CCR prep

 Filming for the opening is almost done, so now it's time for a new challenge: the CCR. To be totally honest, I've been kind of nervous about this aspect of my portfolio project because if there's one thing I strive everyday to not be, it's boring. And this brainstorming process has made me realize that a brain that is both perfectionist and creative is a recipe for frustration and stress. I also have been really behind on production due to my 4 shows I'm performing in this week, so long story short, it's been a lot.

Before I pile up a bunch of ideas onto you, let's actually answer each CCR question. This isn't exactly how I'll answer them in my videos, but writing them down will make things like writing a script a little more clear and easy later on. 

Question #1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Catalyst presents a variety of psychological drama and thriller genre conventions, such as slow burn tension rising throughout, symbolic rise-en-scene, and low-key lightning and coloring to give an eerie atmosphere. For this film, I didn't want to go against any conventions because I feel like the main purpose of the film isn't to be a scary horror or cutesy romance, it was meant to show how this traumatic event changed our protagonist and what prompted him to be the way he is now, how Sarah works as a character but also as a symbol of what pushes people over the edge and how far they'd go with love as motivation. 

Question #2: How does your project engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

The film engages with the audience by immediately opening with a long shot of a car, establishing the opening setting. Then, through Sarah and Adam's argument, their relationship is established. This will create empathy later on when Sarah dies in the car crash and Adam loses his mind. By establishing a romantic relationship between them immediately, it creates context for why Adam becomes to consumed with her death. This helps audiences follow the story, feel sympathy, and understand his motivations. By keeping a suspenseful tone, it also keeps the audience on their toes, waiting for what will come next. Adam is in a state where he's very unpredictable and impulsive, so having the audience unsure of what he'll do next and what he's even plotting is key to keeping them active and engaged in the story. As for distribution; I'm obviously not a world-renowned director so distribution will look a little different for me. I think starting off with submitting to some film festivals would be beneficial, which could catch the attention of distribution companies who may want to release in on their streaming platforms. If not, YouTube is always and option as well and could lead to the same result. That plus some social media promotion could work really well too. 

Question #3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

I'd say above anything else, this process has taught me how to improvise and adapt. Each production process is different, with different schedules, deadlines, necessities,  etc. I feel like this has been by far the hardest production project we've had and the one with the most challenges due to budget, resources, and ideas; making it a good lesson for how to work with what I have, especially considering I underestimated the difficulty of developing, filming, and editing this specific project. 

Question #4: How did you integrate technologies- softwares, hardware and online- in this project?

All of the project was filmed on me or my group members' iPhones, depending on the day and what we were filming, and Addie used clipchamp to edit the clips. I also bought a phone mount on Amazon which made it way easier to film the scenes both in and directly outside the car.