CCR 2
How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
Summary: The cast, crew, and others watch the final film together. Afterwards, they are asked what parts were engaging to them as an audience and their opinions on how it would theoretically be distributed as a real media text. What caught their attention were the performances, isolated colors, sound, music, and cinematography. When asked about distribution and if they would see it as a real media text, it was a unanimous yes.
CCR 3
How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Summary: My director's commentary over the script and film. I talk about my development as a writer, director, and editor.
CCR 4
How did you integrate technologies- software, hardware and online- in this project?
Summary: I interview the people who assisted in integrating different hardware into the film. We talk about integrating power tools, wood, special effects makeup, etc.
CCR Planning: Challenge Conventions and Representation
Our film challenges conventions by being a comedy with a traditionally horror-esque plot. In order to reflect on this while being creative, I could make a video about how to make a story that subverts expectations, like a video essay.
When thinking about representation, I first had a hard thinking of how I could talk about it in a meaningful way. This is because when creating the story and casting the parts I neglected to think about social groups or issues.
The antagonists are all men which can speak to how usually mad scientist and their henchmen are usually men, but a key difference is that the scientist is a person of color as opposed to a traditional white person.
As for the zombies, it's mostly women with one guy and they're all people of color. This was definitely not intentional as I just casted them because these people were available.
In fact, almost all the cast are people of color with the only white presenting person being mixed so I can probably do something with that.
CCR Planning: How does your project engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
The way the product engages with audiences is through visuals and being(hopefully) funny. Visually, the film is mostly in black and white, but the pops of green and blue via the zombie virus and cure will surely catch the audiences' attention. Me and Frankie also made sure to block the shots in such a way that whatever is most important is what the audience looks at. We did this through various techniques like the Rule of Thirds, Frontality, Distance, and as previously stated, Color.
The second way it engages with audiences is through it's jokes. The absurdity of The Doctor's antics and his henchmen along with the actors performances will surely get a chuckle. The visual jokes will also engage the audiences through Bartholomew's characterization and the use of the super soakers.
As for distribution, it would most likely be through online services like YouTube. Although, I could submit it for a film festival.
A creative way I can reflect on this is have people react to the movie and then ask them what caught their attention and why. Their responses will be the answers to the question. An example of this would the typical reaction videos you see on YouTube.
CCR Planning: How Did My Skills Develop?
Reflecting back on production, I can see how I developed as a director and writer.
First as a writer, I learned the format of a professional screenplay both for myself and to look good on the Production Proposal. I learned about the different amount of tabs for different parts of the script and about things like inserts.
As a director, figuring out all the elements of the film and how to put it together was a difficult challenge, but I was able to get it done. Being in charge of the making of all the props and casting was also a first time for me, but it was pretty fun. This leaves me with tons of material to work with.
As an editor this would be my first time using Premiere Pro. I had to learn the layout and the short cuts, which seemed daunting at first but I adapted pretty quickly. Using the Lumetri Color to achieve my vision was a difficult task as it was my first time using masks to change certain parts of the frame. Not to mention, keyframing the masks was very tedious.
Where I grew the most would be as an editor, but I shouldn't neglect the other two roles I had. I think the best way to reflect on all of this would be through a commentary that recounts the entire thing. Perhaps over the film.
CCR Planning: How Did You Integrate Technologies?
With this question I first need to know what the technologies I used were. So I made a list to see what I have to work with.
Hardware
- iPhone(Ask Frankie for model)
- Tripod
- Microphone equipment from the teacher
- Legion laptop for editing
- Power tools
- Flash drive
- Macbook Pro
I am unsure if the wood and makeup would count as hardware technology, I feel like it could but I would have to clarify with the teacher.
Software
- Blackmagic Cam
- Premiere Pro
- Premiere Rush
- Google Docs
- Google Drive
- Photos
- iCloud storage
- iMessages
Online
- YouTube
There's a couple things I could do with this. A how to video on how to make a movie with only your phone comes to mind. You can have almost all the software mentioned on your phone so it could work. Or if the wood counts as hardware I could interview my dad about helping us make the props, same thing with the makeup and my designer. There's a ton of ideas that can spring from the technologies integrated so I am not worried about being unable to figure out what to do.
The Rough Cut
I put in the last shot and made the first rough cut of the film and it looks pretty good. I used Rush on my phone because I don't have access to Premiere at home so there's no effects or color grading added in, so when I say rough cut I mean ROUGH cut.
Most glaring issue is the 13 seconds over run time. Although I like everything in the film and thing it won't flow as well if I cut some footage, there is some stuff that isn't entirely necessary and will have to be cut out the film. The pacing of the film could also use some working though I fear it will not be how I want it considering how tight it will be crammed into with the two minute time limit. I still think the comedy will land regardless which is the most important part.
At the end of the day, the film doesn't have to be perfect and I can always have a little director's cut for myself and to share with others.
The Final Shot
With the table made we could finally finish filming. As opposed to going to the pathway that would be a fifteen minute walk, we decided to go to the woods behind my neighborhood as it was much closer, we didn't need to see the pathway, and a streetlamp had the same warm lighting that the electrical tower provided anyways. Frankie and our actor set up the table and tripod while I went back to the house to grab the super soaker we needed. When I came back I opened up the bag of soil, Frankie adjusted the tripod as needed, and we blocked the scene with our actor. We were finally ready to finish shooting.
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| The setup |
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| The actor under the table |
It took a couple of takes, and running back to my house for water, but we finally got the last shot done. To celebrate, I played the only song appropriate for the walk back, "We're All In This Together" from High School Musical. Because it was truly a group effort that made this possible.
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When writing the characters I looked back on my previous post on how to design them and so far I have three out of the main five down. This ... -
Reflecting back on production, I can see how I developed as a director and writer. First as a writer, I learned the format of a professiona...