Creative Critical Reflection

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Final Product "EGO"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPaElX04M1k










Special thanks to Nicolas Pol, Erik Sanchez, Rodrigo Villoda, Nick Benetatos, Matthew Lee Juan Casrellanos, Mariana Rodriguez, Sarah Dickerman, and Dylene Diaz for being extras. Also "#table talk" is a popular You-Tube challenge that was shown briefly on the computer screen which we used to transition into our You-Tube montage.

EGO Title Ideas

Below are some title ideas for our film. After all voting we decided we liked the first one the best. The title is simple and shows off the mask in the "O" which we thought was cool and creative.

Editing

This past week I went through all the shots we took and selected the ones that would work the best for the film. I enjoyed this process and can't wait to see how the final product will turn out!

Filming/Camera

Last week we did our filming on a Canon EOS T3I which is an easy to use camera that helped us create our masterpiece. With good zooming and the ability to do a focus pull allowed us to create different techniques. 

Below are some screen shots from the opening scene of our film. We used a focus pull of Frankie waking up in the morning and then some panning shots of his room that showed off his desk with the mask on it. We are in the process now of choosing which clips we like the best and can start to edit.

Mask used in the film

For Frankie's mask(main character) used in the film, two of my group members decided to each make a completely different mask and then all vote on which one to use.

The red mask below was made with paint and fabrics which created a simple but fierce look.

The other mask was made out of paper machete, cardboard, and green and black spray paint. It had was simple, fun, and had cartoon look which helped gained popularity.

When we filmed we decided to go with the second choice since it was bright, fun, and goofy just like the secret life of Frankie. The mask helped shape our character as he was a quiet nerd on the outside but on the inside he was a fun, popular You Tube sensation.  The mask itself is very simple with a tiny smirk to the side and hardly any details. This helped create suspense as to who is under the mask.

Film Schedule/ Approval for Song Opening

   Me and my group starting planning and outline of when we will start filming since we are already three weeks into the project. Our two main shooting locations is in the kid's bedroom for the morning scene, and also our school Cypress Bay to get shots of our main character Frankie Gibson being bullied showing an inside to his daily life.

 Monday, March 23 (11-1)
-Filming bullying scene in school

Wednesday, March 25
-Opening shots of main character
- Starting You-Tube introduction


The other day one of my group members emailed the band "I fight dragons"and asked for permission for one of their songs "Pretend". They replied back very fast approving our request!

Shot List

1. Int. Bedroom. Day
2. Montage
3. School

1A. WS. Out of focused bedroom, FRANKIE getting up from bed, entering the frame. He yawns and then the alarm sounds. This really wakes him up as a song plays making him get up. He exits the frame. Focused. PUSH INTO a computer with YouTube as the website. As we get nearer, the song gets louder. As the beat drops, we cut to the montage.

1B. WS. YouTube Page

2B. CU. Search Bar

3B. MS/BOOM DOWN. Related Videos

4B. MS. YouTube Video with Title. Background out of focused.

1C. CU. YouTube Video. Pull back to reveal video on smartphone and people walking. Follow people to fight.

2C. MS. FRANKIE entering frame. EDDIE punches him to the ground

3C. MS/Low Angle. EDDIE and EMMA

4C. MS/High Angle. FRANKIE

5C. OS. EMMA

6C. OS. EDDIE

7C. CU. EMMA walking away

8C. MS. FRANKIE getting up

9C. CU. Mask is falling down

10C. WS. FRANKIE walking away

11C. CU. Mask on ground, but two feet mysteriously enter the frame

Intro song/set ideas

   Through research and discussion with my group and teacher we decided to follow through with our main character of a nerdy boy who is a secret You-Tuber. We were experimenting different ways to open the scene and we decided to open with the protagonist waking up in his room. We plan on having a background song that had the right beat and tone that would follow along with our character. Below is the song we decided and hopefully we will get the rights to use a clip of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zSF3Mmdys

   Below is a couple images of the setting where we were going to show our opening scene of our main character waking up for school. On his desk is his computer where we will show You-Tube and possibly the mask on the desk giving off a hint to the viewers. The blue messy room with comic posters around helps set up the idea of a nerdy kid who gets bullied in school.

Rough Script Idea

Setting: Room in the morning

Black video

Titles appear

Int. Room. Morning

A bedroom is shown. FRANKIE GIBSON wakes up and gets up into the frame. The alarm starts playing and really wakes him up. He then walks out of the bed. A computer is shown from afar and the camera pushes forward when he exits the frame.  

Music starts playing as radio quality. When drum hits… A website appears on the screen. It’s YouTube

On the Youtube search bar, the actor’s name is typed. The mouse moves on related videos and shows the other actor’s names as it moves down. The shot cuts to the whole video and shows the title of the movie. Montages of the different videos is shown with the titles of the crew. It ends with an establishing shot of a school with DIRECTED BY. The shot is out of focused on a group of kids talking about the YouTuber and then FRANKIE passes by them, coming into frame and the camera follows him

He gets to a hallway/walkway, someone trips him

FRANKIE

Hey listen, I need to get to class. You need to get back to (some insult to their intelligence)

*FRANKIE is pushed to the ground. A high angle shot of FRANKIE on the ground looking up. Then a low angle of the bully*

Eddie’s friends are seeing a YouTube video.

EDDIE’S FRIENDS

Eddie man, PolThoughts uploaded a new video!

EDDIE

I’ll be right over! Let me finish..

The bell rings

EDDIE

You’re lucky Gibson…

*FRANKIE gets up. The mask falls off as waves of people crowd the _______. Nobody pays attention to the mask. Suddenly two feet stop. A guy picks it up. AXEL SMITH, a very popular student from a high class family. He will be the one that changes the story. He smirks and hides the mask.

Rough Mask Ideas

   Here our some rough sketches and ideas of masks for our main character Frankie Gibson, he lives a double life as a hot star you-tuber and a nerdy high school-er. Since he is a nerdy boy, he wears a mask to cover himself and portray himself as something else. The mask helps him cover up, since he doesn't feel comfortable in his own skin. For the mask we want to do something simple but eye catching to the other teens at school.

 MASKS:   

Dramatic Comedy

   When choosing the type of genre we decided to go with a dramatic comedy since the characters are typically average stereotypes  that infuse with the structure of society. Usually the character's thoughts and actions are in disharmony with society, and often the character has flawed actions. Through dialogue and action the film shows off it's comedic ways, and typically in the end there is a remarkable twist within the character. In our film opening our main character is a typical nerdy guy, who gets bullied, and wishes to become popular like the rest. We want to showcase some sort of twist within our character Frankie who has a secret fame from his You-tube channel.

   Other films that follow the dramatic comedy genre is from the films  Princess Diaries https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85VLGRml9NA  and The Truman Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdwuW8n3JYA. In both these films, the main characters are ordinary people that have a certain twist to them. Mia and average girl, finds out her grandmother is a Queen. Different actions follow as she transitions from an average girl to a princess. Truman is an average man from the suburbs, but soon comes to realize his life is controlled on a show. He then looses control trying to be rebellious now to become free from this staged life.

Planning Process

   Continuing through our journey of research and planning, me and my group came up with the plan of creating two to threes ideas and narrowing it down from there. Our first idea was incorporating the idea of conformity and having one kid stick out from the rest of the bunch. The protagonist would wear a different color from everyone while everyone around would act as robots acting similarly.
   
   Another idea we came up with is starting the scene with a loser kid getting ready for school and in the background of his room have hints of a secret life he lives. As the opening continues we would see kids in school talking about this popular You-tuber(who is the loser kid) and leave our audience wondering what is going to happen next. This way we can establish our main character and the dramatic/comedic actions that are going to follow. Me and my group like the idea of leaving our audience wondering what is going to happen next, and this idea surely would do that.  Also we would possibly be able to break the fourth wall by having the You-tuber talk out to the audience which is another interesting way to show off the main character.

Film Ideas

   Today me and my group started to research other film openings that we liked and would consider as ideas. By viewing a variety of film openings this helped us gained inspiration to work from.  The Wolf of Wall Street  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vg7DLT2cew was one of the openings we liked a lot. Me and my group liked the idea of breaking the fourth wall which creates the idea of breaking down the wall between the characters to the audience. This helps create that intimacy between the main character and audience as they become friends through personal dialect between the performer and viewer. Another opening that also had the breaking of the fourth wall was Ferris Bueller's Day off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KFVLWX7eEY which is one of my personal favorite movies. I find the acting of Matthew Broderick to be very entertaining as he talks directly to the audience giving tips of ways to fake sick to get out of school. By doing that it helps establish the audience of other teens, and set the tone of humor for the rest of the movie. It also introduces the main character Ferris in a comedic way and leaves the audience wanting to know if Ferris's sneaky plan works out.

   By viewing these openings it helped me and my group see what type of opening interested us, and use those ideas for our product. We liked the idea of establishing the main character by breaking the fourth wall, setting a tone, and leaving our audience with questions unanswered.