Creative Critical Reflection

That's a wrap folks! 🥳

Enjoy my long awaited CCR that i'm quite proud of!

YOU CAN ALSO CLICK HERE TO WATCH

See you next school year beloved blog!

UNFOLDABLE

Without further ado.. 

Here she is!

"Unfoldable", my baby

And if the embedded video does not function properly...

CLICK HERE TO WATCH UNFOLDABLE

Let's Reflect.

    So, we have reached the end of this project. I wanted to take one of my final blog posts to reflect on some of my key moments from this project.

    Finally landing on the idea for Unfoldable was a long process. I ended up sticking with it as it covers the topic of something I hold am very familiar with, the emotional pain of social media comparison.

    Something that remained super important of me throughout this entire project was incorporating aspects that were meaningful to ME. I was trying to portray an authentic teenage girl, and  I am exactly that. That's where things like my journal comes in, a coping mechanism I avidly use when i'm caught up in my own head. My voiceover is also very meaningful to me... Painting a metaphor to cover the topic of comparison without actually saying the literal situation is something I have written about before.  Poetry and creative writing is dear to me, and this was a beautiful outlet to share it. 

The journal spread I made for my opening :)

On the topic of CHANGES to my project

    There were many of them. I have never worked on this long term of a project before, and I didn't realize how having more time actually makes you second guess yourself MORE than a short-term deadline. I changed such things like my original idea for an opening, my lighting, shot compositions, the length of my still clips, and even my voiceover script last minute. These types of changes typically wouldn't make me sweat or question myself at all, but I've blogged my every thought on this project. That makes me accountable for mistakes.

    For example, when my violet lighting hue didn't go as planned, it didn't change the meaning of the shots I filmed in the slightest. The intended vibe still came off correctly. But, I had written about this plan of purple hue. So, I had to also write about how this unintended other lighting option was OK too. This process definitely made me a LOT more aware of my creative choices and every single little aspect that goes into film. 

Doubts.

    The most challenging part of my entire project by FAR was my voiceover. I had SO many doubts about if anyone would even understand the metaphor I was creating. Folding paper and being insecure... How could they go hand in hand? Even after my voiceover was done and layered on my project, I was worried the visuals and the audio were too contrasting to take in both at the same time. 

    After many second opinions and a deep breath, I became proud of my work. I tied a very personal aspect into this project while still staying true to the requirements, simply creating an opening, and I'm glad I did. 

Overall

    This project taught me so much about production, commitment, planning, and my own work ethic. I'm very happy to say that i'm done and i'm even happier to have pride in my finished product. There was a part of me in this journey that's motive was satisfying the rubric for my AICE score, but there was a larger part of me that just hoped people will gain perspective from my opening. Obviously, I hope both occur.

    As a happy conclusion to always mentioning myself feeling very attached to this concept, I do truly feel unfoldable in the best way possible. Learning to escape social media expectations has been one of the most freeing things i've experienced. Cheers to meaningful school projects! I never get this opportunity. Thank you for following along. 

♥  ♥  ♥ 

    

Voiceover Shenanigans

    Let me start by saying that I tweaked my script a little bit. Nothing major at all! I edited the end of my script so it will allude more into the rest of my film and give the viewer insight of something bigger about to happen. Almost like a hook! Take a look at the difference-

Original script ending

The more compelling ending

    Ending with a mystery... Now even I want to find out what happens next! I love this change. Adapt and overcome, baby!

Recording

    Recording my voiceover was simple enough. A few takes and then I finally got one I was satisfied with. I edited the length a bit, cutting out certain breaks in speech to making it flow smoother. I also lowered the volume of my music so you could hear the voiceover perfectly.

    

    And with the addition of the voiceover, my film opening is FINISHED. 

YAY!!!!!!

It's CCR time...

Creating my Voiceover Script

     Starting something like a script is always difficult. I have my base idea, folding paper more than 7 times is impossible, and a few other components I definitely want to add in at a point. To organize my thoughts, I made a list of these components.

    

    Most of them are words I want to info operate at one point, some are quotes, and some are just ideas. With this list, I used it in chronological order to create my script. I really like how it came out! 

Here it is-

It is impossible to fold a standard sized piece of paper in half more than 7 times.

This commonly spread concept first reach our fragile ears at a young age.

When our freshly weaved brains wouldn’t let a simple statement of truth get in our way...

Grasping a clean sheet of parchment with no doubts, no abstract thought

The first 2 folds inflated our confidence

Just a few more seemed in our reach 

Creating crevices by creasing what we were told was not possible

4... 5... 6... 7... 

Maybe if I unfold and try again

Repeating my halves until I am left with half of my original confidence and a wrinkled piece of hope 

Getting smaller and smaller and smaller and...

Maybe if I get a bigger piece of paper,

or perhaps a thinner kind?

Maybe a different color would make it doable.

It couldn’t be my failure, I had to make an adjustment.

I couldn’t fold

My brain couldn’t fold my true inability to overpower science

Unraveling my paper

at such a young age

when I first realized

the possibility of inauthenticity...

If I fold my paper 7 times and say it was the impossible 8th fold,

maybe,

just maybe...

Only in the impressionable eyes of those around me,

I could clutch the idea of an impossible expectation

and conquer it.

    I really tried to do my best to emphasize my character's false confidence shown at the end of my opening. She looks happy and confident, but it's fabricated. It's inauthentic. It's not ACTUALLY the 8th fold. Others may think the girl looks good and is happy. But she's not, it's a lie. It's forced. 

    Not having a happy ending to this script makes for what I hope to serve as an unfinished story, leading into the rest of the film. 

Giving Credit Where It's Due...

    I have two final touches left to my project and I decided to begin with the credits of my opening. I have to include the director, producer, writer, cinematographer, editor, and actor. I am going to give myself all of these credits as this was a solo project. So, go me! But, I will also be crediting my friend Liv Wagner who is the girl I am trying to dress like. 

    

Plan B

    I have planned to add these credits to my stills shown in the beginning since I began storyboarding. But, once I did as planned I realized the credits were on screen for an alarmingly short amount of time. I asked for advice from Mrs. Stoklosa and I decided to feed the credits into a few clips after my stills. This way, the text will be on long enough to read and not distract from the main purpose of my piece. She also advised me to make use of empty space in my shots. 

Before...

After!!!

I am super happy with this change. It looks so much better!

    As for the timing of my credits, I had to adjust the editing of my stills so make them longer. It ended up making everything flow a LOT cleaner. It also forced me to shorten the scene of trying on the outfit in the mirror which I didn't even realize how much would clean up my opening. I had too much time cut out for it prior. Overall, amazing adjustments were made. 

Looks like I just have one more thing left to do...

• credits ✓
• voiceover ▢

Editing, Editing, Editing!

     I imported all of my clips into iMovie to start editing! I have 10 minutes total of footage. I need to get to 2 minutes total, but i'm planning to edit around 1:55-1:57 total so I can leave time to create a production logo for the beginning. 

Production Company Logo

    I didn't stress this too much. I decided to go with the name "Blu Films" as Blu is my middle name. I created a moving graphic and slapped it on a landscape background. I'll play this for the first 3-5 seconds of my opening.

The still version of my production company logo

Cut it down!

    Now the hard part, shaving off 8 minutes of film. I sorted through the clips and put them in chronological order. Not only do I want to shave it down, I want to keep each clip not too long so the opening is never too boring. I also want to try to cut from clip to clip with some of the beats as much as possible as I think it creates a more advanced feel. 

    After about an hour of playing around with the clips, I narrowed it down to the desired length. I'd insert the video here, but it's not finished just yet! I'm missing two very important aspects-

• the voiceover
• the text for credits & the title

    The credits are simple, but the voiceover will take me a little while. So, until next time blog. We're almost at the end!!!