The Final Judgement

Here is my Creative Critical Reflection! For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a brief description of my experience doing this project. Thanks so much for dealing with me!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0hrffr_ABQCMEwtdjd0OGNmNkE

Filed Away

Here is the final product!!!!!

There has been ups and downs but overall I learned so much from this. Nervous for what's to come!

Stressed

                                                   

So all the filming is finally done... but there's still the CCR (Critical Crearive Reflection)  to do... 

While I was at Maria's filming, as we waited for the footage to send to Jenna we finished up our scripts. We both helped each other figure out the best thing to say and help each other realize what we were missing. 

I'm a little nervous to actually film myself doing the CCR because I'm not the best at editing, and the edits are what make the CCR more visually engaging. If I was to just sit in front of the camera and speak about my experience doing this project, that would be suuuuuuper boring, so by adding the fun gimics as the video plays is essential. However, I'm not very good at that so I'm worried and I also don't have a computer that is easily accessible and working. 

On another note, this whole experience was stressful but amazing. I learned so much about the film industry and it honestly is very enticing to have these ideas and to be able to make them a reality. I would definitely love to pursue something in this field in college. 

I also got closer to more of my classmates because of this project and hopefully made some pretty great friendships out of it. 

Can't wait for you guys to see the finished product!!!!

Editing and Errors

Honestly editing may be harder than actually filming a movie. If we didn't have Jenna (one of the group members) I seriously have no idea what we would do. 

Some of the shots we filmed were shaky but she steadied them and it looks so good. She has a really good eye for editing, she finds the scenes that look the best and find a way to easily transition between them. 

However, her good eye also realized mistakes that we didn't notice and said in order to have a better film we needed a little more footage. Because this was so last minute, I didn't want to ask Jose (the criminal in our film) so we decided to get more footage of me. 

We wanted to get it done as soon as possible but the only ones that were available yesterday was Maria and I, but that's really all we needed. 

So around 8, Maria and I set up the interrogation room again, which was actually rather difficult because we needed to get the table and lighting the same exact way as it was before. I think we ended up getting pretty close (I hope). 

Instead of writing more lines, we re-shot my with more angles so we would have more options for our film. We did medium shots, and close ups of me and even tried out an extreme close up of my lips as I was saying a line. 

I'm hoping that these new clips will help Jenna put our film together more easily and our finishing product will be even better. 

New Developments

Filming is a very fun but also very very stressful. You never know what can go wrong, and believe me, A LOT can go wrong. Especially when our main camera woman was out of town, luckily Maria is also good with the camera. 

Somehow we were blessed to find an abandoned shed, with perfect weather, and a perfect shoot. We were on a roll (or role? Get it? Because they are actors playing a role? ANYWAYS) with all the different shots and angles, constantly coming up with new and unique ways to film the best shot. 

Our actors were doing a fantastic job being DIRECTED (get it? Because we're directing? Alright I need to stop). We filmed that scene with no issues besides our camera almost dying but we got all of the important stuff anyways. 

When we got back to Maria's house to film the interrogation scene, we charged the camera, and we were all ready to go. 

Everything was going smoothly, yet again our actors were doing fantastic, our camera woman was filming all different angles, it was awesome. But then, just as the climax of our opening is happening, one of our actors -the interrogator- just couldn't do it. He started feeling light headed and nauseous, so of course awe told him to stop. We knew he couldn't keep going, but what would we do now? We have most of our scenes filmed already, our script is already made, and it was too late to call another guy to come act. I was trying not to panic, telling my self: "Just breathe Kaelin, everything will be fine, it's all okay". 

Then my co workers tand I decided, why not make what was happening in real life... part of the film? 

So, we decided to film the interrogator about to freak out and someone else will take his place. We knew we couldn't go with Maria since she was our camera woman, and we couldn't go with Sofia because she was hispanic, so the only one who was left -and white- was me. 

Maria had an outfit for me to wear since I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, so I took the role as the new interrogator. I didn't have a problem with it at all since i've always loved to act and I was in plays up until two years ago, but I was worried that I wasn't going to be as good anymore since I haven't acted in awhile. So hopefully I did alright. 

Here's some behind the scene pictures of post-character switch.

    

Criminal RECORD?

WE FINALLY FILMED AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow what a relief it was to actually film and see all of our thoughts come to life.

We originally wanted to film our opening scene in Fort Lauderdale but we were in a bit of a time crunch so we ended up going to Southwest Ranches and came across an abandon shed.  

















We had a very dedicated Maria who was making sure to get every possible angle.

     
   














Then finally... the interrogation room!

Movin up in the film industry

WE WROTE OUR SCRIPT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness, I really almost had a panic attack. Anywaaaaaays... even though we were without a member, we still got together at Panera and started brainstorming ideas.

For more inspiration our actors came and helped us figure out the most racist way to say our lines. Yes that sounds terrible, but you gotta do what you gotta do to film a great movie.

We knew that our lines had to properly execute our character development and our purpose of the film. It was actually exciting to hear all the different ideas and decide what was good or bad.

Here is a little sneak peak ;)

Script

Cop: *Reads Miranda Rights, cut after “court of law”

*You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law.*

Car door closes at same time interrogation room door opens

………………………………………………………………………………………

Interrogator, Sofi, and Kaelin standing - looking into the interrogation room.

Interrogator: “Pfff I’ve got this.”

Sees Enrique looking down at his files on the table

Shot - shows Enrique in the interrogation room.

Enrique’s thoughts: “Why am I here. I can’t believe this! I’ve gotten my act together, cleaned up my life. Why? Why is this happening? There can’t be evidence against me. But still, they won’t be believe me."

Interrogator walks into interrogation room

Interrogator: “Ohh Mr. Ramirez. It’s so nice to see you. I’ve missed you!” (Long Silence)

Sits down, smile all smug (chuckles)

Interrogator: "So how’s your family?” (Sarcastically)

Silence

Interrogator: “Don’t you know by now that it’s rude not to answer. Do you not understand me? Do you need a translator?”

Silence

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that's all you get!!!

We knew we wanted the interrogator to be rude, conceited, and of course racist. As the opening goes on we wanted to build up the anger and aggravation from both characters and hopefully we succeed on doing just that.

PANIC

Well... this time around the peer review made me realize that my group and I REALLY needed to get our acts together. Every other member in my group started filming over the weekend and here my group and I didn't even have a script written.

It has been especially hard to film because one of our members were out of town and then when that member came back, another one isn't going to be here ALL WEEK.... so activate panic mode!!!

Good part is today we casted our roles!!! After we were discussing with other members in other groups, we got together and decided who we wanted in our movie and decided on filming it at Marias house.

During class we established the type of characters that we want in our role:

 

Character Development

Mark: Late ‘20s,

Sarcastic

Cocky

High class

racist

History:

Born and raised in Miami

Parents loved him and bought him everything

Officer runs in family

Enrique: mid 20’s

Cuban

Shy

Good Heart

Strong minded

Low class

History:

Part of a gang ?

Mom left while pregnant to US for a better life

            American citizen (born in US)

            Mom deported at 18, sister was 13

            Sister and him left behind (he raised her) (she died because of a gang fight)

      He got arrested for battery and carrying an unauthorized gun

                              the sister died (got shot?)

 

Had to make his own money

            Involved with neighborhood junkie (Domingo) (Drugs, stole)

            Wanted to make a better life for him and his sister so wanted to stop

                             Ended in him and junkie fighting in street

                             Junkie died next day

Enrique and Mark go way back from previous trials

Enrique hands: represent the hard work he does. When he’s handcuffed and Mark shuts his hands down, it is like shutting down his freedom and his civil liberties.

Cries: shows the brutal injustice of the court system


Now that we have our characters we can finally write our script!!!!

Background Information

One of the most important thing in a film is the character development. Without strong characters, the film has no chance of being great. Characters also need to be able to interact with others and create some sort of relationship (not in a romantic way, more like a bond).

Some steps to developing a character and their relationships are: 

1. Make them stop and think.
      "Introspection (the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional                  processes) is the easiest and clearest way to develop your characters’ relationships." 

2. Give them strong opinions                                                                                                        "Every narrator has a personality. Let that narrator’s opinions inform her character. And         by all means, let characters gossip among themselves"

3. Play a game of risk.
       "Make one character sacrifice or risk something for another." 

4. Leverage the group.
        "The relationships between individuals in a group—whether a clique of three or an                  organization of thousands—are endlessly varied, shifting and fascinating."

5. Befriend ambiguity.                                                                                                                      "Resist the urge to over explain relationships. Everybody instinctively understands                 there’s more than meets the eye. In every adult, there’s a bit of a child. In every cop,             there’s a bit of a criminal. In every sadist, there’s a bit of a masochist. And in every               human, there’s a bit of a beast—and a bit of a god. Use that knowledge to your                     advantage."

6. Tap into the power of a grudge.
       "Create a character with a sensitive spirit, and make him suffer injustices that would               make anyone’s stomach shrivel."

7. Don’t overlook everyday interactions.
        "Let your characters approach others, glance off them, then continue on different                   trajectories. When crafting your characters’ relationships, let the yin-yang symbol be             your guide. You’ve seen this circle made of equal parts black and white, with a drop of           each color in the other. No relationships are clear-cut, nor are any one-sided. Leaven           the love with a little fear, or maybe even hate." 

These steps will help my group and I develop the a strong relationship between the "criminal" (quotations are used because he really isn't a criminal, he is being misjudged)  and the cop and help develop our story even better. I see the "criminal" as a strong, sassy, and hurt individual and the cop as a judgmental know-it-all. 

Now let us all hope and pray we find the right actors for this so we can pull this off. 

Evidence

After deciding that we wanted to do a court scene for the opening, I wanted to research some movies that have to with the Court system for some inspiration.

I came across the film opening for  "...and Justice for All"  and noticed that they had signs that involved the court. Such as, "Private, Judges Chamber" and "Quiet, Court in Session" to establish that this movie was going to be a dramatic courtroom movie. These images set the tone for the whole movie, and I think that this might be one of the ways we can show what this film is about.

I also decided to look up "12 Angry Men" which stated off with an upward pan of the outside of the building. Images of the inside of the building were shown after and then the court room was seen giving the audience a visual of the environment that the characters are in.

Throughout the opening we hear people speaking, then we see the Judge as he says "and you?" instantly quieting the characters in the film, drawing them into the scene in front of them.

For our film opening, I would love to rely more on visuals to inform the audience on what the film is about and cause suspense in the viewers. I hope to have a strong opening line that instantly brings the audience in and leaves them interested for more.

Both these films thought of ways to make the purpose of their film known and cause mystery at the same time. For dramatic courtroom movies mystery is a MUST, everything can't be revealed at once. By leaving the audience confused but intrigued, it keeps them interested in the film.

The Grand Jury

In class each member of a group was split up and put into group of others. We discussed our project and we're given feedback on what should be changed, what was good, and what wasn't do-able.

I found this very helpful because I was able to hear what was wrong with our project and how to improve on it. It actually made me realize that our idea wasn't bad!

My classmates in the group felt that our topic on racial profiling was a very important problem to showcase. The made some really good points and critiques which are listed below:

Maybe dont include flashback- agreed
Dialogue between cop and person- interrogation room?
Strong opening line if cant see characters
Possibly show them instead
Make it minority FOR SURE and how they are judged for their looks and ethnicity

Talking with my classmates helped improve our film opening and make it stronger. It also felt good to help others with their own films. 

Some were unsure on how to execute their film and make it a reality, so I tried to find an alternative. For example, one of my classmates wanted to film in an abandoned prison, but of course they would for sure get arrested. So, I gave him the idea that him and his group can find a bunk bed and strip off all the sheets and use that as a prison room. Someone else wanted to film an airport scene of someone coming home and getting stopped by security saying they can no longer stay in the United States, but filming in an airport would be extremely difficult. I recommended that my classmate filmed in the persons house and have guards knock on their door and say that the girl or boy is being deported. 

Coming together and helping each other strengthened each of our projects and let peoples visions become real. I am really excited to see how everything turns out! 

Background Check

Since my group and I came up with the idea of opening our film with an interrogation room scene, I wanted to research more about it so we can properly execute it.

I came across a website on how police interrogation works and some techniques. Basically the goal is to get the suspect to feel highly uncomfortable to where they want to get the heck out of there.

An uncomfortable interrogation room is more complex than it seems. In order for it to get the full affect, the layout has to be taken into consideration. It is recommended to have a "small, soundproof room with only three chairs (two for detectives, one for the suspect) and a desk, with nothing on the walls. This creates a sense of exposure, unfamiliarity and isolation...". The chair should be uncomfortable and out of reach of anything tangible such as a light switch.

Of course the interrogation room would not be complete without the one-way mirror (those things are honestly so cool). This enhances the suspects anxiety and discomfort and also allows detectives to eaves drop (see how cool it is?). 

Some steps of interrogations include:

•  Casual conversation - builds trust so they open up more
•  Observe suspects body language and eye movement
•  Ask questions about the task at hand - observe suspects reactions (right eye movement means remembering, left eye movement means lying)
•  Confrontation
•  Theme development
•  Stopping denials
•  Overcoming objections
•  Getting suspects attention
•  Suspect loses resolve
•  Alternatives
•  Bringing suspect into conversation 
•  The confession

Knowing all of this should make our opening scene more realistic by applying these rules and techniques. Obviously we are going to aim to make our audience and actor feel as uncomfortable as possible, if we don't, then we're failures.

References:

Layton, Julia "How Police Interrogation Works." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 18 May 2006. Web.

     19 Mar. 2017.

Interrogations

My group and I got together and further developed our plot. We were trying to think of how we would film a court room scene and thought of the court room at FIU. However, we figured that would be too difficult so we decided it would be better to use an interrogation room instead. 

We can easily remake an interrogation room by just having a table in the room and a mirror for the one way mirror. 


Here are some notes that we took:

Opening title (with music)

Director Name

Our names

Sirens in the beginning? His past? Voice over of him explaining past and then present? Flashback?

Possibly all the above^

Interrogation room instead of courtroom?

    Mirror for the “viewing room”

    Metal table

    Chairs

    Prisoner costume (Kaelin has)

    Cop Costume (Kaelin has)

    Handcuffs (Kaelin has)

Maria can get a cop car?????????????

Don't show characters face until the end (his face has bruises)

My group and I are starting to come up with more strategic and fun ideas that I think will come out really cool.

We are planning to film this Wednesday, March 22nd. I'm really excited to see how this project is gonna turn out!

Trial and Error

Finally getting down to business...

My group and I sat down and discussed about our research and tried to finalize what type of drama we wanted to film and the ideas we had. We came to the conclusion that we wanted our film opening to have a message about problems in society, either political or minorities. 

As we were discussing, I decided to take notes on some of our ideas:

Court scene? Trial?

    

Shows representation

    Mystery

    Suspense

    Displays a message (a paper doesn't define who I am, messed up system)

Symbols to showcase thoughts and representation

Character

    Strong mentally but looked as weak

    Cuban immigrant? Pedophile? Sex offender?

    Not a bad person but accused for things he didn't do so he's judged b/c of that

In other words, we were flirting with the idea of a court scene on the day of someones trial, we felt that this was we could leave a little mystery if we didn't state exactly what the person was in for. At the same time we wanted to tell a message, either that a paper doesn't define someones character, or how a trial system could be messed up (we all know people are said to be guilty but are actually innocent or vice versa) or even address both.

After we discussed this in class, I decided to look up how many people are wrongfully convicted. I found out that "Innocent defendants are far more likley to have their sentenced changed to life in prison than to be executed. Still, with an error rate of 4 percent, the researchers write, “it is all but certain that several of the 1,320 defendants executed since 1977 were innocent.” (Hughes) 

We even briefly talked about the character and how we wanted him or her to be developed. We felt that the character should have been convicted for something he or she didn't do, and that ended up ruining his or her life. As we talked about this character, we pictured a guy but come on we can't be sexist now can we?

References:

Hughes. "How Many People Are Wrongly Convicted? Researchers Do the Math." 

     Phenomena. National Geographic I Phenomena, 25 Sept. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Why all the drama?

Drama drama drama... that's all everyone ever talks about these days, in the real world and in the film world.

The question is: WHY?

The drama genre has made more and more money over the years, and is continuing to increase in profit. Some of the greatest films of all time were drama, including "The Godfather" which is number one and "Forrest Gump" at number two.

For some reason people love drama, and they can talk about it for hours. As a teenage girl, I can definitely relate. Here are some reasons why people love drama:

1.  A distraction from focusing on their own lives

2.  Drama is something familiar

3. Chemicals released in anger can feel addicting

4. The drama might give one an exaggerated sense of importance

We all know that when people tell a story, it's boring unless there's some dramatic twist to it. So of course a movie all about drama would be a hit!

Dramatic movies keep the audience engaged and excited to see what is going to happen next. Without drama, life would just be boring. I know this because I am probably the most dramatic person ever, but hey, I keep things interesting!





References:


https://www.statista.com/statistics/188658/movie-genres-in-north-america-by-box-office-revenue-since-1995/
https://www.thetoptens.com/best-movies/
https://blogs.psychcentral.com/psychology-women/2014/08/some-people-love-conflict-and-drama/

Dramatic Beginnings

The best films come from a lot of planning and brainstorming... and we've been doing A LOT of that.

As my group and I sat down and started voicing our thoughts and ideas, we realized just how many different types of movies there were. They range from horror, mystery, comedy, drama, action and more, but It's more than that, its also the type of theme and style that goes into making a great film.

We flirted with different ideas and eventually decided drama would be the best. I mean think about it, four teenage girls are producing a film, so what better film to be made than a drama, the teenage girls strong suit?

We then started to think of what type of drama we would want to film, and what would be easiest. Although action drama is successful, proven in the new film Logan, it would be too difficult for four teenagers to film. We also discussed that a movie with a message is what drives an audience to watch a film. 

My group also discussed making a satire drama that was about the stereotypes of certain races and secretly addressing a bigger issue. We were also considering doing a dramatic film about an outsider breaking out of his or her shell and doing something great.

There's this film called Moonlight, was nominated for eight Oscars and ended up winning the Best Picture Award (no biggie right?). This film is a gay African American boy and his life growing up. When a movie has such a strong message, it will stay with a person forever, and that's the type of movie I would want to create.

As you can see we have our work cut out for us, but I cant wait to see where this leads!

References: 
"Logan (2017)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Murphy, Mekado. "What You Need to Know About 'Moonlight'." The New York Times. The

     New York Times, 08 Jan, 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.

Dreams: reality or still fantasy?

Hi! I’m Kaelin and this is an inside look at my struggles!

Well… hopefully it’s not a COMPLETE struggle.

 

To think that my whole entire life I dreamt of making a film… and now I have the chance! Boy am I in for a tough ride... and I'm taking you with me!

 

For as long as I can remember I have thought of quirky ideas for films, sometimes I would even wake up at night because I would have a new idea for a film. I use to go out in my backyard and sit in my fort and write. I would write out my thoughts, ideas for films, and sometimes I would even write songs. But of course now when I need that to happen, i’m blocked! Now I'm getting an inside look on how tough it is to be a director and a producer. 

 

Even though I know this process is going to be difficult, I can't wait to bring my group and I's imagination to life. Not only do I get to make a film, but I also get to do it with my friends right beside me. How cool is that?! Super cool, I know.

 

I have a lot of work cut out for me which is scary but exciting. Now that I've introduced my self a bit, the next step is PLANNING! The real question is, do I have what it takes? Lets find out!