PLANNING AND PRODUCTION

Under this section I will present all my pre production planning paperwork.

The process of production and post production of my project will be presented under practical skills section.

My final project will be presented under presentation section.

PRE PRODUCTION PLANNING EVIDENCE

My idea is the first element in the pre-production process. Transforming my idea to viable end product is what you do in production. After filming, recording sound or taking my images and writing my article I will go into post production to edit the final product.

Before I begin the production part of my project, I need to get everything together so that I am totally in control of my project, which is the pre-production process.

I have already started the pre-production by getting my idea into shape and completing the Proposal pitch.

STORYBOARD/ VISUAL IDEAS:

Storyboard is a way of telling your film story visually. Essentially a storyboard tells your film in small pictures. The importance of a storyboard is to see how each scene or sequence is to be filmed and edited to make your story effective on the screen. Factual programs can also benefit from a storyboard, first to show how the factual story will be presented on screen and secondly to show how key sequences will be shot.

Original Idea:

RISK ASSESMENT/ HEALTH & SAFETY:

Once the locations have been selected for your shoot, the next job is to check the health and safety aspect of each location. However, this might seam unnecessary, if you are just doing an interview, but each location must be assessed for its potential to cause injury to anyone on your production.

The producer is ultimately responsible at all times for the health and safety of the crew and the contributors on location or in the studio. If the producer is not able to be on location, responsibility must be delegated to a named individual – usually the production manager.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE:

 The production schedule is an important document for me to include in my final portfolio and I will need to ensure that it is detailed and comprehensive. A film production schedule or shooting schedule is a plan that every film, TV show, or commercial follows to make sure that the video production goes smoothly. It's a simple breakdown of the scenes, time, cast, company moves, and day breaks, but mine is a bit simpler.

The Director, Cinematographer, and Assistant Director will collaborate on the shooting schedule. It's important all of them to be in sync.

The first production schedule was the one I had planned, but wasn't too sure about the dates, the second one is the production schedule that actually happened and I did what I had planned to do on those days. The second schedule is a lot more simpler but its easier for me to understand. Completing these schedules has made it clearer for me in terms of what I'm doing and when.

LOCATION RECCES:

Recce comes from the French word ‘reconnaissance’, meaning survey or discovery. It has come to mean finding locations suitable for filming.

A location Recce is typically carried out before the production (filming, taking images, recording sound etc.) to test the suitability of each location.

10/5/22 not 15/10/22

LEGAL & ETHICAL:

Filming permits are permits issued by governments to allow the filming of motion pictures. Every city has some sort of council or office that handles filming permits. Obtaining film permits is part of the process of location scouting, and they are usually the responsibility of the location manager.

Legally speaking, filming in public places is generally accepted without permission. However, individual laws regarding commercial filmmaking and the need for film permits vary. Likewise, filming in public for the creation of content that you will profit from also has different rules.

Is it legal to film someone without permission in the UK?

No one can copyright their own appearance. Britain does not have specific guarantees of privacy in law, so no one can stop you filming them, provided you are not breaking some other law to do so such as trespassing. Be careful not to film people in what they might reasonably believe to be private situations e.g. changing rooms, changing on a beach or toilets, sunbathing in their garden, etc.

What can’t I film?

You cannot film on private property without permission. Shopping Centres are particularly strict about this, as are Bus, Train, and other transport operators. Finding the right people to ask can sometimes be difficult but, once permission is sought it is often granted. You are unlikely to get permission to film defence establishments, like naval dockyards and military bases. You cannot film the police inside a private building. You cannot film people if they have a legitimate expectation of privacy, for instance in their home and garden.

FIELD EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST:

Camera
Micro SD
Batteries
Tripod
Lights
Lenses
Bag
Charger cables
Spare SD card
Spare battery

SHOT LIST:

A shot list is a document that maps out everything that will happen in a scene of a film, or video, by describing each shot within that film or video. It serves as a kind of checklist, providing the project with a sense of direction and preparedness for the film crew.

Shot lists are especially critical in managing and preparing for film scenes. Making a film needs knowledge of shot type, camera movement, lighting and much more.

SHOOTING SCRIPT:

The shooting script is more elaborate, precise, overwritten version of the script. It is written by the director alongside his cinematographer, while both discuss their ideas and shot plan desired for the movie.

In broad terms, the main difference between the script and the shooting script is that the script is a selling tool, whereas the shooting script is a production tool.

The shooting script is normally broken into scenes and shots, featuring precise cinematography terminology such as close up, medium shot, tracking shot etc. The idea here is to inform the crew what is going on. Before filming starts, the shooting script will be divided into dates, so everyone knows what is being shot when.

CHARACTER PROFILE:

A character profile can be used by both novelists and screenwriters. It maps out details on your character’s life, appearance, and personality. By doing this, you can use this profile as a reference throughout the writing process. You can refer to this when writing your screenplay. While making a character profile is not essential, you may find that by taking the time to analyse each character, you will find it easier to write about them effectively.

ME:

SEX AND AGE:

Female
18

MAIN TRAITS (CHARACTERISTICS):

Quiet
Self-contained

INTERNAL CONFLICTS (PHYSICAL OR MENTAL):

Mental health
Depression
Loneliness

SOCIAL AND ENVIROMENTAL CONFLICTS:

Difficulty travelling (uses public transport)
Not many friends

WHY THE AUDIENCE WILL IDENTIFY WITH THIS CHARACTER:

Mental health issues
Social issues
Relating to hobbies or personality
Same choice in style
Same age group

DEEPEAST FEARS:

Losing relationships
Struggling with mental health too much

AMBITIONS:

Successfully overcome mental health
Keep relationships with people

HOROSCOPE:

Scorpio

HOBBIES:

Reading
Travelling

THE TREATMENT:

Melancholy

CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON PHONE ALARM BUZZING AT 9AM, as AMBER, 18, a quiet teenager, is seen turning off her alarm. She then tosses and turns but gradually wakes up to get ready for the day. She then gets dressed and walks over to her bathroom. CLOSE-UP to the tablets Amber is about to take. CUTAWAY CLOSE-UP to lots of tablets appearing in her hands as her thoughs overwhelm her. Amber then returns back to her reality of a boring life to continue taking her usual tablets. Walking into the kitchen, she then makes some toast MID-CLOSE UP and starts to eat it, but only managing to eat half.

LONG SHOT of Amber waiting for the train at the station, which is seeming to take forever. Listing to music blaring in her headphones, CUTAWAY CLOSE-UP to the train tracks shaking as her thoughs overwhelm her once again, seeming like these thoughs never end. She comes back out of her daydream to approach the train ans sit down, MID-SHOT proceeding to look out the window at the view speeding past the window. As the train is coming to a stop she CLOSE-UP grabs her bag and walks off the train as its apprached to a stop.

LONG SHOT of Amber slowly pacing around the shopping centre while lost in her music, she decides to sit on a bench to process her thoughs. TIMELAPSE LONG SHOT of Amber just sitting on the bench and taking in the view and also fading into a daydream. People walk past going about their day, familys laughing, couples holding hands, everyone just going about their lives, while she feels stuck in one single loop. She finally comes back to her senses and decides to go to one of her favourite spots where she feels comfortable alone, these abandoned buildings that are covered in overgrown plants.

MID-SHOT While waiting for the bus she gets lost in her music once again, CUTAWAY CAMERA FOCUSES ON FRONT OF BUS AND ROAD as the bus turns up she instantly things about walking infront of it, coming back to reality she steps onto the bus, scans her pass, and sits down like those thoughs didn’t just happen. CLOSE-UP she though of reading her book to try and take hermind off of things, the book being Girl Interrupted. While reading she realisies she doesn’t have life that bad, I mean she’s not sat in a pysch ward with a personality disorder so it cant be that bad right? Well that’s what she thought. The bus gradually comes to a stop and she gets off close to where the abandoned buildings are.

LONG SHOT as she walks inbetween the abandoned buildings, finding the one she normally goes in. MID-LONG SHOT as she approaches the abandoned truck covered in graffiti and dirt, which seems to have been sat there for years, she then climbs onto the back and sets her back down CLOSE-UP to light a cigarette. MID-CLOSE UP listening to her music she decides to carry on reading her book. Time goes by without her noticing and she had been there for hours.

LONG SHOT coming to the conclusion its probably time to head home, she slowly strolls through the woods she used to go to all the time as a child, so she knows the place pretty well. She remembers making scrap books with leaves and different branches with her dad, and all the memories. MID-SHOT gradually walking through the woods by pushing certain branches out of the way and trying not to get stung by stinging nettles, she wanted to go to a cliff edge to take in the view.

DRONE HIGH ANGLE EXTREME LONG SHOT OF AMBER WALKING DOWN AN EMPTY ROAD.

LONG SHOT sitting down near the cliff edge, CUTAWAY of course she cant escape these thoughts, especially here. CAMERA PANS UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE CLIFFS, her thoughts seemed to be so much more immense than before, she didn’t know what to think or do. She couldn’t take the pain anymore but wanted to get help as she couldn’t bare the effect it would have on everyone around her. CLOSE-UP she searched for the Samaritans website on her phone to try to talk to someone, deciding to message her dad, he arrived within a few minutes. LONG SHOT he comes and sits down next to her and procceedes to put his arm round her for support and comfort.

CAMERA SLOWLY PANS OUT FROM BEHIND SHOWING THE VIEW .

FINISH

SUMMARY

Explain the reason behind the project/ What is that makes you chose the topic and the project?

One of the main reasons why I decided to choose my topic of mental health for my FMP was because how much I know it effects people’s daily lives, including my own. Its such a wide topic that isn’t touched upon much, or if it is its normally very stereotypical. Because of my own personal experiences with depression, I know how much it means to people to be able to relate as then it makes them feel not alone, more likely to come forward about how they’re feeling. For my project I’m focusing on the visual side, trying to explain how depression feels visually, to be able to make more people relate to it and seek help.

Your personal experience that influences your choices

Since starting my course, I wanted to make a short film at some point to do with mental health, and I’ve decided to do it as my final project at college as from gaining the skills and knowledge from completing this course, I feel confident about portraying what I want the audience to see. My roles within my project is all of them, including being the character in the film, I have help from my family for filming the scenes I won’t be able to do on own, such as moving shots. My personal experiences with mental health have been difficult, some people in my family as well as myself and friends have been affected by mental health so it’s a big part of my life. I know how difficult it is to try and describe how you’re feeling which seems impossible, but I want to try and show visually how it feels, which is a lot easier to portray rather than trying to talk to someone and explain it to them. This project relates to my future career because I would love to create a full-length film on mental health in the future. I will be going to university to study film production and hopefully get a career out of it, so from doing these projects it’s given me a head start and more knowledge than maybe other people might not have.

What is basic premise of your project?

My final major project is about visualising depression. It interests me the most as I have my personal struggles with it, which will further emphasize the knowledge and feelings I will portray in the short film. I want people to become more comfortable talking about this topic, and how it affects nearly everyone in different ways, no matter the age. This is also my strongest idea as I can picture what I want it to look like, whereas the other ones I can’t as much. Including colour will furthermore highlight the feelings shown in my short film, I want to experiment with colour as I think it has huge significance when creating a film. Throughout my short film I will be going through a sort of daily life for me, and many other people, from the start of the day till the end, and how depression effects people’s everyday lives, from feeling numb to having no motivation.

What do you seek to achieve and how it relates to your target audience?

I want to be able to achieve my research question properly, which is what depression is. Achieving this means that I will have visually shown depression the best I can, and also people's views. I want the viewers to be able to feel comfortable with sharing their stories about depression, and how they've suffered to get the help they need. This relates to my target audience as I have focused my research into a particular age group, young people, and teenagers. From gathering that research, I have learnt more about how young people feel, what their thoughts are, and also if they’ve seeked help previously. This all adds up and makes it easier for me to get the outcome I want to achieve, which is successfully showing what depression looks like.

Use findings to Contextualise your project

From my findings, I have learnt and discovered more about my topic of depression, and also about cinematography, which has allowed me to become more confident when researching a topic as a whole, and in my final major project, it’s also shaped my original idea into my final product. For example, to start off with depression wasn't my favoured idea at first, then I did the research and had a clear idea on how I could present my short film on the topic of depression, rather than a part two to my previous project which was a skating documentary, I feel like I could relate to my final idea more than the others and It’s the one I felt the most positive about. In addition, from doing production research and all the pre-production paperwork, it’s made me understand a lot more about what goes into making a film, and also prepares me for the future when making more short films.

How is your media product related to similar media products that you looked at?

From analysing and researching similar media products, I have gained more knowledge on my chose topic of mental health, and overall, a better understanding of what I will create to portray visually how I think depression feels and looks like. For example, I really like how Thirteen uses colour to focus on visually showing how the characters feel, and with UNSPOKEN, the use of depth of field is something I would like to include to further show emotion, and the outcome of this video, the message that is visually shown is what I want to use in my FMP. I managed to understand how different techniques in the similar media products I looked at all prominently show how there are many ways you can capture emotion. Furthermore, I really like the idea of having not much dialogue, like UNSPOKEN, it breaks down the emotions the character is feeling such as isolation even though the character is at a party. All of these similar media products relate to my project as I will be using certain techniques or skills used in all of these to further get an outcome what I want to achieve

How similar products influence and shape your project?

These all influence and shape my project due to the content in them (the topics), the techniques, composition and lighting used. I have a clear image in my head what I want my FMP to look like. As stated above the film Thirteen shows different emotions very well such as colour and the different camera angles, its also a low budget film which makes it more realistic. I will be incorporating the use of colour in post-production and also lighting and certain camera angles in production.

What did you learn from similar media products?

From looking at similar media products, I have learnt more useful techniques and skills I can incorporate in the future for different projects. Furthermore, I have become confident in what I want to achieve, I felt indecisive at the start, but from looking at different media products ive gained more ideas and different ways on how to do certain scenes or shots.

Evaluate skills and techniques you experimented with (how successful they were, what were you trying to achieve, did you have any problems or difficulties, where and how those skills are going to be used in your project).

In terms of experimentation, I used Premier Pro to experiment with changing the colour and different ways it looks visually such as exposure. I was trying to achieve a better look for a small I scene I had already recorded, and to make it look balanced out in terms of colour and lighting. I played around with the different settings until I achieved the look I wanted. I had problems with remembering the editing shortcuts as I’m still not used to editing fully, and it took a while for me to get it the way I wanted it to look. All these skills will be used in my post production of my FMP as I will be using colour and different exposure settings.