Finished Product!

A Blink Away finished product!

Film: https://www.wevideo.com/view/2143390901

Instagram: _ablinkaway

Postcard Ad: 

Critical Reflection

 The short film, A Blink Away, presents the story of middle-aged Isabel Ramirez’s life after her son goes missing. With low income and poor knowledge of the English language, she is unable to treat her trauma and mental illnesses throughout the years, thus developing schizophrenia and depression. Through the use of lighting changes and flashbacks, the audience is able to view the world through Isa’s lens and as a result be misled of the truth. 

This drama tragedy was inspired by my genre research, which I learned will often end in the downfall of the protagonist. Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, for instance, are a few examples of pieces that contain a tragic ending for the main characters. A drama genre typically portrays pity or terror caused by a disastrous conclusion, so it was essential to include the downfall of Isabel by the end. Isabel’s character development was inspired by Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. The Maleficent film created a new perspective for the so-called villain by focusing on flashbacks and the use of a singular point of view. My film utilized these techniques in order to deceive the audience into thinking her son had actually come back. 

Most viewers of the drama genre are teens or young adults, making my target audience mostly Gen Z. They are known for having a short attention span, therefore I kept the dialogue to a minimum. However, unlike a typical convention, I did not use a narrator to tell the story in order to keep the audience wondering what was occurring and as a result retaining their attention.  

Looking back on this decision, I realize this may have been a mistake. While the use of no narration will keep the audience captivated, it did not help explain the ending of the film. In the ending blink of an eye, Leo disappears from Isabel’s reality. Nonetheless, there are no proceeding scenes that explain what happened. A solution may have been to include the blink only when she disassociates from reality in order to set a pattern or to have filmed additional scenes afterward explaining what happened.

The relationship between the target audience and this brand is to be developed through the branding of the film. While Isabel is pushed around due to her vulnerability, the brand conveys a different message. This film serves the purpose of a warning to society, that others can take advantage of your vulnerability, especially those at different economic levels. This relationship between the audience and Isabel helped develop the branding.
The brand identity of this film is meant to develop a sense of mystery and uncertainty about the piece. For this reason, I tried to reveal as little as possible about the ending in both the postcard and the social media page. 
The brand is developed greatly through postcard advertisements. The decision to make the postcard advertisement and film poster a wanted sign is meant to play along with the narrative that this film is simply about a woman finding her son. The use of Instagram as the social media platform is perfect for the target audience, who spends most of their time on this app. The Instagram account includes the movie poster as well as behind the scene clips. There is also a clip included of one of the last scenes captioned,  “If you know you know”. This further develops the curiosity of the audience of those who have not watched it and it becomes an “aha” moment for those who have watched the film. The account is registered as a business account in order to create a label on the bio stating “movie”. Along with this title, is the date of the movie release and the tagline of the film. 

 
Another element of my brand is the development of the physique through the use of the colors black and red. As seen in the film, Isabel wears red in the flashbacks to indicate passion and love, as opposed to when she dresses in all black during the present. This color theory was applied to both the postcard and the social media page, making it the motif of the brand. Leo’s bright purple shirt contrasts the harsh red and black color hues used in order to further develop the idea that Leo is not a part of that world.

Through the seemingly simple plot, lies a much more complex meaning. Isabel is a representation of the lack of aid provided to those of lower income and language barriers. The officer Isa speaks with on the phone serves as a physical representation of the message behind this brand. The officer is aware of her mental illness but does not take action because she is not a violent threat to society. Instead, he laughs it off and hangs up the phone. While this is not true of every authority member, the message portrayed is that money and experience go a long way, The social criticism that those of authority often wait until it is too late to get help is portrayed by society’s lack of care for her well being.

However, due to a lack of set design variety, the location of the film does not represent someone of a lower class. The home of Isabela and the park where she took her son are well kept and furnished and do not portray the lifestyle of someone of low socioeconomic status. 

Despite having had plenty of time to complete this project, this reflection and analysis of the piece has led me to the conclusion that there were still aspects that could be improved and better communicate the message to the audience. Although the social media page and the postcard are well created and fit the branding of the piece, the film itself did not exceed my expectations and could be improved to fit the standards of the created brand. The concept of the movie should have been portrayed better throughout the film because the ending itself is a bit abstract and could be interpreted in different ways which alters the message.

Editing... again

I began editing again and was working with postproduction and playing with the lighting of the film so whatever he sells in reality it would be in a bluish gray tent lower lighting sweetheart told her life is without her son and then the flashbacks it’s a vivid you with high saturation is image to conch trust her past with her reality and she begins to when she fights her son the Lighting will begin to slowly increase because her life is beginning to return back to normal however once he finds out he’s not real the lighting goes back to its darkness

New Actors!

 Hey guys! I found replacements for my actors!

Finding girls my age to play Isa was difficult enough the first time, so I changed her age so that she would be older, and that way you’ll be able to find a mother and son in real life who would be able to act for me. To prove difficult seeing as when the mothers would ask for the plot I would have to tell him it’s about a schizophrenic mother and her missing son so many people tracked me down. My mom offered to play the role which is perfect because our schedules would match and I could redo shots without having to reschedule and she and we are just a family friend Who has a five-year-old son and she said we could be able to to use him the only problem is he lives in Aventura so I will have to make use of one full day or two so I won’t have to make the trip again however I’m really happy with the turnout because it matches my initial character avatar where the mother is Hispanic dark hair and dark eyes while the sun is lighter hair and lighter eyes to symbolize the disconnect in society

Major Setback

 I contacted my friend and explained to her that I had to redo some scenes. However, when I hear back from her she told me her brother got COVID and is unable to leave her house for the time being. To be safe and prevent the spread of the virus, I told her to stay home and not worry about acting. Although I recently got the vaccine, I could still contract the virus or pass it on to someone else. For that reason, I will have to redo everything! I'm very frustrated because I believed I would have the time to be able to do and redo shots with time to spare, but I do not regret the decision I made. I am glad that I was able to film early on because it gives me time to be able to take a step back and find new actors. Since I have already filmed, redoing the scenes will be less challenging since it will be my second time around. 

The Title!!!!

 I finally found out what I wanted the name of the title to be! My short film will be called, "A blink away"

I decided on this name because it can be interpreted in two ways. Those who watch the trailer or the short film will think this phrase is figurative, meaning Leo is so close to the mom she could blink and find him again. However, it is also foreshadowing what happens at the end of the film, where he was literally a blink away from reality. 

A second look

I begin editing and started to look closely at the piece I am creating! 

As I was playing back the scenes, I realized I would have to redo some shots and rethink the concept a bit. This is due to the fact that you can see people walking in the background of some of the shots, While this is normal in public places, when Isa is at home there should be nobody in there with her, so a couple of legs in the back makes the shot unprofessional and fake. I also noticed some shots were a bit shaky, so I would like to be able to redo them to be able to get stiller shots.

 I also noticed there was a flaw in my plot as I was rewatching my work. In the story, Isa is supposed to think that she kidnapped a kid and mistook him for her missing son. For that to be possible. there would have to be two boys, her son and the boy she kidnapped, which I do not have; therefore, I would have to tweak the idea a bit in order to make sense of the plot. What I’m thinking is to make it seem as if she finds her son in the park and she’s very excited, she takes him home and calls the police to let them know that her missing son is found. This way I would only have to have one boy play the part because I wouldn’t be able to find two little boys who look the same and would be available to help on the same days. 

Now I have to be able to tell my friend and schedule another day for me to be able to go back and re-shoot the scenes