Critical Reflection

    My short film, "Takeout," is a gripping drama that follows a group of six teenagers as they devise a heist plan to steal from a local diner. At its core, the film delves into the complex personalities of Ember and Ben, two members of the group who initially clash over ideas but ultimately collaborate to create a crucial distraction that could make or break the success of their scheme.

    

    Ember's character in "Takeout" challenges traditional gender roles and highlights the struggle for women to assert themselves in male-dominated environments. As one of the only women in the group, she is automatically out of place and met with skepticism from Christian, almost immediately questioning why she is even there. Despite this, Ember emerges as the group's strategist, displaying her logical thinking and creative problem-solving skills when she formulates the idea of a distraction. Her refusal to accept the group's initial plan, and her ultimate leadership in executing her own idea, shows the power of women in positions of authority and the value of diversity in decision-making. By showcasing Ember's transformation from a perceived outsider to the brains of the operation, "Takeout" challenges societal norms and represents the potential of women to excel in leadership roles.

    “Takeout” can be generally categorized as a drama, reeling in a target audience of predominantly young adults. Through advertisement, the film could be perceived as having romantic aspects, through such images of Ben and Ember sitting at the diner together. This genre-perception is still successful in having a young adult audience, but also reels in more females, as they stereotypically gravitate towards emotion-led stories such as in the romance genre. This genre-flip alone is one of the main ways the film engages with its audience. It creates discussion, reaction, and unexpected emotion led through the plot twist of why Ember and Ben are actually sitting in the diner for. Not to mention, anyone who was drawn into viewing the film due to the romantic shots will get a woman-led operation in return, which strategically is a home-run for the same audience of female young adults. 

     The film also has a social media aspect, an instagram account under the username @Takeout.film. On this page, publicity is maximized through the usage of promotional graphics, behind the scene photos, film-clips, character highlights, count-downs, and my personal favorite- a blooper reel. These mostly professional, yet highly entertaining pieces of reality behind making the film is what truly engages the audience, making the content easy to share, and ultimately garnering many comments, likes, and shares on each post.

A post on the instagram (Look at that engagement!)

    A postcard was also created to hypothetically be handed out at film festivals to further promote the film. Visually stunning, the postcard is engaging through displaying ways to consume more “Takeout”. The social media username handle is listed on the left back, whilst the showing dates, times, and location is clearly advertised as well. 

The back of the postcard

    These three aspects work together to create a multi-dimensional brand. On the surface, an enjoyable, classic, and dynamic friend-group is delivered, through the film itself and character highlights on the social media page. Then, you have the deeper dynamic of Ember and Ben, fueling the drama and feeding the appetite of intensity-hungry viewers through the front of the postcard and the opening scene. As a takeaway, you are left with Ember’s dominance and logic, leading the pack to a possibility of success through the building tension in the film, along with the final result of the plan. To improve brand development, Ember could possibly be advertised as the main character rather than one of two in an attempt to emphasize her ultimate authority. However, the way it was executed with Ember as part of a duo protects the plot-twist and in its full secrecy, and aids to stress her come-up as the orchestrator rather than it being expected.

    My research on postmodernism deeply informed the structure and conventions of "Takeout." Prior to starting this project, my class studied the concept of postmodernism and watched the film "Memento," which features a non-linear narrative structure that challenges the traditional notion of a story. This convention of postmodernism, which instills truth through what is understood to be chronological, was a major inspiration behind the structure of "Takeout." In the process of researching the fascinating concept of perceived truth, I learned that a crucial aspect of it is to eventually connect the dots to the viewers. To achieve this, I tied my story together by making the first and last spoken words, "What song should I play," the same. This implies that the opening diner scene was actually the last. 

The opening phone call

The closing phone call

    Furthermore, "Takeout" challenges conventional storytelling in the drama genre by never actually showing the heist in action. While the heist is the central focus of the story, it is only ever being planned, and the audience only gets to see the bit right before it occurs, never actually seeing any robbery. This intentional choice implies that the majority of the "drama" in this piece resulted from planning the heist rather than executing it. This could even be further interpreted to the understanding that Ember’s plan went smoothly, and the heist didn’t involve much “drama” at all. By playing with conventional storytelling techniques and challenging audience expectations, "Takeout" offers a unique and thought-provoking exploration of the drama/heist genre.

    Creating "Takeout" has been a transformative experience for me. Over the past two or so months, I have poured my heart and soul into this project, and it has been a joy to watch it come to life. This is the biggest piece of work I have ever undertaken, and it has required me to carefully consider any and every intricate detail of the story. While there may be minor technical issues that I need to improve upon, I believe I have created an undeniably entertaining and engaging piece that offers a unique perspective on the drama genre. Through the creation of this film, I have discovered new ways of expressing my creativity and have gained valuable insights into the intricacies of filmmaking. Overall, this project has been an eye-opening and soul-nourishing experience, and I cannot wait to see where my passion for storytelling takes me next.