Critical Reflection

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O0VTLlQLWBdyy2RgmPyYrZ3gUuE0eIcPHJsCuxOJ3Us/edit?usp=sharing

The choices made by the main character represent a person of a lesser socioeconomic status. Due to his financial disadvantage, he must eat a non nutritious breakfast and work harder than others. Most people have full racing crews that take care of their cars for them, these cars may belong to a single driver or could be split between a team of drivers. The main character must take care of his car by himself. This is a reminder of the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities in society, where some people are fortunate enough to have access to riches and resources, while others find it difficult to get by. The main characters' dreams represent the luxuries someone of a higher socioeconomic status would have. You can see cars that are worth four to five times the amount of money as well as the ability they get to drive during the night. This is usually only allowed to be performed by completely trained professionals. Included in the film is also the scene of the paddock which is usually only reserved for the most Ialthy people. Becoming a race car driver feels very unachievable as it is locked behind such a large paywall. The best way to enter the career is through connections made. This is why I chose to include my dog, he represents a connection the main character has made along the way. This acts as a role model to the main character and helps him achieve his dream of becoming a race car driver. This also reinforces the idea of the importance of a community and the support it can provide to an individual. It emphasizes the value of having assistance and support when managing hurdles as the main character follows his passion for racing. The film also represents social mobility as the main character has to work his way up the corporate ladder to achieve his dream. I hope this resonates with a viewer who may have also had to work through similar challenges in life. I am very pleased with how my film serves as a way for people to further understand multiple social themes using storytelling and the development of characters to bring awareness to issues such as these.  

 

In order to create a sense of branding for my movie, I had to include many elements that needed to work together to be able to create this sense of seamless cohesivity. The first thing I use to create this ecosystem is the short film. This acts as the main driving force behind the other products to create the branding. The first element I chose to promote the film was the website, this acts as a main base that can be used to find all the other forms of promotion. The website completely captures the spirit of the movie such as the awards won and what others have said about the film. It also houses a link that can be used to navigate to the YouTube page that holds the film. I used multiple branding products to invoke people to watch my film. Instagram is a great platform used to generate foot traffic to your brand if done in the correct way. Instagram has over five hundred million daily users when brands make posts on this social media platform it is entered into their algorithm sorting system. This is why I chose to make posts with wildly different themes. The post with the dog allows the account to be pushed to people who mainly follow dogs. The post with the cars allows it to be pushed to people who follow accounts related to cars. I used this to drive more people interested in these topics to the website which also led them to watch the film. The final product I used to create this sense of branding was a postcard. This allowed me to promote my product in yet another way. These cards are small and able to be handed out to people passing by on the street in hopes of them watching the film. They contained all of the information needed to find the film and watch it. Overall, I linked all the elements of my brand so no matter which one a person would find they would be able to visit everything about my brand and find all the information related to the film. 

 

My product being a short film aims to engage the audience through acting as an inspiration, each piece and part of the film's sole purpose is to connect with the audience. My main goal in editing and filming was to be able to capture the attention of the audience. This is why I added the funny clips of the main character going about his normal daily routine while wearing full racing gear. This added needed parts of comedic elements that Ire used to capture the audience's full attention. I also used lots of racing footage, I used this to add some exciting touches to the film. This is my actual racing footage, it was really fun to be able to watch my own work be put into a film like this. I used photos of the main car and the dog on the Instagram page so that people who were drawn from that platform could see what they saw on Instagram incorporated into the film. This engages the audience further as they believe they are seeing further into the creation process as they see the photos from behind the scenes on the Instagram page. People are also able to leave comments on the posts I created. This allows me to further connect with my audience as I am able to respond to these comments. Having the ability to engage with my audience only makes my product better as they can tell me what they want and I do my best to do it. One of the best ways I connect and engage with the audience is through the film itself. The camera angles I used helped to engage the viewers as they followed the daily routine and life of the racecar driver and mechanic.  

 

By completing lots of research before even picking up the camera to film, I was able to make way better decisions when creating the film and the products related to it. By studying previous racers who, like the main character, began from humble beginnings, I was able to get insight into how the film should unfold while also incorporating new and innovative concepts. Most racers don't start out dominating the other racers so I had to challenge the conventions as I didn't have enough time to fully explore this path. I did this by having the main character win the first race he competed in. I also challenged this by using the dog to signify a human as this is not normally done. Although it challenged the conventions, I feel it was a very necessary risk I had to take while producing my film. My finished product is a nice balance of following and rebelling against the norms to develop a unique form based on the sort of film I created. Finally, after executing audience engagement research, I determined that it was preferable to follow social media posting habits and utilize what works to engage people to drive them toward my film.