Film Opening and CCR Links!!!

 

Hello!!!!

Here are all of the final links! Here lie all of the blood sweat and tears from the past 8 weeks in three little blue lines. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them. 😚😚😚

OUTGROWN 

CCR 1 

CCR 2

That's a wrap!

 

WOW!

This project has been with me for quite a bit now, and has gone through so many retakes, edits, and screenshots over the past 8 weeks. Reflecting on all of my efforts, I'm very proud of what I have molded and reworked to get myself the result that I wanted. I initially approached this project with an expectation of perfection, assuming that it was no different than any other short film I had done. However, it was different in a good way. Through working alone especially, I learned the importance of time management, resourcefulness, and creativity, and I realized that adaptability was just as important as drive. The planning, production, and editing processes all forced me to put in 110% effort and step outside of my usual domain. Rather than covering one job, I did them all, which was exciting and allowed me to fully control my result.

Being able to say I completed not only a film opening, but also a 10-minute directors cut of it makes me feel more capable to do things on my own. As I hope to do something like this for my career, I learned that my creativity will take my farther than I thought, and that if I have a message to share to the world I will be able to. In getting better at framing, costume design, and especially editing, I am ending this process as a stronger filmmaker and student than I was before. This project showed me the importance of research and persistence. Despite filming with nothing but an iPhone and a deadline, being successful in reflecting my message shows me that I will only improve as the years go by and I gain more experience and resources. This has been a very rewarding opportunity and I am proud of what I've accomplished!

CCR Post-Production

 

Hello!

I am finishing up the editing for my CCRs! It's been a wild ride but after 8 weeks and 4 busy days, my portfolio project is almost done. For both CCRs, I used ClipChamp to edit. Familiarizing myself with it throughout this year's projects is helping me move through these fast. Shot in two different days and two yellow shirts, both of these are roughly 4 and a half minutes. 

The first CCR contained questions 1 and 4. I have footage of all 4, but those two I felt were answered the best and related well to each other regarding topics about genre conventions and technology.

The second CCR contained questions 2 and 3, both about audience and growth throughout the project's duration. I am so proud of them both, and I'm excited for them to be released to the world! We're almost there! Stay tuned.

CCR Production

 

Hello!

The production process for my CCR has begun! Yesterday I began production and used a tripod to film on my iPhone. I started editing on ClipChamp but I found the way that I'd been filming it was very confusing and a lot of the footage was either lost or out of order. Because of this, I'm filming again today. Hopefully I get better results!

This time I will memorize longer chunks of my script so that there are not as many clips as there were before, and I will keep the video rolling throughout each question with multiple takes within it so I have only 5-6 videos in total to work with. I feel like this will be easier for me so that I don't have to sift through 66 videos that all look the same...

Updates to follow on the production process. Hopefully I have better luck this time around!

CCR Production Ideas

 

Hello!

I have a few ideas that I have been considering for my CCR. I want to connect it somewhat to my project, so I have been looking at mostly trendy media texts from or about teenagers. Although this is loosely related to my project, it is still on theme with the self expression of adolescents through media. Let's look more in depth:

Option #1: YouTube-style Vogue interview

                    

    Celebrity interviews take a creative form through Vogue. Very popular among Gen-Z, these interviews either tour through someone's home, get ready with that person, or do a "What's In My Bag." These displays of personality along with an interview provide a fun introduction to their inside world and is great for viewers with short attention spans. This could have been a good choice for my CCR, as it ties in with my research from Vogue's fashion articles and also integrates movement and interest aside from only questions. However, I did not pick this idea because these videos are really popular. I feel like many people will think to do it and I can be more creative than that.

Option #2: Talk show

    

    Although this is a basic option, I always think there's something fun about seeing your favorite actress or artist on a talk show. To make it more interesting, I was thinking about interviewing myself, taking the role of both the host and the guest. However, I still think there would not be a lot of movement or interest in the scene, since all I can do is switch between the two people in the same setting. I did heavily consider this but I ultimately did not end up choosing it.

Option #3: Radio hotline calls

       Ultimately I ended up deciding to do one of those radio stations that you can call in and ask questions. This may sound like a basic idea on paper, but I have ideas to make it unique. This hotline will be called "Audience Asks", and as I have just finished my "movie", I will answer questions from "the fans at home" about it. To make it interesting, I will dress up as each caller differently and be in different settings for each question. This will make it look almost like a short film rather than just an interview. I also want to incorporate funny things throughout it by having a reoccuring bit with each caller. I want every device calling the hotline to be different- an iPad, a banana, a hand, and for each caller to get stranger and stranger. This will make it visually fun while also keeping a simple concept that is easy to understand.

The script is complete and is linked below. The only thing left to do is to begin production! Stay tuned to see the final result.

CCR Script

    

CCR Question #4

 

Hello!

Here is my research for question 4 of my CCR.

"How did you integrate technologies in this project?"

Some things I should include:

-ALL tech, software, hardware, online, etc.

-Any obstacles

-All devices used

I want to mention the difficulties we experienced in shooting without a physical camera in particular. Also the usage of my iPhone instead along with the editing around the problems we faces with lighting. I also need to mention my trials and tribulations with the editing softwares and websites used to make my logo.

Here is my response-

For this project, we shot on my trusty iPhone 13. Utilizing only the camera flash and “Cinematic mode”, this was definitely the most low maintenance production I’ve ever conducted. [socapa photo] To make my company logo I used Canva and edited everything on ClipChamp. Initially I edited on iMovie, but my clips kept deleting themselves, so I learned how to convert my footage into folders on my computer, which helped them render a lot faster. We did have some technical issues while filming in particular, especially with dark lighting and using an iPhone camera instead of the camera we planned for. That forced me to get more creative and experiment with different shadows and settings. To more seamlessly integrate the lighter clips with the darker clips, I lowered the exposure so that the lighter clips were not more visually aggressive than the darker ones, keeping the dark, gritty mood alive. I would say I definitely improved during production. I got more patient in redoing shots and I became more resourceful despite obstacles. This project taught me so much about research, planning, and pacing, and I’m very proud of what I ended up with. 

Next week I will begin filming my CCR and reviewing the project! We're in the home stretch. More to follow!

CCR Question #3

 

Hello!

"How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"

Here is what I need to do-

• Reflect on evolution of progress
• Discuss research and planning, starting with genre
• Any changes/adaptations
• Start VS End, previous projects

I want to make a point of my progression in framing specifically. Especially from my One Word Project it was BAD so I think I honestly got a lot better at making each shot meaningful rather than just putting things in front of a screen.

(Awww throwback to my mid project)

What I scraped together-

There were a lot of self-discoveries in this project for sure. I wanted it to feel messy and chaotic, which was really challenging for me as a perfectionist. No longer prioritizing perfection was hard, but it really added to the piece creatively. At the beginning of the year, I struggled with framing and making my shots feel intentional. I would just center everything instead of thinking about how to replicate the emotions of my characters through them, like the handheld shots to depict instability. Over time, I became much more meaningful with angles, setting, and color to communicate feeling rather than just trying to make things look nice. I also did a lot of research over the past few weeks. I looked through Vogue for costuming inspiration and studied different drama films to understand lighting and tone. That research really helped me see how costuming, color palettes, and props can build up a lot of emotion. We did have to adapt to the dark lighting being picked up while using an iPhone camera instead of the camera we planned for. If I did it again, I’d prioritize better equipment and more technical preparation, but those challenges made me more resourceful and added a lot to the overall piece. Throughout this time, I grew both as an actor and as a director, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. 

I don't want to talk too much about the individual technical aspects so that I can discuss them in question 4. I feel like this response works well in answering the question simply without sharing too much of the information for the last question. 

The only research I really used for this response was my own personal experience and reflections on my projects in the past. We're reaching the end! Just have to finalize editing my project and writing my script for the CCR and then we're in business. TTYL!

Fiona’s Feed [Blog]. Blogger from https://fionasfeed67.blogspot.com/

CCR Question #2

 

Hello!

Today I am conducting research for the second CCR question:

"How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

There are a few important things I need to touch on when answering this-

• Who is the target audience (age, gender, commonalities.) How did you find this?
• How your choices engage the target audience?
• Discuss availability

Target audience is typically broad for drama films due to the many subgenres that branch from it. Mine, in particular are adults and young adults, because of the more mature theme of my opening. I also want to point out the importance of the representation of women in my project. I want to make it apparent under the surface of my general opening that the piece also depicts the diffuculties not only of adolescence, but of womanhood. Films that connect women through hardships with understanding hold a special place in the hearts of me and all of the girls around me and I want to touch on that within my CCR for sure.

Here is what I wrote-

Well, my audience is mainly teenagers and young adults, like many drama films, but more specifically I’m aiming this product toward young women. I find that getting a message across to an audience helps when you show them someone like them, in this case, a teenage girl. Being able to relate to a character is very important because the theme feels heavier when you see it happening to someone like you. It’s almost like a put-yourself-in-her-shoes type of thing. I researched popular going-out styles among Gen Z-written Vogue articles so that I could further relate my character to their audience and engage them through the current trends. As for distribution practices, so far, I am considering only small film festivals for now. This project will not be making it to the big screen, but hey, there’s always hope for the next one! 

When touching on the distribution factor of this question, I want to make it apparent that there would be no wide release for this project if it were to be distributed as a real media text. I do aim to keep the tone of my CCR lighthearted since I am considering different fun ideas on going about it. 

Throughout my research earlier in the semester on target audience and distrubution of media texts as a whole, I think I included everything meaningful within my response while also keeping it consise. I will further expand each answer through both my response delivery and added images throughout my video, but I think that the size of my answer for this question is just as it needs to be, because I do want to save time for the other two questions as well. 

Finishing up the questions and then onto scripting. See ya next time! (tomorrow)

Sources:

Brown, A. (2020, December 18). The importance of women in film. Medium. https://anastasiabrownn.medium.com/the-importance-of-women-in-film-6759b068c56

Independent Cinema Office. (n.d.). Understanding audiences. https://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/advice-support/how-to-start-a-cinema/understanding-audiences/

Lofthouse, L. (n.d.). Genre & target audience. Fiveable. https://fiveable.me/the-craft-of-writing-film-focus/unit-5/genre-target-audience/study-guide/6vbkvrIGBFFo1psY

The Los Angeles Film School. (2020, January 17). Everything you need to know about indie film distribution. https://www.lafilm.edu/blog/indie-film-distribution/

Stark, F. (2026, January). Portfolio Project Genre #2. Fiona’s Feed. https://fionasfeed67.blogspot.com/2026/01/