Done, finally!

     Thus, lies here, my last shred of sanity to give. And welcome, the three new contestants for media production. (They would not get far, I assure you.) Each of the immediate links shown are all from google videos; however, access to different areas is at the bottom of this page.

    For the first and foremost issue child that I have created for your pleasure: "Happy Birthday Mallory"! Now, Happy Birthday Mallory is the opening of a new drama film! Please, enjoy my Film Opening!
Film Opening: Happy Birthday Mallory

    My next problem child is the Creative Critical Reflection #1 of the project. In this, questions about the film like "How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?" and "How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?" will be addressed. Please click the link below:

Creative Critical Reflection #1
    My last but not least problem child is the Creative Critical Reflection #2 of this project. In this video, questions like "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?" and "How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?" will be addressed. Please click the link below:

Creative Critical Reflection #2

If anything occurs, or just for comfort, here are some backups:

    For Film Opening:

                                    One Drive Access: Happy Birthday Mallory.mp4
                                    YouTube Access:  Happy Birthday Mallory

    For Creative Critical Reflection #1: 
                                    One Drive Access CCR 1.mp4

                                    YouTube Access: CCR #1

    For Creative Critical Reflection #2:
                                    One Drive Access: CCR #2

                                    YouTube Access: CCR #2

Final Reflections

     Ah, do you feel that? It is my soul returning to my body. All of this stress has been lifted. Now, I must recruit a faraway friend (thank you, faraway unnamed friend) to test my links to the project, submit the thing and this will all be over. Is this how my parents feel after they finish a big job? It must be.

    I am a person who likes to struggle, is it obvious? Because this entire project was a struggle, especially with the other jobs I have had to do for my other bosses. (I am a student with seven other classes, and I am not a great student in some of them. Cough, cough, chemistry, cough, cough). Besides the point that I figured out I do not have an affinity for filming; I have figured out that I actually struggle a lot more. I like struggle, to some degree, but this struggle was a painful struggle. A very painful struggle with the amount of time and effort that I had to put in while my liking for this video has slowly degraded. 

    A lot of reflections have been done, like the reflection of how to do any of this. I mean, I went into this project head-first with no idea of what I may be doing. How stupid of me to do that, I know. While there were times that I favored over others, talking to my dear customer and the minor editing portions here and there, there were other parts that I hated, the filming for example. 

    Have I grown as a person? Truthfully, a little bit.  If anything, I got much more judgy about certain things that I consume. A good trait? Perhaps, or perhaps not, depends on the person and situation I suppose. I also got a little pickier--I do not need to get pickier--about media that I consume. I like my gothic and western genres; I do not need to watch anything else if I do not want to. And it is probably not a good idea to film a genre of thing that I do not watch on a regular basis. 

    Anyways, are you done listening, I should say reading, my distaste? Because I am done typing, my fingers are aching. Have a great day, evening, and night! (OH, by the way. Both my final and your product are going to be posted today due to scheduling issues.)

    

Last Editing day.

     Whoopie, time is marching on dear friends. I am slowly finishing this thing off, slowly but surely. Anyways, today is my last coverage of any sort of editing. Why any sort of editing? Because I had a meeting with my boss this week and she told me to edit somethings to make this product better.

    Let us start off with a final thing that my main project has to be and has been fixed. The text, you know by now how much I have struggled with my credits' text coloring. So, everything is now in white. 

    Yay, it is readable now. I also miss my pink coloring, but somethings must be let go. Another thing that was fixed was the two ending shots of my clip. During my boss and I's meeting, I found out that the two ending shots were a bit elongated, I shortened them by a couple of seconds. Are I not glad that I made too much content? Because now I have officially made the parameter of two minutes exactly for the main project.

    Onto my CCRs, I have them all finished and edited. Fun, great. Nothing much else for me to do now, is there? Minus submit all of these after I vent to you my next post (wink, wink. Next post is me...you get it.)

    For the first CCR video, I have done a plethora of things. Edit all of the back and forth of each character speaking. The backgrounds sounds and all of that. 

    For the next CCR, I have done the same, albeit with much more visuals from my blog posts and main project. A lot more drawing as well, because yes. 

Anyways, big posts are coming up tomorrow. For example, your product will be off of my hands. 

Moar Production!

     Alright everyone, your favorite merchant has arrived! And with more CCR production things, to be exact. I have finished all of my recordings (thank all above I wrote that script. It would have been hell without it.) I finished it early too! But anyways, you probably want to see my beautiful raw footage, so I shall section this off for yours and my benefit when I eventually have to edit this all together.

    The "jeopardy master's" section is this down below. I may have gotten on my ma's nerves with how loud I had to be when filming this (for that eccentric look of course) but besides that, it went well. Oh yeah, by the way this video was a bit weird in one of the clips. I will edit that tomorrow

CCR #1 UNFINISHED

    Under here is the raw filming for  my other Creative Critical Reflection. Please do understand that this is all that I have filmed without any editing in of any photos or videos. So, it really does look like a talking head. And I do suggest speeding that up, the videos I mean.
CCR #2

CCR Production

     Today was a day of production. And a quick one at that because I have several other things that require my attention. Now, I am unable to show you each clip as they are very-very small and my computer is weird about downloading small videos, but this is what most of my clips that I recorded looks like. I had recorded Daisy's lines in the first CCR video.

Part of Daisy's Portion of CCR Video

    My plan for the future is to record segments of each video when I am able over this next week, editing in between when possible. Like, during the week, I will finish up filming. (I have half of Thursday off and Friday completely off from my general day, that is when I would probably finish up video stuff). Over the weekend I will finish editing up these CCRs and get all of you the final product! 

CCR Thoughts (4 out of 4) and Finalization of Scripts

     This is the last of the last of questions. Make that sentence make sense brain named Brian (shush, I may be tired). Anyways, introducing "How did you integrate technology (software and hardware) into your project?" Simple really, I used it. 

    Besides that, I used a small plethora of things. Blogger, to start, after all you are reading my thoughts and complaints through this app, and this is where I am going to be giving you my final product. I have used this technology for as far back as August twenty-nineth, but for this project it was how I started. I have made a total of twenty-four--not counting this one--all about my project. 

    Another software I used is Clipchamp. This is what helped me put together my videos and adjust certain settings to my liking. Each shot and adjustment that I showed in my editing area came straight from Clipchamp. (Refreshers below of somethings that was done in this program.)

    The last piece of software that I used was Gmail. pretty self explanatory when I have to import all of my videos to my Gmail to get them to my computer and what not. That in itself took a hot minute to get finished, uploading takes a long time. Besides software, what hardware did I use?

    There were pretty self explanatory things, like my phone for filming and computer for editing. Other things like my surroundings and a ladder were used to help me film. Remember that whole dilemma, I am bringing it back up right now. Mainly because it was so hard to try and figure out how to do the start of my introduction without any help. I did not have any equipment either, so my stand for that day was a ladder and a measuring cup. Hooray...

 

    My script section is finally finished; this may be a rough sketch, but it has the lines I will most definitely use.

For video number 1, the (Questions 1 and 2, the jeopardy video that obviously just one person playing jeopardy with different voices) : 
    
    Jeopardy Master: "Welcome back contestants to the all time greatest jeopardy show of all time! Today we will be asking a questionnaire about the new and upcoming movie: Happy Birthday Mallory! Introducing our first contestant: Gregory!"

    Gregory: [clapping and background cheering] "Hello, I am so happy to be on this show!"

    Jeopardy Master: "Our second contestant

 who is currently joining us from work: Daisy!" 
    
    Daisy: [Waving her hands] "An honor!" 

    Jeopardy Master: "Anyways; let us get on with the show! Our first contestant, Gregory, will be starting us out today! Gregory, please pick from one of the five questionnaire's shown!" 

    Gregory: "Alright, let us start with genre $10." 

    Jeopardy Master: [Reading from the card under genre of $10] "What specific genre is the movie Happy Birthday Mallory from? And for extra points, can you list off the conventions that go with it?" 

    Daisy: "Hah! Teen drama! Conventions are: teenage experiences, interpersonal conflict, identity crisis, and stereotypical families."

    Jeopardy Master: "Correct Daisy, $10 to you! However, there is a catch. This movie, introduces one of the stereotypes as being slightly changed. Which is it?"

    Gregory: "The stereotypical family is changed to the slow push of a family member out of the family."

    Jeopardy Master: "Thank you Gregory. Daisy's money is now split! Gregory and Daisy are both tied with $5 each! Daisy, next question please"

    Daisy: "Target Audience, $5."

    Jeopardy Master: "What is the target audience of Happy Birthday Mallory?"

    Gregory: "Women aged 18 to 29! Each with an interest of a lack of overcomplications in life or watching this as an escape to a simpler time."

    Jeopardy Master: "Congratulations Gregory! You just bumped yourself up to $10. Gregory, please choose one more!"

    Gregory: "How about Engagement $20?"

    Jeopardy Master: "Alright, how does Happy Birthday Mallory engage with audiences?"

    Daisy: "Through making a simple problem look lonely, of course. I mean, a girl setting up for her own party is lonely and sad enough, package it like a small problem, and suddenly there is an emotional heart throb."

    Jeopardy Master: "Good job Daisy, $20 to you! Now, would you mind picking a question?" 

    Daisy: "Nope, not at all. Let Gregory try a $20 distribution question."

    Jeopardy Master: "Gregory, Daisy is asking you about how Happy Birthday Mallory will get distributed?"

    Gregory: "Uhm, Amazon TV, Apple, Netflix, and theaters?"

    Jeopardy Master: "Oof, sorry Gregory. You are partially correct, however, theaters is not an option for a small company made movie. Although, Amazon TV, Apple and Netflix are all good answers for a small company movie, so is YouTube. Each are available for distribution of a small company movie. Gregory, you get $10 dollars for a partially answer. Anyways contestants, that is it for this round of jeopardy. Give your congratulations to Daisy for the win!" [End Clapping]

For video number 2, the (Questions 3 and 4 the interruption) I did change the introduction slightly as I am running out of space:

[Shaky Setup]

     Director: "Is this thing on? Ah, yes, hello world! I have come to you today to talk about my new project--" 

[A muffled unintelligible yell comes from afar. Character looks off screen.]

    Director: "I'm in the middle of something! It will only be a minute! Anyways--I have put a lot of time into this project which you will hear me ramble about-- I said I would take a minute!---With visuals."

[A text "Research and Planning]

    Director: By far my favorite part of this whole project; the research. Now I-the mighty Mistral Film (I know, play along)-shall show all the world of my new project. Thus, becometh the research that is drama and teenage girls--which I am totally not one.... Heh, anyways. Drama, which we all know from local literature like Shakespeare, is a relatable conflict based type of genre. People--like me--could relate to a teenage drama. Because I totally have had issues with my teenage life, is it not obvious?  But, it was quite easy to create a great idea of a drama movie, I have, after all, watched many introductions to teenage drama movies like Whiplash and Little Miss Sunshine. I also had thought, what would be a stereotypical thought of a teenage drama. Young girl, disapproving or ill-leading parents, confusion?  How about all of the above, and I have my movie idea.

[Add occasional popups and visuals where key words (I.E: Shakespeare) and correlate with visuals]

    Director: Anyways, what of this movie that I have created? It is named Happy Birthday Mallory. Tis a teenage drama of a young ill-guided girl trying to figure everything out, just as we all once were. Unless you're a man, then your a teenage boy trying to figure everything out. Same gist, same idea. Besides that, I came in with the idea of an confused type of introduction that delves deeper into the idea of an ill-guided girl. As all stated not even five minutes ago. Now, my main point was that Mallory and her mother would be introduced quite quickly with a consistent hard issue throughout the movie. That, is still present, but Mallory's mother is not introduced as quick as I would have thought. I do have the shots where it was going to happen, though it did not make the cut. At all, actually. So I cut it off when Mallory interrupts her mother. Now, the issues that would come in the actually movie production is finding actors and continuing the movie along without it becoming too slow. 
88
[Add occasional popups and visuals where key words and correlate with visuals. Use footage from video.]

Director: The movie starts out with confusion, of the main character and an asking of help. Throughout this entire movie will there be lead up to small fighting between a teenager and her emotionally gone parents. Slowly figuring out that her parents are not good people with a catalyst (like experiencing friends' parents and slowly realizing what adults usually act like) to show her this way. That the dismissal of her needs are not a thing that any parent should be doing. The ending will have a dramatic ending. As such with any drama movie and dramaticism. An ending with the interruption of some sort of child services that she herself called--her own form of pushing away from a neglectful household. 

[Add occasional popups and visuals where key words and correlate with visuals. Use footage from video, same thing as before.]

Director: One thing that was learned. Do not use dark pink text on a light background unless you boost up the warmth to actually be able to read it. Because tell me that you can read any type of pink text on a white background, tell me the truth. Another thing I learned, I am not good at making movies, not even as passionate as I thought I would be at it. Maybe I was just made for a life of crime; a life of interrupting regular weather reporters to vent out my issues... Or maybe a life of riddles and puzzles, who knows? 

CCR Thoughts (3 out of 4)

     The topic of today's grandeur: "How does production evolve over the movie"? We as a group of one-just me-will be answering the question that I have been practically answering throughout my entire production process and now I can vent my feelings straight form my feeler. (I am not apologizing for that sentence). To remember: italicized is what will be talked about directly. And I am making questions 3 and 4 out of a villain/nuisance's perspective, hence the corniness.

1) Research Process
    By far my favorite part of this whole project; the research. Now I-the mighty Mistral Film (I know, play along)-shall show all the world of my new project. Thus, becometh the research that is drama and teenage girls--which I am totally not one.... Heh, anyways. Drama, which we all know from local literature like Shakespeare, is a relatable conflict based type of genre. People--like me--could relate to a teenage drama. Because I totally have had issues with my teenage life, is it not obvious? I mean I am here, doing this to a weather station.... But, it was quite easy to create a great idea of a drama movie, I have, after all, watched many introductions to teenage drama movies like Whiplash and Little Miss Sunshine. I also had thought, what would be a stereotypical thought of a teenage drama. Young girl, disapproving or ill-leading parents, confusion?  How about all of the above, and I have my movie idea.
2) Approach/Issues/Adaptation
    What of this movie that I have created? Tis a teenage drama of a young ill-guided girl trying to figure everything out, just as we all once were. Unless you're a man, then your a teenage boy trying to figure everything out. Same gist, same idea. Besides that, I came in with the idea of an confused type of introduction that delves deeper into the idea of an ill-guided girl. As all stated not even five minutes ago. Now, my main point was that Mallory and her mother would be introduced quite quickly with a consistent hard issue throughout the movie. That, is still present, but Mallory's mother is not introduced as quick as I would have thought. I do have the shots where it was going to happen, though it did not make the cut. At all, actually. So I cut it off when Mallory interrupts her mother. Now, the issues that would come in the actually movie production is finding actors and continuing the movie along without it becoming too slow. Unlike this so-great-weather report. 
3) Start to End
    The movie starts out with confusion, of the main character and an asking of help. Throughout this entire movie will there be lead up to small fighting between a teenager and her emotionally gone parents. Slowly figuring out that her parents are not good people with a catalyst (like experiencing friends' parents and slowly realizing what adults usually act like) to show her this way. That the dismissal of her needs are not a thing that any parent should be doing. The ending will have a dramatic ending. As such with any drama movie and dramaticism. An ending with the interruption of some sort of child services that she herself called--her own form of pushing away from a neglectful household. 
4) What was learned?
    One thing that was learned. Do not use dark pink text on a light background unless you boost up the warmth to actually be able to read it. Because tell me that you can read any type of pink text on a white background, tell me the truth. Another thing I learned, I am not good at making movies, not even as passionate as I thought I would be at it. Maybe I was just made for a life of crime; a life of interrupting regular weather reporters to vent out my issues... Or maybe a life of riddles and puzzles, who knows? 

Anyways, how did you like this, dear reader? Because I think I am getting the feel of "eccentric nuisance" very well. I like this broad spectrum for a script. Don't you? Anyways, have a fun day!

CCR Thoughts (2 out of 4)

     Okay so, this is my check in two of "How to work a Creative Critical Reflection", and I think I have got this down. Today's question is "How does the product engage with the audience?" and "How is this product going to be distributed as a real product?" (Of course this is a real product, but if it were a movie premiere is what was meant.) Now, let us dissect what I should be saying to well-established gentle (wo)men such as yourselves. By the way, most of this is going to be pulled from past posts and will definitely be used for the actual videos in the CCR. So, the italicized stuff is definitely stuff that will be in the videos word for word. The extra is extra that I will not be concerned with adding.

1) The target audience. 
    This is a must when I am talking about engagement with audiences. To stop dancing around the bush:
my target audience with a teen-drama (or really any drama audience) is women from age eighteen to twenty-nine. Each with the similar interest of a lack of overcomplications in life, escapism to a simpler time. 

2) Actual Engagement
    So, how does my product engage with the audience, thou might ask? Through the initial feel of a simple problem, of course! That simple problem being the making of a birthday, my main character's own of course. This is supposed to represent the loneliness that some teens can feel in their life. That and the fact that teens are indecisive at times, even in simple issues such as where a sign should go. 

3) Distribution
    Let's be real here, there is no way that a short film from a small company will ever hit the big screens for an elongated amount of time if any at all. Not unless some miracle occurs or a ton of money is paid. So, realistically thinking, I would probably post this right onto the Youtubes. I would also put it on a paid platform like Amazon and Apple TV, low chances I could get it on Netflix if I tried. I chose Amazon and Apple for a reason, one being that both of them are widely used and very marketed at this point. Thou may be wondering, why does one not use Fandango? Because I am not planning for my movie to be theatrical. If it does in a very long-long shot, there may be a late release to Fandango, but otherwise no.

4) CCR Production 
    So, I will definitely be using the Jeopardy style of CCR that I talked about last time to answer questions 1 and 2. The back and forth of me going in and out of a character's costume is still an idea that I hope I could do if the time of my schedule allots it. Pulling the questions that I had pronounced before and added more like "Why would the movie Happy Birthday Mallory not be shown on Fandango?" (I actually will put that in my finalized script. Thank you brain).

Helpful Citations In A Lovely (APA) Format:
Vecchi, L. (n.d.). Target Audience [Pre-Production]. Media Coursework Project. WordPress. https://larave.wordpress.com/as-coursework/target-audience-research/  Cope, R. (2025, July 18). Why are women over 30 so obsessed with teenage TV dramas? Harper’s Bazaar. https://harpersbazaar.com.au/why-are-we-obsessed-with-teen-dramas/

Yennie, B. (n.d.). What platforms should I release my movie on? Guerrilla Rep Media. https://www.theguerrillarep.com/blog/what-platforms-should-i-release-my-movie-on

Editing Continuations:

    Anyways, since I finished my video clips yesterday (I am still very great full mother) now it is time to continue my editing. Whoopies, did I use that correctly? Is "whoopies" even an expression that is still used anymore? Back on track Duke (if I had a penny for every time I wrote that, I'd have more than one).

    So, editing is not my favorite, I have come to realize. I have to manually do many things, per this is how work would do. Rah! I ain't even getting paid! Back on track Duke. I am going to section this out into tiny little areas on how this was done. 

1. Filter Section
    Remember me complaining about my filter issues, I am still going to do that. I have to manually change the temperature and saturation, so it is not the same look throughout each shot. I confirmed with my mother, but she does not see the difference. There is only so much I can do, sadly. Now that I finished this part, the only real difference between warm and cool tones was the fact that the ending of my introduction. I changed the warm tone to a cooler tone 

2. Video Time and Sound
    Remember how I went over the time limit, I had to cross out a ton of video cuts. So, you will not actually meet Ma as a character. The only time she is referenced is in the "family photo" with all the mother's side of the family minus Mallory (I found that photo and precariously placed it in a while filming) and when Mallory actually seeks out her mother at the end. (I feel like this movie would be a very slow movie to watch-woops). 

    A minor mention of the sound is that I had to boost just about every shot up in the overall sound so you could actually hear the character speaking, even if in slight mumble to herself.

3. Credits
    The credits are pretty much the best thing I am doing right now. Though some look awkward, it fits in right enough for me. The only issue I am currently debating is the color of my text. I like the title, it is supposed to be colorful and happy, being atop the brownie like the sprinkles. That is not my concern though, the rest of the credits' color is freaking me out a little bit. I want it to be pink, much like Mallory's dress, but I had to make it darker so you can actually read it. That color is throwing me off, but I cannot find another one. I will give an update if I change it, but 50/50 if I actually do that while I tweak everything.

Now, this ends me off with the phase of tweaking just about anything I want until I feel like I am finished. All tweak which I will try to tell all of you about. Anyways, have a good-day/evening/night!