As of right now I don't have an idea for what creative thing I'm going to do for my second CCR, so I'm just gonna spend this blog post answering the questions straight forward and I'll figure it out later. I'm going to be filming the first CCR probably this week, maybe next week if it comes to it. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week so, who knows.
Question 1: How does your project use of challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
I Want to Destroy the World is a coming of age film, and a main factor in that genre is a protagonist who grows during adolescence. Usually, they start off immature and childish, but as the story progresses, they learn to become more adult and mature. Additionally, most protagonists in comin of age films are teenage women. Movies like Lady Bird, Booksmart, thirteen, and Eight Grade fit into all these conventions. I Want to Destroy the World's protagonist, Mika, is a teenager but isn't a girl. This isn't uncommon as Perks of Being a Wallflower and Mid90s are popular coming-of-age films with a male protagonist. My film does not challenge the basic fundamentals of coming-of-age films as Mika's development throughout the film is him learning to accept and love his apocalyptical brother and not try to 'fix' or control him. Mika goes from an immature mentality of having his little brother to need to be a certain way, to a more mature and responsible mentality of acceptance. I Want to Destroy the World's Aba, however, does challenge conventions. Although not being the 'protagonist', Aba is just as important to the film's story as Mika as. Aba conforms to the genre's conventions by developing from a child who does not understand his powers and is deeply hateful of them to a more mature person who understands and accepts himself. But, unlike most coming-of-age films, Aba is not an adolescent, Aba is a 10 year-old. Aba's age serves the story, as it adds on to the disconnection between the brothers. Mika's more mature age, 17, causes him to be more not-understanding of Aba than he would have been. Aba's age also offers something new to the audience, a child with apocalyptic powers in a coming-of-age movie. The film's stakes are also higher. While most coming-of-age films deal with small, intimate conflict, I Want to Destroy the World's character vs character conflict deals with the apocalypse that Aba causes and Mika tries to prevent, which starts with Aba's proclamation at the end of the opening. Considering representation: Aba's powers are an analogy to neurological disorders like autism, ADHD, and ODD. Of course, I tried my best to avoid representing these disorders as harmful or violent and instead tried representing it as something that isn't fully understood and needs to be treated with care. In the opening, this is shown through Aba's behaviors. Selective mutism, the inability to speak under overwhelming or anxious situations found in autism, is shown through Aba's silence throughout the opening, only speaking one sentence at the end. Aba also has a meltdown, similar to a temper tantrum, which another symptom of autism. I tried representing these behaviors as something Aba doesn't do out of spite but uncontrollable responses to the situation he's in. Mika's inability to understand is also shown here, as he tries to push Aba out from his selective muteness, physically agitates Aba when the meltdown starts, and blames the meltdown on him immediately. Mika's way of stopping meltdowns, guitar playing, represents coping mechanisms that can stop meltdowns. Though, sometimes these coping mechanisms don't work and can't stop meltdowns, which is what happens at the film's climax.
Question 4: How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?
Throughout the entire process, I used Blogger to document any research, brainstorming, and general production of the opening. For instance, there was a post researching genre conventions in the openings of coming of age films like Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ladybird and also drama films like Whiplash and Before Sunrise. Drama is researched at first as well because I wasn't sure which genre I'd be going with but it ended up being coming of age. Blogger was also used to write the script for the opening. For the storyboard, I used Procreate on my iPad, which in hindsight maybe I shouldn't have done due to my own fault. I became too detailed during the storyboarding process and it ended up taking hours longer than it should have. Weirdly enough, I feel like if I did it on paper with a pencil, I would have completed it much faster. Filmic Pro was used on my iPhone to film the opening. I used it because a majority of the opening takes place outside at night, and I didn't want constant and apparent grain throughout the opening. Filmic Pro has a feature where you can adjust IOS, so there's less grain in dark shots, so I used it. I used CapCut to put together all the shots in my opening and for any sound added during editing since it's the editing software I'm most familiar with. Adobe Premier Pro was also used as an editing software for the color correction and editing in the text/credits. Premier Pro proved to be a hassle to work with. I still am not sure why, but the editing software would constantly stop working while I was editing. Screens would go black, I'd click buttons and nothing would happen, and I ended up having to restart and computer and the program countless times.
Ending:
All in all, I'm pretty happy with the story I've created. I'm proud of Aba and Mika as characters and the story they're in. Looking back, and I'm not sure if this is me being pessimistic, I feel like my opening could have been a lot better. Maybe it needed more time in the oven, maybe two minutes wasn't enough time for it, maybe this maybe that. This is not to say that I think it turned out bad, I think it turned out pretty good, but to my own standards for myself, I feel like I could have done better. With this project I really feel like I've learnt to take my time with what I make and to be more of a perfectionist. A lot of the time, I found myself saying "it is what it is, I'll work with what I got" during this process. For instance, with casting I was unable to find a girl to play Aba, who was originally Mika's sister instead of brother, but I couldn't so I settled. Looking back, I wish I would have tried just a little bit harder to find someone to play Aba, but looking back I also think I would not have been able to find someone. I guess I just wished I would have gone the extra mile, even if it wouldn't work out, and it probably wouldn't frankly. All this to say, I learnt that I should give it my 110% and learn to settle less. One thing I would've done differently was how I communicated my ideas and vision with those helping me. I really should have communicated better to my friend who helped me film what exactly I wanted, and I should have communicated with my little brother (who played Aba) what the opening was and what he was doing before arriving at the filming location, but I didn't. It's a silly thing but I should've done it, I think the project would've turned out a little better if I did. Next time, I'm definitely going to be over-communicative with what I want and I'm going to take my time developing my idea. I'm also going to be sure to be more of a perfectionist during the production process. I'm pretty excited for next time, I really think I could do better. Well that's that, I'm gonna miss my little characters, and I hope you enjoy my opening, I enjoyed making it.
https://thebookwyrmsden.com/2020/10/31/what-makes-a-good-coming-of-age-story/
https://www.rdiconnect.com/selective-mutism-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-happen/
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