Critical Creative Reflection

Question 4:

Question 3:

Question 2:

Question 1:

Above is my creative critical reflection. 

End Scene!

 

  I finally proud to say we are finished, I am so excited to reveal it. I tried by best to complete this film with enthusiasm and the best skills. I definitely have learned from my recent films, more specifically I have improved my editing skills. It has shifted my viewpoint on media yet again. Shooting my film also allowed me to interact with a variety of individuals who I never knew before. I'd say I did have difficulties with those people, but it was a memorable journey. This film has allowed me to once more gain a deeper understanding of the effort that goes into making a film. This film, in my opinion, accurately depicts the suspenseful genre my group and I selected, providing the appropriate mood. I had a great deal of fun experimenting with the vignette and filters I used to make the film look creepy . These conventions improved my film and gave me the opportunity to test out my improved editing techniques.

Editing and DONE

 To finish off the editing we had one huge issue. There was a reflection of me in the background of a shot at medium level. I sadly forgot to wear a black clothing to not appear in the reflection, I was wearing white. Wearing white made it much more difficult to fix the appearance in the reflection. So I decided to help more by research video apps that can erase background details. Happily Mila was able to download an application  and touch up the video. So at this Nicole came up with the idea that we should cut it in 3 equal separate parts because it had a blur out square in the middle of the shot. So we decided did one part with the blurred section because I am visible. I added the original shot for the 2 part because Nicole walks in-front of the window so I am not visible. Then, the third is the last part with the blurred part. After that I had to insert this cut clip back into the sequence which took awhile because I had to reorder the shots again. Then I went back on the storyboard to ensure I did not miss anything. I had realized I totally forgot to included a screaming sound effect for a shot. So for this I voice recorded myself screaming and then used Airdrop to transfer it to my MacBook Air. I utilized Airdrop to keep the high quality of the video. Then I inserted it inside the sequence and the editing software had options for the sound. I applied a sound coming from outside option and it makes the scream sound like it’s coming from outside (I sounds realistic). After that we had a lighting issue in the beginning of the film. The title was too dark to be seen with the filters we applied. At this I had to use a color correction option to brighten that one area. Then I exported it at the best quality and distributed it to my members. Then I uploaded mine to my Google Drive to be able to easily access it. 

Changes to the Film

 We changed the lighting and volume of the voices of the characters. I used Adobe Premiere Pro to do this advanced editing. I got to separate the sound from the videos and music. I basically lowered the music in this one section and increased the volume of the video. I then increased the lighting of the videos by increasing the opacity of the filters we utilized. I also adding more of a slower pace in the middle and fast pace in the beginning and end for some action in the suspense. I did add more fast shots in between 5 second shots to create a quick pace that we need to create suspense. I am very glad I shot extra shots to insure if I was missing something I would have something else that would make sense. I also FINALLY got the shots that Nicole re-filmed so I also added those in and it pulled things together. While I was doing this my group and I were FaceTiming. Each of us was truly doing our own thing and throwing out advice that we were given as I was editing. My group has been inactive and I have had to take the initiative on everything. I am hoping to editing today, tomorrow, and the next day after that to be done with the final touches. Even though I am not getting much help I am having fun during the process. I can see that little my little it is getting pieced together and the constructive criticism we were given honestly aided us. I also began taking out background items from the background and then I noticed they actually look well in the background so I kept them. While I was editing I was stilling on the couch and anxious chewing on a toothpick to not distract myself from including the advice that was given to me. I was also watching a new movie called “Moonshot” on HBO Max that was a rom-com with sci-fi. It was inspiring me to keep working on my film and so I did. 

Music Update

 We finally discussed the topic of music whilst editing. I researched on YouTube for royalty-free suspenseful music. Many options came up and gratefully many of the options included a title that said "no copyright music" I was looking for a mixed tempo with some low tones in the beginning, some in the middle, and at the end. I was also looking for some high tempos through out. I went through five videos. The first one was primary adrenaline boosting music and it had way to much of a high tempo, so we decided no. The second one was creepy music and it was way too slow paced with an ultra low tempo. The third one was alike to the first one and it also began with a high tempo which was something we discussed we did not want. We wanted the song to build. So then, I randomly click on one and we like it, it was exactly the perfect tempo combination we preferred. Unfortunately, it was only 1 minute and 20 seconds so we spent almost an hour and a half trying to find the same song but a longer version. We had no luck during that pursuit. Then we picked out of we found interesting from the same account that produced the fourth one. It was the perfect length and tempo, different from the fourth though. I liked it more than fourth one. While my group was discussing when we could finish editing and fixing corrections from our review I scrolled through more. While I was doing this I suddenly came upon the fourth song but it was the longer version we had been searching for! So we listened to both of them throughly and unanimously voted on the fifth one, it was different and we liked that. After this I made it into and converted it to an MP3 file to upload it to Adobe Premiere Pro. I cropped the song because it was longer than we needed, it was allowed to do. We did have to deviate from the storyboard because it has written down that we used a specific song by an artist but now we have to alter it, writing down the creator of this new royalty and copyright free song.

Film Review

After some rough draft editing and going through my film I decided to put something together just to make sure we are on the right path. I want to take any constructive criticism into consideration for further editing. So, I decided to ask one of my mother’s friend and coworker, Mellisa to review my film. I choose to do Mellisa because she does not know me that well and she is a hard worker, she know good work when she sees it. My mother said that at work Mellisa checks and corrects some of my mother’s work for errors before she sends important information to clients. According to my mom she does a very well good job and is well-educationed about the media industry. Since she does not know me too well I’m sure she will not be biased and she is aware it is going to be officially graded. Prior to sending her the video I did explain the final task project and everything we had to include. She has children around my age and she told me that she had to do something similar. She knows some of the rules and regulations so she offered to help me. She gave many positive comments and very specific constructive criticism which I appreciated. She began speaking of the color coordination of the characters outfits with the color green. The color green is used to represent insecurity, uncertainty, and judgment. She also enjoyed the awkwardness of the conversations. She did though mention that she could hear some of the characters voices. I thought about the issue and it has an easy solution of just rising the volume on that shot on an editing software. She also said she would like to see more clean shots and with same lightning. I spoke to my group of this issue and decide to re-filmed those shots for the best solution. Overall with have good things to work towards and we are making progress to improving. Mellissa was a great choice for peer reviewing my film because she was well-informed and had some background on what to look for.