Critical Reflection for A level project

    My group and I created a short film on the mental impact of sports. We used gymnastics to convey this message, as people only see the final product of hard work, but the sport creates emotional deprivation through comparisons to skill, talent, and body image. 

    Our group started off with a few different ideas for our short film, and finally narrowed it down to what we have produced. One of my group members does gymnasts, which I thought would be a perfect fit for the story that we decided on. We really wanted to focus on the message behind the story, and wanted to find ways that would emphasize this. Our group conducted research before beginning our project, looking at ways that we could convey mood not only through our actors, but also editing choices. We brainstormed an idea to use a change of filter throughout our short film, which shows the gradual loss of self-esteem of our main character as she ages. Filming sports is a difficult task, as there is constant movement and maybe it is hard to film certain aspects because of interference with the athlete. We were able to grab techniques, shots, and angles from gymnastics films including Stick It (2006), Full Out (2015), and The Gabby Douglas Story (2014). For example, we were able to get an idea of this low angle shot from Full Out (2015), and create a similar low angle shot, but from the other side. 

Full Out (2015)

Reaching the Bar (2023)

The genre of our film is categorized as a sports drama, with conventions that include gymnastics being integral to the plot, the action rising as the character draws comparison to others and causes a decrease in self-esteem, and the general feeling of passion for the sport that evokes the effort still continuously given by the character.

Target audience is an important factor in filmmaking. Considering that Reaching the Bar is about sports, athletes of all ages could be interested, however, this film may be more geared towards teenagers. This specifically because that is the age that people start to deal with those stresses from something that used to be so fun. When you become older in sports, it starts to become more of a competition and less of a fun activity. I think that a lot of teenage athletes would be able to relate to this and hope that what they get from it is that they are not alone in this struggle by many. As our main character, Briana, is a female gymnast, female gymnast is going to be expected to be a main component of our target audience. Gymnastics is a very complex and different sport from others. It is competitive and very much an individual sport, despite having a "team." Each person is set against each other, and this can create a lot of self-deprivation when one person is not as "up to par" with someone else. Despite what we believe our target audience to be, we also want to extend to others, like adults. I would want this film for adults to view so that they can get an understanding of what their kids, or just kids in general, may feel. Some parents may not realize the pressure that their children feel or may not be able to properly communicate. I hope that our short film will be able to present those emotions properly.

We utilized Instagram as an advertisement tool and to interact with our audience. We continuously posted, including stories, reels, pictures, behind the scenes, cast fun facts, and much more!

    On our postcard, we wanted to visual the message of Reaching the Bar, which we included the action of gymnastics, and then the internal struggle on the back. We used brighter colors, like blue and red, on the front to capture this positivity, and then the back is in a shadow to display a more somber tone.

Front

Back

The brand of our production can be interpreted in a few different ways. What we are trying to show with our film is that overtime sports can become more of a pressure to succeed than a fun activity. We want to spread the message that it is okay to give up a sport you truly love and have been doing for so long, if it is causing mental distortion. We also want to show that there is more to sports than just competition. We want our younger audience to know that sports are intended to be fun, and the enjoyment should come first. We display this message as the character grows older and slowly becomes more down on herself. I think that we could showcase the benefits of letting go of the sport if after the character quits, she is seen much happier. 

Our project focuses on social issues that society currently seems to struggle a lot with. We can make the connection to mental health and lack of self-esteem with our film. People have become a lot more open with sharing their emotions, and we think that this is important so that people know they are not alone in feeling certain ways. Our main character is seen keeping to herself about her feelings, which slowly start to creep up on her overall mindset. A lot of athletes struggle with being down on themselves because they compare their skill to others. This pressure to be the best can really start to impact mental health and decrease the fun from sports. Throughout the film, there is constant jealousy and envy between the gymnasts, however, changing this with positivity and lifting one another up can have a bigger impact than you think. The social issues shown in our film are present in many athletes and their sports, and we want to show that this is not out of the ordinary, but also that this is not the intended purpose of sports. 

We hope that our project can have an impact on all who watch it and enjoy our work while doing so!