Ladies and gentleman, it’s finally here. Jackie and I are so excited to present to you the FINAL CUT!!! We have worked so hard on this whole project and are so grateful that we have the chance to be able to show you the opening scene of our film “The Vanished”. Enjoy:)

In this video, I will be answering some questions about this project as a whole. Enjoy!

Transcript:

Hello everyone, my name is Grace VanBuren and this is my creative critical reflection on our opening scene of “The Vanished”. Before I begin to answer my questions, I would like to quickly thank you for keeping up with this film-making journey Jackie and I have worked so hard on. We are so happy with how our film is turning out and are so excited to share it with you. First off, I would like to refresh you on whatour film is about. The Vanished is a dramatic thriller that takes place at Zephyr Park in Zephyrhills Florida. On one bright and sunny day, a mom and her three year old daughter are at the park and the toddler is playing on the playground. The mother gets sidetracked by her phone and loses attention of the child. Sawyer, who is the three year old girl, is just happily playing on the playground by herself having a good time. Grace, her mother, is still on her phone not paying attention to Sawyer. Moments pass by and a large white truck pulls into the parking lot. A suspicious man gets out of the truck and slowly walks towards the playground that Sawyer is playing on. The film goes on with Grace still being on her phone and the suspicious man eventually walking away, with Sawyers hand in his. The mother then looks up to check on her daughter, and she is no where to be found.

Now that I have explained to you what takes place in this opening scene, I would like to answer the first question which is- “How do your products use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social groups or issues?” Starting off with mise-en-scene, the main character, Sawyer, was dressed in a simple playtime dress. This is an outfit most three year old girls would wear. The mother, Grace, was dressed in a casual mom-like outfit, wearing a simple white blouse paired with jeans and sandals. The kidnapper was dressed in all black, wearing a black longsleeve shirt, jeans, boots, a baseball cap, and dark sunglasses to blur his identity. We made his character wear black in order for him to stand out and set off more of a suspicious vibe for the audience. As seen in many other dramatic thrillers about kidnappings, the kidnapper almost always has darker clothes on and accessories like a baseball cap and dark sunglasses to hide his/her face. The person being kidnapped in other movies as well is almsot always wearing something casual, like what people would wear on a daily basis. As for lighting, Jackie and I kept it natural lighting just to give the ‘taken out of broad daylight’ cliche theme that most kidnapping films portray. We wanted to keep this film as realistic as possible to show our audience how it is so common for these types of tragedies to take place in the real world. Jackie and I pretty much used the objects that were already at the park as props such as the playground being used so the toddler could play on it. However, the one prop that really created a deep meaning in our film was Grace’s cell phone. We want our audience to see how distracting it can be and what can happen if we get distracted while being on it. Moving on to cinematography, we kept it pretty simple throughout the whole opening. Jackie and I used a lot of wide angle shots to capture the whole setting. We wanted to get Sawyer playing on the playground and Grace being on her phone in one whole shot. We did however have some zoom-ins of Sawyer playing on the playground to show her actions. Since Jackie was the director and camera operator, she wanted to follow Sawyer around in some shots to almsot get her point of view as she was playing. Another important shot we took was the over-the-shoulder shot of the kidnapper which showed him stalking Sawyer. It is typical in many dramatic thrillers about kidnappings to have an over-the-shoulder shot taken behind the kidnappers to show the audience what they are looking at and their point of view. For editing, Jackie and I both worked on this together. We included cut and fade-out transitions to help us establish a change in setting. We kept the sound simple and decided to not include dialogue because we felt that it was not very necessary to include in the shots that we used. In the first half of the film, we used a calm and peaceful song and I slowed it down a little just to make it even more calmer. For the second half of the film when the truck pulls up, thats when we used  suspensful sound effects to change the mood. As for titles, we wanted to keep them simple because the film starts off calm and chill. Moving on to social groups and gender representation, we had two females as the everyday normal characters to show their delicacy and innocence. As for the kidnapper who was a male, we wanted to have his character as stronger and overpowering the small toddler. This can be represented in other kidnapping movies such as the 2013 dramatic thriller The Call.

The next question is- “How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed as real media products?” We chose the production company WWE Studios to produce our film. This company has produced dramatic thrillers such as The Call. Jackie and I wanted to choose a production company that has produced other dramatic thrillers so we would receive our desired quality content. We would advertise our film in movie theaters by putting up posters, or even creating a series of trailers to show our audience what would take place in our film. Speaking of audience, we made our movie PG-13 so it would be 13 years old and up. We made it for this younger audience as well because we want to show everyone these scary events that can really take place in our world today.

Question number three is- “How did your production skills develop throughout this project?” At the beginning of class, I did not know really any terms concerning film and media. However, with the help of my teacher Mr. Engle and all of the assignments he gave us to improve our knowledge I was definitely able to grasp this information better. When it came to this project, I had known most of the terms needed to complete it so it was pretty much a fun activity for me. Through completing this whole project, I learned that preparing for a film like gathering your knowledge on the media terms and the technology needed can be a little tricky just because it is a lot to have at once. During the process, it was fun to blog and be able to film somewhere we were familiar with. In the end, putting together all of this information and final touches of production and shooting was the best part because we felt so accomplshed. Planning this film was simple due to the fact that Jackie and I like the same genre which is obviously dramatic thrillers. Drafting was simple because we already had in our minds what we wanted to do. Directing and shooting was also pretty simple because we wrote our script exactly how we were going to shoot and everything worked out perfectly. As for revising, editing and sound this was the trickiest part for us. Because I am a perfectionist, editing had to be on point with the transitions and the sound had to fit perfectly. Jackie had picked the beginning song in the film and I at first did not like it. However it grew on me and I had the idea of including the suspenseful sound effects which enhanced the eerie mood.

The final question is- “How did you integrate technologies in this project?” Jackie and I used her iPhone 11 Pro Max to film the whole opening scene which allowed crisp quality and smooth movements. We used my MacBook Pro to edit the film on the iMovie software that is downloaded on my computer. We both have had experience with iMovie so it was not a huge struggle to edit the film as a whole. To use iMovie, all we had to do was take the clips we shot from filming and place them in order on the iMovie movie maker. From there, we were able to add transitions, sound, and mess with the coloring. After using all of this technology, I learned that it takes time and patience to be able to achieve a nice quality film. All in all, completing this whole project was a great learning experience and really expanded my knowledge on media and film.

As for sounds, Jackie and I came to an agreement that we wanted to keep a song and sound effects on the whole time. We preferred to not do dialogue just because we really did not need it with what our whole film was showing. In the first half of the film, we wanted the tone to be peaceful and calm. We chose the song “Crowded Places” by Banks for this mood. On iMovie, I slowed the song down a little bit to almost give it that slow, suspenseful effect but at the same time still calm and peaceful. However, when the truck pulls into the parking lot thats when the whole mood starts to change. We used the sound effect called “tension and suspense” from iMovie that gave the film a more suspenseful and eerie feel to it. I also slowed it down quite a bit just to give it a more chilling effect. For color correction, we kept the coloring the same throughout the whole first half of the film where the song “Crowded Places” was playing. It was bright and we felt that we did not really need to change the color of it. Although, starting from the shot where the white truck pulls in and the suspenseful music starts, I changed the rest of those shots to a cooler more blue tone to give a grey and darker effect. This would allow the audience to be able to sense that something bad is about to happen.

As shown in this screenshot while editing on iMovie, you can see the crowded spaces audio at the bottom as the thick green bar. The small turtle in the middle shows that I slowed this audio down as well. In the top left hand corner is the audio named “tension and suspense” that I chose from the iMovie sound effects.

These two screenshots are the same shots but at different points in the film. The first shot of the playground was taken from the beginning while the “Crowded Spaces” song was playing and the tone was calm and peaceful. As you can see, the coloring of this shot is brighter and more vibrant. However, in this second shot, this was taken during the second half of the film when the tension and suspense sound effects were playing. The coloring is more grey and dull which adds to the more eerie and suspenseful mood.

For our title, we decided to keep it simple because we did not want to add too much suspense for this part. We kept the words white because our film starts off happy while the toddler is simply just playing on the playground. As for transitions, we made some of them cuts and some of them fade outs. We did not use any crazy transitions, we just wanted to keep them simple because we were not too worried about them. Our main focus was to convey the message of the opening scene. However, we did use a couple of special effects that emphasized the whole meaning. We did make the one shot of the kidnapper walking away with the toddler in slow motion to emphasize what was actually taking place at that moment. Also, we did use zoom in shots a lot that gave a closer look into what was going on. We thought it was interesting that when we moved in closer with the iPhone camera, the movement in almost looked like a dolly zoom because the camera movements as well as Jackies movements were so smooth and perfect.

This fade out transition between two different shots really left a nice effect that helped separate the setting so it wasn’t just a harsh cut. The first shot was of the mom walking around, talking on her phone, and losing attention of her daughter. It then fades out to another shot of the parking lot with the white truck pulling in a parking space. The transition helped enhance the change of locations.

Throughout the process of editing, Jackie and I wanted to really relay back to our audience the meaning of the film by the tone of it. The whole meaning of this film was created by the characters, costumes, and mood. I played the mom of the toddler in the film. I was dressed in a basic mom outfit-a white blouse, simple jeans and sandals. Amzie (Sawyer) was dressed in a simple little outfit that most younger girls wear her age. The stalker was dressed in all black with a baseball cap and sunglasses on. This creates meaning by really emphasizing that the mom and daughter are normal everyday people and the kidnapper was the one who was dressed suspicious. The face reaction of the mom was confused because her daughter was not in sight. She really did not have time for a dramatic reaction because she had just looked up from her phone. She did not even see her daughter walking away with the kidnapper. “The Vanished” title was chosen because the whole purpose of the opening scene was the girl ‘vanishing’ out of plain sight because her mom did not know what happened to her. We wanted to end with a cliffhanger.

As seen in this screenshot from the film, Grace’s face does not show terror, she just looks confused because she just looked up from her phone and did not see her daughter.

During this shot in the film, I made it in slow motion to really emphasize the fact that this man is taking the little girl. The toddler is clueless as to what is going on so that’s why she is not in distress. We wanted to show the audience how easy it is for people to do this in the real world. People need to be so careful and not take their eye off of their children anywhere and everywhere.

Jackie and I did make a few revisions to our projects that were not very major. We had to go back to the park one other time to shoot more clips for the first shots that introduce the credits for the film. They were just shots of the setting so we did not need Amzie or her dad to be in them. We also had some bloopers that we had to take out because they did not really fit in. There were also some other shots that we had taken of Amzie and she kept looking into the camera. Or, she would just stop playing and start saying something to us which was pretty comical. Other than that, we did not really have many ‘funny’ clips.

This credit introduction is a screenshot from our rough cut. Jackie and I decided that it looked kind of plain just having a black screen to introduce the credits and then going to the film. We wanted it to look more smooth and put together.

We decided to introduce the setting while the credits were addressed at the same time. This allowed it to be more smooth and look like most films. Also, if you look at the times in both of the videos, you can see that the rough cut was 2:59 and the final cut was 2:45, so we trimmed a lot of the film down.

Filming this opening scene and having to keep up with all of these blogs was definitely a learning experience. Jackie and I both learned that scheduling to film is very important for us to be able to receive our desired opening scene. We had to set a day that worked out with everyones schedules as well as picking a clear and sunny day to film. While filming, we also found that stuff does not always work out the way we want it to and that we need to always have patience. For instance, if it was a bad shot or Amzie not cooperating correctly, we had to work with what we had. During the editing process, we also were introduced to a lot more tools on iMovie that we found out about. For instance, we did not know that you could change the coloring of the videos but we did soon find that out. Also, we learned more about the iMovie app as a whole which could benefit us in the future if we were to make any other films or create any videos.

This is also another screenshot that was taken from just a blooper in our film of me giving Amzie a high five. This was post filming and I was rewarding her for doing such a great job. Jackie and I took her to get some ice cream because she did so well during the filming process. We were very surprised with the way she acted.

There were a few difficulties that Jackie and I encountered throughout this project. Because we had a three year old act in our film, it was a little hard getting her to cooperate and do what we wanted her to do. For example, Amzie was very camera shy and was nervous to play while we were recording her. To help this, I played on the playground with her for a little bit just to get it off her mind. We kind of tricked her by me telling her that I was a little tired. She kept playing and that is when I told Jackie to start recording. She did see the camera, but it did not effect her which was a relief for us. As for picking the perfect day to film, this was a little tricky for Jackie and I. The weather had been gloomy and not very film-worthy. However, there happened to be one day that was supposed to be sunny and clear and it actually worked out with all of our schedules too. It only took one day to film which was a plus. One last difficulty we encountered was having the motivation to do this project as a whole. Since it is a lot of work, it is hard for us to have to motivation to get on the ball with it. However, with Jackie and I encouraging each other throughout the process, that has definitely worked out better.

Here is a picture of us getting ready to film. Since Amzie is only three years old, we had to give her a lot of direction on what to do while we start to film. Jackie and I made her role simple where she only had to play on the playground and then walk away with the ‘kidnapper’ who is her actual dad.

Here is a screenshot from a video we took while shooting. Amzie was not being compliant just because she was camera shy. I carried her and played with her on the playground for a little bit just do she would get used to it.

This is also another screenshot from a video we took. I had to run around with Amzie on the playground for quite a bit of time before we could actually start filming just her. Eventually we were able to get clips of just her without being camera shy. Some clips we filmed she would look straight into the camera and get shy again but we just worked with what we had.

To help Jackie and I get the idea of our opening scene, we used one movie in particular which influenced us to make this type of film. We used the 2017 dramatic thriller “Kidnap” as an inspiration for our opening scene. We used the idea of the park setting just because that is one of the main areas children can get kidnapped from. We were influenced to make this type of film due to the fact that it actually happens in the real world and is an ongoing problem. We also were influenced by the idea in “Kidnap” of the mom being distracted by her phone. Phones today have become a major distraction for everyone and have drawn us away from being able to participate in what is going on around us. Jackie and I decided to make the mom in our film distracted by her phone so that she loses focus of her child. This happens all of the time today and is one of the main causes of child abduction.

The first picture is a clip from “Kidnap”. It is the mother of the child playing on the playground sitting on the park bench. The second picture is a screenshot taken from “The Vanished” which is the mom also sitting on the park bench with her phone in her hands. This is when she becomes distracted.