Weekly Journal

Regular evaluation updates are required, as with every unit. Please

remember to take photos and get behind the scenes footage as you film.
You might find it easier if you note down a record of what you did each day
in a diary form.

Please use the following guidance to help you with each week.

Week 1 This week you worked on your research

What have you been asked to For this unit we have been asked to produce either a
do? Short Film, Music Video, Documentary or Stop Motion
Animation.
I have decided to do a Short Film as I believe it to be
the best format that allows me to showcase my
camera and editing skills in a variety of ways.
I have chosen to work with Tom and Charlie as I
believe together, we have a variety of specialties and
can cover each other’s weaknesses.
In terms of what we are making, our Short Film has to
be approximately 5 minutes long, must have at least 2
main characters and have a non-linear.
We have planned our idea around these factors and
are going in the direction of a supernatural-drama
short film.
How has writing the brief helped The guidelines of having 2 main characters and
you to finalise your idea? having a non-linear narrative pushed us onto
changing our plot to encompass these aspects.
In fact, by incorporating these ideas into our plot I feel
we were able to develop it further and make the plot
seem more interesting.
We are most likely to still change our idea slightly in
order to work around any time constraints.
What did you learn from When looking into codes and conventions are main
practising the conventions you focus were to look at Drama films and non-linear
researched? narratives.
With filming we decided to film our clips in a disjointed
order and edit them in a non-linear form, this is done
in film as it gives the audience several viewpoints and
scenes to piece together instead of just watching and
soaking up the plot.
We also looked at the type of angles and pans used
in these genres, using slow pans and zooms can
create a dramatic effect and reflect the mood of the
scene better.
 Dramas are often based on very social moments and
have a lot of dialogue, using over the shoulder shots
and point of view shots can help by putting the
viewer in a similar position of the characters, helping
them relate more to the characters and what’s going
on in the scene.
Are you on track for this week? If I am on track this and have been following closely to
not, how far behind are you? my production schedule, I have also made sure to do
Weekly Blogs week by week and not all at the end of
the unit as it is much more convenient.
What work do you need to -
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?
Week 2 This week you worked on your planning

How has analysing videos helped With analysing videos, I have learnt that it is important
you to understand the genre to constantly have reference to what you are talking
better? about, whether it be putting down timecodes or
screenshots so my analysis is not just words.
Analysing videos has also helped me come to a
better understanding of codes and conventions,
whether that be for a single genre or media platform
as a whole.
Being able to analyse videos shows me what type of
tropes videos in that genre may incorporate and why
it may be seen as effective or not.
How did making infographics help Creating infographics helps me to condense my
you to process your research? information and enable others to understand my
research easier.
I think summarising is a very good skill to have as you
can communicate information quickly and easily
which is very convenient.
A lot of the times with my initial research I tend to
repeat myself quite a bit and also mention things that
aren’t really important, so making an infographic
always helps me keep my research clean and
concise.
What did you learn from your I think the planning has been very effective for this
planning? How has it helped you unit and has enable me to approach my work with
to progress your idea? more of an order in what I want to carry out and how
to do so.
Working in groups has also enabled us to be plan the
work through our groups and work more time
efficiently.
I think this is another important skill that matters a lot
when working with other people and has taught me
how to save time and work with more synergy.
How has your idea We have needed to change our idea quite a bit
developed/changed during the through planning due to several time and people
planning stage? constraints. However, we were always able to come
to a compromise and possibly even develop our idea
to a better extent.
How did you ensure that your To keep a high standard of quality with the storyboard
storyboards were to a high we made sure to properly visualise how a scene
enough standard? would take place and use our script to realistically
imagine how our dialogue would look like.
Conveying the character’s emotions through body
language was quite a challenge to draw as I’m not
the greatest artist but I think with body language and
facial expressions I was able to do a decent job at
showing how the characters are feeling in particular
moments.
A lot of the shot types I put for the storyboard scenes
ended up getting changed due to us either being
unable to film that or just scrapping it. I still think that
some of these shot types being listed came in handy
as it gave us more sense of direction when it came to
actually filming our production.
What issues did you have when The main issues we experienced with the planning
planning your production? How was the time taken to write the script. Coming to a
did you overcome them? compromise on how dialogue would happen
between the characters and what they would say
took quite a while to get done as we had a few
contrasting ideas.
Eventually our script was finished and we were
pleased with it, but due to how long it took we had to
finish everything else quite quickly. To get all our
remaining planning done, which consisted of
Location Recces, Props List, Crew List, etc. we
decided to split the work between the 3 of us in the
group.
Each of us doing a few location recces and splitting
the rest of the work between us saved some time and
enabled us to catch up with our planning, preparing
us for filming and editing.
How much work did you The only work done outside of lesson time was
complete outside of the lessons? completing some of the location recces.
Are you on track for this week? If I am on track for this week and have caught up with
not, how far behind are you? any missing work for the planning stages.
What work do you need to -
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?
Week 3 This week you worked on your production

What practical work have you This week we focused on Filming all of our footage and
done and how helpful was your editing. The storyboards came into use during filming as
earlier planning? they helped with the order in which to film everything,
making the process much shorter.
Getting confirmations from our actors ensured that our
filming would go as planned and even if one had
cancelled, we had many backup actors from our
contingency plan.
Also having our script finished made filming much easier
as we could go through our script in order and direct
our actors more effectively.
What issues did you encounter Some places from our location recces where we had
when filming and how did you planned to film, we were not able to use such as inside
overcome them? the Tesco’s in Goring, so instead we filmed just outside in
front of the store which luckily did not interfere with our
idea and script.
The main problem for filming was our lack of sound
equipment as we were unable to get our hands on a
microphone, meaning we needed to use the mic of the
camera so our audio quality was affected quite a bit.
Despite this some of our clips still came out with decent
audio and it just meant that we would have to fix the
sound for some clips during editing.
What locations did you use and We used a few open streets that do not tend to be busy
why did you choose them? as they have plenty of space and are quite quiet so our
lacking sound equipment wouldn’t be as detrimental to
our recordings. We also utilised Tom’s as a filming spot
for several scenes as it would be easily accessible to film
in and also would be quiet enough to not affect the
poor sound equipment. As for the rest of the locations
such as the Tesco store and Train station in Goring, they
were close by to where Tom lives and we were able to
incorporate them into our plot without changing
anything major, which made filming much easier as we
did not need to travel far for filming locations.
How did you find the editing The editing process for me is usually the most fun and
process? quick part as I tend to get through ordering the clips
fast and making sure everything has a nice flow to it.
The main thing I had to focus on this time was adjusting
the sound levels for each clip as some clips were very
loud due to the lacking sound equipment which will
drag down the overall quality of my production.
What new skills did you learn Due to having to work a lot with the audio of my clips I
when editing? focused on using key frames with the volume to
balance a clip so that the sound levels do not suddenly
rise up or go down. Working with audio like this will help
me in future productions so that I can have a nice flow
to how my work sounds. Also, I have done some
 exploring with effects and opacity with the scene
where one of my character fades out of a room,
continuing to explore different effects like this will
improve the creativity of my productions and continue
to showcase my skills.
Upload screenshots of the
editing process and discuss why
you made these changes.

To introduce my production I have used text expected

from a drama that gives off a serious impression, the
text also has a slow fade in and fade out to makes the
beginning seem more dramatic. I have utilised
cinematic black bars in my adjustment layer as these
are frequently used in cinematic productions, especially
dramas.

In the beginning scenes of my Drama I used some

casual background music to give off a mundane vibe, I
had to work on missing this music in with the audio of
my clips as they have a lot of background noise and
infrequent rises in volume. A lot of my time editing was
spent mixing a lot of the audio from the clips with music
and using key frames so that the sound levels would
regulate to roughly the same level throughout the
production.
 For the train scene the idea was the have one of the
characters disappear as the train is done crossing the
platform. For this to work I needed to mask around the
character on one layer and cut the opacity out, while
still leaving a layer where that space is visible so that it
wouldn’t just cut out the frame. This took a while to learn
but I eventually got it to fit alright and then worked on
neatening the effect so it looked as realistic and
convincing as possible.
What issues did you encounter
when editing and how did you
overcome them?

As stated before the main issue for this production was

dealing with audio as the clips were recorded with a
camera microphone, this means a lot of the clips were
too loud and had a lot of background noise, some too
loud to the point where it did interfere with the dialogue
between characters. The best I could do was the
continue balancing the volume throughout each clip so
the background noise did not interfere as much as just
leaving the clip raw. Adding some background music
did help at points as it faded some of the background
noise out so the viewer could focus more on the music
and character’s voices.
How well have you worked to I think in terms of planning I have stuck to my schedule
your production schedule? quite well and have gotten the majority of my work
finished on time, with filming and editing as well I think I
have also managed to stick to my schedule and
complete my production before the deadline.
Are you on track for this week? Yes I am on track for this week and have completed
If not, how far behind are you? editing my production, however I still need to export
and upload it to my website.
What work do you need to -
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?

Week 4 This week you worked on your production

What were
your
production
strengths?

From my survey, most people thought that the main strength of my

production was the idea and storyline. I think looking into and doing research
on the codes and conventions of drama helped me to think of an idea that
would work well and a storyline befitting of the genre. Someone also liked the
effect used of the girl disappearing, I think this is because not only the effect
itself was quite convincing but was built up to quite well making it seem even
more dramatic.
 A lot of people also think that my production suited the drama genre, I think
this is because of the realistic character traits that are commonly seen in
dramas. I also think that the camera angles and cuts were very effective as
they were simple and made it easy for the viewer to get a good picture of
what’s going on in the moment. Dramas are about having a good sense of
realism to captivate your audience, so presenting your ideas in a way that is
easy to understand is vital for how your viewers in take your content, and I
think by using simple, yet effective camera shots and cuts is one of my
productions strengths.
What were
your
production
weaknesse
s?

The main weakness of my production from what people said on my survey

was that it felt very jumpy and at times did not flow very naturally. I think this is
because the filming and editing stages were quite rushed and could have
been executed to a much higher standard. Some people also said that the
music I selected at times did not exactly suit the situation and mood on the
genre, I think when choosing my music I could have thought a bit more
deeply about why I would want to use a particular track and how it would fit
well into my production. Some people also think that my production could
have used some more camera angles to add variety as my clips became
more repetitive and recycled, I agree that I could have made an effort to
mix up my camera angles such as using over the shoulder shots for
conversational scenes as most of my clips just have wide shots. I think that my
script could have used a bit of work as well, or rather we should have gone
for more takes when filming as some scenes in the final production the
actor’s performance aren’t very convincing. The script and idea itself I think
were written quite well and has decent dialogue so I think next time I can
work on making sure that it is translated well through the actors.
How did With our planning we distributed the work pretty evenly between the 3 of us
you work in the group, for example we had about 9 location recces to do so we split it
to do 3 each so that they could be completed efficiently.
as a We also worked as a group when writing our full script, after brainstorming an
group? idea and how it would progress, we had to get our script done to have while
filming. We obviously all had our own ideas and takes on what we could do
for a drama and our ideas were all quite similar so coming to an agreement
was not that difficult. Writing the script however did take awhile as we all
struggled a bit with thinking how the plot would progress and what
characters would say in particular moments, eventually we managed to
come to a conclusion on all these aspects of the production. There were also
other parts of the planning and filming that we each did, for example I made
the storyboard including the shot types that would be used for specific
scenes, Charlie worked on the Crew list & Props list and Tom worked on the
Contingency Plan and Filming, which included having to find actors as well.
What was At the beginning with the root of our planning my role was to brainstorm an
your role idea befitting on the drama genre that would have a non-linear narrative
and how and be able to run for more than 3 minutes.
With the rest of the planning we had split the work between the 3 of us,
did you
besides the script which we all wrote together. I worked on the storyboard
perform? which would be vital during filming as it would aid with the direction of how
are filming would go and what footage we would need to get.
Using the script while making the storyboard was useful as it helped me pick
out the major parts of the plot that would be important to have a visual cue
of, so I made sure to draw the characters and background with what we
would realistic envision for that kind of situation as it is a drama.
Once the storyboard was finished, we all moved on to doing location recces,
the locations I were to look into were near the train station and Tesco in
Goring, as that was the area we were planning to film in.
When writing the location recces, it was important to think about any
hazards that would disturb filming such as vehicles, as the majority of our
locations were on streets by the road.
We also needed to consider if there were any charging points for our
equipment, in this case there were not so it be vital to make sure our
cameras and all other equipment were full charged so that they would not
run out of power whilst recording.
The filming was carried out by Tom, and after that was done the 3 of us
would work independently to edit our own versions. Here I would first look
through all the footage and order them so they could be accessed more
easily during editing.
During editing I laid down all the clips in order, except for putting one later
clip at the beginning to fulfil the need of a non-linear narrative. I added a
title opening to also make my production befit the drama genre better as it
makes viewers feel as if the production is to a high standard.
Complete
a written
compariso
n of your
work to
profession
al
production
s you
researche
d
previously.
Use
screenshot
An important part of the criteria given to us was to ensure that our story was
s of both non-linear, which means that we would not show everything in chronological
production order, in this case we took a scene from the ending and also put it at the
s to very beginning.
support
your
analysis.

This type of non-linear storytelling was also used in the short film ‘Amani’ that I
analysed. Here they showed a scene from the ending on the film also at the
beginning. This is used as a way of foreshadowing the events that will take
place later in the short film as the viewer is shown what will happen but are
still left without knowing how the story will progress to that point, which is a
good way of interesting your audience further as they are curious to see how
events will unfold.
One aspect that was used in ‘Amani’ and several other drama films is the
sense of realism and world building. At many points in Amani we see how
Amani interacts with his parents and that the dialogue between is very
realistic for a middle-class family in the UK. Incorporating this type of realism
into your story and characters makes them much more relatable for the
viewers. Character development is very crucial and the Amani develops
throughout the film definitely gave me ideas for how I could incorporate that
into my own film.

In my Short Film I tried to make my characters feel like more than just
characters and build on the world they are in. At 2:00 when Sam and Alex
are walking out of the train station Sam asks why they met there and Alex
replies saying she was at her Mum’s house so it was easier and that they
could go to her Dad’s house afterward. A lot of people have parents who
are divorced or at least have a friend or know someone in that kind of
situation, so by adding this aspect onto my characters it adds onto how
realistic they are and how my audience can relate to them, as opposed to
just being a character there for the sake of fulfilling the plot’s purpose.
However, I do think my characters could have used a bit more of developing
throughout the story.
I think one of the strongest points of ‘Amani’ is that character development
that we see from Amani in particular. At the beginning he is a normal boy
who is quite outgoing but is eventually changed into a delinquent by
circumstance. After a time skip at 10:00 we see a grown-up Amani who
wants to change his ways and live an honest life. Seeing Amani’s character
changed so much, and in different moral directions, makes the character
and plot as a whole that much more interesting.

I tried to develop the main character Sam as much as possible throughout

the story however it was quite difficult due to the short run time. Within this
time thought we see Sam accepting that Alex is not actually here and that
he has to move on, and because the majority of the film is spent with both
Sam and Alex, the audience can almost empathise with Sam when he has to
accept that Alex is gone. However, I still think that Sam could have been
developed a little further as well as the other characters in the film, the
relationship between all the characters remains the same for the entire film
and I think by changing up these relationships could have made the film
much more interesting and also create a better variety in the dialogue.
High Grade Tips

Use screenshots to support your analysis – especially when comparing your work to other
pieces.

Considered and capable demonstration of processes – detailed documentation of your

production process – such as still images, and annotated screenshots of your specific
production and editing process – including ‘what’ and ‘why’ and not just ‘how’.

Specific – be specific! Don’t just say e.g. ‘the lighting was good’ – show us where the
lighting looked good and why you think that.