Critical Reflection

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YxK7t48btqcan64AnsZkLMdd32dBz0MH4aJdSvlGcbQ/edit?usp=sharing

 1. Our product represents poor social groups and the issues of trying to work out of a  spot in life stuck in the working class, social mobility, and community support and solidarity. The idea that the mechanic/driver in our film is a poor blue collar worker with the dream of becoming more than that. It highlights the economic inequalities and access to opportunities that shape the way someone's work life may go. Having to go for a job like a racecar driver may feel impossible due to the money and connections you have to have, including the talent you need, our product really provides a look on how you can overcome and pursue dreams when there is major economic inequality. Our film also represents social mobility as the storyline of the mechanic becoming a race car driver explores the hard work, talent, and opportunity that the characters use to better their social status. This representation resonates with people interested in themes of overcoming adversity no matter the situation they are in. The film also represents the importance of community support and solidarity. The movie provides the character Bean to help the mechanic believe and pursue the goal. It highlights the importance of having guidance and encouragement when navigating challenges and pursuing his passion for racing. Another theme of a mechanic transitioning into a racer represented in our film is inequality within sports. It  explores barriers to entry, such as financial constraints, lack of resources, and limited access to training facilities, which often prevent individuals from certain backgrounds from participating in certain sports or career paths. In summary, our short film about a poor mechanic becoming a racer serves as a vehicle for exploring various social themes, through storytelling and character development, the film  engages audiences and prompt reflection on these important issues. 

2. Our production has many elements that all come together to give a brand to our movie. Of course first we have the movie itself which is the main piece that is the center of our branding but we needed a lot more than just the movie to expand our brand. So the first element we used was a website. The website provides all the information a person could need to know everything about the film and where to watch the film. It had info on all the people who put the film together, awards that the film has one, and other facts about the film one may want to know. This was the main thing that would get people to like our brand after finding out what it was. We used two different methods to get our brand out there and peak the interest of people. First we created an Instagram. This allowed us to post behind the scenes and interviews with actors that would then randomly come across people who used Instagram and the algorithm of Instagram gave it to people who have interest in racing things. Once we were able to reel them into our page we have our website linked so the person could go there and get all the information on our brand. The other way we expanded our branding was a postcard. This allowed us again to link all of our socials and websites through it. The postcard allowed us to hand out information on our brand to anyone. At places like conventions the postcards made sure that the people who were interested in our brand would remember it and go to one of our socials that were all connected together. So overall we linked all the elements of our brand so no matter which one a person would find they would be able to visit everything about our brand and find all the information.

3. Our product is very engaging with the audience as it is meant to inspire our audience. The film and all the other elements each have a way to engage with our audience. Our film's main goal is to really be as compelling as possible. The topic with our film is very relevant to many people's problems now. By addressing this topic it sparks conversations and captures the attention of more than just the target audience. The film should have people who just watched it who may relate to the circumstances of the film to be inspired to have the same passion and confidence our character did. Our social platforms are also another way that makes our product very engaging. All of our fans can see behind the scenes pictures and videos of the film. This makes people who wonder how it was made very engaged. People can also reach out to us through these social platforms. They can comment on our posts and send direct messages to our media team. This allows for feedback to come to us so we can improve our film. We also have all the information to reach out to us through our website. Having the ability to engage with our audience only makes our product better as they can tell us what they want and we do our best to do it. Some of the awards shows we go to also have the ability to engage with fans and people which really brings more people to like and have interest in our product. One other way that gets our product engaged with our audience is the filming done. The camera angles provide the inside of a real race car going through a real race, also having a real crash scene with no CGI or any fake visual effects draws in a lot of viewers to see what it's like.

4. .Our research informed us on how we were going to implement common conventions and how we were also going to challenge those conventions in our product. Through research of past racers who also started through humble beginnings it allowed us to get an idea on how the story should go but also allowed us to put more new and fresh ideas. As a lot of underdog racers usually don't start off amazing in their first race ever we decided to make it a bit different and had quick success and having our character win the first race. A lot of racing movies are usually very fictional and quite serious throughout the film. We decided to create a lighter and joking mood to the film by adding in the dog. The dog being the mentor of our racer is very unlike any other racing movie but it creates a wider range of target audience as it's now comedic and partly an animal film. Through more research we were able to see most blue collared are at that job due to not being above average at a certain skill. We challenged this convention to have this underachieving worker to possess the skills needed to be a pro racecar driver. It breaks down the usual project career path of a blue collar worker. Our product has a good mix of keeping and challenging conventions to create a new form around the type of film we made. Finally through research on audience engagement we decided it was best to stick to conventions of posting on socials and use what works to get the people engaged.