CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

https://youtu.be/SgLWhPDkB_Q

MOVIE OPENER FINAL DRAFT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAoJWWvcLlM&feature=youtu.be

This week, we made quite a few changes to our movie opener. Aside from adding the title and credits,  we listened to some of the criticism from our peers. Most of the people who reviewed our opening suggested we make it more clear HOW the stalker poisoned the drink. We added a whole scene with the stalker breaking into the house and poisoning the drink, and retook the videos of Kelly being sick, for some peers said that they could see her make eye contact with the camera a few times. Those were the main critiques that we got, and I believe our changes really cleared everything up, and made the opening much better.

PEER REVIEWS

These are the peer reviews for my group's movie opener:

What I liked	What confused me	Suggestions
The fade in at the beginning was a very nice touch. The suspenseful music kept me wanting to find out more. The 24 hours earlier was a smart factor to add because viewers want to know what caused the mysterious person to follow and eventually poison the girl. Showing how vigilant the killer was was executed nicely.	When the poison was being mixed, it had left me confused. I didn’t know if the girl was mixing it herself or if the killer was mixing it for the girl to come back to. However, I figured the second made the most sense.	Show the killer mixing the poison and have more angle variety. For example, when the main character walks through the plaza into Starbucks she could be shown from the front too. The Killer could be shown from a low angle to highlight his or hers importance/ malevolence.
I really liked the music and the cuts between the two scenes. It made the plot really easy to follow and I understood what was going on.	I wasn't really sure how the girl got poisoned because unless it was in her Starbucks drink, she never drank anything else that could have got her poisoned and we never saw the person in all black poison her Starbucks drink.	I think the main character could leave her drink down somewhere and then we see the person in all black add something to it and then leave and then the main character gets sick, that would just make more sense as to how the main character got sick but it was a good film overall.
I really liked this film opening! I especially liked the parking lot and Starbucks scenes the best. I think the variety of shots, music, and editing techniques were professionally executed. I think the plot development was clear throughout the entirety of the film opening. I also think the end was really well done with the news report.	Not really. I think most of it was pretty obvious to assume, like when Kelly was throwing up in the toilet and you guys flashed the poison and her back and forth, and then she was sleeping on the bed.	Unfortunately, the only criticism I would have for this movie opening is that it is clique. Out of the movie openings from our class alone, I saw at least 3 other stalker type movies. I do not have any major suggestions because I know that we as students do not have the filming equipment, years of training, or production capabilities to make a 5 star film and we were all tying our hardest to keep our film openings from being corny. Other than that, the only thing I could possibly think of to change about your film is the scene of Kelly coughing in her bedroom before she throws up. The viewer may be confused as to why she is coughing before we know that she was poisoned, and we do not see her drink the poisoned water. I would just say maybe show the poison being mixed in the drink, Kelly taking a sip then coughing and throwing up. If you do not change this though, the viewer can still easily make sense of it and it is still a good film. I liked it overall and think you guys should be proud of it!
I liked how well everything flowed. My favorite part was the end news scene. I've never seen that before making it super unique. I think it really helps everything tie in.	The only thing a little confusing was how the "bad" person got in the house.	Maybe include how they got in the house and show them to be the one spiking the drink.
The music fit well to the video. Each follow shot was done good so that there wasn't shakiness. I especially enjoyed the over the shoulder follow shot at 0:15. The shots from the spiked drink to Kelly at the toilet were effective in creating suspense. Overall this was a great movie opening, with the news report scene making it even better. Both Kelly and Chiara did well in not looking straight into the camera lens for the most part.	A different blanket is used before she lies down and when she is resting.	Use the same blanket for both shots. Avoid looking straight into the camera (1:17).
The music and transitions as the person is stalking the girl is really entertaining. The end when it pans to the news clip is the best part of the film and is super creative.	No i wasn't confused about anything.	I have no changes for that film it was really good and I enjoyed watching the entire thing.
The music, the over the shoulder shot, follow shot of the car and the close up were all amazing!	No confusion	Everything was great, just wish Kelly didn't look at the camera before she fell on the bed
I think the scary audio clips they used, they definitely built suspense. I also liked the quick cuts and different angles.	I got the general idea of what the intended plot was trying to be, but at first I was confused when the main character started getting sick. At first there was no sign in the mysterious person poisoning her so I was confused. I also don't understand why the end said "24 hours earlier"	I think make it more clear that the mysterious person poisioned the main character. Also possibly add some dialogue.
I liked the great editing on the video and the little news thing in the end of the video.	Nothing confused me during the video.	One suggestion that i had for the video is that it showed a girls hand putting in the poison in the drink but the stalker was a guy.

The peer reviews mentioned some things that they liked about my group's movie opening. The most commonly praised thing about it was the use of our scary music, and good transitions. Another thing several people liked was the cut to the news announcement at the very end of our opening.
In regards to what confused people, it was mostly about HOW kelly got sick, and the timing of everything (like when the stalker actually poisoned the drink). We will re-record some scenes and rearrange a few clips to make this scene clearer. Considering the changes that our peers requested, we are planning on redoing some of Kelly's scenes when she got sick, and possibly shooting new videos of the stalker poisoning the drink.

MOVIE OPENER: FIRST CUT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyzhrt-uWPc&feature=youtu.be

EDITING WEEK 2

 




In the pictures above, Zoe is editing some clips we recorded a few weeks ago. She is finishing up editing on these clips, by cropping and organizing clips in the way we intend. We have a lot of cutting back and forth between points of views, so we need to crop some of the clips very short and put them right next to each other. We still have filming to do, which we will get done this week. We need some nighttime shots, and need to find a day that all of us can meet up.

EDITING WEEK 1

We have not finished out filming, due to difficulties in meeting up outside of school. However, we got started on some editing from the clips we did record a few weeks ago. We just organized the clips the way we envisioned, adding the right clip for the right moment. We did a lot of cutting back and forth between characters, and more specifically from a POV and an over the shoulder shot from the villain. We haven't created a title yet, so we didn't use any fonts, or anything of the sort. These pictures are of Zoe working on some editing from home.

FILMING WEEK 2

This week, we practiced filming a scene. We were unable to meet up this week to film, but will be doing so next week. We practiced the angles and shots that we want to record to see what we liked and didn't like. This was one of the current scenes, not a flashback, following the fight when Kelly is supposed to be all bruised and bloody. We found that a head-on shot was good for this scene, but we will have to see it with the lighting once we record the real thing. The only downside of this recording session was that we did not get to film the real thing.

BEGINNING TO FILM

Today, we began filming some of our day scenes. We took videos of Kelly (our actress) doing normal activities, such as buying herself a coffee, walking around, and driving. We filmed scenes of her stalker/the bad guy following her as well. We have also decided to make our villain a girl (Zoe) rather than a boy, as it is more convenient for the group considering we are all girls. We filmed at the Kings Lake Plaza, where there ware plenty of stores and space to make it seem realistic. The lighting was perfect, the sun was out, making the quality very good and clear. The only issue we faced was finding a way to record the actors driving around without being in the way of other drivers. Most of our filming will be taking place at sunset and nighttime, so today we filmed about 30 seconds depending on how we will edit the clips.

PREPARATION

This week in regards to our movie opening, my group and I have discussed actors, props, costumes, locations, and film equipment.  For our actors, we will have a boy and a girl. The girl will be the main character/protagonist, and the boy will play the villain. We have not finalized who our actors will be, however we have a fair idea, and will know for sure my next week. In our film, we will be using a fake knife as our prop, and then several background objects, so that the opening doesn't appear too staged. When thinking about costumes, our group didn't want to go too crazy, once again to avoid making our opening seem staged-so we decided we would use a normal shirt for our flashbacks, and then in the present shots, have it torn up and bloody for the main character. The villain instead, will wear all black. In regards to location, we don't have an exact place, but we'd like to film somewhere dark for a suspenseful effect, and somewhere lighter for the flashbacks. We do not have a specific date when we will be filming either, but we have been working on that. There will also be no script, for we aren't going to include any dialogue, just screaming and the diegetic sound within the opening.
In the background we will also include suspenseful music. Lastly, for filming this opening, we will be using an iPhone 10R and Zoe's cabers, depending on what scene we are filming and what effect we want to get from it.

STORYBOARD

Jobs:
Renee, Kelly, Zoe, and Chiara: Coming up with the story, and how it will flow
Zoe: Drawing and captions


Our movie opens by following a girl walking into a dimly lit area (dolly shot). She then slides down and sits on the ground, the camera shot revealing that she is bloody and bruised. The shot then zooms in to a close up of her face, where you can clearly see her shaking. As it closes up, flashbacks from earlier are being revealed, showing seconds from previous events that led her to be where she is now. The tension builds as the scenes flash back faster, building as much tension as possible before the scene cuts, and shows a black screen with the words "24 hours earlier.", which is the end of the opening and what would be the beginning of the movie/story.

BRAINSTORMING

“Rise”: 

-I like how the music became louder and more clear when the actor put his headphones on
-There were a lot of close-ups, and they liked to focus on one specific object frequently throughout the movie opening
-It showed the actor playing soccer from several different angles, and although this was a cool effect, I felt that too much of the opening was just him playing soccer
-The end scene where it showed an extreme close-up really left me wondering what history the two characters had, and why they seemed so angry at each other. However, I feel that more dialogue would’ve been more effective in captivating an audience.

“Offline”:

-I honestly found this movie opening very weird, and I didn’t like it that much
-It was extremely predictable
-Too much simultaneity in the editing. 3 or 4 is enough, but it cut back and forth over 10 times.
-The music fit the theme, which tried to build suspense, however it didn’t leave me wanting more or wondering what was going on. It’s pretty clear a girl accidentally (or purposefully) shared her location on an instagram post and a creep saw it and kidnapped her. There was no mystery, and usually horror is just that.

“Dear Lover”:

-This was really really good, and super captivating. There was always something happening, and right from the start I wondered why she ran away, and where she is now.
-The sound editing is really good, from the music, to the girl narrating to the clip of her girlfriend speaking to an off-screen character.
-The ending was really good, how she said “let’s start from the beginning”. This got me interested in her entire story, making me want to watch the rest of the movie.

“Dare to Thrill”:

-This was really good, the editing was incredible. With the upbeat music mixed with the sound of the car drifting and the kids screaming, this gets me excited, and I want to be there with them
-The camera angles also contributed to the exciting vibe of the movie opening. When the car drove on the main road, the camera angle showed different parts of the car, and then followed it at one point making me feel like i was in a car following behind them.
-The ending actually made me really excited, I genuinely wanted to see the rest of the movie. My mind came up with a million possibilities of what could be in the back of the car.

“Always Watching”:

-This one has good editing, but was a little confusing and awkward. I think it was the acting, especially by the antagonist. He just had this weird smirk on his face that made it more funny rather than scary or intimidating
-The music was a little overpowering, and though it fit the theme it was blasting in my ears, but then the dialogue was too quiet when compared to this music.
-I wasn’t really left wondering what the story was by the end, I just felt like he was an obsessive psychopath and I didn’t really need a background story to explain that.
-Because I felt that the editing and transitions were really good, the only thing that would have to change would be the volume of the music and the facial expressions of the actor.

“The Blue Boar”:

-This actually made me really uncomfortable and I hated it.
-The song was very unnecessary and along with her terrible and very weird facial expressions, this made the opening very awkward to watch.
-It made absolutely no sense
-The creature she made with sticks at the end was confusing. I don’t know if this was the goal of the group, but it just made the whole thing even weirder than it was before.

“White Coat”:

-This was really well made. The effects were outstanding, and everything from the music to the visuals made this opening super suspenseful
-I like how the sound of the boiling water was emphasized to bring out some diegetic sound

“Stalker”:

-I hated this it was not good
-The sound effects were so corny and terrible
-The plot was not suspenseful and honestly a little stupid
-The camerawork and angles was also terrible, and did not create any suspense, as a thriller should.

“Nostalgia”:

-The overall idea was very nice, however the shaky camera made it a little hard to understand what the director wanted the audience to focus on
-The music fit nicely with the theme
-I like how the young girl represented her in the past, and this was shown through the fact that they were wearing the same clothes
-This left me wondering what each item represented, and what it meant to her

“Lost & Found”:

-Sound quality wasn’t very great, especially when the dialogue came
-The transition between people was very good though, and smooth
-Everything else was kind of bad, there really wasn’t anything that left me wanting more


Overall, these film openings have showed me what to do and what not to do. It’s clear that a good story makes all the difference. I need to focus on sound, because that also makes the opening more immersive. And I need to stick to a clear genre.

INSPIRATION FOR OUR GENRE

My group decided to do our film opening project on the horror genre. I feel that fear is a good way to captivate an audience, and keep them engaged throughout the movie. Suspense is a key factor in all horror movies. Suspense does a good job of keeping everybody on the edge of their seats, waiting for something to happen. I love the horror genre because I can never get bored watching a good horror movie. Some incredible openings I have seen were in the movies US (Jordan Peele, 2019) and It (Andrés Muschietti, 2017).

I was first introduced to the horror genre at a young age-my friends loved watching horror movies, but I was always too scared. However, oddly enough, I really enjoyed reading books in the horror genre. Once I got to high school, I decided to go see my first horror movie, "Get Out" and since then I've had a love/hate relationship with the horror genre. I hate being jumped at, and scared, but I absolutely LOVE the incredible effects and music that go into a horror movie. So nowadays, whenever a new horror movie comes out, I go see it-but I make sure to bring a couple of friends!

The film openings from the two movies I previously stated are the main source of inspiration for how I want my group to approach our own film opening. I want to focus on captivating the audience from the start, and then leaving them wanting more and asking questions at the end. For example, in the film opening for US, a little girl is shown walking on the Santa Cruz pier with her parents, and then wandering off on her own. She went onto the beach, and walked into a hall of mirrors, where she got lost and encountered a little girl who looks exactly like her. Then, the scene cut off. This movie opening left me asking a number of questions: Who is the other little girl? What did she do with her? Where did she come from? The lack of music and dark setting added to the suspense, keeping me interested.

Another example is in the movie It. The movie opens with a scene that sets the mood for the rest of the movie-Georgie's death. Georgie's death was an iconic scene in both the 1990 original and the 2019 remake. Georgie goes outside on a rainy day, and runs alongside his paper boat that he put in running water when suddenly-the boat fell into a sewer. This is where Pennywise's character is introduced, and he bites off Georgie's arm and pulls him into the sewer after tricking him into thinking he'll get his boat back. This movie opening stands out to me because it is a scene that everybody knows all too well, but was done so well with all of the elements of a horror movie that it left the audience wanting more. The dark setting, suspenseful music, and scary effects and character truly made this opening scene terrifying.

Overall, my inspiration came from a culmination of different movies that left me wanting to come back and rewatch it again. It is important to focus on including the elements of the horror genre, but to also keep it unique and suspenseful, so the audience doesn't get bored, but rather excited to see the rest of the movie. This is what I hope to achieve with my group in our movie opening.

MY FILM OPENING PROJECT: GENRE AND GROUP MEMBERS

GENRE OF PROJECT: Our group decided to do the horror genre for our movie opening

GROUP MEMBERS: Renee Listrom, Zoe Orgass, Kelly Gonzalez, (Chiara Junkroski)