Creative Critical Reflection

 And now it is time to reflect on this beautiful, stressful, and tiring process. Join me for my Creative Critical Reflection!

First, check out this super cool infographic where I answer two questions for my CCR!

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And now for the other two questions you get to meet me in this super cool podcast episode where you get to tune into my CCR. You can also check it out here!

I think there's been a... GLITCH

 Let me preface by saying yes I did just quote Taylor Swift in the title. 

But despite my not being able to listen to anything but Taylor for the past week, I wanted to share the title card animation for my film opening.

I made this on Canva and was actually incredibly proud of it!

Basically, this title card is supposed to pop up in one of the parts where you see the code on the screen through the screen recording. I'm also thinking of possibly adding something else after this but I'm not entirely sure.

"A brief interruption, a slight malfunction.." - Taylor Swift

And that is exactly what that pop-up is meant to be. Hope you enjoy!

Filming Is FINALLY Done!

 Filming is finally... FINALLY DONE! Here I want to show a couple of unedited clips that I took and plan to incorporate in my film opening!

Can't wait for you to see how these clips will be incorporated into my film opening... One week till you can finally experience it. Hopefully, it's not very... glitchy. (pun intended)

So we have a problem...

 So here is a quick blog post to show a little issue I realized in my offcide. My office is where I am shooting my film opening since it is where my gaming set-up is. However, when I walked in to start working on the set, I noticed something:

FLASH WARNING

Soooooo that is what I will be dealing with today. In other news I have also been able to throw some stuff around in order to start with the setting up before shooting. I am now about to go out and buy new lightbulbs. 

RIP OFFICE LIGHTBULBS 2020-2023

you will be missed

Software Use

So in order to produce my film opening I will need to use several apps and software in order to make logos, edit videos, and add music. Here I will introduce some of these apps and software that I will be using!

Premiere Pro 

Premiere Pro is a video editing software made by Adobe Inc that I will use to slice slips, edit slips, edit the coloring, and add music to the film opening. This means that most of my editing will be done through this software. It is actually used widely by many filmmakers, editors, and content creators. It also offers many other tools for visual effects, color correction, and audio editing. I will be using it on my computer extensively on my own Adobe Creative Cloud account which will also give me access to any other Adobe apps I may use to help in the process such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and more. This software is fairly easy to use, especially with the training we've gotten all year, but it does take some getting used to and learning which can be done through the tutorials provided by the program. 

Canva

Canva is a free, online design software that can be used to make many different types of designs such as posters, presentations, logos, and more. I used Canva already for making the title card which is shown in a separate blog post. Canva is super useful and very easy to use. Is it also one of my favorite programs as a designer and it is super helpful for almost every project I have done in this class. I will be using Canva on my computer through my web browser and I will also be using Canva Pro which is a subscription service through the website that gives me access to more fonts, elements, editing tools, and more which will allow my creative process to flow as much as it wants to. 

These programs are super useful during the process of my film opening production and are used all throughout. 

Schedule Time!

     As the deadline for this project gets closer and closer, I wanted to make a schedule for myself in order to efficiently produce, edit, and finalize my film opening. 

Here is my schedule for the next week which is my spring break:

I hope I can finish it by Friday night so I can go through some peer reviews and make any last minute edits the week after right before I submit my final product.

Last minute changes...

 Here I just wanted to list some last-minute changes from the original description of exactly what will happen in my film opening. 

Mise-en-scene

• now the whole room will be a mess in order to add to the chaos instead of just the desk being messy.
• certain things around the desk will signify personality traits of the main character such as romance books, a record player, and more.
• there will now be LED lights lit up which will change color to red every time the main character sees the error on her screen. 
• The phone that rings will now be harder to see the caller ID as I decided I wanted to make whoever was trying to contact the main character more mysterious.

Shots

• now, most of the shots will consist of both mid-shots and close-ups instead of mostly close-ups.
• there will be minimal movement in the shots.
• shots will have more blur with more specific things on purpose

Other

• after the title card, the main character will now be on the phone, presumably answering the call that she had been getting during the opening.

And these were some last-minute changes I made during the planning before shooting!

Ashley: The Protagonist

     I just wanted to take a quick blog post and explain my main character a bit deeper. Her name is Ashley and while I was going to name her Ivy (that being my nickname) I wanted something a little separate from my personal life. I will be playing her in the film opening and while you don't get to know too much about her I wanted to list some characteristics she will show in the opening so the audience can begin to get to know more about her character.

• She prioritizes work too much
• this fact is made evident by the way she ignores all incoming calls and texts when she is working on her game, even if they seem to be serious.
• She is driven
• the project that we see her work on looks well-developed, meaning she has probably been working on it for a long time. 
• she looks incredibly focused on her work and the mess on her desk is made up of things that pertain to the project, meaning it is one of the only things on her mind.
• She has family
• in the film's opening, she gets a call from her mother, suggesting she has family that she stays in touch with. several pictures of her and her mother can also be seen around the room (no father present). 
• She deals with mental illness
• in order to help draw from my own experience, Ashley has both depression and ADHD. this is shown through medication that can be seen on her desk that are common medications taken for these issues.

    And there are a few things you can tell about Ashley by watching the film opening!

Choose your Character!

Ashley

Ashley is the main character of the story. She is an indie game developer who is currently working solo on a game that she has been hoping to make for years. During the process of this game, however, she falls further into anxiety and depression. She is also taking care of her ill mother who has always been there for her and Ashley is hoping to raise money for her with the creation of this game. She does not care much for her appearance and usually tends to work at night, hunched over in her gaming chair just staring at her monitor. She is very creative, grounded, and outgoing.

Maggie

Maggie is a supporting character in the story. She is Ashley's mother and is ill with an unknown illness. Her treatments are very expensive and are paid for by Ashley. Maggie has always been supportive of Ashley's dreams and has done everything she needs to help her daughter succeed. She used to be a marketing manager of a large technological cooperation where she had a romantic connection with the owner of the cooperation. She is very caring, charismatic, and loving.

Landon

Landon is a supporting character in the story. He is Ashley's friend and supporter throughout her career journey. He also ends up being her love interest and main shoulder to cry on as life gets harder for Ashley and she begins to spiral. He is daring, charming, and playful.

Moodboards are magic

     As the process goes on for longer it is easy to become unmotivated throughout the film opening process. One method I have used in order to help is finding visual inspiration for the film. The best way in my opinion to do this is through Pinterest. I went onto the website and looked up "coder moodboard" and looked through the pictures until I found a good collage. Here is one of the ones I found:

    I really like this collage as I think it encapsulates several aspects of the vibes I am going for. Not including the code throughout I also really like the neon colors all throughout and the art made through the code. The girl on the bottom right is also really cool because it gives the same vibes as the main character of the film. Overall I think the moodboard itself is just really cool and I love how much it matches the vibes I want the film opening to give. 

    Overall, I think moodboards can really help with the creative process, especially when you are feeling a bit unmotivated on what direction to take or just feeling burnt out. Moodboards really do make someone more excited about a project and feel more ready to take on the next part of the project. 

TITLE CARD part 2

     So as I have mentioned before in my blog posts, the title card is one of the most important aspects of my film opening. I found out I wanted to make my film named Glitch which actually came to me while listening to the Taylor Swift song of the same name. Now it was time to start designing the actual title card. I knew I wanted a pixel font so I typed "pixel" into the Canva font searcher and found FS Gravity, a pixel font very reminiscent of old arcade game text. I gave it a green color with a black shadow. I then went through and added squares and rectangles of different vibrant colors in order to give a glitching effect. I also added some binary behind the title to give it more of a coding vibe since the main character is a game developer/programmer.

Here is the design I came up with:

    I really love this design and I am super proud of it. Furthermore, for the actual title card, I wanted the character to press enter on her code after multiple errors, and then a pop-up shows up that shows that there has been a glitch. Here is a design I made for that:

    I am very excited to see how this comes out when adding it to my final project.

Aaannndd... TITLE CARD!

    One of if not the most crucial parts of my film opening are its title card. The title card is where I will properly introduce the film as a whole and is one of the most important parts of exposing my audience to the aesthetic and feel of the film as a whole. In this blog post, I wanted to look back at a couple title cards that I really liked when researching and hopefully make a few decisions about my own title card afterward.

    As I stated previously in another blog post, my film opening is going to be very reminiscent of retro video games. The first title card I wanted to look at was the title card for Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I have also made a blog post about this movie and aspects from it that I would like to incorporate in my own film opening.

Scott Pilgrim v.s. the World

    So while this film is very reminiscent of what I am looking for, the title card is not. The title card appears while Scott Pilgrim's band is played and therefore has a more rock look than a video game look. The font used in "vs. THE WORLD" could be said to be inspired by old arcade machine title cards but I believe this might be a stretch. Overall, I would like to look for something more modern and stylistic but I do appreciate how contemporary this title card is.

Ready Player One

    The title card for Ready Player One perfectly resembles the feel and aesthetic of the movie, being very modern and contemporary. While this is a great example of how a title card can encapsulate a film, for my specific film opening it is a little too modern looking. This is understandable considering the movie itself is set in the future, but I can draw inspiration from how it is more like a title card for a movie including video games and technology.

Coffee Talk

    For this last title card, I actually wanted to use a video game's title card. The game Coffee Talk is a pixel game about listening to people's life stories while making them coffee in the city of Seattle, Washington. I love the pixelated title card and the way the designers were able to include the coffee cup in the title! I drew a lot of inspiration from this title card in my own ideas for my film opening.

    Overall the research I did was incredibly helpful and I look forward to sharing my first sketches and designs for my title card!

What are you wearing..?

Costume Choices

    So one really important part of the film opening planning process is costume design! I need to plan out what costumes the character(s) will be wearing. Because of the nature of the opening sequence I think I want the main character to be wearing something comfortable like a hoodie and joggers. Here is some inspiration I found.

    Here is a grey hoodie I found that I believe would look enough like the main girl is comfortable, maybe as if she had just woken up. Furthermore, the grey hoodie will contrast nicely on the pink gaming chair that the main character sits in. 

    In this picture I like the simple black joggers that the character is wearing. It also adds to the comfortable/just woke up look that I think I want to go for. It will also contrasts against the pink chair and the colorful effects I am planning to put.

    Now while doing this research I actually started thinking of maybe going a brighter route because I really do want a retro video game feeling. I think I can do this with still comfortable looking clothing, but make it seem like a costume made for that character just like how many video game characters have a signature look or costume. I also want to think of certain hairstyles that I could have for the main character instead of just hair down or in a bun. One more thing I need to think about is accessories that my character may use or have on her during the opening sequence.

Music to my Ears

     A large part of the pre production process is finding the music I want to use in my opening sequence. There are a few things I already have figured out which are mostly just some technicalities:

• I want the music to be non-diegetic
• I want the music to be in 8-bit style
• I don't want it to fade, I want a sharp start and end
• It needs to give the feeling of a video game soundtrack

Considering these qualifications for the music in my film opening, I want to share some copyright free music that I have found.

Night Shade - Adhesive Wombat

Chiptune Fantasy - Chris Colins

Heroine's Theme - Adam Haynes

These three songs are potential opening songs for the film but I want to see how they may line up with the editing of the sequence post-production.