Reflection - FMP

1. REFLECTION
By India-Rain Harrison

2. Wednesday, January 23rd
Writing the proposal really helped me develop the theme of my film. I wasn’t too sure what kind of
genre I wanted and what type of film I wanted to create; I just had the general idea. I was able to
break down my idea in the proposal, giving myself more of an understanding of what I wanted my
film to be like. I decided I was going to research Tim Burton as inspiration for my film as I want to
create a romance movie, that has a little bit of tension in parts. I’d like my film to hold similarities to
the Edward Scissor hands movie as I feel that is a really good representation of how I want my film
to go.
So far, we have written brief inspiration Documents/PowerPoint's to give a little more information
regarding what directors we are looking at that inspired our projects. As I mentioned previously, I am
looking at the films Tim Burton has directed/produced as I feel these best represent the kind of
romance film I would like to create. Although not a romance movie creator, Burton does have good
ideas that make his romance films worth watching regarding having the love interest and the tension
between them and the people around them.
The work I have produced thus far I feel is enough to try and create a story, however to get the in
depth detail I need to make the story reach its full potential, I will need to do further research; maybe
into Burton’s other movies that may not be romance genres, but still have that element of a
watchable film. I just need to do a little more research into his movies and Burton’s background.

3. Wednesday, January 30th
Following on from last week, I came up with the full plot to my story and began researching short
films that are similar to what I wanted to create. I finished my inspiration document, this helping my
research into what sort of film I wanted to create by looking at what my favourite directors have
created previously. I added to directing style of Martin Scorsese to this document as I enjoy the way
he has added the romance aspect to his 2011 film Hugo. I felt that Hugo was a good example of
what I wish to create when production commences with my own film.
We began our research at the start of this week, looking into audience types, market places and
production techniques. I started with audience, creating a survey for my primary research that will
help me when it comes to the production of my film. I have also done secondary research that will
help the production of my film. As I have decided to base my film plot on anxiety and have chosen a
song I feel best suits that situation, I have done a lot of research into the different ways people suffer,
how they overcome it and what it is that usually brings on the anxiety attacks.
My primary research survey asks questions regarding the mental health issue, plus what the
audience member would feel like having a short film created that discusses the matter. I have also
conducted a separate one to one interview with two anxiety sufferers to go into more depth regarding
how they feel having to live with anxiety on a day to day basis.

4. Wednesday, February 6th
This week I finalised the research for my FMP. I published my survey at the start of the week and
received 30 responses, 27 of these being sufferers of anxiety. I was glad of the results I received
back as there were very mixed opinions regarding the ways in which people suffer from and
overcome their anxiety/panic attacks; this really helps me understand what the most common issues
are and how people will respond to me creating this film.
When looking at the marketplace for my film, I researched some already published short films that
were similar to my own, inspiring my own idea, not to copy the directors choices, but to inspire me to
create my film in a certain style. Certain camera angles the two directors I researched used were
very interesting and are the sort of angles I would like to use in my own production, during certain
tension building scenes, that I didn’t even think of using. For the marketplace, we also had to look at
competition, so I explained that all published films were competition to my own, each one being
different from the other as everyone has different ideas.
To finish off my research, I looked at production techniques. Within this, I analysed the lyrics to the
song that I am basing my film around and how I was going to create the film in order to capture my
audiences full attention instead of it being a background noise. I also did a quick summary of my
research and explained how doing this, it helps with my final product greatly when production
begins.

5. Wednesday, February 13th
As our research was completed last week, we began problem solving this week; this will last for 2
weeks total. With problem solving, we have to analyse a problem that could occur during production,
and try to find a solution to that problem. I started out with the practical and technical problems,
explaining what could happen regarding production time if equipment was broken or corrupt. I also
looked into the problems and solutions regarding techniques, storage and backing up, power, ability
and the software; I tried to have between 3-5 bullet points for each.
Regarding technique, I explained that I would need to refer to my research throughout the filming of
this production, as I wanted to stick to what my target audience had said within my survey the
previous week. I think that if I didn’t stick to what my audience had said in the survey, they wouldn’t
appreciate the film and I could get something wrong within production that makes people dislike the
film because it doesn’t cover anxiety/panic attack the way it should. I really need to make sure that I
get everything right when making this film as I don’t want to offend people if I miss out a major detail
regarding how people suffer.
All of this is important to the production as it helps me highlight key issues that could happen before,
during and after filming. If something major were to go wrong, like the memory card corrupting half
way through production or the camera battery runs out, I can come back to the PowerPoint and be
able to see what my solution was, meaning I can resolve the issue and resume filming as soon as

6. Wednesday, February 20th
This week I finished my Problem Solving PowerPoint, filling in the remaining few slides with potential
problems and solutions to help with them. Ability is an important factor for my project as if I’m not
able to do one of the techniques when it comes to filming or editing, the my film wont be its best.
Anything I’m not sure of but when it comes to creating the best project I can, I will ask my tutor or
YouTube a tutorial video so I can find out how to do a certain technique myself and add it to my
project. Another problem I talked about in my PowerPoint was power when it came to needing the
correct lighting outside. One solution is to use a reflector to reflect the light where I needed it go on
my actor or object. Another is to get a long extension chord that we are able to extend outside if we
are filming close enough to a building. Finance is something that could be a potential issue as I
haven’t been given a budget for this, meaning I am not able to pay for peoples
transport/refreshments on set. Travel wise, I am planning on creating my production locally so all my
actors/extras are able to make their way to the set and not have to spend too much of their own
money. I also had to think of health and safety issues, in case something bad were to happen on set
before, during and after filming.
In groups of 3, we also completed a camera usage form, experimenting with a camera, learning how
to set it up correctly, using tripods and changing the camera settings to fit how we went our final
projects to be filmed. In order to see how we progressed completing this form, we had to highlight on
a scale of 1-5 how confident we were using the camera; I started as a 3 and ended as a 4 in camera

7. Wednesday, March 6th
So far this week, I have written the plot to my film and separating the storyline into three acts. I made
storyboards to show what would happen in each scene so that during production I am able to look
through what my initial idea was and try set up the set of my film to match what I have on my
storyboards. Over the next week I will focus on finalising my cast for production and work on
locations that can be used. As I have my own camera and tripod, booking kit wont be a big issue for
me with this production, however as my tripod is only a hand held one I will need to see if I can cope
with just that or book one from college to use for my production. I will also need to book a
microphone for some shots as I’m wanting to do some long shots that involve my characters
speaking to each other and I don’t want the audio to be incoherent when editing and watching the
film back.
Everything I have done so far has been added to my website upon completion so I am able to see
what files have been completed; meaning I can focus on the newly set work given.
I think I’m going to struggle with script writing as I can’t decide, currently, how I’m going to write the
script for my male character, or even have a lines for him at all, as the female character will be
reciting the lyrics of the song I’m basing this film from, Fire Away.

8. Wednesday, March 13th
I feel like I’m ready for production to start on Monday, I have my cast, plot and locations all set up
ready for filming, I just need to ensure everyone can make the scheduled filming times. I’m hoping to
begin on the first week of April, this giving my actors and crew time to book the day off if need be. I
need to complete my planning, which will be done between sessions at college when I’m not filming
for someone else’s film. I haven’t got a production schedule as of yet, however I will begin to create
one before filming starts.
I will use my planning as a guide for my production, especially the story boards ‘ve created. I may
change some camera angles and possibly even scenes if what I had in mind doesn't go completely
to plan. I’ve never had anything go wrong before regarding filming and looking at my planning,
everything usually goes to plan. I don’t think anything could go wrong this time around, as I’ve made
sure to really focus on my planning and ensure that I have everything covered when it comes to
production so that nothing can go wrong.
I’ve learnt more about camera angles with this project planning more than any other as I have
Googled different versions of camera angles and how they were used in films in order to make a
scene look more interesting and if they reflect a characters mood/movement.

9. Wednesday, March 20th
This week I’ve focused mainly on confirming my actors availability and ensuring I have the locations
I need ready for when filming begins. I’m still working on planning and production, however,
everything I have needed to do regarding getting my production ready has been complete. I wrote
down what camera angles I was going to be using during production in my planning PowerPoint. I’m
going to use these examples for my shot list when I create that next week, in order to accomplish the
use of all the shots I have written, I need to familiarise myself with what shots they are and how
they’re used in other film examples and how the director used them to portray emotion either within
the character or towards the audience.
I’ve confirmed a singer for my production, I just need to find someone who can compose the music
or find an instrumental cover on YouTube that won’t sue me for copyright. I’m hoping to ask my
friend in the music department to help compose the backing track once my singer has recorded
herself. I’m going to work with her as much as I can, showing her the two different versions of the
song, explaining how I want her to be as raw and emotional as she can when singing.

10. Wednesday, March 27th
This week I finished off my research document, getting it ready to upload onto my website. I watched
previous short films that were similar to my own and discussed similarities and differences between
them, as well as talking about the different camera angles that were used, editing techniques, sound
and mise-en-scene. I also talked about the competition between other films and my own, explaining
that all films are competition against each other.
I talked about how I needed my film to contain scenes and shots that would capture my audiences
attention and keep them wanting to watch my film right to the end without feeling bored or them
thinking “is that it?” I’m hoping to have my actors costumes be simple, but really show their
personalities off well as my film doesn’t have any script. I feel that because my film is about anxiety
and panic, I’d like to be able to edit my shots and scenes so that when it cuts to a new scene its
quite a fast pace, signifying Daniel’s fast paced mind when he’s having a panic attack. The scenes
that contain Aaria, I’d like to be more gentle and longer than Daniel’s, showing her calm, together
state of mind; this being the reason why she can pull Daniel from his panic attacks.

11. Wednesday, April 3rd
Today I went over my shot list, deciding which parts of my film I was going to edit first as this coming
Saturday I was going to begin filming. I arranged everything with my actors who were fine with the
timings and day we decided to meet at my house to start filming. I’m hoping to film the first act of my
film at least, this giving me enough to work with so I can edit and have something to show my class
when we get back after Easter. The first act of my film mainly consists of one of my leading
characters, Aaria, seeing her friend, Daniel, in his bedroom window having a panic attack, to which
she run to get into his house to calm him.
As well as organising my production and deciding what I’m going to do on Saturday, I have made
some changes to my production; the main one being my leading male characters’ name change. I
changed his name from Arlo to Daniel because of the use of the semi colon that is seen as a “suicide
survivor” symbol, which is a big statement in my story. I have also decided to call my production
‘Dan;el’ instead of ‘Fire Away’, using the semicolon in Daniel’s name as an I. This will be shown on
my title screen at the beginning and end credits of my film.
I continued on with some planning that was unfinished also this week, and will continue to do so for
the next coming weeks as I feel I’m a little behind with that aspect of my production.

12. Wednesday, April 10th
I began filming my project over the weekend, both actors coming to my house. Unfortunately, I
wasn’t able to film many of Fraser’s (Daniel) scenes as we ran out of time shooting Aaria’s last
Saturday. I took the time and care to not only film a shot once but twice, from different angles, so I
had more to work with when it came to editing on Monday. Fraser was able to take some shots for
me but from different angles with my camera at home, this meaning I was able to spend more time
on different shots instead of moving the one camera all the time and wasting filming time on that.
Monday was mainly spent putting the footage into Adobe Premier and sorting through them all to see
which shits went where and which order I would have them in when it came to adding the next set of
footage once filmed in the next few weeks. I didn’t do too much editing, bar the occasional cutting of
the beginning and end of shot that was taking out the parts that made the shot drag out a little. Skills
wise, I didn’t learn anything new, however that’s only because the editing I did was basic knowledge
that I knew from using Premier in the few years.

13. Wednesday, May 1st
As we had half term for the last few weeks, I was able to get my actors to my house to film the
remainder of my project. We filmed the rest of the scenes involving Aaria (Abbey) and managed to
film all of Daniel’s (Fraser) in a little over 4 hours. We managed to film everything faster than I
expected, originally I thought we’d need a third day to spend filming, luckily we had it all finished by
the end of our second day shooting. The start of the week consisted of me uploading my new
footage into my half finished film, choosing which shots I felt best went with the the film and matched
other scenes. A lot of cutting of shots and other editing went on this week as a lot of the shoots were
longer than they needed to be because of me pressing record too early on, especially when
mistakes were made and I didn’t stop the recording.
Some shots are a little over exposed, so I’m going to go through the remainder of my footage to see
if there are any alternative shots I can use instead of these ones, if not then I will have to edit them
either using colour correction or the opacity setting in Premier to change these particular parts of the
film. There aren’t many shots like this, so hopefully when it comes to editing them to the correct
exposure it wont take too long to do and it wont be noticeable there has been any change in colour.

14. Wednesday, May 8th
After being let down on the music side of my production, I’m having to look for alternative was I can
have music in my product. I’m working on looking for someone else to cover the song and produce a
different version of it for my film. If that doesn't work out and I cant find a replacement in the next
week, I will edit and reproduce the song myself and make it my own. Aside from that, the remainder
of the editing of the production has been going well. I’ve managed to edit all the shots down to an
appropriate length, using the original soundtrack as a guide to see roughly how long I need my film
to be; so far its 4 minutes 30 seconds.
I’m currently working on including facts and figures in this production, ensure the sources I’m using
are reliable so that mu film isn’t deemed ”unprofessional” if my facts aren’t correct. I have an idea of
the kind of facts and figures I’d like to include in the end of my film. I don’t want to overload my
audience with facts, just some things that can be planted into their heads for them to think about and
go away after watching my film with a different outlook on anxiety but more specifically, mental
health.

15. Wednesday, May 15th
This week is our final week of production, meaning that the final touches to my project have been
given and my final product is ready to be exported and sent off. The final touch I need to make on
my film is the end credits which I will complete and add tomorrow afternoon; once finished I will be
able to export my film. Today and Monday mainly consisted of me editing the music for my film. I’m
using an original artists song, however changing pitch, delay and adding a slight echo to make the
artists voice deeper and carry better. The new version of the song has been originally produced by
myself.
I changed up the brightness of some shots today as the exposure was too high, making one of my
actors look very shiny in one shot and normal in another. I did this to three of my shots and it isn’t a
noticeable change, but the shots definitely don’t look as exposed as before. Luckily during
production I decided to film several different camera angles of the same scenes, therefore it meant
that I had a lot of shots to choose from when it came to editing my film, so if some shots were over
exposed I was able to use a different one in its place that still helped the story make sense.
I don’t feel as though I will be finished by tomorrow (last production day), if that’s the case then I will
only need the first lesson to complete everything and my film will be ready to export and be sent to
grading.

16. Wednesday, May 22nd
This week is our first week of evaluation. I had a few minor changes I needed to make for my film,
but finished towards the end of our second lesson on Monday. I needed to make the credits for my
film and replace a shot towards the start, but ultimately my film is complete. I’m happy with how
everything turned out regarding footage, editing, music etc. I had certain expectations regarding the
film, however I think it turned out better than I imagined. I feel like I doubted myself a little regarding
editing ad filming, but I’m happy with what’s been produced.
Following on from that, I started my evaluation, discussing the effectiveness of my research, my
methods of work, the final concept of what film has been created, all the different planning I did for
this project etc. Towards the end of my evaluation I need to ask my cast and crew for their opinions
on what they feel is good and/or ad about my film and their opinions on my project and how I was as
a director to work with and what kind of instructions I gave that helped them with acting. So far for
the evaluation I have only completed the final concept lie, explaining how my film is very different to
how I first envisioned at the start of this final task. There are some similarities to my first draft of this
film, however the big major change is the locations and about 60% of the plot is different to how I
first pictured creating my work.

17. Wednesday, June 5th
This week is our final week to finish off our evaluations. I have completed my project fully, minus
uploading it to YouTube and receiving feedback. I uploaded my project to YouTube and I’m going to
send out questions to crew and friends for their feedback on what they thought was god about my
production and what they thought was bad about it.
To finish of the week, we ned to write a short presentation on how we are going to present our work
for the final year show. I’m going to do a vlog like video to show my work, how I researched what I
needed in order to get my final product and how I chose my cast and the mise-en-scene in my film.
I’m going to start writing the script for that and film it in my own time at home with my own camera.
Within the video I’m going to include screenshots from PowerPoints I've completed in this section of
the course, screenshots from my work explaining why I angled a shot a certain way and maybe try to
interview my cast and crew to get feedback from them also that I can include in my video as I feel
that’d be a good way to get an honest opinion. I’d do this by filming their reactions to watching my
film and seeing what they say about certain shots/scenes in the film that they liked or disliked, this
way I can get live image of what they think of my project.