Post with CCR's and Blog post

 Film Opening

CCR #1 - Interview

CCR #2- Radio Show

CCR Editing #2

CCR #2 

For my second CCR I wanted to do a radio show so I didn't really have to record a video for it. For the person interviewing me I got my brother to do it. I sent him the script through his phone and me and him improvised off of it to make it sound realistic and as if it was an actual radio show. I didn't have to edit for this one since I just used my phone to record ourselves in the room just asking the questions.

Final Reflection on Project

 Final Reflection

This is my final post before posting my film opening! I do wanna say I had a lot of fun doing my project and filming. I can say that it was a totally different experience to all the other past films we did in class because my creativity was unlimited on this project. When I was deciding what I wanted to do for my project I had a lot of ideas at first but I ultimately landed on a story about a kid from the suburbs who was  pretending to be a good kid and have straight A's, but in reality, this kid skips school, does illegal activities, and overall is the complete opposite of what he portrays.

When I first started I wanted to do a film about a kid with an addiction problem but I realized that there's a lot of films like that so I wanted to be a little different. When I decided to change my idea I decided to do a problem that surrounds my community in a select amount of people. I first got this idea after meeting someone that I thought came from after poverty or had little money because when I was talking with him he sounded like he was tired all the time and had a weird accent which people pick up in those type of bad neighborhoods. When we were dropping the kid off he was telling us how he got kicked from school for having something he shouldn't have had on school campus and got expelled. When we got to his house he lived in a big house and had around 3 cars parked in his driveway and he lived in my city Weston. 

After this experience I viewed some kids in school and realized that some are like that as well and they try to live their whole lives like some of these people. That's when I decided that I'll make the film about one of these kids who to his parents is a good kid that gets good grades and is basically the complete opposite of what I just described. In reality he does all type of activities he shouldn't be doing at his age like smoking, doing drugs, skipping school, etc.. 

Anyways I'm really glad of how the project came out and I really had a fun time recording it with my peers.

CCR editing #1

CCR Editing #1

For my first CCR I want to do a interview between both sides of Oliver. Since Oliver has 2 sides to him the good side where he's supposed to be academic, and his bad side where he does illegal activities. Since the good side is academic he'll be the one answering the questions while the bad side asks the questions. Since I want them both in the same scene I will be having to edit for the CCR. I am going to be using Adobe Premiere to edit the video. I used a masking tool to divide the sides and put both the videos of me in the same clip.

End Result:

CCR Ideas

CCR Ideas

Idea for 1st Video

 

I had a few ideas to do for the CCR videos and I know what I'll be doing for the first video. For the first CCR post I want to do a video with both sides of the protagonist(Oliver) interviewing each other from across each other just like in the picture above. What I mean by that is the good side and the bad side of Oliver asking each other. I thought it was a cool concept since the film opening demonstrates the contrast between both sides deeply so in the CCR post both sides can be shown in contrast with more depth since it could show more of the activities that the bad side does since it's not fully shown in the short film.

Idea for 2nd video

For my second CCR post I wanted to do a talk show or radio interview where a radio host asks me the other CCR questions (#3-4) and I could go over them. For this video I was thinking of getting one of my friends to be the radio host since I'm already going to be the interviewer for the first CCR post so I just wanted to switch it up a little bit. 

CCR Question #4 Research

 CCR 4 Research

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?

Software

For software, my partner has been editing the clips on a free editing software on Microsoft Office called 'Clipchamp.' My friend told me that for editing he has layered videos on top of each other and then cut the parts out we don't use.

Hardware

For our hardware we used my camera, a iPhone 16 Plus since it was the best quality camera we could get to suit the style of the film. For the recording I used cinematic mode which allowed me to record in 4k quality at 30 fps(frames per second) which for a phone is surprisingly amazing.

Online

For the online part of the project we were basically using that all around. We used it to transfer videos form my phone to his so he could later download them and work on them at home. He also installed music that I sent him that I was able to get off 'pixabay' a website where I could use free music and sound effects without having to worry about copyright restrictions.

Script:

There were many different ways that I integrated technology into my film opening. Firstly, for software, since I didn't do much of the editing, this section will be short, but for software my partner was using a free editing software by Microsoft called 'Clipchamp' which makes editing way easier than other software like Adobe which takes long to learn. In Clipchamp, he was able to cut the separate scenes as well as put different shots and angles in the software. Continually, for the hardware, I used my iPhone 16 Plus. The 16 Plus was able to capture the shots in cinematic mode where it focuses on a subject and also produces 4k quality videos with 30 frames per second. This was luckily the best option for the social realism film since I didn't need a a high-end camera but not a bad camera and the iPhone was right in the middle of that. Ultimately, online was the most viable tool to produce the film opening. Many elements couldn't have been done online like getting copyright-free music off 'pixabay' a website where I could download free music and sound effects that I could send my partner for editing. Overall, all these elements were vital to me completing my film opening and I wouldn't have been able to make it without these tools.

CCR Question #3 Research

CCR #3 Research

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

The area in production that I mostly improved on I think was the camera work with the angles. When I had just started the project I was somewhat good at identifying which type of shots and angles I was going to use for some scenes but was not prepared for the challenges during a social realism film. Although I wasn't the one holding the camera in my work, I was still the one that established which shots I wanted and retook them until I got the perfect one. For this type of work I wanted all of it to feel natural, like there wasn't a big production behind the film which led me to make all the shots handheld, so no tripods. This way it gave a bit more sense of realism as if the viewer was watching from the perspective of the protagonist.

Script: 

I believe that the production skill I most improved on was my camera skills. Even though I wasn't the one holding the camera, I was still the one behind the angles and the shots that I wanted to take. When I was recording with my peers, they kept getting mad because one of the shots weren't perfect so we had to get multiple clips of the same thing over and over again. All the shots in the film opening were handheld. I preferred to have the shots handheld because it gives the opening a deeper sense of realism. I wanted to make it clear that it was not a professional made film, so I could give a more relatable feel with viewers opposed to the classic Hollywood style.

CCR Question #2 Research

 CCR #2 Research

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

The main audience for this film would be typically older teen or young adults typically form ages 16-24 to enjoy this type of film. The type of audience that I would like to attract would typically people that have watched AND understood "Atlanta" because the film opening is inspired by the show with a suburban-type of mask on it. In this show the viewer gets to feel a sense of what the characters feel in the show and that's what I want to try to achieve in this film opening but for young viewers that are making the mistakes made in the film realize that their life isn't just about their image or their "credibility," especially around the wrong people they're trying to impress.

I would want this film to be distributed technologically because of the targeted audience and with the way society is as well now. Another reason that I would wanted promoted online is because with social realism films, they aim to really be as realistic as possible and with society always on their phones now there could be some interactive activities that could make viewers feel like they're interacting with the film. With the film also being distributed online, I wouldn't do a theatrical release because of the discomfort some of the target audience might feel and especially in a movie theatre with a lot of people so it would be better to be distribute at home where viewers can watch it peacefully or comfortably.

Script:

When recording my film opening, I knew exactly what group of people I wanted to attract. Early adults. The reason I wanted to choose young adults from typically ages 16-24 is because it's also kind of the audience is targeted to. Many privileged kids in good neighborhoods or suburban cities specifically. In today's society there's a problem where these privileged kids want to act like they're from the 'hood' or from places with high poverty rates. The reason they want to act like this is because of influences like social media, music, and many other factors. These kids have to realize that this dream that they want is not a necessity and quite frankly the exact opposite. I wanted this film to target those kids so they could have a sort of 'wake-up' call and finally learn that's not the life they want to portray.

CCR Question Research #1

CCR Question #1 Research

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My film opening uses conventions of social realism by showing the protagonist doing activities like smoking(or trying to smoke) and him owning the (fake) weed and just skipping school while his parents think he's going.

Many times in other social realism films, the main character comes from a harsh upbringing since childhood, but in this opening we wanted to put a twist on it whereas Oliver comes from a wealthy, happy family which helps combat the ordinary conventions that ties to a social realism film.

The opening is also based around a character v. self type of scenario where the kid is having trouble balancing out both lives of his, and I think that my costumes for the character (white button up for good side black hoodie for bad side) really help the narrative of the story without much dialogue needed to back up context to the opening.

Script:

 My film opening uses multiple conventions of social realism and represents societal issues happening in suburban communities. The opening does a good job setting the tone for the opening by starting with the kid getting ready for school in a white button up and the right after trying to light a cigarette but failing. This opening also represents some of the social issues going on in suburban neighborhoods or privileged cities, where many kids that usually have everything, want to act like they come from some sort of struggle or used to come from a place like that and start doing all types of activities like skipping school, drugs, and overall doing what they're not supposed to. My opening does a good job portraying this with the activities that are implied or shown by the protagonist.