Creative Critical Reflection

The End of Love Creative Critical Reflection

Here is my CCR! Sorry it's so long- there was a lot I wanted to talk about.

Reflection

If there is one thing I learned about this project, it's that I do not yet have the budget or time to accomplish what I want to. No, just kidding. I actually really enjoyed this project. It was something that had me culminate all of my knowledge and ideas from the entire course. I thought I would spend the entire project thing "how am I gonna fit these types of angles?" or"how am I gonna explain set design?" or "how will I do a shot/countershot?". But, actually, it all came to me naturally. I truly felt like I have mastered all of these basic media studies skills, and I feel confident that my project demonstrates this.

I also learned self expression. As I will talk in my CCR, this was a great way for me to express my emotions. Sure, a lot of it didn't make it into the final draft, but I was still able to get some weight off my back. It's almost like therapy. You just feel the emotion spew out of you, but instead, you end with a beautiful project you can call your own. Every part of it, I got to add a little detail about myself that spoke volumes about who I am. And I did this on purpose. From obvious points like the lyrics in the song to small costume design choices like the shoes I chose for the shot, it was all me and all about me.

This project also taught me something that I have previously been very bad with- organization. As you can see by the "set design" of the bedroom in my opening, I am a very disorganized person. I had to create a thorough schedule and procedure for this project. Every step depended on how well I did the last. And if I didn't like one step, I went back and fixed the last to see where I went wrong. There's a lot I omitted from my blog, mainly because my process was just so raw and natural. It didn't have much planning (it still had organization). The second scene I drew up in a minute and filmed right after. All I did was keep tweaking it until I was satisfied with it. 

I know I've been rambling, so I'm gonna go ahead and shut up. But, I feel like this project is a great beginning for me. My very first official film piece, and I'm nothing short of proud of it. I'm so happy I was able to create this not just for a grade, but for myself. I can't wait to be able to look at this in the future and see both how far I'll have come and how well I started.

Final Film Opening

Here is my final draft of my film opening. I hope you enjoy!

Editing

I am writing this post as I begin to edit my film opening. First of all, the syncing audio was honestly not that bad. It took a couple of tries, but it came out looking very good and I am very happy with it. Also, I shortened down the first scene to just one minute long, as I felt as it dragged on for too long. So, I included a second scene. This second scene is of the character (Oliver) rushing out of his bedroom when he realizes he is late for school. The bedroom is very disorganized, to represent how he lacks control in his life and the fact that he himself is a mess.

For the audio, I chose a song that is copyright free that I found on my editing software WeVideo. It is fast paced, and alternative genre to create a sense of hurry and high energy. This nondiegetic sound comes in when he begins to wake up. There is no sound when he is just laying in bed, to show how nothing is currently happening and he is just resting.

I decided to introduce the credits in the second scene. I had some trouble making sure they remained visible, so what I did was make the text white, and just place it in different locations to make sure it's visible. For example, if the area is very bright, I made sure to not place text on there, as it wouldn't be visible.

Scene One, Take Two!

I have finished shooting, and this time, I got some help from a friend. This allowed me to incorporate camera movements and create more engagement, so that my piece is less boring. I also fixed the lighting, so that it is much brighter and easier to see the subject. I had to change the costume a little, but it is still relatively the same. Now, I am trying to lay the audio over the video, and am having a lot of trouble. It is very hard to get it just right, and may need more advanced software to do so.

I identified two problems- lack of camera movement and lighting. I fixed the camera movement part by incorporating pans, zooms, and tilts, so that i could create engagement with the audience and make sure the introduction isn't boring. As for the lighting, there wasn't a lot I could do in an empty parking lot, so I improvised. I used my car's headlights on high beams to add more light. It did work, in fact.

This is what the lighting looked like afterwards. For some reason, I am unable to upload the second clip of before, but I can show you what I had while I was editing.

Hopefully, I can sync the audio properly, because I am really happy with the footage I ended up getting.

I Can Cross Cinematographer Off My Career List...

So. I've spent the last 2 nights trying to film this project. And I STILL cannot get it right. I don't know what it is. The video is not working- it seems so sloppy and doesn't flow properly. I don't know what to do. I have tried adding more space between the shots in each take so I can edit properly, but it somehow still turns out sloppy. I don't know if the problem is my editing or my cinematography, so I don't know how I can fix it.

Today, I'm gonna try filming again. If it doesn't work, I will end up rewriting a new project. Only problem is, I don't have much time to finish. I'm hoping a solution will present itself, as my research has been pretty useless. This time, I will try filming multiple master shots, all from different angles. I will do this for every angle that I need, which will probably be about 8 to 10 perfect takes. It will take a lot of time, but I'm honestly running out of ideas.

Uh Oh

I have begun editing my project together, and I have a huge problem. When I was overlapping the audio onto the video, it synced fine, but it seemed really choppy- with no spaces in between and just sounds awful. So, I have to fix that. I have two ideas for fixing this.

The first, re-record the audio in a master take all at once, and then overlay that onto the video. I can record in a silent room, with the original audio playing in my headphones and recording exactly what it sounded like on the video. I can do this quickly, and will fix the problem very easily. I will try to do this right now, maybe in my car so that I have no interruptions.

The second solution is to re-record everything completely. I really hope it doesn't come to this, as I fear I may encounter the exact same problem again if I do. I don't know how to leave enough space in between so that the audio fits together properly. I will come back with an update when I try the first attempt to a solution.

UPDATE: I tried editing the audio into one file. The problem is not the audio, but rather the audio that is cut too soon. Unfortunately, (like an idiot), I deleted the original audio, so I have to re-shoot everything that has singing in it. If anything, I learned my lesson.