Critical Reflection

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A4zmrT7NyA2xoRZ4hdhxJqPd_Qjr0-zj6UbDxnarFig/edit

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

My film, Echoes of Awakening, represents the growing issue of driving under the influence. It does this specifically through the protagonist Jack, who is a young adult. Throughout the film, Jack experiences his reality distorting until he wakes up in a hospital and realizes that he wasn’t in his true reality at all. After waking up, he experiences a series of flashbacks that reveal how he got into the hospital. In these the film reveals that while driving one night, Jack was intoxicated. This is illustrated in my film through numerous bottles of half drunken alcohol bottles, one which he was holding right before starting the car.

Because of Jack’s choices to drive while intoxicated, he ends up in a crash that nearly kills him and puts him in a coma. Echoes of Awakening is not only made to challenge the viewers mind as they piece together the mystery of Jack's situation but is also made to make them aware of how devastating driving while drunk can be. Here in the United States, about 37 people are killed every day because of drunk driving crashes. Teenagers and young adults are especially at risk for being in fatal drunk driving accidents. Because of the rapid increase of these deaths, I wanted my film to help discourage younger people from driving under the influence. I did this mainly through gearing the film towards younger people, especially through the use of modern pop songs and young actors. While the music and actors draw in younger audiences, it’s the message at the end that I believe is crucial in spreading the message. Through the slightly graphic depiction of the aftermath of the accident and the chilling concept of losing months or even years of one’s life to a coma, Echoes of Awakening truly pushes to demonstrate exactly how devastating having even one drink before operating a vehicle can be.

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

To create a sense of branding, both my website and my post card work together to connect to my short film. I wanted to keep the mysterious and yet eye catching ambience that Echoes of Awakening holds. More specifically, I utilized a key phrase that I put on not just the website and the postcard, but also on the social media accounts for the film. This phrase, “Experience The Awakening,” is in a bold font in the color white so that it stands out to the viewers. I purposely wanted this phrase due to how ominous it sounded. The short yet mysterious saying is easy to remember and associate with my film. Alongside this, it also helped to leave the viewer curious as to how the phrase connects to the story.

The website in particular really connects to the film in color pallet. On my website, the text is either white or red, with the background of the website being black. Similarly, the titles in my film use a white text to stand out against the darker/neutral tones of the backgrounds. The fonts used are also the same. I wanted the bold look of the font to connect the viewer to the bold and shocking plot of Echoes of Awakening.

The card also uses this white font color, but instead of having a black background uses a dark brown background to match the neutral tones of the film. On the back of the card, underneath the social media handles for the film, there is also an image from one of the beginning scenes. This gives the viewer a preview into how the film will look while also tying together the post card with the film.

How do your products engage with the audience?

Echoes of Awakening engages with a younger audience through its creative use of music and mystery. In my film, I decided that I wanted the music used to play an important role in the plot. Therefore, I spent hours searching for a song that would be fun, light-hearted and appealing to the viewers while still playing into the mystery element. That’s when I discovered Swofford’s Ulterior Motives. This song had an upbeat and retro style that was sure to draw in a younger audience. In fact, it was so catchy that I would catch a few of my peers who I ran the song by humming it throughout the day. So, with this pop song and its easily remembered lyrics, I knew it would capture the attention of teenagers to young adults.

This song also helps engage younger people because of the own mystery that lies behind the song. While my film used Swofford’s rendition of “Ulterior Motives,” the truth is that the song doesn’t entirely belong to him. This song is actually a very popular lost media, meaning that it is widely unavailable to the public with only a few people having a copy. Currently, the only known record of the song is a 17 second snippet uploaded online by someone who goes by the alias carl92. Nobody knows the artist, when it was recorded, or what the full song sounds like. By placing a mystery song within my mystery film, I hoped to attract younger people, as they would be more likely to be interested by this ongoing internet search. The use of this song may also attract people who stumble upon it while trying to uncover the mysterious origins of the lost media form. Overall, Echoes of Awakening engages with people ages 16 to 25 who love upbeat songs and good mystery to unfold.

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

Being that Echoes of Awakening is a mystery film, I made sure to research the genre to see what conventions are used. While I had to follow some of the conventions found in the genre so that the viewer could identify the type of short film I was creating, there were also a few conventions I wanted to challenge.

One of the major conventions that I researched was setting. In mystery short films like ‘Whittling Away’ and ‘The Vision’ regular houses are a commonplace setting. Another setting that I saw multiple mystery films use is a forest. Through my research I decided that I would follow this convention of filming in a common place, even for the scenes in my film that took place in a hospital. Using my friend's house, I was able to shoot the majority of the scenes for my film.

Another convention that I looked into is camera angles. Mystery films rely on camera angles of the film to help tell the story. Oftentimes, they show a shift in power using a variety of angles. I decided to employ this convention in my film. In the beginning of Echoes of Awakening, Jack is filmed from eye level and low angles to show the false sense of control he has over his life. When he is in the hospital, however, he is filmed from higher angles to seem smaller and more defenseless.

The final convention that I looked into is the acting/characters. In most mystery films, the main protagonist acts as the mystery solver or hero in the story. Through this character's investigation or actions, the mystery is covered. However, in my film I wanted to challenge this concept. Instead of having my protagonist be the “good guy” who worked to uncover a mystery, I decided to have him unknowingly be the villain of his own story. Due to his reckless behavior of drinking while driving, the mystery about what happened is uncovered through the regaining of his memories and consciousness.