Final Project: CCR

 Here is my CCR: 

https://youtu.be/o_uvu_juWOE

Final Project: Video

Here is my Final Project:

https://youtu.be/sxerT_BD_YQ 

Final Project: Reflection of Everything

 This project was a rollercoaster, both during the process of completion and after the entire thing was finished. I had a lot of things that I could've done better, as well as various things that I think I did well over the course of the project. There were some things that I would've taken out or added, and some of them didn't even make it into the CCR, because I was strapped for time answering the questions provided. Overall I think that the project was something that was extremely stressful because of the way I worked, and in the future, I would probably change my work strategy to better achieve the goal of the project.

    One word: Procrastination. I will not lie, there were various times where I got distracted or sidetracked, such as the incidents with the camera and various dives into music to support the piece aesthetically and from a sound perspective. I did end up 'finishing' everything before the day, but still wanted to fine-tune some things or make some aspects of the project better. Procrastination was probably my biggest challenge with the project, although it didn't drastically affect my workflow, since everything was done in time and was prepared in advance. 

    Other struggles I had with the project included reshoots, which were difficult to do because I had to match audio and visuals for different days, as well as general camera movements, so the style of the piece didn't change in any way. I was also struggling a bit with time since most of my footage was taken in excess, which meant I was over the time constraints given for the project during most of the editing process. It didn't help that the film opening was constantly going through changes, even during production, as I tried to figure out where various pieces of the opening would fit. This meant that filming on the day was difficult, and I ended up needing to reshoot a few scenes. 

    My final struggle was with the CCR as a whole. Although I did end up using footage from movies that inspired my choices, as it related to the current thing I was discussing, the CCR still felt a little bland, mostly due to the specific responses I gave, which didn't offer much personality and got straight to the point in the analysis. This made the CCR feel a bit more sluggish and boring, something I couldn't quite fix as other tasks took my full attention. 

    However, there were a few good things I can take away from the project that provided me with various improvements to my abilities. The first was editing. This year, most of my editing has been basic, and in group projects, I have been responsible primarily with writing and aesthetics. This project was one of the few where I exclusively edited the project, and my skills with iMovie improved and I began to enhance my technique in that field, specifically with sound, since most of the voice lines used in the piece were taken from cuts that didn't end up matching on film, but had better dialogue prompts. 

    Overall, I think this project has been an experience, something that I would do a million different ways if I could go back, but a huge learning experience to showcase things that I learned or am still learning as I continue to develop my skills. 

Final Project: Final Touches

     I finally think that I have something that is well worth the production process of this assignment. I finalized my project after having some students in the course go over it, and I feel like I've pretty much-finished everything that needs to be done.

    For the CCR, I utilized the script I'd written to speak about the various aspects of production and answering the questions required while attempting to engage the audience through various means to avoid the 'talking head' idea that has been frowned upon in the course. The CCR is effective in how it answers the questions and provides insight into why I made various choices for the project. 

    For the opening itself, I tried to use extremely dark and grainy footage to fully encapsulate the emotions that I was trying to pull at. With a combination of music, visuals, and subtle cues, I think the opening provides enough context for the viewer to understand what has just happened, and how it will fit into the larger narrative that is at stake. One of my favorite shots from this opening is one of the killer reaching for the doorknob after the door has been closed, where only a shadow can be seen.

    Overall this project was tedious, difficult, and taught me a lot about myself and how I work best. It allowed me to improve my work ethic and attitude and it brought me closer to being a good student. I'm excited to see what else I can do. 

Final Project: Final Editing

     The easiest part of this project has been the editing. I oftentimes find myself with so many different things that I want to do, but for this project, I wanted to try to stick to what I had originally planned out(after the revisions I'd made which I discussed last post), and I decided to just roll with what I wanted to do and it worked. The editing process was smooth and I was able to get all of my editing done this week, with a few minor tweaks over the weekend. 

    I used Imovie to do all of my editing and used an Ipad I was given last year as my site for the editing. I had everything mapped out and finished, and I think that overall the application provides a simple and easy-to-use way of getting things done in regards to the various techniques that I wanted to convey. I think the program is extremely valuable and provides a great way to edit without all of the extremely difficult user interfaces that some applications have. 

As you can see from the image above, which I took from the apple support website, the application has extremely simple features that allowed me to easily manipulate my footage for the project. 

Final Project: Reevaluating and Revamping

 The production process for this project has been a long road, and there have been a few major revisions that have been made since I started the project that I wanted to reflect on. The first is where I decided to have the film. Early on in the process, I was thinking about having the killing take place outside. However, after a few tests, I determined that it would be impractical and much more simple to have everything be inside. The second was regarding casting, which I thought was going to be simple at first, but as I continued storyboarding, I thought that the story would make more sense if I had an adult be home to eventually fall victim to the killer.

    The third thing was how to get some of my credits in. My first thought was to use Imovie, but I didn't think that the credits would turn out properly using the limited amount of Imovie text templates. So I decided to ask a friend of mine if I could borrow his aftereffects and this is how I decided to bring my credits into the movie.