Creative Critical Reflection

 This is my final blog posts for media studies and its about our short film opener below is the link of the presentation.

https://prezi.com/view/IUebtWiFftQV3eygepBF/

Sample exam question

The film industry has evolved massively since its beginnings in the early 1900s. What started with silent black-and-white films shown in cinemas has now expanded into a global, digital industry. Today, audiences can watch films, play games, and engage with extra content all on a single device, like a smartphone, due to technological convergence. Alongside this, cross-media synergies—where companies work together across different media and industries—are key to expanding reach, increasing profit, and deepening audience engagement.

In the case of  The Batman (2022), produced by Warner Bros. synergy played a major role. Warner Bros. collaborated with DC Comics to produce comic book tie-ins, and with commercial brands like Oreo, Puma, and Dr. Squatch to market the film through merchandise. The target audience was mainly teenagers and adults aged 15–35 who enjoy superhero films, action-thrillers, and comic book adaptations. The purpose was not only to entertain, but to build a strong franchise and generate revenue across film, merchandise, and digital platforms. The film was promoted at DC FanDome, using trailers, interviews, and the hashtag TheBatman on social media to create hype. After a theatrical release, the film was available on HBO Max in 4K HDR, allowing audiences to watch it on their smartphones and other devices showing the impact of  technological convergence.

Likewise,  All Quiet on the Western Front* (2022), produced by Netflix  and Amusement Park Films, used synergy in a different way. As a book-to-film adaptation, it attracted fans of historical dramas and war films, mainly adults aged 18–50. The purpose was to offer a powerful anti-war message while also enhancing Netflix’s reputation as a serious film producer. The film was promoted through trailers on Netflix’s social media, press interviews, and screenings at major festivals. It streamed globally in Dolby Vision and Atmos, accessible on smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs—again highlighting technological convergence

In conclusion, cross-media synergies allow companies to connect with wider audiences, promote content across platforms, and generate revenue beyond just ticket sales. Combined with technological convergence on devices like smartphones, synergy helps media companies like Warner Bros. and Netflix stay relevant and successful in the modern digital age.

Final Cut Movie Opener: Dr. Carter

 Our final Movie Cut Opener: https://youtu.be/vexQntrhz0E

Title Sequence Final

 

• TITLE of your film: Dr. Carter 

• Studio or distribution company: Fenhigh Studios 

• Production Company: Meta-vision 

• Actors/ Starring Cast: William as Dr. Carter; Kobe Miles as Charles Cullen 

• Music by: Carl-Daniel C. 

• Written by: Janelle Prager 

• Produced by: Janelle Prager 

• Directed by: Janelle Prager and Carl- Daniel C. 

• Edited by: Carl-Daniel C. 

• Story by: William Carter and Carl-Daniel C. 

For our title sequence we decided that the fonts to be bold, with the words being like spilled as if it was blood the font is called shlop, at the end we decided to put the title as the last part with red color to show that is a horror film as for our credits it who did what we may be a group but we shared the work load as Janelle and Carl work mostly in script, production and editing, while me and William did the acting. For the name of our production company we decided on Meta-Vision because it was medically related. Fenhigh Studios because that was we agreed as a group. 

evaluation of peer review

This week, my group went over the peer reviews written by our classmates to asses their feedback and determine if there are any suggestions we'd like to implement into our final cut.

Peer review #1 (by Johansen Rey): 

My favorite part of this opening sequence is definitely the ending and the editing done while the surgeon rips his face mask. It reveals a man who is clearly disturbed and this is also accomplished by the tilt shot that shows the blood squirting on him. The editing was great and the grey filter on the actor makes him look psychotic. I didn’t really like the lighting, it was very bright but I believe that the lighting should’ve been a bit darker. If the film had included some lowkey lighting to help add to the ominous atmosphere of the scene, it would have been better. The setting would have also been a bit more unsettling and worrisome for the audience. I do think it looked like an opening sequence as the way it ended seemed as if there was going to be some sort of flashback or skip in time into something much darker. This was due to the editing and the static like filter that seems as if a sudden cut into another action might occur. I wasn’t really confused while watching. The sequence of events made sense and not much other than a surgery was taking place. The only suggestion I have is to utilize darker, lowkey lighting to make the opening more suspenseful and match the genre better. I believe the genre was more psychological thriller and it would be aided a lot by darker lighting.

My evaluation: The review basically explained how the editing really showed what was going on in Dr. Carter's mind; however, darker lighting would have made it even more horrifying. I agree with Johansen's evaluation that darker lighting could have benefitted the horror aspect of the film. As such, our group now plans to use editing techniques and filters to make the surgical scene appear darker, perhaps by using a greyscale filter over the entire scene to emphasize the idea that it's more of a flashback scene.

Peer review #2 (by Maya Miller): 

What specific technical elements of the film opening did you like?

I really liked the props used for this film. It was super creative and helped convey the story really well. I also 

liked the use of diegetic sound. A great example of this was the EKG in the background of the surgery. The 

costumes used were also really great. I loved the surgeon’s costume especially as it made the surgery feel real. 

What specific technical elements of the film opening did you dislike?

I did not like the special effect or camera filter used at the end of the film where the surgeon was sprayed with 

blood. It was pretty inconsistent with the rest of the film. I also would have liked to get more camera angles and

 close up shots of what exactly the surgeon was doing. I did not like that the view of the surgery was so limited. 

This would have made it more interesting and dynamic. 

Did this look like a movie opener and did it make you want to know what happens next? Explain.

I definitely think that this could serve as a movie opener. It is ambiguous enough for more to follow and leaves 

room for there to be more of a story line. Also, it was only 50 seconds, so I am assuming that there must be more.  

Was there anything that left you confused? (be specific)

What suggestions do you have to make this movie opener better?

I would suggest adding music to the film or some other kind of sound. Additionally, the sound of the EKG should be louder. 

My evaluation: Maya's review mainly talked about our film's good use of props and the setting, which was really realistic, suggesting we get more angles of the surgery and taking out the filter that causes the film to lessen in quality by the end, adding that we should increase the sound of the EKG in the background. Overall, I agree that we could have included more angles of the surgery scene to both allow audiences to see a more in depth view of what was happening and add more time to our introduction; however, it may be too late to film additional scenes now. However, I also agree that the loss of quality filter put on the end of the surgery scene does come out of nowhere, and agree that it should be removed.

Peer review #3 (by Dunia Castro): 

Technical elements I enjoyed were the props, sounds, and costumes used. The tools used for the surgery, the EKG background sound, and the scrubs all contribute to building the world/environment they are trying to achieve.

Technical elements I did not enjoy were the ending camera filter and shot. It felt abrupt and unnecessary to the plot. Considering the clip was very short it did not seem to add anything of value and left you wanting more.

I believe this looked like a movie opener and it made the audience want to know what would happen next.

The ending camera filter/shot left me confused as to what its purpose was. I was also confused as to why the clip was only 50 seconds as the opener could have used some more runtime.

To make this movie opener better I would recommend to elaborate further on the ending of the clip to make it longer. I would also change the setting to make the clip less mundane. Finally, I would elaborate on the filter/shot used at the end of the clip to make sure the audience is not confused.

My Evaluation: Dunia's review mainly focussed on our good use of mise en scene to set the scene of the surgery, while offering some further suggestions to reduce audience confusion like getting rid of the end filter and changing the setting to make the clip longer and less static. I agree that our run time was very short, and that a change in the setting would definitely help add on to that time and make the film more interesting to ensure the audience doesn't get bored. As previously mentioned, I also agree that we should get rid of that ending filter and plan to do so.

Peer Review #4 (by Kaylana Deharde-Payne):

I really liked the close-up shot of the protagonist's face at the end when he realizes his patient is dying, and his expression as he takes off his mask. It showed that he didn't care about trying to save his patient, and the fade-out to a blur of the camera footage added intensity to the moment. On the other hand, I didn't like the wide shot and close-up of the protagonist putting on gloves. It felt like it could've been a quick action, but instead, it was drawn out, making it seem like the doctor was taking his time when his patient needed help. Since the film isn't finished yet, maybe that was the intention—to show the protagonist taking forever to put the gloves on. I can't really say if this is an opener or not since the film isn't done, but for now, it feels like one after the patient dies. The only part I was confused about was why it took so long for the guy to put on the gloves, especially in a life-or-death situation. I don't have any other suggestions besides figuring out the glove part, considering the film isn't complete yet.

My Evaluation: Kaylana's review focussed on the first part of the scene, where the surgeon is putting on his gloves, wondering why it took him so long when the patient was clearly unstable (as indicated by his death at the end of the film). Originally, we meant for this part of the film to purely build tension within the audience; however, I now feel that Kaylana was right and it does feel a little monotonous. Because of that, we plan on taking out the part where Dr. Carter is putting on the second glove, as it really doesn't add much to the scene anyway other than increasing our time, which we don't really want. While we will still keep him taking a few seconds to put on his first glove, I think getting rid of him putting the second one on will benefit the film overall, since we will still get to build tension without making it feel like it's dragging on forever.

Peer Review #5 (by Aldana Leguiza):

I liked the background sounds that were added which instantly made it clear we were in a hospital. Everything – the stuff they used, the clothes, the sounds, and the talking – showed it was a hospital. The way they used things, even with not much, was clever. The black fades showed time passing, which was good. The different camera shots, like showing the whole body and then a wide view, gave us different looks. And the video got grainier and the colors changed, which hinted the doctor was crazy. The opening was good because it made me want to know more. They could have done a bit more, like use different camera angles or sounds, but the crazy doctor reveal was interesting. My main problem was the ending. The close-up on the doctor’s face felt cheap and funny, not scary. And the blood looked a bit fake.

My Evaluation: Aldana's review provided a lot of positive feedback as to the variety of our shots and the mise en scene we used, while also suggesting the final shot be edited or changed since it doesn't really convey the emotion we wanted it to. I feel like I agree with most of her assessment, especially since I also felt the ending felt weird and not scary, as she mentioned. I think the removal of the grainy filter will help, since it is currently reducing the quality without serving much of a purpose. I also agree that I wish the blood splatter looked a bit more realistic; however, we didn't have a lot of time to refilm that part, so I don't think there's much we can do about that.

First Cut of Movie Opener

https://youtu.be/OsLQ4OGn1tU?si=EjPwoW6OG01y7YyX

Peer review

 Peer review.

This week in our class I will be looking at our classmates first cut movie opener and share my thoughts and comments about 5 of the movie openers I watch.

Film Opener #1: uISgY-24Fkw

The cinematography was really good, especially the close-ups and smooth tracking shots. The lighting created a cool vibe, and the sound design helped make the scene feel realistic. I did have a hard time hearing some of the dialogue, though, and the transitions between shots felt a bit choppy. It did feel like a movie opener, and it made me curious about what happens next, but the story could use a little more context. I think fixing the audio and making the transitions smoother would make this even better.

Film Opener #2: eX32iRuSMvc

I really liked the lighting—how it used shadows to build the mood—and the camera angles were pretty dynamic. The music fit well with the tension in the scene. The only issue was that some of the camera work was shaky, which made it harder to focus. It definitely felt like a movie opener with a lot of mystery that made me want to know more. It would help if the relationship between the characters was clearer, though. Smoother camera work and a little more context would make this opener stronger.

Film Opener #3: ORoNP73icvo

The sound design stood out here, especially the background music that set the tone perfectly. The cinematography was solid, and the production design made the scene feel believable. One thing that didn’t work as well was the dialogue; it felt kind of awkward at times. The opener did feel like it could be the start of a movie, but I was a little confused about why a character acted a certain way. It would help if the dialogue and character motivations were clearer. Adjusting the pacing and lighting could also improve things.

Film Opener #4: SZf7mfqLTdA

The shot composition was great, using wide and close-up shots to keep it interesting. The color grading matched the tone really well, and the sound effects helped build the atmosphere. Some of the visual effects were a bit much and kind of distracted from the story. This definitely felt like a movie opener and left me wanting to know more. However, the relationship between the two characters wasn’t totally clear, so a little more context would help. Cutting back on the visual effects and making the pacing a bit tighter would make this even better.

Film Opener #5: CEkDC6U4KYU

The cinematography was solid—nice framing and smooth camera work that made the scene look professional. The lighting set the right mood, and the background music added to the atmosphere. One thing that could be better is the dialogue delivery; some parts felt a little stiff or rushed. This definitely felt like a movie opener, and it got me interested in what’s coming next. To make it even better, the dialogue could flow more naturally, and a little more intensity in key moments would help build the suspense.

editing blog 2

This week, Janelle finished editing the surgery scene of our opening sequence (the half of the sequence with the most complex effects and transitions-- the forest scenes will mostly just be long cuts to slow the pace more and heighten the audience's sense of Dr. Carter's mental instability). Janelle finally decided upon a specific font-- called Shlop on Adobe products-- and color for the font that will show in the final moments of the sequence. Janelle decided upon this particular one because it reminded us of classic horror movies, with fonts that look like blood is dripping from the title. Because our genre is horror, and the whole plot is that Dr. Carter killed a patient purposefully, Janelle thought it was perfect to simulate that blood splatter in **our** title sequence by choosing this font and coloring the title red. Similarly, our credits will use a very similar font that looks slightly less splattered, and will be colored white to ensure the dramatic moment reaches its height only when the title is revealed as the last credit. 

Transitions-wise, Janelle decided to add an additional moment where the screen cuts straight to black immediately after the monitor flatlines and the patient is assumed to have died, before it fades into the next scene where blood splatters on Dr. Carter's scrubs. The J-cut will feature different voices saying "Dr. Carter" as the black screen lingers for around 5 seconds, before fading back in to the following scene to further convey Dr. Carter's sense of insanity. Janelle also decided to make the entire scene black and white to further convey the idea that the scene is merely a memory that Dr. Carter is reliving, as he drives himself insane trying to figure out what happened.

While editing, Janelle also realized that to smooth transitions a little more, we were going to film Dr. Carter putting down the syringe after he finished using it, rather than just straight cutting to another scene entirely, to create more continuity.

Overall, our main problem has just been time management. Sound design has taken a lot of time, as we were also trying to navigate new software. Creating a schedule for when we would edit what and collaborating together in class helped us navigate this issue a little bit better, though, especially as Janelle helped Carl edit the video in a few scenes so he could focus on the sound design. It has mainly been Carl and Janelle editing (primarily him, though), so it has taken a great deal of class time as well as a couple of hours at home.

editing 1

 

This week, we began editing the scenes we filmed last week together. Carl-Daniel will be the primary editor because he has the most experience; however, Janelle also helped edit one particular scene to draw more attention to the focus shift within the scene and add realistic sound to it as Janelle had access to a more detailed editing software. The scene was only about 10 seconds long, but it took Janelle a good 2-3 hours to finish getting the sound effects we wanted using a sound-designing software and making the focus shift look more noticeable and seamless. Carl-Daniel also spent a few hours this week piecing together the other shots we took to make them coherent and added transitions to them. We are mostly just using straight cuts in this part of the sequence to speed up the pace and build anticipation for what's happening; however, we also realized while editing that we wanted to film an additional scene with a close-up of a flashlight (making it look like a surgical light) to do a graphic match to the first part of the sequence (in the woods) to better connect the 2 parts of the sequence. 

Other than that, we mostly only used blur effects to create different focus-effects to draw attention to the right parts of the scene (i.e. what Janelle did with the focus-shift). Audio-wise, in the scene we've been editing, we are primarily just going to add in beeping monitors and add a voiceover of the few lines of dialogue in this part of the scene (e.g. of William saying "scalpel" and "14-gauge"). Janelle was able to find a free version of a beeping heart-rate monitor that quickens and eventually stops that Janelle added to the track after adjusting it, time wise, to fit into what's happening on the monitor using Adobe Audition. The main problem we've had editing so far has been inconsistency and the time-consuming nature of editing, primarily because Carl wanted to edit most of the scenes himself. That is why Janelle insisted on editing the focus-shift scene, as Janelle knew that would only present an additional task for him to do when Janelle had access to Adobe Premiere Pro, which made it easier anyway. We have yet to decide on fonts we are using in the film; however, we know we want it to be something horror-esc. We know that the title will be "Dr. Carter" and will come on screen in the last few seconds of the film as an action match (when Dr. Carter is attacked at the end, the letters will follow the movement of the bat used to attack him as the camera jerks to black). At the beginning, we will also include the names of the main actors (Kobe and William), as well as the director (Janelle) and the editor (Carl).

Filming Process

Our group began filming last week, this time it went pretty smoothly we started by going on the list of shots we were gonna take then we proceeded by doing a practice shot first and started went on to record our film. For the first shot of the short scene we recorded in the zen room {teachers lounge) where it was perfect to record the medical scene since it was small and compact. For our second part of the film it will be in the forest where the surgeon where as if he feels lost because it has been days since the accident.

Challenges in filming

 As we started filming we had quite the few challenges before we began we had to make sure our set up for the location was organized and we have what we needed. Some of the challenges we face was how tight the room for the operation part of the short opening it was a bit cramped, Everyone helped and pulled their own weight, we had a bit of trouble recording as I feel we might come a bit unprepared during our 1st take but its  a good lesson to keep in mind, for example we should have covered the floor with a paper to keep the fake blood splatter clean, also as for the recording we should mind the distance of our recording device to how close and how far we are recording, some problem did come after recording a phone broke but not too much damage.  Continuing on our project we will be much better organize and next time we are going to fix our lighting keeping the main lights on, knowing what kind of shots we will be taking, and for the blood splatter we will use a paper to cover the floor to make it more clean and professional.