Here's my creative critical reflection! I hope you enjoy it!
CCR:
Transcript:
[Marcus Fallon] - Welcome to the Marcus Fallon show. Today’s a special day. We have a special guest very special. I present to you Marcus Cheeatow!
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Hello Marcus Fallon!
[Marcus Fallon] - Welcome Welcome Welcome! It’s such a pleasure to have you on this fine night on the Marcus Fallon Show! Where actually, for those of you who don’t know, Marcus Cheeatow here actually directed and PROduced Forsaken! God crazy work right?!
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Why thank you why thank you!
[Marcus Fallon] - Alright Alright Alright… So tell me Marcus: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups and issues?
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Well my group project you guys know as Forsaken, revolves around a teenage guy who fantasizes about having friends in a mall, where he’s actually lonely when he wakes and has no friends whatsoever, where this fits into the psychological drama and coming-of-age genres. Where the psychological drama aspect surrounds the protagonist of the film opener, Kendrick, who struggles with loneliness, as shown by the abrupt contrast between imagination and reality at the end of the film opener. The coming-of-age elements and Kendrick's desire for friendship are also introduced here. Upon doing research from what I’ve seen, I used many examples that inspired the film opener, particularly the 2024 coming-of-age film Didi, where the protagonist otherwise known as Chris Wang, struggles with friendship and familial struggles while discovering what he can do better for himself to overcome these situations. Because of this—Because of this movie, we wanted to break these conventions by utilizing an abrupt transition from the playful atmosphere of the mall to a dark, lonely atmosphere in Kendrick's room so that the audience could be intrigued for what would happen next, and the story breaks the coming-of-age pattern, where friendships grow over time. But instead in my film opener Forsaken, it quickly takes away the main character's connections and makes the audience feel his loneliness. In addition, this lets them know that this topic is not only apparent to just the main character of the film opener but to any person who could have a universally understood experience of the ideas on relationships just from anywhere! Moreover, this same pattern can be seen in the 2012 drama The Perks of Being a Wallflower, where the protagonist struggles with himself and his friendships, and thus, Forsaken explores the common experience of feeling lonely and the emotional struggles that come with wanting friendship.
[Marcus Fallon] - WOW! WOW! That was truly moving I can’t believe it! I can’t believe we see the real Marcus Cheeatow in person can we have another round of applause?! [Insert Applause] Alright Alright Alright. So tell me Marcus, I have another question I wanna ask you: How does your product engage with the audiences and how will it be distributed as a real media text?
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Well funny you mention that! Catching the audience's attention for our film opener is an extremely important aspect to consider, and this was always on my partners' minds, particularly Alexander and Justin. For instance, we attempted to get the audience's attention for the film opener by connecting the audience through relatable themes and psychological twists, making Kendrick's loneliness feel personal to them. The sudden shift from the mall's vibrancy to the emptiness surprises viewers and makes them wonder what will happen next and beyond the screen, I would definitely definitely love to distribute Forsaken theatrically. I would first submit this film to film festivals like Sundance or TIFF, for example, that other movies published and these psychological dramas and coming-of-age films gain strong recognition from movie critics in the film festivals. Secondly, before expanding to larger movie chains, I would definitely like to distribute Forsaken into movie theaters which are well known for distributing psychological and coming of age films that would help push to a broader audience from companies like A24 or Neon. In terms of marketing, I would produce—or I mean promote Forsaken through entertainment apps like TikTok, Instagram, or even YouTube, making trailers and ads of the dream mall sequence and the abrupt transition to Kendrick's lonely room to gain interest. For example, I would partner with film influencers, highlighting the film's deeper themes like friendship, isolation, depression, etc. Moreover, creating posters, exclusive Q&A sessions, and behind-the-scenes content would help build a loyal audience and keep discussions alive even after the release of the film opener in theaters.
[Marcus Fallon] - WOW! WOW! WOW! [Sips his mug intensely] How did your production skills develop throughout the project?
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Well throughout making this project, I've learned an incredible amount of production skills when it came to constructing Forsaken! Working behind the camera as the main director taught me SO many concepts I'd never learned before, especially seeing behind the scenes for several movies like Oppenheimer, Interstellar, etc and so on. I've learned about camera settings like shutter speed, and I learned how to properly frame the camera to get the desired result that I've ever imagined since the storyboard draft probably in late 2024 in August or not even August October from what you guys have seen in my blogger account.. I have also focused on improving my skills in cutting and editing film. I aimed to create transitions and maintain continuity, where I utilized fade transitions and a smash cut at the end of the film opener to improve the pacing and the mood of the film overall. However, I found audio the most frustrating aspect of developing this movie mainly because because of the atmosphere we filmed in, where wind outside and the ambient sounds inside the mall blocked SO much dialogue and thats what I really felt I could’ve improved in more. Although, I now understand how to import music, adjust sound levels, and even use effects to set an atmosphere, it’s still not the best for me. But by experimenting with visual effects and titles, I developed skills in color grading, and importing custom fonts to showcase the title sequence for the film opener Forsaken. This experience has made me increasingly interested in film editing, cinematography, and visual effects in the near future! Where looking back, my filmmaking journey just from August alone for creating this movie has dramatically changed me. I have moved from basic editing skills to telling a compelling visual story, which has given me a more precise direction for my future creative projects I would love to make as a director in the future.
[Marcus Fallon] - [Sips even more intensely] So tell me how did you integrate these technologies, hardware, and software, and online in the project?
[Marcus Cheeatow] - Well in the project, me and my group used different technologies to create Forsaken. At first, my group and I started off with app otherwise known as Adobe Premiere Pro for editing, but we found it SUPER complex and slow, especially with our tight deadline in February. So, in the end, we all agreed to switch to CapCut, which made editing more straightforward and faster and because its beginner friendly, we thought we wouldn't be able to access CapCut due to the TikTok ban that previously happened for a 12-hour period, but gladly, it went back up and running, so we used CapCut to cut clips, add transitions, adjust audio levels, include text, and color grading! This approach helped my group and me simplify the editing process and focus more on improving the story overall!
[Marcus Fallon] - HOOHOOHOO! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! It’s a pleasure to have you here son and guys please make sure to go out and watch Forsaken publicly now on YouTube!
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