Creative Critical Reflection

CCR Prezi Link:

https://prezi.com/69ggw-siaeoc/rae-ccr/

The Final Product

Link to two- minute film opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ImncgBPVfE

Importance of Background Music

     According to Robin Hoffman, a composer, " Music can serve several purposes that are either important on the emotional side of the movie or help/enhance the storytelling". Music is important in movies and we are now tying to find the best music for our opening. Robin Hoffman's website tells me the different functions movies can have in a film. We want to choose background music that will create the atmosphere and portray emotion. Going through and listening to the different compositions, we were trying to decide between something more upbeat or something more calm and peaceful. We played them both while watching the opening scene to see which one matched better. I thought the more upbeat sound matched better and even complimented the movement within in the film. We are still deciding, as we will add the music after all of the editing is finished. When complete, we will also add the voice over monologue that the main character, Rae will be narrating. 




Sources: Hoffman, Robin. "12. What Is the Function of Film Music?" Robin Hoffmann. N.p., 21 Feb. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017

Editing

     A couple days ago, we started to edit. Jessica is good at editing, so we used her computer and imovie software. It is difficult to pick which shots to use, but so far we have a good beginning to the film opening. The spotlight looks very good in my opinion. It really shows how she is the main focus and develops her as the main character. We have another shot in the auditorium of the spotlight being moved around on the curtain trying to "find" Rae. We want to include this but we are having trouble figuring out where to add it. We also had to crop a shot because some extra lights got into the frame. Another situation is figuring out where the credits go. The text color cannot be the same as the background color, and since the frame is always moving, the colors behind the text change. We also were  trying to decide how long each credit should be held up for. As our deadline is approaching, we are aiming to finish editing by Monday, April 10.

Extra Scene

   Earlier this week, we finished filming and began to edit. We filmed a scene at Jessica's house but we don't know if we will use that footage. We decided to shoot it just in case. While filming this scene, we had to make our own tripod, as shown below. Jessica and I were deciding which angle to use because one of the angles made the subjects look distorted. We finally got the ideal angle and composition and we began to film the dialogue. When we were finished recording, we realized we had a copyright song in the background (Because in the shot, Rae is watching a musical on TV). So. we will either cut that part out or not use the scene at all. In my opinion, I do not think we need the scene and I think it will be too long to include anyways. As we start to edit, we will see how much time the beginning scene is and decide what to do with the other footage we filmed.

                                                                  Homemade Tripod

What's Next?

     While all went well with the filming, there is still more to come. We are adding a voice over to the monologue. During this voice over, you will hear the main character's voice for the first time. This allows viewers to be inside of her head and therefore connect with her. We do not know yet how long the voice over will be, but that is something we will discuss in class tomorrow. Tomorrow we will record the voice over and then we will film the remaining shots we need. Once we have the shots and the voice over, we will begin editing. We all need to work together for this part because we need to decide which shots to keep and how to put them together. I am hoping that the editing will look as good as the shots that we have already gotten.

Take 1

     On Thursday we began to film. We had a story board to help us out, but we thought of a lot of new things as we were filming. We filmed the monologue that the main character is shown performing. We used our auditorium, which is perfect because the setting is meant to be a school auditorium. We were actually able to use the lights, so we used the spotlight. I was the one controlling the lights which are in the back of the auditorium and on the second floor. This distance made it a little hard to communicate, but we were able to do so just fine by staying the on the phone with eachher. While shooting, I had the idea to get a shot from behind Rae, seeing only the shining light (spotlight) that she sees. This shot came out very good and I hope we are able to use it in our opening.
   
     We had to shoot the same scene several different times so we could get it in every angle. This process took an extended amount of time. We used the spotlight to symbolize the dream of being an actress. It created high key lighting for this scene, which shows that she is radiating while acting because it is her passion. The outfit we used for the scene was chosen to represent the main character. The red shirt was chosen because it is bold, and the mismatching shoes shows that she is different and herself.