This document is a production diary for a student's A2 media studies short film project. Over the course of 12 weeks, the student planned and produced various scenes for their short film about social media and its effects. They conducted research, developed ideas, secured a filming location at a hospital, planned shoots, filmed scenes, and began editing the completed footage. The student encountered some challenges along the way with planning, preparation, and adapting to weather or equipment issues during shoots. They reflected on lessons learned and improved their production process based on feedback and past mistakes.

1. B Y G E O R G I N A M A L P A S S
A2 MEDIA STUDIES
PRODUCTION DIARY

2. Progress Update Plan for next month/week
Week 1 During first week I was introduced to over all media
studies A2 course structure. In regards to practical
production and exam preparation I went through the
syllabus with my teacher. After close analysis of
advanced portfolio options I have decided to work on
the short film production in order to develop video
production skills and reinforce theoretical knowledge
from textual analysis course from AS level.
• Research into existing course work and short films
• Start with production planner
• Short film conventions.
• The brief history of a short film
Week 2 During this week my secondary research focus was
on analysing short film so I can understand the codes
and conventions of short film. The short films have
helped me begin to develop my own short film idea. I
have analysed another short film; A Vida Doce. I will
need to analyse one more short film that is closer to
the genre that I wish to create. I struggled to find
information on the history of the short film due to it all
being similar.
• Mind map of possible short film ideas
• Select final idea and develop it into potential
version.
• Write a synopsis
• Analysis another short film
Week 3 This week my main task was to come up with a
range of possible short film ideas. I was inspired by a
variety of sources, ranging from- urban legends,
quotes and the films I have analysed. After writing
down a brief synopses of each idea I have consulted
with my teacher, friends and family and after
weighting up the pros and cons of each film concept I
have selected the film concept that I believe has the
most potential, that gives me creative freedom and
that I find personally the most interesting. I have also
analysed ‘Aqua’ in order to understand the codes and
conventions of an A* piece of work.
• Write film ideas
• Write genre conventions
• Develop film idea

3. Progress Update Plan for next month/week
Week 4 I have written and evaluated film ideas based around
my chosen theme of ‘Carpe Diem’.
Due to my film falling under the drama genre, I
anaylsed the drama codes and conventions used by
film makers to communicate this genre.
I have written a brief synopsis of what I want my film
to be about and have discussed an aspect of my
film- ‘ways of communication’ as to find a suitable
medium for the visions to be conveyed.
• Initial idea
• Brainstorming
• Begin with script
Week 5 I began to develop my initial idea by writing a
synopsis for my short film. I then began to brainstorm
about the ideas I had for the- locations, actors, props
and the inspiration behind the film. I have some
concerns that my idea could be too complex for a
short film. Script writing has been extremely
challenging for me, I am beginning to understand the
format and structure to write an effective script
although my first attempt needs some development.
• Begin with storyboard
• Review film concept
Week 6 This week I started to draw the storyboards for my
short film idea yet when I was a third of the way
through I came to the realization that this idea was
too complicated to be achieved in a mere five
minutes. I presented my work to my teacher and
family and they both came to the same conclusion,
the idea is too complex. I take this criticism, as me
being over enthusiastic and have read that many
directors have also made the same mistake. Now
having reflected and reassessed the direction of my
film, I will go back to the drawing board to redevelop
my film concept.
• Redevelop my film concept
• Begin screenwriting

4. Progress Update Plan for next month/week
Week 7 With going back to the drawing board I now understand that
‘less is more’. I have decide that I can incorporate the social
media aspect into my film in a way that is different to what I
originally intended. I have reduced the amount of locations,
props and actors making my film more achievable. Again I
have explored the use of cinematography and have come up
with ideas to substitute certain locations choices. In the
screenwriting I have developed the inner and outer
motivation for the film as well as the movies conflict and
theme.
• Character profile
• Script
• Storyboard
Week 8 With my redeveloped film idea I have began to work on my
script to cut down the amount of scenes and location
changes. I have established the look and characteristics the
main character of my film should have. I have started with
my story board, I am exploring with artistic symbolism how to
communicate my characters struggles yet I am aware that it
may be unachievable and not work so I am keeping my mind
open and have realistic expectations.
• Continuous development of storyboard and
script
Week 9 I have continued to add enhancements to my script and
storyboard and have developed my script writing skills and
illustrating ability. As to make my film as cinematically
diverse as possible, I am trying to use an array of shot types.
My plan for next week to to conduct market research into my
target audience. I independently attended a visual effects
workshop at Crater VFX Training Center and learnt how to
achieve the ‘stroke effect’ on adobe visual effects. I have
arranged another private lesson with the training center to
go over my film idea and hear their suggestions about what
visual effects I could use.
• Conduct a survey
• Make a mood board

5. Progress Update Plan for next
month/week
Week 10 I conducted an online survey with ‘Survey Monkey’ and emailed it to a
variety of age groups as I assumed my target market, being teenagers,
hadn't seen many short films- this is why I included older ages in my
survey. After analysing my market research I concluded that a unique
storyline was essential in order to create a short film that would appeal to
my age group. I also learnt teenagers; find out about films in magazines
and watch short films online which are channels of promotion that I will
consider using when marketing my short film.
• Create a pitch
• Create mood board
• Crater VFX Training Center
follow up
Week 11 I started on preparing my pitch for the film by creating a mood board of
images that I would like to emulate in my short film. I chose photographs
that I am inspired by/ I aspire to create in my film. I individually explained
what each shot represents and how I could achieve something similar in
my short film. I also did extra work and created a slide that explains the
locations and character descriptions. I met again with Crater VFX
Training Center and they were willing to suggest ideas for my film
however they said they are very busy and are unable to give me lessons
on how to achieve these effects. Therefore I will have to do some
experimentation with my visual effects or look for another company or
individual to guide me.
• Consumer profile
• Film treatment
• Endorsement for my film
• Media theory's
• Evaluation
Week 12 Continuing with the pitch I created a consumer profile for my target
audience and discussed aspects of the film treatment; synopsis, camera
styles, locations, character, budget and taglines. I listed my ideal
endorsement deals for my film which vary from successful organisations
such as’ eOne, Empire and Cannes short film corner. As well as
explaining how my film ties in with media concepts and theories such as;
Todorov's, Generic Conventions and audiences types which allowed me
to apply my theoretical knowledge to my practical coursework. I
evaluated my pitch, highlighting the key features that will be essential in
the production, distribution and promotion of my short film. Having
completed my pitch I feel more knowledgeable and ambitious about the
process of targeting an audience and promoting a film successfully, two
things I would like to apply to my own creation.
• Present my pitch to a camera

6. Progress Update Plan for next mont
week
Week 13 I created a script to guide me through the presentation of my pitch. I
researched on how to give a good pitch and tried to apply this to my
performance.
When presenting my work to a camera, I began with an intriguing
question- What makes a movie? And went on to highlight the key
elements in my pitch slides. I made a few mistakes due to nerves, but I
constantly kept eye contact with the camera and tried to project my
voice. If I was to repeat this task I would have made less mistakes and
used a bigger font so the audience could easily read the text.
• Plan preproduction
• Contact hospital, Belmedic
Week 14 I have had some success on the location search, I contacted a local
private hospital called Belmedic as I need a clinical setting for a
number of scenes. The head of the hospital gave me a personal tour of
the facilities and I was able to take photographs of the location. I will
redevelop my storyboard to show consistency with the settings of
Belmedic. I have began planning the production of my film. I have
made a PowerPoint, that details how I will be organising, structuring
and splitting the filming of ‘Carpe Diem’. I have explained that, as to get
a broad perspective of very aspect in movie making, I will be acting in
my own film. And I have chosen to include my own friends and family
for the rolls of; May Simm, Father, Mother and cyber bullies. As, not
only do I not have to pay them, but they are always available and easy
to manage. I have made a filming schedule and equipment lists so I am
prepared and can keep on top of my time management and equipment
control.
• Prepare equipment
• Schedule filming
• Prepare filming paperwork
Week 15 I have charged all my cameras and have organised the equipment,
such as camera holders, extra batteries, card readers and tripods. I
phoned the head of Belmedic and requested filming permission for the
third weekend of December on the Sunday (20th). I have printed out the
script and paperwork required for shooting a film in a hospital and have
filled in the papers regarding the crew, cast and filming schedule. I
have divided my storyboard into filming segments so that I can solely
focus on the hospital scenes next week.
• Film the hospital scenes

7. Progress Update Plan for next
month/week
Week 16 On Sunday (20th) I filmed the hospital scenes for my film. I began with shooting the’
eyes closed’ scene, due to lighting issues I resorted to filming the scene upright with
the subjects back against the wall. This worked well and I shot the ‘eyes open’ scene
at the same time as to emulate continuity. I successfully filmed the ‘trolley dash’
scene in two takes by arranging the cameras at different angles and positions (three
on the trolley bed and one on the stairwell). I had a lot of fun shooting the ‘sister’
scenes, due to budget I could not afford a track mechanism so through improvisation
I shot the scene sat in a wheel chair with an iPhone attached to a selfie stick. Overall
I felt I have captured some great footage using some inventive shooting methods and
creative filming angles. My only downfall is that I had not arranged catering for the
crew or cast which caused some negative feelings, however the filming finished at
3:30 and I treated them all to lunch on my behalf.
• Review footage
• Analysis scenes in
‘Production
planning’
PowerPoint
Week 17 Coming back from Christmas, I have been reviewing and analysisng the footage I had
taken last week. Although I have a number of funny bloopers I also have some good
quality film material that I cant wait to incorporate into my movie. I am aware that
short movies have to be as obvious as possible due to the audience having to
understand everything in a limited time period, after reviewing my story board I feel
there is some room to incorporate three more scenes to make my film more obvious. I
am now planning to shoot an ambulance scene to show the journey prior to the trolley
dash.
• Prepare equipment
• Schedule filming
• Prepare filming
paperwork
• Film ambulance
scene
Week 18 I scheduled the ambulance scene with the head of Belmedic for this weekend (10th
January). I feel I got carried away with the excitement of filming and I did not plan this
shoot very well. Firstly I charged my Go Pro camera the night before however I did
not turn it off so the power was gone by the time it came to shoot. I then forgot the
memory card for the Cannon camera, luckily I had a memory card in my Nikon that
was compatible, so I gave that one to the Cannon however this meant I was unable to
shoot on the Nikon. Instead of being able to shoot this scene in one take, I had to do
it in two as I was not well prepared. This caused some friction between myself and
the camera man, however I did capture all the shots I wanted and I have truly learnt
from my lesson and now understand the importance of efficient planning and
preparation.
• Edit the ambulance
footage
• Plan the cyber bully
scene

8. Progress Update Plan for next
month/week
Week 19 I have separately edited the ambulance scene so that I could concentrate
on piecing the footage together successfully, without the distraction of any
other film footage. I have planned the ‘cyber bully’ scene extensively this
time so I do not repeat the same mistakes from the last shoot. I have
made a scene break down and an equipment list so I can properly prepare
and brief the actors on what I want to create. I have also devised a
checklist to double check I have completed all the tasks I will set out to do.
I have also been watching tutorials on how to effectively shoot on an
iPhone as I had read an article about a film called ‘Tangerine’ which is a
movie that has been shot entirely on an iPhone 6.
• Shoot Cyber bully scene
Week 20 On the Saturday 23rd January, I shot the ‘cyber bully’ scene. In the
morning there was an unexpected storm, ironically I had chosen Saturday
based on its good weather forecast the week before. The rain was not
holding off so I had to start shooting at 1:30 pm but I had come prepared
with an umbrella as to protect my equipment. Luckily the rain stopped and
the sun started to shine meaning I was able to shoot all six scenes in half
an hour, with the cooperation of my cast and the weather. I did not use a
tripod as I wanted to achieve a more realistic camera filming style. For one
of the shots I tried to to do a Birds eye view of the cyber bully meeting,
however the iPhone I was shooting on would not clip into the ‘selfie stick’
securely. I later found out it was because of the iPhone cover, so I will try
to implement a birds eye view shot in another scene. Over all I feel the
shoot went well as, even though it was delayed due to weather conditions
and I couldn't’t capture one shot type, I still was able to efficiently capture
the scene in its entirety.
• Edit cyber bully scene
Week 21 Following the same editing technique, I pieced together the scenes
separately from the rest of the film, for concentration purposes. I added a
filter to the scenes to darken the edges, thus creating a somber tone. I
used fade to black transitions between the takes to insinuate the same
atmosphere. I plan to edit on text bubbles to the scene where the cyber
bullies are laughing at the phone in order to make my film obvious and so
audiences find it easy to understand the situation. After showing my
progress to my friends/target audience I realised that ‘Carpe Diem’ as a
• Plan and prepare for shooting
the ‘Bardo’ scenes

9. Progress Update Plan for next
month/week
Week 22 This week I have been doing rough storyboards for the Overdose and
Bardo scenes. The Overdoes scene will be one shot of a girls hand filled
with pills next to an iPhone that is receiving cyber bully text message. The
Bardo scenes will slot in-between the hospital scenes so to bridge the
story. I have prepare a filming schedule and have scene breakdown. I
have prepared an equipment list with extra equipment added on, such as
a ladder and a toy car. I have also recruited some industrial lighting due to
my test shots in December revealing my chosen location is too dim.
• Charge Cameras
• Shoot Bardo scene
Week 23 On the 21st February, I shot the Over does an Cyber bully scene. For the
overdose scene I decided to use a slow pan medium shot of the girls hand
and iPhone. As I was turning the camera it went slightly out of focus,
however it looks deliberate and cinematically emphasis the confusion of
the character and replicates the feeling in the audience. After rearranging
the furniture for the set of Bardo I began filming. It went well as I had well
organised the scheduling and documented the shots meaning filming was
easily captured. I had to use a toy car as a substitute for a dolly
mechanism which worked well as it captures a crab angle shot of the
character walking towards the glowing door. A ladder was also used to
achieve a high angle shot. I was pleased with how the filming went and
am glad to have filmed the entirety of Bardo.
• Edit the film
Week 24 Having completed the production process, I have now been concentrating
in the post production stage. I am familiar with iMovie meaning the editing
was efficiently completed. I used a variety of transitions conventionally
used in dramas and added text to the cyber bully, ambulance and trolley
scene to document the location and time to give another realistic
dimension to my film. I was pleased to see that in iMovies stock audio
library they had a heartbeat sound, which I have used frequently through
out my production as to create tension. I added filters to the Bardo scenes
in order to give them a heavenly glow. I have even implemented cyber
bully statistics at the end of my film to make audiences think.
• Continue editing
• Shoot production company title.

10. Progress Update Plan for next month/week
Week 25 I have edited most of my film last week, so this week I set out
to finish editing. I shot the production company title using a
light brown backdrop and a sand timer. I am impressed with
how professional it has turned out and feel it will be a
memorable logo. I incorporated this into my film and added
rolling credits conforming to the conventions of a high
standard film. This has caused me to have been having
trouble trimming the film down to 5 minutes as I am so fond of
every scene. Being more brutal I have managed to edit my
film to precisely 5 minutes meaning I can submit my finished
product after I source the musical pieces.
• Source music
Week 26 As music is such an important aspect of a film I searched the
internet to find an intense and uplifting instrumental piece that
I could uses in my film. I came across AudioMachines’
musical piece which coincidentally also is named ‘Carpe
Diem’ (my original film name). I exchanged emails with their
correspondent Marc D’Amour, yet he was unable to give me a
discount and my budget could not stretch the $99 they
requested. However I have emailed a number of YouTube
appropriate musical pieces and I am waiting on their replies.
• Select music
Week 27 I understand the impact a good movie score can have on a
film. Based on my market research, audiences find
piano/instrumental pieces the most emotive. Looking online I
came across a copyright free music website called
Bensoud.com. I found a tension building piece ‘Ophelia’s
dream’ and an emotional piano piece ‘better days’ that I would
like to incorporate in my short film. As they are easily
downloadable and free to use as long as I credit
Bensound.com in my credits. I added the music and tuned
using iMovie ‘keys’ so it increases and deceases in volume
when necessary. Now my film is complete and I am planning
on starting on my minor tasks PowerPoint.
• Minor tasks

11. Progress Update Plan for next month/week
Week 28 Having completed my film I began making the website and
postcard for Bardo. I first carried out research into the codes and
conventions of a successful film website and postcard. Followed by
a hand drawn website and postcard draft. I also did a digital
postcard and website draft in Word. Using Adobe Photoshop,
which I used through my AS level coursework, I postcard my
postcard to a high standard through manipulating images and text
in a professional manner. I also made my film website using Wix,
as it was my first time using this software I was not able to achieve
the same high standard as my film or postcard. I was
underwhelmed with how it turned out but when I presented it to a
test market, they responded well and said it was easy to use and
informative showing that it is fit for purpose.
• Upload Minor Task
• Write critical evaluation
Week 29 This week I uploaded my minor task to my Blogger account and
converted my video through YouTube and uploaded that also to my
blog. I have began my evolution PowerPoint and answered
questions one and two using detailed examples and relevant
images. I had a screening of my movie this week to show the final
product to my school. They responded well and I conducted
another survey to find out what they feedback would suggest.
• Finish evaluation
Week 30 Through analysing the questionnaires I was able to answer
question 3 to a high standard, using bar charts and pie charts to
illustrate it. After answering question four I proof read my evaluation
and implemented relevant images from my film and past
PowerPoint's in order to make it as visually effective as possible. I
also did a filmed presentation of my evaluation as to explain how I
effectively completed all four questions. Reflecting on my film
reaffirms how much I have really learnt this year, from organising
and planning to leaning how to use new software, I have developed
many video production skills and theatrical knowledge through this
process. I have thoroughly enjoyed making ‘Bardo’ which has
reflected in my effort and enabled my to produce a high quality
short film production that engages with its target market.