CCR question 1

Q1: "How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social views/issues?"

Our film User Error fits into the thriller horror genre, which combines suspense and fear to create tension. Thriller horror movies often make audiences feel nervous and worried about what might happen next, usually because of some mysterious danger lurking around the MC. Instead of using monsters or ghosts (which are typically used in these genres) our film uses a common element ,technology, as the scary.

Genre and Conventions

In a thriller horror, audiences expect things like tension and uneasiness coming from a rising danger/threat which create unpredictable events and usually there's also an isolation of the main character(s) to up the suspense. Our film uses many of these conventions with Stacy being alone in her house at night with just her computer and phone. There are also Unpredictable tech malfunctions such as the blender turning on by itself or the electric door lock not working. But what we don't include/challenge is gore or supernatural elements since the fear comes from something realistic (technology). Our setting is also normal since instead of dark forests or abandoned places, our setting is a normal suburban house. We didn't want it to be your typical horror movie, we wanted it to feel real, as if this could actually happen to you in the real world.

Even though these choices are different from typical horror, they still create fear because they feel real. This works well with the thriller horror genre, which often explores fear tied to psychological or emotional stress.

Representation of Social Views/Issues

User Error represents real social issues that many teens experience today, especially involving technology.

Technology VS. Teen Life

The film shows how much technology influences teen lives. Stacy spends most of the beginning it's the film opening scrolling, checking notifications, and taking video calls. This reflects how teens today often rely on technology for communication and social status. Through the sequence, it shows how much information we give to our computers and the internet, especially as clueless teens. And though the tech in our film starts out helpful, it could also very well become frightening, using all of that information we trusted our technology with against us. Research by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of teens post personal information like photos, status updates, and location check-ins on social media, and many don’t adjust their privacy settings. This means more of their personal life is accessible to strangers or large tech companies than they might expect. (https://pewrsr.ch/4lI0k4x). This tendency to share on social platforms contributes to issues of identity and self-image because teens often present idealized versions of themselves online to gain approval through likes, comments, and followers. Another study indicates that constant sharing and comparing lives on social media can increase feelings of anxiety and lower self-esteem, especially when teens compare themselves to others’ highlight reels rather than real life. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40520349/)

User Error also represents how technology affects teen self-image and emotional wellbeing. Our film opening shows Stacy constantly connected checking messages, responding to FaceTime calls, and depending on tech to validate her social life. This reflects the social issue that many teens face the which is that the internet can make teens feel like they have to fit in or be seen in a certain way. It can create anxiety, insecurity, and fear of missing out. Research on teens and social media shows this is a real cultural concern. For example, a large study found that many teens say social media makes people feel worse about their own life and can make them feel overwhelmed by drama and pressure to post popular content. This reflects the idea that technology can negatively affect self-esteem and how teens perceive themselves. ( https://pewrsr.ch/4lI0k4x) Another scientific article states that digital platforms introduce risks such as compulsive social media use and unrealistic beauty standards, which are linked to self-esteem challenges and behaviors like body dissatisfaction. This supports the idea that teens can compare themselves to idealized online images, contributing to insecurity. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40520349/)

Group Meeting 2.0

 We had another group meeting and It went GREAT! In our group we had the following members:

• selena 
• santi
• camila
• isa 
• macie
• ethan

First was ethan and I worry for this kid's health... He's doing an entire stop motion production all by himself! I asked him of the challenges and he said he's been struggling with the lighting but claims he can get by. Now Do I believe him... no. BUT HEY! Nothing but luck towards that guy. His story has something to do with this guy going to space and having some sort of journey where he goes through a wormhole, etc. I don't know how much he's really showing but I think just the stylized element of it being a stop motion film is really cool. Someone just help this guy out, please!! For his CCR he had this idea to make it a 90's employee introductory video which on paper seems cool but I worry on how he plans on making it entertaining besides the fun 90's filter. Maybe he'll make it really cheesy with bad dad jokes in it, that could be funny (or painful.)

Next was Selena. Selena was a very prominent and active member in conversation, I appreciated her for being so involved in discussion, so I wanted to do the same for her. Her film has something elements close to mine in regards of message notification and the horror elements. She talked about using the "Send later" feature for notifications and having a bunch of notifications sent to her when shes on airplane mode so that when she turns it off, her phone is spammed with notifications. I thought these ideas were very cool, I took a mental note of them to use in my film. She needs like a creepy tall skinny figure in her film which is being played by her brother, which I advised her to use camera angles to make him look taller, as she said her brother is 5'11 (thats a whole foot taller than me but its not abnormally tall to be creepy, y'know?)

Next was Santi. I think his idea was like the second most coolest out of the whole group, talking about this doctor and how he had this medicine that went wrong and everyone who took it only had 48 hours left to live. It follows this main character who's trying to figure out how to save the world from this but the film is pretty dark! Like, apparently the doctor kills himself, poor guy! Santi says "he couldn't handle the pressure" and I felt a lot of empathy for this fictional doctor, played by santi's dad. SPEAKING OF SANTI'S DAD, I was really blown away by Santi's dad's profession, he's a sports news anchor! And he's like, famous apparently? He has a whole professional headshot and everything! AND, THEY HAVE A STUDIO! So like santi, this lucky son of a gun has a filming studio to do his project in. TALK ABOUT CONVENIENT! His dad also is going to play the doctor in this film, which I think is pretty cool, but I don't know how I would feel about killing off my papa in a film. My poor papa!

Camila followed after santi and her filming was at the beach, following this girl trying to get over the death of her sister. Her sister appears in the movie as a ghost which is gonna be done with editing, I think films with editing like that is really cool especially since we're all just little high schoolers with no budget and no professional editing skills, I'm excited to see her final project. For music, I recommended the use of wind chimes as they're very tranquil but also kind of faded and they could represent the memory of her sister. But the most thing was her meeting up to film at the BEACH! I LOVE THE BEACH! (as you can tell from my blogger page) I was so jealous!

Isabella was next and she didn't have much progress considering the account of actors she needed (which I wont lie, made me feel greatful on how simple my film was) but her film opening was certainly confusing for me. Maybe I'm just like stupid but I recommended that she made her film a little bit easier to understand the plot  through the opening. From what I understood it follows a cheer and a baseball guy who are in school but are also part of some drug scheme? And they're like spies? Maybe im mis-interpreting it but I think this is just one of those things that you'll get it once you see it, so I have hope for her. But she'll definitely need to be on crunch time with that film schedule. 

Last but MOST CERTAINLY NOT LEAST was Macie whose film opening is actually extremely creative and would be a movie i'd watch. It follows a janitor that finds an old magazine article with him on it, he gets confused and finds out he was part of a preservation project where he was frozen for 15 years, but suffered memory loss due to it so he doesn't remember what happened to him. The rest of the film is him trying to discover what happened to him with the government trying to stop him as the experiment was shut down and is trying to be covered up. I thought it was SO COOL how she made a whole MAGAZINE COVER for her opening, and she's really on top of her filming because she's like DONE! I wish i could be done, damn you sickness! She also gave a good site for finding music which is epedemicsound.com which I WILL be using.

I think all and all, these peoples ideas and everything they've done was so inspiring and makes me wanna keep going and persevere my film! No procrastination here!

You're a little anteater, aren't you?

For our production company logo, we wanted something that not only represented me and Trisha as people, but also our common interest, which is acting, theater and production. So, begun our process of trying to find a name. We began with the word ANT as it represented AnT (Andreina and Trisha) which is also like AMT (american musical theater) which is the class we became friends in. But simply ANT Productions was BOOORINGGG So, we decided to try and find words with the word ANT in them,

Antacid? No...

Antagonist? Nah...

Antebrachial? What is this, Anatomy?

And then it came to us...

ANTEATER

And then it came to us even MORE!

ANTHEATER!

It was perfect, our mascot would be a silly little anteater and it alluded to the theater regarding our productions and our love for theater as two friends. HOW ADORABLE! He'res the process of me drawing the logo (because screw AI) and us making it into the logo we know and love.

Never enough planning

Filming this week was particularly difficult as we needed to film when it was nighttime which was difficult to do during a schoolnight. Thursday and Friday were also the shows for beetlejuice that both me and trisha needed to attend for a grade. HOWEVER, Beetlejuice started at around 6 and was only an hour long, so we had this planned...

Beetlejuice on friday, we have a ball while also getting into the spooky screaming spirit by watching a "Spooky" show. Then, me and trisha go back to my house and we begin filming. Our plan was perfect! Let's get this thing filmed...

AHHHHHHHHH! (Sound)

In our film, audio is SUCH an important part. Since our film is about technology taking over, we wanted the sound to slowly build from normal to completely overwhelming. Instead of using background music the whole time, we’re relying a lot on diegetic sound to make everything feel realistic and chaotic.

The Computer Sounds

The first sound in the film is the computer powering on in total darkness. You hear the whirring before you even see anything. That automatically sets the tone and lets the audience know technology is going to be important. We wanted to use the following sounds:

• Typing sounds
• Clicking
• The Spotify music playing
• Notification sounds
• Computer running

These are normal sounds you'd hear coming from a computer, kind of like a cacophony of sounds together but not overwhelming or creepy like they would be later. This is almost like a preface! We also add the “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Siri audio which we think adds  kind of a relatable moment of technology being annoying, but hints at the theme of mistreatment of technology (Hence the name, user error)

The Party Audio (Through the Computer)

When Allyssa FaceTimes Stacy on the computer, we plan to make the party sound chaotic and loud. We want to have music blasting, people yelling, laughter, background chatter, etc. We want it to junxapose Stacy’s quiet house. It shows the contrast between her isolation and the exciting world she feels like she’s missing out on. The audio here represents social pressure. Even though she’s physically alone, the noise makes it feel like the party is invading her space.

The Blender and Appliance Chaos

When the blender turns on by itself, that’s one of the first major sound shocks. It’s sudden and loud, which startles both Stacy and the audience. Later, we plan to layer multiple sounds on top of each other like speakers blasting music, the TV flipping channels, the microwave beeping, the electronic lock beeping etc. This overlapping audio will create sensory overload. We want it to feel overwhelming and out of control to make audiences uncomfortable. Instead of using dramatic horror music, we’re using normal household sounds and making them chaotic.

Phone Calling / Ringing Sound.

One of the most important audio choices in User Error is the difference between Stacy receiving calls at the beginning versus making a call at the end. At the start of the film, the FaceTime calls and notifications feel normal. Her mom is calling her through the computer, and it’s honestly treated like an annoyance. The ringtone plays, and Stacy just rolls her eyes and hangs up. The sound is meant to be casual and familiar, like it's something we all hear every day. When her mom’s messages start popping up, the notification sounds almost blend into the background. Stacy ignores them without even thinking. The audio shows how comfortable and desensitized she is. The calls don’t feel urgent to her. But later, everything changes when Stacy tries to leave and the house starts glitching, she pulls out her phone and FaceTimes her mom. This time, the ringtone isn’t annoying but now it’s desperate. It’s the same type of sound, but the meaning is completely different. Instead of ignoring it, she’s waiting for it.

This becomes one of the most important audio choices in User Error is the difference between Stacy receiving calls at the beginning versus making a call at the end.

Plops of Props

Computer

The computer is basically where everything starts. The first thing you see in the film is Stacy logging in, and it already sets the tone. She’s alone, it’s dark, and the only light is coming from the screen. We used the computer to show how wrapped up she is in social media. She’s scrolling, liking posts, pretending like she was at the party even though she wasn’t. It shows how much she cares about what other people think. But what’s really important is that by the end, the computer is recording her. In the beginning, she’s the one using it. At the end, it’s kind of using her. That’s what makes it creepy.
We wanted to use the computer to show how involved she is in social media, how she's ignoring her mom's messages and her longing to be popular which is supported by how easily she's influenced by her friend in the facetime call. It shows her as a person, her personality, her music, her style, her likes and dislikes, we wanted to show how easily information is obtained online and play with the idea of evil technology using it against her.

iPhone

The phone is more-so important later on in the film. The phone represents her last attempt to get help. It’s like her final connection to the outside world, and when it dies, she’s completely alone. So mostly, it's supposed to make a high stakes situation more stressful for audiences and imply there are more issues to come.

The Door + Blender

These are one of the first physical signs that there's something seriously wrong with the technology in her house. The moment when the Blender turns on or when the Electronic door doesn't want to open, it shifts the film from normal teenage drama to something more disturbing. It gives us as viewers a first glimpse that all technology inside her house is now out to get her, and sets the stage for later when the TV and speakers turn on.

The car Keys

They don't really have a significance, they're just car keys and a way to bring her back into the house after she already left. They're also an excuse to get her close to the blender to scare her.

All of these props were chosen deliberately because not only is it technology, but it's relatable. an iPhone, a Laptop, and even an electronic door, it represents how technology is all around us and they're things most people have. These props are meant to give a new perspective on the Technology in our home and how much control they already have over us.

Costume (I don't have a silly title for this one.)

 Costumes in our film opening wont be plentiful as the character has only one outfit throughout the film but, are important to portraying personality and status through our character. 

Our main Character in our story is a girl who longs to be popular but in reality is deeply insecure about her status and wants to reconstruct her life to be the version she wishes to be. This is shown by her scrolling through Pintrest and liking photos of influencers living a full yet fake life.

Through research, colors that represent insecurity in people are blacks, greys, and beiges as they're colors of people who want to avoid being seen. This is relative to our character as, even though she wants to be seen, she doesn't want to be seen as the person that she is but more-so the person that she wants to be. In our film opening, we want to include a sequence where she compares photos from her own page to her friend's. Her page includes very bright colors with her wearing yellows and whites and photos with high saturation. They're all old photos from like a year ago when she used to post confidently with her best friend. The bright maybe pastel colors might also represent innocence and being childish in a free sort of way. This makes the outfit she wears now feel more dull, like a lost of spark and confidence within her.

Our characters friend wears a lot of blacks, whites, silvers, and golds to represent partying, nightlife, and rebellion. Tank tops with ripped jeans and smeared makeup would be a staple look to her, almost representing the "Ke$ha look" when her whole brand surrounded partying.

This contrast of looks shows the different levels in social status between our main character and her friend and the large social gap between them that tore our two best friends apart in the past.

Costume might just seem like a small part of production, but it can be huge to portraying story without actually telling it.