This document summarizes the student's process over 5 weeks in creating a short film for a course. In week 1, the student generated ideas and created mind maps to refine their concept. They settled on an idea inspired by genres they were interested in. In week 2, they created mood boards and analyzed scenes from other films to understand techniques. They researched aspects like ratings and reviews. In week 3, the student composed original music for the film using GarageBand software. In week 4, they edited scenes and added visual effects in editing software. They worked on transitions, a timestamp, and lighting/color changes. Week 5 involved finalizing paperwork for the project.

1. STAGE 5
PRODUCTION
REFLECTIONS
Your Name

2. The first week of the course was allocated to idea
generation. The task ahead had to be planned well in
order for the outcome to be a success and so the
entire week was spent coming up with the right idea.
Many mind maps were drawn in preparation for the
project. The one shown on the left shows a more
refined idea of the sort of thing I was considering
making.
I began to look at tropes of specific genres that I was
interested in and expand on ideas that I had when
doing the introductory projects.
The work was mainly done on paper as scribbling
ideas down was an efficient way for me to translate
my thoughts. The majority of the mind maps were
made on an online site, the exception being this,
which was written by hand.
By the end of the week I was certain of what I
wanted to create.
Mind maps

3. This week was dedicated to the pre-visualisation
aspect of the project. Having made mood boards the
previous I looked into the themes and tones
expressed in some of these films.
Looking at a number of scenes from films, I
evaluated the effectiveness of them and how they
could be recreated for my own film. This gave me a
lot of insight and influenced many of my decisions.
The early forms of production were beginning and I
was thinking of the different ways I was to make the
film.
I took certain ideas from a variety of films. I reviewed
these ‘products’ in the second presentation. They
gave a good look at some of the different techniques
that could be used in my film, and what should be
avoided for various reasons.
I also conducted primary and secondary research
through a number of websites. I looked at the
different statistics, from user reviews to the film’s
overall ratings.

4. I spent Week 3 creating the music for the film.
During my research in the previous week I realised
that many of the popular films in the horror/thriller
genre had very powerful music. With this knowledge
I began to create my own.
The task allowed us to take music from the internet,
provided we gave credit to the artist, but this did not
appeal to myself. It would be difficult to find the exact
piece of music to fit my film and so I decided to
create my own.
Using GarageBand I started to create simple tunes
until I gained an understanding of the software. I
then started on my final piece of music.
At first I was using the keyboard on the computer to
tap out the music. This was impractical and so I
advanced to a USB keyboard which was much more
efficient. From this I was able to complete my music
much faster and the final piece was completed within
the week.
Although the edit was not done as of when the music
was completed I did have an idea of how the music
would fit. I knew that it had to be a certain length,
around sixty seconds, and that it had to build tension
all the way through. The plan for the film mirrored the
plan for the music, the scenes and building of
instruments going hand in hand with each other.
Garage band
USB keyboard
Different tracks

5. Week 4 was mainly editing the different versions of
the film. This was done mainly in Sony Vegas but
some of it was completed in Adobe Premier.
These screen shots show the application of the
visual effects I applied to my film. The top image
shows an effect that I used to transition between
scenes in the film. This effect is a recreation of the
stutter that is often found in old video formats.
Other effects I included were a false timestamp in
the bottom left corner of the screen. This was to
progress the viewer through the film and tell the
story. It starts at around midday and ends in the
early evening.
Along with the progression of time I also affected the
light and the colouring of the image. As the
timestamp progresses the daylight decreases. This
all leads up to the final shots where it is nearly night.
The editing process took such a long time due to the
amount of different cuts I created. I feel happy with
the final cut of the film though, the previous cuts
were essential to creating the final piece.

6. Week 5 was used to mainly finish any work that needed doing on my Pro-Forma. The time was spent adding
any additional files that needed to be implemented.
Many of the forms that needed to be filled out for filming and assessing risk were difficult to complete as my
film varies in that way. No filming was ever done during the entire five week course as it was all footage from
years ago.
The presentations in my opinion seem a little empty due to this factor but there is nothing I can do if I did not
film anything. I tried to hypothetically plan in case my work would not fit the restrictions.