REFLECTIONS

22/02/2021

Today we were going through the requirements for the final major project. This was very important because we needed to know what skills we are going to be doing when starting the Final Major Project such as planning and when we are going to be in production for filming or editing. I thought which was good that we went through the step by step to understand more details about the FMP and how the grading works. I am hoping to get a distinction in this project, so I am going to try really hard to keep on top of my reflections and make sure the work I produce is the best possible. I am also going to try really hard to make sure all of my work is completed on time, I would like to finish this project early so that I can proof read it all and make sure there are no mistakes.

23/02/2021

In todays lesson, we looked at mood boards and discussed using them to brainstorm our final major project ideas. Normally we use mind-maps, I prefer using mind-maps because you can be descriptive with your word choices. I have not created a mood board before, so I watched lots of YouTube videos to help me with the one I was creating. I think I learnt a lot from these videos and I tried to use their ideas in my work. After creating my own mood board, I still prefer using a mind-map, but I like that the mood boards are visual and quite colourful. Overall I thought today went well because I listened to the task I found it fascinating of learning new techniques such as looking for ideas and researching, creating different moodboards.

screenwriter inforgaphic 2-page-001 (1).

This is the mood board video I found the most helpful,
it inspired me to create my four mood boards.

24/02/2021

Today we discussed our ideas and research for our Final Major Project, the class met on Microsoft Teams and we all listened to eachothers ideas. It was really interesting listening to what everyone was planning and what inspired them. I was excited to share my ideas about creating a short film based on the second world war. I think everyone liked my idea but I understand that not everyone is as fascinated by the subject of war like I am.
I am looking forward to researching job roles and creating a product analysis this week.

28/02/2021

Today i wrote my media product anaylasis I struggled with my first one on the Blitz but I found the Billie Eilish analysis much easier, I think this is because it is more current and it involved things I did not already know about. This week I am hoping to finish off my research and look back over my analysis to see if I can make it any better!!

1/03/2021

Today we studied looking at job roles in the media industry for the future. This helped me a lot because this could relate to my FMP with researching some interesting sources to help me with my short film of what the roles I am going to be learning about and doing.

2/03/2021

Todays lesson made me really think about how the media influences my life, I watch the news carefully and as soon as my phone beeps with a news alert I rush to check it. This is because I like to be informed about what is going on in the world. I also like to keep in touch with my friends online so I am not lonely. Todays lesson made me realise that I do not rely on my phone as much as some people do because I still enjoy activities that do not involve the media or my phone. It was interesting to find out how the media is designed to always have peoples attention.

I also enjoyed reading peoples responses to my questionnaire, my questionnaire was about how people used media and media platforms and how much time they spend on them.

5/03/2021

Today we looked at the BBC Commissioning Guidelines on diversity, it was really interesting to see how strict the guidelines are. It surprised me that all Producers and Creators had to stick to the guidelines otherwise they would risk losing their job. I think it is good to have a policy like the diversity policy because it makes sure that everyone is treated fairly. Interestingly although the policy is quite strict, there is a lot of bad press about the BBC and their actors,

9/03/2021

Today I finished looking at the BBC document on diversity and guidelines. I found it very interesting when researching different BBC shows that there aim is to deliver a good show to a multi national minority group. However we could have watched clips of some BBC shows to get an idea of ethnics minority backgrounds character's and we're really getting an idea of a full representation in the major roles.

10/03/2021

My aims for todays sessions were to create a page on my website for a bibliography, this needed to include links to any primary and secondary sources I have used so far in my project. Creating this took time so in the future I am going to make sure I create links to everything I look at or use as soon as I find them because it took a while go back over and find the link to things I have used in the past. I think using a bibliography is helpful for anyone looking at the website because they just have to click on a link to find the main source. One I have added more sources to my bibliography I will change the layout and arrange them in alphabetical order under subheadings.

15/03/2021

Today I typed up my formal project proposal this took a lot of time and involved lots of research to make sure everything was perfect. I also researched costumes, music and makeup to help me get an idea about the cost and also inspiration. My favorite costume website was the national theatre I have linked this in my bibliography and the proposal. After talking to my lecturer I realized we can save money by getting the costumes from the college costume department I was told they will be just as good but a lot cheaper and more practical assignment. These were the outfits that inspired me the most from my historic video game, I will send these costume ideas to the department at the right time.

16/03/2021

Today I worked on creating a production schedule to share with my team on Wednesday, production schedules are so important because they help you stay on track and prevent you from wasting any time. I think the production schedule will make sure I complete all of my work on time and not leave it to last minute which should help me get a really good grade.
I also looked at the tide times today, because I want the filming to take place on the beach so the tide will affect the times we can film. I will check these daily along with the weather before we start filming.
I also rehearsed my pitch ready to deliver it to the class on Monday 22nd.

17/03/2021

Today I looked at my previous assessment feedback and looked to see if my teacher had made any points for me to improve on in my next project. one of my targets is to improve my reflections using screenshots which is something that is work in progress.

22/03/2021

This week my team and I visited the costume department, we chose the best costume for our actors and arranged a time to pick the costumes up for when we are going to be filming the short film during the Easter holidays. However when we have used the costume we have to leave for 72 hours due to covid rules and health and safety regulations.

23/03/2021

We are still on schedule to finish on the 21st of May, today we started working on the script, We have made a good start, but I think it might need to be a bit longer, I have saved our first draft and I have made a note to talk to Joe about it. I think something I need to work on is my script writing, I will watch some videos on you tube and have a look in the library to see if anyone has posted any tips on script writing online. I know this is a short film so It does not have to be too long, but I want to make sure it is really interesting for the viewers.

I am happy with how our team is working, I am definitely working hard on this project in my free time, I think my team mates are too. I think I am putting the most effort in though because it is my idea so I am very passionate about making this film great.

Today we also looked at when we can film, I updated the production schedule with the correct dates. I have also looked into when we can shoot on the greenscreen, we need to make sure we are all available to confirm this date.

Today we met virtually to discuss our projects, sadly only 9 people turned up to the meeting but I thought it was really helpful. I feel organised with this project, and for once I am running on time and on schedule. This was a target I set myself at the start of the project so I am happy I have already achieved it. I have been working hard on my reflections and think they have improved too, but I would like to try and record myself for my next reflection. I think I will find it easier to say my reflections outloud on voice note, I think I will be able to go into more detail if I do this.

24/03/2021

Today I uploaded my updated production schedule to WIx after sharing it with my team, I am really proud of myself for taking the responsibility of doing this, I hope my team are pleased I have done this quickly.

I have also signed the important documents Joe sent over about only including things that we have created ourselves, if we use anything competed by anyone else, we have to reference them in our bibliography. This is not a problem because I have been doing this anyway.

One thing I would like to improve on next week is my photography, I want to take the best and clearest photos of the Make Up Artist's work for my website so I will practice taking photos over the weekend, playing with different settings.

Tonight I am going to talk to one of my team mates about my script and check he is happy with it before talking to Joe. I am also going to remind him to bring in a suit bag for our costumes.

25/03/2021

29/03/2021

Today one of our team members practiced doing the make up on the actor. The actor looked very scary with the makeup on. I found it very helpful looking at the make up artist drawing of what she told me what the paint is going to look like.

30/03/2021

Today I was mixing a collection Foley sounds to do with the second world war of what those British soldiers heard on those beaches of Dunkirk. I chose to do the Foley sounds because I want to be creative and imaginative. However today I had to take part in Thomas Cavanagh project working in the lecture theatre.

31/03/2021

Screen recording of reflection and Peer critique

This was my peer review with Maloc Minnaar recorded today. We discussed how we're going to prepare for filming during the Easter holidays. This was important because some members of the crew do not live local to the filming location, so it is important to think about how they are going to get there, whether there are any toilet facilities and whether there is anywhere open for takeaway food and drinks. We also discussed the lengths of our scripts, Maloc was very helpful in offering me advice here, reminding me it is only a 3 minute video and that our script should reflect that. I was worried that my script was too short before. so I added a few more lines and I am now happy with it.

I think peer review was really helpful and I will definitely use this again next year.

Today I also arranged for the collection of my costume, I am going to pick this up on Thursday. I have also booked the make up artist for Tuesday the 6th of April, as well as Thursday the 8th. I have also asked if they are available on the 15th in case we need to reshoot anything.

Finally I have arranged a group call on Friday 2nd of April to discuss everything we need for filming and to make sure everyone is ready to meet at west beach on Tuesday, If it rains we will postpone.

12/04/2021

Today my group and I were discussing the pro's and con's about what went well with the filming and what didn't go to well. This was such as equipment, location and make up and costume.

I also updated the behind the scenes blog of showing me and the team what we have been working on and how we have been following our production schedule in a good manner but not rushing it because we did have really good time management while filming on the beach. What would have been better is that we could have came on a very cloudy day if it was stormy. This is because on the beaches of Dunkirk and in England it was a very stormy day for when the troops got back and whilst being on that dreadful beach.

13/04/2021

Today I started production on the posters on photoshop this was because now we have done the photoshoots I am now ready to pick the best photoshoot to turn into a film poster for The Aftermath. I thought the photo angle of the photoshoots looked very well done with clear good camera angles and film shots.

26/04/2021

Today I edited my title sequence and discovered through my feedback that my title sequences needed to be a bit longer to enable people to read properly. I also split the text up for reading more easily. Finally, I did work on photoshop for my cinema poster. Generally, the composition was good in terms of framing, but I did add a few improvements which seemed to work quite well. Firstly, I flipped the image which made it more aesthetically pleasing. Secondly, I improved on the reading of the title card of the brightness. Lastly I tweaked the positions of the planes in the background by making one smaller and one larger to enhance the idea of depth and to make it look more authentic overall.

27/04/2021

Today I was exploring more features on premiere pro such as the lumtri colour tool which can change the colour of some of the filmed videos and adding filters to them. This was really excellent because it could show the audience of how I used Premiere Pro to capture the effect of using the filters as well as other films use them sometimes as I wanted to try something new.

28/04/2021

Today I was hunting for Foley sounds on the internet and I was a successful in finding some interesting sounds such as the German Plane Stuka and loads more. However, I did record sound of waves myself near my home at the beach on a stormy day. Overall I thought today was a success because I experienced film effects tools but I felt like I should have watched a tutorial video before hand.

4/05/2021

5/05/2021

Today I continued editing some of the footage and sound of the Aftermath which is still work in progress now. However, I came up with a good suggestion that I could make an audio novel of the film with better sound fx due to the bad weather. Further on I did several tests on photoshop for my audio novel cover I felt that it had some hiccups and still needs improving such as the saturation and the vibrancy and the background image wasn't right.

Today I was doing the last edits on poster. I was experimenting with the brightness making sure it wasn't to glaring as I wanted to keep the sensitivity of the piece. To explain this how I did was using the brightness tools on photoshop the exposure was too bright however using the contrast I was able to make sure I didn't over shadow the image.

10/05/2021

I had to overcome the challenge of poor sound quality as it was really windy with my original footage and too loud above the monologue . I did record a voice over only audio track but it still proved tricky in lip synching it up perfectly. I can bring in an audio file however and turn off sound layer. I may even use slow motion or jump cuts to get over the problem or a sunset image to create a theatrical ambiance. I will continue to work on these to see if i can find the best possible solution.

Another possible idea could be close up on eyes footage without mouth with audio over - voice over whilst showing images of sea moving /wounds/sunset for a theatrical or dramatised , fractured kind of expresssion using zoom shots etc.

Today I finally wrapped post production on The Aftermath everything is now uploaded onto my FMP page on my wix website new uploads such as the Aftermath film and some creative posters. However currently at the moment I am still finishing off the novelization audio book of the aftermath by using my Foley sounds because I want to be creative as I can.

11/05/2021

television-show-shoulder-twelfth-doctor-

12/05/2021

Today we met up once again on Microsoft teams talking about how we are coming to the end of the FMP and talking about how we're getting on and what skills I have learnt and other learners of how they felt during the making and the preparation of the fmp. Further on I made some adjustments on just finishing off some final touches before exporting the audio book novelization such as extracting background noises and making sure I have the right sounds. Finally I have had some positive feedbacks on my Aftermath film from students and friends.

17/05/2021

Today this was the first day of the final days of the FMP. My aims today was to edit more sounds for the audiobook and record voice line such as introduction and epilogue to the audio novel. I thought I did get a lot of it done however I did try and record couple of the two structures as that is realistic of a format of an audiobook. Hopefully I get all of the voice lines done tonight when I get home. Further on I went through a checklist of making sure that I have the right elements and links on my website such as context, behind the scenes and loads more this was very helpful because it makes sure that I'm filling in the criteria much as possible. Overall Today was really easy all the hard parts are done and I feel very confident of sound editing this is the beginning of the end.

18/05/2021

Today I did some more problem solving this one was about exporting The Aftermath audiobook onto the wix website. The full audiobook track which I edited on Adobe Audition which was more efficient and more better than Premiere pro because I tried to export it to Premiere Pro but it just messed up all the audio tracks and put them into random places onto the film timeline. However I continued writing the final evaluation of how I got on with the final major project. I think I have done the right thing by finishing the Final major project early because it would put less pressure on myself on the deadline day as I feel like I have everything I have got all onto my wix website on the FMP section.

19/05/2021

Today we met up one final time on Microsoft teams talking about how the fmp has gone for everyone and what are we on so far. However for me I finished the evaluation all ready and today I did an extra bonus which was making a behind the scenes cover for the Aftermath. I did this because I want to show the audience of how I made my film with some visual images in the book of the script, the camera man and loads more. Overall today I fell like the FMP went well today for me because we were reviewing how we have done over the past months and how we worked together as a team to make a very good short film with a brilliant plot. Further on checked my spelling on my FMP section making sure there aren't any errors such as misspelling making sure my sentences make sense and more. I got the FMP done early because I feel like it is all ready to be checked out now as I have got every content I have when following the course criteria to get the final grade I want. I am looking forward to people watching my short film seeing what they think of it and try and get some positive feedback.