Creative Critical Reflection

By: Sana Zehra Hasan.

Q1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social

groups or issues?

Ans. The genre of my two minute movie opening is horror thriller. I have gone along with the conventions of the typical scary movie and tried to make an exact replica of a real time horror. I have tried to capture the twilight effect of the sunset and to create an aura of mystery that erupts from the rippling of the waves at night and the howling of the wind that can be heard from the background. Moreover, the typical usage of low key lights that we come across in every scary thriller can be seen in my movie opening as well. I have tried to inculcate the traditional scary old woman effect and the blood clad ghost. The audience can also hear non-diegetic sound of the creepy music to keep the viewers spellbound and to create fear in their hearts.

I am inspired by the movie ‘The Bermuda Triangle’, that came out in 1978. It has been one of my favorites. I like the notion of something scary at sea. The sea for me always holds mysteries and secrets, especially at night. When the darkness creeps in, the beauty and serenity of the sea leaps out, leaving behind an uncandid horror.

Another drama that inspired me is an old popular Ptv (Pakistan television) drama series called The Mystery Theatre. It had an episode in which a guy would sing at the beach and later it was discovered that he was already dead. This idea of a dead person at the sea attracted me the most.

Since I have made a horror sequence it does not really have any social issues or messages in it except for the fact that one should avoid wandering alone at night.

Q2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Ans. People have a very monotonous life and there’s hardly ever something that will jolt them out of their seats, but one rather shocking incident happened in my family long time back which I decided to finally share with everyone.

My grandfather was in the Marhata Regiment of the Indian army, at the time of the second world war he was sent to Italy. When he was going back from a mission they saw a woman with arms slashed and bleeding badly who said the exact same words as used in the opening of my movie.

However, I changed a few minor details and the location of where and how it occurred but the actual story line remains real. Hence I feel that people will find my movie appealing as it is based on a real life experience.

As my movie is purely made for thrilling entertainment, it caters for teenagers and above age group.

In my opinion, my movie should be distributed by the Columbia Pictures as it comes in one of the big six production houses which has branches all over the world. It would distribute my movie as the genre of my movie attracts almost all individuals and excites them, also being a real life story is a major plus point and a good way to attract my target market.

Q3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Ans. When I first chose Media as subject, it was mainly because of the interest I had in movies and my passion to find out what is going on in the media world. I would always find myself wandering through the internet looking for gossip about movies, controversies etc. However, Media Studies is so much more than just a subject that tells you about different movie cultures. Never did I imagine that one would have to take care of a million things when taking a picture or the various names that have been given to different types of pictures. Nonetheless, Media Studies has made me what I am today, able to actually shoot a film, direct it, edit it and present it for my audience.

Headroom

This is the first and basic yet new concept that was taught to us in the first class. It is known as the headroom, which is the space between the subject’s top of the head and the frame. It is used to include the sense of space on both sides of the frame. Also, what we have to take care of is that there should not be too much headroom in the picture or no headroom at all. If for instance, our subject is a human then the human’s nose should not be the middle of the frame incase of a mid-shot.

• We have learnt many types of editing cuts primarily.

A jump cut is basically an abrupt cut in which shots of the same subject have been taken from camera positions that vary very slightly. Its used to give the dramatic effect of jumping forward in time.

Parallel editing also known as cross cutting is the technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but are in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other. Anther type of cut is also

known as a slow cut. These are shots of longer duration with the same subject. However, such shots that go up to 15 seconds may be called a drag as it would come across the audience as annoying

Editing cuts

Framing The rule of thirds is a concept in video

and film production in which the frame is divided into nine imaginary sections, out of which your subject is placed on almost one-third of the image.

As seen in both the pictures, the subject is placed at one side of the picture (right or left). This not only gives a broader image but is also used to prevent the horizon from appearing to divide the image in half.

Types of shots We learned about various

types of camera angles as well as camera shots.

Firstly there is an extreme wide shot (XWS). This shot is basically so high from the sky that the subject/object is not even visible. It is also known as the ‘establishing shot’. Secondly, another camera angle is a very wide shot, which is a lesser closer

version of the extreme wide shot. Here zooming occurs, whereas in an extreme wide shot, it does not. In my movie I have used this as my opening scene where we can see the background which has significance importance showing how my characters are moving. It also lays emphasis on the twilight time of the day which holds great importance itself as seen in the picture above.

Then there is a wide shot, which is quite similar to a very wide shot but here the subject is very visible and not just the background. Although the main focus is still not the subject here.

We have also studied about the mid-shot (MS). This is a shot taken from the head of the subject till its waist.

Another shot is a two shot. Here there are two people visible in the frame. I have used this shot to show two characters talking to each other. In order to keep the viewer’s interest intact I used this shot so that the same shots do not appear as boring.

We have also learned different types of close ups. Firstly, there is a medium close up which is half way between a mid shot and a close up as shown in the picture below. Then there is an extreme close up which is usually used to focus or lay emphasis on a particular feature.

There are other shots also such as pedestal shot where the camera is moving vertically with respect to the subject. In my movie opening I have showed this shot by moving my camera horizontally to show the subject walking a certain distance.

Point of view shot is a shot showing the view from the subject’s perspective.

Dutch Tilt is when the camera angle is deliberately tilted to one side to create a dramatic effect.

Over the shoulder shot is basically taken from an angle that is over the subject’s shoulder showing him/her talking to another person. I have used this shot a couple of times in my opening to show that my characters are talking to each other and to also show how their expressions are changing as seen above.

Lighting

I have used low key lighting while shooting as my genre was horror. In a certain scene I have also used ‘silhouette’ to show an impact of the sun setting as you can see in the picture on the right.

I have also shown hand

movement in a certain scene to show importance of how my subject’s hand is rising in a slow motion and what impact it is making on others.

Q4. How did you integrate technologies in this project?

Ans. While doing this project I had to come across many softwares and online websites. I also had to learn how to use editing softwares and learn the different techniques it had. The first thing we were all asked to do was to make an online blog so that we could update all our future assignments over there and submit our work from there only. To be honest, at first I was scared as I had never made an online blog before, nonetheless manage it on my own. After doing a lot of research and also discovering many online blog making websites such as Weebly, Wordpress, Zoho Sites etc. I also discovered that its not as hard at seems once you actually learn how to do it and is very interesting indeed. We also have to upload our video on Vimeo which is a very easy task as our accounts are already made because we previously have been uploading videos on it. Needless to say I discovered that Vimeo is a great platform to share your work with the mass as anyone can view it globally and you can feel encouraged and motivated to keep working harder.

Online help

Music

I also used a famous song in

it, ‘Radioactive’ by

Imagine Dragons.

For the beginning and end of

my clip I used the theme

music of the famous

movie ‘Dead Silence’.

Other jump scare sound

effects were taken from

YouTube.

Software

The software I

used to edit my

opening

sequence was:

Camtasia Studio.

On the right you

can see all the

inserts I used

while editing my

video.

Camatasia Menu MakerI also has this distinct idea of making a menu as we see in real movies

so by the help of Camatasia’s menu maker I could design a menu for my own movie very easily. Although he menu could not be uploaded on the

blog due to its format.

Hardware• Tripod

To shoot a film, you not only needed a camera and a person behind it but many more important elements without which a good movie production could not be made. Among the many necessary hardware equipments, one was a tripod. I have never used one before so I did face some difficulties while using it as adjusting the camera on the stand was difficult and to keep the tripod steady was a tricky job because of the massive wind pressure due to my beach location. Also, the tripod kept sinking into the sand and only settling the tripod took me about 45 minutes.

• Camera The camera I used to shoot the

opening sequence of my movie was DSLR 1100D. At first I did not know how to make a movie from it as the sole purpose I used it for was to capture images only. I had to watch some YouTube tutorials regarding how to make a good quality video from it and then I got a hang of it. This however was a way easier job as compared to the other tasks we had to complete in this whole movie making process.

Actors!

I learnt a lot of stuff in this particular project. From how to capture perfect pictures and to keep your hand steady, to making an actual movie clip. My parents, my siblings and practically my whole family was fed up of me by the time I was done. My family has acted in my movie opening only. My mom played the role of the old lady, my brother played the role of the boy and my first cousin appeared as the haunted ghost shown in the end. None the less, I am extremely proud and so is my family of what I have achieved by taking Media Studies and how I have grown individually as well.

To decide and plan a theme for your movie, then a suitable story and not to forget the location which is the most difficult part of it, then find actors who are willing to sacrifice their time for you, then edit the whole video; combine the clips into one video, finding appropriate music, sound effects etc, was extremely time consuming and difficult. I was pretty enthusiastic and keen to use horses in my movie clip, however the actors refused to ride on them so I had to cut off that idea. Although, since the very beginning I wanted to shoot on a beach and had made up my mind to shoot there only. Never did I ever imagine I would be able to pull off such a project all by myself. To have my own blog, with my own videos on it, was something I would never have thought I could do. I thank my teacher the most for dealing with the most stupidest questions I asked him regarding this project and for always helping me out. I hope whoever sees this video enjoys and appreciates the hard work and time that I have put into this. Thank you!

My experience.