the iconic opening of the mountain and stars around. If I were to be honest I don't think I was able to brand anything specific from this movie except for the constant use of the fact that this movie is an empowering movie to women. I felt like if I was given a longer duration of the movie I would be able to convey a more direct message about it unlike the way that I was able to for my final production. If I were to continue branding my movie from the point forward I would most likely have my friend Amy be a part of the process and make her the director of social media as she constantly posting and on social media all day long. If she were a part of this process she probably would have done a better job than I have done but I am still proud of my progress and what I have done for my movie. 

3. How do your products engage with the audience?

    The only aspect that truly is interacting with my audience would be through the website for my movie and the social media links that I made live on the website. Through the movie I tried my best to not look at the camera and make it feel like a real movie than just a short introduction like last year. I learned that through social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube I will have the most interaction through the comments, posts, and stories that go up. I also made sure that the interaction between me and my audience will be a positive one as I made sure to mention in the description box when uploading the final movie to keep it positive in the comments and to spread kindness. Another interaction later would be through the sales of merchandise and CD's or even through streaming platforms since everything is online now due to the pandemic, but that will be further done the road when I have certain amount of following and based on the reviews. This is another aspect that I could improve on as I feel like I had little interaction and could have used more by taking advantage of what I had on social media. If only I was more confident and understood how to use social media to its fullest potential that is when I think I would have had the most interaction with my audience. I wished I would have used as much as of the time I spent filming and editing on the interaction with my audience to make sure they are engaged and truly are excited for the films release. 

4. How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

    Originally the time that I spent researching for the thriller genre of my film and the conventions that I also researched to make sure my film challenged or used conventions did not go according to plan looking back on it now. My movie doesn't feel like a thriller mainly because the scene that would have probably defined it I had to cut out due to the film being way too long. I had to cut it out and put the important details that defined the entire film more than it would have defined the genre of the film. Overall I am proud of what I have produced and posted for all of you to see, it's just I feel like I could have done way better if the film was longer and I could fit all the scenes that I had to cut out. My film really felt out of the box and definitely challenges most of the traditional thriller aspects. I had a character named Rish in the film portray the thriller aspect through her personality and actions. Rish is a 17 year old chaotic teen that is a high school dropout and is street smart. She has a fun yet angry personality in which she does things that either will help her boss Ace out in the long run or to help herself. The only thriller aspect of the movie was cut out in order to help the audience understand and have a more enjoyable time watching the film. I learned that I really need to think about the genre and conventions for a longer time before I start creating as I tend to change things up later in the film or end up forgetting. I need to learn to take a more daring and risk taking approach to make the movie truly feel like a thriller and get the audience to feel suspenseful. 

Editing, social media, and all the updates

     Today I am going to do a basic update on what I have done so far for my short film package as I have been researching and finalizing my final movie to be published. I am going to update my social media tomorrow as I have had a lot of homework and work to focus on today so my mind was not thinking about my film at all today. I have been editing every single chance I can to have it peer reviewed and re-edited if necessary. So far I am almost complete and all I really need to do is add the titles and make sure that my film is 5 minutes long. I am going to post pictures that I took from the days we were filming and I already have a caption prepared all I have to do is just upload. I kinda feel bad that I am going to be spamming it all tomorrow but its the only chance I will have to do so. I also will be publishing the final movie once I am complete editing it onto my YouTube channel that I created for the film. I will also be posting a short film package on my blog giving you the access to everything related to the film through my blogs. I can;t wait to provide you all with everything I have and this is the first time I ever branded a film and created an actual movie with a beginning, middle, and end so I am excited. I also can't wait to watch my classmates films and see what they have created and branded as well.

    I also want to have a separate blog where I provide you all with my screenplay just because I want you to see my full thought process and idea I had for this movie, just in case something in the film is cut out which I am keeping in most so that the story flows. I am going to probably do it over the weekend so that I can either insert it as a word document that can be easily opened or through google slides. I am also going to be working on my CCR over the weekend as well as taking some time to take a break and edit my film. I will also use my break time to check up on my social media's and upload on them. There is so much that I still have to learn about branding and promoting as I am not a huge social media person so I have much to learn in order to be an expert at it like most kids my age are. I understand and know the basics but when it comes to being all fancy online I have trouble doing so. This project as definitely taught me more about the internet and how much social media influences us especially during this pandemic. As for my website pictures I will not be making any new additions to it as I want most of the surprise to be revealed on the social media links on there and through the film. I just remembered that I also will work on Sunday on my post card and will be adding just the post card onto my website. I hope you enjoyed my little update, its not much but just to keep you informed and Hidden Behind a Woman will be coming out soon. 

Editing for my film

     Ever since I finished filming for my short film I have been editing every single day on IMovie to make my movie reach perfection. I have come so far from the last time I have edited as now I feel that the movie is coming much more together. My sister actually really enjoyed the film and liked the way I edited it as it is now less choppy and has a smooth transition between each cut. I finally was able to include free copyright free music and sounds into my film from a free website that I have found. I still have little touch ups to do to make sure my film is perfect. Over the weekend I am going to finish up editing my film and get it peer reviewed from my friend Allison and ask opinions from my parents as well. I am also going to work on my post card over the weekend and focus on uploading lots of pictures on my social media page. I never got the chance to upload them and I will hopefully upload tomorrow or Sunday. I will probably spend most of my time on Saturday editing and working on my post card. I will also have another blog uploaded tomorrow with a social media update hopefully.

    I can't wait to present to you my film package as I am super proud of it right now. I also have my website presented for you to see and read about my film and getting to know the cast. I am also kinda sad that we are near the end of the filming project but I am excited to move forward and work on the essays which is the second portion of this class. Although my film is not the same quality as that of a typical Hollywood film, I am still proud of the work I have done and super grateful that I got the chance to learn and experience something new. I am also grateful to my sister and friends that helped me out and were a part of the film, I had so much fun and enjoyed filming. I still have to edit a couple of more scenes on IMovie and then I also have to cut some out as it is kinda too long right now. I know that the film has to be five minutes long but so far my film is 7 minutes long and I have to either cut some scenes out or shorten them out. Originally I knew that was going to happen as in my screenplay I believe I had about 13 pages of dialogue and explanation of what is going on in each scene. I wanted my film to be detailed as possible but I tried to keep it simple with one goal throughout the film which I believe you will be able to catch up on. I know for sure that I will get everything done by the deadline of January 12 of next Tuesday. 

Editing Time!

     In conclusion of filming yesterday I am going to be editing from here on forward on my movie. I am going to be posting tomorrow on my social media sites since I have finished editing all the photos which are ready to be uploaded. Today was a very relaxing day as I spent most of the time editing with music in my headphones as I found a quiet spot to do so in my balcony. I exported all of the recordings from yesterday's filming onto my sister's macbook so that I can continue editing on IMovie. IMovie so far has been very responsive and has been so far the best when I edit my film. Today I worked on organizing and trimming the newly imported shots and placing them in the correct order based on my storyboard. I am going to upload soon on a separate blog my screenplay so that you can follow along and understand what I was trying to show through my film. I worked on fixing the lighting's of some scenes in case it was too dark or too bright which there wasn't much to fix on that part. Lastly I worked on the sound and background sounds making sure that you can hear everyone clearly and muted or even lowered any diegetic background noises. I didn't work much on the cut scenes of each shot or scene as I am going to work on that over the weekend. 

    The main task I did today in editing was researching and finding different websites that provided copyright free music that I can easily download onto my computer to use for my film. I found a couple of websites but they turned out to be click-bait as in the end I had to sign up or download their app in order to use their sounds or music which I didn't want. I found two useful websites to use that I saved onto the bookmark of my laptop for easy access. I found a couple of free songs and sounds to use in my film but I am not too sure of which one to use. I also thought about using multiple different musics as the score in some of the scenes but I have to make sure it fits with what is going on with that specific part. When i finished editing for the day I got my sister to review or look over what I already had so far. She said that it still needed a lot of work to be completer but that so far it looked good taking away all that I still haven't finished. Looking back at it I do agree with Sabrina that there is a lot still needed to be done in order for it to be perfect. I am wishing everyone to have a Happy New Year and hopefully I will be done with editing soon enough and the film will be complete. 

Editing pictures for social media

     Today I worked on editing the pictures I took from the last three days of filming so that I can post this week. I also logged in all of my social media websites and accepted any requests and followed back any other person that I didn't form the list our teacher provided us. In my previous blog I said that I wouldn't start editing the film until I completely finish filming all the scenes. Today I worked on editing the pictures that I will be posting on all of my social media sites. I also came up with some captions that I will write underneath each post. I did start editing that I wrote about in the previous blogs but it was mainly trimming and organizing it to fit my storyboard. We are going to film this Thursday all the scenes we have left so I can be officially done with the filming process. This whole winter break I was super productive and working on my schoolwork, volunteering, and filming for my movie. In today's teen society it is very important to edit and appeal people and your audience with appealing posts. I want my social media sites to be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and a page that will have the audience coming back for more. 

    I am trying out a bunch of different editing apps especially for pictures and videos so I can make my posts appealing. I even watched YouTube videos of how to edit posts and make it look all fancy and pretty. Today was mainly a fun break day from all the work I have left to finish my film, since social media for me is like a break for my mind from work. To be honest I don't really know how to work social media as much as most of my friends do since I only really use Instagram to check updates on my family, friends, and even news with celebrities. The second most social media app I use is Snapchat so I really don't know how to work Facebook since I never had one and not even Twitter. I am learning and always asking my friends how to work it especially Amy since she is like the queen of social media based on my friend group. I am going to do most of my updates and posts through my Chromebook as it is much easier to just login in through here than it is on my phone. I hope through this experience that I learn a lot more techniques and new features to use. I can't wait to other students from my class to post so it can really feel like our movies are real one's. Although this isn't much of an update I will be back with a filming blog in the next one. 

Editing for the first time this year!

     All day today I have been working on editing everything that I have so far for my short movie film. I also have been packing what I need to bring for tomorrow's filming since we will film at a clubhouse near Allison's apartment and won't have easy access to the things we need if I were to forget them. I had so much fun editing today especially when I started after going shopping with my mom as a little break. I have two different laptops one is my new one I got for the holidays for school since my old computer is really old and slow. I decided to edit on my sisters computer as my Chromebook doesn't feel equipped to edit in a way. I got permission from Sabrina to use her computer since she has a mac-book and has the app IMovie that I can use to edit my film. I already exported the shots from the SD card onto her computer and I already sorted out between the clips I will use and which one's I saved for the bloopers. On IMovie I played around with some of the features and messed around a little before I actually started working on editing my film. I have worked before with IMovie so for me it was very simple to get the handling of it rather quickly. I popped on my headphones and played some music while I was editing it because I just focused on cutting or trimming some shots that were too long or needed to be. I also focused on organizing the shots I already have so that when I import the new one's after filming tomorrow it will be easy to organize it like my storyboard.

    After an hour of just moving and organizing my scenes and trimming it I also focused on the lighting making sure that it was clean and visible. I also practiced making a split screen as there will be multiple split screens regarding the scenes where the three main female characters are talking on the phone. I really want to show how much I have improved on my editing skills as I never liked sitting and editing it as most software's were so confusing and hard to use. I want this movie for be perfect and really show case my potential and hard work. My sister Sabrina also has requested to give me critique's and ways that I can improve some scenes, but for now my goal is to finish filming completely and be done with that section so I don't to constantly think about getting it done. I am also working on the pictures for the social media links as I have been taking pictures every time we film so I can have updates for my followers. I have the pictures that I want to post in a separate folder on my phone so some time this week I will be uploading them. Once I finish filming I also will have the time to work on my social media pages and really make it lively and active since I haven't been on it recently because of filming. I can't wait to see how my followers will react and can't wait to full throttle ahead and edit completely my film. I am super excited for tomorrow and can't wait to finally finish filming and focus my mind on one thing which is to continue editing. 

Filming for short film 📸

    This winter break I needed to film for my short film as I wasn't able to during the Thanksgiving break. In my last blog I stated that I was going to have my friend Amy to play the Assistant and maybe ask Ben my other friend to play Itai in my movie. Plans changed and I decided that Sabrina is going to play the Assistant as she was begging me to cast her and I am going to play Itai based on my dads suggestion as he didn't want to be filmed.  On the first day of filming we filmed mainly the scenes that required us to be inside the apartment such as the meeting in one of the scenes and multiple mini phone call scenes. Allison came to our apartment around 3 in the afternoon and after eating lunch we right away went into my room to prepare our outfits and start doing hair and makeup. The first thing I did was put the camera to charge while we figured out the outfits for each scene and when we needed an outfit change. Allison brought a whole box full of different outfits, jewelry, makeup, and even a hand held steamer for the clothes. We went through each scene and tried on the outfits and labeled them and placed them in my closet so we know each outfit and who they belong to. Once we finished the whole clothing ordeal I sat everyone down and we did a run through of the script and made any changes along the way to make it more comfortable when speaking and acting. Once we finished the run through it was time to get everyone ready which I am thankful for Allison who I made makeup artist for our film for getting us looking good in less than an hour. I also was in charge of doing my sister's hair as she didn't know how to style it.

    We ended up finishing filming around 8 in the night which I was very proud of what we accomplished in the time we had to film. After we finished filming we quickly discussed what scenes we were going to film on the second day of filming. I want to get every other scene completed except for the office scene which we will film on Monday next week. Our filming location for the first day of filming was in my apartment and so is the second day of filming. The third day of filming will be at the location near Allison's apartment since they have a clubhouse that she believes will be perfect for the office break-in. In the outfits when you see I wanted them to be bold, fashionable, and completely different than what we normally would wear. Rish, Ice-T, and Ace all have a different style and personality that will be captured in the film. There is also an important message near the end of the film that I wanted to bring to light especially with empowering woman. I can't wait to edit the film and bring the film into light and actually make this into a 5 minute short movie. I also will be updating my social media sites which can be located on the film's website https://hiddenbehindawoman.wixsite.com/mysite