This week the student finished and uploaded their Final Major Project film about how to survive a slasher movie. They began researching promotional materials for the film by creating a PowerPoint. They reflected on challenges like limited actors and effects. Areas that went well included editing techniques that increased tension. The student also learned to make changes during production and effectively used symbolism and costumes. Going forward, they plan to present the film and research promotional materials in more detail through a PowerPoint presentation.

1. FMP 2 Diary Week 13
This week I finally finished and uploaded my Final Major Project; How to Survive a Slasher movie which I then started to submit to
the show in a week and I began a Power Point on research about how to make promotional materials for my film. I also considered
what I learned about producing films and what I would change in the future. In reflecting on the challenges that I faced in my FMP, I
had to overcome the obstacle of not having many actors and the technical challenge of limited special effects, make up and limited
camera technology. I also used my time this week to research promotional materials for the presentation of my film this week. I
realised that despite the challenges of what I learned for future projects that went well were my use of editing techniques such as in
the opening scene where I cut between the killer and victim running out of the house including short shots to increase the tension
and horror and the editing in the killing of the Mexican man such as the blood splatter across the map. The use of music and sound
effects also went well such as objects falling, knives stabbing, footsteps, and screams as I learned how to use these effectively within
the context of the film. I also learned to make changes during the production process such as cutting excess scenes and using iMovie
and my iPad for filming in the most effective way possible through re-shooting scenes from different angles and in different lighting. I
also used symbolism in the film such the torn Do Not Disturb sign when the camera shot focuses on the word Disturb and in the
Mexican scene, the Mexican man looking at a map of Mexico. I was also happy with use of costumes as this is spoof and I effectively
used wigs, an NFL T-shirt, women's clothing and other costumes to add to the comic effect despite a limited budget. I felt that the
idea of public service announcements on slasher film troupes was original and allowed an effective way to highlight the sexism,
xenophobia and formulaic nature of horror film through parody. The area that also went particularly well was that I was able to
finish the last loose ends of my project before I would move onto my evaluation which deserves all my attention. I first used YouTube
to upload my film and copied the link onto Wix in the production section of my website for Dave to mark it. I’m going to move
forward by using my time to make the research Power Point as detailed as possible, so I have something to do next week. The things
that I would change in my project are using lighting better, casting more actors through using friends and social media to recruit
actors, and ensuring that I use cameras and better film technology. The strengths are that I was finally able to finish my project
and start to think about promoting my film for the presentation, but the weakness was that I needed to complete more research
into promoting my presentation. My plan for next time is to fully upload my project for the show next week and produce a Power
Point on my research, finish the research and start the Power Point on my evaluation. This week’s events have influenced my ideas
by teaching me to organise the time allocated to my work and it changed my ideas as I plan to set a work plan and schedule
completion of my work in the future.