Critical Creative Reflection

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vW2RAMTnzf7_ooUmum3AI99BAHsjtKnG5ZEIsLz-6Dc/edit?usp=sharing

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

My product, being the music video, was able to both incorporate conventions as well as challenge them during the process of making it. For example, conventions used in the music video included some camera angles such as high and dutch angles. Many camera shots were used as well, including aerial shots, establishing shot, wide and medium shots.  Other conventions are incorporated within the editing of the product. There were multiple jump cuts presented within the scenes of the video. A split screen was used as one of our conventions in editing. There were also inserts that we used. It was primarily for the ending scene, which was the production title as well as the credits. In addition, Mis-En Scene conventions were of use in this product. Costumes in the video primarily consisted of casual, basic wear. Actors in the video were not dressed fancy or formal in any way. This adds to the relation to the general population, or everyday people. The lighting in the video was dark and dim. We used the natural lighting that was present in the time. We decided to film at night to correlate the “tragedy” of our film. The darkness throughout the entirety of the film allows for that to be understood. The acting in the music video was necessarily regular behavior. It consisted of the main actor packing her things away and driving. However, during the scene of the crash, the side actor was informed to behave and act in a scared or shocked manner. This further helps to develop the situation of the crash, the issue occurring in the film. Makeup was not used in the film. All actors had a natural face, nothing too extravagant. This may cause this convention to be challenged. There were many different props used in this video. Items such as boxes, a suitcase, clothing items, a backpack, a car, and a phone were used as props in the final product. The setting took place in a house, this then changed with a transition of setting when the car drove to a different location. The other setting of the film was held in a dark, empty parking lot. The dark setting, the inserted text of “Gone Girl”, the acting, props, and music add to the overall issue of the tragic accident. They work together to create a sense of mystery, somber, and passing.

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

I product is able to engage with many audiences primarily because of song choice, editing, and events in the product. The artist of the song for our product is SZA. She has billions of fans and supporters of her music, and she has proven herself successful in the music industry. My group, selecting one of her pieces, as our song choice, certainly makes the product more entertaining and engaging for viewers. Our way of editing our product was fairly simple and not too complex. Today's audiences are essentially all about simplicity and easiness. They like to watch things that aren't too hard to follow, and are straight to the point. Our way of editing and putting events together were kept easily and not necessarily hard to follow. I would distribute this product primarily on Tiktok or Youtube. Both of these platforms share content similar to our project. They would allow for this piece of media to potentially go viral, and spread far, because of its enjoyable content and features.

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

I would like to say that my production skills have definitely improved throughout this project. I was truly able to gather a lot of experience while filming and editing this project. I learned to invest time into each scene, making sure that enough time was spent in each. Enough to fix any mistakes or re-shoot something. During this project, I was able to understand how examining your product was important as well. After recording a certain clip or scene, I made sure to examine and check the content. Reviewing the product was essential, to make sure any and all camera angles or movements, lighting, and everything else was correct. This would ultimately help to create efficiency and improvements in our final product. Everything I would learn and develop throughout the entirety of the project, would result in a wanted ending. I would say a core reason for the development of production skills was the building of my team's communication and overall teamwork. As a group, we did have trouble with proper communication and planning. As the project progressed, certain individuals began to procrastinate and priorities were not being set. I worked hard to set the team straight and tried to break that habit of lack of communication. I informed the group that our project depended on it, and we needed to focus on what really matters. After proper communication among all individuals, I did feel a change in the activity and engagement from everyone. With this we were certainly able to proceed into the further steps of our project. The obstacles my group faced, did make us stronger and built our teamwork skills.

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

In this project, there was a use of many different devices and softwares. To film this project, I used my phone as the recording device. I used my phone because it was the best and only option my group had. None of us have a professional camera we could have used, so we selected the second best option. If we had a camera, we would have been able to use that and maybe even have much better results than that of an Iphone. My phone, an Iphone 13 pro max, has an option for cinematic mode in the camera app. This allows for movie-like quality, good focusing and blurring. To record the music video, I used this feature. Although we were not able to acquire a camera to film the project, cinematic mode had to make do for us. As mentioned before, I was able to stick to the same editing software (CapCut) as previous projects. This was because of the familiarity and comfortability I had with this application. We considered Imovie for this project as well, but stuck with Cap Cut because of its wide variety of accessible features and editing tools.