Creative Critical Reflection

 Name: Isabel Reyes 

Creative Critical Reflection

1.     How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues? 

Our production uses conventions by addressing the concept of ageism. Ageism is the term for prejudice and discrimination that are based on age. Our commercial includes a toddler, who tries to apply the lipstick to herself but ultimately gets caught by her mother. We evoke a sense of innocence and immaturity that is frequently linked with toddlers and their tendency towards mischief, particularly when young girls attempt to act more maturely by experimenting with cosmetics. This can also be tied in with how young children/teenagers in general often try to behave older than they are. This social issue is what often leads to teenagers making bad decisions with bad consequences, like teen pregnancy. 

2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text? 

Our product engages with audiences by using elements in the commercial that people connect to. For example, we have a scene in which the toddler girl attempts to put on lipstick and then drops it when she is caught with it by her mom. This engages with the audience’s sense of humor and juvenility. We create a sense of innocence and immaturity, something which is always associated with toddlers and how they always mess around, specifically how toddler girls try to act older and try things such as cosmetics. This comedy captures the audience’s attention and engages them to watch through the end of the commercial. We plan on distributing the production as a real media text by uploading it to YouTube.

 

3.     How did your production skills develop throughout this project? 

My production skills developed through this project in various ways. In the beginning, I did not know anything about the film and the media. The closest I’ve connected to with media was watching movies, having no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Through this commercial, I first learned the vocabulary used in the film world and went through the planning that everyday filmmakers use. I had to put in the time to memorize and understand the meanings of all these words as I genuinely did not know much about the film world. When we began to plan, I realized exactly why filmmakers work a lot with teams and groups. We were able to collaborate and come up with ideas that would engage our audiences and make our commercial something people could connect to. When we created the storyboard, I realized its importance as we got to see how real filmmakers, like the ones of Toy Story, use the storyboard to help make their ideas come to life. When the filming process began, I noticed how simple changes, like angle changes, can alter the commercial for the better or worse and create a completely different dynamic. All in all, my overall knowledge developed immensely through this project.

 

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

 In terms of gear, the tripod, camera, and laptop served as our primary tools. The laptop we utilized to edit the production and make use of our scene plans/storyboard, the tripod that helped us with our tilt, and the camera throughout the whole movie. Microsoft Edge Video Editor was the program we employed. We used this editor to organize, speed up, and reduce our video footage. It also gave us access to a wide variety of music, among which we discovered an energetic song that perfectly complemented the production's tone. The last three slides of the advertisement were made using Canva and PicsArt.