Creative Critical Reflection

 

Film Opening

Last Thoughts :(

The next posts will be links to my final project and my CCR. I guess this is where I leave you. I'm a senior, so there is no way I'll be able to take the A level for AICE Media. This was truly the longest I've ever had to work on a project, and I am very grateful for the experience. As I plan to study musical theatre in college, I'm expecting that much of my subjects will be about media analysis and creation. I can't wait to bring everything I've learned in this class with me as I progress to my university.

CCR Progression: Podcast

As a reminder, I am planning to do a time travel reflection and a podcast part for my CCR.

             

I haven't really been a podcast person, but I have actually been listening to a lot of them recently. One podcast has been completely theatre related. Over the last two months, I have been auditioning for musical theatre programs across the country. Podcasts have been a pretty good way for me to learn a lot about the colleges in a short period of time. I am not a podcast expert, but I have definitely listened to enough professional ones by now to where I could emulate some of the techniques. 

I plan to make a podcast specifically about the target audience of my film opening. It could discuss how I arrived at the film's target audience and how I plan to make the film available to the public. I would like to experiment with some of the regular aspects of podcasts, such as a theme song and an interviewer.

CCR Progression: Time Travel

As a reminder, I am planning to do a time travel reflection and a podcast part for my CCR.

After a quick Party City run, I got myself everything I need to transform into the most drastic character I'll need to be for this CCR: Old Man Joey. The video will start on Old Man Joey meeting the viewer traveling to his time in a time machine (we'll ignore how/why the viewer got into his room). Old Man Joey will send the viewer back to crucial times during my process making the AICE Media final. These could include:

• February: The beginning of the whole process. Discuss research in genre conventions. Discuss which conventions I embraced and discuss representation.
• March: Approach to production. Reflect on how the process evolved throughout the production. 
• April: Editing. Explain how I integrated technologies into the project. (All types - hardware, software, Blogger, etc.)

It'll probably end with Old Man Joey giving a final statement. 

The February segment would reference my "Choosing and Representing a Genre" blog post from Feburary. I would explain what I meant by a "Dramedy" and go into the details about how I balanced a serious and humorous tone. Here, I could go more into how I was inspired by the Soul opening, but how my final piece still differed greatly from it. I could also explain how I tried to recreate the dull feeling of the opening of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I could even incorporate my "Genre Research Activity" blog post from November of 2023. Overall, I didn't really challenge much of the genre's conventions

The March segment would take place during the week of me filming and beginning to edit. I could mention the troubles I had during the day of filming. I would mention how I got my actors to be in the film (and how so many of them dropped it). I could explain how I found locations for the two scenes of the opening and discuss how I confirmed them. Additionally, I would go into depth about how bad it was I started my whole process with a filming technique (the one-shot) instead of starting with the story.

The April segment would happen after I'm done with the final product. By then, I would have used all the technology I would need to create the opening and I could elaborate on it all. I would highlight the softwares I used, including Blogger, Adobe Premiere Pro, iMovie, and InShot. I would also explain why my phone was the only hardware I needed to film the piece.

Of course, my younger selves in all these time traveling wouldn't know how all his ideas came to be in the end. Still, it would be treated as though he was very determined and he knew that nothing would change throughout the process. 

EDITING AND TITLE CHOICE

With only three clips in my entire film opening, there wasn't much editing to do involving cuts and trimming.

Much of the editing came from the sound. I really wanted to make sure the chorus sounded good during the auditorium segment of the piece. I feel like the combination of their voices, if done well, could really enhance the tense tone. I did different things in order to enhance the 4-person performance such as:

• Requiring a metronome at 110 BPM playing either on stage or in someone's ear so that the chorus would stay on beat. The conductor's hand wasn't enough. 
• Filming the opening with live vocals, but also recording a voice memo of everyone singing the song. This could be placed on top of any part of the film needing more power from the chorus.
• Leveling the vocals so that when the harmonies of the song comes in, all of the actors are blended.

There was minimal sound editing needed for the classroom portion. The room was enclosed and there was minimal background noise to cover. The students were supposed to sound bad, and they did. 

The film's credits were placed right at the beginning of the opening. I structured the frame so that the text could appear on the white wall to the right. I wasn't ready to name the movie until after I filmed everything. While editing the clips together and seeing the atmosphere come to life, I decided to name it The Broken Score. 

For the beginning credits, I timed it so that each credit showed up on beat with the music. Everything flowed together very nicely I think. In my "𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝" blog post, I researched the impact that different fonts can make towards the tone and atmosphere. I was leaning towards using Garamond, but during the editing process, I tried out a font called Caviar Dreams. It was slightly wonky, but still very serious. It has quirky "e" vowels and disproportionate consonants, but still maintained the perks of Garamond. I thought it represented the film very well with it's irregular feeling. 

FILMING DAY

That's right. Filming DAY. I was thankfully able to do all of the filming in one day. Everything had seemingly worked out. 

Almost.

It was Monday, March 18th, 2024. I had gotten verbal confirmation and confirmation by text that all 11 of my actors could stay after school that day to film. 11 people still wasn't ideal, since a regular chorus class size was usually much greater. Still, I thought the audience could suspend their disbelief for the idea. 11 students could still produce a big sound that could fill an auditorium. 

I had told everyone to meet up in the theater. As I walked into the room (very happily because I had just secured the location with the band kids), I only saw five of my actors. 

Five.    

I instantly contacted the group chat with all of the members and asked where everyone was. Slowly but surely, everyone began to send their excuses. Some of them were valid. Some of them were not. One of my members was feeling very sick with a sore throat and mucus (Valid). Another one of my members completely forgot it was today (Not Valid). 

One person named Santiago had agreed to be the chorus teacher for my film opening. He was the oldest out of the 11 actors I asked to come, and he looked it. He took the Chorus elective at my school with me and I figured he could mimic some of the actual instructor's work as a conductor. That whole plan fell apart when, on filming day, he informed me how he was in the hospital being scanned for a form of retina detachment. It was very scary, but luckily, it did not develop into anything serious. Still, he still had to stay in the hospital all day. I've been talking to him throughout the entire process and he is starting to feel much better now ❤️

I now had only 5 members, and they were all juniors. As the only senior, I decided to take over the role as the conductor. All the actors would wear there regular school clothes so that they were believable high school students. I wore all black in order to try to give off some of the conductor's authority. I needed someone to be the camera operator, and I chose Alex. He had great experience with the camera and I could trust him to follow what I had in mind. That left my film with only 4 people to be the chorus students.

This was the only day we could film. I had reminded everyone many times about how we planned to film on that Monday. Even if only 4 people showed up, I knew that it was the best chance I had. I used what I could. I continued on with filming, and it went pretty well. I didn't worry the present actors about how we were missing six members. That would just cause more stress. I told everyone that the plan had changed to where the film would be about training a student barbershop quartet. It was perfect for the 4 members we had there. It started off as a placeholder plot to get along with filming, but I actually started to like it a lot. 

I made sure Alex closed in more on the chorus so they filmed up the frame when they were showcased. This would help make the audience ignore the small number of students.

The good thing about working with your friends is that you get to goof off.