Critical Reflection

    This film has many important aspects surrounding the central plot. Although not prominently emphasized in the plot of the film, the main subject, Rachel, is impliedly representative of the LGBTQ+ community. Since she mentions that she has a girlfriend, and is seen on a date with said girlfriend, this idea is definitely evident to the audience. As a lesbian, she may have faced criticism, hatred, and emotional or physical harm in her life which could have led her to have the substance abuse issues that are prevalent in the film. A possible consequence of this could be her estrangement from her family which was mentioned on the informational sheet of paper she reads every morning. Alcoholism is a coping method that many people often use to try to forget about negative things in their life. This and other alcohol-related issues are a leading cause of death in the United States, and while completely preventable, it is an issue that goes mostly uncared for. Eventually, her severe alcohol misuse evolved into something much more serious, which is now her Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, a memory disorder that mostly cannot be cured and can even lead to further disability or death. My production represents, in an underlying way, how the societal hatred towards, and harsh treatment of, the LGBTQ+ community and its members including anyone struggling with identity and sexual orientation can be detrimental not just mentally, but physically, and can even be life-threatening. 

    In my production, my group and I tried to create some commonalities or similarities between the film itself and the marketing aspects to create this sense of ‘branding’. The film itself is named “24” as in the 24 hours included in a day, which is not only how long Rachel’s memory lasts before resetting, but also the time that Rachel gets out of bed in the mornings and therefore is presented on an alarm clock in the early scenes of the film. I thought it would be a good branding idea to keep this alarm clock font, which the title was displayed in, continuous with the entire title sequence of our film as well as some of the marketing aspects such as the postcard. Another commonality or consistency between the film and the marketing are the sticky notes. A yellow sticky note was used in the film, placed on a pair of prescription glasses to remind the subject each morning to check her voice recorder and informational sheet on her bedside table. Another yellow sticky note was used, not as visibly, to remind her to “Have a nice 24!”, another instance of the use of the name in the film. Because of this, my group found it appropriate to use yellow (digital) sticky notes on the postcard and website as well. These sticky notes convey similar uplifting messages for viewers reminding them to stay positive and have a good day. Following this concept, the group also included photographs of alcohol bottles on the postcard, and the full-length song “metamorphosis” by the musical group Jayomi displayed on the website. This was the song that was inserted into the closing scene, again consistent with the marketing and media surrounding the short film. 

    The products of our short film engage with audiences mostly through the marketing aspects and primarily the social media platforms. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter have messaging capabilities to allow the audience to contact us privately and directly, open for questions or any other conversation relating to the film. Along with this, the production also has an exclusive email address, again open for messaging with questions or conversations. All of the social media platforms that the film utilizes also have features that allow commenting on or replying to our content, so the audience can leave public questions that they believe others may be interested in and can possibly also leave public feedback. Certain posts on social media are specifically targeted to engage audiences, such as the “Get to know your characters” series posted on the film’s Instagram and Twitter accounts. This allows the viewers to gain some background information on the characters before the film had even been released to help their understanding of the film when it did release. I also posted some blooper reels and behind-the-scenes content from the film including times when the actor(s) made mistakes, the process of recording certain aspects, and simply just what the actors did between takes. I feel as if this builds the connection to the audience stronger, past just the film and into the fun parts! Some more minor aspects of engagement with the audience can go almost undetected for those who are not paying attention, including the names of the books displayed on the characters bedside table, titled “this is where it ends” and “More Than A Memory.” These were intentional plays at the character’s condition, and I would hope any audience member who catches this would see the consistency or even find it a bit humorous. 

Finally, before deciding upon the thriller genre, the group did various research on the conventions and themes of the genre that are essential to fit into it. Since we had already agreed on our plot and created our pitch, we needed to ensure that the film either fit into the conventions or was flexible enough to be able to adapt to these conventions and key characteristics. The main conventions I found in my research were medium lighting, eye-level camera angles, a clock aspect, a sort of uncertainty and suspense, and minorly, an “object of desire” and a sense of selfishness. Our film mostly met these conventions, with few minor changes and exceptions. I would say for the majority of the film, our lighting stuck on the ‘light’ side with natural sunlight but did display some darker lighting such as in the post-date scene where Rachel is upset and records her nightly monologue. I would also say our film remained mostly at eye-level with the character(s) and most definitely had the aspect of uncertainty. It also displayed the “clock” concept prevalently; for the minor characteristics, the film somewhat had the object of desire (being Katie as well as alcohol) and this knowing selfishness of the main character and only care for her regards and well-being.