1 . How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent
social groups or issues?
A Spike of Luck uses modern clothing, music, and dialogue to represent teens today. More specifically athletes, as both characters are volleyball players. The premise of the project revolves around two black teenage boys. As a result, their motives in the movie should be considered through that lens. In the project, we see MJ, played by Randy Sweeting, primarily on his own. Unless he is training with Ryan, played by Joshua Newell, he drives alone and greets no one when he gets home. It is implied that he does not necessarily have anyone looking out for him, seeing as he only interacts with Ryan to train and he ends up being late to tryouts at the end of the film. This provides a possible motive to why he is so motivated to join the team and is representative of how many teens join sports for comradery.
The primary convention of the sports genre that was utilized in the project was the training montage. The montage contains various action shots in different angles to show a progression of the character MJ's skill in the sport of volleyball. The music is intentionally lowered so that the diegetic sound in the clips can be heard. The successful passing, the ball hitting the floor, and the encouragement of the other character Ryan are kept in the film to emulate other sports movies and show that MJ was improving as time passed. The establishment of the setting and editing of the coloration of the film via saturation and filters are callbacks to films in the genre as well. Emphasizing the sunny, happy, environment at the beginning of the film through editing is something often done in sports films.
2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as
a real media text?
The product engages with audiences by representing them and relating to them. The work is majorly targeting teenagers. As a result, it utilizes their language, clothing, and desires to build the story's characters. Joining a sports team is a common desire for teenagers who want to be a part of a collaborative effort against a common goal. As the film explores MJ's improvement over time, it essentially gives the audience what they want. They want to root for MJ because they see themselves in him. This is what makes the ending so disappointing because the audience wants to see MJ complete their shared goal. If the film was a real media text, it would be distributed both online and in theaters, enjoying a small theatrical release before entering streaming platforms like YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc.
3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Over the course of the project, my production skills developed significantly. The group experienced several complications during the production period which required effective decision-making regarding the direction of the product. As a result, the entire ending of the film had to be changed to accommodate the circumstances we were put in. This required directing and filming virtually for the scenes at the later half of the film. During the filming period, I took what I learned from past projects and films in the genre to improve the process. We took double the usual amount of takes we would usually film. As a result, we had a surplus of material to work with during the editing process. Additionally, I took more creative liberties in terms of the angles in which the shots were filmed. Things like tracking shots and over-the-shoulder shots simply weren't implemented or at least not implemented in the way we did them in this project in previous works. I also expanded my editing skills by implementing changes to the coloration of the film. Sharpening the video and adding different settings and filters to evoke a different feeling at different locations was something unprecedented for my group. This really elevated our film as a whole.
4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this
project?
In the creation of this project, various technologies converged to create the final product. We gained access to a tripod specifically made for phones which really elevated the shots we took. The use of the tripod allowed for smoother shots. As a result, we became more adventurous with the camera movement we included in the film. For example, in the later half of the film, we transition between scenes by physically turning the camera in the same direction at the beginning and end of two different scenes. This camera movement was something we hadn't done in previous projects, and it turned out much better than we expected. The transition between the scenes was very smooth and it effectively communicated the passage of time. Online resources were a gold mine for finding royalty-free music when we could not get the rights to the music we originally had in mind. This led us to several sites like Youtube and Pixaby in search of music that would fit the moments we wanted to include a soundtrack. For the final project, I ended up purchasing a short-term subscription for Video Leap, an editing software that I had used for free on previous projects. Though I attempted to experiment with other software, Video Leap was the only one I could easily understand and that I enjoyed working with. I used it for the entirety of the film. With the new premium features, I was able to make the appearance of names and titles much more dynamic. The best examples are the scenes that showcase the title of the film and the story's creator, Randy Sweeting. Both of these shots use tracking technology so that as the camera pans to a certain location, the words appear on the screen. This is my favorite part of the film, as it was something I previously couldn't do before and it was a playful way to introduce the information.
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