WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 19th MARCH
This week which began on Monday 19th March was filled with research, secondary and primary, into my short film. I researched everything to do with my project in terms of medium to genre and the context of it all. The research will take two weeks to complete, this week being the first week, which means I need to be very thorough in all the information I collect. This will help me in creating my production booklet and give me an insight into what my short film should be like.
The problems in which I faced this week were mainly due to not being able to find the correct research I needed. For example, when researching my medium of short films there was minimal legitimate website which held this information. I kept finding web links to slide share or Wikipedia, these sites are not reliable because they are created by students or general people who don’t have the expertise to understand the subject completely. All the information these sites share have the possibilities of not being facts and the website can be tempered and changed regularly by anyone. All the research in which I collect I need to be reliable as it will be useful and help in creating my short film. To solve this problem, I had to do more thorough research/ or change what I typed into google. I also researched into books published by professional companies covering the topic I wanted to research into. This meant I could find the same information via a book rather than online website. This would allow my research to have more depth to it and be more thorough.
Another, issue I faced this week was using my time efficiently. This was because on two of the days in the week I was feeling very ill which meant I fell behind on my research. However, I solved this problem by following my research plan to figure out the research in which I still needed to collect. This allowed me to know what to do in the amount of time I have left in order to get everything done and too a high standard.
The problems in which I faced this week were mainly due to not being able to find the correct research I needed. For example, when researching my medium of short films there was minimal legitimate website which held this information. I kept finding web links to slide share or Wikipedia, these sites are not reliable because they are created by students or general people who don’t have the expertise to understand the subject completely. All the information these sites share have the possibilities of not being facts and the website can be tempered and changed regularly by anyone. All the research in which I collect I need to be reliable as it will be useful and help in creating my short film. To solve this problem, I had to do more thorough research/ or change what I typed into google. I also researched into books published by professional companies covering the topic I wanted to research into. This meant I could find the same information via a book rather than online website. This would allow my research to have more depth to it and be more thorough.
Another, issue I faced this week was using my time efficiently. This was because on two of the days in the week I was feeling very ill which meant I fell behind on my research. However, I solved this problem by following my research plan to figure out the research in which I still needed to collect. This allowed me to know what to do in the amount of time I have left in order to get everything done and too a high standard.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 26th MARCH
How has the research for your target audience helped you understand your production more fully?
By researching my target audience, the age range of 15-20, I could understand what this specific age range looked for in a short film and what they wanted to see. I sent out a survey to people of this age range asking specifically what they look for in these films. I received good feedback from the survey with direct reasons for what they preferred to see, for example more people voted for the characters being important over the editing and storyline. However, the script was sent out to many people on this course around the same demographic, this shows to be that the results could in fact be biased as these people will have similar views. If I did this again I would ask a larger group of people to answer my survey in order to get a more realistic response of my audience.
How did your primary research help you?
My primary research helped with producing my film, this was due to I could gain an understanding of my target audience and this helped in deciding what I wanted to research. I asked questions about short films and what were the features people liked the best out of them for example most people said the storyline was the most important aspect. From this it helps me in coming up with ideas for my short film and what specialism I should use in order to give it justice.
How has researching the conventions of your chosen genre helped you understand what is required from you in order to meet a distinction grade?
By researching the genre of psychologically drama I was able to defer the key aspects in order to meet the conventions of the genre. For example, the key conventions of the genre is storyline and character development. I decided to focus on researching character personality traits, I wanted to discover what people would typically act like if they were bullied or someone who is popular. This research will help later when developing the script and the storyboard. I will understand how to construct my film together in order for it to meet the standards of the brief and fulfil the distinction level.
How has including a variety of sources (primary and secondary) helped with your understanding of your medium / genre?
By looking up and researching different sources from a variety of sites and media information such as newspapers and websites. I was able to understand fully medium and genre. This is because I gained an rounded understanding of these topics, however I did struggle when researching to find legitimate sources. This is because the website I kept looking up were Wikipedia and slide share, these sources aren't very reliable as anyone can access them and write whatever they want on the pages which corrupts the information given meaning it might not be fact. To solve this problem I made sure to check where my sources came from before using that information, this meant all my information research was correct and not biased or made up. Overall, this helped improving understanding medium and genre and thus helped me to move further with making my short film.
By researching my target audience, the age range of 15-20, I could understand what this specific age range looked for in a short film and what they wanted to see. I sent out a survey to people of this age range asking specifically what they look for in these films. I received good feedback from the survey with direct reasons for what they preferred to see, for example more people voted for the characters being important over the editing and storyline. However, the script was sent out to many people on this course around the same demographic, this shows to be that the results could in fact be biased as these people will have similar views. If I did this again I would ask a larger group of people to answer my survey in order to get a more realistic response of my audience.
How did your primary research help you?
My primary research helped with producing my film, this was due to I could gain an understanding of my target audience and this helped in deciding what I wanted to research. I asked questions about short films and what were the features people liked the best out of them for example most people said the storyline was the most important aspect. From this it helps me in coming up with ideas for my short film and what specialism I should use in order to give it justice.
How has researching the conventions of your chosen genre helped you understand what is required from you in order to meet a distinction grade?
By researching the genre of psychologically drama I was able to defer the key aspects in order to meet the conventions of the genre. For example, the key conventions of the genre is storyline and character development. I decided to focus on researching character personality traits, I wanted to discover what people would typically act like if they were bullied or someone who is popular. This research will help later when developing the script and the storyboard. I will understand how to construct my film together in order for it to meet the standards of the brief and fulfil the distinction level.
How has including a variety of sources (primary and secondary) helped with your understanding of your medium / genre?
By looking up and researching different sources from a variety of sites and media information such as newspapers and websites. I was able to understand fully medium and genre. This is because I gained an rounded understanding of these topics, however I did struggle when researching to find legitimate sources. This is because the website I kept looking up were Wikipedia and slide share, these sources aren't very reliable as anyone can access them and write whatever they want on the pages which corrupts the information given meaning it might not be fact. To solve this problem I made sure to check where my sources came from before using that information, this meant all my information research was correct and not biased or made up. Overall, this helped improving understanding medium and genre and thus helped me to move further with making my short film.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 2ND APRIL
This weekly blog is commencing from the 2nd April 2018 and this week is the start of Easter half term. This week wasn’t that successful due to this time consisting over Easter and due to it being break from college I didn’t do as much work as I should of. Also, considering I went to New York on the second week of the half term I couldn’t do work. I did manage to however get some of my pre-production done due to sticking to a schedule. This meant that I planned on what day of the week in which I was organise a time to do my pre-production. I priorities with my work, I understood that storyboards and script take a lot longer then things such as location recce’s. This is why I decided to begin doing the lengthy task so even if I fall behind I would of got most of the Pre-production out of the way. If I re did the Easter half term again I would take more days of work and get up earlier to allow myself to get work done. I would of aimed to of got both storyboard, script and location recess’s done. Where as in reality of the situation I only got done my script, which wasn’t even to the standard I really wanted and still needed changes to make it better.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 16TH APRIL
What practical work have you done this week - and how helpful was your earlier planning
On Sunday 22nd April 2018 I began filming the first section of my short film. This is the main part of the film and it is of the older version of Will Anderson doing his acceptance speech and narrating the story. Basically, the old Will Anderson has just won the life time achievement award, and this is his speech for it. I thought this shoot went very well, this is due to me being prepared and knowing exactly what I wanted from my actors and getting it. I did this all due to my pre-production booklet, I could use my storyboards to plan out the shot types and what I needed to film. I could also organise the actors I needed, the props which were going to be in my production and the lines my actors were going to say. Overall, my earlier planning helped to reduce the time on set and allow me to be organised with my filming approach. My location didn’t look realistic before prior planning, I needed to make an award ceremony scene. Therefore, I bought all the items needed to be in a shot for an award ceremony. This worked well and made my production seem a lot more realistic
How will this be useful to you as your production process continues
I think doing planning really helped my production run a lot smoother. For example, I could look back at the storyboard and script which I had written up and use it to help me to decided on what to film or how to direct my actors. These are a few images I took on the first day of filming. They show Andrew Trott who will be playing the role of old Will Anderson.
On Sunday 22nd April 2018 I began filming the first section of my short film. This is the main part of the film and it is of the older version of Will Anderson doing his acceptance speech and narrating the story. Basically, the old Will Anderson has just won the life time achievement award, and this is his speech for it. I thought this shoot went very well, this is due to me being prepared and knowing exactly what I wanted from my actors and getting it. I did this all due to my pre-production booklet, I could use my storyboards to plan out the shot types and what I needed to film. I could also organise the actors I needed, the props which were going to be in my production and the lines my actors were going to say. Overall, my earlier planning helped to reduce the time on set and allow me to be organised with my filming approach. My location didn’t look realistic before prior planning, I needed to make an award ceremony scene. Therefore, I bought all the items needed to be in a shot for an award ceremony. This worked well and made my production seem a lot more realistic
How will this be useful to you as your production process continues
I think doing planning really helped my production run a lot smoother. For example, I could look back at the storyboard and script which I had written up and use it to help me to decided on what to film or how to direct my actors. These are a few images I took on the first day of filming. They show Andrew Trott who will be playing the role of old Will Anderson.
What issues did you encounter and how did you overcome them
When filming I did have a problem with my actors. My main actor who I was using for the role of the older Will Anderson didn’t reply to my messages and hinted to me that he would not be able to be in my short film. This meant that I was left with no main actor for my short film. To solve this issue, I looked at my contingency plan in which I had created in my pre-production booklet. I had Chris Lambert written down as one of my back up actors, but it turned out that Chris couldn’t make the filming date. This meant I had to go back to my contingency plan and get my second back up actor, this actor was Andrew Trott. After sharing information, we decided to film on the Sunday. I thought the shoot went well. However, I think I may have to reshoot it due to the footage not being as excellent quality as I wanted it and the acting wasn’t very natural due to the actor only looking through the script hours before. I have arranged a time in which I can reshoot this section of my short film and make it more natural and thus better. Hopefully, I will learn from my mistakes and make the scene better. I will do this by holding up posters which have the key points I want my actors to cover when saying their lines, this means they don’t need to learn their line more thoroughly and it comes across more natural on screen.
When filming I did have a problem with my actors. My main actor who I was using for the role of the older Will Anderson didn’t reply to my messages and hinted to me that he would not be able to be in my short film. This meant that I was left with no main actor for my short film. To solve this issue, I looked at my contingency plan in which I had created in my pre-production booklet. I had Chris Lambert written down as one of my back up actors, but it turned out that Chris couldn’t make the filming date. This meant I had to go back to my contingency plan and get my second back up actor, this actor was Andrew Trott. After sharing information, we decided to film on the Sunday. I thought the shoot went well. However, I think I may have to reshoot it due to the footage not being as excellent quality as I wanted it and the acting wasn’t very natural due to the actor only looking through the script hours before. I have arranged a time in which I can reshoot this section of my short film and make it more natural and thus better. Hopefully, I will learn from my mistakes and make the scene better. I will do this by holding up posters which have the key points I want my actors to cover when saying their lines, this means they don’t need to learn their line more thoroughly and it comes across more natural on screen.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 23RD APRIL
This week I was filming my short film the 'The Acceptance speech', this was a very stressful week as I had to ensure I got all the footage I needed to be able to move forward into the editing process of the production. This meant I had to very organise throughout the week and to ensure I didn’t forget any vital part of the production. I kept in close contact to my actors which meant I could clearly communicate the plans for that week. On Monday I filmed the ‘clapping’ scene which is set in the award ceremony room and involves an audience reaction to Will Anderson receiving an award. I thought this scene was successful as I ensured I got lots of footage which would give me choice when editing the film together. However, the issue surrounding this was that only four people turned up to film, even though I asked many people to be in the scene and they agreed. This meant that the film didn’t have as many people I wanted in this shot in it. Adding to this I asked my actors to be dressed in formal entire which only one person did, this meant the scene didn’t give off the atmosphere and vibe of an award ceremony I wanted. If I did this again I would ensure that I had more actors within the scene and get them to wear formal clothes. To solve this issue I did bring in extra ties in which my actors could wear to make the scene appear even more formal. I also ensured I filmed close up to the actors to give the illusion that there were more people in the room then there were.
On Tuesday I was supposed to film the majority of my film, all the outside parts, however my actors’ last minute messaged me saying they were busy that day. This meant that I had to re-schedule to ensure I could film. This was fine as I could refer back to my contingency plan and see that I Thursday was my back up day in which I could film. I notified this to my actors and this all worked out. On Wednesday I filmed the award ceremony scene with my actors, I had troubles with the focusing on the camera. However, because I had done test shoots prior I was able to solve this issue my referring back to the knowledge I had collected from the situation. On Thursday I filmed the majority of my film, in which what I was supposed to do on Thursday. I decided to write myself a schedule saying hour by hour what I wanted to achieve, this ensured that I was on schedule and I didn’t forget any of the footage I had received. Overall, this week has been successful, I have managed to sort out all the issues of the week and get footage I am proud of.
On Tuesday I was supposed to film the majority of my film, all the outside parts, however my actors’ last minute messaged me saying they were busy that day. This meant that I had to re-schedule to ensure I could film. This was fine as I could refer back to my contingency plan and see that I Thursday was my back up day in which I could film. I notified this to my actors and this all worked out. On Wednesday I filmed the award ceremony scene with my actors, I had troubles with the focusing on the camera. However, because I had done test shoots prior I was able to solve this issue my referring back to the knowledge I had collected from the situation. On Thursday I filmed the majority of my film, in which what I was supposed to do on Thursday. I decided to write myself a schedule saying hour by hour what I wanted to achieve, this ensured that I was on schedule and I didn’t forget any of the footage I had received. Overall, this week has been successful, I have managed to sort out all the issues of the week and get footage I am proud of.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 30TH APRIL
This is the week commencing the 30th April and this week is my reshooting and editing week. Now this week I didn’t achieve much in terms of editing and finishing the production. However, I thought this week was successful in giving myself time to be able to re shoot scenes which weren’t that good initially. For example, when looking back and the footage the actual acceptance speech part of the film was very jarring and awkward. This is because I filmed the scenes line by line, meaning I got the actor to say one line and then I cut and then I got them to say another and cut. However, this was really awkward to edit together as the shots were jump cutting into each other which isn’t the look I wanted to go for with my production. I wanted it to be smooth and thus be more emotional and incising to watch. Also, because these lines were sent line by line my actor couldn’t put any emotion into the lines because they couldn’t fully get into them. This meant the scene appeared less emotional and was very robotic. To solve this issue I re- shot the scene, however this time I told my actors what the section I wanted them to say had in it. Giving them a brief outline of the words. Then they could use their own words to say the lines, this way the scene appeared more emotional and flowed better. I think the scene was also better to edit and just looked overall better on-screen. I also reshot the screaming scene within the montage as the footage was blurred and I thought I could do so much better with it.
I began editing the film together and I thought it looks really good. To start with I edited the clips in chronological order, putting them in without any sound effect, sound effect or transitions this was so I could see the rough draft and get response from my target audience on what to improve within my film. I received feedback from my target audience surrounding my film, for example one person said I should add sound effects of a crowd talking and clapping at the beginning in order to create n atmosphere and set the scene for the film. This feedback was really helpful as I could apply it to my second draft of making my film, in order to make it better and to give my target audience what they wanted. Overall, I thought I did well this week and kept on task which is a bonus.
I began editing the film together and I thought it looks really good. To start with I edited the clips in chronological order, putting them in without any sound effect, sound effect or transitions this was so I could see the rough draft and get response from my target audience on what to improve within my film. I received feedback from my target audience surrounding my film, for example one person said I should add sound effects of a crowd talking and clapping at the beginning in order to create n atmosphere and set the scene for the film. This feedback was really helpful as I could apply it to my second draft of making my film, in order to make it better and to give my target audience what they wanted. Overall, I thought I did well this week and kept on task which is a bonus.
WEEK COMMENSING ON THE 7TH MAY
The week beginning with the 7th May I have found one of the most challenging weeks so far. This is due to having a deadline on the Friday for the pre-production and research which all had to be finished and handed it. This includes a completed copy of my short film. This meant I had a lot of work to catch up on and get a lot of done in a short amount of time. I had to finish editing my rough draft of my film, get responses from my target audience on what I should improve to make it better. Then I had to use this advice, most consisted on changing the sound and adding in sound effects to make the scene appear more realistic. For example, the audio was too low during the bench scene to the point when you couldn’t hear the character speaking and sorting out their lines. To solve this problem I increased the volume of the audio within the scene. I wouldn’t have known what to correct without this advice. Next, I upload my results from my survey which was about what I needed to improve. This took a long time to analyse because I wanted to give immense detail into the changes I should make in order to show improvement with my next draft of my short film. I edit my film and uploaded it, this process was very lengthy as I had problems uploading my video as the files corrupted each time. To solve this issue I looked up tutorial on how to easily export a video on premier pro without it corrupting. I managed to solve this problem and get it online. Due to cramming so much content into such a short amount of time this meant I had to stay up to late to get it all done. For example on Thursday night, going into Friday morning, I stayed up till 3:30 am just to get everything done and to meet the deadline, however this could mean that my work isn’t as good quality as it would be if I was full awake and was alert. If I did this again I would pace myself with my work, rather than rushing everything and leaving it to last minute to do. This will ensure I get everything done with plenty of time
WEEK COMMENCING ON THE 14TH MAY
I found this week stressful but also productive, this was due to this week being where I began my evaluation and writing up about everything I did over the entire process of unit 8. I had to discuss in detail the positives and negatives of the week and how I think I could of improved everything. I used my weekly blogs as guidance due to do so. I was really happy that I did do the blogs week by week and recorded my journey because I could refresh my memory on the obstacles and challenges I had to overcome. One of the biggest challenges for doing my evaluation was the time restriction, I was set the task the Monday of the week and had to have it completed by Friday. Initially this seemed like a long time to write up an evaluation, but due to me going to immense detail in each section I started to run out of time. I also had a struggle of making my work concise, due to me having dyslexia I find it difficult to phrase things or spell in an 'to the point' manner. Thus, meaning I began waffling within my evaluation. To solve this issue I had my mum and friends read through my evaluations and let them give me suggestions on ideas to add within my evaluations and also to sort out the spelling mistakes. This ensured that my film was as clear as it could possibly be.
The second weeks which commenced on the 21st May was pitch week. This week I had to create a presentation which I would pitch effectively to a large audience in an engaging way. To do so I wanted to ensure that I was of script when pitching to make what I was saying more convincing and more natural. I made notes on what I wanted to say at specific points within my pitch, for example when talking about platform I wanted to talk about that YouTube has 1 billion users. By making notes my points were strong and it ensured that I knew what I was saying when speaking. However, when it came to performing my speech in front of the class my voice sounded very weak and nervous almost as if I was about to cry. I found this really annoying as mentally I felt confident but my voice made the pitch not seem as confident as I wanted it. In the future to improve I would practice my speech for longer giving my self more time to get use to it. However, saying this I did practice for over 2 hours the night before and did perform in front of my mum to get some feedback and some idea on how it would be like to pitch in front of an audience.
The second weeks which commenced on the 21st May was pitch week. This week I had to create a presentation which I would pitch effectively to a large audience in an engaging way. To do so I wanted to ensure that I was of script when pitching to make what I was saying more convincing and more natural. I made notes on what I wanted to say at specific points within my pitch, for example when talking about platform I wanted to talk about that YouTube has 1 billion users. By making notes my points were strong and it ensured that I knew what I was saying when speaking. However, when it came to performing my speech in front of the class my voice sounded very weak and nervous almost as if I was about to cry. I found this really annoying as mentally I felt confident but my voice made the pitch not seem as confident as I wanted it. In the future to improve I would practice my speech for longer giving my self more time to get use to it. However, saying this I did practice for over 2 hours the night before and did perform in front of my mum to get some feedback and some idea on how it would be like to pitch in front of an audience.