LO1
What have you been asked to do?
I was asked to produce a film, music video or documentary which followed the guidelines of no foul language and drug use to be submitted into the rain dance festival. I personally decided on making a short film as I thought this would be the most beneficial in developing my skills. I wanted to improve structuring together a film and the skills needed for it to be successful as I feel I am lagging in this skill. Therefore by doing a short film I will be able to improve this skill and become a more rounded film maker in terms of what I can do and to what standard. I had to make myself a brief to give myself an idea of what I was producing. For example, I needed to know the target audience of the short film I was making and the genre of it as well. This brief would help me in creating a successful short film which would be structured and formatted to fit the codes and conventions of its genres. And overall be acceptable to be submitted to the festival. |
How has writing the brief helped you to finalise your idea?
By writing the brief I felt like this helped me in generating ideas for my short film. I had the idea of my film being about schizophrenic and someone who suffers with severe level of schizophrenia. By writing up about the individual elements in which helped to create the film, such as the genre and the target audience within it, this allowed me to be able to structure the storyline of my entire short film. I was able to understand the particular things I could add in, for example if I was showing my film to a young audience I couldn't have as explicit content where as for a teenage audience this would be appropriate and more engaging for them to watch. In order for my short film to be a success I needed to have a clear idea in what I wanted to produce and how I was going to do so. The brief really made it clear what I had to do and how to start the pre-production planning stage, script writing and making story boards. |
How has analysing videos helped you to understand the genre better?
I analysed two short psychological thriller films which covered different topics, yet both shared similar conventions. I think by analysing the short films this allowed me to put into practice those conventions I had previously researched. For example one convention being that the characters are more important then the plot and the main characters help to drive the plot onwards. The films worked as good examples around psychological thrillers and what to expect from them, I made notes on the ways in which the film makers produced the films. For example from both films I can have seen the use of low level lighting in order to give a more dramatic tense look to the feel. Also, the use of blue in colour correcting the film, the colour blue has conventions of sadness and isolation which is common themes presented in psychological thrillers. Just from analysing these videos I have picked up on this element which I will bring back to my own production and how I create that. Another thing I have learnt from analysing two short films is within the narrative flashbacks are useful in presenting information clearly to the audience, which you with holding for any reason. They give the character more depth and really allow us as an audience to align with them and feel sorry for them, this audience engagement is key for the short film to be success. From example in the short film 'Images' we see scenes which the boy is remembering about his brother. From this we can see how close their relationship was and thus understand how much the impact of his brothers death hurt him. |
What are you using in your production from this analysis?
I have used the two short film videos as a guideline on how to produce my own film. I did this my watching how they structured a psychological thriller short film together, for example they generally have flash backs within the film to show past moment and there is usually a twist at the end of the film. From the analysis from these films I can defer that the music is key to building tension and making the film live up to the Psychological thriller genre. I will definitely add this element to my film, I want to experiment with the use of sound in my production to engage the audience and make them feel tense and scared. |
LO2.1
What did you learn from your planning this week?
When planning out the making of my film, the main thing I learnt was about time management. In past productions I have had to rush the editing or filming process to get everything done on time for the deadline. This has previously dropped the quality of my work. Yet, by really thinking about what I had to do and what was a generous amount of time to get that task finished it allowed me to become a lot more organised. Enough so that I will not need to rush, and my work will be executed exactly to the standard I want it. Another thing I have learnt from the planning is the structure of my film and how I want it to be put together, I learnt this through writing of the script as I could write out what the characters were saying and what I wanted to happen in each scene. I could also do this with storyboards as I could visually map out what I wanted my film to look like. In conclusion the whole planning process really allowed me to become organised and understand my film even more than before. Overall, I think this will enable my film to be successful and of a higher standard then my previous productions. |
How did you ensure that your storyboards were to a high enough standard?
When drawing out my storyboards I did them with a copy of my script next to me. I did this so I could refer back to my script and see what happens within in the scene. By doing this it allowed me to discover which shot types I would use in context to various parts within the scene, for example when my main character Emma is speaking I wanted a close up of her. I then drew a close up of Emma’s face in the storyboard. It also helped in remembering what happens within in the scene, therefore by doing this the storyboards were very similar to the script and therefore or high standard. Also, to make my storyboards even better I wrote out a description of the shot type in which I was using and wrote if it had movement in it and all the information needed in order for me to understand what it would look like visually. This will allow me to refer to the storyboard when filming and get the shot exactly how I wanted it. Another thing I did in order to make my storyboard successful was draw it out shot by shot in which I would use in the film rather then a summary of the story line. Overall, I think by doing this it would be more beneficial when making my film and understanding what to shoot. |
How much work did you complete outside of the lessons?
I did majority of my pre-production and planning in lesson this was because I could get advice of other students and teachers on how to make my short film even better. For example, I was having trouble with scripting my storyline and how my characters would interact. Yet, after a discussion with Grace David she gave me some ideas on how my characters could talk, this overall helped me in the planning. However, I did do some work outside of lessons, this was mostly the storyboards due to them taking up a long time as I wanted them to have precision in them and be clear to refer to. I also did my location recce’s outside of lesson, this was due to needing to be in the location I was filming in and having a look around to see potential problems about the place. I took photos of my locations and wrote up about them whilst I was looking around. Overall, it was very balanced in the amount of work I did inside and outside of lessons. |
What issues did you have when planning your production? How did you overcome them?
When planning out my production I had issues in finding actors to be in my film. I am fortunate to have a sister who can act well and was able to be in my film, yet I needed another female character to be in my film. To solve this issue, I emailed various people in my class asking if anyone was able to star in my film. My friend Grace David said she could be in my film as along as I was in her film. However, due to doing other projects, acting in other people’s films, I had to organise my time well to allow me to make all commitments. For example, on the Monday I was filming for Grace, Tuesday I was filming my film, Wednesday and Thursday filming for someone else and Friday again for Grace. Even though I had to re arrange my whole schedule to get everything done I still managed as I had a set plan and I had to managed to get an actor for my film. Another issue I had when planning my film was finding locations which I was able to film in, for example the bridge over the train track scene as generally you need permission to film over a train track. To overcome this issue, I researched into different bridge locations to see if it was okay to film on other bridges. I even emailed someone surrounding this issue and they gave me permission to film in that area as long as I told them at what time I was filming at and for how long so they could inform others surrounding this issue. |
LO2.2
What practical work have you done and how helpful was your earlier planning?
The practical work that I have done involving filming and the actual making of my film is completed. I filmed/did the practical element for four days, this involved filming everything in my script for example on day one I filmed the bedroom scene where Emma wakes up from her sleep to her alarm. I got many camera shots and angles due to this allowing me to have a good choice of what I want to be in my film when editing. I continued this process for the other days in which I was filming, on day two I filmed majority of my film which was all the scenes in which Grace was in. By planning my film the week prior it enabled the filming process to run a lot smoothly, for example I created a contingency plan which became useful when my tripod snapped. I was able to refer to my contingency plan and access another tripod, from my friend. This saved un necessary stress and allowed the quality of the film to remain the same rather then becoming worse due to a wobbly camera. Also, by creating storyboards for my film I could use them when filming to understand the flow of the scene and the different shot types I need, this helped to quicken the filming process and get better quality shots. Overall, by planning my film beforehand it made the end product of my film successful and on time for deadlines. |
How will this be useful as your production process continues?
The planning of my film will enable the production process to run more smoothly. This is due to me understanding the storyline and the lines needed to be said by the actors, it makes sure my film is thought out and planned effectively for me to get everything I need. When filming a scene, I can be efficient due to the actor knowing what to say due to the script and me knowing the specific shots I want because of the storyboard. This will quicken up the process and allow me to have enough time to edit it together. |
Upload your photos (explain what they show)
This photo was taken during the bathroom scene, this is when Emma goes into the bathroom to take her pills but ends up spitting them out. I used pull focus within this shot to allow the audiences eyes to be drawn to particular things, in this case its the note on the mirror I want the audience to be drawn to. I thought this shot was very successful as its framed nicely with the girl positioned to the side of the note.
This is a shot from the firework scene, this is when Emma and Charlie decide to run around the garden with fireworks together and have fun. I did many cinematic close ups of the fireworks which looked very nice on camera due to the contrast between light and dark within the shot. However, this shot is out of focus which ruins the shot, it would look better if the shot was all in focus.
This is a shot of the mum lying on the ground 'dead' at the end of the firework scene. I put the camera directly on the floor so some blades of grass got into the frame and made it look more realistic. I did a pull focus from the blade of grass to the mums dead body in the grass which worked effective. However, I don't think the lighting looks that good and it looks to be really harsh in the shot as something places are really lit up where as others aren't.
`is is a close up of Charlie during the bedroom scene, this is the scene when Charlie walks into Emma's bedroom and asks if they want to hang out. This is the introduction to Charlie as a character. I like this shot as its a close up of Charlie's face and the lighting works really well.
This is a shot from the last scene which is at the bridge, this is when Emma starts to walk off to jump of the bridge. This shot has very low level lighting which makes the scene appear more dark and intense to watch as an audience. I like the framing of this shot and how each of the characters are positioned to be shown within the shot.
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This photo is also taken from the bathroom scene and this is the last shot within the scene. It shows the pills in which Emma has just taken spat out in the sink. I framed this shot to make sure the pills are very in focus in comparison to the sink, this makes them appear very bold and strong within the shot and thus allows the audience to notice them clearer.
This is another still from the firework scene with Emma and Charlie. This is a mid-shot of Grace's character Charlie staring into the sparkler soullessly. I like how there is no harsh artificial light used within this shot and all the light used comes off the sparkler. The light hits her face and creates shadows within other places. Overall, this shot was very successful and worked well.
This is a still of the main character Emma screaming in a dark enclosed room. I use this clip throughout the film to illustrate destruction which is happening around the character and her mental breakdown. To create this I used a flashing strobe and put a red gel on top of it to give it this look effect, it works very effective in causing destruction within the film. I like this shot a lot yet sometimes it did go out of focus but majority of the time it worked effectively.
This is a close up of Emma in the same bedroom scene. This is used as shot reverse shot between the previous picture and it allows the audience to understand the dynamic between these two characters.
This is a still again from the final scene where Emma realises her mum isn't dead. I like how this shot is framed and how the lighting hits the girls face. Yet, there isn't much light within the shot so that you can't even see the rest of the characters body. To improve this I would add more light within the shot to make it look better.
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This is the thumbnail for the completed film, it says the title on the front 'Charlie' and has a small text below stating 'A film by Zara Trott'. The shot taken from this is a screenshot from the film itself as its probably the best shot in terms of the framing and the lighting. Also, it shows a close up of the main character Emma which illustrates to the audience typically what my film is.
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This is a screenshot of my editing process, as you can see from the image I did a very complicated edit involving many different sound effects added and random montage cuts within it. My films lengths goes around six minutes in total which approximately took me about four days to edit. It took this long because I had many scenes to edit and within my film I added these random 'flashes' which were cut down to small time duration.
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What issues did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
When filming my short film I has issues with getting all the props I needed, for example I needed fake blood to go on the knife during the garden scene. Yet, even though I wrote up about this prop on my props list prior I still forgot to buy fake blood for the shot. To solve this issue I looked up different ways in which I could make fake blood online. I discovered that you could using food colouring and mix it flower to thicken it, fortunately I had these ingredients and made the fake blood so I was able to have it in shot. Next time I will be more organised and look up prior everything I need to put in my film and get everything ready beforehand. Another issue I had was the lighting within my film, for example I struggled in using the strobe light effectively. This was because I wanted to use the strobe light outside yet the light wasn't powerful enough to show up on camera outside. This was really annoying because the strobe light was very important aspect of my film and needed to be used. To solve this issue I filmed inside a dark room in my house, I did a close up of my character face so you couldn't see the backdrop and used the strobe light on her face. The strobe light showed up and worked effectively. In the future I really want to improve my use of lighting. Another problem which I faced was the battery of my camera running out, to solve this issue I referred back to my contingency plan and had a spare battery charged up in advance just in case this happened. I then switched battery and continued with my filming process. |
This is a still of the knife with the fake blood I made using food dye and flour.
This was filmed in a cupboard using a strobe light which is close to the face, this allows the flashing blue effect to be seen clearly and get the overall effect I wanted.
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How helpful did you find the verbal feedback?
This is question two of the survey this questions asks 'What was your favourite part?'. I got a very mixed response with this answer, for example 25% of people said they liked the camera work the best, 50% of people said editing was there favourite part and another 25% of people said they liked sound/music the best. However, nobody said they liked the acting the best. This informs me for my next film I should maybe hire people to act in my film because they may have better experience or be better casted for the role.
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For question three I asked my peers 'What could of been improved?' I got similar response of two main things audio and lighting. One person said 'Blue light effect and dialogue' and another said 'the scenes in the dark were slightly out of focus'. This shows me in my next production to focus more on the lighting and audio within my film to get it to sound and look a lot better. From this feedback I can improve my film and make future projects better. If I can improve my lighting the shots will be more focus and look clearer to look at. |
For question four I asked the question 'What was your least favourite aspect?'. Again with this question I had a very mixed response on what I should improve. 25% of people said they didn't like the camera work and another 25% said editing. The least favourite aspect was sound/music which 50% of people asked said it was there least favourite. Nobody said acting was their least favourite. From these results I can defer the different aspects I need to improve on for next time. I know I should focus more on sound/music in my film next time to allow the film to be more professional and be better. |
For question five I asked the question 'What age are you?' this was very one sided on the responses because 100% of people asked were in the age range of 11-20. I think this survey response don't give a full representation of the overall view of the film because people of different ages haven't answered my survey. If I got more results with people of different ages this will allow my survey to be more reliable and truthful. |
I got a lot of verbal feedback through the production and editing process of my short film. In one specific occasion I showed a friend the finished product of my film edited and everything and they gave me feedback. The feedback was specifically about the radio scene, where the main character is lying in bed and the radio goes off, she said how the voice of the radio sounded to clear and didn't sound like it was really on the radio. In order to solve this problem I looked up tutorials on how to get audio to sound like it is the radio or on the telephone. I found a specific tutorial that helped and it showed how to change the frequency on premiere pro in order to sound like a radio. I applied this method and the result worked effectively. The audio sounded a lot better. This verbal feedback really helped in making the quality of my short film better and made it sound more realistic and like it should really sound.
When colour correcting I made it a lot darker and shadowy in the shot and also brought in a blue tone into the shot to make it look colder and more dark.
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How do you feel your product compares to existing professional products?
I think my psychological thriller has many similar elements in it like professional short films of the same genre for example the award winning short film ‘Images’ and ‘Hallucination’. I did things like colour correcting to give that typical low-key lighting and dull monotonous colour pallet which is typically seen within films of this genre. This will show to the audience that my film isn’t happy, and it covers a more serious topic, it also intensifies the film. My film also focuses on the inner conflicts of my main character involving her schizophrenia which is a typical convention to focus on character development rather then the action within the film. However, my film lacks in the professional and clean slick look a professionally made film with a full camera crew can achieve. For example, in some places there issues with the lighting, too little and too much, we can take away from the on screen drama. Award winning films achieve an effortless feel for their film. Yet, I do believe this is the difference between time and money as some professional production are filmed for months on end with the best equipment. Overall, I have similar conventions within my film yet the execution of my ideas and the structure of my film isn’t as successful as a professional film is. |
What area are you looking to improve on in your next production?
When creating another short film, I would like to improve on lighting. This is due to when filming I decided to do a lot of my scenes outside in the dark. For example, the bridge scene where Emma is about to jump off the bridge. I used my mounted camera light to bring light to the shots yet when shinning the light on my actors it looked very harsh and artificial, it took away from the fact the scene was happening outside. It made the scene look very bad. Yet, when using less light the camera quality became very grainy. There was no in-between quality wise, therefore next project I would love to a lot of research into using light in an effective way for my next project to be more successful. Another thing I would like to improve on is voice overs and added Foley sounds within my film, due to when I film them there appears to be white noise in the background which edited into the film can ruin the atmosphere and whole vibe of the film. For example, at the beginning of my film when Emma, the main character, has a voice over discussing the train passing the footage has fuzzy sounds in the background. In learning how to records sounds effectively the sounds themselves will have a bigger impact once used in the film. |
In this shot the camera it looks very grainy due to limited light within the shot and this makes it look not as good. Definitely for next film I will improve this aspect and make it better.
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