https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WKVkznfVHWnXlK-jzA1wDu_nmJ89gjA7XFQx1NV0XkU/edit?usp=sharing
How does your product use or challenge conventions, and how does it use social groups to
represent issues?
My product targets social groups that are of the younger generation, most likely teens.
My product targets them by relating to them on an educational level due to every student
being mentally stressed due to school work and overall responsibilities.
Although it is not the most unique plot with its conventions, it still sends the message we need.
However, what makes it different from other films is that we use teens as our actors.
The choice to put adolescent actors in parts that reflect their own demography contradicts
the traditional method to casting in films. It's not just about visual realism;
it's about portraying the true spirit and emotional depth of adolescence.
Your project challenges the cliché of adults portraying teenage parts by hiring performers
who are genuinely part of the group they represent, adding credibility and a realistic
representation of their difficulties and tribulations. I feel like films that use adults to act as teens don't take the film seriously since it does
not thoroughly reach the audience the film is trying to achieve. But if it's a teen acting,
the audience would be like, “ Hey! They look just like me, I love how it connects to me”.
Not only do the actors help the uniqueness, but also contribute to the reasons kids struggle.
Not every film gets to understand the problems teens go through. Because once again,
these are adults creating and acting in these films. But when it is teen to teen,
they relate to stress.
How does your product engage with audiences, AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?
My project's audience involvement is multifaceted. The use of emotional moments in the story,
such as when the main character shows grief or anguish, produces a relatable experience.
My project develops an emotional connection by conveying feelings that are similar to the
audience's problems. This bond helps viewers identify and sympathize with the character's
experiences, resulting in a stronger emotional commitment in the story. This shows emotion that
our audience can feel and relate to since they also feel down at times. And it doesn’t always
have to be caused by someone or something; it could come randomly due to the big impacts
of stress. But if my project were a real thing, people would access it through an app.
More helpful videos like my project will be shown, along with additional motivational
quotes and helpful lessons to help other people going through the same thing. As well
as adding a chat feature to help form friendly relationships to help each other feel better.
However, to make it unique from other similar apps, I think the promotion aspect will be
different. More promotion will be used for my app to spread awareness about the mental
health issue we have as well as how my app could be a part of the solution we need.
Compared to other organizations, they don’t put efforts into spreading awareness,
and it is more of a one-time thing and never again.
How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
As someone who started with no experience whatsoever in film, my skills developed drastically.
By learning different filming techniques and scenes, I learned how to lay out and plan my film
more. I would create a storyboard before filming. Which is a template consisting of 12 slides
with each scene you are going to do. It contains images of the character, props, setting, and
sometimes dialog. But this helped a lot in easing out the process of filming since we had some
type of script to follow along with. After creating the storyboard, you get to filming. My group
began to film at the park, and this is where we got creative. We tested out different types of
filming angles and shots. Experimenting with different filming angles and views was about
establishing the visual language that best supported our narrative as well as investigating
technical concerns. During this phase, informed selections were made regarding which pictures
would best express the intended message while also providing aesthetic value to the entire
production. These choices were made to link visual aspects with the narrative's thematic essence,
not only for technical reasons. My production talents evolved beyond the technical parts of
filmmaking to include the blending of creative exploration with acquired approaches. This
synthesis resulted in a more thorough grasp of how to effectively use filmmaking techniques to
visually and artistically convey a message. My transformation from novice to expert in
storyboarding, planning, and executing various filmmaking approaches was a testament
to the growth and development I experienced during this project. This encounter laid the
groundwork for a greater respect for the craft of film storytelling and the complexities
involved in bringing a vision to reality.
4. How did you integrate technologies—software, hardware, and online—in this project?
To make the project, we didn’t use anything fancy. We just used our phones, TV, and computers.
But online was most of our editing software for the video. We used platforms such as Adobe
Premiere Rush, CapCut, and the film settings on our phones, such as portrait mode.
Even though we did not use many platforms for our film, we still made a decent product.
The apps helped in shaping each of our scenes. To make it wider, longer, shorter, and smaller. This helped us
achieve our goal of having a variety of camera shots and angles. For the editing side, we used these
apps to glue our scenes together. As well as smoothing the scenes out but not too much
because we need to have jump cuts and cutaways as well. These types of cuts help develop
our storyline by jumping into futuristic or past scenes to show the chronological order of the plot.
Balancing the necessity for seamless transitions while keeping deliberate jump cuts and
cutaways necessitated a thorough grasp of narrative pacing and the emotional effect of each
scene. The combination of these technologies, which took use of both the capabilities of the
devices and the complexities of editing software, resulted in a nuanced and visually appealing
end product. This comprehensive approach to leveraging accessible tools and platforms
demonstrated deliberate and creative execution, showing the ability of apparently ordinary
equipment and software to produce a wonderful piece of visual storytelling.
