Research/script for question 2 of CCR

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

 Our film opening would typically be appealing to people 20 years old or younger. This is because the iPhone was widely used by 2007. So, people born around that time or later on would be more likely to be addicted to their phones. Beyond that, it could appeal to people or parents that are interested in films of this variety, having to do with breach of privacy and what happens later.

The product could be distributed through popular sites for watching videos like YouTube, clips could be shared through social media apps like TikTok. As we are students, we could share it in local activities where we can share our product or in school activities like film festivals.

Research/script for question 1 of CCR

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

Use of challenge conventions

Our film opening has various uses of the conventions of a psychological thriller. The first use is when we show a sort of obsession around a phone that does not belong to the person. We strived to show that even though they know they are curious about something completely unrelated to them, they must have it. The second use is when we had to use the phone notifications to show that something important is going on, and it is important enough that the phone is endlessly getting pinged by notifications. Clearly, something important is happening to the person. This is later used to show a breach in privacy by someone, a neighbor, walking by. Our film opening also ends in a cliff hanger, with the protagonist and antagonist looking at each other after the antagonist did something they should not have.

It mostly represents people 20 years or younger. The age where people are most likely to be addicted to their phones. It represents issues like breach of privacy and digital privacy.

Editing (sound)

Sound was a small but important part in editing our film opening. We mostly used natural sounds except for when we had to create the sound of a phone notification. We used the phone notification sound to show two things. One, there is something important happening in the character's life. Important enough that the person gets notifications one after another. Two, People uninvolved in the situation may become curious and disturb someone's right to privacy.

Timing is very important in the scenes with the notifications. This is why we had to include one scene that introduces the idea that something of great importance is happening. Then, we had two more scenes to show the number of notifications the person is receiving and that this noise will attract curiosity. The audio of the notifications had to be spread out well enough that it was clear something was happening while lasting long enough to fill out the whole scene. We could not overdo it with the audio or else it would become redundant.

Editing

We started with putting all our raw footage. This was all the videos we had put into Premiere Pro; it was retakes, takes from different angles, and deciding what to cut. Originally, it was around 3 or so minutes, so we had a good amount to cut. After looking over the entirety of the footage various time, we wrote down what to cut before cutting anything. We also chose the takes with the best quality overall.

Overall, deciding what to cut led to one thing. The storytelling between each video. We wanted continuity and making the concept of the film opening as clear as possible. 

 

Film (sound)

        We could use different sounds to enhance the project. We could gasp; we could move in a way that shows being scared. Like someone is sitting in a chair and they move rapidly to one side, putting their weight on one side and the sound of the chair leg after they sit back normally could show surprise. 

        Another thing we could is to wordlessly mutter in a way to signify the attacker is crazy or unhinged. We could switch between scenes quickly to show emotion with the help of sound. Like switching between a person running and looking back, with the audio being the sound of running and taking quick breaths

Foley (film)

 We recorded the crunch of grass from footsteps, although on second thought, we may not end up using it. We may not use it because our equipment is not great at capturing the quality of audio we need when we filmed the scene of the character running away from the attacker. The way we did it was to run on the grass, then grab a chunk of grass and squeeze it

Day 2 (filming)

    We were supposed to film this week, but some issues came up. Namely, having to deal with tests, classes, and studying. Another obstacle is that our film opening had stalker scenes, which we were advised against doing. To deal with school and tests, we will just have to film another day. To fix the stalker scenes we can just switch it to attack scenes. I think using a shot of me falling after being attacked followed by a shot of my partner clearly showing that he was the attacker would be best. Basically, a counter shot.

    By the end of the school week, we should be done with filming. By the end of the weekend, we should be done with editing. Hopefully no more obstacles occur so that we can finish.