Creative critical reflection - CIE FINAL PORTFOLIO

Yusra Alam Khan
As level media studies

 Mystery /suspense has been one of the successful genres from
ages. They have proven to grab audience’s attention throughout
the film. I've chosen mystery genre for my film “MOTIVE?” ,the
name it self signifies the genre .
 In my film’s opening sequence, I’ve used and challenged the
conventions of mystery.
 According to its conventions, the protagonist, who’s spying on
the crimes or mysterious activities, does it to solve a crime and
we know his/her identity from the beginning while in my film,
the main character spies on his suspects, and his identity or
even his face is not reveled and the motive behind what he is
doing is not mentioned too.
Conventions
Protagonist

 The lighting for mystery films is mostly naturalistic, except for the part
where suspense have to be developed or maintained, there low key
lightening is been used. So I've used this convention as it is. The crimes
or mysterious activities committed by the protagonist's suspects, all
have natural lightning, and where the mystery lies the solo scenes of the
protagonist, those scene have a bit low key lightning and I’ve used a
filter there.
 Props used in these type of films are usually, camera’s, evidences,
papers, clues, photographs, newspapers etc… and I've used a bunch of
these in my opening sequence.
Neutral Lighting
Low key lightin

 There is usually a sound track to a mystery, like any other film. There
is usually some mellow, eerie orchestral music .This adds to the
tension to the film . And as with all film, they include some dialogue
and some diagetic sound too, however i used only non digectic
sounds.
 There are alot of fade in and out in the films. I have analysed. This
could mean there is quite a dark matter at hand and adds suspense
to the scene. There aren’t many jump cuts as the scene often stays
at one scene and doesn’t cut to a different story. But i’ve used 3
jump cuts to show the crime scenes though ive still used fade in
techniques.
 Good settings for mystery films can be: police stations; big cities;
deserted areas; forests; protagonist workplace; restaurants; old and
isolated buildings; beaches; city streets; forensic labs; hospitals;
warehouses; roofs; docks; fields. And I've used quiet of them.

 My film opening shows, different people belonging from different
social groups. Though its difficult to tell from which class the
protagonist belongs from, because his identity is hidden through
out the opening.
 While in the first flashback scene, the two people sitting in the
restaurant seems to belong from a middle class background.
However as the lady gives money to the man, it can be assumed
that she may be well off, just dressed the way so that no one
recognize her.
Social groups

 In the next flashback scene, a boy is taking drugs from a man.
The appearance of the boy shows that he belongs to an upper
class family and the envelope he gives to the man full of money
confirms it too. While the drug supplier looks that he belongs to
a lower class, because of his appearance .
 In the third flashback scene, the little boy who is shown putting
the briefcase near the dustbin, he belongs to a middle class
family while the man who gives it to him seems to belong from a
upper class family because of his sleeve as his face is not
visible. And the guy who comes to pick up the briefcase its
difficult to tell his social background as a hoddie doesn’t tell it.
Drug supplierPurchaser

Social issues
 The scene in the restaurant, the lady is giving money to kidnap the
children in the photograph for unknown reasons, kidnapping people
for ransom and/or sexual abuse or torture or any other reason is a
very big problem in our world. This causes severe depression or is a
form of mental torture of the one who’s kidnapped and people who
are related to them.
 In one scene, the purchasing of drugs is shown, consumption of
drugs is a growing trend amongst the youth and they ignore the
fact that drugs lead to different problems.
 The protagonist is seen spying on his suspects, though whatever
reason he has for that, spying is considered to be a violation of
privacy.

 The genre I selected for my project is MYSTERY/Suspense,
and I selected it because, of these TV series and film.
 Twisted , pretty little liars, ringer, this tv series have always
grab my attention throughout it seasons. That’s what is going
on, what will happen next, who’s behind the suspicious
activities. In short the suspense.
 Like in pretty little liars the identity of the antagonist was
hidden, in my film opening I did the opposite, the identity of
protagonist is hidden.
 While what I copied was the man in hood.
Pretty little liars
My film

 While in films, memento and bourne ultimatum, the
protagonist’s have experience or have seen the crime or
thing which took place however, they have forgotten due to
their illness and therefore, in order to know it or solve the
case, they investigate, spy on people, take photographs etc…
I have copied the idea of wall of evidence fro there.
 I got the inspiration of the drug dealing scene from the movie
TWELVE.
 Likewise in my project through the protagonist doesn’t have
any such illness but he too spies on his suspects.
MEMENTO My Film
TWELVE
My Film

 Usually the film openings play an importantly role in
grabbing the attention of the audience, this is why I tried to
present my work a bit differently to attract audience to watch
my film.
 My film is for almost all age groups, instead of children under
13.
 According to me, the audience would want to watch a
common yet a captivating film. The editing, camera angles,
sound and different locations used would attract the
audience.
 The USP of my production is the plotline.
 Though a lot of scenes with different stories are shown,
however the motive is not conveyed to the audience , this
gives the audience the chance to get more involved and try
to figure it out.
 Its not a very predictable storyline which makes the audience
curious and again more engaged.

 Once the movie is complete, as it’s a low budget production I don’t see a
distributer getting involved. Therefore the distribution for my film would be
done by me.
 Best resource for marketing my film and building awareness would be through
my personal contacts. Nurture and inform the people i already know. Usage
of private SMS messages, individual Facebook updates and newsletters to
keep the people i already know and engage with firmly on my side.
 With the help of my family and friends, I will get them involve in publicizing my
film through their own social media (Facebook, twitter, snapchat, Instagram
)Get them to send you relevant tweets, links, vine videos, hashtags and news
that you can help my film to gain popularity.
 Though it would be expensive but I would create my film’s Wikipedia page, get
an IMDB listing which would give my film an added credibility. And of course
launch my film’s website in which the audience would know more about the
film, about the character and cast and how the movie came to be.
Marketing & Distribution

 Street marketing is an effective way to market so with the help of
friends and family Chalking on sidewalks, handing out leaflets, and
flyposting would be done too.
 I would held a competition, the winner of the competition is
selected at random. A competition would requires the user to do
something, like create the best Vine video or tell a certain number
of their friends about your project. Whoever gets the highest 'mark'
wins the prize. Entrants to a competition have to invest an amount
of time and effort meaning they, in theory, are more engaged with
your project.
 And trailers of my film would be uploaded on YouTube and other
such sites like daily motion etc..
 I would advertise my film on radio too and would like to give an
interview too which would help to communicate with a wider range
of audience at once.

 I would release my film on multiple platforms;
 However as a low budget project, reaching to cinema houses or art
house would be out of my league therefore, I would be releasing my
film on Youtube and other public sites, which is cheap and people all
over the world could watch it
 I would also be entering a film festival, this would not only create
awareness of my film but hopefully leading to a sale. It will also help
me to build PR which would help me later.
 I would also release my film on DVDs , VCDs and Blue ray, an
expensive step to take but at least, after such regressive marketing,
it would at least my film some popularity moreover something have
to be done at risk.

 I have learnt a lot in the time between filming my preliminary and
my final film. I have learnt about the importance of camera
angles, choosing a location , which is best for my situation,
editing and most importantly patience .
Pre-Production Phase
 Researching for the target audience was a great task as I had to
make sure my movie and its genre provides what the target
audience is attracted towards. I carried out a survey, I ask people
to fill a questionnaire and took interview from random people in
different age brackets, this helped to know what genre audience
prefers to watch. and even searched on the internet that which
genre attracts most of the people nowadays.
 Secondly, what I learned is, how difficult it is to think of a story on
which you are suppose to shoot. Then writing the script, how
would I picturize it, what would be the location and yes to recheck
my story again and again to eliminate as many flaws as possible.

 Deciding the location where to shoot was also a challenge
because at some places the cast couldn’t come while other areas
it was not feasible to shoot.
 Casting is a very difficult job, for some scene you have so many
people wanting to act, and only one or two role to give out while
for other scenes no one is willing too. Moreover as everyone is
busy with their respective works it was hard to get people
together to shoot a certain scene. To cast in this video, I chose
friends of mine and their friends, my siblings and my father.

 I have also learnt a lot about the general conventions of films, as I looked
at many types of film during my planning which developed a sense in me
to develop different types of films with different angles.
 Making storyboard also helped me, when I went for shooting, I knew how to
shoot a shot, this actually saved a lot of time .
 As far as the shooting part was concerned, during the time length of this
project, I was able to learn a lot about how to make certain impressions on
the viewer about what I wanted as the producer. This mainly included a
trial and error process, whereby I would shoot a single scene multiple
times until I got the desired shot. This was mainly because the way I
thought the shot would be it didn’t came the exact way and especially the
laughing habit of the actors.
 Framing the camera, panning it ,tilt movement , making sure the frame is
suitable for the shot are various things I have learned through out the
production of this movie scene.
Production Phase

OVER THE SHOLDER TWO SHOT
MEDIUM CLOSEUP WIDE SHOT
CLOSE UP POINT OF VIEW

 There were a lot of creative and productive things from this project for
example: learning to see things from different angles, Also the ability to
understand the importance of camera angles along with the lighting. Along
with in cooperating the background music with the movie, which is again
highly important. Furthermore learning things like the importance of mise-
en-scene. And usage of rule of thirds.
For this shot , I hold the camera on a upward position,
placing it on the board.
For this shot, I placed the camera on the stair, to get
this two shot
For this shot, I placed the camera, on the table at the
edge , so the character is shown picking something up
from the ground and putting it on the table.
I put the camera on the side of the footpath, to show
that the boy is crossing

Camera was placed on the table and the distance that only
hands of the character are shown and what is been given from
one to another
I placed the camera on the dashboard of the car, to show that
the character is seeing the boy passing.
Here I hold the camera against the board, so that some of the
pictures pinned on the board are seen and the character’s hand
is also seen while pinning a photograph.
Here I put the camera on the ground and pulled it a bit so that I
could get this shot.

Post-Production Phase
 In particular, I believe camera work and use of mise-en-scene
can draw the audience in and give them an idea of how the
character is going to behave. However, I believe that I can make
even better films in the future to which I am really looking forward
to with anticipation.
 I’ve used different type of software and it helped me to learn
different techniques this time.
 In editing, I learned how to merge slides so it gives a dissolve
effect.(dragging a video clip on to the previous one). I also used
many transitions like fade in and fade out technique to show
flashback scenes.
 Changing the colors of the slides, reducing the length of the clips
so it gives a smooth continuous effect when the video is been
watched.
 Converting video’s in mp3, in order to get the music, I was looking
for. Reducing the size of the audio clip, so that it fits the time
duration which was set for my film opening.
 Placing the credit on the exact slide I want and allocating it with the
perfect animation was a very time consuming task. And especially
to select the right font and animation for the name of the movie.

 I have used Canon DSLR 1200D for shooting, used the its kit lens and
tripod at some scenes. The settings were; movie recording size:
1280x720(frames 50), picture size: neutral, image quality: RAW and
alterations for ISO for different scenes.
 I’ve used windows movie maker for editing, I’ve used filters and other
video transactions such as dissolve techniques and fade in and out.
Using how to patch videos and audios together and how to change its
duration for the best fit.

 I had to utilize color correction and contrast tools in order to make my
footage darker to render it with more thriller undertones – a technique
that had been informed by research. It is extremely common for the Mise
en Scene to appear darker to adhere to some of the common codes and
conventions.
 I found and download my soundtrack from YouTube.
 I’ve also used other softwares like Any video converter to convert my
videos to different format and crop them, handbrake to reduce the size
of my video.

 Internet also played a major part in my project. Due to the
presence of internet I was able to do all the related research and
evaluate relevant information. internet made my work so much
easier by getting my work done by sitting in one place. I could
gather all I wanted to know about my genre in different places
which really helped. internet however also provided me with
different links which were more interesting and up-to date rather
then going through magazines or books.

-Yusra Alam Khan
media studies
As Level

Creative critical reflection - CIE FINAL PORTFOLIO

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