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In todays lesson we were introduced to our Production Workshop module. We were informed that for our assessment we would need to create a 3-5min short film that we create ourselves. Personally, this is something that really exites me because i really want to experiment with creating original piece of work and exploring that creative process.

We were also told of the different roles that we would be doing in our crews for the production. These were Camera, Lighting, Sound, Producer and Director. In production skills i was the camera operator so this is a role i would like to explore further and develop my skills and improve the mistakes i made during production skills. However i would also like to have a go at directing because that is something that has always appealed to me and i would like to explore what that role is like. My main worry with the module is the paperwork aspect, this is always something that i tend to struggle with and don’t feel confident doing.

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Almost immediately after our first lesson, my group began to brainstorm ideas of what we could do for our short film. Morgan created a shared document where we could all brainstorm ideas and write anything down that we wanted to do.

We all really liked the idea of doing a mockumentary, because we could create something really creative with that concept. We all liked the idea of doing an annoying flatmate idea in the style of the office and its what its like to live with that flatmate. These are just rough ideas.

we began to discuss roles, however we didn't decide on anything because we thought it would be a good idea to get our idea for our short film decided so we could determine roles easier.

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In todays lesson we learnt the importance of story development when writing/ creating a short film. We explored story types, themes, genres and how to develop character descriptions.

its always interested me on how people create story's and characters in such detail and make it seem interesting so i found this aspect really beneficial.

We also learnt about Log lines and Synopsises. A log line is a shortened version of a description of a film, Tv show, short film etc. and a Synopsises is an overall description of the project, describing the beginning, middle and end.

As a group it is now our job to create our log line and synopsis for our short film which we will work together to create after lesson.

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Logline

An accountant with big dreams plagues her flat mates with her theatrical tendencies.

Synopsis

Our camera team follows bored Emily as she is sick of her 9-5 accountant job and dreams of being a west end star, she thinks she has what it takes but her flat mates may disagree. Preparing for her ‘big’ audition, her flat mates grow tired of her theatrical antics as she spends every waking minute doing the most she can to earn her big break. From singing at the top of her lungs all hours of the day and night, to jump scaring her flat mates from dancing in the kitchen, her flat mates quickly become sick of her actions calling to the audience for help on how to stop this. Emily on the other hand believes this documentary will not only benefit her career but also her flat mates as she believes she will be able to ‘provide’ for the flat. Emilys hard work pays off as she lands her ‘big’ break role, she quits her accountant job to purse her dream full time with this new role that has changed her life. However, her flat mates are skeptical whether her role ‘second tree to the right’ is really the big break that will provide for the flat.

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Todays lesson started with us sharing our synopsis and log line that we created for our short film. Overall, i really liked our log line and synopsis and i think it communicates well what we intend to create within our short film, the only issue we all see is creating a script short enough to fit into the 3-5 min time limit so we will need to make sure as a group that we are not over complicating the story and make it easier to follow.

We also learnt about character descriptions and how to create and develop those, answering different questions about our characters and how they would be portrayed in the script.

Later on in the week we met as a group and begun writing our script. we managed to start with a page and a half and we were surprised at how easy we found it to collaborate as a group on how to ave a clear opening and made sure to follow our story and mocumentary style.

in our lesson we learned how to use the script writing software which i was very grateful for because even though i have experimented with script writing before i have never used specific software for it so i was really interested in learning how to use it and found it really beneficial.

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Emily (Theatre Kid)- Bubbly, early twenties, an accountant aspiring to be a west end star. She believes she has what it takes to "make it". Only wearing theatre blacks, 'Just incase'. She can be found rehearsing all around the flat at any hour of the day, Much to her flatmates disgust.

Becky- Sarcastic and matter of fact, Becky is generally unimpressed my Emilys antics and constant performances in their communal spaces. Her dry humour tends to stump Emily.

Ryan and Kelly- Other Flatmates

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Producer and Director

A directors responsibility is to communicate the creative vision, and to work with actors during rehearsal and on set. A producers responsibility is to organise the work flow, sort out budgeting, scheduling and resourcing form for different things.

The main difference between a producer and a director is that the producer will handle the business components of filmmaking and the director is mostly concerned with the creative aspects of the entire production.

(documents to do all these parts are on blackboard)

We learnt about the importance of the different roles and how to act professionally on set and how to work with actors. We should have all of our prep done before we start to film and make sure we have breaks to ensure productive and happy filming.

The producer is responsible for booking out the equipment however for this module we can individually take out the equipment that correspond to our role in the production.

Even though we will be filming in Peel Park Acom we still need a location release form.

As a group we will meet and discus these roles when we finalise our script because at the moment everyone is wanting to do the same role more or less so we need to work around this issue and avoid group conflict.

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Script/ Film planning

Name- 'The Big Break'

Location- Ella's flat in Peel Park

Actors- Friends from a previous production

Costume- Theatre Kid: theatre blacks, show t shirts, jazz shoes etc, bad costumes like blankets.

Crew- In plain comfy clothes

Flatmates- Casual clothes, and some form of pyjamas, No black clothes

Props- Laptop, blanket, eye mask, general kitchen stuff, crutches and boot

In our lesson today, we first planned more of our filming and agreed on specific things such as costume and location, whilst Lara read through our script first draft. overall she really liked it and the concept there were just a few typos we needed to fix such as the transitions in the script. Because some of the cuts appeared as if they should be a director choice whilst filming however we agreed that because of the style of our short film that the camera shots would be i there because of the Mocumentary style and it helps us to communicate the meanings of the scenes/ shots.

We then moved onto recapping different visual styles and the importance of camera angles and how all of our shots have meaning. Exploring Frame and composition and other frames such as the rule of 3rds.

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to create our statement of intent i wrote it and then in class we went over the document and Morgan edited and corrected the document.

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This is our final statement of intent corrected by Morgan

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The Great Onion Argument (See practical research for more info)

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Games Room Mix (see practical re search for more info)

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When it came to casting we ran into a few problems when casting. We were originally going to have our class mates act in our film but due to scheduling conflicts we weren’t able to do this. So we had to find new actors quickly. luckily Ella and I were just involved in a production with uni so we reached out to the people in the show and we managed to find actors for the film and arranged the date. In the future i believe we should be more organised with situations like this because all this planning was last minute and we should have communicated with the other groups about their schedules, however in the end we did manage to become organised

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Filming our short film took place on Wednesday February 21st. everybody on the production team including me, Ella and Lucy arrived at Ellas flat at 8:45am to set up the equipment. We made sure to collect the equipment the day before filming so we could make sure that all the equipment was working and we were fully prepared to take on a full day of filming.

Our goal was to film the whole thing in one day so the continuity would be accurate therefore preparation and planning were key going into production. We did encounter a problem which was Morgans train was delayed so she was late, never the less we still went on with filming at 9am once our actors got here. As Morgan was missing for the start i took it upon myself to stay calm and organised and i made sure all the appropriate forms were signed and that we had our shot list so that we don't fall behind and luckily we didn't.

I also feel i took a more actor wellbeing role as well as i was making sure everyone was feeling good about the day and i was texting in our group chat to remind everyone of the times and place and to encourage bringing drinks and snacks to keep up energy and moral.

When it came to following a floor plan i followed Ellas floor plan because for the majority of the shoot i was stood behind the camera as we determined this was the best place for me to stand to get the best sound quality. The only exceptions to this were the 'To be or not to be' shot because we wanted a behind the scenes look to the scene. And the interviews with Emily due to the space in the room we filmed in where i stood next to the bed.

Overall, we managed to film all our footage in one day and i think this was down to how prepared we were and we listened to our actors and overall enjoyed the filming process. Everyone understood that we needed to be organised with time but also take our time when filming and setting up a scene and i believe we timed our filming perfectly.

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Me during filming with the sound equipment 

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For my production role i had the job of recording the sound for our film. This was my first time doing sound and at first i was hesitant about doing sound because i felt like i wasn't as involved with the creative decisions on filming day and because i have a sensitivity to sound i was worried i was going to be overwhelmed.

Luckily though it was a process that i really enjoyed i loved experimenting with the equipment and i found it very amusing trying to find different ways to hold the boom pole so that the mic was in the correct place for the scene. many times i was holding the boom pole in between my legs and i was getting trapped on chairs because of it. If i were to explore sound further i would experiment with using different types of microphone and experiment more with positions and learning how to achieve the best sound quality.

Something else that i found challenging with sound was knowing when to cut the sound because it wasn't always clear when cut was yelled and before a take the scene wasn't read aloud from the clapperboard so i think that will make editing harder.

Overall, i really enjoyed the filming process and my production role. However, i feel like i need to learn to voice my opinion more because there were certain camera angles i wanted to try and different shot looks however when i would ask this i would just get talked over so therefore i need to work on my confidence when voicing my opinion in a group atmosphere.

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As a group we worked together to create our shot list for our short film. As my production role was sound it was my job to fill in the shot list with the appropriate notes for sound.

I did this by labelling the types of sound were being used in that scene. for example if it was dialogue, voice over, music etc. This was to help us during production so we would know as a group what type of set up we needed for each scene and it helped us with the boom pole positioning.

Moreover, in the notes section i added the begining (green text) and the ending (red text) lines in each shot so that it was clear when the sound needed to be cut off. This was helpfull at first however due to the long pause after some scenes and the word cut not being said all the time at the end of the scene it was sometimes difficult to determine when to cut the sound.

Overall, the shot list helped with the overall organisation of the day which was great and allowed us to get back on track if we became lost. In the future i think i would add more detale to the shot list and try to determine more if there was going to be long pauses at the begining and ending of scenes to make the sound recordings cut sooner and be less long.

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As we used my SD cards for the filming, i took the cards home and streight away uploaded them onto my hard drive and started to check the footage to determine if we needed any retakes.

At first when looking at the footage i though all the shots seemed strangely dark. I then realised i just need to remember to turn my laptop brightness up. After looking over everything i believed we didn’t need to do any re shoots as we shot multiple takes of scenes which meant we could pull footage from different scenes in the edit. In the next lesson we all transferred the footage between the group and had a group conversation regarding re shoots and we decided we didn't need any as all the footage and sound recordings were good and we felt that they captured the effect that we were trying to achieve within a mockumentary style.

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I was really looking forward to the editing process for our short film. I love editing and i had loads of ideas and new skills i wanted to try when going into this edit such as experimenting with adding music and working on the pacing and text when trying to create this Office style mockumentary.

I feel as if i work better with editing when i work alone in a space with minimal distraction so when we decided we were happy with our footage i moved straight onto choosing and adding clips to my edit. Using Premier Pro i cut down and put together shots to get a rough idea of the length and the pacing of the film. I then continued to add background music and adjust the lighting where needed to make the shots brighter, this involved adjusting the exposure and contrast where needed on the clips but also keeping consistency with the shots so that when it moved to a different shot the lighting wasn’t too different so it didn’t disrupt the pacing and flow of the film.

To further experiment and expand my editing skills i decided to add a title sequence to the film as i realised this is a common thing with a mockumentary. I added this at the beginning of the short film to introduce the film. I downloaded a font from Da font and added it to the beginning of the film. I used a typewriter font to represent the idea of a script and give off a filming/ performer vibe. After looking through the intro is felt strange with there being no sound so i added some background sounds from filming where we were setting up the shot to break that 4th wall with the audience and deliver the idea that this is a mockumentary where we know the audience exists.

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After putting together my initial cut of the film i began the process of linking sound from the sound recordings to the video clips. I like to do this after i've put together a first cut of my edit because then i'm confident in what clips i'm using so i know what sound files i need to retrieve . i did this by going through and reviewing the sound files and finding which ones corresponded with the video clips and then i re named the files that corresponded with the scene for easy use when adding them to the film. I then took the time to sync the sound by matching the wave lengths to the camera audio, for me personally this is easier and allows me to achieve my desired goals with sound when editing.

Once this was done i asked Lara to review my film for corrections/ things i could improve on. She suggested that i switch some of the scenes at the beginning and instead have a cold opening which is when a piece of media jumps into the story right before the title sequence which is what you see in show like The Office and Modern Family. I immediately began looking into this and switched my scenes and changed my introduction. I added a more detailed opening where it explains that this film is following what its like to live with a theatre kid and how it shows that Emilys flatmates dont like her. I then changed the opening scene to start with an interview shot and move into a shot of Emily dancing and have it cut back to the interview then move into a title sequence. Overall, i believe this was the best idea because now i feel like my film flows better and the opening is alot clearer than my first edit.

Whilst making this change i also decided to change the sound on the dancing clip where Emily is dancing to Dancing Queen. I realised i didn’t like the sharpness and how abrupt the background music was despite having fade in and fade out transitions. To fix this i decided to experiment with presets with the sound effects to create a more smooth and echoed sound so that when the music turned up it gave more atmosphere to the scene and created the idea that the music was playing in the actual room not added in later because in the recording of the scene she isn’t dancing to anything. I was really happy with this change and overall i was able to expand some of my knowledge when editing sound.

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After making more slight adjustments so my edit i once again asked Lara to watch it and give me feedback on my edit. I like to do this so that i know i'm on track with my progress and so that i know i'm editing to my full capability and pushing myself and work on perfecting my skills.

This time my feedback was to work on editing the lighting in my edit and explore colour correction. I used the colour correcting function on Premier Pro to do this. Overall, there wasn’t much that needed changing and some clips worked better without the colour correction because it made it ether too light or too dark. Even though it was a simple change it was still great to learn the skill.

Moreover, i also cut down some of my scenes to help with pacing which involved faster cut outs and cutting a line in one scene to better establish the tension between the characters in the film.

I wasn’t happy with my transition at the end of the title sequence the transition just seemed to quick of out of sync with the rest of the film. Therefore, i took it upon myself to separately film an establishing shot of the flats to create a better into after the title sequence. It wasn’t a shot of the same flats we filmed in as an establishing shot would have been difficult to film with the danger of the road, however i believe that when you watch the film you can't tell this because of all the action happening in the flat and overall it definitely helped with the pacing of the film in my opinion.

Because i cut down some of the scenes i also had more time at the end of the film to experiment with adding credits. i first tried it with just the names but i didn’t like how boring it was so i decided to add some post credit information that made the mockumentary feel like it was fully complete with updates on the flatmates like you would see in a documentary/ mockumentary and overall i feel this helped with the ending of the film.

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After i was happy with my final edit i exported it as an MP4. I really enjoyed the editing process for this short film and i was able to experiment with new techniques and learn to improve a lot of the finer detail in the film such as fixing cuts in the sound so its more fluent and experimenting with different transitions such as L transitions.

In the future i would love to experiment more with sound effects and i would like wo experiment more with other areas such as being director and looking at camera to widen my knowledge. I also really want to improve with speaking up about hings during filming to improve my confidence when it comes to working in a group.