My Creative Critical Reflection!

       Since this is the post containing my Creative Critical Reflection, I would like to take this time to reflect. I can hardly believe that this is my last post. This project has challenged me both academically and creatively. I have gained a new respect for people who make films, and I have a new understanding for what it is like to single-handedly create a story, plan the narrative, film and piece together the story and make it come to life.

       As I fabricated my director’s commentary, I was able to review my thoughts, understand the mistakes I made, and celebrate the success I had on this journey. I learned a lot about editing, framing shots, the importance of a storyboard, and how imperative the help of others can be in a process like this; yet how much I am able to accomplish on my own (which is a lot). Once again, I would like to say that I used Premiere Pro for editing and incompetech.com for music. I would like to thank my friends Tabby and Julia, my brother Austin, and my editing teacher/best friend Chloe. Thank you for following me on this journey.

       Click here to view the director’s commentary.

“Adobe Premiere Pro CC.” Buy Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Download Video Editing Software Free Trial, www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Incompetech Music Search.” Incompetech, incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

Videos and pictures used in CCR:

DisneyMusicVEVO. “Jodi Benson - Part of Your World (From ‘The Little Mermaid’).” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Dec. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKlJuO07eM&feature=youtu.be. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark (1/10) Movie CLIP - The Boulder Chase (1981) HD.” YouTube, 5 May 2016, youtu.be/c6XHLe94SJA. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Kill Bill: Volume 1 | Official Green Band Trailer (HD) - Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu | MIRAMAX.”YouTube, 21 Mar. 2016, youtu.be/c_dNIXwrbzY. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Kill Bill: Volume 1.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Apr. 2017, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill:_Volume_1. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Kill Bill: Volume 2.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Apr. 2017, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill:_Volume_2. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (1/12) Movie CLIP - Hello Vernita (2003) HD.” YouTube, 27 Sept. 2011, youtu.be/kgRlzeYc1nk. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

UnderConsideration. “It Takes Two to Fandango.” Brand New: New Logo for Fandango, www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_for_fandango.php. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

“β.” File:Netflix Logo.svg - Wikimedia Commons, commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Netflix_logo.svg. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

My Final Project!

        I am ecstatic to be posting the opening for my short film called Taking Back Jamie. My work is complete at last. To produce my film opening, I used an iPhone to film. My friends Tabby and Julia, and my brother Austin all act in the opening. I used Premiere Pro to edit, along with the help of my friend Chloe, and incompetech.com for music. This has truly been a humbling and rewarding experience, and I hope you enjoy what I have created.

        Click here to view the opening.

“Adobe Premiere Pro CC.” Buy Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Download Video Editing Software Free Trial, www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.

“Incompetech Music Search.” Incompetech, incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.

Giphy. “Drinking GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY.” GIPHY, giphy.com/gifs/leonardo-dicaprio-drinking-fireworks-GCLlQnV7wzKLu. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.

More CCR and Finalizing the Opening

        I have filmed most of my CCR.  I have addressed the conventions Taking Back Jamie is both embracing and challenging, representation, how it engages with audiences, and how it would be distributed as a real media text. In order to liven up the commentary, I am collecting video clips from my inspirations, such as Kill Bill, to include in the CCR. On top of that, I tried to speak in a lively voice. Tomorrow, I will be directly commentating over the opening, and I will use that time to talk about my production skills and technologies I used.
        The editing for Taking Back Jamie has been finished. All the music and sound effects are in. I have included the title screen of the movie. I opted out of creating a production company sequence because of my lack of time, and my new idea. I decided to have written background information on the screen, as I spoke about in yesterday's post, and I realized that the two slides plus the title screen at the end is going to max out my two minutes. This is indeed accepted by me, because I like the idea of providing background information to make the text being presented more meaningful.
        As the process comes to a close, I don't really have much more to say about technicalities. When I do post the opening and the CCR, I will reflect on a few more things, but as of now, I am content knowing the minor tweaking and finalizing process is underway.
       

Directior's Commentary CCR: Beginning Stages of Script

        I have begun the work on my CCR, gathering clips for inserts and writing a script of what I would like to say in it. Tomorrow, I will finalize all required aspects of the script, film, and get the clips and images I want to include sorted out, but for now, here is what I have so far.

Hello! My name is Alexa and I am going to talk to you about my final production called Taking Back Jamie.

The inspiration for this project stemmed from my love of action movies that has grown over the past few years. I was not always into action films, I was actually much more of a Disney kid myself [disney clip]. And I still am, don’t get me wrong, Disney is amazing. But, the first time I really began to broaden my horizons in the film world was probably when I was 15 and had my own profile on the family Netflix account. I started watching dramas, psychological thrillers, and, you guessed it, action and adventure movies [clip]. I noticed, however, that a lot of movies, action or not, didn't have female leads; and if they did, women were often overshadowed by a male character or always on the search for love.

Then, I watched Kill Bill[movie poster, clip from trailer]. This film, well actually both films as there is a volume one and two, [clip] was one of the best things I had seen in a long time. It had all the things I love about action movies; interesting characters, an in depth back story, awesome fighting scenes, like this one[clip]. That is such a cool scene. Anyway, this movie had everything I loved about action flicks, plus a fierce female lead who was not shown as weak or in desperate need of romance; she had a real cause to fight for.

So, for my film, I wanted to showcase a female lead with pure intentions and the drive to do right by her own morals, while still embracing action conventions like combat scenes and a fast paced story. I wanted a female character to be represented as more than a supporting role who is there to simply look good. I also wanted to turn the damsel in distress archetype on its head and have a woman save a male character, so that is why Mariel, the protagonist, is saving her little brother. Also, she is saving her younger sibling, who wouldn't want to root for this girl?

Title Screens and Graphics

        The editing for my opening is basically finished, minus the music and the title screens. I have about fifteen seconds leftover, and I was thinking about how I would fill up the time. Since the beginning of the project process, I have wanted to include graphics of some sort. To fill up time, and also make the story a bit more clear, I want to include a slide or two of background information about the story. Each slide will have about two lines, and I can keep the slides up for five to seven seconds each. I also want to include a production company logo, which I am working on right know. The production logo will be up for about three seconds. Finally, there is the title screen, which will be up for two to three seconds. In total, all of these graphics have the ability to reach 20 seconds, which is more than enough time.
        In the background summary, I want to talk about the epidemic of children abductions that swept the nation and how Mariel wants to find her brother. I will probably include numerical specifics about how long the abductions have been happening and how long Jamie has been gone because audiences will better understand Mariel's frustration and sympathize with her. It also makes the interaction shown at the beginning all the more meaningful.

Editing

       Now that I have finally filmed, editing needed to begin. I have asked my friend Chloe to help me with this aspect of the project because I am still new to editing, while she has been editing for several  years. I am using the Adobe program Premier Pro to edit my footage. Most of my shots are easy to piece together, since I had a storyboard to ensure accurate continuity. I also used the plug in microphone, so the sound is loud enough, as far as dialogue goes. Sound effects were also made with the aid of the microphone (as I addressed in the previous post).

       Yesterday, I worked on editing for about six consecutive hours. In this time, I was able to pick out the specific clips I wanted to use, put them in consecutive order, cut them to the proper amount of visual time I want them to have, make the clips for the flashback scene black and white, add music to the flashback sequence, and begin imputing sound effects. I still have to clean up some clips, add more music and sound effects, put in the title and credits, and create the production company logos I want to show at the beginning. I am about 15 seconds under time, so I have the freedom to do so.

       For the music, I am using the website Incompetech. The website provides tracks with different moods, lengths, and genres in order to find a piece that works with whatever project you are conducting. The music is free, downloadable, and not copyrighted, as long as you credit the source. I will include a credit graphic for them in the opening. I have found the music I wish to use for the flashback, called "Greta Sting", and I am still searching for the song I would like to use for the rest of the production.

       It is so exciting to see the pieces of the project falling into place!

“Adobe Premiere Pro CC.” Buy Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Download Video Editing Software Free Trial, www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

“Incompetech Music Search.” Incompetech, incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Storyboard and Sound Foley

Storyboards are very helpful and important, and I am glad I made one before my second round of filming. Here is the official outline I used to film my opening. I will begin editing tomorrow.

                                           

      

I also conducted foley. I borrowed a small microphone that plugs into your phone from Mrs. Stoklosa. It allowed for me to have significantly better sound in my videos. For punches, I hit and punched a raw chicken. I made stabbing noises by stabbing a watermelon through the skin. I will probably enhance the sounds, but here is the raw footage.