Creative Critical Reflection

Hi, welcome to my creative critical reflection.

My story is based on a little girl who is dealing with Narcolepsy, confusing the real world with her dream world.

The story represents how people with mental illness or disabilities are shown through media that they will have to deal with obstacles in the future and have difficulties to blend in with society. The girl throughout the film shows her perspective of dealing with these hardships and battles to be treated equally. Everyone else around her almost help the fact and accept that she will be segregated. Towards the end she finally fulfills her passions and finds a way to blend in. She puts to sleep her problem.

It expresses the issue on how many with mental illnesses are still segregated from society and through media considered crazy or abnormal. In the US,this problem is perceived as something we have overcome, but in reality we still have a lot of work to do. Its something we are slowly forgetting about and need to take more notice in.

Research:http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=honorsprojects

Beginning this production process I started off with a storyboard to have an idea as to what my intentions were and it definitely helped guide me through when filming.

I wanted to start off the opening in this dream world in order for the audience to have the same sensation she feels. She thinks everything is fine surrounded by a bright, happy environment but then suddenly wakes up to this washed-up reality she lives in and just allows her disease to take over in order for her to escape. The opening starts off reverting back and forth from these worlds in order for audiences to identify or have an idea as to what she has. I decided for the distinction between both worlds, I would have very general LS of several kids playing with bright and vibrant colors. I also mixed two shots together to add this hallucination effect. The main character would then wake up to this reality she doesn't enjoy being in along with a constant unpleasant ringing. I decided to use only non-diegetic sounds to concentrate on how she feels and what she feels when being in both worlds. For the real world I made sure the shots were CU and up close for that reason. The dream world was meant to be blurry since dreams are usually not so detailed and just general mental images.

When Spring Break came by, I took advantage of the place I was traveling to. I went Colorado where it was already the time of the year where the snow was melting so it seemed very washed out and icy which I thought was a great environment to portray this ugly reality the main character is living in. It also helped give several rigid symmetrical images, also great in setting the mood.

As to where when I shot the dream world, it was in a completely different environment, and the blur helped it become asymmetrical and soft edged.

Creative Critical Reflection

Film Title: Sleep Something

By Agustina Patino

Towards the end the opening sounds mix into reality showing how confused she may be going through this process

Its suppose to be intriguing to audiences with these abrupt changes between worlds.

Throughout this I definitely learned a lot more about the production process. I did have a general idea, but i always lacked detail and making sure every frame and decision towards these type of projects was purposeful. It also allowed me to explore other films and their process behind their openings and just gave more to think about when creating my opening.

My intended target audience are mainly young adults since they are up and coming and influence the future. With this knowledge they can integrate it into everyday life having this situation in mind and influence others in doing the same, no matter what the age.

In terms of distribution, its best for this film to be seen through several theaters and be accessed through some popular media platforms, such as Netflix. In order to spread the message its best to have the film be easy to access. I would also have accounts on some social medias such as Twitter and Facebook, to get any feedback and/or suggestions from the audience.

I was lucky enough to be able to work on Final Cut Pro, which in my opinion, is a great software for editing and made things a lot easier. The program does come with several effects, but i wanted to avoid them as much as i can because it can be distracting and overlook the story/message. Another thing I learned and had never done was the process of asking for permission to use certain songs. At first it was actually kind of difficult depending on who i was emailing, but luckily it all worked out.