FMP

1. Evaluation
Connor Wiffen

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
My research began with the Secondary Target Audience Research which involved the same but with research already collected from other
sources, this information cemented that the chosen target audience would be acceptable for my film. Using the British Board Of Film
Classification and the previously collected information within this section of the research helped with determining what kind of product I
should aim to create in the end and what age range I garner the production towards. Having the opportunity to compare aspects of the
intended film to other existing products which in this case was The Lego Movie which included detailing the Story of the Movie as it is the
direct inspiration for the project idea , I also detailed how the film appeals to its audience through various ways including the use of
slapstick comedy and bright colours to attract the primarily child audience but also their use of nostalgic elements which will appeal to the
adults who are with them, I then finalised the research done on the movie with a look at Mise En Scene the Poster for The Lego Batman
Movie which allowed me to form a better idea of what I wanted to make and take inspiration from. The research could’ve been improved
greatly if I was able to find more information on both of these productions, if I had managed to find something then my film could have
been a lot more streamline and focused that what it turned out to be. Another aspect of the research I could improve on is how in depth I
went into the production process of the two films as I was only really skimming the entire thing on a surface level The next section of the
Research involved the Primary Target Audience Research which involved creating a survey and asking questions in reference to the Stop
Motion Project I wanted to create. This involved questions like “Which of the genres listed below do you enjoy?” and “Do you have
knowledge in Film & TV pop culture?” to get a better understanding of what my intended Target Audience would like to see in terms of
the vision I already had for the project, this allowed me to know what elements I could keep from the initial ideas. The survey could have
been improved had I come up with better questions which better fit the production, for each of my rotations the survey has always been
the weakest part as I am not very good at coming up with questions to ask which is noticeable with the repetition of them, however I was
able to gather enough information to produce products that appealed to a certain target audience. I also conducted two separate
interviews with my parents about whether they enjoy Stop Motion projects and if they would enjoy a movie which contains references to
Pop culture as it was a major aspect and the main appeal of my project. As another part of the Research I looked at two similar products
by two calibre of Stop Motion creators on YouTube where I detailed the contents of the Stop Motion and how they appeal the target
audience through the use of effects , sound and movements which enhances the footage shown within the video. As a way of improving
this section of my research I could have looked at a few more similar products from an even wider range of creators to get a better
understanding of the quality of work out there which I could take inspiration and learn from for my own production, this could have
potentially decreased the problems I had later on with the production issues, seeing how they dealt with similar issues would have helped
me deal with my own. This could have reduced the time constraints I begun to have and thus improve the overall quality of the work.

4. Planning
The planning began with brainstorming several ideas around everything that was needed before anything could begin, I wrote about the genres I
could potentially explore with a short film which detailed three genres from romance to psychological horror that I could use in a production.
However I had already decided on creating a Stop Motion movie so I used this as a way of developing ideas I had for future projects which I may or
may not use. As part of the Initial Ideas I expanded upon these genres with story concepts I then created a foundation for the types of Research I
would need to take part in and what information I would need to gather to fully realise my project. I then detailed the sort of Production
Experiments I would need to take part in to get a feel and more of an idea on what my production would look like in the end before I moved onto
actually creating the final production. Finalising the first Mind Map I spoke about what aspects of the work would be included in the Pre-Production
process segment of the work from the Story Development (where the working Title, chosen Genre and a few visual conventions which the selected
genre will need to be successful such as the setting, colours and type of camera techniques which will be used), Structural Breakdown (detailing the
beginning, middle and end of the film with what happens along with the approximate timings of each section along with visual/audio notes which
help to form a basis for the rest of the production), Storyboarding (Which helps to create a starting visual for how you want your finished movie to
look, how the story should unfold and what shots will be the best way to convey your story to your audience.) and a Shot List to finalise the
production to a point where it can be realistically begun, This section is accompanied by all the Organisational Planning which is made up of the
production group info, contact info, cast information and finally the location information. There was also the need for a Risk Assessment on
possible problems that could occur whilst creating the production which for the form of project I was making became quite a short list. On the next
mind map I went into a lot more detail on what the Stop Motion Project could entail and other additional productions that could accompany it. For
example the specific genres that the Stop Motion would eventually but somewhat loosely be a part of, I then detailed the sounds I would use
throughout the production before moving on to the specific scenes that would make up the entire production – I did shorten these scene ideas
down due to the already mentioned time constraints and what could realistically be done with said time. This initially allowed me to get the sets
and props I needed ready before I even began to think about making it, however this didn't go quite to plan because of factors outside of my
control. If it had gone to plan I do think the entire overall production would be improved because there would just be an increase in content and
thus it would have a longer run length which would fix the issue of the Stop Motion Project being far too short to get any real connection formed
with. Along with the plan for the production, I also detailed the additional content I would create for the project in the form of a Poster and DVD
Case (However I never actually made a DVD case and instead opted for a Double Page Spread interview with me as I thought it would be a better
addition). Rounding off the planning PowerPoint, I complied a collection of pictures that related to my productions which are inspirational or
visually interesting. Building up from the Pre-Production planning I detailed in the mind maps, I began by creating a Style Sheet of potential fonts
that I could use throughout the production on the Poster and in the production itself along with the direct Poster inspiration which I detailed in
how it conveys the story it is trying to tell through a picture alone. Along with this Style Sheet, I also chose my colour scheme and how those colours
have been used in other films with there connotations and meanings. I moved onto the Storyboard that gave me a rough idea of how each scene
would look before production began, this helped with visualising the placements of the figures and helped me to plan out how I would design the
potential sets. However the website I used to make it was rather limited so I could have made it a lot more accurate to my own vision by creating it
myself. This was followed by a Structural Breakdown which broke down the scenes into chunks with visual notes and approximate times, this
allowed me to pace out my work and give me an idea of how long the production would end up being. Before beginning the Production Process I
created a graphs that detailed the resources I would need to use, a Contingency Plan for potential issues and Health & Safety which lists more
health related issues that could occur during the process.

5. Time Management
Throughout the beginning of the project with the Research and Planning I kept to the deadlines for each segment of the work quite well without
ever really needing to catch up with the deadlines however due to a lot of production issues – for example the required equipment didn’t arrive
when planned so the actual creation of the production wasn’t completed till the very end of the required time which definitely reduced the overall
quality of the end product but unfortunately that was out of my control with the limited time I had to make it after the setbacks, I didn’t have a
contingency plan which would be able to counteract this unforeseen issue. Due to this my time began to become more and more stretched as it
prevented me from continuing with other aspects of my work which has meant that the end I was working on the edge of the deadline constantly.
When I finally got around to starting the stop motion I struggled with finding the motivation because of how long it took to begin and I do think that
fact was reflected in my work as it is constantly switching between fast paced and more precise movements. Stop Motion is a very time consuming
production to choose which can take hours to make with over 1300 photos needed to make the movements fluid and consistent for a simple one
minute short. As for the other sections of my work, I will start with the Initial Plans; I went very in-depth with my ideas in the form of two mind
maps which are more like a collection of ideas rather than a traditional mind map and because of this was quite time consuming in its own right and
the same information could have easily been streamlined to be placed on a mind map and possibly saved me a lot more time but I wanted to be as
detailed as I could before starting so I had a solid base for the production and to a lesser extent possible future projects. There weren’t any time
issues with my Proposal as it mostly involved repurposing the information I had included in the Initial Plans ‘mind maps’. The Research section of
the FMP was again another time consuming task due to the severe lack of information on the internet about the statistics of the two existing
products I chose to research (The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie) so demographics were mostly made up of my own assumptions and the
little research I did manage to find online, I spent the majority of the time looking at scenes from the movie to see good examples of Mis En Scene
and writing it up how the creators of the film made the film feel authentically like the audience was seeing a real Lego figure moving around freely
as if being within a stop motion project. The survey and its questions took a short amount of time to complete due to it being done in a single
lesson but I do think that given more time I could have been able to come up with better questions which would enhance and streamline the entire
project a lot more as of right now I feel as if the questions could be seen as quite standard, another way I could have improved the questionnaire is
with its results – had I widened my sources through multiple Social Media platforms instead of just Facebook, I could have had a lot more responses
from a range of people and age groups which in turn would have given me a lot more information to work with. The Production Experiments were
done in enough time so I didn’t have any problems there as the two experiments were simple but effective in the lead up to the actual production.
I already went into detail about the production issues previously so all that is left is the Production Process which turned out to be the most time
consuming due to it being the final part of the FMP and finding the motivation to get through it was rather hard but I managed to get through it but
that was practically on top of the deadlines set, if I had more time however I could have possibly been able to go into more detail in the sections
where I could which would improve the overall work.

6. Technical Qualities
Both posters have the film’s title at the bottom in a
colour which stands out from the rest of the image
with ‘Doctor Strange’ text being white against the
darker colours of the poster and the bright purple
on my own poster standing out against the darker
purple behind it.
I included the names of
the film’s leads around the
title as it is a common
practice amongst posters
for animated films,
however the Doctor
Strange poster doesn’t
need to as the audience
can clearly see who the
actors are and would more
than likely be able to
recognise them by looks
alone.
Both posters share a similar date reveal which is a very
important part of a poster as the audience needs to know when
the film is coming out so they can anticipate it.
The design of my
poster doesn’t share
that many similarities
with the Doctor
Strange poster apart
from the use of
showing the characters
from the chest up
which they both
implement to a certain
degree.
My poster uses a
darker colour
scheme and thus
sets a different tone
to that of the bright
Doctor Strange
poster.

7. Technical Qualities
Both of the Double Page Spreads
have a large image at the beginning
of the article to draw the reader in
almost immediately
Both of the Double Page Spread
have the text formatted into
columns, however mine uses a
mixture of three and two columns
whilst the other one only uses two
through both pages,
Both of the Double Page Spreads
the respective page numbers and
magazine title in the bottom right
corner of the page.
This Double Page Spread opens
with a quote in bold red text which
contrasts well with the white
background and is thus very
attractive to the readers eyes.
My Double Page Spread
uses an article title
‘Interview Corner’ to tell the
reader what section of the
magazine they are reading.
The other Double Page
Spread begins the text with a
large red ‘S’ which adds to
the aesthetic of the page.

8. Technical Qualities
Both of these productions share the
use of Lego as a basis to show the
action on screen.
The two productions use a very different
colour scheme where I went with a more
darker tone for the colours used I.e Purple and
Blue whilst the other production uses a
brighter colour scheme which is made up of
bright yellows and whites.
My production has a more
cinematic aesthetic with the
cropped screen ratio.
Neither of these productions
use voice acting to help tell the
story, it is entirely told through
the action on screen.
The cinematography is far more
static in the other production
whereas in mine I chose to use far
more interesting shots to convey
the look and view to the audience
in a far more enjoyable view.
My production doesn’t
exclusively use LEGO to
convey the story unlike the
one on the left as I also
included Action Figures which
are not a part of the LEGO
brand.

9. Aesthetic Qualities
I believe that the overall design of my Poster is good and conveys itself in a way that I intended with how the
colours contrast well with each other and stand out i.e. the Purple and Orange font used in the title immediately
draws the audience’s eyes to it, peaking their interests. I attempted to make the Poster design interesting by
having the Xenomorph overlap the film’s title which gives the Poster a little more depth and keeps the viewers
eyes on it for much longer. However if I were to redo it I would definitely make sure that the Xenomorph is far
more visible than it currently is, maybe with some sort of subtle outline as I have had some feedback which
suggests that it can be quite difficult to see. Another change I could make is redesign the entire poster so it is more
like my second design idea as in hindsight I think it is a nicer and clearer poster design that would arguably work
nicer than my current one, however it would lose the inspiration I had from another film’s movie poster as it is far
more similar to a video game one in comparison. As for the double page spread, I actually really like how the
design has come out after revising the first attempt which was quite messy in it’s layout – this version is far more
magazine like and gives off a far more professional feel. There is a good ratio of pictures and text spread around
the page which makes it look a lot better than it originally did and the smaller text sides aids in this as well. If I were
able to improve the design further I would add additional text to reduce the white space on the first page
specifically as whilst it is a common occurrence in a magazine, I personally don’t like it. Another addition I could
make to greatly imptrove the look of the pages is to possibly add some sort fo border to th pictures so they
intergrate into the page a lot better than they currently do.

10. Aesthetic Qualities
There was a lot of potential in the Stop Motion project I wanted to make, however it kind of
fell apart at the seems – ending up as something which resembles and contains a lot or the
initial ideas I had but it never feels Fully realised. However there is still a lot of aesthetic
qualities to my work which I actually am quite fond of, the first example is the
cinematography throughout In which I attempted to emulate the types of shots used in live
action films instead of treating it as if it was strictly a Stop Motion production, this allowed me
to employ techniques I had learnt about on previous rotations with depth of field and vocal
points. I also chose to letterbox the footage which along with the cinematography, gives the
whole production a cinematic look. In addition to this I also gave the footage a filter which
darkens a lot of the image but gives it a far more unique look than it would have initially had
with the unedited footage, as a side note I used a similar technique to convey what the
Xenomorph could see (the greenish tint is a common inclusion in the Alien franchise).
However the biggest Issue with my production which I would improve is the lack of
movement which makes the visuals seem jumpy and jaded, the scenes frequently jump
around which breaks the illusion of a smooth Stop Motion animation. This would improve the
overall production immensely as with more fluid movements the footage would flow a lot
better throughout.

11. Audience Appeal
I have appealed to the equal gender orientation of the production which I discovered whilst undergoing the survey
by including a male and female character as a central part of the poster so they can identify with one of the
characters at least. My survey states that the majority of my target audience has a somewhat basic knowledge of
pop culture so they should be able to recognise the Xenomorph from the classic Alien franchise , although the
LEGO characters aren’t very recognisable from their heads. Through observing my survey results it was clear that
my Target Audience preferred a more mixed colour scheme made up of brighter and darker shades of colour,
which I have followed in the colour scheme for this poster with the darker shade of Purple contrasting well with
the brighter Purple and Orange behind the title. The age range of my Audience is 15+ and the poster doesn’t have
any graphic content that would not be appropriate for this audience so in a way I have created a poster which
would only potentially scare young children but the overall production came out as more tame than originally
intended, however it does still share some of the darker moments from my initial ideas. With the Xenomorph
taking up the majority of the poster, it is unlikely that the younger audience will be able to tell what it is aside from
there being LEGO characters as part of the Poster. As for the Double Page Spread, I have appealed to the equal
gender orientation with not catering to either and keeping with a neutral design, using Purple which is not strictly
seen as a gender for Boys or Girls so it is appealing to the entire Target Audience. There is a somewhat equal ratio
of text to pictures which strikes a nice balance between there not being too much for the younger audience to
read and there not being enough text for the older audience to be interested in reading the article.

12. Audience Appeal
I have appealed to the equal gender orientation of the production which as I said was shown to be
equal between male and females by having the main characters be of each gender respectively. My
survey also states that the majority of my target audience has some knowledge of pop culture so they
should be able to recognise the Xenomorph once again, hidden in the dark for the majority of the
scenes. As for the colour scheme, I included a lot of the colours and shades I detailed in my mood board
like Blue and Purple which from my survey I know are preferred when it comes to visuals so I have
definitely appealed to them in that way by implementing these colours. The contents of the production
aren’t too violent for the younger teen audience I was initially aiming for as there is only some fighting
which is accompanied by comedic hitting sound effects that take away from the violent nature of the
scenes and leans it more towards slapstick before that is changed at the end with the Xenomorph
attacking and presumably killing the two main characters, however the violence of these final scenes is
never distinctly shown so they can get away with being shown to my intended demographic – it was
originally intended to have some sort of blood included to make their fates more conclusive but due to
time constraints I didn’t have the resources to include it, this actually ended up making the production
far more appropriate for the younger demographic without taking away from the enjoyment the older
generations could have. It is worth mentioning that my survey results show that the majority of my
target audience prefers the use of voice acting in the productions they watch but unfortunately I
couldn’t include any form of voice acting because of the severe lack of time I had to complete it all.

13. Peer
Feedback

14. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
- The level of detail that is put into each frame such as the
different focal points and use of depth of field. The sound effects
set the atmosphere of the film really well and help with the
animated style.
(the second watch was definitely the best)
• What improvements could have been made
to the product?
- The only improvement would be to add more frames to make
the film more fluid however this doesn’t make the film bad as its
more of a style choice and looks amazing how it is .

15. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
– I like the fact it is stop motion and the fact you can
understand what is happening thought the story.
• What improvements could have been made
to the product?
- Maybe some dialogue also maybe a better background
other than that I think it is a really good piece of work.

16. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
– I like the sound effects and the fact that it’s the only stop
motion animation with class to come out of our course.
• What improvements could have been made
to the product?
- I think you could improve by making all the sound effects the
same volume or have some form of backing music to make the
other sharp noises less jarring.

17. Peer Feedback Summary
I personally agree with a lot of the critical responses about my work, For example the sound
effects can be rather jarring at times and make for an uncomfortable viewing experience.
Another suggestion I agree with is the inclusion of dialogue to better the overall narrative,
which I was initially planning to do but the mentioned production issues made it almost
impossible for me to do so. Considering I have brought it up as an issue myself, I of course
agree with that the movements just aren’t fluid enough and the overall production would
have been greatly improved had they been. I also agree with the fact that I was one of the
only ones to choose to do Stop Motion in the first place and took a huge chance by doing
so, I learnt a lot of what I should and shouldn’t do which I will definitely take forward with
me, learning from my shortcomings. As for the peer feedback I disagree with, there isn’t a
particular criticism I don’t agree with but it was said that backing music would help a lot,
however I do already have two pieces of backing music throughout the production but it is
more than likely the fault of my sub par sound mixing due to my severe lack of time
towards the end which makes it difficult to hear