Critical Reflection

I have chosen to do the Film Package with a team. Our product represents the fear people may experience during online interactions, especially in regards to the possible danger it can cause. While the movie concept in itself is impossible, it does extend the paranoia or fear one may feel if a stranger guesses your hometown correctly, or call you by your first name despite having never formally introduced. 

It can also represent the normalization of speaking with strangers online, as despite the many warnings families and educators have given the younger generation, many still choose to talk and meet people online. The danger comes when the next generation forgo the warnings of the people around them, and openly speak with an unknown stranger via private texting or even private video calls. While our movie is outlandish, it could perhaps allow audiences to rethink the common idea that nothing bad could happen on the Internet.

Due to the current situation with the world, we are unable to film anywhere without risking our health. As a compromise, we had to come up with the idea of using the found-footage style of an online video call to minimize the risk.

However, the biggest challenge we've faced is surprisingly communication as well as technical errors due to having the bare minimum equipment. Multiple times has our product been lost or corrupted due to these technical errors, and the difficult communication has created a very messy aftermath after our trailers are done. Especially as tasks get mixed up and members doing tasks they were no intended to.

The biggest and most used element within our products is the use of "glitched" effects, in which the screen is altered or changed to reflect something being broken or spazzing out. This type of branding is honestly not very unique, as the Horror movies that use glitch effects are very common, even our main inspiration has that branding. 

However, due to COVID-19, we are forced to film using an online video calling app. This can potentially be considered our branding, as found-footage films using video conference applications may not be as mainstream, albeit still commonly found nowadays as the Pandemic has yet to end. 

As the main setting of the entire movie is supposed to take place during a Video call, it can easily bring familiarity to our audiences. Just like them, we were confined to using online video conferencing applications on every stage of the production and were forced to use it as the main focal point. But this familiarity can become a benefit to us, as everybody is likely to understand the film without requiring too much context.