Planning My Creating and Critical Process
As you may be aware from my other posts, I have a film in progress. I wanted to share my “CCR plan” with you all!
The title sequence uses some genre conventions because of how the words fade in, but mystery genre title sequences often have different shots shown for each credit or title, which mine does not. Some credits share the same shot. For this sequence, I decided to use cuts that would transition well: cutting from the character Grey’s eyes in one shot to her eyes in the next and using the sound of sizzling bacon as a transition to cut to the next shot. These decisions were to help the transition or cut be smoother and have more meaning.
This clip here shows what I mean by this:
The mystery genre also usually represents a man as the one solving the mystery. I did not follow this, instead I went more for something like Enola Holmes or even Barbie. The struggles of women are shown in these films, much like how they will be shown in “The Man of Her Dreams.”
It is also not uncommon for mystery movies to have either flashbacks or dream sequences that give off hints to help solve the mystery, and in this case, I used multiple dream sequences throughout the whole movie, with one right at the beginning to set that as an important factor of the film.
When I first imagined the movie, I imagined the use of sound to play a major role in the film. Using what I previously knew about media companies, I was able to make an estimated prediction of the best studios to choose from. Once I did my research on Universal, Warner Bros., etc, I was able to decide on Warner Bros. because of their use of sound in projects to promote their ideas. Personally, my favorite director is Christopher Nolan, so naturally I wanted conventions of my film to be similar to his. Nolan is also known to be involved with Warner Bros., so if my movie was similar to his style, then it would also be a good fit. This wouldn’t be the first movie by Warner Bros. to have dreams involved since Inception is all about dreams as well. Also, the Barbie movie was distributed with Warner Bros. and has themes such as womanhood, which would be similar to ‘The Man of Her Dreams’ with how the main character, a woman, is treated during her adventure to solve the mystery involved with the man in her dreams. For these reasons, the film will be distributed with the help of Warner Bros. and be viewable on Max (formerly HBO Max) primarily. Marketing and advertising will be done mainly on social media, including release dates of the trailers and the final film product, where the target audience is more likely to find it. The scrolling aspect of social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram allows endless content to be fed to consumers, including advertisements.
When the trailer is released, commercials will be added to the list of advertising for the film, available to be found in commercial breaks for other shows and movies alike as well as in ads before YouTube videos. This will help reach the target audience, which would be primarily adult women, especially those who don’t feel listened to or understood. Though the product is open to everyone and is highly encouraged to be watched by anyone, younger women would feel more drawn to the film because the main character is a woman who struggles with how people perceive her, especially men. She lives an average life which is evident in the beginning during her transformation from joy to being unsatisfied by reality, much like the average person. This allows people to relate to the character and make a personal connection to keep them engaged. It would also appeal to older audiences because they may still experience this or have in the past.
I became better at filmmaking in many aspects. I learned to move the camera more smoothly and steadily when recording anything, even in daily life separate from any projects. I also was able to use editing to change the film to look how I wanted to even if the shots taken were slightly limiting the results. This changed from earlier in the year when I used a clip repeatedly to fill up time rather than now where I can slightly slow some clips down to an unnoticeable or fitting extent so the time is met more easily. This is especially helpful when some scenes were supposed to be slowed anyway for cinematic effect. I became a better director throughout the process, quickly learning that I couldn’t be so vague and that I had to be very specific when telling the actors what to do.
I also learned more about the process from beginning to end. I had to learn to put together an idea that was not only something I liked but one I could execute. I then had to put this on paper, forcing me to choose between some aspects that I hadn’t quite settled on yet. I had to learn and accept that I had to make final decisions. Not only did I experience mental growth, but I also learned more about the equipment I was using. I learned how to operate a phone camera better and how to be smoother when recording. I also learned how to use CapCut Premium, a film editing program, and familiarize myself with its features. This especially helped because the microphone I was using was just the one on my phone. I learned how to overlay sound and how to design a convincing weather report. But specifically about the process, I learned that products won’t always be what you imagine them to be, and that is ok.
When planning, I first thought about a schoolgirl being the main character, but I soon figured that would conflict with some plans I had for the film, so I went with a young adult with a job. Luckily, I have an older sister who I shared friends with so I knew someone who matched this description and would be willing to be in my film. She also has a boyfriend which made casting for the man in her dream easier, since they came as a package deal. Prior to this, my dad and I agreed that he could be the weatherman, so my dad put on his suit and he talked about the weather. I had to remember that, while directing, the actors do not see the same vision as I do, so I had to be as specific as possible when telling them what to do.
These are reasons why I will leave the class a more skilled, knowledgeable filmmaker than I was at the start. Learning all I learned from my teacher and observing my classmates’ projects, I was able to improve my strategies and update the process in which I had created films. It also gave me ideas and more knowledge on the process and how to execute it.
For the project, the only equipment I used was my iPhone, and of course, my TV so I could play the weather portion that was previously recorded as if the actress was watching it too. Other than that, my iPhone 14 was used for sound, camerawork/cinematography, editing, and essentially the whole process from start to finish, using the default settings that are given on an iPhone.
The software I used was CapCut Premium to edit the film. I also used a website called Pixabay to find sounds to use throughout the film, such as the alarm, the opening music, and the high-pitched ringing.
By using my iPhone, the editing process was more complicated than it needed to be but also simpler at the same time. I find it easier to take out my phone and start editing when I need to rather than going to my computer and having to plug it in and use it. Despite the screen being smaller, I’m already accustomed to using my phone and it’s always by my side anyway. This also made it easier to edit because I didn’t have to transfer any shots from my phone to my computer, it was all done on one device so worsening visual quality wasn’t a factor I needed to worry about. I also quickly learned the hard way that audio quality is poor when filming from my iPhone, but I decided to roll with it. Thankfully, the premium version of CapCut allowed me to remove unwanted sound and kept my project going as intended.
Here is an example of how I was able to cut out unwanted sound and how I edited it overall:
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