CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

FINAL VIDEO PROJECTMEDIA STUDIES AS LEVEL

MUHAMMAD HAMMAZ

THE RIDDLE

Q. HOW DOES YOU’RE PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENTS SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES? THROUGHOUT THE MAKING OF THIS SHORT SEQUENCE, WHICH IS A 2 MINUTE OPENING OF THE FILM ‘THE RIDDLE’ , I HAVE USED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT CONVENTIONS IN ORDER TO CONVEY THE THRILLER GENRE. AS THRILLER HAS BEEN A SUCCESSFUL FILM GENRE SINCE THE FILM BEGAN, THEY’RE PRODUCED TO ENTERTAIN AND GIVE PEOPLE NEW EXPERIENCES ABOUT LIFE WHICH ARE ALWAYS FASCINATING TO THEIR AUDIENCE THE CAMERA SHOTS IN THE MOVIE, ARE SHOWN IN SUCH A WAY BY WHICH THE AUDIENCE CAN EASILY ENJOY A MYSTERY THRILLER FILM. I HAVE USED LOW LIGHTS IN THE SCENES WHICH FURTHER SUPPORTS THE THRILLER CONVENTIONS. THE NAME OF THE MOVIE IS THE RIDDLE, WHICH FURTHER SIGNIFIES THE THRILLER GENRE, THIS IS A COMMON CONVENTION THAT THRILLER MOVIES USE AS THE TITLE OF THE FILM USUALLY GIVES A HINT OF THE FILMS TYPE OF STORY AND ALSO MOST IMPORTANTLY THE LOCATION WHICH I USED WAS KIND OF A WAREHOUSE WHICH DETECTIVES USE FOR THEIR PERSONNEL OFFICE. THE MAIN ELEMENT OF A THRILLER MOVIE IS SUSPENSE, GIVING THE VIEWERS UNCERTAINTY AND ADRENALINE RUSH MAKING THEM MORE CURIOUS TO WATCH THE MOVIE.

Murder

A CLOSE UP SHOWING THE EXPRESSIONS OF THE ACTOR, BUILDING TENSION AND MAKING AUDIENCE CURIOUS.

SOME SHOTS INSPIRED BY OTHER FILMSTHE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

THE RIDDLE

TAKEN (2009) MEMENTO (2000)

INCEPTION (2010)

THE RIDDLE

SE7EN (1995)

“A THIRD ONE” “GOODLUCK” THE RIDDLE TAKEN (2009)

IN THIS MEANS WAR I WAS INSPIRED THE WAY BOTH THE ACTORS WALKED IN AND OUT OF THAT CASINO, SO I DECIDED TO MAKE SOMETHING A BIT LIKE THAT.

THIS MEANS WAR (2012) THE RIDDLE

THROUGH OUT THIS MOVIE I HAVE NOT CHALLENGED ANY CONVENTIONS BUT TRIED TO USE SOME IN MY CLIP, LIKE THE SOUND TRACK, WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN A MOVIE WHICH ITSELF TELLS THE AUDIENCE ABOUT THE GENRE OF THE FILM.IN MY FILM I HAVE USED SOUND TRACKS AND SOUND EFFECTS FROM YOUTUBE AND MANY OTHER SOUND WEBSITES LIKE SOUND BIBLE AND ETC. MY MAIN SOUND TRACK WHICH I USED THROUGH OUT THE CLIP WAS MURDER MYSTERY MUSIC - THE REVEALING WHICH I FOUND ON YOUTUBE.  I WORKED TO MAKE THIS PIECE OF FILM AN CONVENTIONAL CRIME-THRILLER-MYSTERY AS MUCH AS I COULD, FOR THE BEGINNING PART OF THE FILM I DON’T THINK THAT IT IS SIMILAR TO ANY EXISTING THRILLER MOVIE, ALTHOUGH I WAS INSPIRED BY OTHER HOLLYWOOD MYSTERY-THRILLER MOVIES SUCH AS MYSTIC RIVER, INCEPTION, THE PRESTIGE, SE7EN,GONE GIRL, GONE BABY GONE, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, TAKEN, MEMENTO AND SICARIO.MY MOVIE OPENING IS MOSTLY INSPIRED BY THE FILM MYSTIC RIVER, AS IT FOLLOWS THE AFTERMATH OF 3 MURDERS WHICH HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME MURDERED BY THE SAME WEAPON BUT ALL THREE OF THEM WERE MURDERED AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS.AGE GROUP FOR SUCH CRIME MYSTERY FILMS ARE FROM 18-45, AS SOME TIMES THE CONTENT OF SUCH FILMS ARE TOO HEAVY FOR TEENAGERS TO WATCH BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD, LANGUAGE AND NUDITY.PROPS USED IN SUCH CRIME MYSTERY FILMS ARE WEAPONS , BADGES, GADGETS , LAPTOPS AND ETC.I DIDN’T USED ALL OF THEM BECAUSE IN MY MOVIE OPENING I TRIED TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE CURIOUS ABOUT THE MURDERS AS I DIDN’T EVEN SHOW THEM THE DEAD BODIES OR MURDERS OR EVEN THE WEAPON BY WHICH THEY WERE MURDERED.MOREOVER I THINK I HAVE USED MORE CONVENTIONS AND CHALLENGED LESS, AS I WANTED TO ATTRACT AUDIENCES WITH THE TRADITIONAL THRILLER CONVENTIONS.

SOCIAL GROUPS AND SOCIAL ISSUESTHE SOCIAL GROUPS THAT ARE REPRESENTED IN MY FILM ARE THE AUDIENCE WHICH YOU WOULD SEE COMING TO THE THEATRES AND WATCHING FILM.WHICH IS MOST LIKELY TO BE MATURE PEOPLE, THE AGE GROUP FOR MY FILM WOULD BE FROM 20-45, ALSO FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN FILMS, MAINLY BOTH MEN AND WOMEN AND THOSE WHO ARE SPECIALLY INTERESTED IN MYSTERY-THRILLER. ETHNICITY DOESN’T MATTER, THIS FILM IS FOR ANYONE WHIO IS INTERESTED IN THIS TYPE OF FILMS AND ANY PERSON FROM ANY CLASS CAN WATCH THIS, THEY WOULDN’T GET JUDGED FOR IT. AS IN MY FILM THE OFFICERS ARE SHOWN AS THE PROFESSIONAL AND ANOGONIST IS UNKNOWN AND THE SOCIAL ISSUES REPRESENTED ARE THE MURDERS.

Q. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCE AND HOW IT WOULD BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

• THE STORY IS WRITTEN IN SUCH A WAY THAT AUDIENCE ITSELF FEELS IT AND GETS DEEP IN IT AND GETS CURIOUS AS EVERY MINUTE PASSES BY JUST LIKE IN OTHER MYSTERY-THRILLER FILMS. MY TARGET AUDIENCE IS MANY BETWEEN THE AGE GROUP OF 20-45. I THINK PEOPLE WILL WANT TO WATCH MY MOVIE BECAUSE IT IS A THRILLER AND LACKS ACTION TO START WITH, AND IT WILL FURTHER MAKE THEM WONDER WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. THIS IS BASICALLY THE KIND OF CONTENT WHICH ATTRACTS MY TARGET AUDIENCE. NOWADAYS PEOPLE EXPECT A LOT OF ACTION IN THE BEGINNING OF THRILLERS WHICH IS A CONVENTION CHALLENGED IN MY MOVIE OPENING SCENE. IT IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT A MIX OF SUSPENSE AND DRAMA IN A THRILLER WHICH THE PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO WATCH, AND WHICH WILL GREATLY ENTERTAIN MY TARGET AUDIENCE AS WELL.

• THE USP (UNIQUE SELLING POINT) OF MY FILM IS THE STORY, THE SUSPENSE WHICH I CARRY THROUGH OUT THE WHOLE FILM IS THE USP AS IT IS WHAT WILL GET AUDIENCE ATTRACTED AND STAY CURIOUS THROUGH OUT THE FILM AS IT IS WHAT A MYSTERY-THRILLER FILM DOES AND THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY STORY

•  A MEDIA INSTITUTION PRODUCES FILMS. THESE ORGANIZATIONS SOMETIMES FUND THE FILMS, THIS USUALLY HAPPENS IF THE ORGANIZATION IS A CONGLOMERATE. THE MEDIA ORGANIZATION I USED IS “WARNER BROTHERS” AS IT IS MOSTLY PRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING MOVIES RELATED TO CRIME, ACTION AND THRILLER. IT HAS DISTRIBUTED MANY MOVIES SUCH AS BATMAN TRILOGY, HANGOVER TRILOGY, CLASH OF THE TITANS, INCEPTION, MYSTIC RIVER, THE DEPARTED, THE PRESTIGE ,ARGO , GOODFELLAS, OCEANS TRILOGY, MURDER BY NUMBERS AND SO ON. MY FILM IS MYSTERY-THRILLER WHICH IS PRODUCED FROM A SMALL BUDGET AND CONTAINS AMATEUR ACTORS . AS THE DISTRIBUTOR OF MY MOVIE IS WB, SO I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO RELEASE IT IN THEATRES. ANOTHER REASON FOR CHOOSING “WB” IS THAT WHEN IT COMES TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF MY FILM, I KNOW THAT IT HAS PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE AND SO KNOW THE BEST WAYS TO GET TO THE TARGETED AUDIENCE. WHEN A BIG MEDIA INSTITUTION IS INVOLVED IN A FILM THEN THE AUDIENCE WILL KNOW THAT THE FILM IS GOOD THEREFORE MY PRODUCT WOULD BE SEEN AS A HIGHLY RATED FILM. I ALSO CHOSE THIS FIRM AS IT IS A LARGE MEDIA INSTITUTION THAT IS ALSO VERY POPULAR AND HIGHLY RECOGNIZED IN PAKISTAN. MY FILM WILL WORK AND ATTRACT ITS TARGET AUDIENCE IN A WIDE OF RANGE OF WAYS; THROUGH THE DIALOGUE OF THE CHARACTERS AND DIRECTION,MISE-EN-SCENE AND EDITING TECHNIQUES USED AS WELL AS THE CHOICE MADE WHEN SELECTING THE SOUNDTRACK DURING THE OPENING SCENE.

Q. HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCTION SKILL DEVELOPED THROUGH THIS PROJECT?

• FIRST I THOUGHT FILMING WAS VERY EASY BUT AS I MY SELF STARTED MAKING FILMS LEARNED IT WASN’T THAT EASY. FILM MAKING REQUIRES HARD WORK AND MY MAKING THIS PROJECT I LEARNED HARD WORKING AS BEFORE I NEVER USED TO. ‘THE RIDDLE’ HAS TAUGHT ME MANY THINGS SUCH AS THE STORY LINE, IT TOOK ME DAYS TO MAKE A PROPER STORYLINE AS I WAS UNAWARE OF ANY MYSTERY-THRILLER FILMS, THAN I WATCHED SOME OF THEM AND LEARNED A LOT, I LEARNED HOW TO MAKE A PROPER STORY AND THAN HOW I VISUALIZED IT AND SHOT IT. I LEARNED MANY THINGS SUCH AS HOW TO CAST ACTORS AND DIRECT THEM.  I HAVE LEARNT HOW TO USE A TRIPOD, HOW TO GIVE DIFFERENT EFFECTS AND USE DIFFERENT ANGLES TO PORTRAY A PARTICULAR MEANING IN A SCENE SO THAT IT HAS GREATER SIGNIFICANCE. I THINK RESHOOTING CONTINUOUSLY WAS A VERY DIFFICULT TASK FOR ME AS I HAD TO MAKE THE ACTORS WEAR THE SAME CLOTHES EVERYDAY TO SHOOT ONE SCENE PROPERLY . TO SHOOT AT THE SAME LOCATION EVERY TIME WAS ALSO A BIG TASK, I LEARNED HOW TO RESEARCH FOR MY TARGET AUDIENCE AND THUS CREATE A SCENE WHOSE CONTENT ATTRACTS THAT AUDIENCE.

PRE-PRODUCTION

FIRST OF ALL I VISUALIZED THE SCENES IN MY MIND , THAN I WROTE A STORYBOARD , AND STARTED TO WRITE THE SCRIPT , THIS MADE ME LEARN THE MANAGEMENT OF TIME AND WORK TOGETHER.

PRODUCTION

THAN CAME PRODUCTION, INWHICH I VERY WELL LEARNED CAMERAHANDLING AND DIRECTION, EVERYSCENE I SHOT WITH DIFFERENT ANGLESBROUGHT DIFFERENT AND INTERESTINGRESULTS, THUS MAKING ME TRY NEW EXPERIMENTS EVERY TIME I SHOOT.

POST-PRODUCTION• ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WAS POST PRODUCTION,

BASICALLY IT GIVES YOU THE OUTPUT OF YOUR HARD WORK, THE BETTER THE POST PRODUCTION THE BETTER THE OUTPUT WILL BE, SO I REALLY FOCUSED ON POST PRODUCTION AND LEARNED SOME NEW TRICKS IN EDITING, TRIMMING VIDEOS AND GETTING GOOD EFFECTS ACCORDING TO THE THEME. I ALSO LEARNED MANY THINGS ABOUT DUBBING THE VIDEO , AS I DID SOME MISTAKES FIRST, BUT NOW I LEARNED THAT DUBBING PLAYS AND IMPORTANT ROLE IF YOU DO IT PROPERLY, I LEARNED THAT IF YOU HAVE TO DUB THAN BEFORE DUBBING YOU HAVE TO RECORD THE DIALOGUES ACCORDING TO WHICH ACTORS WILL LIP-SYNC AND THAN LATER DUB IT.

Q. HOW DID YOU INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES, HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ONLINE?•  I HAVE USED THE FOLLOWING TECHNOLOGIES DURING MY RESEARCH AND PLANNING: CANON

60D ,NIKON D7000 DSLR CAMERA, TRIPOD , ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS6,ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CS6,ADOBE AUDITION, HANDBRAKE ,SLIDE SHARE, IMDB AND YOUTUBE . I USED YOUTUBE AS A SOURCE FOR MY PRIMARY RESEARCH SO THAT I COULD LOOK FOR DIFFERENT OPENING SEQUENCES OF FILMS, BUT YOUTUBE IS ALSO A GREAT PLACE TO FIND WHAT THE MASS THINKS ABOUT CERTAIN FILMS. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY LEAVE COMMENTS CONTAINING SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF WHAT THEY DIDN’T LIKE IN A FILM/TRAILER. THIS SOURCE CONTRIBUTED A LOT TO MY PLANNING AS I ANALYZED THE AMOUNT OF VIEWS, LIKES AND COMMENTS A FILM GOT. I USED BOX OFFICE MOJO TO RESEARCH THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MYSTERY-THRILLER FILMS MADE IN THE LAST 20 YEARS, ANY SEQUENCES, TOTAL GROSS AND BY WHICH STUDIO.

NIKON D7000 CANON 60D

• I USED SLIDE SHARE TO LOOK FOR DIFFERENT IDEAS. I USED ONE CANON 60D AND ONE NIKON D7000 WITH 18-55MM LENS AND 50MM LENS FOR CLOSE UPS AND MEDIUM SHOTS WHEN FILMING MY FILM. THE ADVANTAGE OF USING THIS CAMERA IS THAT IT WAS EASY TO CARRY AROUND, EVERYTHING WAS RECORDED ON A SD CARD WHICH TRANSFERS FILM FOOTAGE ACROSS DIFFERENT DEVICES DUE TO ITS SIZE. THE CAMERAS ARE ‘FULL 1080P HD’, WHICH MEANT THAT WE RECORDED ALL OUR FOOTAGES IN FULL HD NOT MISSING OUT ANY DETAIL. ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS6 WAS THE SOFTWARE USED TO EDIT MY FILM FOOTAGE TOGETHER, THIS PROCESS WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS I HAVE USED THIS SOFTWARE BEFORE . I ALSO USED ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS CS6, THE SOFTWARE ALLOWED ME TO ADD MORE DRAMATIC ELEMENTS TO MY FILM E.G. SOUND EFFECTS, MOTION EFFECTS ETC. THE SOFTWARE CONTAINED SIMPLE EDITING TOOLS FOR US TO USE SUCH AS TRANSITIONS, ADDING TEXTS, TRIMMING OF FOOTAGES. THIS ALL CONTRIBUTED TO THE CREATION OF A SUCCESSFUL FILM. A GOOD FEATURE OF THIS SOFTWARE WAS THAT I COULD EDIT THE SOUND USING THE ‘ADOBE AUDITION’ SOFTWARE. I WAS ABLE TO EDIT THE SOUNDS FOR EXAMPLE ADDING SOME ECHOES, I ALSO USED THIS TO REDUCE NOISE IN MY DUBBING AND EDIT THE VOICE OF MY ACTOR IN THE BACKGROUND.

Canon 50 mm and 18-55

Nikon 50mm and 18-55

FIBER TRIPOD

ADOBE AUDITION ADOBE PREMIERE PRO

SD CARD

EXTREME CLOSEUP AND MEDIUM SHOT

• ONE OF MAJOR PROBLEMS OCCURRED AFTER RENDERING THE VIDEO OUT OF ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS WHICH WAS THAT THE FILE SIZE OF A 2 MINUTE VIDEO WAS AROUND 21GB AND IT HAD TO BE REDUCED SO THAT IT CAN BE UPLOADED ON MY BLOG AND THE QUALITY REMAINS SAME , SO TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM I USED THE SOFTWARE CALLED HANDBRAKE WHICH IS ONE THE BEST SOFTWARE'S FOR REDUCING THE FILE SIZE WITHOUT REDUCING THE VIDEO QUALITY.

HANDBRAKE ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS

• SOUND EFFECTS WERE MOSTLY PICKED FROM YOUTUBE BUT I ALSO USED SOUND BIBLE FOR MORE EFFECTS.

• MURDER MYSTERY SERIES IS THE REVEALING. HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=PXQD323SGPA

• CAR ENGINE SOUND EFFECT:::HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=F5Z13DTCMRO

• CELL PHONE SOUND EFFECT:::HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=UNZVGI2S9W8

• FOOTSTEPS STAIRS SOUND EFFECT: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=GB1W3LPWAAG

• CAR DOOR CLOSING SOUND EFFECT:• HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=101TCXQECZ8

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=_CXS_53OGHE

THE RIDDLE

• CCR PRESENTED TO YOU BY HAMMAZ BUKSH

• MEDIA STUDIES AS LEVEL• FINAL VIDEO PROJECT