The Creative Critical Reflection

     On Friday, we went over a new lesson in class. This lesson was on the creative critical reflection, the final portion of the portfolio project. I won't be able to answer any questions today, but I learned what I need to think about whenI answer these questions. (CCR = creative critical reflection)

    Before answering any of the questions, I need to reflect on my production. I would have to think about what I did well, but also what i feel was terrible, and would redo if given the time. After taking this into consideration I need to think about how I will create the CCR. It needs to be creative and there has to be two parts, which cannot use the same idea. Together, the CCR should be maximum 10 minutes long, with 7 minutes being ideal. I'm pretty sure one of them will be a presentation with a voiceover, as I'm somewhat good with creating presentations. I'm currently not sure about the other, but I'm leaning towards something like a director commentary.

    There are four main questions. I will now talk about the basic knowledge I require for answering them.

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

       The first thing I would need to do is discuss the conventions of my genre, which in this case is drama. After discussing this, I would need to discuss if I followed the conventions or not and why. It should end with talk about representation of groups, events, etc. For example, representing a certain group incorrectly could cause that group to believe the production was meant to discriminate them, thus causing them to not watch that movie.

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

        For this question, the best start would be discussing the specific target audience of the film and how I found it. After that, I should discuss how/why the decisions I made when producing the film engage the target audience. Furthermore, I would need to discuss how my project would be distributed to best suit the target audience. On top of this, I need to take into account that I am an amateur filmmaker. As a result, I can't just release my film on a streaming service or on the big screens.

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

        This question mostly serves as an overall reflection. I would need to reflect on every part of the project, focusing on things such as struggles and solutions to those struggles, especially big changes that I had to create in the middle of the production. I should offer specific details towards how I came up with the story. (Such as the inspiration) Finally, I should compare my knowledge from the beginning of the production to the end. Essentially, I need to show how i've grown throughout the project. I can even mention how knowledge from past projects within the class assist me with developing this one.

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

          I believe this last question is the simplest, as it is mainly discussing how technological resources I used within the project were used to assist me with creating the project. This would mean discussing the technologies I used (such as Blogger) and the problems that were fixed or created because of them. Another thing to discuss is if I had to learn any new technologies when putting together the project.

         There is also the final statement, In the final statement, I need to talk about everything I learned from the project. This would also involve discussing errors I made during the project and how I could remedy them. Near the end, I should give a closing synopsis on what I would improve on if given extra time.

         Finally, there are some things that should be incorporated throughout the entire project. It needs to be creative, so I should try to make everything personal, somewhat like how I've been treating the blog. I should also cite sources at every opportunity, as it not only shows that I did my research, but also shows that I'm not pulling facts out of absolutely nowhere. A script would also be beneficial when I record myself, as it just makes the entire video seems more professional, especially when I reference sources. Likewise there are some things that should never be included. The camera should not focus on a talking head too long, as it is incredibly boring and drastically decreases viewer engagement. The responses should not be boring as that goes against creativity. Finally, I should not wing anything. It never ends well and only hurts me in the end.

    With this knowledge, answering the questions should be significantly easier. Following the steps I discussed, I believe I am able to get a high score on the CCR, or at least pass. (I', still hoping for an A though)

    Make sure to stay tuned, as tomorrow's post will include the most up to date storyboard and go into depth of what I'm trying to accomplish with the introduction. Farewell, and I'll see you all next time!