Ben Brown is creating a horror film for his final major project to showcase his talent. He hopes to learn new filmmaking skills like camera shots and music usage. He wants to make a horror film that audiences will enjoy watching repeatedly. His strengths include perfectionism which will help him create the best project possible, though it may slow production. He has the necessary equipment but limitations include actors' limited range and not achieving his artistic vision within the four week timeframe. This week he created a proposal and plan, feeling overwhelmed but managing to complete the work on time. He will now research how to engage audiences and study horror films.

1. Reflection Diary
Ben Brown

2. Week 1

3. Why are you making this project?
• I’m making this project for two reasons, I want to bring an idea I wanted to
do for a while to life and I want to make a project that’ll show my talent so
I can progress in college. Ever since doing the audio project I wanted to
make a horror film involving a man trapped in a house. I like practical
work and I will have fun and be able to bring this idea to life. All the other
projects were merely preparation but this is the one that truly matters, I
feel like I can show my true talent thanks to all this freedom. If I use the
talent I have in the way the creative media leadership wants I will be able
to progress through college but this project is important to get the career I
want so I’m going to give it my all!

4. Hopes for the FMP
• I hope for two things in my Final Major Project; to learn new skills in movie
making and to make a horror film which audiences can enjoy and want to
watch over and over again. My skills in film making in the past were very
basic and simple (thanks to those simple skills I didn’t make the top on the
music video), I hope to learn new skills like using good types of music or
learn different types of camera shots which will benefit my future
projects. My films always had the wrong impact, they always came out as
unenjoyable or unintentional comedies, I now hope to make a film that
succeeds in what its trying to do and people can enjoy it.

5. Strengths and Limitations
• 1) Perfectionism:
• Strengths: Given I’m autistic, I’m a perfectionist which will make me want to make the
project the best it can be and I want it to fit my artistic vision. The affect this will have
on my production will be how I want it perfect, this may slow down filming and editing
time, but it’ll turn out the best it can if it follows my artistic vision.
• Limitations: Things won’t turn out the way I want thanks to a project as big as this only
lasting four weeks, I won’t be able to make it to my artistic vision. The limitations on my
perfectionism may affect the production by not turning out how it was planned because
the plan heavily relies on my perfectionism.
• 2) Use of Equipment:
• Strengths: The equipment I want and need (sets, props, camera, tripod, etc) are very
important to the project because it’s what makes up most scenes and will make my
movie not look low-budget. The equipment that I require will affect the product by
making the scenes work.
• Limitations: The equipment I require may not all be there and then I’m going to have to
make backup plans. The effect of these limitations on the production will slow the
filming and editing down or I won’t be able to make anything at all.
• 3) Use of Actors:
• Strengths: The actors I need are also an important part to the project because they’ll be
the characters. The actor that plays the central role of Edward Stanton is vital to the
quality of the production.
• Limitations: I will not be using professional actors so the actor's range of expression and
acting may be limited.

6. Potential Research Activities
• There are two potential research activities; researching horror (horror
stories and how horror is made) and movie making for audiences. I can
research the horror stories on the internet. I can also read books about
horror films and watch behind the scenes footage and documentaries to
learn how they made the films. I can interview audiences to learn how to
make a movie they like, I can look at books or the internet to also learn
about what it takes to win an audience over (I could watch audience
screening videos).

7. This week
• Description: I wrote a proposal and made a plan on power point on my Final Major Project.
• Feelings: I feel like this whole project is rather overwhelming because I have short times to
make all of this work and then I have to upload it to Wix which I have no idea how to upload
it. Even with only a week to do it, I was able to upload the work in on time, so I feel like I was
able to handle my work well.
• Evaluation: I was able to make an early plan on what I’m going to do in my Final Major
Project and I wrote a long proposal about how the projects going to go. I struggled with
knowing how to upload my work to Wix and I was afraid that I wasn’t able to upload my
work on time but I did in the end and I didn’t get knocked off track by lot’s of work.
• Actions: I’m now going to move onto research where I will write about how to win over an
audience and research sources that will help my idea. I will most likely research horror and
action and merely research audiences instead of asking different people.