REFLECTIONS
Week 1
What were we doing in Week 1?
In our First Official Week of our FMP, we were producing Research Documents that were going to be used either for the FMP itself or to help with building and initialising the idea for it.
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These documents were the following:
An Initial Concept Presentation
A Process Research Report
Project Proposal (2/3 Sections)
Initial Concept Presentation
Description
The Initial Concept Presentation is a slideshow I presented in a video explaining my initial ideas about what I want to create for my Final Major Project. This includes me talking about what kind of outcome I wanted to make, in my case a Short Film, which particular genre, and why I wanted to undertake this one. Throughout this presentation, I also had to talk about things or even people that were influencing my decisions on the questions above. This was done by making a list and visual inspirations which for my part, was a mood board.
Feelings
Going into our first week of FMP I was really excited about the Project and this section of the work, I had been thinking about what I wanted to do for my Final Project beforehand so being able to finally put all those starting ideas I had into a Slideshow and present it, was something I couldn't wait to get going with.
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I definitely believe that where I was thinking about ideas for my Project beforehand, really played a good part in my confidence, I felt really confident, prepared, and eager to get going which in a result, made me want to get my head down and complete my project to the best of my ability.
Evaluation
What I think went well about the Initial Concept was being able to use my influences to graft a base idea of what I wanted my film to involve.
Here I spoke about how the films I watched throughout the half-term all spread a message and connected with the audience which was a huge influence. I also learned that this was from Real-Life situations people are in and conditions they suffer with, so I knew to base my film around a certain condition to achieve an emotional connection with the audience.
What I also believe went well was my Time Management for this specific section, This was most likely due to the fact I had already a core idea of what I wanted to revolve my film around, so getting the basic info down was done in no time.
Furthermore, What I feel I could've improved on and didn't go so well, was my repetition throughout my Presentation. I seemed to always link back to the fact, I was creating a message for the audience and I definitely made my point more than enough clear, I just feel I could've been a bit more descriptive about how I was going to make them feel.
Lastly, whilst recording my Presentation I found out that I clearly wasn't very good at talking about information in front of me, making the words up on the spot. This led to me becoming really stuck whilst talking and taking continuous breaks. For next time, I could potentially write out a script, or even some key notes to remind myself stuff to talk about to prevent having to stop start continuously.
Process Research Report
Description
The Process Research Report is a research document where we have to talk about the steps involved when creating our Final Major Project. This document should be made in a way that you could give it to a random student, with no knowledge of how to create a good project, increase there understanding and give them a good chance at doing well. It involves talking about the different sections we create on our WIX websites, why we do them, and the best way to do so.
Feelings
On first glance of seeing this Process Report, I seemed very scared at the word count. We haven't done many long Research tasks, 1 to be precise, and it definitely seemed like it was gonna be a big stretch to get this completed. This was until I remembered we had 2 weeks to do and I had already gotten my Initial Concept Presentation done super fast, so the pressure seemed to have eased and I was feeling confident and ready to get my head down. So far with what I've completed of the Process Report this week, I'm happy with the progress I have made. I feel confident with how I've talked about Research, I think it's to a good standard, good enough to give another student this document and for them to get the gist of how to complete good and sustained Research. One thing that was making me a little nervous at the beginning was when we were told we had to use a range of sources. The only reason this made me somewhat nervous was the previous case study I did on Project 3, I found it so difficult to use books or even online journals, and to hit a distinction using a range of sources like them was necessary. However, as I got more and more into the Process Report I found finding books for these specific elements wasn't actually that hard at all, and this definitely brought my confidence levels back up and reassured me that I have a better chance of hitting a distinction due to the wider range of sources.
Evaluation
The main thing I think I would say went well about the Process Report would be genuinely how useful it actually has been for me especially. Some things I've researched about have been completely new to me and will really play a part in improving my own FMP.
'These typical production problems reflect a lack of planning, and planning is the most important element for successful productions. Whether you are shooting video or film or producing an interactive multimedia project, planning is the key.'
This quote said in the book, published by Steve R. Cartwright, was something I found when Researching into Planning about Films. It states that planning is so key in any type of film production, which I sorta knew already but not to the extent it really was. In my previous projects on this course, I tend to have sorta done vague Planning and rarely followed it throughout my Production Days. Where that shouldn't be an issue with those smaller projects maybe a few minutes long, my FMP is going to be a much bigger project with many different elements, so I can definitely see Planning being a big impact on it. So what my Process Report really has helped with was to show me the importance and usefulness of Planning.
Something I feel didn't go so well was the number of Sources I had throughout my Research so far. At the moment I'm quite limited to only Websites and Books, So I feel to push my Research Report even further I should definitely consider using a more wider range of sources, and on top of that I haven't used many of them either, this is one think that will prevent me from hitting a distinction in my Research, so I need to fix this.
Conclusion and Action Plan
On a whole, I am really happy with the progress I have made this week. I must admit 2 weeks to create a Presentation and a Process Report with a higher word count than something I've done before scared me, but I believe with the progress I have made this week I will be able to successfully complete these in a good time frame.
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Some key targets I would like to set myself to follow for the next week and throughout my FMP are the following:
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Ensuring I add more, and a wider range of sources to my Process Research Report. Without that wide range, I am really not pushing my work far enough to be able to hit those distinctions.
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One thing I would like to improve on for next time, about my Initial Concept presentation, which I can definitely include within my Final Concept presentation, would be to write down some key notes and just plan out more of what I'm going to speak about, So it doesn't come as a surprise or so I don't get really stuck when talking about my Presentation.
Week 2
What were we doing in Week 2?
In the second week of my FMP, I have been finishing off these Research Documents which I started last week, these documents were going to help me complete my FMP in the best way possible, and also begin to initialise the idea.
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These documents were the following:
A Process Research Report
Project Proposal (2/3 Sections)
Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of adding a wider range of Sources to my Research Report as I was very limited to the same source type throughout, and I did so. By the end of my Finished Research Report, I had included multiple different types of sources including: Websites, Books and YouTube Videos. This was a huge step up from finding all my information just from websites, and will definitely help me to achieve those higher distinction grades!
Process Research Report
Description
This week I finished my Process Research Report. I was also going back to my previous written information, and adding different sources to help achieve the Action Plan, I set last week.
Feelings
With regard to my action plan, I was feeling much happier and more confident at the start of this week with how the Process Report was going. I now included a well wider range of sources and this gave me the opportunity to be hitting that higher distinction criteria, which I was really pleased about. However, as it got further and further into the week I became much slower with my progress, which resulted in me stressing a lot as I didn't think I would manage to finish this, before the deadline. This may have resulted in my outcome, more specifically the last section, looking a little rushed and the detail wasn't as in-depth as the rest. Nevertheless, I was happy with my overall outcome and am feeling confident that the work I produced was to a high standard, and the best of my ability.
Evaluation
What I think went well about my Process Report this week was the Range of Sources I included. Last week, I only managed to find relevant information from websites which, according to the UAL Grading Criteria, would limit me at only getting a Merit. However, this week whilst writing my Process Report, I included a vast range of sources finding that information from: Videos, Websites, and even Books! Another thing I feel went well with the Process Report was how it developed my idea more thoroughly, It really helped me to understand how deaf people go through life, providing me with information to make my Final Film more realistic with true facts. All of this has definitely made me feel way more confident about this Project, as this genre is something that's completely new to me hence why I was a little nervous beforehand. What didn't go so well this week was my Progress Speed. This became very rushed as it got closer to the end of the week as I didn't realize the amount I had left when it got to Thursday. I definitely could've time managed a lot better, and I need to schedule my time more efficiently in the next tasks. Having bad time management this week had a bad effect on my Outcome, my Report became a little rushed but still, I was happy with the Final Outcome.
Project Proposal
Description
This week we completed only the Rationale and Evaluation sections of the Project Proposal. In the rationale I had to reflect on the Previous Projects about how my skills have developed, and what I know now. Also talking about why I have decided to pick the project I am doing. The evaluation side was me talking about how I'm going to reflect and evaluate on the work I'm doing for example: Recording behind the scenes of the Production Days.
Feelings
I felt really confident when beginning the Project Proposal, this is something we have completed for every project and I'm really happy with how these turned out. Being really confident whilst going into this made me complete this well on time, I had a nice workflow with creating these from all the experience beforehand.
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I wasn't overly nervous at all when doing this, I knew Project Proposals change as your idea develops more so being something I knew I could always go back and change on, didn't stress me at all.
Evaluation
What I think went well about the Project Proposal was how I reflected on my Strengths and Weaknesses within the Rationale. Reflecting on these definitely helped me with my Short Film choice for FMP.
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What I feel could've gone better about the Rationale was sticking to the word count, I couldn't think of much to write so I can definitely see myself improving on it within the near future.
Conclusion and Action Plan
On a whole, I'm really happy again with how this week went. The Research Report was completed successfully and I can definitely see it being a help when it comes to filming my FMP. I really learnt the importance of Planning, and knowing all this is gonna excel my Project to the best of my ability.
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Some key targets I would like to set myself to follow for the next week and throughout my FMP are the following:
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Improving on Time Management - My time management became dreadful when it got to the end of week, the Process Report became really rushed and there was definitely some key information I could've gone back and added. So, for future tasks, I will ensure that I have enough time to complete this task to the best of my ability, maybe by creating a Schedule, without getting to a last-minute Friday submission.
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Another thing I would like to make sure I am doing is hitting the correct word counts - where in the Process Report this was not an issue I was a few thousand words or so over the recommended count, my Project Proposal really lacks with this. However, thankfully we will be doing more on the Project Proposal as we were only tasked with completing the first stage. So, in the future, this is definitely something I'm going to fix.
Week 3
What were we doing in Week 3?
In the third week of FMP, I was starting on a new Research Report but this time it focused on the Contextual Aspect of the Film. This included talking about Similar Narratives, Real Life Situations, and Theories and Techniques I would use throughout my FMP.
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Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of focusing on Time Management and I believe I have achieved Good Time Management very well this week. I'm almost finished with my Contextual Research Report and I still have a whole other week left to complete it. I'm really happy I was able to resolve my Action Plan Target from last week, and I hope to continue this throughout the next weeks of my Final Major Project.
Contextual Research Report
Description
The Contextual Research Report is a document where I speak about Different Narratives and Techniques that I will be using to create and inspire off of for my Final Major Project.
Feelings
I felt really confident this week going into the Contextual Report. Last week was the first time I had completed a massive word-count document, in which I was also satisfied with the Final Outcome. From this, I felt ready to go into the next Research Document and was excited to see how my Film Plan would develop as I got further into this. I was really happy with how this was going throughout the week, as I set myself a target of better Time Management last week, and I, sure enough, was getting along well almost having it completely finished. However, some stages were making me a little nervous as I couldn't always find a good source to reference from, and I knew I'd need a range of sources to hit distinction. But, sure enough by the end of the week I had successfully managed to find a range of sources for each different staged, and I was pleased with how it went.
Evaluation
What I think went well about this week, in regard to the Contextual Report, was how it really developed my whole narrative and even the Cinematography style I was inspired to use. The different films I analyzed such as Lost In Translation and At Eternity's Gate helped me develop cinematography where I knew my audience was going to be able to connect and understand the main character in my film. Also from this, I knew the Report was going to be a huge help when it came to my Planning Stage, more specifically Storyboards. Analyzing all the cinematography beforehand, will make it much easier for me to put it into action when drawing out my Storyboards for the film, and also to ensure I'm using the correct shot for the right time in my film. What also went really well this week was my Time Management, the Contextual Report has been done with great progress and I can definitely see myself finishing it early next week, which is amazing as one of my targets last week was to improve Time Management and I have done just that. Something that could've gone better would be my Source Findings, I spent way too much time looking for Sources so I need to improve on my ability to find Sources for relevant information, without wasting a lot of time.
Conclusion and Action Plan
I was really happy with how this week went, I was able to achieve my Target from last week, and am on track to completing the set work so far, to a good standard. I feel this Report is really coming on well and is going to be a great help when it comes using it in my Final Major Project.
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A target I am going to set for myself is to spend less time on the Research Source findings and use them in a more effective way - not just to have them there to mark criteria. So I will be finding useful Sources to ensure I can construct my FMP in a way that will be useful, when it comes to Production.
Week 4
What were we doing in Week 4?
In the fourth week of FMP, I have completed my Contextual Research Report and Outlined my FMP.
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Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of spending less time on Source Finding - but making the ones I do find actually useful and not just to fill up the criteria of using Research Sources. To be honest, I don't think I actually successfully completed this - I still managed to spend much time finding these. However, in the end, I still finished my Research Report on time, which just shows my Time Management skills were perfectly fine this week!
Contextual Research Report
Description
Today I finished off my Contextual Report, I completed the Final, Theories and Techniques, section. Talking about different Practical and Planning Methods.
Feelings
Going into this week, knowing I had a pretty successful week beforehand, made me feel pretty confident. Especially, as we were finally onto my Favourite Part of this Research Report, The Techniques. I found the week to be a very fun week talking about this, as the stuff I have decided to talk about is Practical Things to do with my FMP, which I enjoy the most. I think the confidence definitely had a great effect on my Work, talking about stuff I enjoy, allows me to write about it a lot because I want to make sure I'm completing my work to the best of my ability.
Evaluation
What I think went well this week was what new information I learned about Colour Grading. I had an issue in the past, where whenever I Colour Graded certain clips, they started to band and fall apart. However, from my Report I learnt that shooting in log can help fix this issue as the dynamic range is much higher, leading to more information in the Shadows and Highlights. I think from what I learnt this week, It's going to lead to a way more successful and professional outcome as every clip will be shot in LOG. What I think could've gone better was again, the amount of time I spent Researching Sources for Citations. Even though I may have completed my Report on time, I could've spent my time more productive throughout the week. This is something that definitely could've been improved on as throughout my FMP, Time Management has been something I've heavily lacked on.
Conclusion and Action Plan
On the whole, I feel Week 4 went really well. I was pleased with my Final Contextual Research Report and I feel it's been completed to a good standard where I can use evidently for the creation, and the process of my FMP. It's gonna be a big help when it comes to the Planning and Production side - especially from the Techniques aspect.
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A target I am going to set myself for Next Week, knowing we will being the Planning stage, will be to incorporate all those Techniques I have researched throughout the Two Reports and use them thoroughly in all different Planning Aspects.
Week 5
What were we doing in Week 5?
In the fifth week of my FMP, I had started on the Planning documentation for my Film. I managed to complete the Final Concept Pitch - which was going to help to further develop and finalize the narrative of my Short Film incorporating all the Research I had found in my Contextual and Process Research Reports, and lastly I completed the Project Proposal Form, a necessary UAL document.​
Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of using all those different techniques I had Researched and putting them into action for the Planning of my Final Major Project. I am happy to say, I have been doing this thoroughly throughout so far. Everything I have Researched up to this point has become a huge help with my Planning, Which I'm really glad about because all this means is that I'm currently on track to have a successful Final Production.
Planning Documents
Description
Today I started a range of different Planning Documents. These documents were The Logline and Synopsis, The Pitch, The Script, and Storyboards.
Feelings
I felt very excited going into our first Planning week, I was finally able to fully construct my complete ideas and begin to put them into action for my Final Major Project. Planning has been something I was looking forward to for a while now, and I was confident that I have done enough Research to successfully plan my FMP out to a high standard. Being this confident beforehand definitely led me to put my head down, and get on well with the documentation. Planning has also been something we have done for every Project, hence another reason for the extra confidence. It has been a vital part and I've stayed consistent with it throughout.
Evaluation
What I think went well about the Planning Documents was how useful they were for fleshing out my Final Idea and putting it into action. I could see how useful my Research Reports were when I started to Plan for example:
Image from my Contextual Research Report
As you can see here, I was able to use the information that I found from my Contextual Research Report to plan out a particular-looking shot that worked really well to show the loneliness of my character. My Contextual Report stated that 'This shot of Harris stays static for quite a while and it gives the audience the impression of the character’s loneliness within such an immense room.' This is perfect because it's exactly the impression I want to create, and for my Planning, more specifically storyboards, I knew very well to include many wide-angle shots throughout to give the audience the feeling of his loneliness.
The First Shot in my Storyboard, Using the Inspiration from my Contextual Report
Another thing I believe went really well, was my initial Logine writing. The Logline itself gave all my other Planning Documents that foundation to base off, which is absolutely amazing it made my life a lot easier when I knew the most efficient way to plan. None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for my Process Research Report. Within my Process Report, we had to talk about the different stages of making a successful project. I found out that 'A properly written logline not only helps you capture the essence of your story, it guides you through the writing process. It helps you make tough decisions during development, and ultimately keeps you on track.' So this is why my Process Report ultimately was the reason for my first successful week of Planning, if I hadn't known that the Logline will fund me such a good foundation to base the Storyboards off, my Planning could have gone absolutely awful, therefore potentially ruining my chances at a distinction level Final Major Project.
However, something that didn't so great this week was to do with the Pitch. I really felt my beginning needed some improvement, it felt very similar to my Initial Concept Presentation even though my idea has been changing thoroughly. I think to improve on this for next week, I'm going to try to incorporate a lot of the different ideas I have been speaking about in my Reports, mainly focusing more on the Narrative and Cinematography style, and what has inspired me to make such a project. I need to allocate more time to focus on this Pitch as it's a very important part as well, of fleshing my whole final idea out.
Conclusion and Action Plan
I was really happy with how Week 5 went, I believe so far my Planning has been really successful and I know it's going to be a huge help when it comes to doing those Production Days.
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Something I'm going to set myself to work on for next week is, the Pitch. I really need to start talking more about the Film as a whole, fleshing out all my current ideas and the inspiration that's provided them. I hope to have this completed by next week!
Week 6
What were we doing in Week 6?
In the sixth week of my FMP, I was doing all my Planning Experimentation and finishing off the last of the Planning Documments. This included: The Script, The Storyboards, Equipment List, and all the Risk Related ones as well.​
Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of improving on the Pitch in several different ways - I would like to start this off by saying I was really successful with this. Where my Pitch was very bland and didn't really explain the changes and inspiration I've took to make to this, this week I've improved on this very much. The only Slides I had were explaining genuinely about the Story of the Deaf Person. From my last Action Plan, I am now talking about what has led me to do this and a huge inspiration of where my Cinematography was coming from!
Planning Experimentation
Description
Our Planning Experimentation was the first experiment we were doing for our FMP. We pretty much had to pick out a method of planning and experiment with doing this in multiple different ways. For mine, I picked Storyboards. I decided upon this decision as I feel Storyboards are one of the most important parts of the Planning Process. They save you a lot of time when it comes to the Production Stage, and I also think it allows you to really get the most out of your shots, otherwise, you'll be getting to Production Days and quickly setting up the camera in a place you think may look all right. The experimentation beforehand helps to determine whether this would be a good idea or not.
Feelings
I was super excited to get going with the Planning Experimentation, it was the first official task that we could complete practically. Never once did I lose confidence or become nervous as I knew it was Experimentation, it was time to have trial and error and if things went wrong, that didn't matter at all. However, all the Experimentation went swiftly so I stayed really calm throughout.
Evaluation
The Practical Experimentation went superbly, I found it to be a useful task it really helped me to understand each different Stabilisation form, and what each one could specifically be used best for. I felt I had explained each method well and compared them in a fair experiment, not being biased toward any of them. Something I definitely feel could've been an improvement though, would be the practicality of the scenario in my experimenting in. For example, My Stabilisation was experimented on going down the stairs of a house. I don't plan on having any shots that would feature this so, I feel like it's been rather pointless. So an improvement for next Project would be to think logically if I'm experimenting in the right place to help me achieve the Best Experimentation possible.
Planning Documents
Description
This week I was finalizing all the remaining Planning Documents. This included updating any changes I've made throughout to existing documents to have them ready, for Production Days.
Original Location Recce
Updated Location Recce
Feelings
I was feeling pretty confident throughout the finalising of the Planning Documents. I knew I had made enough to start Producton Week, so this made me aware and prepared, and especially excited. I was really looking forward to see how Silence would turn out now!
Evaluation
What went specifically well about this week was I finally had all my Location Recces set and I was ensured I could film at every Location! I made sure I stayed pretty on top when it came to updating these which in essence, made my Days seem a lot less stressful having to worry about what the plan was.
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I honestly couldn't state something that I had in mind that I would improve with the Planning Documents. I honestly think I have made these documents to the standards that I could give any random person, with the same skillset as me, and I made a good looking Outcome!
Conclusion and Action Plan
As a whole, I really believe the Planning Section went successfully. I know I'm completely prepared for the Production Days ahead, and I'm eager to get into it! I don't think my Final Outcome would have a chance to come out successful if it wasn't for the extensive range of Planning Documents I provided myself with beforehand.
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As a target for the next weeks, I would like to make sure I am constantly referring back to my Planning when it comes to Production Week, this way I can ensure myself that Production Week will go smoothly as possible.
Week 7
What were we doing in Week 7?
In the seventh week of FMP, I completed the Practical Experimentation for Silence, picking two different Practical Concepts that I would use at some point throughout my Production, and find two different methods to achieve these.
Description
For the Practical Experimentation, I chose Colour Grading and Stabilisation to experiment with. I solely really chose these out preference, as I found them to be the most important things I care about, when it comes to my FMP. For Colour Grading, I chose Premiere's Lumetri Colour and Red Giant's Magic Bullet Looks. For Stabilisation, I chose Camera Stabilisers such as Gimbals and Sliders, and also In-Built Post Production Stabilisation Forms.
Feelings
I felt pretty calm throughout the entirety of this week, I knew Experimentation was there for a reason. I wasn't going to get stressed at something that has 50/50 potential to not go the way I want it to, and I know that going into it. I felt really relived after it all though, having completed successful Experimentation made me feel prepared to go into Production Week
Evaluation
What I think went well about this week was how much each decision changed my mind beforehand about Colour Grading. I never knew how good Magic Bullet Looks was before I started experimenting with it. However, now knowing this thanks to the Practical Experimentation I believe I'm prepared to take on Colour Grading to a whole new level, I'm ready to see that vast improvement from my previous projects now I'm using more industry-standard software!
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An improvement I would like to make and I'm also setting this as a target for my Future Projects Experimentation, would be to use the Experimentation in a more logical way. For example, all my shots for my Stabilisation were done going down the stairs in my house. Not for one minute did I plan on having a shot that goes down the stairs in my film, it's almost like all that Experimetination was wasted. It's not that it's pointless doing it that way, there's just better scenarios it could be done in!
Conclusion and Action Plan
I really enjoyed this week and I definitely felt like it took a lot of pressure off the Production Days knowing the areas I was scared to go wrong in, were experimented with thoroughly.
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An Action Plan I'm setting is for The Future of my Projects, I spoke about it in my Evaluation above, I just want to try be more logical with my Experimentation, to try and increase its usefulness.
Week 8 and 9
What were we doing in Weeks 8 and 9?
In the eighth and ninth week of my Final Major Project, we finally began Production Week! This included filming my whole FMP on my LUMIX S5 Camera!​
Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of following my Planning as much as I could, when it came to Filming my FMP. I'm happy to say I stayed consistent with this throughout, from this I definitely felt the first two weeks of Production went the best they possibly could.
Description
Today we had our first weeks of Production. For me, this included filming as much as possible, beginning with editing it, on Premiere Pro. I successfully filmed and put it together with a draft of Colour Grading and Sound Design.
Feelings
I love going into Production Week, I felt super confident when it came to Monday. This was mostly because I was prepared, throughout the past few weeks I had been finishing off Planning and the Experimentation that I knew I had to do, to have a successful production. This really does prove my point that I stated in my Process Research Report that “Planning can be one of the most detailed areas in your Project but it is definitely one of the most if not the most important.” So my Process Research Report definitely helped me plan beforehand, which I think was the main reason why I had a really successful first week. I was slightly nervous when starting to film my Final Project. However, these nerves are something that I was faced with on every project so far. But as I got going these began to fade, with every new scene I recorded I became more confident and happy with how this project was going to go.
Evaluation
What I feel went well this week was productivity. I surprised myself with how much I actually got done, referring to my previous projects as a base. I’m certain all of this as I mentioned in my Process Research Report, came down to Planning. Planning was the key to a successful production.
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I was really happy with all the shots I managed to achieve, one thing I panic about beforehand is that I'm not going to get the desired Cinematic Look I want, I need to stop underestimating myself though.
Using the Rhino and Gimbal Together Method was something that I was unsure would 100% work for Stabilisation, where I tested it in a controlled inside space, the field here was very windy so there was a 50/50 chance whether it'd work or not. However, I found it to all be perfectly fine there was a couple of issues now and then when it'd shake the camera, but I put through these and just captured the shot again.
I felt as if my shots went perfectly as I planned, this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the extensive planning of Storyboards beforehand. You can really tell where they came in handy, saving me tons of time.
Something I was a bit nervous for on set was how my shots would look out of LOG. In LOG, I found it hard to ensure I had perfect white balance throughout to make Colour Grading go as smoothly as possible, however on arrival at home, I put my clips into Premiere Pro and the White Balance seemed to be close to perfect.
Conclusion and Action Plan
I was really happy with how the First 2 Weeks of Production went. I believe I'm now in a perfect situation to pop all my clips in Premiere Pro, and complete the Final Project. I've already done a rough grade of Colour and I'm really happy with how this is looking so far!
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Something I want to ensure I do next week within the Editing is not to leave it all down to the last minute. One thing I have done throughout is leave the last part of each documentation down to the last day of Each Deadline, and this is something I would like to prevent, whilst doing the Editing. This is solely because I'm always gonna figure out things that can be improved with the edit, so getting it done in a time-efficient way gives me more time to reflect and improve!
Week 10
What were we doing in Week 10?
In the tenth week of my FMP, I was finishing off the Final Edit (Before Feedback) for Silence, adding the Final Touches to the Colour Grade and Sound Mixing, Ready for Review!
Action Plan Follow-Up
Last week, I set myself a target of not letting myself spread all the final editing out to the last minute, and to be honest I didn't quite follow through with this. Don't get me wrong, I finished all the Editing on time. But, I definitely longed it out all the way but then again, I was really using my time wisely taking well needed breaks between Editing Sessions
Description
This Editing Week consisted of three different stages: Putting the Raw Clips on the Timeline, Colour Grading and Sound Mixing. Colour Grading involved me taking each clip and using MBL to give it a desired look.
Feelings
I felt so confident going into the Editing Stage, whilst I was watching the clips back off my Camera, I knew they'd look just amazing when being finished on the Edit. I got a bit frustrated throughout due to Premiere Pro crashes and the usual unreliable computer business, but I pushed through and managed to complete all of it as I was saving regularly. Apart from that I was feeling really happy throughout, by the end, I was super pleased with the Final Product and I was looking forward to seeing what other people thought too. One thing I love is critical feedback, to ensure I'm always improving!
Evaluation
I was really happy with how the editing came along, from previous projects I've been happy but not as satisfied as this. This Project, It had seemed I'd taken my Standards to a whole-new professional level. I think this is all thanks to my Contextual Research Report, within there I learnt about how Magic Bullet Looks was wonderful for capturing that cinematic Film-Look and that's exactly what I followed when it came to Colour Grading my Final Film. The Film look has been something I've always desired and I've captured it perfectly!
What I feel I could've improved on with the Editing is keeping my Premiere workspace tidy. Multiple times throughout I got lost in where certain Sequences were, I wasn't naming them as I went on so I just had a bunch of 'Nested Sequences' with a random number, and I had to go through each one to find the Main Timeline, it was madness. This really affected the efficiency of how I completed my Edit, I wouldn't have to waste so much time finding stuff if it was all neat.
Conclusion and Action Plan
On a whole, I was super happy with the Final Week of Production, even without Peer Feedback week coming up, I'd be so happy uploading what I have so far. I was overwhelmed by how well my Colour Grading and Stabilisation came out, I wasn't excepting something so 'Cinematic'.
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A target I'm going to set myself for the future was something I explained above about my workflow neatness. If I can be more tidy in the future, I believe I can tackle more difficult projects in the same time frame as this one. Workflow is everything which is also something I learnt in my Process Research Report, so it's disappointing I didn't follow through with that here.
Week 11
What were we doing in Week 11?
In the eleventh week of FMP, We were completing Peer Review and collating the reviews we have received about our own Final Major Projects.
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Peer Review
Description
The Peer Review we had to do for our FMP was to make a Google Forum including 10 questions that people could use to analyze our film. From there, we could take the responses provided and choose to act on them, this could either be changing something in the edit or just understanding the feedback and keeping it in mind for our next project.
Feelings
Going into Peer Review, I felt super confident with the Project I had provided for people to watch. I was also excited and ready to take on feedback to ensure my Project will be to the best of my ability. I personally love critical feedback, having more than one opinion is always great for improving stuff as people think differently and I'm not going to get 100 versions of me watching my own film, everyone is different. Where I was definitely very confident, there was always that level of nervousness that even though I thought my Film was pretty good, people may agree differently but it's safe to say when Peer Review started people definitely liked my film a lot and I was very pleased with this.
The Feedback from my Film
Question: Based on the layout of my site what would you deem the content, themes and style of my project to be? How can you tell this?
'I would assume that it would be a horror film.'
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'The home page seems to have a theme of darkness and isolation. The dark gloom over the lit up house suggests this.'
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'the theme of the website initially feels like a horror setting, with the dark background and partially lit foreground.'
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'It felt like more of a horror setting on the website as the image of the house is dark and disturbing'
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'It looked almost as if it was a stalker or horror theme on the website.'
Responses I Have Received For This Question:
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A majority response I had from this question, which you can see, was commenting the fact that my website connoted to them that it could be a Horror Final Major Project. I can definitely see why people are getting the first impression of this, the low-key lighting, and eerie warm tones. I'm not saying they're wrong for thinking this but, lowkey lighting and eerie tones can connote a lot more meaning than just Horror.
I dont think from this Feedback, I will be changing anything about my website. I believe I connote Sad and Depression through my use of lowkey lighting and a very empty Homepage. Where a lot of the Feedback stated that my Website seemed like a Horror page, a fair amount agreed with me with how I went about making it look like a Sad Drama Film website. Some of the feedback said was:
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'The theme is quite dark with darker colours and connotations of sadness and depression.'
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'Based on your site, I can tell that the film is about a struggling boy who finds a friend who understands him.'
The fact I had quite a bit of feedback that was agreeing with my reasoning, plays the main part in keeping my website the way it is.
Question: What specifically did you like about my outcome and why?
'The storyline was very well thought through.'
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'The camera work was exceptional I really enjoyed most of the shots.'
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'I liked the soundtrack, from Hans Zimmer and his song "Time" which was used perfect. The reason why i liked the soundtrack was that it helped build more feeling and emotion with the characters.'
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'The editing was great and the storyline was very well thought through'
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'I love the atmosphere with the dark and depressing nature as it progresses through the story, showing the ups and downs of their life up until the end.'
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'Everything, the sound effects, the colour grading, the pacing, the story, the acting. I especially loved the use of camera moving techniques like the crabbing and panning inside the house.'
Responses I Have Received For This Question:
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I was really pleased with the feedback I was given about this question, something I always strive to do my best on is my Camera Work and Post Editing, and people really liked how I'd utilised my skills with those. From this feedback, I will definitely note to myself to use these different camera movements and techniques throughout my future projects as they created a nice cinematic effect something I had mind that I wanted to do in my Contextual Research Report. ' the other options I have such as the Rhino Slider is only 42” long so it can be used to get those slow but short cinematic shots.' The slow but short cinematic shots were shown throughout my Final Project, my favourite being the Final Scene.
Question: What specifically could I improve in my outcome and why?
'More elaboration on the plot as it can be a bit confusing as too why things happened.'
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'Emphasis of the reasons why they were blocking each other and the sudden stop to their friendship.'
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'I liked the soundtrack, from Hans Zimmer and his song "Time" which was used perfect. The reason why i liked the soundtrack was that it helped build more feeling and emotion with the characters.'
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I think the bully scene could of had a bit more depth to it as it just kind of came and went randomly.'
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'The short film could have been longer.'
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'Longer please, it was awesome.'
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'I feel like the font for the credits could do with being more condensed maybe matching with the Title'
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I think that leading up to the point where Marcus was blocked, there needs to be more showing the deterioration of the relationship, it felt way too sudden and out of nowhere making it feel disjointed.
Responses I Have Received For This Question:
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I honestly couldn't agree more with this feedback, it was definitely something the first time I watched back the Rough Cut of my Film and noticed that the story seemed very rushed - more specifically the part where Marcus loses his only friend. When I first came up with the idea of Silence, in my head, I had it all planned out they were going to become friends enjoy a lot of time together, and then slowly begin to lose contact. What had happened was, being me in production time, I know I spend way too long perfecting certain shots and this film itself, had taken up the whole of the Production Weeks barely scraping the deadline. I knew that if I was to make the film any more complex I would not come close to finishing it on time. Therefore, something I really need to take out from this feedback, for future projects, is making a story where it doesn't need to go on too long to get the whole gist of the plot, without having a developed understanding of what's going on, in an unrushed manor. As of right now though, this feedback doesn't really provide me with anything to be able to change with my FMP but, for a future reference this is perfect.
One piece of feedback that stood out from the others was to do with the Ending Credits. I was looking at this feedback whilst looking at the Credits trying to imagine it, and I could picture it working perfectly. So, I changed this and I'm super happy with the Final Outcome of the Credits.
Before Peer Feedback
After Peer Feedback
Question: Where can you see evidence of my experimentation being used in my final outcome?
'The stabilisation really does add a smooth feel to the visuals, since this is a very story-driven film this is key for understanding the minor details.'
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'Anything from the final editing to the stabilization was presented in the final piece, the stabilisation specifically was heavily shown, making the film look professional and well done.'
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'You have clearly experimented with stabilization and this can be seen throughout the final outcome, as the camera work is smooth and gives the desired cinematic vibe.'
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'Using the stabilised shots you experimented with was great because the film was clean and meant I could see what was going on clearly in each shot.'
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'I could see your practical experimentation of stabilization which was used in a lot of shots which would have been better than handheld.'
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'You can see very similar style movement in your experimentation of stabilisation in your final film.'
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'The use of stabilisation is obvious in the film and it was executed well.'​
Responses I Have Received For This Question:
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The feedback was clearly pretty one-sided, but I am not complaining about that at all. My main focus throughout my time on this Project has been Stabilisation as it is nowhere near as easy as it looks. People think you can just pick up a camera and walk around in a certain way to achieve a cinematic shot, that's where they are completely wrong. I have always been playing around with different Gimbal Techniques in my Spare Time at home to try and acquire a certain stabled shot and I think this all paid off really well.
Final Evaluation
For my Final Major Project at Colchester Institute, I embarked on creating a Drama Short Film that revolves around a deaf individual. My reasoning for choosing a Short Film over an Opening Title Sequence was purely down to preference, something I have found throughout my time on this course is I love creating a full narrative, not just the specific part of a film. I chose to go specifically for a Drama Short Film, as a Drama narrative was something I had never thought about doing before. I believe the more new things I try, the more I will improve, and improvement is something I am always striving for, especially during my time on this course. Throughout this project I have loved nearly every second of it. I will admit going into FMP I was rather nervous, our three previous projects were a lot more laid back and I knew they wouldn't have much effect on our Final Grade. However, now FMP was here and I knew I was going to have to produce all that hard work I have showcased throughout and do the exact same again.
Context
Description
We started off our Context Stage before getting into the first days of FMP. The first task was SWOT analysis - This was really a task to understand ourselves explaining different Strengths and Weaknesses. Moving on we had to look at Research Sources, this was especially useful when it came to further Research Reports where using a Range of Sources throughout became inevitable to hit the Distinction Criteria. Next came the Pre-Mortem, I knew this was going to be another extremely useful task especially when it came down to Planning and Production Days. What we had to do here was extensively list a range of issues that could go wrong throughout the 14 weeks of my Final Major Project. Using these, Problem Solving became much easier throughout as I had already prepared for it beforehand. Lastly, there was the Process Research Report. The Process Research Report was a document that we had to talk about the different stages to create a successful project.
Feelings
Going into the First Stage of my FMP, I felt super excited. Knowing I have the option to create my Favorite Project, (A Short Film) heavily influenced my feelings at the time. I won't lie a lot of that excitement was covered up by nerves, where we may have done a project similar around three times, this was finally the project to decide my overall grade. Knowing this, got me in a very zoned mood. While I obviously took the last projects seriously, I approached most of the tasks in a very laid-back mood - meaning some of the tasks weren't always completed in a well-timed manner, and I could definitely see a lot of improvement throughout. However, I told myself this is the project that counts, it determines where a whole year of work is going to grade me. I think the Context was the section where I was least confident. The tasks we had to do throughout this were very new to me, unlike sections such as planning where all the documents tend to stay the same. My feelings throughout the Process Report was very up and down, I know one week I was working very slowly - however, I am almost glad this happened, if it wasn't for me working slowly that week I would never have discovered it to be an issue. It made me very aware and now time cautious throughout, making all my other sections completed precisely on time.
Evaluation
Something I definitely feel I could've improved now when I look back at it, is explaining how my Strengths lead to certain opportunities. For example, a Strength I could've had was I am amazing with audio mixing and sounding in Premiere Pro - from this, I could have had the opportunity to create an Opening Title Sequence, due to it being very driven by Sound and Music. I believe one thing that stopped my Process Report from being done the best I could've was to do with how unlucky I was with the Interviews. I didn't manage to receive a single response back from any of the people I have messaged. So, I think next time to ensure I receive a good amount of Primary Sources - I either allocate more time to do this or message a different range of people, maybe some being less popular and known in the industry.
Where they may have been quite a few ways to improve on the Process Report, I definitely felt like it became a big help throughout the rest of my Project. There was a lot of influence from my Process Research Report when it comes to the Planning Stage, showing me the most practical and efficient ways to successfully Plan and the Final Outcome which I will discuss later on in the Planning Evaluation.
Image from My Storyboard
Tutorial from my Process Report (in which I took inspiration)
One thing I felt went really well with the Pre-Mortem was the usefulness of it. Understanding issues I may face was a big help beforehand as it really prepared me for the next 14 weeks. Something, in particular, was the Actors. I knew beforehand that teen actors can be very unreliable so, from my Pre-Mortem, I found a ton of different people willing to play certain parts and almost kept them on a waiting list. And by chance, someone did drop out so I just asked one of them reserves and this became issue I did not have think about when it came closer to Production Days.
Conclusion
On the Context as a whole, I was really happy with how it came out. The Process Report gave me a good enough foundation to start fleshing out my actual FMP idea which I thought was amazing. Knowing I had created something good enough to start me off well, gave me reassurance that my Process Report was done successfully.
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Moving forward, something I will look to focus on more next time is getting some actual Primary Research for my Research Reports. I was very unlucky with this for my FMP, however next time I need to use a more efficient way to ensure I actually get some responses from any relevant industry connection. Something I will do to achieve this will be to look at less-populated people to message. I had a tendency to pick people more well-known in the industry, and this clearly became an issue as no one had the time to respond to me.
Research
Description
Research was the next stage we were assigned for our FMP. We had to complete another Research Report, only this time it was about the Contextual aspect of our Film Planning. It was split into three sections: Similar Narratives, Real Life, and Theories & Techniques. The first two were there to help flesh out the core story idea for our Film, and Theories & Techniques were going to be used to help discover, in my case, the sort of Cinematography style I was going for.
Feelings
Just like the first Research Report, I was slightly feeling nervous again. Writing has never been my specialty, and when it comes to it I always want to do the best I can. However, one thing I have always noticed about this course is that because I am writing on stuff I am super interested in, and want to make a living out of it, I can always do it in a more sophisticated and professional way. Not to mention the fact I am always willing to sit there for hours on end writing about stuff I enjoy. As I got more into the Research Report I became more excited as the Theories and Techniques section was something I am super interested in. Something I always strive to better at is my Practical Filming and Editing, and finding different ways I can achieve certain Practical Methods is what interests me the most. I believe the more practice and experimentation I can provide myself with, will always set me on the right track to see improvement, which then again, also makes me super confident.
Similar Narratives
Evaluation
I particularly found the Similar Narratives section to be extremely useful when it came to developing my story. Something I found in my Contextual Research Report 'In the twentieth century many scholars, religions, and philosophical traditions deemed all human rights, including economic rights, equally rooted in and required by the dignity of the human person.' From this, I noted to myself that I could base my narrative around something that shows how much treating people with dignity and equality and I really did. I used this quote from my Contextual Research Report and put it into action throughout my Planning. I included in my Narrative the final scene where he takes his own life, this shows a huge effect of not treating people equally. I don't personally believe my Narrative would've been as detailed and emotionally touching if it wasn't for the information provided in my Contextual Research Report.
Something looking back at it now I could've improved on, that may even have helped me when it came down to Shot Planning would be to find more inspiration for the Cinematography Style of my Film. I only managed to find one I partially liked at the time, being The Office. I stated that I like the whole documentary feel of the series, but I never ended up doing anything like that for my Film. My ideas changed throughout, and I feel I could've been better at stating when, where, and why my whole thoughts changed.
Cinematography from The Office
Cinematography from Silence
As you can see from these two, my cinematography in Silence was very different from The Office.
There was also something crucial I could've improved on at the time, and that would be citing my quotes as I go. This became a slight issue because it got very messy trying not to miss a quote to cite. This ended up becoming very time consuming and could've all just been missed if I cited beforehand, an improvement I will be making for my projects in the future.
Throughout my Similar Narratives section, I displayed varied amounts of cinematography from different films. Something you can clearly see in my Final Outcome now is how I took great inspiration from all of these, from my Contextual Research Report.
Image from My Film
Image from my Process Report (in which I took inspiration)
The image I took from my Process Research was from a film called 'Lost in Translation'. I analyzed the wide shot shown as it 'gives the audience the impression of the character’s loneliness within such an immense room.' I knew I wanted to show off my protagonist to have a lonely, deprived life and using the information I had researched from my Contextual Research Report I could achieve this successfully.
Real Life
Evaluation
A lot of how I used the Real Life Section was genuinely to teach myself more about how deaf people live their lives - things they are faced with, obstacles they have to overcome, and what just typically goes on in their everyday world. A reason why I would say this went really well is that I think I conveyed my actor to be deaf really well, this was also something I received in my Peer Feedback as a positive, and I will talk more about this when it comes to the Peer Feedback section. I think something else I did a great job with in my Real Life section was explaining the information I've found and how I shall be using that in my Film. For example: 'In understanding these subtle cultural processes, the concept of symbolic violence will be particularly important. Although we must not ignore the overt and far from invisible violence that people who are deaf and people labeled “disabled” have suffered and continue to suffer'. Where I found out from my Contextual Research Report that deaf people continue to suffer I knew I had to show this in a teachable way within my FMP.
I may have done this in a rather extreme and severe way but still, I believe it gets the point across well.
Theories and Techniques
Evaluation
The Theories and Techniques section was going to be specifically used to conduct successful experimentation for our FMP. I think it was very useful that we researched beforehand about experimentation than just going practically straight into it, something we typically did on the previous three projects. This provided me time to make sure the experimentation I was going to do, was actually going to be useful or not when it comes to Production Days.
Colour Grading
Evaluation
The main reason why I picked Colour Grading for my Experimentation was down to preference, I could definitely see a career in the future for me doing something along the lines of a Colourist, It's something I enjoy so much!
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Colouring, I believe, is one of the most important parts practically of a Film, and it's something I was looking to perfect so, Experimentation for Colouring seemed absolutely necessary.
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Something I believe went really well in my Research on Colour Grading was the new methods I learnt about how to Colour Grade. I always had Magic Bullet Looks on offer to use, but I never used it to its full potential. Using my Contextual Research Report, I was successfully able to learn about the best ways to get the 'Film Look' with Magic Bullet Looks, Experiment within my Practical Experimentation and compare two of my favourite ways to Colour Grade.
To conclude that paragraph, I don't believe my Colour Grade would have been anywhere near the professional level it is if it wasn't for the detailed information I learnt, when reading books for my Contextual Research Report.
My Experimentation where I've based my Magic Bullet Looks Colour Grading off my Research Report
Using MBL in my Final Outcome (Using the Experimentation I have done beforehand)
I'm really thankful I researched Colour Grading beforehand I don't think I'd be as satisfied with the outcome as much as I am now if it wasn't for it. One of the things in specific was about LOG, before this I knew a slight bit about LOG but I didn't know the real benefits of what it can provide. I knew it could achieve your camera's Full Dynamic Range, but I genuinely had no clue what this meant and could do for your footage.
Here is a video I looked at within the Theories and Techniques section, it was potentially was of the most helpful videos I've seen throughout this part I'm really glad I looked into it. If it wasn't for my whole FMP being shot in LOG, I would have ran into many issues that my perfectionist self would have been unsatisfied with. This could have been issues such as: Bad Grain, Banding Lines and an Overall Phone-Looking Image.
So I think overall if it wasn't for my Contextual Research Report my Experimentations would have been very bland and quite frankly very irrelevant to actually helping my Final Production out, which I've experienced before in the past.
Stabilisation
Something I think could've been improved on throughout my Theories and Techniques would be a little less tutorial-like with my descriptions. Looking back at this now, I found it to be rather irreverent due to the amount of experience I have with this equipment already. What I could've really shown a lot more of is visual inspirations, shots I was inspiring from and wanted to work towards to try and achieve.
Looking back on a few of the inspirations I did do for Stabilisation, I could've thought logically about them a bit more. For example, the Wes Anderson below knowing the equipment I had on offer would I really think it would be possible to achieve something like this? I do almost believe it was a waste of a paragraph talking about it, even though it wasn't I had hope for creating a cinematic shot, when I deep down know nothing I create can get to that standard. So to improve on my relevance with writing for Next Project, I will try to keep my inspiration analysis as relevant to what I can create as possible, not putting down all the hope for creating something amazing though!
Start at 5 Minutes, 22 Seconds
Conclusion
On a whole, I found my Research to be extremely useful especially when it came down to fleshing out the core narrative idea of the film. You can clearly see how I used all my different research throughout all the stages of my Project, in particular Experimentation. I knew all my theories and techniques were going to be a big time saver when it came to Experimentation week, and it really was.
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Moving forward, I would love to include more visualness throughout my inspirations, I feel this could become a big help when it comes to perfecting those different cinematography styles I've never thought about doing before!
Planning
Description
The Planning stage of my Final Major Project was where I finally get to put all of my Context and Research into action. We had to create a range of different Planning Documentation that was necessary not only to achieve a distinction but to ensure that I was fully prepared for Production Days.
Feelings
Going into the Planning Week, I was thrilled and lively to get going with this. Finally taking all my ideas from the Contextual Research Report and preparing them to be put into action excited me, I was really looking forward to how this would come out and I was confident too, I knew the Contextual Research Report had been completed to a high enough standard, where the story could be developed to show off the meaning I was creating it for. I was also super confident in how my ability is to plan now. Earlier on in my Final Major Project, We made our Process Research Report which basically covered us researching all the different aspects to make a Successful FMP. I stated many different effective ways to plan successfully and from this, it made me very confident and eager to get Planning.
Logline
Evaluation
I started off my planning by roughly coming up with a relevant logline. I found this to be a very useful way of scraping together the core gist of the storyline and it really allows for all the other documents to become available. I only recently found out this was an efficient way to begin planning because of my Process Research Report, a quote I found in this states that: 'A properly written logline not only helps you capture the essence of your story, it guides you through the writing process. It helps you make tough decisions during development, and ultimately keeps you on track.' I found this out from a book within my Process Research Report in essence it states that Loglines are the perfect way to capture the core idea of your story, keeping you on track to create the rest of the relevant documents. Which is perfect, and I can tell you now this worked perfectly. If it wasn't for the Research in my Process Research Report, I don't believe my Planning would have been done anywhere near the efficient way it was.
Scripts
Evaluation
Straight after mapping out the concept with my Logline, I could then progress onto Scripts. However, I found the Script to be very difficult as I'm not very good at laying them out. I don't believe my Script could compare to any professional screenplay one bit. I would have to blame this on the fact, this was the one part of my Process Research Report, that I was less detailed with. I only really researched the importance of Scripts, not much on the process of how to be successful with them. So this is definitely something I will look to improve with next time, and maybe I could even use it within my Experimentation in future projects, as it's an area that clearly needs improvement.
Something I found to be quite useful within my Script was how I included the Time of Day and wether the shot was Establishing or not. This made me very prepared and cautious of not just the shots I needed to get, but what time and day, and where.
Storyboards
Evaluation
Out of all Storyboards, I found this particular planning method to have gone the most successful. Especially during the Production period, Storyboards were easily the most used form of Planning. I don't believe my Cinematography would have been anywhere near the level of professionalism that is if it wasn't for my Storyboards.
Planned Storyboard Beforehand
Final Shot of this in Silence
As you can see from the pictures above, the one on the left features my drawing of the Planned Shot, and on the right is the Final Official shot following the Storyboard Plans. There really similar and I don't think I would've achieved this level of Cinematography in my Final Outcome if it wasn't for my Planning.
I think one of the main reasons for my Storyboard having come out such a success was because of the Experimentation beforehand. One of my Planning Experimentations tasks we had to do just before the Official Planning stage, was all to do with Storyboards. For this, I picked out two of the most efficient methods I could find of Storyboarding, compared the two and judged based on different factors which one I would be using for my Final Major Project.
Picture Storyboard
Hand Drawn Storyboard
What went well about this was that I could really narrow it down to which Storyboard Type I wanted to use, resulting in making my Planning a lot more effective using a time-efficient and overall more practical method. I always knew beforehand that Experimentation would make my Planning a lot more effective, but I really underestimated the levels of this.
Another factor that I think contributed to the success of my Storyboards was my Process Research Report. Where I may not have done this with Scripts, with Storyboards I found myself watching many different tutorials of have to effectively storyboard mapping it out in the best way possible to use, when it comes to Production Days.
A quote I picked out in my Process Research Report from this was: 'A great storyboard is beyond just what the camera angle is and what happens. What can you hear? What’s the lighting like? It needs to have all of the details that you would need in a full film.' This was absolutely perfect information that I needed, and I know very well it became extremely useful. Sitting there on Production Days with Storyboards that contain Foley Sounds was perfect. Not to mention even on Editing Days, If I know Kid Noises in the Background need to play, I prepared for this beforehand making everything more time efficient.
Something I definitely think could've been improved within my Storyboards, which I'm actually mad at myself for because I stated the complete opposite of what I did in my Final Outcome to my Process Report, which was the Drawing Level. I'm not saying my drawings were any good by any means however, I spent way too much time sketching them when I could've made it a lot less detailed to still get the gist of where I wanted the camera to be.
I think for the next project when I make a statement in a Report Document, I need to make sure I'm following it throughout or at least state the change I make if it's relevant.
Risk and Location Documents
Evaluation
One of the Final Pieces of Planning was the Risk and Location Documents. Risk Assessments were a vital document to ensure I wouldn't get sued for my Production and I can safely they were completed well. We were also luck enough to have already-made templates for these, so all I had to do was fill in the necessary information for my FMP.
I believe the Location Reece documents went really well as I knew what places I needed to get permission from, to ensure I don't trespass with a camera. I was also really good at updating these documents out of all the rest at least, it stopped me from getting into a muddle with the permission and gave me detailed information so I knew what to bring to each certain location.
Conclusion
To conclude the Planning as a whole, I was really pleased with how it went. After looking many UAL Distinction Exemplar Sites, I would like to believe my Planning really sits up there - this is also heavily backed up by one question. If I gave a random person my planning, could they create what I wanted to achieve? I would like to say yes, assuming they had the same skillset as I did, I definitely believe they could. My planning is thorough but gets to the point well. All I could think that I would like to improve on within my Planning is interacting more with my cast, having regular team meetings - something I saw that was quite regular throughout the Exemplar Sites, even if this was more of a Year 2 thing. I'm always striving to improve in all areas of the Film and Televison Industry.
Experimentation
Description
The Experimentation Stage was where we took the information we wrote about in the Theories and Techniques section of the Contextual Research Report and put them into Practical Action. From this, we tested out multiple methods for each different technique and concluded which one would work best, in my Final Major Project.
Feelings
I was over the moon to finally reach the Experimentation stage, knowing how successful this project had been so far I didn't want to ruin it here. I was super confident going into Experimentation, I knew there was nothing to be nervous about because after all, it's Experimentation for a reason. Nothing was being put into official action and if it all goes wrong, I reflect and I experiment more with different methods. However, everything I experimented went successfully and as planned for me. I kept very calm but also excited throughout, as I love playing around with the different equipment.
Planning Experimentation
Evaluation
For my Planning Experimentation, I made a smart decision to go for Storyboards. I did this as I believe Storyboards are one the of most important aspects of Film Planning, and one of my favorite parts that I focus on is Cinematography, so experimenting to ensure I can always see improvement on this is something I'm interested in doing.
Picture Storyboard
Hand Drawn Storyboard
I'm really happy I experimented with these two ways in particular, as Picture Storyboards was initially what I was planning on using for my FMP. Shortly after experimenting with both, I came to find I made completely the wrong decision. There were way more benefits to using the Hand Drawn one, a benefit being Time-Efficiency. I knew I had to manage my time well as I learned from my Process Research Report that: 'The time we spend in pre-production will directly affect the percentage of time we have to spend in the other more expensive phases
of production.' If it wasn't for this advice in the book made by Steve Cartwright, I would've most likely done both the Picture and Drawn Storyboard, making it likely that I don't have time to finish all the required planning documentation.
It just goes to show how much other stages of the project really help each other, if it wasn't for my Research, more specifically the Process Research Report, my Planning could've been an absolute mess!
Practical Experimentation
Colour Grading - Evaluation
For my First Practical Experimentation, I went for Colour Grading. I knew that for a Sad Drama Film, the Colour Grading was going to be crucial to really create a sense of emotion for the audience. It was also something I really enjoy doing, and could definitely see a career out of it. I tested two different methods I was familiar with, compared them both, and made a final decision about which one I shall be using for my Final Major Project. I was thinking about using a certain tutorial but then again, I knew I had a vast amount of experience with Premiere Pro, more specifically Magic Bullet Looks, Colour Grading and wanted to test myself with two different methods.
From the video below, I definitely found a clear winner for my Colour Grade. Magic Bullet Looks particularly took my breath a way with the professional tools it featured to really take my Colour Grade to another professional level.
However, from this experimentation I think another thing that went well was understand the best tools not just to Colour Grade but to Correct too. Correcting can be either making minor exposure adjustments or getting the clip out of LOG. Where I found the basic Lumetri Controls to be really bland when it comes to grading, they were perfect for Color Correcting. They were simple and effective to use when it came to processing my clip out of it's LOG form.
Stabilisation - Evaluation
Moving onto my Second Practical Experimentation, I went for Stabilisation. I knew Stabilisation was going to be key if I wanted to achieve the desired Cinematography Style within my Pitch.
Something I think went really well about my Stabilisation is the amount of equipment I really have on hand to experiment with, to really achieve the Cinematography Style I wanted. I am very lucky that I have access to the amount of equipment that I do.
The first way out of two methods of Stabilisation I found was through Additional Camera Stabilisers. These can range from Small Handheld Gimbals to Massive Tracked Rigs. I found these to all be absolutely necessary yet all to have very different specific tasks they were good for. For example, The Rhino Slider was great for getting those slow, but cinematic shots. However that's all you could really do with them, If you wanted a Long-Tracking shot using the Rhino would be absolutely pointless.
Something I believe I could've really improved on throughout my Practical Experimentation of Stabilisation would be to experiment for every different scenario in my film, and make the situations more based to fit the needs of my Shots. I feel I just picked up the equipment and used it, not in a specific manor.
As you can see from the video below though, My Gimbal and Rhino Slider worked complete magic, if it wasn't for these, my perfectionist self would be so unpleased with the Final Outcome.
The other method of Stabilisation was within side my desired editor (for this project Premiere Pro). To be honest, I knew I was going to use this before I even started the Experimentation because it was something I used to experiment in my own time with. So, I knew that Warp Stabiliser would work perfectly alongside a Camera Stabiliser, not just Warp Stabiliser itself.
I'm really delighted with how my Experimentation came out, I knew it'd be thorough enough to be a huge help when it comes to The Editing Stage. If it hadn't experimented with Magic Bullet Looks beforehand, I can assure you my Colour Grading wouldn't have to be the professional level it was. The Lumetri Tools just don't offer the same flexibility and this is something I would've used if it wasn't for this Experimentation. I don't believe my Experimentation would have been as detailed and useful as it was if it wasn't for the Contextual Research Report though, Researching about what to Experiment was so handy as I knew wether it would be relevant or not, and not to mention this gave me a lot more confidence when it came down to Production Day.
To conclude with Experimentation, what I will say next time I look into Experimentation, is I really need look into the practicalness of the scenario I'm experimenting in. For example, all my Practical Experiments were done in my house going down the stairs. Not once in my film did you see a shot of going down the stairs, I just feel I need to be a bit more particular with the shots I'm experimenting with. Apart from that, the Experimentation did its job and served my Final Outcome well.
Outcomes
Description
This is the last stage of my Final Major Project consisting of: Filming, Editing and Peer Feedback Changes. However, I will be explaining Peer Feeback Changes in more depth later on. My goal was to use all I have Planned, and then Experimented with to join together to create my Final Outcome.
Feelings
When it came to Production Days, It's safe to say I had a lot of excitement and eagerness in me yet, a lot of this was overshadowed by stress and anxiety. These two feelings have been quite common when it comes to the start of Production Days, but as I got on with it these quickly turned into joy. I just stress that the most important day, the day that has to go right won't, but as soon as I get the Camera in my hand and look back at the recorded footage my hopes get high and all that stress gets released. The rest of the Production seemed to stay very calm, even when it came to re-recording certain scenes, something in me just stayed calm. I think my Planning Documentation was a huge reason for this more specifically, The Planning Schedule. If I hadn't planned out the days I knew I'd be filming on I wouldn't know when to allocate certain times. I would've gotten in a complete mess and become really stressed out.
Filming
Evaluation
As a whole the Filming was a complete success. I do believe we may have spent a bit too long filming as I was left with very little Editing Time after however, I was roughly cutting all the parts together as I was filming to make up for this.
Where I may took a lot of time to finish the Filming, I don't think I would've completed this on time if it wasn't for the Planning. It became quite clear that the Storyboards made me film in a very effective way however, I believe I could've improved on the effectiveness slightly. Where I knew what shots to film, I could've been better at planning out when to film them. For example: I had a few outside scenes, that I ended up filming pretty spread out from each other. If I made the Production Schedule more detailed including Timestamps of when to film each scene, I could bulk them together for time-effectiveness, this would've been much better.
I did have to reshoot one particular scene, in which I also ended up changing the Location around a bit.
The main reason for changing this was due to the focus on the First Shot being a bit soft, but not just that. I was reading back through my Contextual Research Report, and I came across a shot that displayed Harris sitting by himself - describing the shot as 'This shot of Harris stays static for quite a while and it gives the audience the impression of the character’s loneliness within such an immense room.' Knowing I wanted to make my Deaf character feel separated from the World this was a change I found vital to make!
Image from My Film
Image from my Process Report (in which I took inspiration)
There was a scene after this I had to cut where Marcus and his Family all arrive home from School and Work but, I had to cut this due to the lack of actors because of my poor Production Schedule.
On the whole though, I was really happy with how all the filming came out. Where I may have spent a lot of time perfecting a lot of the Stabilisation in clips, It's safe to say now it's paid off in my Final Outcome.
Editing
Evaluation
I was really surprised with how well the Editing went, with the time frame I gave myself. I think what this really shows to me is how much I've improved since the First Project, more specifically the improvement with my Workflow. I wouldn't say my ability has improved that much I had a vast amount of knowledge before joining the course, I've just now been provided with much better equipment when in essence gives me the opportunity to improve my work.
My First Project
My Most Recent
As a whole, I honestly have nothing to complain about when it comes to the Editing, and this is unusual for me I normally pick out issues all the time. I was hoping Peer Feedback would provide me with things to change in my Edit, I was correct but only partially. Everyone agreed with my statements, the only feedback I got for the Edit was positive. There was one small comment on the text which was almost a suggestion not a critical piece of Feedback, but I followed it anyway because I totally agreed.
What I believe went the best within the Editing Stage of Silence, was the Colour Grading. Color Grading has been something I've always strived to improve on since the first day of this course, and I can definitely see the vast improvement. I'm so glad I Experimented with Magic Bullet Looks beforehand in my Practical Experimentation otherwise I don't think I would've achieved the precise look I was going for. Also from what I found out in my Contextual Research Report that 'Using Magic Bullet Looks is a great way to experiment and explore
with the film Look.' If I hadn't found this research from my Contextual Research Report I don't think my Final Outcome Colour Grade would have been anywhere near to the Film Look it as, as before Researching this I had no clue I could use the Film Presets provided.
To conclude, I was really happy with my Final Outcome of Silence. I was really shocked that I successfully created a Drama Short Film, with an actual emotional meaning behind it. Especially for the first attempt, I think I did a good job. I went for something different because I feel that's what this course is about, the more uniqueness I have in my Projects the more I'm bound to improve. Something I haven't spoken about much, but it's something that's always on my mind to improve, is the Microphone Quality. Now and then you can hear random high hitches in certain words, I didn't look much into Microphones this year so, a target I'm setting myself for next year is to do a lot more Experimentation with Boom Microphones. I believe Audio is a key part of making a successful Film.
Peer Feedback
Description
Peer Feedback was the last stage of our Final Major Projects. We had to upload a draft copy of the point we were at with our film at the time and make amendments, based on what others have said about it. We made a Google Forums Document to include specific questions in which we could improve our FMP's over.
Feelings
I was so confident in uploading my draft at the time, where it may not be perfect, I was so pleased with the progress being made on it. Like always, I love criticism because I'm striving to continuously improve throughout my time on this course.
Evaluation
I believe the Peer Feedback as whole went really well, there wasn't much criticism I could take from it however, with what I was given I reflected, and can definitely say Silence was improved from Peer Feedback!
Before Peer Feedback
After Peer Feedback
This was in particular one of my Favourite Changes that I made to Silence, at the time of Editing I knew something was off but I just couldn't put my finger down on it. Thankfully soon after, Peer Feedback comes a long and someone spots out just the error I was looking for, which I'm really grateful about.
Conclusion
To conclude my Final Major Project, I'm really happy with the skills I've been able to improve and learn. These newfound abilities will definitely come in handy for my Projects within the future on the Film and TV Course.
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I've enjoyed this Project throughly from the writing aspects to the practical - I've had such a good time
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One area where I believe I can make significant improvements for the future is in my approach to experimentation. Rather than merely treating it as a checklist to be completed, I need to tackle it with a more logical perspective. Making sure I'm using it help out as much as possible when it comes to Production Days is something I'm taking from this and working on.
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I would also love to improve on my Reflection ability. Recording more of BTS and Screen Recordings of Editing Scenes is going to be a big help when it comes to establishing issues and resolving them, something I'm not doing very often.