Creative Critical Reflective

Here is my Creative Critical Reflection! Thanks for joining me on my AICE Media Studies journey!

IT'S HERE!!

Here it is! We're finally done! We did it! Filed Away! Check it out NOW!

And the winner is.....

I’m actually surprised we made it this far without a title.  When looking at the blogs from last year and seeing how late some of them chose their title, I swore we would pick our’s early so we could work on incorporating it in other ways. I’m still laughing at my past self’s naivety, because our project is due in less than a week and we just picked our title today. 

When my group finally got to the conversation, about 45 ideas were thrown out before we settled on the final decision. We wanted our title to focus on the symbolism we worked to incorporate in the beginning of this project, but also hint as to what will happen later on in the film, beyond our opening. We discussed including the words “system” and “file” since we wanted to focus our film around the wrongful judgment of the judicial system and the way it often reduces a person down to their file and what they have done in the past. I suggested we name the film “Filed Away” and happily, my group agreed. I thought of “Filed Away” because our main character is getting prematurely judged on his file and pushed further into the system just because of his past transgressions, as opposed to listening to him and his plea that he did not commit the crime. 

I like the title we came up with and I think it represents our film well. Now, we have to add it to our video. While editing on Adobe Premiere Pro and using Adobe Photoshops are two of my strengths, utilizing the benefits of Adobe Aftereffects is defiantly not. However, I think it would be very cool to use that software to create our title, so I am going to spend the next couple of days messing around with it to see if I can create a look for our title that would fit our video. 

Seriously, I Love Editing

Editing has begun! 

Editing is my favorite part of making a video, because you get to put all the pieces together to really tell the story. I started by cutting up all our clips and laying down a rough edit. We had some challenges in the initial editing, because some of our shots were not completely stable and some were overexposed. However, I was able to fix most of this in editing by editing the colors, brightness, and contrast and stabilizing each frame of the shots we wanted to appear less shaky. 

Another problem we faced were some continuity errors. While some of our shots in the arrest scene we were able to fix, because we wanted to edit at a quicker pace with quick, hard cuts so we did not the actors to be in the same position each time, some shots in the interrogation were a problem because we didn’t have enough angles to cover up the continuity issues. We needed a few more shots, but two of our actors were away for the start of spring break and were not able to film. We, luckily, were able to refilm part of our video, even though all of our actors were unable to film. My partner, Kaelin, was, so we got some close ups of her to act as inserts. 

We broke the opening into two scenes, with the arrest being a shorter scene and the interrogation being the majority of the video. I’m currently trying to figure out a way to transition between the two, either using a hard cut or a fade. I think the fade might make the video look cheesy, but the hard cut may not signify enough of a transition so I’m going to try both and maybe a few other options and see what works best.

Overall, our video is starting to come together and I’m happy with the outcome, despite any problems we had! Our goal is to be finished with the video by Saturday so we can get it uploaded a day early! 

The CCR Process Has Begun

The CCR has been stressed by my teacher from day one, so I have decided to get started on it now so I can finish it a couple days before the project is due, just in case. I have decided to do a director’s commentary, but add in titles, behind the scenes pictures, and video screenshots of editing, our script, and other aspects of our production process. 

When starting my script, I began with research. I first explained how we came to the decision to do a drama. We conducted lots of research as to what type of dramas are typically the most successful and why. I then discussed how we did more research about the judicial system and crime dramas once we settled on our rough plot. Next, I discussed the problems we had when developing our plot, and why it took us so long to do. I also talked about storyboarding, creating our shot list, and finalizing our script, all extremely vital parts of our planning process. 

Even though I was gone for some of filming, I discussed the process of prepping to film and attempting to help while being on the other side of the country. With that, I discussed what I learned while in California and how I incorporated that into project.  I also discussed how editing became challenging when editing clips you were not there to see recorded.

I just need to add more on our editing process and a reflection on the overall project and I’m done! I plan to record in the middle of the week so I can edit during the beginning of the weekend and be done!

Stay tuned for my post with my CCR, coming early next week, along with the finished product! 

Putting the Pieces Together

So tomorrow we begin editing. Since I edit a lot in my television production class, I will be taking the lead on editing, but of course, my group members will be there every step of the way. I normally edit broadcast shows and news stories, so I wanted to look up different techniques for editing films and how to give our film the feel we wanted to. This article taught me some techniques to make our film more dramatic and impactful. The use of pacing and knowing when to cut will be extremely essential when editing this film opening. Another article showed me how slowing down clips can create tension.

 I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC so I also read/watched some tutorials on editing in that software just to see how to use some aspects that the software includes that I would not usually use but may want to in this case. Some great videos I watched taught me some techniques for adding effects, fixing audio, and enhancing my footage. Something I usually struggle with is audio so I made sure to take some extra notes about fixing audio in post-production. I also made sure my group recorded audio well on location because of course that helps when editing. I also made sure to focus on editing the voiceover to the story correctly, since that can a crucial part of our video. 

Editing is my favorite part of creating a video so I am extremely excited to start that tomorrow! Stay tuned to find out how it goes! 

Hardy, Robert. "How to Manipulate the Pace of Your Editing to Infuse Drama & Tension Into Any Scene." No Film School. N.p., 01 Dec. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Hardy, Robert. "This Simple Editing Technique Will Make Your Scenes More Dramatic & Powerful." No Film School. N.p., 18 June 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

"Change or Correct a Specific Color." Change or Correct a Specific Color | Adobe Premiere Pro CC Tutorials. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Be Prepared, Be Flexible

Yesterday, my friend Kayleigh and I went to a workshop at the convention we are at. The workshop was called "Be Prepared, Be Flexible" and while we went to it to learn techniques to use in our school show, I actually learned a lot that could be applied to this project. The presenter of the workshop was Carly Danek who is  a photographer for BTN11 (Break the News) from Channel 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The workshop discussed how to handle changing and unexpected situations and how to act in certain circumstances. 

The most applicable thing (to this project, at least) that I learned is about is having to change where you decided to film because of external factors. For example, I wanted to get a few shots while in Anaheim since I would be missing a filming day in Florida. I needed a shot outside of a few people fighting, but we weren’t able to leave the hotel on the one day we weren’t doing anything. Instead, the workshop taught me different ways to make a room look like something else when you need a back up plan, so I did that and it worked out extremely well. I can also take this back with me for the interrogation room my group would like to use.

I also learned a lot about where it is legal to film and what your rights are in regards to filming. Carly showed us a video of that her reporter took when he went to film at a house where there had just been a lightning strike in which a man’s grandmother was injured. The man was drunk and visibly upset and came after the reporter. However, legally, the reporter did nothing wrong.

So first, no one is allowed to speak on behalf of someone else's property. If the owner is not there, their neighbor is not allowed to tell you that you cannot film there. In the video, the man who is upset says that he knows the owner and that he cannot film there. First, he admitted he did not own the land and second, he legally can’t say that the reporter cannot film there because it is not his property. I also learned something extremely interesting (and very weird if you ask me.) There was not a no trespassing sign, therefore one cannot be arrested for trespassing will usually be let off with a warning for a first time offense. Once they get lawyers involved, the situation could change, of course, but the reporter technically did not break any laws. I could defiantly use this information in this project to know where it is legal to film, because I obviously wound’t want to get arrested for a school project.