Creative Critical Reflection

 Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy my creative critical reflections as I look back on this process!

CCR Part 1- A Painting Vlog

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

CCR Part 2- Get Ready With Me

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

CCR Part 3- A Podcast

 How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

CCR Part 4- A Presentation

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

 

Production- Final Film Brief

 Final Film Opening

Title- Lost in His Light

By-Inaya Aldayani

We finally did it! This is the finished product, I hope you guys enjoy!

Production - Titles

   Hey guys! I'm so happy to say that this is the last step in production, the titles! In my previous blog posts, you might have seen how I picked fonts out on DaFont.com, but as I am using IMovie for this film, I unfortunately cannot import any of those fonts into the software. To try to work my way around this, I thought of using Canva, a designing app which has many fonts that may be similar to what I wanted to originally use. Since the title slide is on a black screen, I can easily put the font over a black background on Canva and import it into IMovie.

  When I did this I saw that it also offered another type of font called "EB Garamond" which was really similar to the font I originally wanted. While doing this I also came across animation for the letters called "Clarify" that I really liked and was similar to IMovie's text animation called "Focus" which is what I originally wanted to use. So, I went ahead and screen recorded the animation and the letters so I can put it into IMovie as its own video. Once I did this I wanted the letters to fade out so I put a black screen after the video and used the "Dissolve" transition to made the letters fade out before the second scene started.

  I ended up really liking how this came out and was happy with my title card's result. As for the other opening credits, I just ended up using a font that IMovie offered within the software since I wanted to put the text over the shots I took in scene 2. I chose the font "Cochin" in bold, and placed the credits over two different shots that were longer in scene 2. I used the "Standard" animation for it where it fades in and out.

It's finally safe to say that I am done! To make sure everything looks right I'll be going over the film opening to see if everything sounds right. See you guys in the next blog where the final product will be!

Production- Editing Scene 1

   Now that I'm done filming, I can focus only on editing this last scene and later make final touches to make sure everything is in place. I'm excited to edit this as we are coming closer to the last steps of production! Now, as this is the last scene and had around 20 seconds left until the 2 minute mark I am aware that I may have to cut down both of my other scenes in some sort of way so that my opening does not become too lengthy.

  To start, just like my other scenes, I first went ahead and picked out what clips I wanted to use, put them in order, then cut them down to the duration I wanted. After doing this, with all the clips I put it and originally had in mind, my opening became a little bit lengthy, so unfortunately I had to remove two shots I had taken so that there was room for the title slide.  I also sadly had to remove a the first clip of my third scene to make more room as well. This led me to edit the two other scenes to adapt.

  Next, I imported the "Deep Cinematic Emotional Ambient" sound that I had saved from Pixabay to make sure the shots fit the song accordingly to its pace and raised its volume. I wanted some sound from the shots to come through to make it more nostalgic so I turned down the sound a little bit more most of the shots except the one where the main character has dialogue. I didn't end up using the other sound effects I had saved as I liked it better without it.

  Adding on, I quickly recorded the monologue that I had written in my script on my phone with a microphone which I had storyboard and added it over accordingly to that.

  As for the look of the shots, I wanted to take advantage of the filters again on IMovie so I used the vintage filter on IMovie for the two first clips of the film opening as their colors were a bit cooler then the rest of the shots. I did this to make it more cohesive and deep.

  Now that I'm done editing I can focus on my title card and the opening credits which will be my last and final step of my production!

Production- Filming Scene 1

 Hey everyone!

Today I finally was able to film the first scene as the weather finally let up after the constant raining. It was sunny and there was a slight breeze, giving me exactly the environment I wanted to film in. So, here's a run through of how filming scene 1 went!

Overall Shots and Movements

  In scene one I used a mix of slight random and other types of movements such as zoom ins, zoom outs paired with full shots, medium full shots, long shots and close ups to give more of an introspective feel to the opening as I was using a digital camera to film. I used also used static movement and two shots to slow the pace and tracking movements to immerse the audience into the scene.

Angles

  Paired with my shots I used a variety of angles such as eye level, shoulder level and high angles while using two shots to show multiple actions and perspectives to create a deeper emotional mood.

Lighting

  Unlike the other two scenes, I used natural lighting and shadows that came from the sun as it took place outdoors and I wanted to capture the sunset to play off of the title, "Lost in His Light". I really liked how this turned out when filming. Since I wasn't in control of how much Sun there was I had to turn down the exposure a bit to capture the shadows I wanted in the two shots.

  In result, I think my filming process went pretty well as I was able to capture a lot of the vision I had in my mood board with the sunset scene. The shots were a success as I got to capture that nostalgic feel with the use of my Kodak camera. Filming was definitely more simple here compared to filming the other scenes.

  As there wasn't many downsides, one stressful and big factor was that I was on a timed schedule. The sunset was at 7:33 and I started filming at 6:50 leaving me with only about 45 minutes to film with the Sun. So to not miss this opportunity, I decided to film all the shots with the Sun first then go to the nearby park to film the two shots at the beginning since the Sun isn't visible there. This caused me to think and work fast which was a little troubling.

Production-Editing Scene 3

   Today I'll be editing scene 3 of my film opening after filming! I'll be editing it to make sure I have the shots I want and to make sure they all work well together, because otherwise I'll still have time to refilm shots. For this scene I'm aiming to keep it around thirty seconds, but it may go a little over due to the scenes with dialogue.

  To start editing this scene, I started out by importing everything into IMovie and then cutting it to the desired duration. For most of the shots where she's making food I wanted to keep it short as possible while still having a relatively slower pace so I can fit that 30 seconds mark. After cutting it down I unfortunately had 21 seconds left to use on my first scene.

  For this scene, to keep it cohesive I used direct cuts in between shots and to keep a continuous flow. I also cut them in a way so that it only captures the main characters actions and nothing in between.

  As I used practical lighting, the ceiling lights were more white then warm so I took steps to change it. As this lighting was a lot more whiter and brighter then I aimed for I used IMovie's built in filters to make it warmer. I specifically chose the "Western" filter as it was a little warmer and made colors deeper. Using the slider I made everything at level 40 of that filter. It made it more cohesive with scene 2 and also gave a more home like, cozy atmosphere.

  Moving on, as planned, I used Pixabay's sound effect of the television playing so that it makes the scene feel more real. I only ended up using the television sound as my shots were able to capture the sound of the props used. I made sure to turn the sound to a lower volume as its purpose is more so for background noise.

  Lastly, since I recorded the main character's dad voice separately, I overlayed the recording over the two long takes of the shots and moved them each over tot he parts of the shots where the main character stops talking. This way it can look like that the dad is on the phone and also make sure that his dialogue is heard.

  After editing, I'm hoping I don't have to make any further changes after filming scene 1 but if I do then I will re-edit some of these clips accordingly. If I could allocate more time for this scene I think the results would be better, but due to the time given I have kept it this length. But after editing so far I would say I am mostly satisfied with how it turned out. 

Production-Filming Scene 3

  Hey guys! Today we'll be going through the process of filming scene 3. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to film scene 1 as it has been rainy and very cloudy. But today I filmed the last scene which takes place in the kitchen. To film this scene, and to keep it cohesive I used my phone and stabilizer once again.

Overall Shots Used

  In the third scene, I used many still shots to give focus to the certain aspects of the food the main character was making to show representation of a common part of south asian culture. I also lets the audience hear the diegetic sound of the bread touching the pan and the spoon being used. It slows the pace and plays into the little dialogue used in scene 2.

Angles

   As for angles, I utilized shots that are overhead to capture the main character setting up for dinner and to give a full view of the action taking place. When it came to the main character I used eye level and shoulder angles to capture the conversation she has with her father on the phone. As this scene is supposed to show the main character also feeling a little bit uncomfortable, I used low angles, and a dutch angle towards the end to instill that while using close ups.

Lighting

  And this scene is a continuation from scene 2 which takes place at night, I used the practical lighting of the ceiling lights in the kitchen. I didn't mind these lights, but while filming they were very bright which had its ups and downs. 

  As for things that went well through filming, I would say I really liked how the overhead and static shots captured the food being made as well as the tea. Originally in my story board I hadn't used overheads, but I ended up using them when I came into some hurdles during the process which I'll get to. I also think the types of shots I used were perfect as they set focus on the objects and how the main character was feeling.

  The hurdles that I mentioned ended up changing some of the direction and plan I originally had for my story board. When I went to film some of the shots of making food like putting bread in the toaster, I ended up not liking the visual so I changed it from this to those overhead shots. I also had trouble with filming the scene where she is talking on the phone as I had to time the notifications at the perfect time as well as making sure my actor is leaving enough room for dialogue for the main character's dad to talk on the phone which I was planning to record separately.