CR Blog

 How do your products represent social groups or issues? 

Our film fits into the LGBTQ+ genre, meaning that it highlights LGBTQ+ relationships and issues that many people in the community face on a daily basis. Our film is based around a young girl, Cassidy, who struggles with her sexuality. She starts off by being in a straight relationship that was perfect until she meets Jade, a girl she instantly falls for. This makes things much more complicated for her as she has to deal with discovering her sexuality, maintaining her relationship with her boyfriend, and facing the question of if she wants to continue that relationship. We wanted our film to show to people who might be going through the same issue of sexuality, that many people face this issue and that they are not alone. We hope our film can influence people that it is okay to be in the LGBTQ+ community and that being heterosexual is not the “normal” way. Although in the end, Cassidy does end up with Jade, this will probably not be the end of her battle with sexuality. We hope that viewers realize this but are still inspired to explore their own sexuality bravely and not be afraid of backlash. We chose the LGBTQ+ genre because we want to inspire people to be themselves and to not be afraid of what’s to come. We want to show people that straight relationships and being heterosexual is not the only way and that just like Cassidy, they too should explore their sexuality. 

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

When talking about the film my group and I made, I am not only discussing the actual video. I am discussing everything that makes this film unique and how we are getting it out to people. When making a film, the goal is obviously for people to see and enjoy it. In order to get our film out to people, we have to do a few things to ensure that people will be informed it’s out. This is called branding the film. When making our film, we also had to make multiple social media accounts, a website, a poster, a postcard, and more. Doing all this and spreading it to the world was our way of telling people our film is coming. These ways of advertisement are similar to when a movie is coming out and there is a trailer to show what is it about and when and where you can watch it. On our social medias and website, we give information about the film, like the pitch and when you can watch it. We also created a postcard that shows all of the social medias, the website, and a quote that is in the film. All of these forms of branding have the same colors and a photo of the diner to show that they are all connected. These similar colors and photo show a theme throughout our film and forms of branding. We hope that through our social medias, website, and more people know about our film and are excited to see it. 

How do your products engage with the audience?

Our film engages with audiences on an emotional level. Watching our film, audiences will feel different emotions towards all of the characters. While watching Cassidy struggle with her sexuality, some viewers may relate and feel the same way. They may feel connected to Cassidy and feel safe seeing that other people go through what they are going through. They might like and appreciate Cassidy for being brave and exploring her sexuality, especially if the viewer watching is scared to explore theirs. We hope our film can influence others to be brave and explore their sexuality and that being heterosexual isn’t “normal,” any sexuality is “normal.” Viewers can also feel for other characters. For example, viewers might feel bad for Aiden seeing as he loves Cassidy and she is starting to not reciprocate those feelings. This is one way that people watching our film can feel for other characters. The audience might also like Ben and Paige because they are kind of the comedic relief and they are there for Aiden and Cassidy. Viewers might also like Jade because they appreciate how helpful she was to Cassidy. Not only did she help Cassidy explore her sexuality, but she was also there for Cassidy when she felt like she had no one else to talk to. All of these emotions just prove how our film engages with audiences on an emotional level. People can emotionally relate to all of the characters and feel for them in some way. 

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

When doing a project, it is important to research and this is no different when producing a film. Research during a film is very important to make sure that the film is not too different or similar to any other film in that genre. When researching the LGBTQ+ genre, we saw that the characters were usually teenagers, usually someone is struggling with their sexuality, and the colors are usually bright. We followed these conventions in many ways. Being a student film, the characters were all teenagers and the plot of the film was the main character struggling with their sexuality. We also had everyone wear colors that were bright and the diner and room we mainly filmed in were full of color. We did, however, also challenge conventions in some way. For example, the angles used in LGBTQ+ films are mostly mid shots and are two-person shots. We did include these but we also did scenes with only one person and scenes that were close-ups and we did from different angles. High angles are not a convention of the LGBTQ+ genre, but we still used them. We also challenged conventions because the main girl starts off in a straight relationship, where this usually doesn’t happen in many LGBTQ+ films. We wanted to challenge some conventions to set our film apart, making more people want to see it. We did however follow some of the conventions because we wanted people to tell what genre the film fit into.