Critical Reflection Questions

 How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding?

In addition to the production of the short film, our goal was to create a film package. As a group we were instructed to create a postcard, website, film, and open multiple social media accounts. The purpose of the film package is to market the film to a variety of audiences. The addition of the postcard, website, and social media will allow us to expand our audience. Social media has been the largest and probably most important part of our branding. As filmmakers we needed to analyze our intended audience and how to best reach them.  Teenagers and social media have a very close interaction in  everyday life. Using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can provide a quick and free ways to reach a large group of teenagers. We posted updates about filming and production on these sites and then linked them to our website for easy access. The ability to easily link back and forth between the social media accounts and the website allows for more information to be readily accessible to audiences. By visiting the website the audience gets detailed information and a play by play of the production of the film because of its professional presentation style. To complement this the social media accounts have a less professional feel and show the fun and goofy parts of production, allowing the filmmakers to casually interact with the audience. The postcard which is the final aspect of our branding was extremely important to our brand as a whole. The main purpose of the card is to provide the potential audience with a little bit of information on the film. All that is provided is a picture, name, directors, film showtimes, and locations. Even though this card does not provide any information on the plot of the film, it serves as an attention grabber to get people  interested and curious to learn more. 

How do your products engage with the audience?

Our short film is able to engage with the audience in many ways. Our short film is based on the thriller genre, and is only about 5 minutes long. During the pre-production of the film we were really strategic in our choices for the script and for the props. To keep the viewer engaged we made sure to include parts of the film where it went from exciting and cheerful to serious. The way that we produced the film in addition to the postcard, website and social media, is sure to engage the viewer.]As a team we also decided to film about a very relevant topic. During 2020, hundreds of thousands of people experienced life changing events due to the global pandemic. The pandemic hits very close to home for many so right off the bat it is engaging. Also instead of portraying the sadness and distress that came from this horrible virus we showed just a glimpse of what teenagers experienced during this time. The main character's hallucinations, although not the same as the Covid-19 virus, is a different twist to keep the viewers questioning. 

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

Early on after doing extensive research into the thriller genre we realized that we really needed to utilize the conventions and codes of this genre. We believe that using these in our short film would make it much easier to understand. Before production we were able to watch a few movies that fit into the thriller genre. We were fortunate enough to do an in depth study of the short Nine where we identified these conventions. Each movie that we watched in the Thriller genre had a suspenseful plot, low and high angles, and fading. We included all three in our film. Fading was definitely most impactful and important. This editing technique created a seamless transition between scenes and got rid of the choppiness. Having a protagonist and antagonist in our short film is something that we knew we needed. Our protagonist is Ryan who is victimized by the intangible antagonist, the virus. It is not traditional in a sense that the viru is intangible but is traditional because it exists. 

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

Our short film production represents the social group of young teenagers and those with health concerns. In today’s time our lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal was to produce our film in a way that would show real life events but in a shorter time period. As directors, we worked hard to make sure the film would still flow even though the timeline of events was condensed. Putting the events of quarantining, masks mandates and a vaccine in an abbreviated time period did not detract from the importance of the message of the film. In addition, we created a virus that had a potential side effect of hallucinations that allowed us to portray an alternate reality. Ryan’s hallucinations allowed us as film writers to portray the desire the social group of young adults has for interaction during the current COVID-19 social distancing and isolation.