Critical Reflection Response

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

My product engages most with audiences through its narrative and associations with the comedy genre. The film has a strong, exaggerated storyline portrayed through the actors' facial expressions, as well as the mis en scene, sound, and editing decisions implemented in it. The switch from a calm, competitive game to an aggressive, comical chess war creates a comedic effect for audiences to enjoy. This plot twist is supported by straight cuts from one shot to another, displaying the contrast of each chess player’s personality and skill level throughout the film, whether it be a close-up of one player’s face reacting to the other or of their chess move in slow motion to intensify the game even more.

The film begins with light music but then switches to intense rock when the girl starts to ‘transform’ into an amazing chess player with a dramatic flair for competitiveness. These choices each have thought-out reasoning as to why they were used specifically, which in turn, allows for all components that make up the film to create expectations, laughter, and overall comprehension for the audience of what is taking place in the film.

As a real text, this film could be played at a comedy film festival, such as the Austin Comedy Film Festival, that screens independent short film comedies to reach wider audiences. A student-based beginner film like ours is a perfect candidate for this small, but respectful film screening event for its resemblance to standard comedy genre expectations and impressions.

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

By planning to shoot and shooting to plan — a saying my filming teacher advised us to follow, my production skills developed throughout this project. In being responsible for pulling the vision we had for the film together, I learned that thinking ahead in terms of production and voicing concerns I had as they came was essential to the success of the film.

On the first production day, I felt prepared for filming, but there were gaps in communication between me and my film crew because all of us showed up that day with unique ideas for how shooting would begin. This delayed our progress in shooting scenes that would produce a deeper narrative but, was unnoticeable in the final product because as we filmed, I considered how during the editing process, there may be something missing and I wanted to avoid this possible revelation. 

So, I had my editor and sound designer begin to work on what we shot each day, whether it be trimming down clips or saving audio that could later be used. This was almost an ‘assignment’ for them to do and get back to me — without this process, we would not have realized exactly how much our film was over the duration maximum of one minute by five minutes! Going forward, I was forced to revise the original storyline in a way that conveyed the same message intended, but more concisely. I also shared a collaborative agenda document for my group to view and discuss together before shooting times, which increased the cooperation and creative dynamic I had with my group from a director standpoint.

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

Starting with the physical aspect of technology used to produce this film, an iPhone 14 was the camera we used, in addition to putting it on a tripod to create stabilized shots that gave more of a cinematic impression. I learned that when you get the tripod and the camera mounted in a very specific way multiple scenes will be shot, it can be beneficial to record those scenes ahead of time in the same spot to maintain consistency throughout the film. The tripod gave an edge when it came to producing aerial shots of the chess board in key scenes, such as the ‘tug of war’ the players had with the chess pieces indicating the final winner; the girl. We were able to position the tripod on a table with its front legs shortened and the back extended to not have it appear in the shot itself.

On the iPhone, we filmed from the Adobe Premiere Rush software for its extended settings in focus capabilities and editing features within the same platform. The iPhone model itself is quite new, which is why it was chosen as the camera for the film, as it was the best available to us. To aid my editor and sound designer in their technique decisions, I watched tutorials online via YouTube and within the Adobe Premiere Rush software itself to understand its potential and add suggestions. 

Moreover, the Apple Airdrop Bluetooth feature and YouTube Studio helped distribute the film between us and to an audience for its ability to sustain frame quality. 

Creative Critical Reflection Video

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

My creative response to the question titled.

Switch the video to 4k for the best viewing experience!

Chess Film Final Cut: Opponents

Link to the final cut of our long-awaited short film!

Screening the Rough Cut

Feedback From Peers

Having reached the deadline for the rough cut, our film was able to be played to its first audience; my peers and instructor! My immediate reaction to watching the film I directed was that it still needed a lot of work, but I am proud of how far I have come and know that I will take all I have learned into my next film.

A picture of our film, "Opponents" being played to our film class.

The reaction to the film was pleasant overall. My peers made comments on how the film had an interesting narrative and that it had a funny ending. A criticism we received from a fellow peer was that the clothing change of one of the opponents (the girl I played) repeatedly changed. This was not surprising to hear because this outfit change was intentionally done to convey a sense that the girl entered 'game on mode.' In the beginning, a bright pink shirt is worn to draw attention to her character. She then is seen wearing a black and white outfit after her 'makeover' with face paint and a bandana that is purposed to present her as tough and determined to win the game. But because the film had to be only a minute, we cut the scenes out that would clarify this change to the audience.

My film crew and I decided to keep this scene in despite this confusion from a peer because our comedy is not meant to be realistic, hence the random face paint and bandana being put on the girl's face by unknown characters and the ending of the girl skipping away with an extra. Comedies tend to stress the absence of logic in their films to make it funnier. However, going forward as a beginner filmmaker, I will be more cautious of how the attire of characters can confuse audiences about whether events happened on the same day or not.

Feedback From Instructor

The criticism my instructor had for the film was first on the song choice for the first half of the film. He described it as an 'Irish jig' that did not seem fitting for the scenes it played in. Having heard it labeled that way, I realized the song choice felt very out of place for what was happening in the film. The sound for the film was non-diegetic, but this song felt random and not in a beneficial comedic way. Another critique was the title of the film. He suggested we use a thicker font that created more contrast with its background. 

The original opening played for the film's first audience consisting of a song with inconsistent sound distributed throughout clips. The peaks in intense violin did not match well with what was happening in the film up to this point; the characters just began playing and tension this high reflected in the music should not be there yet.

An updated version of the film's opening that took note of the pieces of feedback we received.

I had a conversation with my group on whether the color of the title, "Opponents" should remain white. Red has an association with battles, which is why I voiced it, but my editor brought up a good point about the red-brown color of the chessboard beneath it in that scene being too similar. They decided to keep only the first letter capitalized and the title generally simple with an added black border around the letters as it is only shown for a quick moment.

In place of the previous song, my sound designer and I agreed on a flute piece that comes off as light-hearted and playful, better suited to the meeting of the characters and their gameplay as seen in the beginning. Bird chirping was added to make the outside setting more significant and peaceful. These new audios also synced up with certain parts of the film, such as when the girl placed down the first chess piece in this clip, which increased the symphony of the clips. This gives the impression that the opponents are playing relaxed, helping to create that shock factor for when the girl switches to utter determination to win. Thinking of the way an audience who has no context to the film perceives it is the approach to take not just when you are trying to deny expectations but to help make it comprehensible and enjoyable for others.

Multitasking & Impact of Music Choices

Defying Potential Setbacks 

My editor had to revise the rough cut many times to get it down to something we all approved of. We all agreed on wanting to screen our rough cut with sound to have the most feedback we can get. So, as our deadline for this draft approached, my sound designer expressed not having the ability to work as much as she would have liked to at this point because of the delay in sending her the rough cut. She was also absent on a day my editor distributed the film to my cinematographer and me for review via AirDrop, which we found to be the easiest and clearest way to send one another versions of the film. But, I still wanted her to have the most recent version my editor made so I suggested he send it to her in our group chat that way she could work on it and add in sound before the rough cut deadline, even if it was not entirely done. This way of sending it over was not the best quality, however, by doing so, a rough 'rough' cut was created in time and aided both of them to be proactive in their roles as editor and sound designer. 

Photo of the rough-"rough" cut created by my sound designer with edits and sound added ready for screening.

My sound designer before receiving the rough cut was doing independent research for the platforms she could use freely for audio download, which sped up the process of her sound design as she had the music options ready and had practiced using the Adobe Premiere Rush software. Multitasking the way my film crew and I have since the start of production has truly made such a difference in how we all work together. There is never a 'waiting period' for one to finish their role to get another to start — it is a union of multiple facets of production coming together in any way we can to improve it.

Choosing Between Music

Our film was intended to have two halves; one half being where the chess expert is on a winning streak and the other as the bad chess player makes a comeback, taking the win in a very sudden, humorous way. The sound design idea from the beginning was to use tense classical music for the first half versus hard rock for the remaining portion of the film. But as we looked over edits, because we had so many scenes cut out, the 'halves' became unequal, and sharp changes in sound would sound confusing to the audience without enough time for them to play fully.

My sound designer and I knew that two genres of music were going to be present but that it needed to play smoothly in the comeback scene to distinguish it from the rest of the film. We bounced off ideas of certain pieces of classical music; whether it should be an intense orchestra or a more lighthearted, humorous piece. She preferred the lighter piece because it created more contrast to the rock and roll music that would follow and believed she could smoothly transition the two. From there, we discussed potential 80s and 90s rock bands whose music could do well for the comeback scene; Guns and Roses, Aerosmith, and Deaf Leopard, but in the end rock music from a League of Legends game took the win.

Having conversations about what music could potentially work was important because once it was added in and compared side by side, it was clear how much a song choice changes the tone of the film. Reverting to lighthearted music at the beginning may deny expectations for the audience, first perceiving the film as just two, collected chess players having a peaceful game, and then transitioning to an intense, ridiculous duel of chess.

A table of some music genres and the effects they may produce, as well as emotions and objects they are associated with.

Using classical music as described in the chart is known for its precision and quality, as is the game of chess, which is what drew us to using it at first. Rock music on the other hand is connected to self-confidence, which made sense to use to depict the girl's sudden win against her opponent. What changes things though is the fact that our film is a comedy, so using music ironically (genres that do not necessarily match what is happening in the film) can actually heighten the humor of the film. As director, I learned that changes from our plan for the film regarding its cinematography, editing, and sound do not always take away the original ideas but rather enhance them with what we learn along the way.

Exploring Sound in Film

Sound Design Research

While emerging in the editing process, I realized that a lot of our decisions to keep, delete, or shorten takes would impact the sound choices. The film up to this point was hard to follow at first glance so before we "finalized" a draft, I decided to learn the basics and achievements within sound design to hopefully come up with ways my editor could bridge this gap. Learning the power of sound in films expanded my ability to add suggestions that could later aid my sound designer when the time came to add music and sound effects as well.

Part of my sound design research was looking into the movies awarded handsomely for their sound design. One of these movies was Gravity, 2013, in which the setting is represented as space.

Movie poster of Gravity, 2013 showing the setting in which the movie is meant to represent. It is important to note that this movie is a sci-fi thriller drama, so the sounds are meant to be dramatic and eerie in relation to this setting — unlike my group's comedy, which relies on ironic, non-diegetic sound to create humor. Sound can change the audience's reaction!

A video I watched discussing the specific methods used to obtain the sound in the movie, revealed how dependent they were on vibrational audios (transducer recording) rather than airborne regular audio.

This is unique to the movie for the reason that it is supposed to mimic "space sounds" but nonetheless taught me the extent to which sound can be manipulated and should be used to reflect the atmosphere in some cases to powerfully convey the setting.

A sound design crash course video was provided by my instructor, which I watched to give me insight into what my sound designer will be doing. My editor and I could make more informed editing decisions with this in mind.

The most important takeaway of this research and new terminology learned for my role as director was that sound has the full capability to not just tell a story, but improve the edits. This lifted my hopes for how our film could change once sound was added. Some other terms I learned from the video are ambiance, reverb audio, various sound platforms my sound designer could use for free, such as Soundly, and what tools specifically can be found within Adobe Premiere Rush to heighten dramatic sounds.

Editing and Its Relation to Sound

When doing genre research for my film, I noticed a pattern of using sped-up or slowed-down takes with music changes to create comedic effects. This was something my group was really excited to incorporate into the film involving the chess board and our characters. 

A clip from Blended, 2014, utilizes slowed editing to produce humor, along with dramatic music changes from one character reaction shot to another.

As the girl walks up, reactions from other characters looking at her are also slowed down with the music shifted to fit the expression or impression each had of her. My editor used Adobe Premiere Rush as his main editing software for the rough cut, which has a tool to slow and speed up clips. Since fitting the film into a minute was still a struggle, we decided this comedy genre editing technique could be beneficial in more ways than one. We sped up certain long takes and slowed gameplay moves for dramatization — not by a lot, but enough for it to still remain a short take. 

A clip that was slowed down to induce the dramatization of gameplay between the opponents, specifically when the girl starts to win the game.

The slow motion also helped draw attention to how aggressive the move was, with the entire board shaking and pieces falling. It is intentionally unrealistic to how one would play the game in real life and contrasts with chess being popularly known as a quiet, calming game for comedic effects. The sound pairs with the slow-motion clip by playing rock music to symbolize the association it has with winning or doing something 'cool' in movies. Additionally, a whooshing sound can be heard when the player picks up the chess piece with an added layer of a slowed 'boom' noise that is heard when the white chess piece knocks over the other.

A clip that we sped up for certain parts (velocity edit) paired with a sudden shift to lighthearted classical music towards the end to add to the randomness of our film's ending. The quickened skipping away from the girls after she takes the win served for comedy purposes and shortens this long take to better fit the one-minute duration requirement. All edits involving slowing or speeding up a clip were done with sound design in mind!