CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

This is my creative critical reflection. I will leave the link down below.

This piece of work made me think about different aspects more in depth of this year´s production. 

I did a Prezi Presentation to present my reflection.

Hope you enjoy it!

My link: 

https://prezi.com/hxzuw2odnpf-/my-film-opening-starts-with-the-story-already-in-the-middle/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

MUSIC

MUSIC 

When we discussed the background song for the film opening we automatically searched in YouTube for literally: "creepy,scary music." 

The results were, well lets just say they were not what we had in mind as the majority were piano music or violin music in a really high pitched tone. Because of this, we started to think of suspense or horror movies to inspire ourselves and see if we got an idea. Finally, we thought about American Horror Story which is a series of drama and horror where each season is set in different time and places because the storyline changes each time.

 Despite this, we found something in common: the music. Although the majority of scenes of this television series repulses the audience because it is really visual and explicit, they normally incorporated asynchronous music which did not really make sense with what actually was happening on the screen. Resultingly, this made the audience feel even more scared and repulsed with what was going on. The contrast made it look even more unusual. This does not mean the music they used was happy or cheerful but it was creepy in an unobvious and subtle way. 

With this idea in mind we decided to look for something similar and thanks to Patri who found the song, we incorporated it to our piece to have a similar approach like American Horror Story. 

We do not own the song, it is from a band called Fox Academy and the song is called: "And Also I´m Really Scared."

Here is the link in case you want to listen to it: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3Htk9KVAs

TARGET AUDIENCE

TARGET AUDIENCE

Our target audience 
is mainly teenagers because thriller is a genre that is very popular amongst people from 15-25 which in the extreme of 25 are young adults. This is because mainly teenagers are eager to solve enigmas and feel excited and thrilled. Those things are what they look for on a daily basis as you are older and want to explore. 

Alternatively, the victim of the plot is quite young meaning that she represents the younger people.Films from this genre spark excitement and suspense on the audience because as the opening starts the watcher will ask to themselves many questions like: why is this girl kidnapped?Where are they? Why are they in that situation? What is the identity of the kidnapper?

Psychographically the groups we think it would be the most appealing to would be The Reformers, Explorers and Strugglers. In the demographics, because we are mostly targeting students, the most appealing to this project would be those from class E.

EDITING

EDITING

I learnt to edit when I was in year 10 and my first project to do was to film and edit the sports day from my school. I did not know how to edit at all and saw it as really complicated. We used Corel Studio and me and my group leant easily to edit things as we played around for a while and rapidly got the hang of it. 

As the productions got harder it is consequently harder to edit as well because there are more details that we need to make sure are covered so the final result looks as better as it possibly can.

I must admit I am not the best at editing and this area of media is not one of my biggest strengths but over the years I learnt some useful skills.

This year my group and I used a different programme to the one we are used to work with. We decided this because the editor programme we used this year although being more complicated, is more professional and permits more changes to be done which were not possible to do as effectively in the other programme like for example colour correction. 

I learnt a lot from one of my team mates because he is more experienced with this programme and therefore showed the rest of us how to use it which I found really interesting because a lot of more modifications could be done and we could see the difference. 

First of all what we did was to eliminate the clips that were not going to be useful and keep the ones we thought had potential to be in the opening. It took us a while because some opinions within the group were different but we came to an agreement and settled for the clips we finally chose. Then we put all the clips in chronological order and then proceeded to cut the clips as there were some which were unnecessary if they were longer.

We re-edited everything as our fist draft could be improved so once we went filming the final time, we included those clips too and deleted other ones which we thought did not look as good. We had to film to have a wider range of shots and make it more interesting to the audience, offering more perspectives.

 

LOCATION

LOCATION

Once we settled and discussed the storyboard we thought on where we would picture this plot to develop in. Alejandro Ruiz, one of the members of my group, knew an appropriate place where we could film and would fit with what we wanted to transmit. He already went there with his friends to take pictures and photos so therefore he showed us how the place was. He convinced us immediately because that was exactly what we were looking for.

Once we got there, it was quite challenging to actually get to the tunnels because the hill was quite steep and we needed to carry a lot of stuff like: the chair, camera. tripod, props and bags. Alejandro guided us to the spot and when we got there it was really worth it because I consider misé en scene really important; it is what really sets the mood and adds realism to the production. The location can make such a difference it is actually unreal. 

We noticed the whole area was surrounded in water because the tunnels carried water from the rain of previous days and also the fact that 2 days out of the 3 we went there, was rainning a lot. Because of this, we had to be extra careful with the equipment especially the camera. 

The tunnel we decided to film in was really creepy and I even got scared the first time we went there! It was really dark and you could not really see the end of it which terrifies me because it was never ending and completely unknown. Furthermore, the tunnel´s walls were filled with graffitis which added a more urban setting that looked ruined and abandoned. 



                                      

LOGO/BANNER/POSTERS

LOGO/BANNERS/POSTERS

Logo

The name of our production company is called: “ One Way Productions.” We decided this name for our sign as the identity we wanted to portray out there. 

One Way Productions is all about our journey and our one way to the success we want to achieve. The journey we are passing through as students and as people to become better and better everyday until we achieve our goals.

 Although sometimes we will commit mistakes, we are sure that we will learn from those and progress. Because of this, we decided to include in the logo the number one and an arrow to make even clearer our message. 

Furthermore, we chose the colours yellow and black because yellow is our theme colour. We chose yellow because it is the colour for warnings, hazards and danger as it is vibrant and many people can recognise it easily. The black symbolises the darkness and the suspense because during the opening, the audience cannot see at any point the face of the kidnapper/murderer.

Banner

The banner is the part of the YouTube channel below the profile picture. We did this channel in order to get our content out there and also experience what is like to have a channel where we can post the work we are proud  of. We did the banner in Photoshop. Here is the process step by step of how we did the banner. 

Posters
We made 2 different posters to hang it around the school and also to post them in Instagram so that we could make it more interactive with our followers and they could choose what poster they preferred.

We maintained the same font and theme for both of the posters. The letters are yellow because yellow has the connotations of hazardous and warning. It also created a big contrast with the background or setting as the actual background was darker so the title by being yellow catches more the audience´s attention.

 Moreover, both posters have our names in a small font size with our surnames bigger. We decided to do this in this way because we considered it would look more professional as the surname is what really differenciates people from one another because there could be a million more people with my name but not as many with my surname. Furthermore, our links to YouTube and instagram are there so people around the school or anyone who saw the poster would be able to visit our webpages. 


Both the posters have very powerful images. In the landscape poster we can see the back of the kidnapper carrying a body. We cannot see the faces nor any other detail of anyone, only where they are and what they are doing. This creates suspense and enigma because the audience would want to know more about the mysterious figures. On the other hand, the other poster which has a photo of the victim with her face full of dirt and blood and her messy hair transmits how much suffering she has endured. Once again, the audience will wonder what has happened to her and why is she in that state. 

                                         

WHY INVEIGH?

Why Inveigh?

One of our first discussions was about the genre of the film we would choose to create and part of the storyline. Different film genres require different characteristics. If for example we chose a drama film to create then we would have included a really powerful storyline with conflicts.

We decided to settle for a horror/mystery film so then we proceeded to think about what enigmas we could make the audience wonder and also make it scary. The title needed to be powerful and have a meaning but also be concise and vague.

We chose INVEIGH as the name for our film because although it is about a kidnap and murder(the opening scene), we wanted to keep things a bit vague and not so explicit with the tittle in order to make the audience wonder what could the film be about and why is the protagonist in that situation. INVEIGH leaves space for a whole film to be developed as it is ambiguous and a whole story could be created.

Inveigh in the dictionary has the following meaning:

speak or write about (something) with great hostility.

"he liked to inveigh against all forms of academic training"

synonims:

fulminate, declaim, protest, rail, rage, remonstrate, storm

PLAN+PRODUCTION

PLAN + PRODUCTION

First of all me and my group we discussed our own initial ideas and what we thought was best to do. We chose the genre of horror because we felt we could achieve doing that effectively and easier for us because we are more familiar with it. Once we had the storyline and plot more or less agreed we started storyboarding our ideas to make sure we knew exactly what we were going to do once we went on filming. We listened to each other and settled what we thought would look better for the film and put our ideas on the storyboard with as much detail as possible so that we would not be confused in any moment what to do. 

The storyboard took us about 3 days to have it fully completed and once that was finished we started discussing the props and also make up along with the way the actors were going to be dressed. Everyone put our own money in order to buy everything like for example robes and fake blood. Make up ,we considered was going to be important because the victim would have to look very unkempt and like what she was living was incredibly dangerous and scary. For the protagonist´s face we used fake blood and to add more realism we got mud which was around where we were. When we got there we needed to prepare everything in terms of props. Here is a clip on our process to put the robes around her feet. 

Furthermore, we though about where we would picture this film opening to be located at as the mise en scene is very important and sets the mood. I will include more information on the location on another post. 

We decided to film and we went there altogether. To actually get to the tunnels was a bit of a challenge, especially because of everything we were carrying. We explored for a bit the place and settled in and prepared to start the filming.

The filming experience was fun but also quite challenging because the surroundings of the tunnels were covered in water so we needed to be extra careful with the equipment we had. Sometimes the light was hard to adjust as it was a pretty dark place. Moreover, we made sure that the camera was at the same exact position for different shots to make sure it was not going to have a glitch between shots. The sound was accurate because thanks to the tunnels we achieved to get an echoing effect and the water dripping from the sides gave a background sound full of suspense. 

MY INSPIRATIONS

MY INSPIRATIONS

A filming opening sequence is the most important part of a movie because its main focus is to capture the audiences attention and make their eyes glued to the screen. In this post I will write about my favourite film openings and what has inspired me to create my film opening along with the rest of my group.

1. THE GODFATHER (1972)

The movie starts with a monologue which is a common film making device. From the moment Bonasera speaks, the scene sucks viewers about the story of the immigrant experience-but not with a happy ending. The American legal system has failed Bonasera, setting free the men who beat his daughter. His hope is that Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. By the time the scene concludes, we know that Don Corleone is a criminal but also the man who people look for in the community in search of justice. 

2. TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

The opening bars of Iggy Pop´s song “Lust for Life” will be forever associated from this gripping sequence from Danny Boyle´s breakthrough film, which opens with a three part montage. First, Renton- played by Ewan McGregor-and Sick Boy-played by Jonny Lee Miller run through the streets after a theft and the shoot heroin in a run down apartment and then play soccer. The rest of the characters are presented along the way where McGregor gives a monologue about choosing life or rather, choosing heroin instead of life- that puts the audience in the right mood for a frenetic, edgy and darkly comic story about the horrors of addiction. 

3.HALLOWEEN(1978)

John Carpenter´s 1978 horror classic heralded the dawn of slasher genre that would dominate the 1980s and it opens with a serious scare. The first scene is shot from the point of view of a killer spying on some teens before stalking and murdering one of them in her bedroom , a brutal event the audience sees through the eyeholes of a mask that the unseen killer is wearing. Its not until the end of the sequence where the face of the murderer is revealed which leaves the audience in suspense. 

4. REAR WINDOW 

Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock knows exactly how to set a scene and he does so by showing us the world through the eyes of his hero. There is not dialogue in the sequence but the audience can tell what is going on:  the sweaty photographer with a broken leg is trapped inside his apartment and starved for adventure and spies on his neighbour 

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Hey!! 

My name is Paola Calle and I am from Spain. To be specific from Malaga, a southern city along the coast where there is a lot of sunshine and a mass of tourists invades us every single summer but is stimulates the economy so I appreciate it. I study at St Georges where I have spent the most of my life since I was 3 years old and more than 10 years have already passed which is kind of surprising. This school has shown me so many things and I have gotten to know brilliant people who are now my friends. I have grown in this school and also experienced crazy and happy things in it. 

I am now doing my A levels and I am going to be honest right now: they are hard. For my A-levels I have chosen: english, history, spanish and media. I also chose media for my GCSE and thoroughly enjoyed it all along, especially the production work where I got to experience with my group what was like to get the camera and actually know what I was doing. Media lets my creative side loose and it is really liberating, especially now where there is a lot to study and learn so many facts and information. Creativity is so important because since we were children we all were imaginative and most of us drew whatever came to mind. Sometimes I think that the education system limits us to explore that child part of us which everybody still has inside of them. 

I do not know what the future will have for me academically. I still do not know what I want to do or where to go for university but I hope I can figure that out shortly. 

This is my blog and where I will post my process on this year’s coursework

I hope it will not be as boring reading this so I will try to keep things interesting to whoever is the reader.

Paola.

P.S. As this was a group project, I am going to include the candidate numbers and full names of the rest of my group here.
Patricia Baeza-Herrazti Baeza(5002)
Nicole Ellemberger(5051)
Alejandro Ruiz(5022)