Week 1 Blog

WEEKLY JOURNALS This is where you think about your FMP learning journey and development. Don’t simply describe what you did - consider what you have learnt and how this has benefitted your project. What do you need to improve? THIS IS JUST GUIDANCE THAT YOU NEED TO ADAPT TO YOUR OWN PROJECT. YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR OWN PRODUCTION SCHEDULES AND YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS SHOULD REFELCT THAT. THESE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE WEEKS YOU COMPLETED THEM. DO NOT JUST SUBMIT THIS FORM FILLED IN FOR YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS. THERE SHOULD BE 11 WEEKLY BLOG ENTRIES (INCLUDING EASTER).

Week One - Context

CONTEXT How did you find coming up with an idea that challenged you enough for your FMP?

The very first task was to come up with 3 ideas and to send them out in a survey, then based on the feedback to decide on the final idea. I found this task fairly challenging when it came to coming up with the 3 ideas, however the feedback that I got back helped me narrow down the ideas and choose a final one. I’ve always wanted to do a comedy short film that has comedy elements to it. Therefore I think it will be a fun process when it comes to developing my script and choosing the right actors for each character. For this idea I will do character development mind maps as I found that quite useful in Unit 5, when I had to write about the characters that were in my radio drama. Having an entertaining and well acting main character will be brutal for my production to look professional. Therefore it’s important I find someone who fits the description and is good at acting. I will contact the drama department for characters as well as use my friends. Using people who are good at acting will make my production more engaging and grabbing.

How has writing a proposal helped you with finalising your idea?

Writing a proposal made me think deeper into how I’m actually going to make my idea come to life. It made me reflect back on my previous strengths and weaknesses from my other units. For example I noticed that actors from the drama department are way better than my friends acting for my production. They take it more seriously and I think that having the main character as someone who does drama will benefit my end production. Another thing I realised when doing my proposal is that I will need to focus on my camera work and the quality of video that I’m filming. I will have to Revisit my camera manual and make sure that I’m using the best settings possible. I have only one lens on my camera, which is a zoom lens. I might have to borrow a smaller lens from my friend to get a variety of shots and good quality looking footage. In the last short film that I made my audio was to quiet. I didn’t use a mic for some of the shots and the sound wasn’t the best quality.

This stopped me from getting my story across. For this production I will need to book a microphone.

How did the feedback help you adapt your idea – what did you change after feedback?

Getting feedback from a small group of people via a survey helped me narrow down my ideas. It really gave me an understanding of what my peers would like to see. As well as this, this helped me narrow down the genre to comedy/crime/detective (mystery solving.) Based on my surveys results no one liked my thriller/Horror idea and everyone preferred the comedies. Overall the scores on both of the surveys were even. Therefore I decided to use the scenario of the robbery in the other idea and then following on and developing a narrative on the main character of from my story (Ropes). Getting feedback was very helpful, however the idea is very brief at this point. I will add on to the story as I do my research on codes and conventions. I believe that looking into short films that are in the comedy, crime and mystery solving genre will give me some inspiration and more idea of how the narrative will go along. Most of these adjustments will be done in the preproduction planning process later on in the unit.

Are you on track for the week? If not, how far behind are you?

I’m not on track, I’m running nearly a week behind. I will get the research done over my own time at home. I will be caught up before Easter Holiday.

What work do you need to complete outside of lessons to stay on track?

Research, week 2 evaluation, and most of the week 2 work.