Creative Critical Reflection and Final Project

Basis of what I said in the reflection:
1. My opening sequence followed a lot of the same conventions as other opening sequences.
For example, there were titles that gave credit to individuals who worked
on this project. This is shown in all opening sequences. My group and I watched
opening sequences from similar genres to get inspiration for our opening sequences.
Our opening sequence was a thriller, so we looked at opening sequences that were
thriller, action, and horror. We did this because our opening sequence includes all of
these things. Our opening sequence also includes diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.
Some diegetic sounds that were used were doors closing, and people talking. Some
non-diegetic sounds that were used were music and voice-overs. These properties are
crucial in opening sequences because it helps to develop the plot. On the contrary, we also challenged conventions. Most opening sequences don’t include action scenes. However, my group's opening sequence was action-filled and high impact. A lot happened throughout the two minutes, and there was a cliffhanger like ending to it. It makes the audience engaged, and want to continue watching. The opening sequence can represent people who like thrilling or action-filled movies. It can also represent people of all ages who watch movies. Other than that, it doesn’t represent many social groups. Thrilling movies normally don’t have any issues. However, my group’s opening sequence’s theme is things aren’t always as perfect as they seem. This is because the story takes place in a utopia, in which if you get a red dot on your wrist, you get sent away. The government was hiding this piece of information, so their society wasn’t as perfect as it appeared.
2. My product engages with audiences in many ways. To begin with, it appeals to many audiences. Thriller movies and opening sequences are suitable for the majority of ages. This allows people to watch and enjoy what is happening in the piece of film. These types of movies can bring people together since it is a common interest. This can allow people to gather and discuss topics such as thriller or action movies along with their opening sequences. This opening sequence would most likely be distributed in movie theatres. The opening sequence is attached to the movie itself, and movies are first played in movie theatres. It can also be distributed on platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and other apps that stream movies. Once again, this is because the opening sequence is attached to the movie itself.

 3. Overall, my production skills have significantly improved. This project helped me with time management. My group only had one day to film our entire opening sequence. Because of this, we had planned our entire schedule with breaks, time to film, and other crucial details. If my group and I had not planned out our day, the filming process would be stressful, and we most likely wouldn’t be able to finish. My group and I also learned a lot about lighting. In our opening sequence, the lighting fluctuates depending on the location of the scene. For example, all of the “flash forward” scenes had lighting from lamps while the present tense scenes required white light from my O ring light. This was important because lighting can change the mood of the piece of film. In addition to time management and lighting, my editing has significantly improved. This was the first project where I had to change the lighting. I looked through all the filters and found one that best fit my description. This filter dimmed the colors and added a yellow undertone. This made the scenes seem unreal. This was important for our flashforward scenes because then the audience can easily distinguish what was the present tense and what was the future tense. Throughout the editing process, I learned how to insert titles, and adjust their lengths. This was a cool feature because there were many different text options. My group and I decided to use red and green fonts because the name of our movie is Red Dot. However, the green also corresponds with the plot. The text was outlined in black, so it would be easier to read. The titles were also placed in different spots depending on what scene was currently playing. All of our titles lasted 3-4 seconds. This allowed the audience to read and take in the information that was being displayed.
4.  My group and I Incorporated many different types of technology, software, and hardware into our final project. To begin with, we used a camera. For this project, my group and I did not use a school camera because Kaitlyn had her own. Because we didn't check out a school camera, we didn’t get a tripod or a memory card. Kaitlyn’s camera was newer and easier to use. With previous projects, the school cameras would always die, or there would be some sort of problem that we encountered. We didn’t want to risk more problems so we used Kaitlyn’s camera. For editing, we did not use pinnacle studios. I wasn’t at school the week we had to edit, so I edited it from my laptop at home. I used an editing software called iMovie. I edited the entire opening sequence on this program. I imported all of the shots, and then chose the takes that I wanted to use. I then added the filters on the flash-forward scenes and inserted the titles. In addition to this, we also used upbeat music. We searched for uncopyrighted music on YouTube and ensured that the music was free for the public to use. We then inserted the music into the opening sequence at the correct time. We also used an O ring light. This mechanism is a stand with an attachable light in the shape of an O +SHOW O RING LIGHT+ ELABORATE! Overall, we used many types of technologies, software, and hardware in this project.

This is the link to the music that my group and I used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gBTKiVqprE

Reflection of the Opening Sequence

Overall, I learned many things throughout this project. One of the major things this project has helped me with is my time management skills. My group and I had to film our entire opening sequence in one day. Therefore, we had to make a detailed plan to ensure that we would stay on schedule. This made the filming process less stressful. Luckily, Kaitlyn and I stayed focused, and we filmed sooner than we anticipated. This project also helped me learn how to deal with high amounts of stress and pressure. The most stressful parts of this project were the storyboard and filming. My group and I took a long time discussing, and drawing out each box. We were on a time crunch to do this, and there were only two of us. But we managed our stress and drew. We also decided to put the lighting, angles, and location of each of the shots. This was extremely helpful when it came to the filming process. This is because we already knew everything that we needed to know before filming. Therefore, it made the filming process less rigorous. In addition to this, my editing skills have significantly improved. In this project, I had to insert numerous titles as well as their lengths. This was the first project where I had to do this, but it was a crucial piece. I also had to adjust the lighting for certain scenes. Lighting can change the mood of the film, so it was important that we did it. Overall, I learned many things in this project and I'm grateful that I had the chance to do it.

Re-editing

School was canceled because of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Because of this, Kaitlyn and I couldn't meet up to re-edit together. Therefore, I re-edited since it was originally done on the computer. I reviewed the shots that we individually took. I then determined which to put into the opening sequence.
I put in a 10-second video with a black screen and no audio at the beginning. Kaitlyn and I felt the need to put a backstory to the plot so it would be more understandable for the audience. We wrote, "In a utopian society, each individual receives a red or green dot on their 16th birthday. If the individual gets red, they will be sent to a special facility. However, if the individual gets green, they get to stay with their family."
The next new scene we selected was the establishing shot. We forgot to insert a clip of Kailtytn's backyard in the original clip. Therefore we inserted another. The establishing shot was about 4 seconds long. I didn't have to edit anything for this take.
I re-inserted some clips, so I could use the original audio. This was helpful because now the audience could hear everything above the music. I had to put filters over some of the new flashforward scenes. I also had to insert some titles, and properly space them out. Overall, the re-editing process took about 90 minutes.

Problems We Encountered:COVID-19

Recently, a deadly virus called Coronavirus spread across the globe. People became scared and were told to practice social distancing. Some states were put on lockdown, meaning that they can only leave their houses to get food and go on walks. Because of this, I was unable to meet up with my group.
 Kaitlyn and I then called each other and started to make a plan. To begin with, we discussed what scenes we needed to refilm or add. We decided on a few scenes and filmed individually. We couldn't meet up because of COVID-19.
Therefore, we couldn't refilm as many scenes as we would've liked. However, we understand how dangerous this virus is, and valued our family's safety, as well as our own. Because we weren't together, we also couldn't edit together. Kaitlyn sent me her new shots, and I saved them to my computer.
We didn't change too much in the editing process. I trimmed a few videos and replaced old takes with the new ones. I then called Kaitlyn again, and we discussed the opening scene. Our plot is a little confusing, so we wanted to set the beginning of the plot with words.

This has been done in many major movies such as The Hunger Games. We decided on the wording, and I inserted the video into the beginning. The re-filming and re-editing process was difficult because we could not leave our houses. However, we did as much as we could do.