Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q0KIOz_cfxanssSSrk5sqRoVwpFibTUpRw-OJqRV1_s/edit?usp=sharing

1. My products represent multiple social groups and issues. First, the main actor in our movie is in a fatal car crash. Although in the film we are not able to see why the boy gets into the crash it represents the wide issue of texting and driving, drunk driving, and more which are some of the main causes of death worldwide. The boy dying in the end shows that car crashes, while sometimes minor, are a huge problem and can result in injury or even death. By highlighting this aspect we are raising the awareness that no one should drive under the influence or pay attention to distractions such as their phone as something can always go wrong. At the end of our film, we want people to be aware that driving with any sort of distraction in place is irresponsible and should never be done no matter what. My product also represents the gay community. Many films are trying to incorporate this in their films as it is now much more widely accepted and wanted. However, usually, films make the gay romance the main plot and surround their film with that. In my product, although the plot is not a romance, the main character is gay and it is very normal. I wanted to show that it is normal and we can include a gay romance without it being unconventional anymore. This greatly supports the ideals and wants of the LGBTQ community and I believe represents this group exceptionally well.  

2. The elements of my production work together greatly to create a sense of branding. Firstly, the website I made gives a great load of detail about the film that people can easily view and get informed. It includes things about what the movie is about, about the people who created the film, it provides reviews and it links multiple social media accounts I made. All of this in one place creates a sense of branding because people are able to learn so much by clicking on one link and it’s so creative and intriguing that it will bring people to want to watch the film. The social media platforms we created also create a sense of branding because just about everyone has one or more forms of social media nowadays. We created YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter so a large variety of people could see a little about our film and put it on their movie-watch list. The postcard was also an awesome way to create a sense of branding. Even though postcards are not all that common today, the postcard really branded the film and when show times would take place. In big bold print, the audience was able to see where the film would be shown, what times and dates it would be presented, the title of the movie, and also the social media platforms were all linked to it. I also incorporated a QR code into the postcard so that people could scan it and be brought right to our Instagram page which has even more information. People have so many ways of accessing information about my production which is a great branding technique. The more people that know, the more people will watch. I also decided to stick to using the same color scheme and similar pictures in all of my products. The film, website, postcard, and social media I made all use yellow and black wording and use the same or similar images from the film in order to stick to the theme and subtly use artistic effects to brand. 

3. My products engaged with the audience in many ways. First off my website was incredibly easy to navigate so the audience was able to engage and be informed about the film without the hassle of digging deeper or having to figure out the website. It was also visually appealing which is a crucial aspect when engaging the audience. I used a lot of pictures and bright colors like yellow so the audience was drawn to read more and want to watch. The postcard was very engaging as it gave another very eye-appealing form of information that gave details on when and where the film will take place and can be seen. This engages the audience because they are able to actually see set-in-place dates to mark down so they will know it is coming up and they should follow us to learn more. The social media platforms were another way we engaged with the audience. We linked the socials on both the website and the postcard so people knew they existed and so they would follow. We post updates and sneak peeks of the film on these social media websites so the audience can view them, comment on them, and want to talk about the film and encourage others to watch as well as themselves. The film itself is very engaging as it uses lots of bright colors and fun music as well as funny dialogue at the beginning and slowly starts to lose its positivity. This lets the audience know that something bad is going to happen and keeps them wanting to watch and on their toes. The plot twist creates an emotional rollercoaster which makes the audience want to watch for a happy ending but when it never comes it makes them want a part two. This results in the audience staying updated with our socials and website to wait for a part two to be released.  

4. My media products were largely influenced by the research I have done regarding the short film and branding around it. For example, the drama short films I researched all used intense music in the background and sounds to enhance the emotion. I used multiple sounds throughout my film to follow this convention of a drama film and make it better fit the genre. I continued to follow the conventions of short films that my research showed by including a plot twist and ending the film in an unexpected and unwanted way. At the end of the film the audience finds out the boy’s car accident was much worse than he had thought, and he ended up dying in the end. This unexpected turn follows the twists and turns most films have and provides the audience with ups and downs of emotion.  I also researched movie websites and postcards to get a sense of what we should include to better brand our short film. I saw in many of them that they were basic and easy to navigate but extremely intriguing. This prompted me to use a basic website template but include many pictures and bright pops of color over important information to entertain. My products also challenged many conventions of a normal film. I am only a high school student, so I had to work on a very low budget. I was only able to film this with an iPhone camera and a tripod/selfie stick. My props list was also limited to the very few things I bought from the store and whatever I could find lying around my house. This limited the number of shots we could use and what we could do in the film tremendously. I was not able to use that many tracking shots as they usually came out low quality and I couldn’t use birds-eye view shots which are common as seen in the short film dramas ‘Traitor Knight’ and ‘Mutt”. I also was not able to use any high-tech equipment which restricted me from using any special effects. In my film the boy gets into a car accident however, when that happens the screen goes black. I would have rather showed a real accident like most films would have but because of the lack of resources I was forced to use a plain black screen.