Hannah conducted experiments with filming, editing, and creating sound effects to prepare for her final short film project. In filming experiments, she practiced getting shots in focus and learned lighting is important. Editing experiments showed her the importance of leaving time for sound effects. Creating original sound effects was fun and helped her understand recording quality sound. Lessons from the experiments, like practicing focus, leaving time for sound effects, and creating high quality recordings, will be applied to her final short film project.

1. STAGE 2
RESEARCH +
EXPERIMENTS
Hannah Palfreeman

2. For my primary research, I decided
to create a survey on survey
monkey-
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K2
SRML8 .
This got some good responses. My
questions included some multiple
choice questions but also some
questions which included a
comments box. 9 people completed
this survey. To start off the survey I
asked the gender of the respondent
to give me more of a idea of the
target audiences for short films.
66.67% of the people who
completed the survey were female
and the 33.33% were males.

3. I also included 6 more questions which all my respondents
answered. The second question was asking about the age of the
respondent. 88.89% of this survey where aged 16-24, where as
11.11% were 45+.

4. The third question was ‘How often do you watch short films?’.
44.44% of the respondents said ‘Now and Again’, 33.33% said
‘hardly ever’ and 22.22% said ‘Never watch short films’. No one said
they watch short films every week.

5. The fourth question was ‘What genre of short films do you most
prefer and why?’. There were very mixed answers, and no one really
said the same genre which means that many people have mixed
opinions about genres. But with the extra feedback given I now have
an idea what interests people to these genres.

6. The fifth question was ‘What makes a short film catch your
attention?’. This question also had mixed answers, however there
was a common interest in the answers, most of the respondents
wanted something to interest them, whether this was through the
title, the storyline or the way the film is marketed. This has given me
a view of what my audience wants and I need to find a way to
achieve it somehow,

7. The sixth question was ‘What does a short film have that’s better
than a feature film?’. Most answers referred to the narrative/storyline
and the duration. I find these answers really useful as I know what to
include in my short film to attract the audience.

8. The seventh and final question was ‘Would you ever watch a
dramatic short film and why/not?’. 6 people said that they would
watch a dramatic short film, most people said it would be more
interesting.

9.  On the Website
YouGov.co.uk, you can
search for the
demographics and
psychographics of a topic.
There were no Short film
topics so I searched for
people who are interested
in film making. This gave
me a accurate response
that the Gender for
Filmmaking is males aged
18-24.

10. The above table shows a
breakdown of the number of UK
short films to shoot in each
region by year, London shows
the greatest variation over this
time period.
https://nickredfern.wordpress
.com/category/short-films/
Nick Redfern. (.). Category
Archives: Short
Films. Available:
https://nickredfern.wordpress.co
m/category/short-films/. Last
accessed 18th January 2018.

11. To conclude, my target audience for my short film will be
focused on 16-24 year olds, I have chosen this age group
mainly because the initial idea for my short film this age
group can relate to it. My secondary research which I
found made this very clear as well as most 88.89% of my
respondents from my survey were aged 16-24. I have
chosen this audience to target as I felt it would beneficial
for the industry to have more of a younger audience so
they industry doesn't die out.
Not only did my research help me find out my age of the
target audience, it helped me develop what I should
include to make my film more interesting for the audience.
This includes a interesting storyline, I short duration so the
film does not drag on and a character which the target
audience can relate to.

12. From looking at the BBFC website, I have reached the
conclusion that I would certify the film as a 15.Taking into
consideration my initial plan for my short film, I have
chosen this certification because in my film there is Imitable
behaviour which wont dwell on detail but its still included.
There are no gory images which are being displayed.
There also maybe a strong threat which wont be dwelled
on but it will be shown. As I am certifying this at a rating of
15 I can include drug taking, strong language. However,
when receiving my brief for this project it was made very
clear that we must not include these. I would like to refer to
some type of violence during my film which I can do as a
15 permits that, only as long as it doesn't have strong
violence shown.

13. SOUND- To capture a good recording, it is essential
that your sound has sonic depth, width, and height. The
first thing you should do when recording your sound
effects is to review the film which you are producing and
compiling a list of sound effects which would work really
well. After you have produced a list of sound effects you
have to determine what object you will use to make this
specific Foley sound effect. For example Heavy-duty
staple guns serve for excellent gun noises and Old
chairs and stools are perfect for controlled creaking. I
chose these two specific noises as an example because
I will be needing these sounds for my short film.
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/recording-foley-and-
sound-effects-the-fundamentals/ Matt Hubbard.
(2015). Recording Foley and Sound Effects: The
Fundamentals. Available:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/recording-foley-and-
sound-effects-the-fundamentals/. Last accessed 25th

14. STORY- Storyboarding helps you figure out exactly
what shots you need before you start filming, This is
why you should always create a storyboard before you
touch any camera equipment as it helps with the
storyline. The shorter the story the better, this is mainly
because when working with a deadline it can be difficult
to complete it in time when its very long. Another tip is to
find a single moment a conflict that has to be resolved,
where there’s a dilemma at stake and a choice that the
protagonist has to make. Strive to add a deadline, or
ticking clock. It is not necessary but it will add some
tension to your short film. The most important thing is to
tell a story, short films are a great opportunity to push
the boundaries of what cinematic storytelling can do so
always keep to the storyline.
https://www.raindance.org/7-rules-for-writing-short-films/
Stéphanie Joalland . (2012). 7 Rules for Writing Short
Films. Available: https://www.raindance.org/7-rules-for-

15. EDITING- When searching for editing
tips I looked everywhere for some decent
tips. I then went onto YouTube and searched
for some shortcuts to help me out when I
start editing for my short film. I ended up
finding this very useful guide for Premier Pro
CC -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQKvhB
LEhM
It teaches on how to copy and paste easy,
this is going to come in handy as I also have
trouble copy and pasting when it comes to
editing. I spent most of my Thursday
afternoon going through many videos like
this one and just finding the reoccurring stuff
but with more annoying people. However, I

16.  This film is very similar to my short film.
Tyler is a 17-year-old high school student
in love with his girlfriend Alison One night
at a party, He met a girl called Holly. She
becomes transfixed with the idea of the
both of them becoming a couple, she
makes up a lot of lies to get his girlfriend
and him to break up. This is very similar
to my idea apart from its not set up with
the male having a girlfriend. This is
definitely not a short film lasting 1hr and
29m but its for sure something to take
inspiration from.

17. After a car crash nearly kills her,
teen Sophie finds herself the target
of an increasingly dangerous
infatuation from the doctor who
saved her life. This is your typical
thriller. It is conducted in a creepy
way which can make the audience
very uncomfortable which is a very
typical convention of a thriller. This
is very strong viewpoint for teens to
watch, but I’ve taken a few things
from this 2015 film. This film
consists of many low key lighting
shots I would want to include this
aspect into my short film as it would

18. Fatal Attraction is a 1987
Psychological thriller. Even
though it is a certified18 I can
take some inspiration from the
film and add some of it into my
short film. The film centers on a
married man who has a
weekend affair with a woman who
refuses to allow it to end and
becomes obsessed with him.
There are many different types of
thrillers which are huge hits in the
film industry. The ending of this
film is very strong in the aspect of
gory images, this is one of the
things which I definitely would not
include because of the fact that
my certificate is a 15 and certainly
doesn't accept strong gory

19. EXPERIMENTS
Camera/Editing/Audio Experiments

20. In the first week I completed two
experiments The first experiment
which I conducted was filming for
a short film. We chose an idea as
a group and started to film this.
There were 5 of us in a group so
we took it in turns to film with the
camera. This was very helpful and
rejigged my memory with the
camera ready for our actual
project. The filming went well and
we got all the shots which we
wanted to include, with some extra
shots as well. There were a few
shots which were blurry and
unfocused but luckily we took
extra shots and these filled in
when it was blurry. When I started
to conduct the second experiment,

21. What elements of your experiments will you
include in your final product?
When I start filming for my final product, I will take take in all
the key details I need to make my film look good and stand
out. This includes, good lighting, focused shots and the
correct ISO. Throughout all the experiments which I did with
filming, I found it very difficult to keep it the shot in focus
however, I eventually got the handle of this and when filming
it looked really good.

22. When I finished filming for my
short film, I started to edit on
Premier Pro. This took me a
while and I ended up running
out of time as I didn't complete
the whole film. I didn't have
time to add in some original
sound effects which was rather
annoying. However, I know for
when I do my final short film I
will know to leave time to add
sound effects. Seen as though
for the second experiment had
already been filmed and edited
the only thing I needed to do
was to do the sound effects.

23. What elements of your experiments will you
include in your final product?
During my editing process, I remembered the same
techniques which I used from my last rotation to cut and
speed up this short film. As you can see from the
screenshot on the last slide I didn't have much film, this is
something which I will make sure I have when doing my
last short film. I don’t want my short film to fall just under
the time.

24. As I have previously said, I didn't end
up adding any sound effects onto my
first experiment but with my second
experiment the only thing I had to do
was create my own original sound
effects. On the Wednesday afternoon
we went round college recording
various sounds. We even went down
to the shop on ground floor to use
their fridge doors. This was a really
fun afternoon and I enjoyed finding
different sound effects.

25. What elements of your experiments will you
include in your final product?
To start off with I found creating my own Foley sound effects to
be very easy. It is definitely something which I am going to
include in my final film project as it gives me a better overview of
my whole film. When I record my sound effects I will use a
Tascam recorder which I will book a week before I need it. When
I go to creating my own sound effects I would want to create a
gun shot, I've researched this and the best way is to use a
Heavy-duty staple gun to create this noise.

26. The potential constraints that might affect or limit my production are:
RUNNING OUT OF TIME- When you book equipment you book it
for a specific amount of time when this time is over you cannot
extend this equipment.
THE CAMERA WHICH YOU HAVE BOOKED ISNT
WORKING- Booking a camera which might not work is incredibly
annoying but you'll be able to change it. You should have a memory
card which will back all this up.
LOCATION- You never know what might occur at college. Whether
I am using a corridor there will always be someone walking in and
out of the shot.
ORGANISATION- If I am not organised in time then I wont be able
to film my work on the day which I want to film.