BTC WEEK: My first independent short film.
So, i made this short film back in February for my College for the BTC week (which is working independently on something we are interested in). I had an idea on what i wanted to do for the week e.g. some photography shoots, trip to the cinema and review the film etc. But what popped into my head that was a great idea, was to make a short film. The original idea i will admit was to make a trailer into a "venom style", but when me and my friends were discussing about it, we went into a different direction and make a short film instead which in my opinion was a great idea. I love films so i thought this is the perfect opportunity to make a short film.
PRE - PRODUCTION
For pre - production, i was writing a draft story line in my art book. The story would be about my main character "John Evans" (played by my friend *1). His day has been turned upside down when his girlfriend breaks up with him. The story continues on throughout the day and he meets up with his friend "Mike Jones" (played by my friend *2) so he can tell the news to him. To show some character development i wanted to have a twist towards the break up. The gf was actually lying to John and is dating Mike (which is revealed later on). Mike doesn't tell him when they meet but to show that Mike isn't so loyal; he calls someone after John leaves - which is revealed to be the GF by a note later on in the short film.
I wanted to make sure that character development was the main focus for my first short film; so it adds weight when it comes to the conclusion of the short film. It would also make the audience feel sympathy for John Evans as he went through a lot in one day.
Obviously when it comes to writing a draft story line, some elements were not included during the process of making the short film e.g. the process on making a script. When John and Mike meet so John can tell him that his girlfriend broke up with him. The draft story line had Mike telling John that she lied to him and that she found someone else. Those little details did not make it in the process. Instead i had Mike calling someone to show a sense of mystery on who that person can be - which we all know who it is.
The advantage about writing a draft story line; is that i know the beginning, middle and end of my short film. It helps when starting the script. Talking about the script, when writing the script it was in total 5 pages long. I went into detail on what time of day it was (action) and what mood the characters would be when they speak (parenthetical).
The picture above "splitting your inner-self" was not the official title, after post production; i had a better title which was "Finding Strength".
PRODUCTION:
When filming, i had my two actors with me, we filmed the scenes on my phone. I was the director of the short film and the camera operator. Overall we filmed around Taunton for 2 and a half hours. We filmed A) my house, B), Vivary Park, C) Long run, D) Kings-lake Park then back to my house. However production wasn't finished. We shot the scenes i wanted but the ending felt a bit bland, i had a good idea that me and my main actor would go to NetherClay the next day and finish the last scene. The reason for this is because i wanted the short film to have a better conclusion, and to also end with my main character feeling better.
In total, we filmed 6 scenes so 6 locations we went. What helped with production is storyboarding, it's always a great tool to use to know what shots are needed. I storyboarded the first 2 scenes, i then went on without story-boarding. It would of helped to story board everything next time i do my next short film as then the quality of the short film stands out even more.
POST - PRODUCTION:
Now this is the best part of the process, sewing the knots together, piecing all the lego pieces together, and seeing what the outcomes look. When i was editing my short film; i used "I-movie". The best bit about this software is that it's very basic to use and not too over complicated to use. However i say this, it's no "premiere pro". I have used premiere pro before and it's much better to use and does the job very well when doing an edit.
During the edit of the short film, the struggle that i overcame was the audio, sometimes in the background there would be too much noise; so i reduced the noise by repeating the audio which luckily turned out amazing. I took my time when editing this short film, i didn't want to rush it as the outcome would look messy.
What would i change however?, when it came to the night time scene in Kingslake, the quality of the camera didn't look very nice. That's not "I-movie" fault, but maybe i could of brightened up the footage a bit more.
The short film is in total 5mins 55 seconds long which is great for me as i predicted it would be too short e.g. 3 minutes long.
THE FILM ITSELF:
The process is officially finished! It was a great experience getting to independently make a film with my friends. I love getting to know independently on how to make a film. I have loved all 3 stages of making this film.
How would i make this film different if i were to do this again? maybe a few continuity errors i have noticed along the post production stage, so during production to make sure of continuity. When watching the short film, the one thing that i wish was extended, was the scene between John and Mike in Long run. If there was more dialogue between the 2 characters in the scene; the development between the characters would be fleshed out more.
Fun fact: in the script, there was more dialogue in the scene that i was talking about, so if i were to do this again i would make sure to stick to the script more.
Below is the link to the short film "Finding Strength".
"KICK THE DOG" - SHORT FILM (BFI SHORT COURSE)
My BFI experience:
BEGINNING OF THE COURSE:
Back in October 2017, I spent a week making a short film during half term. I got the chance to meet brand new people to work with for the week and was also taught by professionals. Before we started making a short film, we had a full day (before half term) to get to know everyone and to also learn the process of e.g. pre production, production and post production. This lead to making a short film within a day. We did however split into 2 groups so two different short films are made. On my group, we made a quick short film called “Souper Spoon” about a superhero working in a restaurant with the use of his spoon saving the day. The twist with the 2 short films; is to pick an object from a box and to try and make that object the main focus of the short film e.g. in my group, we chose a spoon.
PRE – PRODUCTION:
The process to our proper short film now begins. We went into two groups again (so 2 different short films are being made). However, before we did this. We sat in a circle so we can figure out ideas/concepts to work with. The 2 main concepts that we liked was 1) an employee delivering pizza to a customer whilst getting past multiple zombies. And 2) A normal guy with his dark inner-self. His inner-self would tell him to do something naughty e.g. to nick someone’s bag etc. So the main character spends most of the short film refusing to do what his inner self wishes.
Now that we decided with the 2 concepts, it was time to be put into 2 groups. We had the choice on what concept we wanted to work on, I really liked the concept about having an inner-self within you; so I decided to work with that concept with others on my group. In total, I think there was (including me) 4 people in my group for this concept.
When it came to writing the script; I was the writer for this short film, however we all worked together as team to work on the script. This helps big time as we all agreed on what’s needed for the script and what’s not needed e.g. a piece of dialogue for the characters, re –writing scenes together, where to film etc. I loved this process, as we all got to be creative on the concept. Now, this could be how our fictional characters are presented on paper, what they say and also describing the mood they are in. We all had a laugh on some of the ideas we had that unfortunately didn’t make it in the script when it came to re-writes. Our short film is called “kick the dog” as the first thing the inner-self of our main character says in the short film is kick the dog.
After the script was prepared; we made a list of shots we needed so we can keep on track and not forget any shots (when it comes to production). We also had to contact the actors by email so they can A) read the script and B) know what character they will be playing. We also told them to be ready e.g. to bring objects with them, like a scarf etc. What was also really important as well; was to get consent, so we have permission to film in a restaurant. We got consent from one of the workers at the restaurant. Pre production lasted Monday and Tuesday of the half term.
PRODUCTION:
The next day, we started to film our short film with our actors. We all had a certain job whilst filming e.g. camera work, boom pole, directing, audio etc. My job was more on the audio throughout filming. So, for the first half of the day; I worked on the boom pole. The boom pole helps, as the other person with the audio machine with headphones can hear the actors clearly (when the boom pole is plugged in). The second half of the day, we swapped roles; which means I was the one with headphones whilst the other person was holding the boom pole. The key thing I learnt whilst filming our short film; is to make sure to have a variety of shots. So when it comes to editing the movie together; you have e.g. a variety of shots to pick, and a "plan b shot" if plan a doesn’t work.
(fun fact: When making independently “FINDING STRENGTH” , I remembered from what I learnt at the BFI, to make sure I have as many shots as possible just incase plan a falls a part. )
What didn’t help unfortunately when shooting our short film; were the loud noises of cars coming by, as we filmed next to a road. Sometimes when filming after the director says “action”; a car would come past and would ruin a shot. But luckily we got our shots we needed. We went back to the engine room and the teachers imported all the shots into the computer, ready for the next day. Production lasted all day on Wednesday during half term.
POST – PRODUCTION:
Now that we have all the shots we needed from filming; the final stage was to edit the short film. However, my group was split into 2 again. So a group of 2 is now split into 4 team working on 2 short films. When editing, I was the co – editor. Back then; I wasn’t well experienced, as this was before editing was a hobby at home for me. So it was quite daunting as a lot goes into editing e.g. audio corrections, footage, colour corrections etc. We didn’t rush, which was great as we can get the best quality from it when taking our time. Post production is defiantly a slow process but its in my opinion the best part as really you are putting all the pieces together.
At home (2 months later) I have been editing fan trailers using different footage from movies etc. I have been editing as a hobby ever since then; and I love it. Compare me from not having much experience when we were editing “Kick the dog”, to now. As now I have more experience and knowledge towards it.
Post - production took from Thursday to Friday. What I absolutely love about my experience at the Somerset film BFI course, was meeting new people and being in a nice environment where we get to learn about film making whilst having conversations during lunch about movies. What the BFI has done for me; is making me more independent and has inspired me even more to be a filmmaker. The outcomes for taking on the course was me and my group receiving a bronze level 1 arts award certificate.
This link will take you to "Souper Spoon"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x2iEAHItL0&feature=youtu.be
The second link will take you to "Kick the Dog"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFpGPW0pRIE
"THE GHOST" SHORT FILM PROGRESSION:
The beginning of Pre – production:
After I made “Finding Strength”, I wanted to make another independent short film. A few months ago, I sat down by the computer and had written a rough story line that focuses on the genre horror. I love horror films e.g. Alien Covenant, “IT” and a lot of Doctor Who episodes and I really wanted to give that genre ago. In the original story line, I was going to co-star in it whilst directing the short film itself. I love how Directors make a brief cameo in there films e.g. Joe Russo in Avengers: Endgame, David Leich in Deadpool 2 and John Favreau in Iron man 1 (however he didn’t cameo, he stared along side the cast). I was nervous about co – staring in it whilst directing it, but nothing is impossible and wanted a challenge.
Now that I have a rough story line, when it comes to writing the script; it makes it easier for me as I put all my ideas into one neat story. I wanted to use shadow effects to capture the supernatural activities to make it spooky. The influence to this idea was a photography image I had taken on my phone a year ago that really captures the suspense of horror, you can find this picture on my "photography" section. However, the hard part about writing a horror short is not the horror itself. The hard part was to make sure that there was character development for the main character. I also wanted to make sure that the viewers feels sympathy for him as before the horror kicks in, he’s going through a hard time with finding a new apartment.
Pre – production is by far the hardest part, as you need fictional character to be invested in, a story you can invest in, and also a title that sums up the entire short film. As I'm also going to be the director for “The ghost”, I’m also having to think about production, which will include having a storyboard for the short film.
(Bare in mind, I had written this story months ago, I couldn’t film it, as I was too busy with college work.)
Pre – production:
Now that college work is officially finished. A few days later I met up with my friend so we can talk about concepts about our short films. I had spoken to him about a few concepts but the one that I started pre – production on was “the ghost”. So we agreed that we would finish "The Ghost" as the script is prepared. And very kind of him, he's going to help me with directing, as I will be co – staring in it. This puts a lot of worries to rest.
However, when I came back to “The Ghost”, I knew that I would probably need to re write a few things (just to add a few touch ups on the script). However, after doing this, I went to story boarding shot by shot for the short film and had added a few extended shots of a normal glove for my main character to find in the cupboard when taking off his shoes. This was just for fun and creativity for the story. This instantly had given me a great idea for the story that heavily focuses on a normal object, but with a twist that makes the short film deserve the horror genre. So the touch ups for the script had become extensive re writes. I cut out the shadow effects and replaced it with a normal glove. I feel like the script is much better with this idea as it will capture a sense of suspense and also a sense of mystery for the viewers. I also added an additional scene for the ending, along side this; Khiaron will be my main character and the co – star will be Harry instead of me, as I thought it would be a great idea if I made a cameo in my short film (which is the additional scene for the ending). Now that my script is ready and have now finished my storyboard; I am ready for production.
PRODUCTION:
When we started production on “The ghost”, the camera I used was my Iphone 7, It’s simple to use and cheaper. The advantages on using my Phone when making a short film, is the quality of the picture in daytime. The very first shot you see in “the Ghost” is an exposure change from a leaf to my actor. I love having these shots in my short films, as I like to be creative and to experiment on what angle works and doesn’t work.
The first scene we shot was Scene 1. The challenges on filming scene 1 was A) knowing what’s going to be added in post – production e.g. voice over’s and B) people walking past due to the location being a public area. For A), the reason why this was difficult to film is because some elements in the scene would be added later on in post production. So whilst Khiaron is on the phone and says one of his lines, I would tell him to give it 5 seconds before he says his next lines, so it has enough space for a voice over to be added. It took a while to film so we can get it right, but we got there. For B), sometimes we had to wait due to people walking past. It wasn’t a problem, but it did take us longer to film scene 1.
The next scene we filmed was my cameo! 90% of “The Ghost” takes place at my house; so as Director I wanted to film not only scene 1 first but also my cameo as both scenes takes place outside. When it did come to filming inside my house; I had to make sure that all framed pictures of me was taken down, so continuity is there for the film. I also have an apple watch, which connects to my camera; therefore I can see my phone’s perspective through my watch. I used that as an advantage when filming the cupboard scenes, as I placed my phone in the cupboard pointing upwards so I have a low angle shot.
When we finished shooting the short film, it had taken us most of the day. We started at 10:30am and finished roughly at 3pm. The highlight about today was my actors. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to make “The ghost”. So I’m really grateful that they took there time for me just to make a short film. I had a lot of fun filming “The Ghost”, the process was really slow but really enjoyable at the same time.
Overall, the amount of shots we got (including shots that went wrong) is 154.
POST - PRODUCTION:
The final stage to finishing “The ghost” is post production. I first had to export all 154 shots I had taken from my phone to my laptop, this process didn’t take too long, but when dragging all my shots into my album on my laptop; that took about 5-10 minutes to be exported. The next part after exporting was to start editing! The important thing to remember when editing, is to pick the right shot! Ever since the BFI, I have always made sure to at least take multiple shots of the same thing in production, so I have a variety of shots to pick from in post. After picking the right shots; I also wanted to change the colour palette for each shot. Due to the genre being horror, I wanted my short film to look bold by turning down the colours and making a grey. The colour palette doesn’t pop out dramatically, but it’s just enough to change the tone.
After editing the footage together, I then started to add voice over’s in the short film. My actor who plays harry had sent me a video of him saying multiple different lines so I have a variety to pick from. After picking specific lines he had recorded, I then placed them in the short film. I also wanted to try out some of the audio effects as well, mainly I wanted to try out “Telephone” on I-movie; so it helps builds the atmosphere in the short film. The results were great!
Me and one of my actors were debating about the run time of “The Ghost”, I debated it would be over 3 minutes whilst my actor debated it would be 4 minutes. The run time for “the Ghost” is over 5 minutes long! This is great as “Finding Strength” was over 5 minutes long as well.
What I love the most about “The Ghost” as a whole, was improving my mistakes from “Finding Strength”. I added more communication between my actors; to help the short film flesh out the characters, and I also followed the script more, which is great! Because in” Finding Strength” I did use the script, but not a lot of it went into the short film unfortunately.
The issue I have with “The ghost” is the continuity. When editing the scene where Harry opens the door to let Khiaron into his house, you can see for a brief moment my reflection through the door filming the scene. This was really unfortunate to notice when watching the short film, but for my next short film I will make sure to watch out for continuity mistakes.
LINK TO "THE GHOST"
NOTE: This link will take you to my short film WITH black bars. I have included on my Youtube channel the short film WITHOUT black bars.
"THE INTERGALACTIC ABDUCTION" SILENT SHORT FILM
I starred in my friend silent short film called “The intergalactic abduction”. I have 2 roles in the short film, one role as an alien in the forest, and the other role being one of the guys going out for a picnic. I’m credited as “Taller bloke” in the credits. The reason for this is due to no character names in the short film as there’s no word of dialogue due to being a silent short film. I really enjoyed making this short film with my friend Harry (the director). I faced new challenges in production e.g. wearing a costume to be an alien and wearing paint on my face for the opening of the short film and for wearing the alien costume itself to blend in more.
STORY:
The short film is all about 3 guys going out for a picnic, whilst an alien is watching them. As the short film continues on; we discover that the 3 guys were actually kidnapped by the aliens, and are having flack backs by it. The last few minutes of the short film then becomes a survival story, as they are trapped in a force field with an alien. How will they get out alive?
PRODUCTION:
July 18th 2019 is when we started filming. The first scene we filmed was the picnic scene and the forest scene. July 19th 2019 is when we filmed my flashback scene AND Ethan’s flashback scene on how we were kidnapped by the aliens. I really like this scene as Harry wanted more than one alien in one shot. From a technique standpoint, Harry made sure that the camera was still rolling so he can walk into frame (in the alien costume) from different areas in that shot in order to achieve more than one alien. Harry also used a Tri-pod so the camera is steady. The final day of filming was the 10th of August 2019, where me and Harry filmed an additional scene. This scene was the opening of the short film where I’m captured and tortured by the aliens. Harry wanted to film this scene in reverse; so we filmed the ending of the scene first all the way to the beginning of the scene as our last shot. I not only had to wear paint on my face but also had to put fake blood on my arm for the injection scene. We also filmed in his attack, as his attack almost looks like a dungeon, so it shows that I’m trapped.
first rough cut to final cut:
Comparing the first rough cut of short film to the final cut; the first rough cut was almost 4 minutes long. That’s just with the picnic/forest scene with 1 flashback scene. The final cut overall is 8 minutes and 41 seconds long, which shows that there is an additional 4 minutes and 41 seconds of footage that’s been added in.
Harry was actually contemplating about cutting the opening scene, as he thought it would reveal the aliens too early in film. The scene would have been in the final cut either way but altered a bit, it would have been more as flashback for my character. The opening scene has not been cut, but Harry has said that down the road he will re – edit the short film.
The Director's inspiration for the film:
Harry wanted “The intergalactic abduction” to be a call back to old fashion movies/ tv shows like “Doctor Who” from the 1970’s. From a colour pallete standpoint, he really likes the way “Chainsaw Masacra” looks with deep orange colours (like an apocalypse look). He wanted “The intergalactic abduction” to have similar feel.
On top of the page is a little piece of the poster of "The intergalactic abduction” (unfortunately i couldn't fit the whole poster in.)
At the bottom of the page is the link to the short film itself.
"MACHINE FROM ANOTHER WORLD" SHORT FILM:
I starred in my friend’s short film called “Machine from another world”. We shot the film during the Christmas holiday in 2019. The director (Harry Moorcroft) wanted me to play a machine that disguised itself as a human on earth. The director has a role in the film as well. Harry plays a normal human that bumped into this machine. Harry wants to have a better understanding towards this machine and where it came from.
STORY:
A machine from another world leaves its planet to discover another planet called “earth”. However, earth is light years away, which can take centuries to get to. By the time the machine goes to earth, it disguises as a human being (played by me.) The machine is slowly understanding how human beings work such as emotions, walking, taking etc. As the story continuous on, the machine realises that its home planet has now been destroyed due to how long it had taken to get to earth.
We spend the rest of the short film discovering the machine’s purpose and its understanding towards the human race. Harry (the director) plays a key role in the film. I won’t give away too much information; but his role is to help the machine.
I’m very honoured to be a part of my friend’s short film once again. We worked on another film called “The intergalactic abduction” back in august 2019. That short film was almost 9 minutes long; this short film is over 13 minutes long. This means that “machine from another world” is 4+ minutes longer.
I also helped out with camera works such as giving the director ideas and cool angle shots that may benefit the short film; which some of them did!
I absolutely love Harry’s style of story-telling. “The intergalactic abduction” told a story towards aliens that may be a threat. The aliens in that short film wanted to invade the planet. In this short film however, the story focuses on a machine that wants to have a better understanding towards the human race. It’s almost told like a fish out of water storyline, which I love! It has elements of Steven Speilbergs “E.T.” and classic style effects from Doctor Who back in the late 70’s to the early 80’s.
Harry also reused very old shots he had taken several years ago. I really like this idea as it can flesh out the story more. You will also notice that the story takes place in several areas around the world. This is such a good idea as then it gives the sense of scale towards the short film.
“Machine from another world” is going to be on Youtube on the 25/01/20. Harry intends to re-shoot the last scene of the short film. HOWEVER, harry has given me permission to include 2 links for my website.
Link 1 will take you to the teaser of the short film, whilst link 2 will take you to the short film.
TEASER: https://youtu.be/U_brTh1SPX0
SHORT FILM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8udnoavP3k
TEST SHOOT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFvarbyq8qM
WARNING: The quality for "test shoot" isn't great. But we filmed this before the main short film. I did the edit for this test shoot.
"JACK'S PERSPECTIVE ON: THE PANDEMIC" (DOCUMENTARY):
“JACK’S PERSPECTIVE ON: THE PANDEMIC” is a documentary towards the pandemic, primarily my views towards it and how it caused the lockdown. However, not only does this documentary explore the real-life facts towards the pandemic but also explores on how to stay positive during this difficult time. The main message towards the documentary is positivity and how to appreciate lockdown a lot more.
I spent 35 days making this documentary, from the 13/04/20 to 18/05/20. This was originally my final major project at college but as I was working from home, it was more of a passion project for me personally. After finishing my documentary, I got my family and friends to share it on social media. This led to my documentary receiving over 350 views within less than a week and also strong positive feedback, which is lovely. Underneath is my final evaluation towards the documentary, primarily the pros and cons I came across during the making of my video.
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- WHAT TOPICS DID YOU RE-SEARCH?
Throughout my final major project, I’ve been fascinated in filmmaking. I always knew that I would create a short film for my final major project. So, when it came to re-search, I wanted to find out more “under-appreciated” filmmakers such as Paddy Considine (the creator of “Journeyman”), Josh Trank (creator of “Chronicle”), Segun Akinola (composer for “Doctor Who”) etc. I wanted to find out how they made their movies/ music, primarily their technique so I can gain more ideas for my final major project (which did inevitably change from a Sci-fi short film to a well detailed documentary due to the current pandemic.)
However, the best part about re-searching different filmmakers, is getting the chance to re-watch some of their work. I re-searched Quentin Tarantino, due to having a certain style towards his films. This led me to re-watch “Once upon a time in Hollywood” to see his way of storytelling, which is a “non-linear” storyline.
- WAS IT HELPFUL?
Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. Re-searching filmmakers not only taught me their style of storytelling but also taught me their motivation. The deeper I went into re-searching, the more I found out about each filmmaker’s inspiration towards their films such as Quentin Tarantino’s love for Hollywood in the 1960’s, which led him to make “Once upon a time in Hollywood”. However, the most important bit about re-searching filmmakers was to gain inspiration for my final major project. A lot of re-search led to multiple ideas for my final major project such as:
- Creating a Sci-fi short film that would use the theme “time travel”.
- Creating a short film where it’s about me talking to my future self.
However, due to the current Pandemic, I wasn’t about to create a short film. Instead, I had a conversation with my mum, and we said that I would create a documentary based on my views towards the current lockdown. I still did my re-search towards filmmakers, so I can still gain some ideas for my documentary.
- WHAT TECHNICAL OR PRACTICAL SKILLS DID YOU USE?
Throughout my time making my documentary, I used both technical and practical skills. When it came towards practical, I had to do A LOT of filming, which led to me using my new iPhone 10 and my tripod. However, I also had to be creative towards where I would be filming my scenes. Due to the current lockdown, I couldn’t film outside of my house (aside the shots of Nether clay). So, I had to think outside the box. However, the areas I filmed DID relate back to certain chapters such as Chapter 1: The film industry being filmed in my room and Chapter 2: Escapism being filmed in my garden.
When it came to technical skills, there was a lot of editing on my laptop. The editing software I used was “I-movie”. A lot of people would normally use “final cut pro”, “Adobe Premiere Pro” etc when it comes to a well detailed documentary, however, I've gained a lot of skills on “I-movie”, so I wanted to use the software I'm most comfortable with. However, the most challenging part about editing a well detailed documentary was the use of storage space. After editing Chapter 2, I realised that I had 1GB left! So, my parents bought me a hard drive that includes 1TB worth of space. This helped big time. However, I still had to clean up some storage space in my laptop, which increased to 27GB. So, as I made my documentary, I thought of a strategy. Every time I finish editing a chapter, I would export the video in 1080p then get rid of the raw files for storage space purposes. This led me to replacing the raw files on my timeline with a smooth, clean start to finish video that I can expand on with more chapters. Overall, I have 8 rough cuts with one final cut backed up on my hard drive.
- DID YOU LEARN ANY THING NEW? OR IMPROVED ON ANYTHING?
As far as I’m aware, I didn’t learn anything new when it comes to building my skills towards my final major project. However, when it comes to re-searching, I started to understand each filmmaker’s inspiration and technique, which helped me with my final major project such as creating my own piece of music (with the help of my sister) and also thinking of a strategy for my storage space purposes. However, a few months back, I did create a video essay. In my opinion, it was good, but it would have helped if the audio quality was better. Luckily, I improved for my documentary … but not by much. A lot of my audio comes from my house, which doesn’t sound terrible, but does have an awful echoey noise, which can be a bit distracting. However, I tried my absolute best to get the audio as best it can be.
- DID YOU ACHIEVE WHAT YOU SET OUT TO DO, OR DID YOU CHANGE DIRECTION?
Unfortunately, throughout my final major project, I had to change direction. My original idea for my final major project was to create a simple, yet affective, short film about me talking to my future self. I got ready to start the script and cast my actors. However, COVID-19 happened. I knew instantly that I wouldn’t be able to film my short film due to the rule of social distancing. So, before the college closed, I started to think of a plan B in my sketchbook. I went from a variety of different ideas such as video essay’s etc. However, when talking to mum, we both agreed that I would create a documentary based on my views towards lockdown. However, saying that, I am so glad that I changed direction. The reason why is mainly due to making my final major project a big event for everyone. After finishing my documentary, I asked people to share it, so a wider audience can see it (as of right now, my video has reached over 350 views.) It made me realise how "scale" matters when it comes to filmmaking. If I was to create my time travel short film, the scale wouldn’t have been there.
OVERALL THOUGHTS ON YOUR FINAL MAJOR PROJECT:
Overall, I absolutely love my final major project! I started filming my FMP on Easter Monday (13/04/20) and finished it on 18/05/20, which is over a month in the making. I’m so proud of what I created, mainly on the strong message of positivity and connection with people. I also added in heavy detail towards certain sections of my documentary e.g. big movies new release dates and Boris Johnson’s announcement. However, what I'm most proud about in the documentary is the “thank you montage” right at the end of the documentary, which shows of 19 people saying thank you to the key workers. However, when editing “Chapter 1: the film industry”, the entire chapter felt like a video essay. This was great as it shows the detail within one chapter. However, I had to be careful. The reason why is mainly due to the video being a documentary, not a video essay. I overcame this worry by having a balance between real facts about the pandemic and my views towards it and how we can treat some issues like a positive. So, overall, my final major project was a BIG success! With people saying that they love it and some saying that they got emotional.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN AND REALISE WHEN WORKING FROM HOME?
When working from home, I found the most important thing that I’ve learnt was setting myself personal targets to achieve. I knew that I was going to create my final major project independently. I think when looking back at my work, it makes me realise on what I’m capable of when planning my documentary and creating It. Also, my sister and I created an original piece of music as the intro of my documentary. This just shows what a student can do from home (like me.) Also, during this difficult time for everyone, I definitely felt passionate when creating my final major project, as I knew it would make people happy, when seeing the final cut on YouTube. So, to go full circle on what I said about delving deep into what inspires filmmakers; what inspired me was imagining the positive reactions from people when they see the documentary, as I knew the strong message was there. The message about positivity and connection was that strong, it made the viewers emotional.