Creative Critical Reflections

 How does your product use or challenge conventions?

- Our work is the consequence of the influential fusion of the horror subgenre known as "found footage," as exemplified by films like Paranormal Activity (2007), V/H/S (2012), and The Blair Witch Project (1999). Even while Host (2020) was our first pick for inspiration, we soon realized how inconvenient it was to use online calls in order to create a narrative. Ultimately, the aforementioned films are our primary sources of inspiration. Each of them had told their tale using handheld cameras and security footage, making it appear as though it had been recorded by characters in the plot. These discovered footage films concentrate on presenting what the characters truly see, as opposed to what the viewer wants to see. This implies that it would be impossible for the audience to guess what will happen next. Characters will get worse off as the film's mysteries begin to come to light. We wanted to convey through our product how improbable and genuine the occurrence can be, since none of the individuals are aware of what is behind the gate.

Our product differs from the previously listed ones since we developed the plot based on an online newspaper that I found. Given that, like any other found footage film, we planned to create the story from the ground up, it was an intriguing experience. We came to the conclusion that there are countless ways to misrepresent the facts, therefore we built everything else around the newspaper.

Despite the fact that our product has four characters, we attempt to show the scenario from Louis' point of view. This character is by far the most impartial of the bunch, as is evident. But even so, he still needs to follow his comrades and break in because he is a member of the group. However, this does not imply that he is fully committed to finding the abandoned garden because, in contrast to the other characters, he was hesitant and unconvinced to break in.

The horror genre uses a different technique to make the audience frightened: it reveals the supernatural, the killer, etc. before the characters are aware of it.

Meanwhile, recovered footage synchronizes the audience's terror with the characters' own since everything is seen through their point of view. This gives the viewer the impression that they are truly seeing a movie and that all the events have actually occurred, in addition to making the experience more genuine. I don't think it's necessary to adjust to new guidelines on the best ways to capture discovered footage movies. Taking this into account, Host (2020) makes an adaptation and creates a movie using internet call systems. As long as it doesn't stamp onto a single frame, I believe using the recording equipment is optional. It all comes down to variety.

How does it represent social groups or issues?

- My group encountered many difficulties in filming and making this movie. Firstly, our filming area is a place that is quite obscure, which happens often, causing the drivers who take us to always get lost and go to the wrong place. This caused our filming schedule to be interrupted and had to be postponed for a long time. Second, thinking of a script and writing a complete script is also a difficult problem. While filming, each of us discovered the flaws in the script we wrote. This caused us to constantly reshoot and rewrite the script. The third problem we encountered was that the group's main camera was borrowed from someone else, so we always had to book 1-2 days in advance to get a camera to film. And also getting the video out of the camera also takes a lot of time. The fourth and final thing we encountered was the video editing and misreading of the script was also very common. Editing videos for a long time not only wastes time, but we also cannot know where we went wrong to fix it. And because we're quite mischievous, making jokes and misreading the script often is something that I also think is quite normal.

How does your product engage with audiences?

• Primary target audience: High school students (Grade 10-12)
  Secondary target audience:
  • Middle school students (From grade 9+)
  • Teenagers (18+)
  How to engage?
  • Behind the scenes of our movie production
  • Insight of our production crew
  • Use social media to connect to more people of our target audience
  Distribution platform
  • Instagram: Everything relates to Sound Of The Forgotten can be referred to our Instagram account
  • Youtube: Teaser of our product, draft, and final product
  Who have we engaged first?
  • Our family, friend and much more
  As we get closer to release day, which is 21st April 2024, we’ll be releasing more teasers, behind the scenes, and riddles relate to our movie.

How does it be distributed as a real media text?

- We create social media accounts for characters within the film or for a fictional organization related to the film's content. Use these platforms to share in-world updates, interact with fans, and drop hints about the mystery. 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

-  My grammar and script writing skills increased, and I also learned how to direct performances. Directing camera holding and video recording, video editing and leadership skills also improved.

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online - in this project?

- Our team use normal phone, a6400 camera and edit with capcut. We were filming in the dark, so each of us use the flashlight from our iPhone. Additionally, we also use CromLED C-X6 which was held by Kevin during our filming. For the editing stage, we use a lot of platforms to bring our recordings together into one opening scene. First of all, scary & VHS static sound effects are found on Youtube. VHS screen recordings are also found on Youtube as well. Next, we use tuberipper.com to extract VHS static sounds, and ssyoutube.com to extract VHS screen recordings from Youtube. With the camera recordings, sounds and videos have been prepared, the platform that I use to edit is Capcut. It is simple to edit, mobile-friendly, and Louis can edit anywhere on my iPad.