5

1. STAGE 5
PRODUCTION
REFLECTIONS
Sumiah Sinclair Shaw

2. For our first week in our new rotation we learnt about the criteria for our new rotation, we are to make a short 60 second film with no
speaking apart from the phrase ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen’, and we’ve got to include a clock or a watch. This made coming
up with an idea more challenging but on the other hand also more fun because you have to change and adapt your ideas to fit in with
the restrictions.
To get us more prepared to do a whole project on just film, we learnt some key filming terminologies. This was so when talking about
our filming processes we could use the correct phrases to get our points across. This will help to improve my knowledge about the
film industry which will be useful when talking about particular methods of filming. Also when watching films I will now be more aware
of what filming techniques have been used and why they have been used to manipulate how the audience thinks about certain
characters.
We then looked at examples of short films this was to give us inspiration whilst also showing us what we could be capable of creating
with what we had. We chose our top three and analyzed what we liked about them and what we would be keen to use in our own
production. This task is what made me excited to begin filming as I was able to see what other people were capable of creating and
that even though the prospect of having a film 60 seconds long seemed to close a lot of doors, it also actually opened a lot of new
ones.
After looking at all the examples we were ready to begin thinking up our own ideas. This was a very fun task because as we had the
start of a idea we straight away started developing and adapting it to be better and to fit within the restrictions. I liked this as you got
to see how a little idea grew into a fully developed idea. I found this method of creating an idea to fit the restrictions a lot easier as I
would have normally tried to create an idea straight off the bat which would fit all the restrictions. I think if I hd tried to use that
method for this film, the core idea wouldn’t have made much sense as I would simply be trying to make my film fit in with the criteria
for the film.
When I had found and developed my final idea I created a mood board for it, this involved collecting pictures, some which I had taken
myself and some off the internet and putting them all together as a big collection. The idea of this is that anyone looking at the plans
for my idea also have a visual explanation. This will help them and me, to see what feel and ‘atmosphere’ my film is going to give off.
It also gives me a chance to see if that is actually how I want my film to be and to make drastic changes at the start of the production.
Instead of starting the filming process and realising its giving off the completely wrong vibe. In my mood board I included pictures of
the makeup I wanted to create on my character. This is going to be a key focus throughout the whole film as it signifies her
‘depression’ overcoming her and controlling her.

3. Nearing the end of week 1, we did two experiments to further our experience with filming before we began to start our actual filming.
To get used to a video with no dialogue we were given the task of creating audio for a silent clip. Within the clip there were a variety
of noises that were missing such as, footsteps and cans rattling, our task was to record these noises and edit them over the top of
the clip so they fitted in with the clip seamlessly. To do this we watched the clip several times and wrote down what noises we
believed the clip needed.
I felt like this was a good task to do ahead of this project as some of the clips we will record for our own film might have really bad
sound quality, so this now means I wont have to rerecord the whole clip, I will just have to record some background noises. This will
save a lot of time when filming as I wont be worrying as much about the sound quality as I know it can be easily fixed.
For the second task we did a filming activity in a group of five. This was so we could experiment with different shots and angles and
become used to using different shots and angles. I liked this experiment as I haven't done much experimenting using different angles
and shots and wasn’t too confident in using them, so to get this opportunity to do so was interesting to see which ones worked and I
liked and which ones didn’t. I also enjoyed editing these clips together to create an interesting timeline.
Finally we went over what we had done with our experiments, explaining the process and then reflecting and saying what skills we
would take from this to use in our own project. This was an interesting task to do as I got the opportunity to look at what I had created
and be able to say what I would actually use in my own production. This was also a good development process for my video as I
have a few more ideas and suggestions to include in my production.

4. For our second week in our rotation we conducted and collected our primary research. To be able to do this we went on
surveymonkey.com to write our questions, these questions were then posted on a college media page so people in different classes
could get to answer and we would get a wider variety in answers. It was necessary to have a wider range of people answering the
questions because I really wanted to be aware of what my audience wants to see and also what they’re not too keen on seeing. I
made a conscious effort to have a variety in open and closed questions, this was so the people answering would have the opportunity
to get their opinions and thoughts across in more detail than a simple yes/no answer. Having a longer answer would also be more
beneficial to me as the producer as I could see what people were genuinely wanting to see and what they weren't to bothered about.
Knowing this about my audience is going to help me shape and refine the idea for my film. Collecting primary research is a necessary
task to complete before starting to plan and film. This is because you may have ideas or questions that need answering before you
start to put them into action. Being able to ask these questions and seeing peoples responses gives you more confidence in your
idea it also gives you more ideas to add to and develop your ideas.
On completing our primary research we began our secondary research, this was where we collected information about the audience
of our genre. My genre is an abstract drama so that is what I researched. This involves finding a film within that category, looking it up
on YouGov and then looking at what the viewers who watch that are also interested in. This is going to be very beneficial to my own
film as I am then able to take in what that audience is interested in and incorporate it into my own film.
After finishing all my primary and secondary research I went onto product research and the bbfc classifications on age ratings. For
collecting product research I looked at three films which were similar to my idea or films that had similar technological techniques I
would be interested in using. This is so we can look at how they have filmed certain situations or conversations hat we would also be
filming. It is a good way to give us inspiration for our own filming.
For my first film I chose the film Anxiety by Mikey Murphy. I really enjoyed looking at and analysing this film as it gave me a lot of
ideas on how to incorporate different techniques and methods to help convey emotions and messages without just coming straight
out and stating what is going on which would make for a boring film and it also wouldn't interest the viewer if they are not even able to
think and contemplate about what could be going on.

5. For my second film I looked at the If London were Syria in the Most Shocking Second A Day Video made by the charity
SaveTheChildren. This depicted what is going on in Syria as if it was happening in London. This was done so more people could
connect to, relate to and understand what is going on in Syria. A lot of people consider Syria's refugee situation to not be their
problem, so don't bother themselves with it. But showing the same situation but in an environment that they can connect to, helps
bring the problem home and then they realise that just because its not happening to them yet doesn't mean it wont ever. I really like
how the charity have done this because it opens a lot of peoples eyes to the problems in the world that they don't concern
themselves with. I chose this film because it illustrates how I want to show the gradual demise of a character. At the start of the film
the little girl is very smiley and happy at the end it is like she has aged about ten years and is no longer the little girl she used to be. I
like how they did the transition from the beginning to end with the second a day theme. This is a quick way to capture peoples
attention as the audience isn't waiting a long time for anything to happen as it happens straightaway. This is something I definitely
want to bring into my film because as I said earlier it captures peoples attention straightaway.
For my third and final film I looked at the film Could You Tell? This is a film that shows people getting on a train it then focuses on two
girls in the train who are suffering with mental health problems that limit their social interactions and who are clearly both having a
hard time being on the train among other people. The technical aspect of this film that I liked is the use of voice-over. They used the
voice-over to show what was going on in the girls heads, without this the audience wouldn't have a clue as to what was actually going
on and the message of the film would be missed. Although I wont be able to use voices in my own film I will definitely think about
incorporating voice-overs somehow.

6. For our third week in our rotation we were doing all of our planning for our film. This was our chance to make sure all the criteria was
in our film, and that the actual plan for the film would fit in with the timing schedule.
The first planning I did was to create my call sheet. This is a sheet that should be made available to all of the crew and the cast. It
includes the location, the times that filming will take place at each of the different locations, the call times for each member of the
crew and the cast, shooting schedule and the kits movements and person responsible. Although my cast and crew is only made up of
three people it is still important that each member knows when and where they need to be, this is to ensure that there is a smooth
filming process.
To continue with my planning I next made a contingency plan. This is where you plan for everything that could go wrong, e.g./
Camera could die, and then you plan for how you would rectify that situation e.g./ have a spare battery on hand. On the form you also
include the effect the problem could have on production and also who would be responsible for making sure the problem could be
sorted. Having a contingency plan is very useful for when filming begins because if something goes wrong you will know how to solve
the situation and get production back to filming. This is especially good for my film as I am on a tight filming schedule, so all my
filming time is valuable and losing any of it would effect production a lot. Knowing that I have this plan is going to make me feel a lot
more confident when filming as anything that could go wrong can also be easily resolved.
I then went onto creating my storyboard to create this I used a site called Pixton. This was definitely the best website to create my
storyboard on as I could customise the characters and make their reactions to what was happening around them more realistic. This
helped to bring my story to life and helped me to visualise how I wanted it to look, more in relation to the finer details. Creating my
storyboard has helped me to also decide how I want it filmed, what shots to use, the lighting, how I want my characters to look and
act, as I can visually see my idea, instead of just in words or in my head.
Creating my storyboard helped me to decide how I want my film to look, so I felt like I was now ready to create my Shot List.
However before I started on that I decided to create my structural breakdown. This would help me to know how much time I had for
each shot and what needed to happen in that shot, both with the visual and sound aspect. For the structural Breakdown I broke down
my idea into three main separate parts. I was able to do this quite easily as each of those parts are very different in terms of visually,
the audio and also how the character is mentally. Within the separate parts I then spoke about what was going to happen in terms of
the story line, the audio and the visual aspect.

7. After creating both my storyboard and the structural breakdown, I now felt like I had everything I needed to create my shot list. To
create my shot list I found it easier to start on paper as I could easily write down what I was thinking add in extra parts and easily
scribble things out, I prefer to start off In this manner as you can clearly see your thought process, which is an important factor I
believe when starting out with something as important as a shot list. After I had scribbled down all my ideas for shots, I brought up my
development diary on different shots and angles to use. This helped me to think of how I could film all my shots differently which
would help to keep the viewer interested in my film. I then set out a structure for each of my different shots.
Shot No.
Shot Type:
Duration
Description:
Audio:
Lighting:
I kept this structure for all of my shots as it clearly displays all the information needed in a easy to read manner. The one thing that
makes my shot list different from other peoples is that the middle part of my film isn’t structured in terms of shots. As this bit is meant
to be quite abstract and having it structured in shots would make it less abstract and more formal. I wanted to be able to have fun
playing around with my character and the camera.
I then went onto looking at what location I would use for filming. For my film I decided I needed two locations to film in. For the first
location it was easy to decide as I needed a dining room setting because that is normally where family are most likely to connect and
talk to each other. The second location was more tricky as I needed somewhere that wouldn’t normally be seen. I decided I had two
options, 1. being the woods that are extremely close to where I live. These would be great to use as I could film in the dark, which
would make the footage look creepy. I could also use torches to make dramatic shadows to add to the creepiness. My second option
was a room in my house that was being redecorated. I wasn’t sure whether the timing would work out with the filming and the
decorating e.g. would the room be free to film in. Apart from this the second location seemed the most ideal as it was inside, and I
could use big professional lights to create big dramatic shadows. I also wouldn’t have to deal with the sounds that being outside
creates. Luckily for me the room was free over the weekend I was looking to film on. The room also looked exactly how I wanted it to,
with paint being stripped off the walls and no carpet on the floor. It was the perfect location for the concept of my film.

8. Before filming began I also had to sort out props, costumes and makeup looks. These were crucial to my film as without them, what
was happening wouldn’t really make any sense. For props I just needed a couple of items, just to add detail to the film. For costume I
had to look at making the outfits get increasingly dark, without making it totally obvious. For makeup I need it to be subtle in the
beginning and then become really dramatic at the end. This was a lot of fun to create, as I could go very dark with the makeup,
without having to worry if it kept within the normal ‘beauty guidelines’
For the final part of Pre-Production, I had to look at sound. We looked at diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Diegetic being when the
sound is happening in the film and non-diegetic being when it is placed in after and wouldn’t naturally occur in that clip. For diegetic
sounds I looked at recording footsteps, screams and heavy breathing. I wanted to record these to help increase the tension when it
came to editing. For the non-diegetic sounds I looked at composing original music. Both my dad and my brother play piano, so I told
them both the sort of sound I was looking for and they sat down for a few hours and created a piece of music I could then record and
use in my film. I really appreciated them doing this, as it is very hard to find the exact sort of music you are looking for online,
whereas in person if one part of the song isn’t working for you, you can just mention it and it can be easily changed to suit your
preferences.

9. This week was all about filming and editing. However I dint have chance to start filming until the weekend so I
spent the majority of this week finishing off any work and continuing with my Pre-Production just to make sure that
everything was ready for when I did start filming.
When filming did start on the Saturday, we started filming the scenes where she’s ‘trapped’ in her mind and is
struggling with all of her inner demons. These scenes were harder to film than I had expected. This was because I
hadn’t wanted to preplan the shots for these so I was sort of winging it in terms of the shots. Looking back I think it
would have been better if I had pre-planned at least some of the shots, as I felt quite lost when it came down to
the filming process. However filming continued and as it did I felt more comfortable being behind the camera and
deciding what shots ot do. It also turned out to be quite fun, deciding on outfits and makeup for the shots we were
filming. On the Sunday evening we filmed the dining room scenes. This turned out to be very funny as my dad
who was acting in it, is not the most comfortable in front of the camera, so s=he kept laughing and ruining the
shots. However we did eventually get all the shots finished and I began to start putting all the clips together.
For the editing process I looked at the ‘trapped mind’ part first as this was the most complicated and needed the
most attention editing wise, as it needed to be confusing but also needed to make some sort of sense and also
communicate the message I was trying to get across to the viewers. After I had put together this part I moved onto
connecting it to the other clips to tie the whole film together. For these scenes I simply put them into a timeline
and then added them on with some transitions included, for it all to make sense.

10. This week began with finishing off my editing from the previous week as I hadn’t had the time to complete
it. However all I really had to do was add on the sound and just check that the film made sense. So this
was finished very quickly.
I then moved onto writing my evaluation for this whole project. First however I had to write my production
reflection. This is the form where I wrote about the five weeks I had spent on this project, describing what I
did and how it went. This was very interesting as it was quite interesting to go back through the weeks and
see how my first little ideas had morphed into an actual 60 second film.
I then proceeded to write my evaluation. This involved getting other people to look at my film, saying what
they liked and what they didn’t feel worked as well. This was quite nerve-wracking as it was my private
project that I now had to share with other people. However hearing their feedback is going to be useful if I
decide to do something similar to this in the future.