Critical Creative Reflection

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_B5sWmnD1BjGLyGoG99C26U-ywZX4cp-hnsipha2b78/edit?usp=sharing

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

     My product challenges convention in various aspects such as in camera angles and editing techniques. For one my video has a variety of different shots/angles including wide shot, close up, over the shoulder shot, low angle, and pan to name a few. Most of these filming angles such as wide shot and extreme close up were also used in other music videos in the same genre of our song (R&B/Soul) which I found during my research on conventions. Additionally, the props, editing, and sounds in my video were similar to those in other R&B/Soul music videos. For example, in songs like, “I feel it coming” by The Weeknd and “Like I want you” by GIVEON, they all use props that are seemingly casual including a chair, a ramen cup, a ring, and a phone. This is comparable to my music video as I used props such as a notebook, headphones, clothes, and a ball. These are all household/normal items used in order to replicate a normal environment. Furthermore, the editing in other music videos and my video are fairly alike. All use subtle lighting/filters as well as simplistic editing transitions like fade. 

    Adding on, while my video doesn't specifically represent a social issue it does represent a social group. It explores social groups like friendship through a story about memories. The friendship being a group of four girls and their memories being shared through a photobook. This social group honestly isn't commonly illustrated in music videos especially in this genre from what I’ve seen in my research, so it adds to the uniqueness of my film.

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

     My product engages with audiences by representing the story and memories of lifelong friends. It’s certain that the majority of people have a group or at least one friend that they’ve known forever, whether that be since childhood, high school, or college. My music film relates with the audience because it demonstrates something almost everyone has and can connect with. My video also has diverse and common locations/settings throughout the duration of film. This helps to engage the audience as viewers can see all the different places and perhaps recognize or remember places they've been to before by themselves or with their friends such as the beach or a mall. Allowing them to sympathize and relate with this project on another level. However, I would argue this film greatly appeals to people in this generation rather than an older audience as it has a lot of trendy/favorable elements. The song chosen in the video is fairly recent and both SZA and Kendrick Lamar are currently popular artists as opposed to older adults who may not know these artists and can't relate as much. The trendy editing and filter is also a factor by using a subtle but vibrant filter and using popular transitions between scenes like fade and slide. All things considered, the editing, song, and settings contribute to the overall trendy aesthetic of this video and engages the younger audience the most.

  I would distribute this into a real media text by advertising it on online platforms. Mainly Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Since the video revolves largely around teenagers and past memories the target audience would likely be people in their teens/generation z. So, advertising on trending online platforms that I know people in my age group use would be ideal in order to reach the audience most suitable for the film. 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

At the start of this project my group and I weren’t used to filming at all, especially in so many locations and public spaces. A big part of producing is planning. Without planning beforehand you can’t exactly film/produce so the first part of producing was me discussing with my group what days I will be filming and the locations. However, this was challenging as every member in my group had different things going on so discussing dates was difficult. Communicating with my group was key and something I got to improve on. Now onto the actual filming process.  One of my group members brought a tripod to film and it was my first time using one to film. In the beginning, it was a bit awkward filming in public places. It’s easy to laugh and feel embarrassed while trying to act out parts, especially filming in public spaces where others are watching. Although, as the filming process progressed I had gotten used to acting/filming in public and was able to be more professional during this project. 

As the video started coming to life and seeing the progress of the video being created from the storyboard into real life I had more ideas about things I should do to improve the video. For example, on the storyboard there was a scene at a beach souvenir shop  and the plan was taking clips of my group looking at items. I had come up with a better idea of making a montage of each member trying on a hat in separate clips. This was such a great idea and added so much to the video. It was a way of separating each character from the group and introducing them individually. I realized that as the project started being produced, more creative ideas flowed in that ended up being perfect additions.

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

   Editing software is a major part of any film project.The main technology utilized was Capcut, Apple Music, Camera, and Messages. Starting with Capcut, a popular editing app that I’ve used in the past since 2021. It has so many features from transitions to adding text. I used Capcut for basically everything in the video. Firstly by conjoining clips together through transitions. Splitting up parts. Adding a filter, text, audio, and keyframes. Still, before using Capcut there were also other online technologies used. 

    The most important one, the camera app in order to film the different clips. I learned the different settings on camera such as blurring out the background while filming and being able to adjust the lighting if a setting was too dark or vice versa.

    In addition another technology I used was the messages app. Since all the clips were taken on different group member’s phones they had to be shared via messages and then downloaded to the camera roll. This was an important process as I needed these clips to edit and needed to make sure they maintained the same resolution and frame rate after being shared. 

      An additional online technology was Apple Music and screen record. In order to get the audio for the music video it had to be screen recorded from a music platform. I used Apple Music and searched for the song and then screen recorded the full length of the song to my camera roll. Then, extracting the audio and adding it to my Capcut project. 

Aside from online technology I also used hardware. Specifically, a printer. In order to construct a photobook I actually had to print out photos of my group and I in order to make it realistic. After using my computer to pull up the photos I sent them to my printer to print and then created the photobook.