Final Submission

This new opening differs the most from my previous iteration by the actual scenes that were filmed.. Following the feedback, I had received over my first iteration of my film and the second, I knew that I had to also improve the character dialogue and audio.

The sound levels and tone of the audio was very low and harsh-sounding at times, so I had to come across new and better equipment to prevent this from becoming too much of an issue again. I used wire-mics that clip onto the actors and can be easily concealed. Each microphone has its own audio channel and they report in real time what the audio levels is to the camera. This real-time feedback is important to determine whether the audio was usable during shooting the film at a location. I wanted the general character interaction to be the same as well as the location, but I slightly varied the actual location and the way the two characters communicated.


The motif of flash drives and technology are still present, and the actors still fit into the social groups that I was trying to represent. The progression of the beginning still occurs as a clear case study of boredom continuing into interaction by two people who feel the same, with one having darker intentions than the other. The beginning just serves to demonstrate and develop a more fulfilling and dynamic character by his cunning actions that deceived the other character in the beginning. The world the film is set in and the following events that would unfold are therefore expressed to a more exciting and greater extent from this in person dialogue and interaction.

Creative Critical Reflection

Candidate 5086 Critical Reflection

CCR Draft #4

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?

I integrated technologies throughout my entire project all from pre-production to post-production. I used simple text formatting programs to write down my research and ideas for my project. One of the examples in which I utilized a text formatting program, Microsoft Word, the most was when I was writing the script to my film. In it, I was able to adjust the margins and center text to represent dialogue and follow the useful conventions of writing a script. I had multiple minor tools that allowed for an increase in the work flow such as an SD card and an adapter for data transference.

The most practical tools during the production process were the camera and a tripod. The tripod allowed for the development of steady scenes to be setup and the camera had certain recording functionalities and playback features that allowed for the on-site changes to the shots that I recorded. I experimented with the multiple possible heights that could be attained using the tripod. I opted for a high that was usually over half of a meter, but I still experimented with the height periodically throughout filming. The printed copy of my shot-list and script helped direct my filming to provide direction and completeness to the product. The process of editing incorporated the most technologies that directly influenced the production of the film.

I utilized a temporary version of Sony Vegas 12, a professional film-grade program that would help with a majority of the editing process. I transferred film data onto a flash drive and then onto hard drives for backups, and then I loaded the video files from the camera onto the program. As I had planned, the loading my most satisfactory clips onto the program yielded a total timeline span of about 8 to 11 minutes. From here, I made my preliminary cuts to the scenes. After I had completed my rough cut of the scenes, my film opening had reached a length of 2 minutes. I could now use the other features that this program provided. The frame by frame ability of the program to cut out clips was very helpful because it helped be choose exactly how long I wanted scenes to last, thus, providing the effect that I intended on making. Just from the visual representation of the sound levels in Vegas, I noticed that the audio was poorly recorded. I had to try to equalize the audio levels using built-in functions in the programs that boost the volume of certain clips and ultimately increase the gain of the clips. This would introduce more noise to each clip that was changed. To combat this newly introduced noise, I tried to match it to existing royalty-free noise on the internet. This would allow for a homologous noise throughout the entire timeline. Downloading ambient noise on the internet was fairly simple, and placing I placed it into a new audio track of Vegas to allow me to edit it without many elements interrupting the clips.

I also used new tracks or layers to use the Media Generation tool to write text on the clips for the film opening credits. The standard font library didn't have enough appealing fonts for the genre of a psychological thriller so I downloaded a royalty free one from the internet. Whenever I felt as if I was missing certain elements that would benefit the editing in my final product, I would refer to resources on the internet. My skills at researching things like this as well as films, magazines, and how film industries advertise, market, and distribute their products improved from the use of technologies.

CCR Draft #3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Before discussing how my production skills developed throughout this project, I find it important to consider how skilled I was at producing films at the start of my project. I had a more distinct appeal to films and I already had the skills behind editing and composing different videos in the past. The new challenges I knew I would be taking would mainly be logistical and dealing with real actors in a film. Throughout developing the film when I chose my actors and I filmed with them, I realized that I was correct about the logistical and production issues I would likely face. I was able to improve my production skills by employing better scheduling and management with my actors. I taught myself to understand the schedules of my actors intricately in order to accommodate their oftentimes cluttered schedules. This scheduling is important for me because my target actors were individuals fitting to appear like young adults.

My use of physical tools to assist in camerawork and filming was essential in producing nicely framed shots. I realized quickly after filming scenes for a film for the first time, that it is very important to be able to consider every element you are capturing. Color, sound, duration, and shapes are all highly important in producing excellent scenes full with meaning.

A significant example of mine is when I wanted to follow conventions of producing dark scenes as seen in psychological thrillers. The glaring problem with this is that the cameras were either not advanced enough to handle low light scenarios, or the lighting was not effectively used or placed. After reflecting on my first time filming, I knew I was struggling with both issues. I scheduled times to use better cameras with my instructor and I opted to using consistent or custom lighting. I decided to always light my scenes to improve the clarity of the shots and to be able to adjust the scenes in post-production. The editing process should have control over elements of color and timing of the scenes. I found it was very important to provide as much material as possible during filming, even having recorded the scenes you wanted to record, to make editing much easier. At the beginning of my project I couldn't use filming well enough in conjunction with my editing. Towards the end of my project, I was much more conscientious about this glaring issue of mine and I made sure to produce as much material as possible with as much planning as necessary.