Project: Submission/Links to film opening and CCRs

Film Opening Link

(Important note: All names in this opening, EXCEPT for "Ethan Jin" and "Scott Buckley", are fake. They are only used to mimic the credits of actual movies.)

Film Opening

CCR Links

Creative Critical Reflection #1

Creative Critical Reflection #2

Project: Final Reflection

 This is my final reflection on the making of my film. 

Honestly not much has changed about me or my film experience, except for the heavy preparation that comes with making a film. The production, making the sets, brainstorming ideas, its all the same for me. 

I've been in film 1-3, and although in those classes I never done as in depth research and preparation as AICE Media, I still watched a plethora of different films, which gave me a good grasp on a variety of genres. 

And as for the production, I've said before that I already had experience with stop motion in my previous film classes. Not just the animation but also the set designs and the lighting. Sure I had to make a few space ships for my film, something I never made before, but it was still very easy: just cardboard, tape, glue, and paint. 

I guess it would have been much different if I was tasked with making a film outside of my usual film genres, like comedy or romance. But even still, making a comedy or romance film would, I think, be easy for me since although I mainly delve into the sci-fi, horror, action, and animation genres; I still have a decent grasp on multiple different genres. 

I think that it would have been much bigger game changer if I was researching a genre I have never seen before. Then I would have had a much different, and maybe more difficult, experience with my project. 

 I had a lot of fun with this project, especially when I was testing and using glitter and water to make the special effects of mimicking stars. One of my favorite things about this project is that the main character, the Astronaut Stikbot, just sits in his cockpit for all of the project. Meaning I never had to make him walk or move other than moving his head and arms. 

Although I think I should have given him a better costume, since his Astronaut helmet looks a bit goofy. 

Project: CCR Post-Production/editing

This is the editing process for my CCRs

I know I said previously that I didn't like using Adobe Express and switched over to using Adobe Premiere. But I can only access Premiere using my dad's laptop, and my dad is always out for work. And I am unable to log into the account using my own laptop since my dad forgot the password ಠ_ಠ. So I'm going to have to go back to using the less advanced editing platforms. 

This time I'll use Clipchamp since Adobe Express at least Clipchamp does not lag often. 

My CCR is going to be stop motion, so already it is more interesting to look at a charming Stikbot rather than a talking head. And of course I don't want this to be just a picture of a Stikbot standing there. Although looking at a Stikbot, at least for me, is more interesting than looking at talking head, I know that it just standing there is not going to make the audience magically interested. So I made some animations of the character moving and mimicking talking, and I also added scenes happening in the background to keep the viewers engaged. 

Editing is always the most difficult part for me since it is kind of boring and a bit complicated. Thankfully for a CCR I can just plug in most empty scenes I don't have animations for in between with movie scenes and pictures. I didn't use any stock videos or photos though (only a few green screens for special effects) since I don't really find them engaging or interesting. Although my CCR is supposed to be mimicking a company introduction video for new employees, I still know that this is a CCR and not an actual greeting video. 

I forgot to make this "Please stand by" screen picture during production, which honestly wasn't that hard. I just pulled a tv error picture from stock photos before using a picture of my dog, the mascot of Juni-Co. Then I just put it all together using Adobe Express. Finding a silly picture of my dog is sure is easier than finding a serious picture of her. 

One of the scenes I wanted to do is this scene of a background worker getting exploded by one of the space ship's thrusters. I used a green screen of a Minecraft explosion since I thought it was funny, but then I remember that the copyright demons might get me, so I'm going to replace it with a different explosion. Which is a shame since I find the Minecraft explosion green screen much funnier than other green screen explosions. But oh well. At least the sound effects for the explosion and pipe falling is copyright free (Pulled from Pixabay).

List of footage I used from movies and interviews

Interstellar

Blade Runner (Tears in Rain)

Blade Runner 2049

Ad Astra

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Matrix

Interview with Kubrick

Project: CCR Production

This is the production process of both my CCRs. 

My main two ideas are a CEO showing the viewer around his research facility while talking about his film, and the other idea is a simple interview style talk show using sock puppets.

Concepts

For the 1st CCR, the CEO idea, I needed three sets since the CEO will be walking and traveling around: A couch room where the three new interns are being briefed by the bored instructor, a hallway where the CEO/me will be talking about his work while crazy things happen in the background, and another empty hall with a gate. There is also a small little box that the CEO will be riding in as a cart (This helps with making animating easier since making Stikbots walk is time consuming).

I will be using the same materials as always: Cardboard, paint, plastic, duct tape, super glue, and paper tape. 

For the 2nd CCR, the sock puppet show, it is simply just one set. It will just be a box painted, super glued, and cut out (for lights). 

The puppets themselves will just be ordinary socks with either googly eyes or styrofoam balls glued for eyes. And the interviewer puppet will have fuzzy sticks as arms to hold a piece of paper he has filled with the questions he wants to ask me. 

Making the sets

Creating the sets are pretty straightforward. I am just using cardboard and paper tape to put it all together. Especially for the insides for the windows so that the inside of the cut out cardboard isn't seen. 

The only main problem I came across was that the cardboard kept falling backwards, so I had to create this little cardboard extension, using a weight like a metal water bottle to keep it standing. Not for the second set since it was small enough to stand on its own, but the bigger one needed some sort of stand to keep it upright.

I'm pretty sure there are better ways to approach this, but I am working with a very tight production and shooting schedule (This is the last week for working on the project). So if it looks stupid but works, then its not stupid. 

I decide to not do the third set because of time and its unnecessary. After all it is just a plain white room, which I can probably easily replace with a white cardboard background by reusing one of these sets. 

The puppets were easy to make. They are just socks with either styrofoam balls or googly eyes glued on. There are only a few problems I came across, the main one was that the third puppet at the back (Who I call Mr. Cheetos), googly eyes kept falling off. So if they fall off one more time then I'll replace the eyes with styrofoam balls. 

The other problems are just stuff I am missing. Like tape for the arms for the host puppet to hold his paper, and red colored paper for his bowtie. But generally most of these problems are very minor and easily solvable when I get back home. 

Shooting/Animating/Puppeteering 

Timelapses

Making the sets: (CCR 1 set/Company intro)   (CCR 2 set/socket puppet show)

Shooting: (CCR 1 shooting)   (CCR 2 shooting)

Project: CCR production ideas

 For the CCR, it is highly recommended to be creative and have fun. 

For mine, I have two main ideas I would like to do: A company video style, and a sock puppet show. 

For the company style video, I want it to mimic a video shown to new interns of a company. Like a company introduction or a instructional tutorial, or an old video tape that a substitute teacher would show to their class to pass the time.

 Like this video called Delta-P Instructional Video, which is a safety video instructing how divers can prevent death via delta pressure. 

Another good example is this are these commercials for gummy candy products by Vat19. These are mockumentaries, not actual videos by the candy companies who make the product. But these commercials do have the dark humor I am aiming for for my CCR, especially in the introduction of the made-up gummy corporation CEO, Chet Huskins. I like for my CCR to also have a CEO walking around his factory introducing the viewers into a sort of tour and intro of his company grounds. 

My second idea for my CCR is a sock puppet show. It will just be a simple talk show style, where the host sock puppet interviews the director sock puppet/me.

My main inspiration are these history videos called Puppet History. I am mainly inspired by the small sets the puppet use, using classic curtains to change the scenes and pictures on sticks for temporary characters. 

Project: Research and script for #4 question of CCR post

How did you integrate technologies-software, hardware, and online- in this project?

This is the fourth question of the CCR

Hardware: Webcam, lights, tripods for backdrop, boxes and books for camera holding

Software: Adobe Express, switched over to Adobe Premiere since Express is kinda bad. Canva, Blogger, Adobe Express, Picsart

Online: Youtube, Creative Commons, Pixabay

Script

The main hardware I used was a camera, tripods for the backdrop, and lights. 

The camera I used is a Logitech web camera (I think the version is C920). This camera is amazing for stop motion. Because of its small size, one is able to place the camera into places that a bigger camera is not able to. And, the C920 has 1080p quality. Small yet has great quality. I had this webcam for a very long time, around 2-3 years when I first began doing stop motion. 

The lights I used were mainly these little led lights that are able to change color and brightness via remote. These were originally meant for vehicles like motorcycles, which explains why they are able to last long without dimming or flickering. There is only a few problems with these lights, like how they have these weird little hooks at the sides of it which makes it difficult to get it to stand up right, or how its oval shape is not able to have a flashlight effect like the party finger LED lights I used before for my previous films. But overall these little flaws are made up for by the lights long luminant duration and its ability to change colors and brightness.

I also used a normal desk lamp for more brighter scenes, although I only used it for a few shots. 

The software I used to edit and put together my entire film was originally Adobe Express, which I accidently mixed up with Adobe Premiere. So I moved my project Premiere since Express is... pretty bad for video use. But it is better when making a poster, and even allowed me to download and store specific fonts. This came especially useful for the opening title and credits. 

Then I used Canva to turn the backgrounds of my credits transparent so I could put them in my film. 

As for online I used a lot of different resources I mainly used Youtube, Pixabay, and Creative Commons. Youtube I mainly used for researching different sci-fi movie openings and essay videos. Pixabay where I pulled a lot of sound effects from. And Creative Commons was the website I used to skim what music I should use. 

Project: Research and script for #3 question of CCR post

 How did your production skills develop throughout the project?

This is the third question of the CCR.

Script

My production skills mainly remained the same. Stop motion, making the sets, camera use, most of the production I already knew of prior since I have experience with stop motion before. The only main difference is the extensive planning.  

 

Before I used to just eyeball it, and just animated whatever came to my head. I had a general idea of what I wanted, but I never wrote down any scripts or storyboards. This portfolio project was the very first time I used a storyboard for my own personal film.  

 

And it is not just storyboarding I had to plan for. I also had to plan for making a list of sound effects, props, set designs, and research on other films and genres. All I have never done before for any of my stop motion films until now.  

 

Research was especially a different approach for me since for most of my films, they are just ideas that pop into my head. And honestly research did not really have a big impact for me since when the project was announced, I already had a few ideas of what films I would like to make, ranging in different genres and stories. I already know of a bunch of space films beforehand, including their production and direction. But I would think that research would have a big impact on me if I was tasked with researching a specific genre I am not familiar with, like romance or comedy.  

 

I originally wanted to do a horror film, since stop motion works amazingly with it. But I heard that Cambridge does not like seeing horror films since they are overused. So then I juggled between a war and sci-fi film. I ultimately chose sci-fi since I hear often that the bridge between war and horror is really close, so I went with sci-fi since it is the safer route, and is the genre I always wanted to work with ever since I got into AICE Media. 

Project: Research and script for #2 question of CCR post

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

This is the second question of the CCR

Product engagement with audiences (Script)

My product Pioneer engages with audience by first having ominous music (Ephemera by Scott Buckley) playing while my production studio logo slowly fades into the view. This establishes the tone as serious and almost mysterious without seeing anything but the production logo at first.

I would also like to note the silence, using the absence of dialogue to tell the story rather than using words. For me, and worded much better by Stephen King, words turn an abstract idea into a simpler one, which mostly is an annoying mistake made when trying to make a meaningful story.

In King's "Different Seasons", a collection of four novellas, one of the stories called "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" perfectly quotes how I think words diminishes complexity. Saying

"The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out."

I'm not saying that dialogue is a bad device to utilize, its just that I find it more of a common mistake in movies nowadays to not know when to be quiet, and let the silence do the scene for them. Which is why I think aspiring film makers need to know when to be quiet, and when to be talkative. 

Which is also why my piece would appeal to those who prefer visual and atmospheric driven motion pictures, rather than expecting traditional storytelling. 

The logo shot then quickly fades into the next shot of a bunch of stars of an unknown world, drifting and existing in space before a nebula explodes. It then cuts to a tilt up shot of a red planet before the title card "Pioneer" fades into view. This fully establishes that this movie is a space movie by showing the planet and space. 

There is a contrast between the blue of the nebula scene with the red of the establishing planet shot, showing the differences in worlds that the universe brings. From the vast blue cold to the scorching hot red. 

I want to show the variety, the different wonders that this universe infinitely brings. 

The shots of stars also helps the audience know how the character is feeling and what is happening with the setting without using direct dialogue. This is an easy way for me to get the audience on the same page with the Astronaut/main character since a Stikbot figure, as charming as they are, has limited movement and even more limited facial expressions. So visuals like the stars help give the character a bit more personality and depth into what they could possibly be thinking.

Distributed as a possible real media text? (Script)

If my film were to be distributed as an actual film piece, then I would like for it to be shown at film festivals like the Florida Film Festival. 

I would not like it to be shown on the big screens though since theatre movies are more likely to be seen by critics, who are often known for judging amazing works wrongly, or misinterpreting the meaning of them entirely. 

This is especially notable when a rule was recently made, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on their press website Oscars.org, that Oscar members need to watch all nominated movies in order to vote. 

"In a procedural change, Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars®. All designated nominees will also be included on the final ballot."

And this rule will only start in 2026 for the 98th Academy Awards. 

I would not like my film judged by people who don't even have the decency to watch my movie. 

Film festivals offer a more "artistic" view of film, rather than seeing it as mere entertainment. The audience is composed of more common people and artists, people who share the same appreciation of film as me, rather than high status folks.

I would also like to upload my film onto Youtube, networking my movie to an even wider audience by using the internet. 

Images to use

Project: Post production/editing part 2

 My second part of editing. 

So far editing has been fine. The only two issues I came across are some shots I need to retake and the limitations that Adobe Express has, such as limited movements and animation ability (Or maybe there is and I'm just dumb). But other than that, sound effects and music are all good.

Personally I like putting the music up first before beginning to put together the different shots. The music helps me get in the mood and makes my work look better while I am editing. I will have to make some adjustments to some of the sound effects since some of them are too low to hear.

I will also have to adjust the contrast of some shots since the background can be seen a bit. Again, I mentioned before that I don't have a proper black backdrop, so I used black wrapping paper instead which is a bit reflective. 

Shots

I would like to explain some shots I took inspiration from.

This shot is from the movie Interstellar, taken from the rocket launch scene when the rocket begins to separate. 

I really liked this shot because it was one of the first shots I took, and the black background and the bright lighting really makes it look like the black void of space.

I mentioned before the the really dark lighting to mask the background and make the shot look like space is from Stanley Kubrick on his film 2001.

This shot here was inspired from Blade Runner 2049. 

I wanted to mention this shot since most of my other shots are inspired from space movies, so I wanted to show some outside inspiration of the space sub-genre. Specifcally Blade Runner 2049 is a neo-noir film.

I really liked how the lighting came out, and the clear plastic as the windows makes a cool effect when light is shined on it. I am proud that I really nailed the blue and dark look, like what a real spacecraft would see when it breaks through the atmosphere. 

Project: Making stars

 This is my third production post, and I'll be showing my thinking process and process on how I recreated stars. 

Way at the beginning of my planning, I wanted some shots to be of space. But I didn't want to use any stock photos or anything since those didn't really fit the vibe I was aiming for. 

So I did some research into the production of 2001: A Space odyssey, specifically the Star Gate scene where the astronaut David goes what through what appears to be a wormhole. In those scenes there are brief shots of galaxies and stars and nebulas. I researched how Kubrick made this effects before I found out that it was just simply just playing with liquids, like ink and oil. 

I further researched into how liquids could be made into stunning effects. It was then I took a page from Christopher Nolan's book. 

In Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, there are these scenes of blue particles in darkness, mimicking subatomic particles in the imagination of Oppenheimer.

Although this effect looks cool, it is actually just glitter and water spun around. 

It is honestly unbelievable how much  beautiful effects can be done just by using water and liquids.

This is my set up. It is just a large 50 gallon fish tank with black paper wrapped around it. There's a small stack of boxes on the left so I can shine my lamp into the water. There is also a white box behind the fish tank, acting as a makeshift tripod for extra lighting. 

The black paper is taped around the box since my camera catches the detail of the background and some of the items nearby reflect off the glass.

And the effects came out way better than I thought.

This shot right here was actually a mistake. 

I was filling the tank with water but I forgot that the tank was just sitting around and building dust, so when I poured the water, it caused all the dust particles to begin flying everywhere. 

And honestly I did not expect to get a shot like this, but I'm glad I did. 

For colored scenes like these, the colored lights I had were too weak to make the glitter inside visible. So I used a little glass make-up container to amplify the light like a magnifying glass. 

Timelapses (I mentioned before that some of the bts footage I had were too dark to see, so I only had a few to show here.)

Special effects

Space ship (Breaking off)

Project: Research for #1 question of CCR post

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? 

This is the first question of the CCR. 

Genre conventions

My film is of the sci-fi genre, specifically space. The sci-fi genre is usually set in a futuristic setting, usually interpretations of what civilization look like years ahead. Usually this follows with a concept of aliens, space travel, Ai, or unworldly abilities like telekinesis or mind control. 

Talking specifically about space films, they are usually set in space are usually placed beyond Earth, like distant planets or space stations or other galaxies. This genre is usually followed by advanced technology, aliens, and artificial intelligence. The greatest movies that define this movie genre is 2001 A Space Odyssey and Interstellar. These films usually show the vast expanse of space and the uncertain fate that comes with the unknown.  

Staying within the realm of conventions

My film opening mostly secedes to the usual conventions of sci-fi (space). Space, outer world travel, spacecrafts, planets, etc. Even most of the shots I am using are shots from a plethora of sci-fi movies. 

I think the main similarity my film has to other space films, other than being in space, is how quiet some scenes are. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey. In my case, all my scenes are met with no dialogue. Even for movies like Interstellar, where a lot of important dialogue is spoken, still has a bunch of scenes that are necessarily silent to build up tension and give the audience room to analyze and take in the visuals. 

Representation

Sci-fi are usually represented by complex philosophical ideas. Like how intelligent does a being need to be to count as human, or if our view of reality is not reality at all? Questions like these come from movies like Bladerunner and The Matrix. The big fascination with using such complex concepts into futuristic worlds is usually film directors wanting to retell a classic old story into a new digital one (Again like The Matrix), bringing back an old legend into the modern age. 

Space movies take this a step further by meeting simple philosophical ideas, and twist them to make them more complicated. Like for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite most viewers who watch the movie for the first time don't get it, but Stanley Kubrick, the director of 2001, said in a phone call interview with Jun'ichi Yaoi the simple narrative of 2001. 

"The idea was supposed to be that he is taken in by god-like entities, creatures of pure energy and intelligence with no shape or form. They put him in what I suppose you could describe as a human zoo to study him, and his whole life passes from that point on in that room. And he has no sense of time. It just seems to happen as it does in the film. They choose this room, which is a very inaccurate replica of French architecture (deliberately so, inaccurate) because one was suggesting that they had some idea of something that he might think was pretty, but wasn’t quite sure. Just as we’re not quite sure what do in zoos with animals to try to give them what we think is their natural environment. Anyway, when they get finished with him, as happens in so many myths of all cultures in the world, he is transformed into some kind of super being and sent back to Earth, transformed and made into some sort of superman. We have to only guess what happens when he goes back."

Although 2001 looks very confusing, the plot is actually a lot simpler than it looks. It is just complicated because there is no dialogue, leaving the viewers to interpret the meaning of the film by themselves. 

And Kubrick explains this simple premise as what happened, not delving deep into what the meaning of it all actually is.