This is my creative critical reflection for my movie "The Dark Past" , a two minute film opening.

1. The Dark Past
A Critical Review
Manasa Shivashankar – AS Level Media
Studies

2. How does your product use or
challenge conventions

3. “The Dark Past” very first scene, The shadow on
grass was an idea I had taken from this
television series called “ Pretty Little Liars”.
Whenever I saw that black figure it made me
want to know who that person was and that’s
exactly what I wanted my audience to feel.

4. The flashback scene starts of with the briefcase
arriving and when opened phones are found inside
of it. The following scene shows the walking around
with the phone in search of the clues.
I wanted to show how the new age tech is being
used, not so positive manner.

5. NCIS Los Angels, it showed me something important while
establishing something. In that television show at the end of
every scene a photographic black and white freeze screen would
appear and last for 2-3 seconds to establish what has happened
or what is going to happen and that is something I wanted to try
and do as well in the Flashback scene, at the end of every
location.

6. How does it represent social
groups or issues

7. “The dark past” speaks about the effects
of bullying- emotions that a person goes
through when bullied emotionally ,
verbally, physically and most importantly
when it gets done through cyber media.
These days Social media is the preferred
channel by people to commit the crime
of bullying. Since the media has far more
members than any other medium, any
form of bullying impacts the individual
deeply it is because the victim cannot
react immediately and feels helpless.
The movie focus is how social media is
used as a platform to abuse people as the
attackers think they have the power to
say anything by being anonymous.

8. “ The Dark Past” also
focuses on one of the
most important divisions
seen in our society. The
Elites, who believe that
they have all the the
power how they tend to
misuse that social status.
And how they usually
forget that they are often
misjudged by others

9. • The most important message I wanted to convey through this movie is
that, one should believe in their strengths and values, especially when
they become victims of bullying.
• This message stems from my belief that our values shape our thinking and
this thinking shapes our mind that responds to any situation. If one
believes in being assertive, has self respect and sees themselves equal
with others, then they will never succumb to any external pressure such as
bullying. A consistent behavior that stems out of assertion will help one
build a strong image of who they are, and over a period of time help them
build their own identity.
• The day one stops believing in themselves and their strengths and gets
swayed by what others want from them, then that is when one becomes
the victim of their own circumstances.

10. How does your product engage
with the audiences

11. Target Audience: The target group is largely students – both school and
college.
HOW THE FILM ENGAGES WITH THE AUDIENCE:
• The film story is an every day scenario in many schools. The audience will see
themselves or their friends in the movie characters- be it the personality or the
situation. Each character carries the personality that stems from the the societal
flaws- the good, the band the ugly. How these flaws can be hidden most of the
time, and surfaces when one chooses to show in order to hurt others
• The title “ The Dark Past” will have the audience wonderings who’s past are we
talking about ? Especially because we have 6 characters
• Our title song “ The Dark Past”, the lyrics, will leave the audience with more
questions on the movie story.
• The satirical comedy will keep the audience laughing.

12. How would it be distributed as a
real media text

13. As a real media text, “The Dark Past” would be distributed incorporating both traditional
media as well as new media. Thus it would be targeting a wide range of audiences.
PROMOTION of the movie would be through multiple channels:
1. Pre –roll advertising is for calling the viewers to act. I will use service like “TubeMogul”
and have the trailer appear before related videos on YouTube , IMDB, Vimeo and
Netflix.
2. Get IMDB help to list the movie in its site, and link the search result with the trailer site
3. Create an interactive Facebook page; I will post a few questions on the scenes and ask
how viewers could come with alternatives of making the same scene
4. Create a social network which speaks on bullying and why bullying is not acceptable,
and allow the members to exchange their experiences and ideas
5. Collaborate with Social Welfare and Education ministries and promote the movie as an
education tool in schools/ colleges
DISTRIBUTION of the movie will be through regular film distributors for screening in
theatres and virtual medium like YouTube, Apple TV, iTunes and Netflix

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

15. I enjoyed writing the script as it
was meant for my own age
group. I could relate to the
feelings and expressions of
characters and what the
audience would want from my
story. When I penned down
the script, I did not restrict
myself to think about the
storyboard , characters or
dialogues, but also every detail
of the movie – where to shoot,
who should be the actors, what
will they wear, sequence of the
shots, the background score
and so on .

16. The characters were sketched
based on social flaws that are
hidden in the elite class. Flaws that
surface only when individuals hang
out in their own groups. Often
when one wants to demonstrate
their “power” the behaviors
emerge and be seen as the
individual’s own character. That is
the characteristic that I have tried
to bring in each of my characters.
It was hard to visualize the
characters at first but once I got a
grip of it, it was a very creative
experience

17. I let myself think outside
the box and I didn't’t want
to restrict myself when it
came to my storyboard.
Free hand Drawing is my
strength and I used it to the
fullest to sketch the scenes.
At the same time, while
sketching I did think about
everything from a “do-able”
view.

18. I learnt the technicalities about
filming. Firstly, understanding
the surrounding, the lighting,
sounds and by learning to
shoot different angles and
shots, like, pan, tilt ,track.
Secondly, while using the
tripod, I gained a better
understanding about the rule
of thirds and how the hand
movement and the pressure
applied plays a very crucial role
in the outcome of the scene.

19. Editing was truly an eye
opener for me. I learnt many
practical insights on transition
of shots , color balancing,
layering of sounds, effects
and filters.
Most importantly I
understood the importance of
editing and how difficult it is.
175 videos ; 3 hrs of footages
getting edited to a two
minute video. I spent about
25 hours on editing

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

21. • Final Cut Pro
• Adobe
premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro
is our primary
application for editing.
We used Final Cut Pro
to remove excess
voice overs.

22. Garage Band
We used Garage band
to creating our music.
We selected this
application as it is a
simple medium,
provides extensive
choice of
instruments, easy to
compose and edit.
Besides it is
compatible with
Adobe

23. • Photoshop
Photoshop
helped me in
creating our
poster. Also the
production
house symbol
and our title.

24. • Canon 700D
• Tripod
• Costumes
• Props

25. • Blog
• YouTube
My blog helped in
jotting down my
experience while
shooting.
A few movie clips on
YouTube gave me ideas
on how to convert my
script into a movie.

26. Working on this project has taught
me a lot of things like team work,
being meticulous in whatever you do
and most importantly how to
manage time.
I've come to understand how
wonderful it is to be a filmmaker and
I have truly fallen in love with the
idea of becoming one.