Critical Reflection

 

 Here is my critical reflection on Mindfull Mindset:

  

The short film, Mindfull Mindset, is shot from a perspective to display a day in the life of a man struggling with the voices he is hearing in his head.  The dynamic of the character versus himself is the theme that also uses the character’s desire to escape this situation through any means possible.

Mindfull Mindset is an experimental film shot in a way to have audiences feel emotion or have a reaction to what is being presented.  The genre of the piece is that of a psychological drama. The target audience is young adults from the ages of 17-35. The lead of the film is a male from Ecuador and the supporting actor is a female of Argentinian ethnicity. Gathering actors of Latin-American descent brings more global representation. According to Los Angeles Times, “USC’s 2020 inclusion study of 1,300 popular films found that 4.9% of speaking roles in 2019 movies went to Hispanic or Latino actors.'' Casting Latin Americans opens the audience to those who seek diversity of ethnicity represented in productions. Common displays throughout the film are physical activities that engage both male and female viewership. To gain attention for the short film, the social media page features images and clips which were taken throughout the filming process of the lead actor.

Branding for the film was also essential in the process of creating the social media page, the film-festival postcard, and the short film. The products I produced featured colors of black, white, red, green, and yellow. The project was showcasing dark elements. Clips and photos of Antonio with captions were designated to give small glimpses into the film with captions supporting the story of the film, for example, “don’t get swept up in a mind game.” Clips on the social media page were chosen to show his strength which would then be contrasted with his vulnerability.  The film itself is shot with low-key lighting to show a day-in-the-life observation of Antonio. The film displays abruptness in shot sequences to give a point of view as an observer rather than a simple view of his life.  The communication intended is to convey emotion to the viewer, based on the vulnerability they are presented with. The postcard is used to advertise a contrast of Antonio who is dealing with the psychological drama playing in his head. He was shown to be well put together and then thereafter the cracks in his existence lead to him being a broken-down version of himself. The background of the postcard is in a diamond shape featuring the sins by their representing color. In my research, I watched other short films and delved deeper into the idea of sin. I created the film to be surrounded by controlled voices which display sins and their characteristics. I utilized the idea, “Pride: Greed for Greatness” and “Sadness is closely related to envy” when creating my brand. Short films I watched on YouTube helped me develop the purpose of emotion I wanted to address as well as the composition of my shots. "Model Citizen" | Dystopian Animated Short Film (2020) inspired me with the ending I wanted to create for this film and my reaction follows the theme of - “Growing so quickly to care for the characters and the unfortunate ending was quite an emotion caused.” 

In my research to achieve the best emotional reaction to the film, I came across multiple audio elements. The piece, Identity SHORT FILM (Award Winning Inspirational Short), brought inspiration to me through its use of distortion in the audio effects. I was very interested in what sound effects I could implement in this film and how I could manipulate the voice acting dialogue with distortion. In both cases I mentioned in my research, I was impressed with the composition, especially the tint, which I learned was very typical in the thriller genre.  I was also impressed with how the lighting choices were used to help build the atmosphere and emotions of each short film thriller. "Model Citizen '' for instance built a conformity lifestyle that made a mundane feeling in the viewer, which ended with a twist that was built on the reliability created by that of the characters' earlier actions. I was invested in creating a twist in my storyline. Thrillers do produce bad endings. My piece more specifically lets you observe a life before, and quite unexpectedly, it ends. Having the main character die and then the supporting character’s role becomes the viewing subject. Following the genre conventions of thriller pieces, I attempt to build an atmosphere with the plot sequences. I do not entirely follow the emotional aspects produced by a thriller, because they contain more packed action and suspense than this film.  However, this film may follow more drama genre convention categories. There are more emotions dealt with in this piece rather than confrontations or conflicts. The character versus self allows the audience to view the character’s vulnerability and analyze what is being presented against these aspects.  

My piece can allow for both representations of age group and even ethnicity. The age and demographics allow for viewers the desire to see representation in production. My choices follow similar happenings of choosing a male lead and female support, but I made these choices specifically for this piece. My production, especially in my eyes, would develop into more of a drama rather than a thriller if I cast a female lead. The choice was made decisively for my lead role to showcase his vulnerability but also his capacity for strength. According to womanhollywood.com, “Female protagonists were most likely to appear in comedies (32%), followed by dramas (29%), and horror films (19%).” This fact has been addressed in most films, and this perception made me critically choose who would represent my piece.   

Working on Mindfull Mindset was to experience the emotions of a struggling man and how to manipulate a viewer into an emotional state. The mediums that helped to develop this film became the versions I envisioned.