Final Creative Critical Reflections

 And here are my final CCRs, reflecting on this whole process:

CCR 1

CCR 2

Final Opening

And that's a wrap! I am proud to say my opening is officially complete and is ready to be shared. I am so immensely proud of how this turned out and I hope that you guys enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Here it is:

final opening- BY NATURE

Final Reflection

 As this process comes to an end, it's hard not to look back on this process and not reflect upon the moments that got me here. This is one of the best experiences I've ever had with a project and I truly believe it is due to the immense amount of time and planning I put into every stage of production.

Pre-Production: 

This is always, in my opinion, the most important stage of production when creating something. Without a well-developed idea, you'll get nowhere in the production stage. You always need to have a plan and understand what you are trying to accomplish. During this stage, I did lots of research on my genre, psychological thrillers, as this was a new experience for me and I had no prior knowledge of the conventions of this genre. The research helped me truly understand my story and how to develop it more to be at the level I had envisioned it. This stage also included the time of creating my storyboard for my opening. Without a storyboard, I would be absolutely clueless. Not only do they make line editing a breeze, but they also help you stay organized while filming. Shooting days can sometimes be a stressful time and you can easily forget things as time is of the essence. However, if you have a structured plan of what needs to be shot, like a storyboard, filming can be a piece of cake.

Production: 

All thanks to my storyboard, filming day was very successful for me and my actress, Gabbi. At first, we ran into a little problem when it came to the setting of the opening, as the plan was always to film at Gabbi's house. However, Gabbi is currently going through the process of moving and breaking down everything in her house. This was not exactly the scenery I envisioned for my opening, so we had to push up filming day to take place before any packing was being done. However, once we solved that issue, everything was smooth sailing, and barely any reshoots were needed.

Post-Production:

Finally, when I started the post-production stage of my project, I was so excited to finally put together the vision I had been developing for so long. Editing, though, is a tedious process and because of some outside events in my life, I had to adjust my schedule and only block out a week and a half for editing. This meant I really had to use all the time I could to edit in order to make sure I had the time I needed to make my project the best that it could be. During this time, I was also able to try a new software called Adobe After Effects to create the title graphic for my opening. I had heard of this software before but had never had the opportunity to play around with it and try something new. This, I believe, helped bring my project to the next level as I was able to animate a title graphic rather than having boring text. It adds dimension to the project. I am so excited to continue to use this software for other projects in the future.

Voiceover

    As I continued to edit my opening, it felt as though an aspect was missing. Visually, the story was there, but the piece lacked an auditory aspect. As I started to think of all the different things I could add to it, I immediately knew I didn't want music. The idea of music felt tacky in my own project and I just never felt like it paired well with the genre or tone of the story. Then, I started to contemplate a voiceover and instantly it clicked. A voiceover was a perfect opportunity to loop the meaning of the title into the story while still staying on character with my piece. The idea of hearing the main character's "inner thoughts" tied perfectly with the story and is an idea I would carry out throughout the entire film if I were to develop it. It also tied in conventions of the narrative genre, which was always my plan to incorporate into my psychological thriller piece.

Here it is:

 

"by nature" voiceover 

the human instinct is a funny thing, isn’t it?

the fact that one can be born with a quality and naturally act upon it with no doubt 

like its simply hardwired into their system

sparking a mother's instinct to always protect

a mother would do anything for their kid without a second thought, engulfing any worry or trouble

these types of qualities tend to define who we are as a person, as we never take the time to learn or question them

we are as such, by nature

and yet again, sometimes we lie, believing we are doing it for the good of another

the instinct of protecting our loved ones

no matter the damage left behind, as though one's conscience is seized by the overbearing feeling of love, to the point of no return

but I guess that’s just who we are 

Group Meeting #2

    Today was our second and final group meeting of this process! It would be a lie if I said this process felt eternal, it feels as though we started just last week. However, as we are approaching our final week, my group and I took this time to band together and discuss the final stage of our projects, our critical reflections. Due to the fact the majority of us were absent during the lesson on the CCRs, we had LOTS of questions. Thankfully, we took this time to answer each other's questions and even approach Mrs. Stoklosa with questions to clear up any confusion we had before. In the past, the students had only had to make one video component where they answered the 4 questions of their reflection. However, now things have changed where we must have 2 creative components rather than 1 to answer the reflection questions. 
    After our discussion, I started to brainstorm on what I wanted to accomplish for my own personal CCR. I have already started to answer some questions on here in the past weeks, but up until this point, I had not thought about the components I wanted to create. I finally decided I wanted to do a presentation-style component and a podcast for the other, as they are contrasting mediums that would pair well with my project, one being visual and the other auditory.

I can't wait to start creating and wrapping up this process!

    

Beginning the Editing Process

     Now that filming is all complete, it's time to start our post-production phase! This is usually kicked off by starting to edit the project. For editing this project, I will be using the software Adobe Premiere Pro 2022. I have lots of experience with this software as I have used it to edit all my other production projects in the past, dating all the way back to my middle school years. 

Creating the new project!

    Before I do any importing or editing, I like to take the time to organize my workspace. In the past, especially with projects that involve lots of different files of footage and etc., it makes the process so much easier if you organize your files by their properties. I like to create bins with my project workspace, this time being 3 that I labeled footage, audio, and graphics. My footage bin will hold all of my video clips, audio will hold the voiceover and all the natural sounds recorded, and graphics will hold the title graphic and all the opening credit graphics like "Directed by Mya Wolf" etc.

My project bins

Time to start line editing!

CCR Question #3

 How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

          Having prior experience with creating content frequently in class and outside settings, I have a pretty solid foundation of production skills with a camera already developed. However, I love to reflect on each experience in order to learn and grow as a producer. I take every opportunity to try new things and experiment to expand my skills.

    With this specific project, I really used this time to work with shot composition and angles as that is an aspect that lacks more than others in past projects. I was able to play with the rule of thirds and try things like dutch and high angles rather than just regular eyeliner. The rule of thirds is a shot composition technique that divides your shot into an equal 3 by 3 grid. This can help diversify your shots and make them more aesthetic as nothing is uneven or just plainly set in the middle. 

The rule of thirds grid dividing up a still frame

    This project helped me gain skills in the scheduling aspect of production. In order to stay on track with such a project, I was forced to constantly create and revise schedules and outlines to keep my thoughts organized and concise. By doing so, I was able to be very efficient with my time while developing my ideas and filming my actual opening.