AICE FINAL PROJECT QUESTIONS
AICE QUESTION #1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
My film genre is that of fantasy, specifically modern fantasy. Modern fantasy is when supernatural and magical phenomena occur in a modern day setting. The modern fantasy genre is an immediate challenge of conventions because when the audience thinks of magic, they think of the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter where both are taken place in "another world" in a sense. The main character, and one of the important supporting characters are both female. This emphasizes the post-modern view of a woman being more than just a damsel in distress, because my character, Lachrimae, is immediately taking charge and trying to get rid of the thing that caused her pain. Sadly, in today's society there are many teens and children that suffer from abusive households or relationships and are too afraid to speak out about it or defend themselves. My film is going to address this issue with a more magical twist that also shows the teens and kids that they can take charge of their lives, not necessarily to the extreme of the character, but that they don't need to lay down and endure the pain that they go through. They should be able to stand up for themselves, even if it's in the smallest way, and I want my film to be a form of encouragement for them to do this. The film does not just address those suffering from at home and relationship abuse, but it could, in a smaller form, represent bullying and peer pressure and overcoming that. The film will show that no matter what, you don't have to give in, you're allowed to do what you want and be who are, and nobody should take that away from you or make you feel less than who you really are, or make you want to change. I want people to feel happy with themselves and be proud of who they are, and not giving in to the abuse of bullying and peer pressure and the consequences that they could face by succumbing to it.
AICE QUESTION #2: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it bedistributed as a real media text?
My film engages my target audience in a way that many people, specifically teens and kids, are able to understand and relate to on a personal level. The characters of the film are all teenagers (or close to that age) and each character emphasizes a specific struggle that teenagers and kids tend to go through. For example, Lachrimae, the main character, has father/abuse issues and knows/thinks that her 'father' doesn't know anything and that she knows everything that's right for her. I would most likely be distributing my film through the medias on television channels or on YouTube, sites and channels that can be easily accessed by teenagers.
AICE QUESTION #3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
I learned that using a better camera, probably my phone, would have been a better way to film this (or any) video, because of the quality and the focusing of the camera kept being a problem. I need to remember to keep in mind that there will be background noise that could possibly drown out the actors' dialogue, so I need to be mindful of the weather and how loud the rain and thunder was. My location was not the greatest because my original location got rained out, which was kind of what I had wanted, but that meant we couldn't film at the location I had wanted. I really need to remember to be mindful of the weather. I loved that I was able to get more behind-the-camera experience and was able to experiment with the many different camera angles. It really helps a lot in editing when you have the same scene shot from multiple angles, because it makes your film look way more professional and cool looking. My production skills improved by allowing my family and friends taking a look at the process as well as the editing and the finished product, and giving their opinion on how a shot or angle looks and I also asked them what it means to them. I learned to take advantage of the little resources that I have, especially since it was incredibly hard for me to find an actor. It was also a great learning experience to have to gear my film towards a specific type of audience, which was something that I had never really done before.
AICE QUESTION #4: How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online –in this project?
Surprisingly, I guess I used a fairly normal amount of technology throughout my process of filming and editing. In the case of hardware, I used my Samsung SC-MX20 Flash Memory Camcorder to record the film, I used a MacBook Air to assist in editing, and I used an IPhone 6 to assist with some of the lighting when it got too dark. In the terms of software, I used IMovie to edit the whole movie, and I used www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free for the background music that I didn't need to contact anyone in order to have the rights to use it. This video is on YouTube, PassTheNotes, and my blog.