The document discusses Flynn Westwood Bryant's plans and inspiration for creating a short adventure film for their final major project (FMP). Flynn plans to focus on storytelling through shots and editing similar to online creators JustKay and Jakob Mihailo. They want to explore themes of loneliness using minimal characters and color grading. Flynn analyzed mood boards and videos by Jakob Mihailo to understand their cinematic style utilizing music, drones, and color grading. Flynn hopes to create a high quality short film with cinematography and message to build their portfolio and gain merit for their FMP to apply to university.

1. CONTEXT
Flynn Westwood Bryant

2. INITIAL REACTION
My initial idea for the creation of my short adventure film will be to
focus heavily on telling a story through the use of my shots and
editing style similar to that of creators online such as JustKay and
Jacob Mihailo who use music, foley and a general theme to give their
work structure. Focusing my film on the theme of loneliness using
minimal characters and cold lighting through the use of colour
grading can display a clear design and intention to an audience
which will appreciate the viewing experience and aesthetic of my
video. Last years FMP I did a short horror story and found that one of
the most fun projects to make and one of my best to date despite
there being room for improvement. I feel as though I’ve found myself
a more clear style than during the year 1 FMP with more of an eye for
a shot that looks nice and is more technically difficult. My knowledge
of cameras has also increased meaning if I want to shoot on a video
camera I can do so. To push myself I want to try and use a lot more
colour grading and research the ins and outs of how to use colour to
create atmosphere like that of pre existing graders. The freedom to
make what we want may mean my initial idea stated above may not
fully materialise as I have a couple of ideas I’d like to try on top of
this.

4. MOOD BOARD
ANALYSIS
My mood board is centred around the aesthetics
and design choice I want to follow when making
my short film as I find the greens of the forest and
the natural tones make best when edited. The
texts display a clash in design with one being a
clear and clean font while the other displays a
sharp and horror type approach. If I do end up
using text I wish to use the sans serif font as a
subtitle but if not I want to try and incorporate the
horror text for a title sequence. The rest of the
images are all references to similar aesthetic
pieces such as the music video “Khabib” by central
cee. It is shot in Snowdonia with a very outdoorsy
feel which is something I want to replicate.

5. Jakob Mihailo
Jakob Mihailo is a film maker from Canada who
specializes in cinematic montages and videos. His style
focuses heavily on travelling and collecting high quality
shots in the moment meaning he never tends to plan
his shots. His inspirations are music, feature films,
documentaries and other videographers. His use of
music in his videos creates the atmosphere and tempo
of his films and with the 0 dialogue he involves it
makes for a unique watching experience. Drones are a
heavy part of his work displaying another dimension
and adding more depth and variety to his shots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10kUDzp4LUI&ab_channel=jakobmihailo

6. Jakob Mihailo
Shot breakdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1dE0FotdY&ab_channel=jakobmihailo
This shot displays the character just off center in the
foreground of the shot with sunlight glaring off his face. The
shot looks to have been colour graded to be intentionally
dark, so it shows the more dramatic sunrise and silhouettes of
the mountains in the background. The shot is reminiscent of
the movie interstellar with the use of colours. Shooting the
shot from the off angle rather than the back also helps create
depth and gives a focal point for the viewer to look at while
the mountains in the background remain blurred.
This shot shows the dramatic mountains in the
background overshadowing the small town at the foot.
The low exposure and colour grading creates the
dramatic effect and using the drone gives a sense of
height and elevation to the shot. The colour grading
further helps the atmosphere by darkening the greens
and allowing the reflection and the sun to appear
brighter on the smaller houses bellow.
This shot was placed near the climax of the short film
due to its dramatic effect and use of sunset. The once
again slightly off-center character in the mid ground
looking out to the sunset mixed with the music
perfectly captures the aesthetic this film was looking
for. The clear fore, mid and background shows how well
this shot was thought out and how it was carefully
composed.

7. Jakob Mihailo
Video breakdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1dE0FotdY&ab_channel=jakobmihailo
The direction Jakob wanted to take the video was very clear displaying beautiful
cinematic shots that are filmed and colour graded perfectly. The dark blues and
greens contrasting with the warm orange light from the sun gives both a warm and
cold effect to the shots which conveys the intended dramatic look. The music choice
helps create this atmosphere with the dramatic piano and sudden stabs allowing the
shots to flow nicely to the music. Where a person is involved, there is a variety of
shots used from low shots of feet to close-up shots of their head. This is done so the
shots have layers and so the viewer can focus on a single aspect of the shot. The
blurring of the background allows the foreground to become a lot clearer and even in
the shots not containing people the structure of the foreground midground and
background is present in all shots. This video, and Jakob's work as a whole, has
inspired my project deeply as his use of colour grading, his cinematic shots and his
music choice creates a eerie yet exiting atmosphere through shot composition and
story telling without having to use any dialogue.

8. JustKay
JustKay is a videographer/filmmaker who posts his
travel content onto YouTube. His style when making
short films is to deliver some form of message by
basing it on a place or a character while making use of
narration and music to create atmosphere. The way he
shoots makes the feel of videos very natural and
effortless and less of an extreme shot heavy exiting
montage. His content is usually filmed in extreme
locations such as deserts and mountains as his motto
and branding for his channel is “do what makes you
feel most alive”.

9. JustKay
Video breakdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbzTQF-np9I&ab_channel=JustKay
Kay has made a very heart-warming story using multiple major techniques to convey a
warming tone and a positive message in this short story. Using slow strings allowed for
the tempo of the video to be slower and have a warm and wholesome yet sad feel to it.
This paired with his use of voice over to tell the story of Mohammed creates a very
somber mood during the first half of the video. The shots Kay uses aren’t directly linked
to the story of Mohammed but tell their own story of Kay meeting with Mohammed and
trekking through the Sahara. Through keeping the dark and warm tones he portrays an
earie atmosphere and when that’s mixed with the darker shots at nights contrasting with
the bright shots during the day it helps convey to the audience the struggle of living in
the desert. The shot variety also matches to the music used as shots that are in motion
are in unison to the music when it begins to gain more tempo and volume. The reason I
find this film is so effective is not only due to the shots and the technical aspects but the
message that it entails. Having this message of “We’re not different depending on where
we’re from” gives the project meaning and using a similar kind of message is something
I’d want to do in my project.

10. WHY ARE YOU
MAKING THIS
PROJECT?
My aim with this project is to try
and develop a practical piece in
the direction I want to take my
future career. My deep interest in
film making with cinematics has
lead me to spending countless
hours watching films of people
travelling the world and
documenting their findings with
beautiful detailed shots. The
university course I’m interested in
focuses heavily on practical work
and building a “diverse portfolio”
which gives me opportunities in
the future to take my skills
wherever I want weather that be
free lance film making or working
on a production company.

11. HOPES FOR THE FMP
My Hope for the FMP is to create a high
quality final piece with an aesthetic
cinematography focused short adventure
story that can be used as evidence in my
portfolio and gain me a merit in my FMP
which will allow me to apply to my first
choice university. I would also like to try
and include a message or a theme into my
video as through watching and analysing
creators and videos, their styles often
include a message which can influence
and affect an audience.

12. STRENGTHS
One of my biggest strengths is my experience in
creating video. My year one FMP was a horror
story and while that was a success in many ways
there was a lot to improve on. The planning I
implemented into that project should translate
over nicely to the creation on this project.
My clear vision of what I want to create with this
project puts me in a very good position to make a
very high quality video with less time on planning
and more time on producing high quality shots.
My use of camera and film has increased a lot over
the past year and I’d consider using a camera as
one of my strongpoints.

13. LIMITATIONS
- One of the main limitations of my project is my budget. A lot of the
videographers and pieces of work I’ve looked at are in foreign
countries and have lots of very professional equipment like drones
and high end cameras. While I have access to some things I cant get
plane tickets meaning I will have to shoot fairly locally which I hope
wont ruin my final project.
- The software and hardware I have in comparison to a lot of these
film makers means I’m at a big disadvantage to what I can create.
While the tools I have are good enough to make decent standard
work, I wont be able to push myself or my work to the next level.
- With the minimal production and planning time I can’t afford to
have too many many mistakes and retakes as I’m working to a very
tight schedule. This may impact my final product but I’m hoping the
amount of planning and the production efficiency will leave me
enough time to edit and create a high quality final product.

14. POTENTIAL
RESEARCH
ACTIVITIES
Focusing on colour grading is a personal
target so researching methods on how
I’d do so and what I’d do it on is very
important. Existing product research is
another critical area to produce my FMP
as these films may have shots, editing
techniques or pieces of colour grading I
may want to imitate or gain influence off.
Creating drafts through testing types of
shots and production methods can give
me a good idea of what product I'm
looking for. Using trial and error I can
find styles that are aesthetically pleasing
for my piece.

15. POTENTIAL RESEARCH
ACTIVITIES
Finding music and pre recorded foley
sound is also worth researching as pieces
of music may be under copyright so
finding sites that provide royalty free
music and implementing this into my
drafts and tests will help me understand
the aesthetic and mood I wish to pursue.