Creative Critical Reflection

Along with the film opening, I wanted to additionally post the two creative critical reflections I created.

I linked both videos here in case there are any problems:

Creative Critical Reflection #1

Creative Critical Reflection #2

Goodbye!!!!!

Film Opening

 After 2 months and 25 blog posts, I am proud to say that my group and I have finally completed our film opening. While I'll miss working on a production like this, I'm glad it ended successfully.

Hope you enjoy!!

Here is the link if there's any problems:

Dear Mara Film Opening

Final Edits

     I thought I would be done today, but a small problem came up. Last night I was asked to also do the sound editing, which isn't too much to do, but I was still upset that I had such short notice to collect sounds and put them all together. However... there is no time to complain!! The overall project is due by tomorrow, and everything needs to be done. To avoid complications with my CCR, I used the same website Lucia was going to use for free sound effects - ZapSplat (found here). 

    I fortunately found a few sound effects from there such as water running and doors opening. For more specific sounds that I wanted, I used foley, such as white noise in the beginning (turning on my PS4) and Mara placing the pill bottle on the sink (placing ibuprofen on my nightstand). Throughout this entire process I was also luckily discussing with Andrea and Lucia. I sent them multiple videos to see how the audio sounded from their perspective. They recommended adding music, and Lucia sent me a song that she found earlier. The song is called "Still Miss You" (pretty ironic), found on Bulletproof Bear (linked here), a catalog containing copyright free music. I added this song and we decided to fade it out at the end, while Mara's ears are ringing, to avoid being overwhelmed by sound effects. It also creates a turning point in the opening, where everything gets worse.

This video, one of many, that I sent them shows five different ways I used to add audio.

Dialogue - from the video itself

Music - Bulletproof Bear

Voiceover - Voice memo recorded by Andrea

Pill bottle - Foley

Ringing, Water running, Door - ZapSplat

Overall, the audio ended up looking like this:

    The website ZapSplat also says to credit them in the video. Therefore, I'll need to remember to add it in the description of the video.

    This makes this blog post one of the last ones I'll do. I wanted to use this blog to briefly reflect on my experience. This project made me learn so many things that isn't just important to making a film opening, but overall in long-term projects like this one. I mostly learned the importance of planning and researching, how they both contribute immensely to not only the final production, but to your dedication and attitude towards it. Without proper planning and cutting straight to it, you'll have messy research and miss parts that you didn't think were needed. This leads the production and post-production process to feel unsure and improvised, which is never a good feeling. 

    Also, for me personally, I learned how working with partners can be as detrimental as it is beneficial. There are parts to working with a group that I never realized would be a problem, like disagreements, relying too much on people, and scheduling conflicts. Luckily, I chose really great partners, and these problems didn't occur often.

    I am so glad I had the opportunity to do such a big project. This was my first project that's taken over a month. I've always loved film; I'm still taking a film elective this year, but no project has challenged me as much as this one. Luckily, avoiding procrastination and dedication to research allowed me to feel extremely proud of the result of this film opening. I'm excited to show it!!