Critical Reflection
How do your products represent social groups or issues?
Constantly throughout my film, there is the reoccurring image of drugs being present in t the movie. Hunter and Kazmin contemplate whether taking the drugs is worth the risk or not and have a hard time deciding what the right choice is. To have fun Hunter and Kazmin eventually end up deciding to give in and take the drugs. They have lots of fun at first which is what you get from taking drugs, temporary fun. They end up getting attached to the drugs and can’t stop taking them in the film because of the rush t they get from indulging in them. Hunter ends up overdosing on the drugs, causing his death and Kazmin ends up getting caught by the police. As it was seen in the movie, however, all of this was Kazmin’s thoughts on what could've happened if they had taken the drugs. When it’s revealed that they never end up taking the drugs, the drugs are thrown in the trash can. This directly represents the social issue of teens being dependent on drugs. The entire goal of the short film is to inform the audience what can go wrong when you take drugs and how it can eventually cost you your life. Too many teens today throw away their lives due to the addiction of whatever drug or drugs they take part in. In the film, my group and I show that it is possible to say no to drugs and that you can live a great life without them if you find the right people in your life. This is demonstrated through Hunter and Kazmin’s relationship in t the film; in the end, they end up having fun without even taking the drugs in t the film and it is my hope that teenagers can follow this message.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
The entire film is a comedy so when I was working with my team it was hard to decide what ‘brand’ was wanted in the film. At first, I was thinking of maybe having the vibe of what drugs are. So, what I mean by t that is that in the short film marijuana and THC were the drugs that were desired, so I wanted to brand our film with a green color and smoke that matched that vibe. Kazmin's opinion was that Comedies incorporate orange a lot for some reason and that using that color would help create our brand. The director and producer Noura convinced us to go with the color pink, a futuristic font, and a gamer-type soundtrack. These elements eventually helped us create a sense of branding as these elements were seen in the postcards, social media posts, and our website. Using pink is bold and fun, so it was the group that decided this would catch our audience's attention. When you're under the influence of drugs as well, it’s researched that users experience a wonky reality, so I wanted to include that into our brand when working together with these elements. When you have a recurring image being seen on multiple platforms, you're more likely to investigate what you’ve been constantly seeing. For this reason, the elements of our production created a sense of branding. I took what was in the film with my group, highlighted the main elements of the film, and then took those elements and used them when creating our brand so everything matched up with each other. All in all, using these colors perfectly fitted the party atmosphere of the film and allowed the team to feel confident in the brand that caught the attention of many.
How do your products engage with the audience?
My product engages with the audience because it’s a comedy, in comedy, is laughter, and in laughter is joy. In my film, there is a lot of adventure, and going on this crazy adventure in the film allows the audience to take part in that adventure. Though most of the adventure never happens because it was all the thoughts of Kazmin of what could’ve gone wrong, it still brought the audience on that adventure. Using this in our product allows the audience to feel engaged and take part in the story which eventually ends up being to not do drugs. Incorporating the actor's humor also greatly engages the audience by making them interested in the characters. In film, one must have good actors for a good film, it doesn’t matter what else is done to make the film good if the acting isn’t right. Having me and Kazmin as the actors engaged the audience by portraying a genuine friendship filled with jokes. The acting distracts the audience from my low budget to make this film. Although I did have access to media and music which did engage the audience. Using catchy, upbeat tunes keeps the audience awake and makes them want to dance, which ultimately engages them in the product, which is exactly what I did in this filming process. These small things that many don’t focus on are the bread and butter for using our products to bring the audience to the film, to be within the film. Even the props engaged our audience to our product. For example, in the film the drugs (not real drugs) are in a bottle which is titled ‘Drugs!’ This exclamation point brings out the sense of comedy and brings out a laugh from the audience which is the strategy for having that interaction with my film.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
When I researched what typically goes on in a comedy, I found that it’s usually something with a bigger meaning, although it may be comical. For example, when I was researching ‘Free Guy’ the film may be a comedy with a normal man stuck in a ‘simulation.’ The bigger message is that not everyone has to live in a simulation. That correlated with our film because Kazmin’s thoughts portray t the simulation many people live in today and that breaking out of that cycle of taking drugs is possible. In this way is how my product uses conventions because the team took a serious issue and made a comedy out of it to in the end give the theme that drugs are bad for you and that teenagers and people in general shouldn’t take part in them. Another convention that was used is having ‘intelligent’ actors in my comedy film. From the research gathered, I concluded that the main characters in comedy films are typically naive and blinded to critical thinking. In ‘Overdon’t’ Kazmin and Hunter are exactly what an audience would imagine when it comes to the main characters in a comedy film. One convention that was challenged, however, was having drugs be the main topic in a comedy film. Typically, drugs are found in a dramas like Euphoria and Breaking Bad for instance. The drugs are seen as a serious issue throughout the entirety of the series or film. In our comedy, they're seen as a joke and are taken lightly until the very end of the film. The film takes part in adventure and the benefits of taking drugs while in other media that include drugs, there always seems to be an immediate consequence of taking them. In our film, it was fun and funny for most of the film, which isn’t seen in others.
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