CCR QUESTION 1 AND 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1coSir1W2hlb2Ra13-irNGETB9d3uMK9z/view?usp=sharing
CCR QUESTION 3 AND 4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nneqLx-oib6FpBhHLkl9m-e58uNWy7pk/view?usp=sharing
FINAL OPENING
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qoUBtG41wrh1ybYGrh7PinfRCyKCxEq_/view?usp=sharing
Hello! This is my last blog for my portfolio project and I am very happy with how everything turned out in the end. I feel in my project I had some struggles but I am so happy with how everything ended up being. I am really proud and think my group and I's project ended up great. At times I was worried how things were going to turn out. This was a very long and exciting process and I think all of my hard work paid off!
Some parts of my project I was nervous how it was go like for example the car scene had me very stressed earlier in this week and I thought that it looked sort of cringy and not the best. After I went in and added all of the sounds I think it ended up looking really good and I am happy how it looks and I think it looks much more realistic now than before I added all the sounds.
Another thing that we added which I believe enhanced my opening was the eerie music that we added which really added to he vibe and added more of a mysterious vibe to the opening.
During this project I learned a lot about many things including how to work with others, how to collaborate on ideas, and how to create a project like this from complete scratch which is something that I have never done before!! This project showed me the things I am capable of and made me so excited for future projects and to see what other things I can create!!
Bye blog!!!!
Hi! Today I am going to be discussing the production of my CCR's!! So first for questions 3 and 4 I decided to do a directors commentary and for questions 1 and 2 I did a podcast. For me the directors commentary was definitely easier to film than the podcast. I used a very bland white background and wore a bright red shirt to draw all the attention to me and what I am saying rather then the background. I sat down while filming this.
Here is a still shot of me the first time I filmed it.
Here is a still shot of me the final time I filmed it which is what I ended up actually using. The directors commentary was easier for me to remember and I kept the script next to where I was filming for emergency if I forgot what I was supposed to say. I originally filmed this last week but I felt that the background was distracting so I re filmed it! I feel that I was very expressive with my words and used my hands a lot to not bore the audience and try to make it as interesting as possible as well with the tone of my voice.
The podcast was definitely more difficult to film. It was also harder for me to remember my lines since it was a lot more information to remember. I had my mom be my interviewer and as I was a guest on her podcast. I wanted to go for a comfortable laid back vibe for the podcast and we both sat on comfortable chairs next to each other in sweat pants and a hoodie.
We had to film it about 4 different times because we kept going over the time so on the last take I cut a few lines short which ended up working out and helped not go over time limit.
Hi! For question 3 and 4 of my CCR I am going to do a directors commentary video. Ok so question 3, " How did your production skills develop throughout this project?" First let's think about what this question is asking. It is asking about my process creating my opening, the planning that I did, the way I decided to go about the opening, and to reflect overall about the project and how things went beginning to end. Now lets talk about what I am going to say to all of these questions in my CCR!!!
Throughout these past 2 months of creating this project I have learned a lot. My project evolved a lot in this process. My group and I first had an idea of having it be about serial killer, then it changed into being an accidental death, then it finally changed into what we actually created, a car crash. (show picture of original storyboard and then show car crash scene from opening) . We all researched many things about horror films from filming techniques, what shots to use, the best filming locations, and more which really helped us throughout this process. (show different blogs that I made within planning process).
We wanted to create an opening that really highlighted the phycological aspect and have our audience be very engaged in it. Some things that did work in my group and I's project is I feel like we did a very good job executing our idea and I think it ended up looking really good. Another thing I think we did well was the constant changing of different type of shots which I believe is a good reflection of all the things this class has taught us this year. Something that I don't think we did good on was time management and in the future especially when working in groups that needs to be improved.
At the beginning of this project when it was first explained in class I was nervous about many things like how am I going to come up with an idea, how is it going to be understood, how am I going to create characters from scratch. But now after months of hard work I am starting to become confident of where I stand and the things that I am capable of creating in media! I learned many different things about how to create a character in this process and how when everything comes together from mise-en-scene, dialogue, lighting, and more it all turns out really good!
In the video I am going to add many pictures of things like my blogs, storyboards my group and I created, and more to keep it interesting and engaging to the audience. I am also going to have the background be very bland and empty to not have anything distracting from the information I am saying.
Here is an example of our original storyboard that I am going to put in my CCR while describing how in the process our ideas have changed!!
Hi! Today i'm going to be talking about question 2 of the CCR portion of my project. "How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text", there are MANY things that go into this question so let's break it down. This is about all the research I did for this question. First let's talk about target audience. After doing research it shows that horror films are usually targeted to young adults and split evenly between males and females and usually they have common interests of being scared and feeling an adrenaline rush. After doing research the best ways to engage your audience is keeping the audience on their toes, whether it is a comedy making them laugh or in my case a horror keeping them scared waiting to see what is going to happen next. Technical elements also make a HUGE impact on how audiences stay engaged with a production. Things like constantly changing the type of shots, adding in trending music, coloring, even certain dialogue are all technical elements that keep audiences engaged. Research showed that for new film makers the best places to distribute is platforms like Youtube. It is a free source that is fast to upload on and can interact with the audience in the comments!
Here is an example of how in the car scene we used natural bright lighting
Host- Welcome back everyone to the podcast "Nice to Meet you."It's me, Stacey and today we have a special guest, one of the creators of the opening Catalyst, Addison Edwards and today we are going to ask her a few questions!!
Addison- (walks in and sits down next to host) Hello thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to share things about my project that I worked SO hard on.
Host- It's so good I actually just watched it last week I don't know how you came up with that idea like it's so complex and interesting.
Addison- Oh my god thank you so much, it took a lot of brainstorming with my two partners like throughout the process we kept changing ideas, but I feel like it ended up working out well in the end
Host- 100% it was so good, so now I have a few questions for you that were sent to me by fans of your opening! (pulls out paper)
Addison- Ok I'm ready for it
Host- Ok so what is the target audience of catalyst
Addison- That's a really good question so the age is for a young mature audience like teenager and young adult, I feel like it is definitely a serious topic and you need to be mature and some people can possibly even relate to certain parts of it like relationship problems and going through a loss. There is no gender that it is specifically for and its split evenly between male and female target audience for sure yeah. But also, this is an opening for people who have common interests like making them think really deeply and like to really engage in what they are watching.
Host- Yeah, this opening is definitely not for kids; it gets pretty complex and deep. Even I was like freaked out when watching it.
Addison- Haha. Yes, for sure
Host- Ok, here is another question for you, how do you engage your audience?
Addison- How do we engage our audience, well throughout the opening many things play with the audience's minds which I really think draws them into it. Creating that aspect of suspense, confusion, and even anxiety makes a huge impact on how much the audience engages.
Host- I literally could not look away
Addison- Thank you! Another thing that engages the audience is how we constantly made surprises happen during the opening. Like it starts out as a couple fighting to a car crash to showing the character of Adam seeing his dead girlfriend to then seeing he's trying to kill the driver form the crash.
Host- YES like it was like boom! boom! boom! all these things just kept on happening!!!
Addison- The constant changing and unfolding of events also engages the audience for sure.
Host- So good, so good well here is another question are you ready?
Addison- Let's hear it
Host- What are technical elements that you used to engage your audience
Addison- We used a lot of these so, one of them was the lighting change between the car scene and the room scene. The car scene is very bright and natural light very sunny and the room scene we used Clipchamp to play around with color grading and make it darker.
Host- (nods head) yeah
Addison- Also we layered a ton of sounds during the actual crash scene, which I believe really makes a difference. From screaming, to the car screeching, to the horn, to the breaks. All these editing techniques put together look good and grasp the audience for sure. Even the dialogue that we used at the very start of the opening with the two characters screaming at each other gets the audience's attention right away and has them waiting to see what happens next.
Host- Starting with the dialogue so loud and strong also did a huge job of establishing the characters and how they are interacting with each other.
Addison- For sure also during the credits where we had music playing over it helps. The creepy music adds onto the vibe that my partners and I were trying to portray.
Host- Love it, ok one LAST question for you
Addison -(smiles)
Host- How did you make it available for people to watch?
Addison- Well, since I am just now starting my career, we are putting it onto YouTube. YouTube is a free platform that so many people have access to and use every day. My opening popping up on people's feeds and getting my name out there is just the start. I can grow so much to potentially become big one day. I also plan on putting it at a film festival which can bring in a whole different audience!
Host- That's a really good idea
Addison- Thank you!
Host- Well that is all I have for you today, thank you SO much for coming
Addison- Of course! Thank you for having me!
Host- Bye guys see you next week for another episode of "Nice to Meet You"!!!
