Creative Critical Reflection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U09dHDp1aw

Drum Roll Please!

Hey guys, here is the project! Hope you guys enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed producing it for all my viewers! Thank you for joining me on this incredible experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltcyadbw21M

This is it!

       Good morning guys! Kind of sad to say this will be my last blog post for this project, not including the CCR. Any who, today I finished up technically all the editing and I am so excited to show you guys the finished film project. I'm just watching it over and over like a hundred times before I decide to release it because I want to make sure it looks as best as possible. Today I am preparing for the CCR and all the key points I would like to go over and emphasize on the most.

       Before I submit the video, however, I may look over a few more songs just out of curiosity to see what I find. I really like the songs I have now, and believe they fit well with their own parts, but it never hurts to check a bit more. 

       Also, I am still trying to play around a bit more with the music I am using for the school scene along with the voiceover used on the paper note. I sounds good right now, but there is this part that as the voiceover ends, coincidently the song hits this cool beat which hopes up the overall mood of the scene, but since it is low to hear its hard to spread that "wiped vibe". Therefore, I will continue to work on it a bit to see if I can fix that to help the overall mood. 

       Well guys, its been a pleasure sharing this incredible experience with you, and I can't wait to upload the video soon for you guys to see! Byeee

One step closer...

       Good afternoon everyone! Today I began to work on the voiceover with Callie. As I predicted, it did take 6 tries to get the best one, but hey it sounds like the best of the best. The tone and mood came out exactly how I imagined it so I'm pretty happy about that. I want this narrative to connect with the audience and allow them to feel emotional towards this. The point is to feel sort of sorry/upset and curious of what just happened to these characters. The goal is to make the audience create an intimate connection as the story progresses and as they try to figure out why and who ended up killing this actor they have now grown fond of as well as for the girl who they feel truly sorry for her lose. Now all I have to do this afternoon is insert it into the video, and begin to play around with the sound until it all comes out good.
       Like an old friend once said to me after walking out of a movie theater, it is never a truly great movie unless one of the main characters die or something bad happens to him or her, because if not then that connection between character and viewer won't be fully made and it won't last once the viewer is done watching the film. You want you audience to be thinking about it and finding a way to relate it to themselves even after they saw the movie and got home to do other errands.
       As I was checking my video today, I realized that I might have to do another voice over of the part when Brandon says "It was worth it" right before he gets shot, because the viewer can barely hear it if not. The thing is, the day I was filming, it was pretty windy so all you can truly hear is the wind, even when I mute most of the scene. Therefore, I think it will sound perfectly fine with me muting the whole footage and placing a voiceover.

Can't wait to show you guys the finished product soon!

       Hello everyone!! I have finally finished filming everything! Although I am relieved that I have finished all the filming with my actors, I'm kind of upset there nothing else to film. I just love joking around with my actors and we all have fun and get creative as we film. Anyways, I've been working on finding the sound of a gun bring shot and I found three that sound pretty good. So I'm almost quite sure that buy tonight I'll have that small scene all polished up and sounding amazing.
       Now the last thing I have left is the narrative. Here I am going to have to work hard with my actress speaking in order to get the perfect tone of voice, so I'm guessing it is going to take a bit more than one or two attempts. Now you may be wondering why am I making such a big deal out of this if all the actress has to do is read off a small paragraph off a paper, and I mean, who can't read a small paragraph easily. The thing is, is that the tone portrayed in this narrative is what will be determining the mood of the scene and overall idea. Therefore, it is very important to set the right tone so the overall idea of this being a mystery the viewer will want to find out, meaning he or she will have to stay attentive and watch the whole film to find out what happened to the main characters and why.
      Oh and I almost forgot to mention, I added on of those "6 Months Earlier" transitions between the title and the school scenes, and now the switch between both scenes makes a lot more sense and looks really good.

Almost done!

Today I began to film the last part of my project as well as doing a bit of editing. I filmed the shot where Callie is looking out the car window, upset of what had happened to Brandon. The shots are not filled with action or much body movement at all in order to portray the depressive feel of the scene as well as to have the audience concentrate on the important narrative part that will be heard here, rather then being being distracted by too many things occurring in the shot. I still have not placed the narrative in, but the shots look good due to its simplicity.
On Friday I filmed the pool scene. Wow, that was a lot harder then I thought it was going to be. It took us almost two hours in order to get six seconds worth of footage which didn't even look as amazing as I had imagined it to be honest. Mind you, it doesn't look bad, but I wish it would of came out a bit better, although I knew it was going to be an obstacle. However, the lighting came out great. After editing that footage into the project, I began to realize that I had totally forgotten about the extreme close-up of someone pulling the trigger in order for the audience to understand that is what killed Brandon which is why he is seen falling dead into the water. Once I have this footage I will be able to add it into the film and finalize all editing as well as sounds.

Ohh transitions, why do you make my life complicated?

       Hello everyone. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect “cliché high school-feel” kind of song you hear at the beginning of all school-related films. I found two. It was so hard to get a good song for free that is also copyright free. But I finally found the one and I believe it fits perfectly with the body movements seen through the actors. I did have a tiny obstacle come my way once I began to put the footage together. Turns out in the paper ball that has the message “I know it will be worth it” the words weren’t as visible and legible as I thought it was. After thinking how I was going to fix it, I decided I was going o simply do a voice over, giving it that effect of when the reader can hear the writer's voice in their head. Turns out it sounds great! 

       After editing a bit more I realized that the flow of the the main scenes was a bit off, therefore I began to add in some transitions in order to help create a smoother shift. It looks better than before, however I will continue to work on it because I believe it can still look better than it does right now.