CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

BY TAYMOOR KAZI

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DO THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES?

“Beginning Of The End” is a drama-thriller. Thus to create the impact in the opening sequence for the film, I have used intense camera shots to personify the theme.

I wanted the entire opening sequence to have a story behind it without actually giving away the story. That is why I did’t use dialogues, as a script would eventually give away more hints to the audience.

The flashbacks throughout the clip give an idea to the viewers as to what is going around the character’s mind. Since the film is mostly based on him, incorporating only him for the entire opening shows the importance he carries.

There were many inspirations when creating this opening sequence. I wanted to do justice to the opening in order to make the audience feel as if they wanted to continue watching.

When it comes to the theme and the film itself, Gone Girl was my #1 inspiration and the story behind it. The way that movie showed the thrill, I wanted to do something similar. I tried to challenge the film as much as I could when it came to utilizing the theme that was carrying around.

My product highlights a major social issue among the society nowadays. We have noticed that many people, young and old, when frustrated with their life, decide to take their fate in their own hands and try to end their life.

This clip highlights this issue where the character tries to drown himself after he is fired from his job over a major issue and his wife and child leave him. While on his quest towards the water, he daydreams and relives those moments which force him not to change his mind.

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

This film talks about a major social issue. Although it is revolving around an adult but these sort of situations are also seen among youngsters. These sort of message oriented films are usually seen among all ages excluding the infants.

My goal was to come up with a story that would showcase emotion in a way that the audience themselves would feel the emotion revolving around the story.

Beginning Of The End doesn’t only let the character’s emotions make the movie special but the way these emotions are captured.

The camera angles that I have used have not only captured the facial expressions but the emotions that are expressed through the character’s actions such as kicking the lump of sand as a sign of frustration.

Another well known example can we of the paper that is thrown on Adam’s (lead role) face by his boss as a sign of anger.

The USP would be the story and the cinematography aspect of the film. The strong story behind the character will encourage the audience to watch it and the way the movie has been produced will not only encourage the audience to enjoy it but it will also persuade the distributors to sell this film.

These sort of movies are what media houses such as 20th Century Fox look for which may be the success for the film.

HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS PROJECT?

I definitely learned a lot from this experience. I feel as if I grew up along with what I learned and what I experienced. If it was from handling the camera or taking risks to capture beautiful shots.

For me, I felt that the best shots that I captured were the ones that I did not plan. Any angle that was new and unusual were the ones that I made sure to add.

Although having a story and a plan and how to execute it was in my mind but I feel my best work comes when I experiment with not just the camera but editing too.

I watched various movies and movie opening to actually see how the directors have made the opening. I would see the type of shots and angles they have used to actually capture the theme and represent the selected genre.

I tried to put all the skills I have learned to the production of this film. My strongest point has been the editing aspect of the film which is something I enjoyed a lot.

HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES (SOFTWARE/HARDWARE/ONLINE) IN THIS PROJECT?

Technology nowadays has evolved so much that anything and everything can be done on your fingertips.

Cameras are portable these days and everything can be saved on a small memory card which can store tonnes of data.

Softwares are developed for editing which have made it very accessible to edit the footage anyway you want by adding filters or even changing the speed of the clip

Sound is accessible everywhere nowadays with music available easily on the web.

To capture the footage, I used three types of cameras. A GoPro, a Sony Cybershot and an iPhone. All the footage was captured in 1920x1080 resolution.

GoPro was used to capture the scenes at the beach whereas the Sony Cybershot & iPhone captured the rest of the footage.

The entire footage was edited using a MacBook Pro whereas I used Final Cut Pro X as the software to edit the film.

The sound was taken from various sources. The sound effects used in the beginning and at the end of the clip is taken from the sound effects Final Cut Pro X provided.

The music is an instrumental version of “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars which was downloaded from www.gotinstrumental.com

The video is published on Vimeo and the link is pasted on my blog provided by tumblr.