Final Submission- A Static Gaze

Third Revisions

While presenting our second film submission to our class we were made clear that there was no clear protagonist.  This made the film harder to follow and led to confusion among our peers. To fix this, we re-filmed to add more dialogue in order to help make the story clearer. Adding even just a little bit of dialogue will quickly clear the confusion and make the plot easier to follow. These are our last revisions before submitting our final film which will be easy to follow when being watched.

Creative Critical Reflection Prezi

https://prezi.com/vkkj833jgm-z/creative-critical-reflection-a-static-gaze/

3rd Quarter Submission- A Static Gaze

Upon editing and re-filming we tried to make the idea of a simulation clearer. We added a glitching TV with static effect. We also added a voice over explaining hypnotism in our film giving it a more sci-fi feeling. We ended our film with this to foreshadow the rest of our film and leave the viewers wanting to see more. Below is our third quarter submission. 

Script Revisions

We created a new script in order to help portray our simulation idea across to the audience. We decided a voice over would be the best way to portray it within our film. Hopefully with this voice over it will clear things up within the audience.

Shot List Revisions

Upon re-filming we created an entirely new shot list. With these new shots they greatly affected our film and helped bring the all around plot together.

Creative Critical Reflection 4 Draft

During our film we integrated the use of iMovie, Adobe Premiere, and Final Cut and Davinci Resolve. With the use of iMovie we rushed to add our titles which led to some minor errors in our film. Upon re-filming and editing we switched software's and began to use Final Cut and Davinci Resolve to edit our movie and work with the sound. We were able to add voice overs. Both of these software's were very useful in our production of our film. These programs offered more variety of editing tools we could use to make our movie better. After our movie was edited, we moved to Adobe Premiere in order to do color filter and and correcting. For our plot of virtual reality/sci-fi theme we needed very good editing programs in order to properly display what we were envisioning  in our minds. All of these software's greatly helped, and I was glad with the results of the final products after using them.

Creative Critical Reflection 3 Draft

Throughout our project we developed many skills. Being faced with so many difficulties we were tasked with having to fix problems that we created for ourselves. One of our main problems was deciding on our plot. We had so many different ideas of what to do that it was hard to decide on just one. We finally decided on our plot of the virtual reality theme because it would work the best when filming our shots and making our script. Editing started out difficult due to our lack of experience. Victor and Carl were able to help us learn how and they edited our film. Throughout our filming we had to learn to work with our cast and their acting skills. It was fun seeing them having to act in front of a live audience while being filmed. Throughout our film we overcame many difficulties that only strengthened our film in the end. My skills developed greatly after completing this project.

Creative Critical Reflection 2 Draft

Our new cast includes two guys for a darker theme. It is more known of guys to be dominating the field of video games so this helps appeal to them. The males we cast are teenagers so that this age range will be engaged within the film. This would give teens more of a motive to want to see our film, in that maybe they would be able to relate to our film in some aspects of the same personalities our characters would have. Our film does not relate to the older generation as much but we added props to help it. A television featured in many of our scenes would attract this older generation to watch our film.

Presenting our film as real text media is very important as filmmakers. Since we are an independent film, we will have to take a different approach in order to present our film. That will not be a problem for there are many platforms available to distribute our media content on as independent filmmakers. An example of a platform is YouTube. YouTube uses the videos you watch and recommends videos that are similar. After watching videos that are similar to ours viewers will be led to watch our own. This expands our reach even to people not specifically looking for our movie and will get us lots of publicity within the website.

Another example to help present our film as real text media is Gathr. Gathr allows theatrical distribution by letting filmmakers screen their films at Art Houses or Community Theaters. If you can get enough support and sell enough tickets then your movie is able to be shown. This is a very interesting way to get support for a movie, although it can be a lot of work to get it advertise, in the long run it will create a lot of exposure. This is ideal when showing our film because we will want as much exposure as possible. Gathr is a great way to do so and I really like the style that it would allow us to use.

Creative Critical Reflection 1 Draft

When re-filming we decided to use less dialogue and a different theme to help push the idea of a simulation-like world of the future. This helped continue our sci-fi theme while making our overall plot easier to understand. We wanted to add to the idea of technology and its effects on the human race. The dark lighting and shots present the idea that technology has the potential to be evil. Re-filming greatly helped us fix our plot and hopefully will  have the audience at a better understanding of what we are truly trying to display.

Our film targets to attract those who want a thrilling, yet sci-fi genre film. With the abundant use of technology our views would be mostly made up of a younger generation hopefully enough to make up for the lacking older generation. Teens are more known for there love/use of technology so we strived to use this to our advantage when filming. The older generation will hopefully be influenced enough to want to see the film with the popularity it could have with younger generations.

Digital Distribution Research- The Juniper Tree

The Juniper Tree is a movie about a widowed farmer's son resisting his new stepmother's attempts to win him over. This movie is similar to ours in that it is independently produced and directed.  This movie was digitally distributed through a website known as 'Indieflix'. Indieflix is an independent film distribution and online streaming service. This website can be found on Fire TV, Roku, Xbox, and all internet connected devices including smart phones, smart TVs, and tablets. This allows film lovers to access many independent films all around the world. The audience views will be widened by allowing any independent short film lovers to view our film on this website. This is a very good way to get a film digitally distributed and has worked for the The Juniper Tree. 

Digital Distribution Research- Primer

The independent film Primer by Shane Carruth is a sci-fi film about intellectual engineers that build an innovative device that obsess over their creation, discovering dark consequences of their own actions. This movie is similar to our own with the sci-fi aspect and that it is independently made and produced. Part of this films use of digital distribution was for it to be accessed on Amazon Instant Video. On Amazon, customers can choose from Download to Own or Download to Rent purchasing options. With this the film maker receives a 50% cut. This is a good way to make a profit from an independent film and would be a good way to get our own film digitally distributed.

Digital Distribution Research

Digital Distribution is a key element when producing a film. There are many platforms for us to distribute our media content on as independent filmmakers. An example of a platform is YouTube. YouTube uses the videos you watch and recommends videos that are similar. After watching videos that are similar to ours viewers will be led to watch our own. Another example is Gathr. Gathr allows theatrical distribution by letting filmmakers screen their films at Art Houses or Community Theaters. If you can get enough support and sell enough tickets then your movie is able to be shown. This is a very interesting way to get support for a movie, although it can be a lot of work to get it advertise, in the long run it will create a lot of exposure.

Target Audience Research- Black Mirror

Black Mirror is a Netflix original TV show that uses different episodes to show futuristic realities with very advanced technology. A unique strategy of advertising was sending an unsettling message to Turkey's equivalent to Reddit. Across the site, users would receive a mysterious DM from an account named "iamwaldo". The intention of the message was to scare people, which worked. It was later discovered that this was a marketing strategy to promote the new season of Black Mirror. Black Mirror has episodes that relate to our plot of a simulation. Black Mirror is marketing towards the same generation as us. The teen generation is largely attracted to this series because of the use of modern technology. We could use a similar strategy of advertisement for our own film to hopefully reach our target audience.

First Revisions

The idea of a simulation was very confusing when presented to our audience. While revising our film we created a new script and shot list to clear the story line up. The script will address the simulation and what is going on within the film. The shot list will also be changed more effectively than our original. We plan to re-film soon to finish up our film. From there we will make the updates needed involving our shot list, script and story board. With these revisions we hope to better help our audience understand our film and the plot we are trying to produce. Below is an updated cast list.

Advertisement Super Bowl Research

Commercials shown during the 2018 Superbowl were each directed toward specific target audiences. The Tide ad used a celebrity appearance by David Harbour who portrays a main character in the very popular show, Stranger Things. This helped open the target audience to teenagers, adults, and children who watch the show. Tide is normally specified to adults but now by using the more influential actor on younger generations, it is opened up to be more appealing to these younger people. Tide also used its commercial to make fun other basic super bowl commercials to tie it back to their own. Another example is the Doritos and Mountain Dew commercial. These products are normally targeted toward younger audiences but within this commercial they incorporated the use of songs from the 90s/2000s era. These songs opened up the audience to older generations making this product seem more open to everyone. The use of actors like Morgan Freeman also made the product more appealing. Another actor from the very popular show, Game of Thrones was also used. These techniques really helped with the broadening of audience appeal. We hope to broaden our own audience appeal as well within our own film.

Target Audience Research- Ender's Game

In order to advertise for the movie Ender's Game billboards were placed with the movie poster all around the U.S. in major cities. This mode of advertisement attracted many people to the movie because they were constantly looking at the billboards.  The billboards were placed in strategically popular places so that they producers would know they would have people coming to see it.  Ender's Game was marketed towards teenagers but the billboards were primarily seen by adults growing the target audience.  I could learn from the billboards in my project because it would help the advertising of our film.  It would help grow our target audience and help gain attraction to our film.

Target Audience Research Mad Max: Fury Road

In order to advertise for the movie Mad Max: Fury Road a campaign was launched using #MynameisMax. From the movie a very popular quote of 'Mad Max' was him saying "My name is Max." which is what inspired the hashtag. People would post pictures of themselves using this hashtag on popular social media platforms. At the ending of this promotion over 1,500 photos had been posted using this hashtag. Of these, 200 had been chosen to be displayed on billboards in major cities. Others had been chosen to watch a special screening of the movie. The overall reach for this campaign was 8,100,000 people. People were persuaded through social media to see the movie.

Use of Conventions

Within our film we represented a society that has not been explored typically. Throughout the film we highlighted the struggle people have within their lives. Our films targeted teenagers and adults alike who enjoy video games and virtual reality type settings. We used teenagers starring in our film to help connect with the younger generation. Darker themes were also presented in our film which helped connect to adults. In our revisions we will make sure to make more connections with our audience.

Feedback Reflection

The reaction from our peers after showing our film was very negative. Many people were very confused with the story line saying that it was unclear and that they did not understand what was going on throughout the film. We reviewed our film after hearing the comments made. Upon these comments our group has made the decision to re-film our entire movie to help better improve the story line. We will create new scenes and throw out unnecessary ones from previous. Our group struggled to have a clear process of communication and while re-shooting we will try and keep up with each other more. Although there were negative comments, there was also some positive comments about our film. People enjoyed the shots from our film. When re-shooting we will keep some of the shots the same. Overall, our project needs a lot of revisions and we will use the provided time to complete the new goals we have set for ourselves.