This document contains reflections from a student on their creative critical project which was a horror/thriller film. In three sentences: The student's film uses conventions of the horror genre like suspenseful music, murders and a masked killer, and represents social issues by including the kidnapping of both female and male victims. To distribute the film, the student would pitch the opening scene to a major production company in hopes of developing it into a wider release. Through making the film, the student developed skills in operating the camera, directing actors, and editing techniques using Windows Live Movie Maker, though they learned filmmaking is more of a hobby than a career path for them.

1. Creative Critical
Reflection Questions

2. #1. How does your product use or challenge
conventions and how does it represent
social groups or issues?
O My product uses and challenges
conventions because my product (film)
which is a horror/ thriller like most,
contains suspenseful music, murders, and
a creepy killer with a mask.
O My film represents social groups or issues
by including kidnapping, which most
people think only involves females but
within my film you can see that a female
and male were both kidnapped and killed.

3. #2. How does your product engage with audiences
and how would it be distributed as a real media
text?
O My product engages with the audiences' attention
because within the film you only see two out of the
four people die and then the audience would want
to stay to see what happens to the rest of the
people. It keeps you on the edge of your seat.
O To get my product into the theaters I would go to a
big production company and pitch them the idea
and then show the two minute opening scene and
see how they react to it. If they think its good
enough to make into a big production then, we
take it to a film company and film it and then put
into the theaters. If it does well as a movie in the
theaters then we would talk about putting it out as
a DVD.

4. #3. How did your production skills develop
throughout this project?
O My production skills throughout this project have developed
greatly. As a film maker throughout this journey I have
learned a lot of things like where to aim the camera, and
where to hold it to get the best quality. I did not really enjoy
some of the things that comes with it like having my actors
goof off or not really get into character when I asked them to.
It takes a lot to get them back to where they needed to be. I
loved being able to see my idea come to live before my eyes
as I was filming it. It was really awesome to see my film that
started as a storyboard on a piece of paper and then
become this opening sequence right before my eyes.
Through this project its taught me what it takes to be a film
maker and how much it takes to make a film. I would not
really want a career behind the camera, its more of a hobby
of mine then an actual career.

5. #4. How did you integrate technologies in this
project?
O To make my film I used a handheld camera to
film and then for editing I used Windows Live
Movie Maker. During this year in class we
learned a bunch of stuff like camera angles,
editing vocabulary, and everything you could
think of that you would need to make a film. I
put what I knew into my film by incorporating
camera angles, like a point of view and a high/
low angle, and editing techniques while
editing like fading to a black screen.