Creative Critical Reflection

 The last piece, my CCR. I tried to talk about my entire thought process going into this film but still keep it concise. Topics I mentioned were my synopsis, social issues I wished to cover, the filming and editing process, past productions that helped me, and my distribution channels. I hope you can get a glimpse into my mind and dig deeper into what Caste Takes All really means to me. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey, bye!

CCR

Final Film

 I am beyond excited to share my final film: Caste Takes All. With months of planning, shooting, and editing, I am very satisfied with how everything came out. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it. Here it is finally! (make sure to choose 1080p60 for the best quality)

CASTE TAKES ALL

Wrapping up

Its finally over. I say it as if it is a bad thing but I am relieved to be wrapping up the production of my opening scene. I just filmed the rain scene, it was very simple. Ziya wakes up in the grass and looks at the sky, visually confused on how she got there (this will be explained later in the movie). This part was filmed so late because it never rained!! I waited weeks on end for there to be a storm and during that time I finished editing the parts I did have. Today, it finally rained and I ran outside as quick as I could and lay down on the grass. Some stills of the unedited pieces are featured below. 

But before I did this, I sent a rough cut to my teacher with only the shots so they could be analyzed. Before I edited, I wanted to make sure that the material I was working with was at least alright. After reviewing, I gained better ideas and some changes to make. 

So I found that the rain scene and sunny scene did not fit together. They were inconsistent and I couldn't just jam them together. To make this scene blend with my former shots, I edited a blinking effect. So Ziya is listening to Maahi yelling about how "the place, the people" are all good but then her eyes start blinking and they open to the thunderous sky. The blinking effect was difficult because I had to add an adjustment clip and then merge the eclipse node and then per every 5 frames, change the height and blur of the mergence. In the end it definitely payed off and elevated the complicity of my opening scene. 

Also I was iffy about what type of music to add. The sound chosen was a mix of nature sounds and white noise. I did not want to add lyrics of any kind because there is so much dialogue in my film and the scenes without it are short. I needed something that was natural and my rough cut helped me realize this. 

While finishing up my opening scene, I had to also be thinking about my creative critical reflection (CCR). This is where I could really explain my story and why I made the choices that I did. I focused on the 4 questions provided by Cambridge but also included experiences that were individual for me. The filming layout will look like this. I will start off with a synopsis of the story while sitting on a chair with the outdoors behind me. Then I will break down where my story falls in the social issues/ stereotypes category which will be filmed as an voiceover with insert shots of the final video. Next I will cover the specifics of production as a walk through of me talking about the tools and materials I used. Then another voiceover of my past projects like the music video and swedeing scene. Lastly, I will finish with distribution and exhibition in the same chair I started in.       

Credits

After arranging the shots into the correct order, the next step in the editing process was to add credits. I first created a document with the order in which the titles would appear and in which scene would they be placed. The scene opens with a wide-shot and my made up company's name: AK Films. I placed the credit in between both characters in the trail area to make it blend better. I chose the jitter effect for all the titles because it looks like how a child would scribble on paper yet also eerie. It fits the indie vibe of my film.

Each one of my titles were placed thoughtfully. For example, for "Cinematography by Ashleen Kaur", I put it right next to the closeup of me holding the camera because camera=shots=scenes=cinematography, you get it.

Next for the names of the characters I created a parallel between the two characters. In my introductory scene, the title is placed on the bottom left corner and in Ashveen's scene the title is placed in the bottom right corner. I used the rule of thirds to construct this sequence.

Again there was another important choice that I made. Rather than having the words pop up on the screen, I timed them to appear when an action occurs or the characters move so that they seem more apart of the scene. Like in the instance below, after the camera flashes, the words slowly appear in the space where the light was shone. 

Lastly, the biggest credit of them all, my movie title. I know that your not technically supposed to put it at the end of the opening sequence but it really could not fit anywhere. And I would make up for it with my reasoning. At the ending, Maahi is in the rain and distraught. When she gets up off the grass and walks away she feels like there is nothing left with her, that this place had finally taken it all away. And on the grass the words "Caste Takes All" will replace her. Pretty symbolic I think. 

Areas of Production

All four areas of production were visited. For mise-en-scene, we had a photography camera to hint towards Ziya's love for capturing important moments. The clothing was restricted to cream and white colors to create a feeling of innocence and youth as the characters are supposed to be on a trip to ease their problems back home. 

For cinematography, we utilized over the shoulder shots because there is a lot of dialogue in the scene but tried to keep the shots a little messy. This was an afterthought because when I watched back the takes, they did not fall into clear definitions of types of shots. So, to add more depth to the opening as well as make up for the shortage of cinematography, I decided to use the "forest" sequence as a flashback and develop a new scene of Ziya in the present. 

For sound, the mics gave pretty clear audio except for 2 clips that did not have any sound. This was because we filmed for two continuous hours so they ran out of charge without our knowledge. But to cover up that mistake too, the new clip that I will film will be put in the stead of those muted clips. As for BGM, the new scene will have rain in the background and the flashback will contain dainty background music that will disappear when the dialogue comes in. 

Finally for editing, I will mainly change the coloring. So for the forest scene, add a warm tone, and the rain one will be cool toned. Kind of to show the drastic difference in Ziya's mood in the two scenes. Of course, I will make sure to edit match cuts so they align smoothly and place credits throughout my opening scene.

Finally Filming

The day had come. Friday March 24th, 2023, the day I filmed my opening scene. We arrived to Markham park at 5:30pm , the perfect time for the sun to be warm and shining brightly, bringing a golden glare to the film. Since the scene takes place at one location and during a specific time period, we only had 2 hours to complete the filming. With over 93 videos in my camera roll and my phone at 9%, we finished at 7:30pm. Just enough time. 

Markham park is huge. It has aero flying plane fields, golf playing fields, sawgrass fields, but no flower fields. This was my first "oh" moment. After driving for about 10 minutes, I settled on a plot of land at the edge of water with tall trees standing near it through which sunlight peeked out. This would work, no white flowers in sight, but I would have to adapt. 

The sight was a little creepy to be honest. There was no one around except for this one person who was standing a hundred feet away and then threw a freezbee towards us. As the natural reaction, I picked it up and walked to hand it to him, until he waked over as well and told me it was a game. My second "oh" moment. Some golf puck throwing thing that occurs allover the park. I apologized for moving his impressive placement and moved on with my evening, while he walked further into the forest, throwing freebees. (now that I look back, I remember looking at the park map and seeing dots with point values, most probably the game that person was talking about). 

Moving on from that weird encounter, we set up camp, got the tripod situated, attached microphones (tried our best to conceal them), and ran over the script one more time. Filming was difficult. Since I was not behind the camera but acting into it, I had no idea how our shots would turn out. And I couldn't check each one after it was filmed, that would be unproductive. So I hoped for the best or something presentable. In theory, everything was thought out. Ashveen was wearing her white dress, I had the camera around my neck, Mitchell was steady with the phone. 

After I got home, I charged my dead phone and 2 hours later, I finally watched back the footage. Okay not bad, this shot is good, ooh nice lighting, wait, what happened here? My last "oh" moment. Well there were some problems to say the least but those will be unrevealed when I start editing. For now, this was my experience on the day of filming, Friday March 24th, 2023. 

Rehearsal

After multiple weeks of planning, preparation, and trial and error, I was finally ready to rehearse my opening scene with my cast members. I conducted a video call with the person helping me film, Mitchell Wagner, and the person acting with me, Ashveen Saini. 

We discussed our lines and did a run through of each scene. During the run-through, we changed the dialogue and added some improv so the characters could feel more natural to us. A main part of my opening scene was the growing tension between the two characters and to display that, Ashveen and I practiced using different movements and words. 

With me acting in the actual scenes, I could not film at my own discretion. So in the video call, I walked through the camera shots with Mitchell and explained the overall storyline. But he could interpret the scenes differently so we changed some of the formatting up. For example, new insert shots were added of me grabbing a phone or looking at the camera to create a variety of filming techniques. 

We practiced using the tripod, microphones, and photography camera so everyone could be comfortable with the materials on the day of filming.

Through this collaboration and rehearsal, I was exposed to new perspectives which would be vital in having the filming process run smoothly the next day.