Benjamin reflects on the success of each stage of his filmmaking project. For pre-production, he focused on understanding the mood and message of the project. In contextual work, he researched inspirations and effects. Audience research was a key success in the research stage. Pre-production involved investigating costumes, props, and locations. Benjamin feels production went perfectly, with editing being the main success as it brought his vision together despite some challenges.

1. REFLECTIVE POSTS
Benjamin Lawrenson

2. PRE- PROPOSAL

3. Pre- Proposal-
How do you feel about how this work has gone and what were the
main successes in the work?
I feel that pre- proposal went very well. I have been able to think about what
kind of mood I want to have and how I want to make the audience feel. As this
was the first bit of work of the F.M.P I found the questions useful as it made me
question myself to make something not just for myself but for an audience. The
specific question I found had the biggest impact was, “What about your project
makes it important to you?”. This made me think why I wanted to make the
thing and if I didn’t feel 100% with the idea then I should reconsider.
In my opinion, the main successes in this was grabbing an understanding of the
work I want to create. This mindset made later tasks a lot easier. I feel that the
most successful question was “what is your FMP idea?”. This was because I had
a clear understanding of what I wanted to makes. This came to me quite easily
due to the recent Covid pandemic taking an affect to what my work might turn
out.

4. CONTEXTUAL

5. Contextual
How do you feel about how this work has gone and what were the
main successes in the work?
I feel that contextual went very well. I have been able to think why I wanted to
make this product and found out what the main inspirations where for me to
research later. Something I think worked well about this stage of the project was
looking at what’s inspiring me. This is useful before I start research as I now know
what I needed to know more about. By doing this I also learnt a little about the
style that one of my inspirations use. Within learning about this I also had a think
about the effects that I might possibly use and how that links to my context.
In my opinion, the main successes in this was with the personal context. This part
allowed me to think about my past projects and see what I did best and enjoy the
most. For example, I want to do rotoscoping which I have done in a past project
and think that It work well with what I want to do
Finally, contextual made me think about what I need to look more into as I was
unsure about some things I wanted to do like green screen.

6. RESEARCH

7. Research
How do you feel about how this work has gone and what were the
main successes in the work?
I feel that research went well. Following on from contextual I knew what I
needed to look at as I knew what I was more confident with. I knew that I
needed to focus more on the effects that I wanted to use and the existing
product which are an influence on the project. This was the priority as I didn’t
need to know too much about that audience at the fist stage as I wanted to
make sure I could make the product as professional as possible. This research
has given me a good understanding of how to increase my skills to create the
effects.
In my opinion, the main success was the audience research. I made a
questionnaire which was tailored to I can understand what my audience would
prefer in my product. By doing this I can both create something that they would
enjoy more and make something that might look and be better than my orginal
plan, for example the number of characters on the scene.

8. PRE- PRODUCTION

9. Pre- Production
How do you feel about how this work has gone and what were the
main successes in the work?
I feel that pre- production went very well. I have been able to fully
investigate the different things that I may need for this project. For
example, the costumes and props. I wanted to focus on the looks of the
characters as this is what the characters will be mainly looking at and
with that, they needed to have their own colour scheme so that they
stand out from one another to show their differences. As well as the
character I found it good thinking about the location that these five
characters will be set in as it needs to be believable.
In my opinion, the main successes in this stage was with the props. I
wanted to give each character a prop which seems somewhat
reasonable. For example, the old man and walking stick. These also had
to be props which could make a beat. I think that these props suit the
characters well and I am very happy with the choices..

10. PRODUCTION

11. Production
How do you feel about how this work has gone and what were the
main successes in the work?
I feel that production went perfectly. There was a few problems with this
stage, but I feel like I have been able to successfully create the project
that I want. Such as having the effects that I wanted. The audio was done
to the best that I could and believe that the background characters all
seem to be correctly edited which was a big aim. This allow to give the
illusion that the characters are making the song with the props.
In my opinion, the main success was with the editing. Although I had
some problems, I think that I pulled it off very well and created
something that was close to my expectation. The new dimensions I added
with the closeups also changed the perspective which I think massively
improved the project as a whole and I am very happy with that.