Critical Reflection

•  How do your products represent social groups or issues?

 Our products represent an issue that has been fought for many generations and different social groups. The issue is that of people feeling as if they cannot "change their future". Many people feel as if their future is set in stone, especially after they perform a singular misintended act. For example, students may feel like they should just give up on becoming their dream career because they can't pass one particular class. Or adults give up on "finding their soulmate" because they aren't married by the age of 30. These examples of people giving up on their future happen way too often, and it is portrayed within our film, Wednesday Drive. April, the main character, deals with having to relive the same day over and over again until she realizes that she can change her future by just doing something differently. This happens very often in everyday life, people go through the motions of life doing the same thing over and over, concerned that changing anything will disrupt their comfort. But, doing one thing differently or beginning one new activity daily can drastically affect your life for the better, and the main character April notices this. This realization allowed her to exit the endless loop that she was warped into. Many people within their day-to-day lives need to come to this realization as well. The feeling of being "stuck" in life is common amongst many people, but it can be changed by just having the mindset that you are in control of your own future so that means that you yourself can change it.

• How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding?

   The elements of our products worked together to create a sense of branding by working towards making our product mysterious. Our product is a mystery film with hints of suspense so it should contain mystery along with suspense. To portray these elements, through the film we began by starting off as a regular film. The audience is completely clueless as to what is going to come by the music and regularity of the scenes. As the film progresses, a sense of suspense is instilled because curiosity will strike the viewers as they wonder what is actually going on. Then the repetition of scenes will add the mysterious effect to the film which is the brand that we were aiming for. We also portrayed our branding of mystery through our other production efforts. On our postcard, we created a sense of mystery with the color scheme along with the images we used. On the front of the postcard, an empty street within the grayscale color scheme is shown. This adds a sense of mystery to the postcard which is what was being aimed for. Along with that, on the back of the postcard, a fast-motioned sop sign is shown which would leave the viewer wondering what that means, which contributes to the mysterious/suspenseful branding we were aiming for. Also, on the website, the color choice is along the dark scale, continually contributing to the mysterious/suspenseful branding. Lastly, the title of the short film contributes to the branding within itself. "Wednesday Drive" is mysterious due to the fact that there is no background context as to why this is the name of the film. It isn't easily decodable so the only way to figure out what/how it relates to the film is to watch the film which is a reason that the mysterious branding is the route we chose to go.

• How do your products engage with your audience?

    To engage with our audience, we used a variety of different methods. Firstly, we opened and designed 2 social media accounts. This was done to reach the younger, more in touch with technology generation as they are our main focus group. We created an Instagram account with the same username as the film to ensure that our audience would find it with ease. We post behind-the-scenes shots along with updates on the film and the bio contains the release date of the film. We do this to ensure that the audience feels in touch with the movie and is taken "along the ride" of the movie-making process. We also created a Twitter account to send out details of updates on the movie. Some audience members may only have one form of social media so we decided to choose 2 of the most popular websites to ensure that we reach peak engagement for our film. Next, we created a website for our short film. We titled it the name of the film for easy access. On this website, a synopsis of the film, along with cast/crew names, behind-the-scenes photos, and a testimony for our film is included. We did this to ensure that our audience is able to feel a part of this film as they learn more and more about what the film is about and the people within it. On this website, we included a link that shows all of our social media websites so that our audience has full access to everything with a touch. Lastly, we created a postcard, entailing when the viewings of the short film will be along with the location and times. This was done to ensure those audience members who are not familiar with social media are still able to get updates/information on when the film will be premiered. On this postcard, we also added a URL that leads to a page that lists all of the social media accounts created for this film.

• How did your research inform your products and the way they use and challenge conventions?

       There are many conventions in the suspense/mystery genre, especially since it is such a popular genre so my group and I had many to choose from. Our product follows the main conventions of this genre. We first start off with a normal film, one that the audience would not be able to tell what is yet to come. This is commonly done within mystery films to keep audience members at the edge of their seats as they don't know what to expect. We also followed the typical lighting that is seen at the beginning of mystery films as the lighting is usually bright to contrast the dark plotline that is to come. Within many mystery films, there is an event that causes the suspense/mystery to build to full capacity. Within our film, this event was the car accident and the repetition of the first scene after that. This would cause the audience to be completely thrown back as to what is going on which would cause them to want to continue watching the film to the end. We ensured to include this convention within our short film because this is mainly what keeps many people hooked on suspense/mystery films. We also followed the typical conventions such as the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Along with the use of costumes and props to help build the suspense. Instead of challenging the conventions, my group and I decided to use them.l Since our film doesn't follow a normal plot line and is kind of complicated, We wanted to go traditional with everything else so that the audience is not completely lost at the end of the film.