Movie opener

 This is the final link of my movie opener "Do No Harm". This if the last blog post, thank you for watching the progression of my abilities in film. This was a very fun class and I enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy my movie opener! me and my classmates worked very hard on it.

https://youtu.be/BL_doOTn1rk?si=DP_Tqg98hUiyZ8sq

Creative Critical Reflection

 Hello! we are nearing the end of our class and are very last assignment is to reflect on the making of our video opener and the impact it had on the audience. We answered questions about the distribution of our movie opener and how our skills developed while making it, among other questions. 

These are my responses to the questions for my creative critical reflection. I apologize for the speeding up of my audio, I had a lot of information and could not cram it with editing without cutting out important words. I believe it adds more character to my video though. 

Representation

 Hello! today we are discussion what representation our film "Do no harm" holds and how it does or doesn't challenge regular film stereotypes 

In this scene we see Elena about to perform surgery to save her husband. 

In this scene we see another female doctor. In our film every doctor is female which challenges the idea that woman can't be in positions of power and lead others. 

In this scene we see Claire speaking with another female patient. 

-Who is Represented within your film/movie opener? Is it fair, stereotypical? How are you challenging representation with your film?

In my film, "Do no harm" the main representation is a female doctor, she is portrayed as intelligent, skilled, and emotionally complex, which challenges the stereotype of women in film being shown as weak or dependent. Instead, she holds a position of power as a heart doctor and holds large responsibility. However, she is shown as someone who makes morally wrong decisions which also stays away from the perfect and idealized stereotype. 

I think my film has a fair representation because it shows doctor's as real humans who also struggle with personal emotions instead of portraying them as completely flawless. At the same time, this could be viewed as challenging the usual stereotype since doctor's are normally portrayed as people who always do the right thing but in my film, Elena faces personal conflict which interferes with her ethical morals as a doctor. 

My film challenges stereotypes by representing woman in powerful positions but also showing how even people like doctor's are as flawed as any other human. This makes the story more realistic and encourages the audience to question trust, ethics, and how far someone might go for someone they love.

-Do you feel you need to make any edits to improve your characters? If so, what changes?

I feel like there could be some changes that could be made to the character development for example maybe making Elena seem more torn about her breaking ethical values. In our family Elena is shown doing these acts without a second thought, with no remorse. I feel like making her seem like she is questioning whether to do it or not more make her seem more human and less evil or deranged. We wanted Elena to be portrayed as someone who had no other choice, who would do what they have to to save so someone they love like any normal person. Therefore, we should of made Elena seem more conflicted with the decision she was about to make to make her seem more human so that the audience could better relate to her situation. 

Final Storyboard

 

Hello! today we worked on the final storyboard since previously we only worked on a rough draft to guide how each scene should look like. Now that we have filmed our movie, we can compare and contrast and explain why we made the changes we made. Here are the changes: 

Scene 1

In this scene, doctor Elena looks at her husband in the hospital bed, lying unconscious. Distress is clearly displayed on her face. Wires attached to Daniel's skin, keeping him alive. She finds out his dire condition and is informed that he can't be helped since Daniel has such a rare blood type. Finding a donor would be nearly impossible, especially for such a vital organ. (heart)

A two-shot is used for the two characters having a sad moment. It helps keep both characters in focus at the same time. 

A non-diegetic sound is playing of the beating of the machines. Elena's soft sobs are heard. 

The only changes made for this scene is the transition we went from a straight-cut to deciding to use a fade-out instead to transition to a different setting smoothly but not make it a sudden cut.  Also we decided not to add the sound of faint breathing because it clashed with the sound of Elena crying.

Scene 2

In this scene, the doctor calls the patient later on to tell her that she needs to come back to a different private clinic because the blood results came up and something looks wrong. The doctor tells her a time and location where everyone will be gone. 

The sound of their conversation both the doctor and the person on the phone. Also, the phone is ringing, waiting for the patient to respond.

A lot of changes were made to this scene starting with an over-the-shoulder shot instead of a close-up to show the doctor conversing with the patient over the phone is shown, which aids in keeping the audiences' focus on the conversation being had instead of the doctor's expressions. Additionally, text/dialogue is displayed on the screen, it helps reader focus on the importance of the words the doctor is saying to Claire. Also a straight-cut is used instead of fade-out to show a different character at a different location and help transition through the scenes, this is because we had already used a fade-out in the previous scene. 

Scene 3

In this scene doctor Elena meets the patient at a private clinic owned by Elena. The patient is checked in by the "secretary" (a friend of Elena's helping her with the crime). The patient walks into Elena's office to talks about her blood results. 

There is a wide shot of the patient checking in with the receptionist to establish the new location, and the background is shown. 

In this scene we took away the emphasis from the fact that the clinic was alone and instead added a diegetic sound of crowd talking in the background as well as a conversation between the receptionist and the patient is heard. Also we didn't end up taking a shot of the patient entering the door to get out of the reception and the door of Elena's office as a way to introduce a match-cut because we would go way over the minute limit. Instead, we used a fade to black. 

Scene 4

In this scene, the patient meets Dr. Elena in her office, and doctor Elena explains the negative results of her blood test. Elena explains that an emergency surgery will need to be performed. Elena tells the patient the procedure is quick and only needs her there and another doctor. She asks's the patient if she is available.  

A mid-shot is used to show Elena and the patient having a conversation about the test results. The mid-shot helps draw focus to their upper body language. 

There was not many changes for this scene, other than the change in transitions. We decided not to use a J-cut and instead another fade to black since the next scene and this scene didn't have any music. Also the sound of Elena and the patient talking is heard but we decided not to add the sound of pages flipping because there were no pages flipping so it didn't make sense. 

Scene 5

In this scene, Elena comes behind the patient with a cloth and puts it over her mouth and nose to put her to sleep. The patient's shock is shown in her eyes as she begins to fall asleep and she gets dragged into another room.

A lot of changes were made to these scenes for starters, we decided not to end the movie opener here and add and even creepier scene to build the suspense. Also the angle of this scene was changed instead of a dutch angle (we forget) that followed Claire as she was being dragged we used a.. Then a straight-cut transition with a flickering effect was used to add drama to the scene. 

Scene 6

 There were a lot of changes to the final scene.The movie opener ends with a POV view of what Claire would be seeing if she was awake. It first shows a close-up of Claire unconscious and then cuts to the POV shot of doctor Elena about to start the surgery. There is also a non-diegetic sound of Claire's heart beating. Then the sound of Elena's glove smacking against her skin is heard and sound that creates a "what will happen next" atmosphere is inserted. Lastly, a fade to black transition is used as the title in dark red is shown against the black background. There is a sound track that creates ominous vibes for the end of the movie opener as the credits scroll.