Critical Creative Reflection

Hello everyone!!

    Today is a sad day; the daily or weekly updated blogs about my film opener and project for AICE Media Studies have officially come to an end. I am super sad that the journey of sharing my progress on my movie opener project has ended. You guys have gone through with me both the easy times and the tough times of this process, from pre-production (planning hair, costumes, settings, and props) to filming, to editing, and final touches. Unfortunately, all good things eventually come to an end. Therefore, the only right way to end this journey with you guys is, of course, by reflecting and evaluating my process. This final blog will be me presenting my critical creative reflection, or CCR. This critical creative reflection is essentially me going into depth and reflecting back fully on the whole process. Some of the things in my CCR were brought up in my blogs; however, my CCR goes even more into detail, so I hope you can stay by and watch it through fully! My critical creative reflection is in the form of a PowerPoint or Canva presentation. This PowerPoint includes pictures and videos throughout and contains a voiceover of me presenting it. Once again, I am extremely grateful that you guys followed along this journey with me, as you guys are one of my biggest supporters! Attached down below will be my critical creative reflection video, as well as a transcript, so that you can easily follow along with what I say and not get lost. 

Transcript:

Slide 1: Hello! My name is Raina Shiu, candidate 8073, and this is my critical creative reflection for my film opener called Along the Way.

Slide 2: Along the Way is a film that captures how grief reroutes the journey of friendship. After the devastating loss of their best friend, Jahzara, three teenagers—Raina, Emi, and Ngoc—find their once unbreakable bond beginning to fracture. As each girl copes in her own isolating way, through performance, withdrawal, or peacekeeping, they discover that the hardest part of losing someone can be losing each other along the way. The film is a quiet, but visual exploration of memories and lonely paths walked after a shared tragedy.

Slide 3: Question 1, how does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Slide 4: Our film, along the way, operates within the genre of drama and subgenre of coming of age by utilizing many of its core conventions to set up a story that it ultimately subverts. First, we embrace key conventions to establish the scene. The narrative of my movie opener is built around a life changing event or tragedy—the death of a friend—which is a classic conflict in this genre. The film also utilizes the central convention of self-discovery and identity formation. I focused mainly on the emotional and psychological growth of the protagonists. Each character is on a raw, vulnerable journey to figure out who they are in the devastating absence of their best friend. Raina’s identity fractures into a performative façade, Emijola’s fades into a shadow of her former self, and Ngoc’s becomes defined by a burdensome role she never chose. Visually, I used conventions like montage sequences to show the passage of time in the bedroom and symbolic settings such as the melancholic beach or the sterile school setting to help portray the characters’ internal states.  

Slide 5: However, our film also challenges some of the coming-of-age drama genre core narrative conventions. Traditionally, films within this genre use tragedy as a way to unite and create a stronger bond between the protagonists. They typically bring them closer together by sending them on a shared journey of healing or revenge that ultimately strengthens their bond. However, my movie opener subverts this convention by suggesting that self-discovery can sometimes mean discovering an isolating and fractured version of yourself. Instead of the tragedy enforcing a stronger group identity, it shatters all three protagonist’s sense of self. We portrayed this by using the five stages of grief across the friends. Raina is trapped in denial, Emijola in depression, and Ngoc in bargaining. Their individual identity in the face of grief is what traps them from healthy communication and understanding. The conventional journey ends not in a stronger bond, but in separation, which is shown as they walk away from each other on the beach.

Slide 6: Our film represents a variety of social groups and issues to create a narrative that is both specific in its identity and universal in its emotional core. Race and ethnicity are shown through the diverse friend group. The characters are Chinese American, Vietnamese-American, Jamaican-American, and Haitian/Nigerian American. This was a deliberate choice to reflect on modern friendships. Moreover, gender is centered on teenage girls. The story focuses on female friendship and the pressures they often face from society. For example, Raina endures the pressure to be the happy social butterfly but clearly, she undergoes a suffocating façade. Likewise, Ngoc embodies the expectation for women to be the nurturing peacekeeper whose role as the groups’ emotional stabilizer leaves her burdened. Emijola however, subverts the expectation that female grief should be openly expressive. Her depression is heavy, but silent, as she withdraws mentally and physically, which challenges the idea of how a “sad girl” should look.

Our film directly represents and brings awareness to the issue of mental illness by moving past the typical stereotypes. Emijola’s struggle is not represented as a mere sadness or cry for help that can be easily solved with simple pep talks, but rather as an isolating force and extremely consuming health condition that alters her behavior and self-identity. In other words, this challenges the societal expectation that people should quickly get over grief. Another core issue addressed is the idea of love and death. Our film explores how death is not an end to love, but a transformation of it. The unconditional love that the three friends have for Jahzara does not disappear, but it becomes a heavy burden on them.

Slide 7: Question 2, How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Slide 8: Our film opener grabs the audience’s attention first through its striking contrast. The opening beach scene at sunset is immediately beautiful and solemn, using soft, warm light to create a sense of peace and deep sadness. This draws the audience in with a feeling of intimacy and emotions. What makes the audience stay to watch is the relatable actions of each character. People watching connect with the three girls and recognize the different, flawed ways they cope with grief—through denial, depression, or trying to simply hold everything together. The tension is created from wondering whether their friendship will survive and overcome the grief or not. In order to WOW the audience, our film relies on aesthetic cinematography and emotional authenticity. The beach scene was carefully composed. It was specifically captured at sunset with the golden hour lighting, the slow arc shot around the characters, and the poetic moment of ash scattering. These visual choices impact our film’s emotional theme. The audience is able to connect with the raw and heartbreaking emotions each character is enduring in a relatable way.

Slide 9: If Along the Way were a full film, my ideal path would be for it to reach a wide audience of young children, teens, or families who connect with emotional, character development driven stories. To do that, my goal would be for the film to reach a major streaming platform such as Netflix and Disney+. Likewise, to produce it, it would be produced under Netflix Studios or Walt Disney Studios. Under these studios, there will be professional producers, directors, and specialists in film guiding the project. They would be able to help expand the story/narrative and ensure overall higher production quality. Once production is completed, before fully releasing it, the next critical step would be marketing.

Slide 10: For marketing, I would form a promotional partnership with a music artist such as Billie Eilish as she is an active influential figure that advocates mental health awareness. This perfectly aligns with the film’s themes. She could contribute an original song for the soundtrack. Her involvement would help promote the movie to her large fan base. Another way the movie will be marketed is through interviews with talk shows. For example, the cast would be booked for the Jimmy Fallon Show or the Kelly Clarkson Show as these talk shows are perfect for the audience to get to know the actors better personally, and to be able to see the behind the scenes which adds authenticity.  Last but not least, once marketing is completed, the movie will be released as a Netflix Original or under Disney+ to maximize the audience it reaches as these are already big streaming platforms.

 

Slide 11: Question 3, how did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Slide 12: Throughout this process, my production skills have improved significantly in terms of learning different techniques. Such skills include learning how to download and extract audios, importing fonts, adding transitions to fonts, and changing saturations/contrasts.

Slide 13: Starting with learning how to download and extract audios. When I first started helping with my group to edit, I was completely clueless on how to import an audio from a recording without the recording showing on the actual movie. I learned through my friend Emijola, that there was a feature on an app called CapCut where it allows you to upload any video and it will automatically extract the audio for you.

Slide 14: Another skill I learned was how to import fonts. I already knew that most editing platforms had preset fonts that you could use, but I never knew how other people could get cool and amazing fonts that were not on the app itself. I decided to research on my own and found out about a website called “dafont.com.” This website has a variety of unique fonts that are created by a variety of different people. I now know that you can download the file of the font on the website to your device and then import the file onto the editing software.

Slide 15: Another skill I acquired was in learning to add transitions to fonts specifically. I already knew how to do the basics such as adding transitions between clips. However, I had always wondered how people were able to get texts to transition smoothly from one shot to another. I did not learn until another friend of mines, told me that there was a hidden feature also on Capcut called “animations.” This animations feature allows you to put both intro and outro transitions, such as fade ins and fade outs, and it is shown in the video here.

Slide 16: Another skill I gained from this process was effectively changing saturations of clips. I knew of the concept that you could change saturations and contrasts of clips. However, I never understood the concept behind it. Whenever I changed those settings, the clip would look weird and either too saturated, or too contrasted. However, I have a friend who took art that was able to teach me the difference between saturation and contrast. By teaching me the difference between the two, I was able to learn how to effectively incorporate both settings into our film opener. The scenes were transformed into a dull aesthetic to a more vibrant and color-popping aesthetic. The difference is subtle, but still visible and creates a difference.

Slide 17: Here is a visual comparison of the two shots before and after editing the saturations and contrasts. As you can see the before has a grey tone to it that makes it look dull, whereas the after shows the intense coloring of the sunset and adds a warmer tone to the shot.

Since starting the process of researching, filming, and editing, I have grown significantly as a filmmaker when it comes to editing. I have always liked the process of recording itself, but I was not originally a fan of editing as I was not good at it. However, after finishing the movie, I have developed an interest towards editing as I have gotten better at it due to my amazing friends and of researching on my own. I would not consider myself to pursue an editing career in film, but I believe that it is a talented industry with extremely creative individuals.

Slide 18: Question 4, how did you integrate technology software, hardware and online—in this project?

Slide 19: In this project, I have learned how to maximize the use of technology to my own advantage. In this age, it is no shocker that the use of technology is everywhere. Throughout the whole process, technology was a crucial essential. I was able to learn how to use the cinematic mode on the iPhone 14 pro max to record. This mode allowed my group to create a variety of depth of fields in our movie to draw the audience into key emotional moments without the need for a professional camera such as a Canon.

Slide 20: For editing, we used the editing software called Capcut which had so many features that it allowed us to have a smooth editing process. It was extremely easy to upload clips onto the app. We simply had to go on the app and click import, then we could upload whatever clip that was already recorded in our photos or files. The app also had a variety of transitions, both clip transitions and text transitions, that were easy to add. The app featured a range of sound effects, preset fonts, and ability to adjust colors and apply filters. The best feature had to be of course that it was free! The app required no purchase fee to use it. The app offered a pro version that did cost money, however, that was not needed because the free version already contained a variety of features. Overall, CapCut was an amazing editing software that made me more confident in my abilities to edit since it was beginner friendly or easy to learn how to use.

Slide 21: Another software I have used throughout this process is a website called Blogger.com. Since starting AICE Media Studies, Blogger was an important website where I wrote daily blogs to document my entire journey of the movie opener project, from initial research to final reflections. Each blog contains information or updates about every step I took to make this project possible with my group. These blogs helped me organize my thoughts like a personal journal or diary.

Slide 22: Overall, our project, Along the Way, was a thought-out process that took time and dedication. I am extremely grateful for the experience and skills I was able to gain from this process. I have learned to appreciate the art of filmmaking and understand that it is not just a process of writing a script and hitting record, but a meticulous thought-out process that requires creativity, collaboration, and effort. I now understand how every choice, from the color of the wall to the characters themselves, plays an important role in building the story’s emotional world. This journey has not only taught me the filmmaking process but also shown me how to tell stories on a deeper level.

Slide 23: Thank you everyone for listening, this is my critical creative reflection on my film opener, Along the Way.

Final Project

 Hello everyone! It has actually come to an end... the project is completed.

    The process of creating this movie opener seemed so long yet so short at the same time. I remember that when I was first introduced to the project, I thought, "This will take a while to complete." However, now that I have finished, it actually did not seem like a very long process. It was a great experience working with a group of my friends to make this movie opener possible. Many unforgettable memories and skills were made during the process. Before I started, I was not good at editing whatsoever. Afterwards, I was able to learn many different tips and tricks on editing from Emijola and Jahzara. Working on this project has also taught me how to communicate better. For example, like most group projects, disagreements are bound to happen. These disagreements obviously made me frustrated at times; however, I learned the importance of understanding that everyone has their own schedule and busy lives. By communicating openly and with patience, I was able to turn those frustrations into solutions. I learned to compromise and be open-minded towards my friends' opinions, whether it was about filming, shot angles, outfits, music, or editing. Overall, this was a good experience for me, and I would actually love to do this again, but even better if I could. Filmmaking is truly an artistic collaborative industry that requires dedication and time from everyone. Lastly, thank you all for following along this journey with me and my group. Here is the completed product!

Last minute changes

 Well, hey there again!
              In today’s blog, I will be discussing the last-minute changes my group made to our movie opener.

 To clarify, my group did not make any changes after showing our movie opener to our friend Eric (initial screening). However, we did make multiple changes during the editing process. In other words, there were several times where my group was like, “We are done! Here is the final product. Check through it to see if it is good.” However, every time we looked through the so-called final product, we noticed some small details that needed fixing. As a result, whatever detail that we wanted to fix, we saved the video and made the changes ourselves. This process happened a few times until everyone in the group was fully satisfied.

To start off with, one of the biggest last-minute changes we made was our song choice. Originally, we were going to play the song “Constellations” by Jade Lemac in the background throughout the film. However, the song did not suit some of the scenes at times, and we needed a song that would fit throughout the whole film, and not just one or two scenes. As a result, I was responsible for finding other potential song options. I looked on YouTube and sent many suggestions to our group chat, such as “Blessed” by Daniel Caesar, “All I Want” by Kodaline, and “Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish. I sent these three options, and our group ended up voting on “Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish. However, in order to try to avoid being copyrighted, Emijola suggested finding a cover of the song rather than simply using the song itself. As a result, we used a cover of the song by Alice Kristiansen. Luckily, this played in our favor because the cover seemed to suit the film opener even more in that it was an acoustic version, and the audience could hear the raw vocals and emotions in the singer’s voice, which further helps intensify the grief we are trying to portray.

Another last-minute change we made was in the last scene, the classroom scene. Originally, the way we were going to leave our movie opener was through a close-up of Ngoc, then a zoom into the pupil of her eye to black. However, during that day of filming, we completely forgot to film that part. We only realized that we forgot to film that part when we all went home. Since our school follows a block schedule, our next available day to film in that same class would have to be two days later. This was an issue because my group was already a little bit behind when it came to filming, and we needed to finish recording as soon as possible. As a result, we simply decided not to record that part and leave it out of our film. In the end, however, it still worked out because that scene would have made our opener too long, and we felt that if we were to end it like that, it would seem more like a movie trailer rather than an opener. So, the way we left off our opener was just by letting it cut to black once it reached the two-minute mark.

Overall, we did not make any changes after Eric’s initial screening of our opener because we felt that it would be way too much of a hassle. Emijola and Jahzara had originally edited the video on their phones. Afterwards, I saved that video and edited the credits into the video. Thus, if we were to make any physical changes, Emijola would have to reedit the video that does not have the credits and then send it to me so that I could put the credits on the opener again. We thought that a majority of Eric’s critiques were small details, and so it would not be worth it to go through that whole process to simply change two or three minor details.

Inital screening

Howdy mate!
    Welcome back to another blog of mine! We are truly coming to a close soon. I will miss you guys for reading my blogs. Today, I will discuss the feedback and constructive criticism my group has received on our film opener after presenting it to a few people.

The person we presented our film opener to was our friend Eric Jin, who is also in our AICE Media Class, but is working with another group.

I asked Eric three overall questions about our movie opener: How did it make you feel? What aspects of the film worked well and which did not? To what extent did the film meet or subvert your expectations?

How did the film make you feel?

Eric told me that our film made him feel really sad for the person who died. He said that he could sense the tragedy and grief the characters were facing, causing him to also feel a bit sad. He understood the characters (in terms of their different characteristics/traits), plot, and conflict really well.

What aspects of the film worked well and which did not?

As for the actual production of the film, Eric said the camera work and skills were good. The film was cinematic and aesthetically pleasing to watch. He further added that he could tell the plot was planned and thought out meticulously because he was able to understand the storyline completely without any confusion. However, he thought the film was not dramatic enough, considering that our film is under the drama genre. As a result, he felt that at certain times our opener was a little bit boring and too slow-paced. He continued to say that our soundtrack and overall sound choices were spectacular. He really liked the song that we incorporated throughout the whole opener (Ocean Eyes - Billie Eilish (cover) by Alice Kristiansen). He said that the lyrics of the song matched the mood we were trying to set, which was sadness and depression. An aspect that he thought did not work well in our film was the dialogue. He said that since our movie opener was intense and emotionally filled, there should not have been dialogue. In a way, the dialogue seem to "break" the tension and suspense we were trying to create.

To what extent did the film meet or subvert your expectations?

Before watching our film, Eric was expecting a super dramatic film because we told him that our genre was drama. He also thought that the plot was originally going to be about moving on from something, based on the title. As a result, he expected mainly sad music with melodramatic scenes. Likewise, since we incorporated many elements from the drama genre, a majority of his overall expectations on what the film was going to be were met. 

Feedback?

It is always important to ask for ways to improve when trying something new, such as creating a film opener. As a result, I decided to ask Eric what were some aspects we could do better on and fix. The first thing that he said we could improve on was our acting. He said that Raina had unnatural dialogue. In other words, my tone when saying "Oh my gosh!" did not match the depressive mood we were conveying and that it was too "high-pitched" for the scene. Another part that he said needed work was Ngoc's facial expression. He said that her facial expressions were too static, making her acting seem robot-like in a way. Lastly, one final thing he suggested was that we should have filmed at a different time for the beach scene. For instance, rather than filming at sunset, he thought that we should have filmed during sunrise since the lighting would have been dimmer and more suited to the fact that we were trying to portray grief and the aftermath of Jahzara's death.

Overall, I am extremely grateful for the input and feedback Eric gave after watching our film opener, especially since he is also in media studies and knows the expectations/requirements of the project.

Casting

Hello to everybody who has been following up so far with all my blogs!

    Today, I will be discussing the cast of my movie opener. The main cast in my movie opener features Raina, Ngoc, Emijola, and Jahzara. As for our supporting cast, which was mainly just background actors for our school scene, this featured my friends Marcus, Ella, Grace, Sneha, Dayna, and Ms. Beruty. 

Main Cast

Raina:

As discussed before, Raina plays the role of the "nonchalant" and unfazed friend after Jahzara's death. She pretends nothing happened and tries to act happy, but in reality, she is crushed mentally by the death. She puts up a facade throughout the movie opener, but the audience can see the small signs of her facade breaking. I was chosen to portray this character because my friends say I have a similar persona in real life. I tend to not really show emotions, and my resting face always looks like I am mad. As a result, it would be easy for me to portray a character that "shows" no emotions. Moreover, when I was younger, I used to have the belief that I needed to be perfect, but as I grew older, I realized that perfection is not ideal and unrealistic. This is similar to the way Raina is in the movie opener whcih is why I believe I was a good fit for the role.

Emijola:

Once again, Emijola is the character in the movie opener who is visibly affected and depressed by the death of her bestfriend Jahzara. Her character had completely transformed from a bubbly character to an emotionally devastated character. Emijola, in real life, was a good fit for this character because she has a genuinely happy persona in person. Her naturally joyful persona would be a good fit to represent the character in the beginning. Moreover, Emijola was in debate and had always placed in interp. This means she is extremely good at acting and would be perfect for being emotional during the flashback scene. I feel that she was a good fit because her acting was always on point and seemed real.

Ngoc:

Ngoc, in the movie opener, is the mediator or neutral character. She aimed to hold the friend group together. She is also in extreme grief about her best friend's death, but for the sake of the friend group, she tries to hold her sadness off. In other words, she places and cares for others before herself. We thought that Ngoc in real life would fit this role because, in person, she is just like that. Ngoc never takes sides in an argument, but rather tries to see problems from both perspectives and understand people that way. Thus, it was perfect for her to play the role of the mediator in the film, as it was simply natural to her. Her acting and dialogue were flawless, and the tone and emotions were exactly what we wanted.

Jahzara:

Jahzara in the movie opener was the bestfriend who died due to cancer. We chose Jahzara to play this character because she did not consider herself a good actor and wanted to help record instead. Since the character Jahzara does not actually have much screentime in the actual movie opener, and Jahzara in real life wanted to film, this role was perfect for her. Even though Jahzara did not have much screentime, her acting and role were still good. She effectively played the role of the dead friend by applying makeup and wearing specific clothes that made it seem as if she were dead.

Supporting cast/background characters:

As mentioned, our supporting cast was mainly just the background characters in our school classroom scene. In this scene, we needed characters that would act as Raina's "new friends," and we needed characters that would simply act as the other students in the class. Therefore, we called in a few of my friends to come after school to play that role. They all did their role very well as they simply had to act natural, as if they were talking to me just like they would on any other day in real life. To make our scene a little bit more authentic, we had also asked if Ms. Beruty could be the teacher in the scene so that it seemed like a real class that was about to begin. 

wishlist

Oh, hey there again! Welcome back to another blog about my movie opener, where today I will discuss things I would have done differently if I were in a world where I had a major movie production budget. 

The first thing I would change would be the actors. If we had the budget, we could have hired professional actors who have been in the industry for a while. For example, in the imaginative world, we would have hired McKenna Grace or Millie Bobby Brown to be the main characters. Millie Bobby Brown could be cast as Jahzara, and McKenna Grace could be cast as another main character, such as Emijola. Moreover, in general, if we had the budget, we could have hired more prop actors to be in the background of our school/classroom scene. 

Now, the next thing we would have done differently would be the costumes. For Raina, in order to represent her athletic-like aesthetic, we would have dressed her in expensive athletic-wear brands such as Alo, Lululemon, or Vuori. As for Emijola, we would have bought silk clothing for her character to wear in the past to create a sharper contrast between the baggy and dark outfit she wears after the death of Jahzara. Similarly, for Ngoc, we would have bought a higher quality quarter-zip made out of cashmere for the past to also create a sharper distinction in the symbolism of her outfits from past to present of Jahzara's death. Overall, if we had the budget, we would have hired a stylist team or a costume designer to be part of the project, as this would have made the production process a lot smoother.

Next, as for setting and location, I would have rented out a private island to film the beach scene. This would allow us to film in private without having to worry about people walking in the background of a shot. Moreover, instead of Jahzara's bedroom, I would have also rented out a luxury modern home that has a waterfront view to further emphasize Jahzara's wealth, which would help convey one of our themes that money cannot buy happiness. For the school scene, I would have built a stereotypical, old-fashioned-style school that has a vintage look to it. 

Last but not least, as for lighting, sound, and editing, I would have changed the lighting of the school scene. In other words, if we had the budget, we would have built our own classroom set. With this built set, I would have wanted very specific lighting, such as LED around the class, with rectangular-shaped windows that allow for sunlight to peak through. As for sound, I would have a professional sound mixer that allows us to easily mix the sound of the waves, winds, and birds flying overhead in the beach scene. This would have allowed our movie opener to be way more high-quality. Moreover, I would have hired a professional singer or artist to write a song specifically for the movie, known as a score. Examples of singers that I would hire would be Adele, Sia, or Billie Eilish. 

Thus, with a major budget, the core storyline would not change, but every aspect that it takes to portray the storyline would. In other words, the set designs and editing of the movie would be changed completely if we had a major budget like big film production companies in real life, but the overall plot in the movie would stay the same.

Camera Shots & Angles

 Peek-a-boo!

    Oh, hey there! Another day, another blog about my movie opener. Get your popcorn and drinks ready, as today I will be discussing the different varieties and types of camera shots and angles in the movie opener.

    One of the main camera shots that we used is a wide shot. We mainly used wide shots when transitioning from one scene to another. For example, we first started off our movie opener with an establishing shot, which was also a wide shot. We chose to do a wide shot because it allows the audience to take in the scene and absorb all the relevant information in it at once. The audience can get a general view and feel of the mood and setting of the first scene. Then, we used a wide shot on the scene where the 3 girls have their backs against the camera and are walking away from the ocean (this shot is a transition from Emijola scattering ashes into the ocean). We chose to use a wide shot for this shot of the scene because we wanted the shot to be wide enough so that the audience can visually see the different directions that the three girls are walking away to. The whole point of this scene was to show that each girl is going to follow their own path when it comes to grieving. Thus, by using a wide shot, it seems as if the audience can almost feel for themselves the physical distance that is growing between the girls and what is left of their friendship. The next wide shot that was used is a transition from this shot to scene 4, which is the staircase establishing shot that establishes the overall setting of the school scene. It shows students walking up the stairs and heading to their classes. We used a wide shot for this scene so that the audience fully understands it's a transition to another setting and part of the film. This allows the audience to have context for what is about to happen. The wide shot shows where the characters are now (school) and who surrounds them (teacher, friends, classmates).

    Another common shot size we used was medium full shot and medium shot. We mainly used these two shots because this shot shows the characters' torso and head (from waist to head). As a result, this allows the audience to pick up on our character's movements and gestures, which helps them understand the mood of our movie opener. In other words, by using medium and medium full shots, this allows the audience to see each character's facial expressions in context with their body language. For example, in the flashback scene, it is a medium shot. This medium shot helps those watching to see the body language of Emijola along with her facial expressions. Her facial expressions are clearly concerned, and her body language is shaking and trembling. As a result, the audience can understand that the scene is serious and that something concerning (Jahzara's death) is happening. Overall, throughout the whole flashback scene, it is a medium shot. We intentionally did this because we wanted to make sure that the viewers could fully understand the different emotions of the three girls who surround the room. Raina is awkward and surprised, Emijola is scared and filled with emotions, and Ngoc is shocked and frozen. 

    The last type of shot that we used, which is different from the others, is a point-of-view shot. We intentionally used a point-of-view shot in the last scene, the classroom scene, so that we could show and provide the audience with a sense of the numbness that Ngoc is feeling after Jahzara's death. A POV shot is a shot that shows a view from the subject's perspective/what they are looking at. As a result, by having this scene be portrayed in the eyes of Ngoc, the audience can feel the tension between the two other friends, Raina and Emijola, after Jahzara's death.