Cat's Level 3 Year 2 'G' Padlet Page by C R-30260324

Personal Development Plan 1

30260324 — 2024-10-02 19:28:38 UTC

30260324 — 2024-10-02 19:35:06 UTC

30260324 — 2024-10-02 19:35:46 UTC

Music Video

30260324 — 2024-10-02 19:46:36 UTC

Schedule 1

30260324 — 2024-10-14 11:49:13 UTC

30260324 — 2024-10-16 12:32:55 UTC

30260324 — 2024-11-13 15:48:02 UTC

30260324 — 2024-11-13 15:51:07 UTC

Unit H Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 12:15:25 UTC

My unit H project has a lot of dance aspects involved. I thought that practicing for our project would be a could chance to develop my dance ability for my target. I , therefore, included learning the dance as an exercise to strengthen my dance ability and physical awareness. In this video I have started learning the chorus to the dance. I really struggled with certain movements, especially ones where I have to coordinate my feet and arms at the same time. There was a movement in particular that I really struggle with at first and that was the point and hip bop move. I found that repeating this move helped me to execute it better whilst dancing as it improved my muscle memory.

Meditation Video

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:03:44 UTC

I chose this video for my stamina target as I felt that it really focused on relaxing the body and was targeted towards helping me sleep. I thought that it would be good practice to try to mediate every one in a while before bed in order to get a good nights rest and keep me off my phone before bed.

Flexibility warm up

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:09:01 UTC

This warm-up was the 10 minutes beginner warm-up. I decided to do this warm up before practicing my dance for Unit H. I did not realise how stiff my legs were and some of stretches I found to be quite difficult. This exercise was mainly simple stretches and focused more on the physicality aspect of this target as it helped me get more in touch with the capabilities of my body.

Jazz Exercise

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:12:16 UTC

In my schedule I had originally decided to alternate between ballet and jazz warm-ups however I found that this exercise in particular had a good balance between some ballet technique and jazz technique. Our piece for dance works is a jazz/ballet fusion piece and I found that whilst I picked up the ballet parts quite easily I struggled more with the jazz parts. This led to my decision to cut out the ballet warm- ups and focus more on jazz technique and practicing the dance works piece.

Dance Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:22:10 UTC

I have no idea why this video is in slow motion and I don’t know how to undo it. This video is one of the first practices for our Danceworks piece. Our danceworks piece is very challenging for me so I decided to put a lot of focus on it for my development plan and document my improvement. I found that I really struggled with the Pas de Bourree whilst using my arms and this was something that I needed some extra help with during class. I wanted to get in as much practice of this dance piece as possible as I felt that it had a lot of foundational elements for both jazz and ballet and that learning this dance would help with my muscle memory for futures choreographies and make learning them easier. I also struggle with the footwork that lead into the turns however at this stage I would like to focus on the Pas de Bourrees as these are the most challenging for me.

Dance Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:30:42 UTC

This was my second recorded dance practice. My Pas de Bourrees have improved so I decided to dedicate this lesson to improving my timing. I made sure to practice with my peers both watching me and performing with me so I could make sure that I was in time. I found that there were still some bits that I was unsure of and messed up the timing. This was just a case of muscle memory and not being able to perform the dance quickly. Due to me struggling to remember the dance I decided to put more dance practices in my schedule so that I could rehearse as much as possible for dance works. Dancing is a weak area of mine so I decided that I would have to do more work outside of class to improve in this area. I did find that at the end of this rehearsal I was able to dance our choreography more confidently. I also noted whilst rewatching the video that I struggled with certain moves that required me to get up very fast and go straight into the next move. I attributed this to weak and stiff leg muscles. This contributed to my decision to add a glute warm-up to my future schedule as I already had stretches for my legs but I had not included exercises that worked on the muscles.

Jazz Exercise Video

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:50:30 UTC

This jazz exercise contains elements of both jazz and ballet. It contains warm-ups with plieés, relevé, first position and other ballet technique as well as jazz aspects. I found this warm-up to be quite challenging as it’s very fast paced and some of the exercises are very dynamic stretches which require a higher level of flexibility. I chose this exercise as it not only targets bodily awareness and tensions but also muscle strength and flexibility .

Sleep App Update

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:57:06 UTC

Sleep App Goals

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:58:34 UTC

I download a sleep app to better track my sleep schedule and allow me to create more accurate sleep goals. I wanted to place a lot of focus on sleep for my stamina goals as I feel that a lot of my stamina issues throughout the week are because I struggle to sleep or get to sleep on time. I hope to create a more regular schedule over the course of this development plan. I feel that having a more regular sleep schedule will allow me to be more present ,alert and engaged during rehearsals which will ultimately improve my end performance.

Sleep Update 1

30260324 — 2025-01-10 17:59:51 UTC

This was my 3rd night of using the sleep app. I did not have access to my sleep quality score yet , however the information I did get from the app is that I wake up quite frequently in the night and it takes me a long time to go to sleep. I went to bed quite late as well this night and I struggled to sleep. I felt very lethargic in the morning and during the day which is quite typical. I would like to start my improving my sleep quality so introducing making sure that I am not looking at my phone before bed or drinking caffeine in the evening.

Sleep App update

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:00:24 UTC

This was my 4th night of using the app and I almost reached my sleep goal. I had hoped to be in bed earlier as I would like to get 9 hours. I feel that I function best on 9 hours so I will continue trying to reach this goal.

Sleep App update

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:00:38 UTC

I reached the quality and amount of sleep that I wanted, however the times that I went to sleep and woke up were quite late and did not meet my target. I got quite distracted by my phone this night so I plant to try and be better with putting my phone on sleep mode so that I am not disturbed.

Sleep App update

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:00:55 UTC

This day was similar to my previous recording. I am starting to wonder if this is the time I naturally start to wind down and wake-up. I plant to try and continue with this routine and maintain 8 hours of sleep.

Sleep App Update

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:01:05 UTC

I slept really well but I getting to sleep was a challenge. I struggle to wake up for this day and I did not meet my sleep goal. This affected my productivity for this day.

Unit H Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:15:05 UTC

This was one of my last practices for our unit H project. By this time there was only a small bit that I did not know, however I felt that I was more confident in the dance and I did not struggle as much with the footwork as I did before. Given that I felt more confident doing the dance for this practice I thought to add more character to my dancing as I find I go quite monotone during dancing because I have to concentrate. I wanted to use this chance to practice having a character while dancing as I also got feedback during our danceworks rehearsal that I needed to add more character while dancing. I noted that I picked up the final bits of choreography much quicker than when I first started learning the choreography. I was very impressed with this as I felt that my ability to learn choreography had improved as I had tried to be consistent in learning new bits of choreography for both Unit H and Danceworks as often as I could.

Flexibility Routine

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:19:27 UTC

I looked at quite a few routines before I decided on this one. I choose this video because the stretches were beginner easy and I felt that that would be a good place to start so that I don’t put myself off. The stretches also help with doing the splits which aligned with a short term goal of mine. I also found the routine to be quite relaxing so I thought that this would be a good contrast to my jazz warm-up that is quite intense and upbeat. I like to have routines for different energy levels, this way I will be more consistent with them.

Website

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:28:53 UTC

Jazz Exercise

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:34:25 UTC

I apologise for the awful camera angle in this, I did not realise. This practice was a bit easier than my previous practice using this routine. Not only because I was more familiar with the routine but I also felt that my flexibility and muscle strength had improved. I do think that some elements such as arm coordination could be improved as I struggled a bit with the arm stretches and exercises but even with that I felt that I had improved. So far I have only done half of the video as it is quite a lengthy routine and I would like to focus on the improving the elements I already know but my eventual goal is to do the entire routine from start to finish.

Dance Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:40:13 UTC

This video is in slow motion for some reason again I am so sorry. I think it’s something I’m pressing. This was a short lesson for practice. There were just some elements in the ballet section that I wanted to improve on. I asked Harriet to do this section with me so that I could make sure I was in time. I also put extra effort into the balancés as we got feedback from Heidi during our dance lesson to add more exaggerated head turns to make it look more visually appealing. I also wanted to make sure that my footwork was correct as I noted that I tended to make mistakes with the Balancés during practice and I wanted to make sure that they were committed to my muscle memory so I could perform them quickly without making mistakes. I thought that by the end of this practice I performed much better in the ballet section and I felt more confident in it.

Flexibility warm-up

30260324 — 2025-01-10 18:54:05 UTC

I carried on with the beginner flexibility warm-up as I enjoyed how slow paced it was and it really gives me time to feel the stretch. I still feel that I am very stiff, however I tried to push myself to hold my leg higher in the leg raises and I noted that I got quite a bit higher than last time. I also feel that I can bend forward more and place my elbows on the ground during the forward stretch. Otherwise I would like to continue this stretch until I can put my hands on the floor completely and hold my feet during the forward stretches

Dance Practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 19:00:05 UTC

We have dance works in about 2 weeks so I wanted to use this practice to make sure that I am still in time and that I iron out the smaller details such as jumping off on the right leg, making sure my toes are pointed or making sure my leg is straight. I felt that my rehearsal of our dance works piece has greatly improved and I was confident throughout most of the dance. The only part that I struggled with was the floor section as the end as I struggled to maintain my balance. I did set aside some time to rehearse just the floor bit to improve this part. I would also like to see more characterisation during this dance as I felt that I could have put more in it. Otherwise I am feeling quite confident in it and I am glad that the extra practices are paying off. I do feel that my overall performance in dance has improved, I noticed that I am less “floppy” and I can maintain my balance more easily. I also don’t have as hard a time during movements that require my arms to coordinate with my legs.

Unit H practice

30260324 — 2025-01-10 19:05:12 UTC

In this practice I needed to learn the final section of the choreography. This section proved to be more challenging than the chorus, however I was surprised at the fact that I picked it up relatively quickly. I remember struggling a lot more to memorise the chorus when I first started the rehearsal process for unit H. This shows that the exercises and practice that I have been doing has increased my bodily awareness and my muscle memory in dance so that I can pick up on certain movements a lot quicker now. I was not able to add any “personality” into the dance which is definitely a must as we are filming a music video, however as I get more confident I would like to challenger myself and set a small goal to make sure that I am embodying a character during this dance as I know this is something I struggle with. I have to started to really enjoy learning the choreographies for Unit H and Danceworks and I feel that putting in the extra effort to develop my physicality and dance skill has paid off.

Panto Physicality

30260324 — 2025-01-12 23:14:08 UTC

In this session I focused on two bits of dialogue that I had struggled to add “flair” to when rehearsing them. These are two of my majors monologues/scenes and there is quite a bit of lines and dialogue. I find that I focus too much on trying to remember lines and act them that my performance ends up coming off a bit flat and reserved. I decided to set some actions to certain lines in order to try and improve this situation. I also received feedback from Oli to make my action more theatrical and pronounced, especially in the first monologue as this is where I directly interact with the audience. I tried to use this session to practice my walk up to the audience so that this is a set action for me and I won’t forget it even if I am nervous. This was also a good way to revise lines and I could pin point where I was forgetting lines and going wrong. I did find I still forgot some lines here and there but pairing the line with an action actually helped me to remember my lines better. I also tried to accommodate the fact that I have a cape and add this into my performance as I had the costume fitting and my outfit has a cape. I based some of my actions off of Hannah Waddingham’s rendition of the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz and she is very expressive with her hands so I added some elements of this into my set actions.

Meditation

30260324 — 2025-01-12 23:17:31 UTC

I really enjoyed this meditation. I don’t frequently mediate so this was new to me. It was a bit difficult for me at first as I felt very aware of the camera but I did get more invested as the meditation went on. There was a particular moment in the meditation where she said to relax your shoulders and roll them back and this made me realise that I was very tense. This meditation did help me to relax and I enjoyed how it also tried to make you aware of tension in your body as this aligns with my other small goal of better bodily awareness. This mediation made me feel better about the things I had accomplished today as I tend to get stuck on what I still need to do. I don’t know if it has helped me sleep better yet but I do feel more relaxed and calm.

Evaluation 1

30260324 — 2025-01-16 13:58:13 UTC

SOCIAL MEDIA

30260324 — 2025-01-16 14:03:23 UTC

This is my professional instagram

Personal Development plan 2

30260324 — 2025-02-05 00:09:27 UTC

Rehearsal Schedule: Amended

30260324 — 2025-02-05 13:15:28 UTC

First/base Idea

30260324 — 2025-04-01 16:29:40 UTC

I had been very inspired by my recent reading, the first being Fairy Faith in Celtic areas and the next being some general stories I found online that were translations of Native American Folktales. I wanted to create a sort of documentary about the subject of folk tales, why they came about, why they're important and give some examples of my favourite tales and myths. The idea I had in my head was very researched based and would only really include my voice. Upon talking to Elise about my idea I realised that I wouldn't really be performing, as the content of my project would be made up of research. I then wanted to try expanding my idea to include creating a character that researches these ideas and presents them to the audience and there is then a story occurring in the background of this character and their videos.

First Draft

30260324 — 2025-04-01 16:32:14 UTC

This was my first visualisation of the storyline and the important plot points that I wanted to include. My idea grew from just folk tales to centre around cryptids ( a group of monsters that originate from Native American folklore) and become a kind of horror, comedy mockumentary. I wrote down some important character lines that I felt defined the characters as well as the order I wanted the events to progress.

First Storyline

30260324 — 2025-04-12 21:49:09 UTC

My original idea was a lot less surreal and leaned heavily on the idea of a mockumentary and was going to be more comedic. The general storyline was that a group of cryptic hunters get contacted by an unknown person that puts them on to a town that is well know in the “cryptic hunting community” for of sightings. This search turns into something bigger as the story of the Cryptids was just something to lure in people for the town to sacrifice. There is also this underlying sense that the towns people themselves can’t face the fact that they have to sacrifice themselves and so convince themselves that the Cryptids are killing visitors. I definitely wanted this kind of Boo Radley character that’s is very aware of the storyline and allows me to better explain the plot in a short amount of time.

30260324 — 2025-04-12 21:52:17 UTC

In this first draft I wrote down major plot points such as discovering the website that would ultimately lead the person to the point of sacrifice. I had this idea of showing the boy at the bus stop and as the bus passes the boy disappears

First draft

30260324 — 2025-04-12 21:55:32 UTC

In this draft I set out how I wanted the interview with the Farmer character to go. I drew some ideas of how I wanted to frames to look to achieve this jumpy, liminal space effect. I wrote some dialogue that I didn’t necessarily wanted to include in the film but to help me visualise and understand the kind of character I wanted. The dialogue included the farmer talking about how the animals around that area are weird critters. “The 3D waves from the pylons is what makes them critters crazy. All these small, little brainwaves. Microwaves, as I like to call ‘em”

Changes to First Draft

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:06:15 UTC

I spent a while adjusting my first draft and deciding what plot points I would keep and which I would reject. I decided to not go with the style of a mockumentary as I wanted to create something more surreal and experiment more with how I was going to film. I wanted to keep the aspect of Cryptids being the scapegoat as a major plot twist. I decided that I didn’t like this idea of there being a “Cryptid hunter group” that gets tipped off and ends up in this town, as I felt that for something that is supposed to be scary this is a little impersonal and too comedic. I instead decided to follow the story of a boy who went missing and an unknown person who starts digging into the case. Nothing is known about the person behind the camera and they act as a blank slate so that the audience is immersed in the film. I also thought that this would allow the individual characters to shine as I have decided to have three very distinct archetypal characters that I wanted to lead the unknown person along.

First Storyboard

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:07:54 UTC

This was the first couple frames of my short film that I storyboarded, I wanted there to be a black title screen that gave some exposition and created some suspense. I then wanted there to be CCTV style footage of the boy walking to the bus stop and disappearing. I planned to record the street from my upstairs as I felt that this would have CCTV effect

Storyboard 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:11:24 UTC

This contains the next shot of the boy vanishing from the bus stop and the cut to the next scene. The next scene is the interview with the Mother. I wrote down my ideal location for this scene being Max’s house as I felt that the lounge area best suited my filming needs. I included glasses on the mother and the two dolls beside her as these were two aspects that I wanted to be notable points in the story. When I thought of aesthetics, my plan was to have each character have something notable about them such as the mother’s glasses, the sheriff’s badge and the farmer’s

flannel.

Storyboard 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:13:22 UTC

These drawings depicted the farmer interview (badly). I wanted a very big open field and a pan across the field to create this liminal open space. I also showed how I wanted the farmer to initially cut closer and closer to the viewer as I felt that this would be odd and alarming and leave the viewer unsettled.

Storyboard 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:14:23 UTC

Continuation of farmer scenes

Storyboard 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:17:35 UTC

I decided that I wanted a better transition between the mother scene and the farmer scene so I included a scene of the viewer exploring the boy’s bedroom and I wanted the include some form of foreshadowing so I created a single shot that focused on a danger sign plastered on the boys door. I also decided to create a kind of obscure graphic almost like a clue for the viewer to find and this close-up of this graphic would serve as the transition to the farmer scene as it fades out. I also planned to try and use a dolly zoom on the danger sign so that I had this unnerving vertigo effect so that it would stick in the mind of the audience.

Storyboard 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:18:04 UTC

Continuation of transition

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:21:22 UTC

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:21:33 UTC

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:21:44 UTC

Start of the confusing bit

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:21:58 UTC

End of the confusing bit

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:22:07 UTC

Explanation of Confusing bit

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:28:26 UTC

So…. some very chaotic things happening there. That gobbledy gook is the storyboards I did for the last scenes of my short film. I had a sudden rush of “do this now” so they’re very rushed. They’re meant to be the transition scene between the Farmer interview and the Sheriff interview. I had this idea of having a blank person show up towards the end of the film as the person gets closer and closer to death. I found a path along a river near my house that had a sign very similar to the sign I was using as foreshadowing in the beginning of the film. I thought this would be a good time to try to match cut this sign with the sign I used earlier. In the back of the shot , behind the sign, I wanted there to be a blank man that glitches in and out between each match cut. My goal with this format was to try to confuse the audience and blur the lines between imagination and reality in the film as the person behind the camera falls more and more into the trap of the characters. I then wanted the shot to pan back to the path along the river and to the sheriff that has suddenly appeared along that path, after which the interview with the sheriff will begin. Like nothing happened

Title Screen Writings

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:30:53 UTC

This was what I decided I wanted the opening exposition scene to say. I wasn’t completely decided on how I wanted the format of this to be yet but I knew I wanted to separate sort of “scenes” of information.

The Blank Person is being cut

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:34:48 UTC

So I ordered the suit for the blank person. Anyway I’m not including the blank person in my short film anymore. I decided I’ll just stick with the danger sign match cut to foreshadow.

Storyboard 2

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:42:26 UTC

In this storyboard I decided to add more to the end of the film. I wanted there to be a climactic moment where the characters coalesce into one, as if they were one entity luring this person in. I thought that ending the film in the woods would add this eerie quality as a lot of the film does take place in natural environments and there is this emphasis on natural, rural imagery.

Storyboard 2

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:44:18 UTC

In this scene the viewer discovers the hat of the missing boy that we saw in the CCTV footage. I want the camera to linger on the hat for a minute as the viewer processes this. I then want a loud twig snap to break through this thought and the camera to whirl around to find a hand appearing out from behind a tree almost as if coming from nothingness. I want the hand to look inhuman in some way, either very very long or pale.

Storyboard

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:45:09 UTC

These frames simply show how I would like the shots to show the person running away and falling after this

Storyboard 2

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:46:17 UTC

I wanted those same inhuman hands behind the tree to appear from nowhere and grab the person’s legs. I then want a slow and suspenseful pan up of the white blank creature before the film cuts to black, hinting at the worst.

Adjustments

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:49:50 UTC

I decided for the last shot that I don’t want the pan up to be of just the blank creature but instead to be many different pans of The Farmer, The Mother and The Sheriff that are cut together to create a smooth pan upwards that cuts to the different characters. I decided I wanted there to be music with a distinctive beat that starts when we see the hand for the first time I wanted to time the cuts to the music so it’s swaps to a different character on the beat. I felt that this not only added some structure to the cuts but that there will also be a rhythmic, hypnotising quality because of it. I decided to use a song called Red Sex by Vessel as it’s got a nice baseline with a strange melody.

Farmer Monologue 1

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:54:36 UTC

I changed certain parts of this Monolgue due to some feedback I got when I showed Maximus. He said that the line “You’ll find other things… things you weren’t searching for” was too on the nose. This Farmers role in my short film was to bridge the gap between audience and characters by telling the story of the film as I felt that I did not have a whole lot of time and resources to “show” all the lore and story of the film. The farmer is meant to be a very self aware character, he is very aware of the story that is playing out and hints at the story to the character so that the audience is starting to expect something, this builds suspense. However Maximus said that the aforementioned line gave away too much, and was not riddled enough. I found that I agreed with him so I decided to leave it out to maintain the confusing and mysterious nature of this character.

Farmer Monlogue 2

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:55:20 UTC

I made some corrections to this piece of the monologue as I wanted to add a smoother transition between the two ideas of /the land being cursed/ and the /the land being stolen/. I joined the ideas by relating them to idea of the town being nameless or unknown. Hence the line “That’s why we ain’t on the maps”.

Farmer Monologue 3

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:56:55 UTC

Farmer monologue 5

30260324 — 2025-04-12 22:57:15 UTC

River Location Scout

30260324 — 2025-04-16 16:06:37 UTC

This was my first "scout" of the location I wanted to use for one of my scenes. I wanted this to be where the sheriff gets interviewed. I thought that this location had a really great atmosphere, especially when it was a cold day and it was a bit misty. The danger signs also aligned very well with the kind of foreshadowing I wanted to do earlier with the sign on the boy's room. I used my phone to see what kind of framing I would like and also to test how I would actually film it with the camera and what aspect of this location I wanted to get into the shot. I was very particular about the kind of trees and the Angle of the sign so this location was the one that matched well with my vision.

Mother Character Draft

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:41:01 UTC

Mother monologue 1

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:42:19 UTC

Mother Monologue 2

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:44:55 UTC

The Mother’s Monolgue had a lot of unspoken moments between dialogue and hidden emotions. She is the first character the Person behind the camera encounters and needs to be unsettling and hesitant to divulge any secrets so for this Monolgue, more than the others. I wrote in a lot of subtext for me to follow as I act it hence the constant cutaways or parentheses that happen during the script.

Mother monologue 3

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:47:42 UTC

In terms of actually writing the script for the Mother, I found this the easiest to write and made very few edits. I had a very clear goal of what to write, right from the beginning and it was a bit easier to write as the Mother character doesn’t have to be as threatening as the other characters but rather she is unsettling as she is the main person’s first glimpse into the “world of the film” .

Sheriff Character Draft

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:48:04 UTC

I made a quick draft of the sheriff character before I started creating the script for him as I wanted to be clear on the intentions I conveyed. I wanted the sheriff to be a friendly character, in order to coax the Main Character into a sense of uneasy comfort. I wanted there to be small breaks in this friendly appearance from time to time. The sheriff, in my head, is a jackel archetype and he is smooth talking and devious. I think in terms of writing the monologue I struggled the most with the sheriff as I had a hard time getting a clear idea of what he as a character actually wanted out of all of this, I probably got the most feedback for this monologue as I showed my brother and Maximus, as I wasn't sure if I was achieving the friendly, sinister "vibe" that I wanted for this character.

Sheriff Monologue 1

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:48:46 UTC

Sheriff Monolgue 2

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:49:27 UTC

Sheriff Monologue 3

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:49:51 UTC

I decided to rewrite the beginning of the sheriff monologue, the previous draft is shown in Sheriff monologue 1. This is because the previous draft started with the line " Well I can see you're making your own way just fine". I thought this kind of line was more in character for the farmer than it was the sheriff and it set up the wrong kind of tone for this interaction, it was bit too threatening and passive aggressive where I didn't want it to be so I decided to change it to the more conversational "You best be careful now walking all alone". I felt that changing it to this made the sheriff a more friendly character as he started off being concerned, or at least acting concerned, about the person. I also changed the line about "kids like you tend to get lost in these woods" as I thought it was, again, too on the nose and I didn't want the sheriff to make any direct reference to people getting lost yet. I replaced that line with " why just last week we had someone mauled by a bear" and I wanted the sheriff to say this in a joking manner. For me, this line added more mystery as the underlying thought at this point in the film, is "was it actually a bear". Its a lot more sinister because it is nuanced compared to the previous draft and still implies danger.

Sheriff Monologue 4

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:50:31 UTC

Sheriff Monologue 5

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:50:51 UTC

Sheriff Monologue 6

30260324 — 2025-04-16 20:51:25 UTC

Technical Learning Curve- footage

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:36:51 UTC

This video is one of many that was unusable due to technical difficulties. For this video, I had traveled an hour and a half to a filming location as I was quite particular about filming locations and wanted it to look rural. I did not realise that the mic had to be switched on once plugged in and I made the rookie mistake of not checking the footage before leaving. I chose this video in particular as I felt that it was representative of the frequent challenges that I faced due to my lack of knowledge. This shot in particular, I was extremely fond of the framing and lighting and I was heartbroken to say the least when I found out it had no sound and I would have to travel back to the location. I discovered that a lot of filming is problem solving and making do with the situation as is. This video shows how I continued to learn and progress during this project and I did eventually get a good take of the scene.

Sheriff unused take

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:37:33 UTC

I choose this video as it was one of the last scenes that I filmed. I had become quite comfortable with setting up the camera, making sure it was focused and making sure that the mic was on, however, even then I faced many challenges that came with having to film alone. For all my efforts this shot still turned out unfocused and I had to refilm it quite a few times. I included this take in my documentation as I wanted to show the process of me choosing what takes to use, correcting my mistakes or what issues I encountered when I filmed.

Mother unused take

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:38:25 UTC

Ive decided to show this unused footage to show some of the creative decisions I made. There was nothing really wrong with this footage and it met all of my technical needs however it did not completely suit what I had envisioned and I felt that the mother's stance of crossing her arms didn't suit the character and aesthetic as much as I would've liked so I ended up not going with this take.

Hand scene- behind the scenes

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:39:15 UTC

This was the behind the scenes of filming the hand scene. I had to leave a bit of open space so that I could use it to mask the footage of my behind the tree. I included this footage as I thought it was quite interesting to see myself going through the motions as I tended to be very caught up in my thoughts and what I was doing. I also wanted to show the process of me deciding how zoomed I wanted it and putting it into focus. You can see that towards the end of my filming process, when I filmed this, I would do many takes of the same thing. Trauma. I also wanted to show how I still made use of the scary blank man suit to create the white hand and still include some of my original idea of the blank man or white hand symbolising death or mystery.

Dolly Zoom practice

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:39:58 UTC

I originally wanted to have a dolly zoom on this warning sign. I filmed some clips to try it. I had tried creating the dolly zoom by zooming out and moving the camera towards the subject but that did not work very well. In this clip you can see me zooming in on the sign as I decided that I would create the back zoom in post when I was editing. I did try this but decided that I did not like the effect it created and it wasn't what I wanted. I still ended up using this clip but I cut out the zoom and just had a close-up of the sign. I included this clip to show how at times, I just had to find a way to use the clips I already had and problem solve that way if things weren't going to plan.

Foot cut- unused

30260324 — 2025-04-17 16:41:06 UTC

In this clip you can see the immediate process of me rejecting a clip because I didn't do something right. In this case the camera was set up correctly but I faltered as I was stepping into frame and this wouldn't have shown up nicely on camera and it wasn't what I wanted the character to do. I included this clip to show some of the dialogue that happened between shots that acknowledged what I liked and didn't like and how a good majority of first takes are just me making mistakes haha.

Development plan 2: Amendment

30260324 — 2025-04-17 19:29:24 UTC

COSTUME

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:01:40 UTC

Sheriff Costume

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:07:53 UTC

I wanted the sheriff to look quite outdoorsy and clean. I thought that the combination of a white button up and jeans would work to achieve this. I wanted each character to have an item that is distinctive for the final shots at the end where the camera lingers on these items. I would also like the sheriff to have black boots as this would differentiate the sheriff from the farmer and mother in the pan shots at the end.

Farmer Costume

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:10:00 UTC

All of my characters are caricatures in a sense, they don’t have names more so they have roles and that’s what defines them. I went for a classic redneck look for the farmer as this felt like the most obvious choice. The costume has a distinctive red shirt and the boots contrast the sheriff’s in that they are lighter and I thought that this would look good at the end where there is a shot of all characters from the bottom. I had to get the overalls from the costume cupboard because I didn’t have any, luckily they fit quite well and were close to what I had in mind for the farmer’s costume

Mother Costume

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:11:56 UTC

I wanted the mother’s costume to be clean and conservative. The mother is a very upright character and so I decided on a button up with a jersey and long skirt as this was very modest and neat. The mother has distinctive glasses that I bought specifically for this project. I wanted the mother to unexpectedly have barefeet in the final shots as I thought that this would be very uneasy to see as it’s so exposed and unexpected for the mother character.

Editing

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:14:33 UTC

Masking

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:19:57 UTC

I used masking at the end of the short film to create the hand coming from nowhere effect. I really struggled with masking as for a while it seemed to not work for me, even when I followed tutorials exactly. I found out that the mask “box” has to be completely closed and that I was applying the mask to the wrong layer of video that was in another tab or that the video that I was masking needed to be on top of the other video . In retrospect this all seems like simple problems to solve, however it took me a while to figure out as I wasn’t sure what I was looking at most of the time. I found this tutorial, in particular, quite helpful as it had an example that was the closet to what I needed for my film.

Colour Correcting

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:22:05 UTC

I did my best to match the white balance (?) to the environment but there were times where the scenes would be too yellow or bright, so I had to colour correct when I was editing. This is the tutorial that I used to understand how to colour correct certain colours that I felt were too overwhelming and it helped me correct the mother’s scene especially as this room had very saturated colour that come up very yellow on screen.

DeNoise

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:26:05 UTC

I did try to make sure to get a microphone that would pick up my voice only as much as possible however there were still times where the audio of the videos were very “busy”. The mother video had quite a bit of static noise as well as the sheriff video as it was quite windy in that day. I had to learn how to denoise audio in premiere pro to solve this problem and this was the tutorial I used.

Audio Fade

30260324 — 2025-04-18 18:29:09 UTC

When I first added music to the scenes, I found that the transition from different scenes without music to the scenes with, were quite jarring. I remedied this by learning how to fade out or fade in the audio. I mostly used the Constant Power Fade as it faded the sound out more subtly and this is what I wanted for the audio to do.

Forest Location Scout

30260324 — 2025-04-28 13:29:56 UTC

This was my first test footage of a spot I wanted to use for the ending chase scene. I really liked that there was a yellow helium balloon stuck in the trees and I liked the framing of the trees, however I found an even better spot that became the location I filmed in as there was just more interesting foliage and colours and I could perfectly hang the “hat clue” on a tree in that location.

Farmer Location Scout

30260324 — 2025-04-28 13:30:30 UTC

This was the original location that was going to film the farmer scene in. However my only problem with it was that it was right next to a highway and you could vaguely pick up the sound of the cars. I also decided that I wanted the spot to look more rural and the didn’t want the power lines in , hence my decision to instead film in a field in Oakthorpe, a much more rural place.

Location Test Footage

30260324 — 2025-04-28 13:30:54 UTC

This was my first test footage of the spot I used for the beginning scene where the person waits at the bus stop. I really liked how the branches looked creeping on the frame but sadly when I returned to film those branches were no longer there, it turned out fine though as the weather was exactly what I wanted it to be.

Flexibility 1

30260324 — 2025-04-28 13:32:34 UTC

I tried a new routine that focused on muscles flexibility and muscle strength , however I did not like it as I felt I was not targeting my inner thigh and legs as much as I would like and it was a bit too fast paced. I did the exercise anyway but I decided I would do a different one for my next routine as I struggle to get my form correct whilst doing this exercise as It moved a bit too fast.

Learning Lines 1

30260324 — 2025-05-14 12:34:41 UTC

In this session I focused on learning lines and trying to understand the intention behind them. In particular I focused on the first scene I was in where shrek saves me from the tower. There were some lines I felt awkward to say so I workshopped these and tried saying them in different ways with different intentions until I found a way I liked

Learning Lines 2

30260324 — 2025-05-14 12:35:07 UTC

In this Session I focused mainly on learning lines and trying to understand intention. I repeated phrases in different ways untill I felt like that was the best way to say it, I tried to learn the other part in the dialogue as well so that I could really try and react to what was saying.

Vocal Flexibility 2

30260324 — 2025-05-14 14:24:30 UTC

In this Session I did some vocal exercises for more forward resonance so that my high notes have some more power. This included ascending Na Na Na to press the sound more to my hard palette . I found that I struggled in a certain area of my voice so I repeated the exercise up and down the scale untill I could find a place where my voice found comfortable and not strained

Characterisation: run through

30260324 — 2025-05-14 14:25:48 UTC

In this session we did a run through with the other principals. This was very useful to show me the places where I was going wrong that I wouldn’t of noticed by myself, I also realised that I need to learn the harmonies for Got you Beat better so that they are muscle memory because I kept on getting confused with them whilst singing. It also allowed me to revise lines and practice characterisation as I am better as a kinetic learner so I can place actions to words.

Vocal Flexibility 3- extended

30260324 — 2025-05-14 15:09:07 UTC

In this session I was trying to get better forward resonance and work on my mixed voice so that I am not straining my voice when I want to do thicker higher notes. I used the words meeee eeeh aah in an ascending scale to practice better vowel placement and feel how each vowel resonates in my voice. I also tried to put the vowels more forward in my mouth and keep the sound “tall”

Locations

30260324 — 2025-05-21 10:52:50 UTC

Feedback

30260324 — 2025-05-21 10:54:34 UTC

Evaluation

30260324 — 2025-05-21 10:54:43 UTC

Feedback for Exposition

30260324 — 2025-06-02 13:02:41 UTC

I got some feedback from my mom for the beginning of the film. I wanted there to beginning of the film to slowly build tension and immediately grip the audience's attention. In particular, I wanted to make sure that the scenes where there was quite a bit of text were timed right so that they disappeared as the viewer finished watching them. When I asked my mom about this she said that one of the text scenes could of been a bit slower so I made sure to slow this down whilst editing.

Feedback for Ending Wood Scene

30260324 — 2025-06-02 13:03:54 UTC

I got some feedback from my brother for the ending scene in the woods once I had finished it. This scene was the trickiest to edit and record and took a while so I wanted to make sure it wasn't too gimmicky and was gripping. I was very surprised my brother didn't have any criticisms as he tends to be very detail oriented so I was quite proud of this. He said that the music choice was interesting and the editing was effective so I was happy with this.

Unrecorded Feedback

30260324 — 2025-06-02 13:28:02 UTC

I always forget to record things as I am doing it but I did receive quite a bit of feedback during the making of this that I did not record. I really struggled creating the character for the Sheriff. The character didn't feel unnerving enough and wasn't nuanced. I asked Maximus about this and he suggested that that I make the Sheriff genuinely friendly and seemingly worried about the person. He gave me an example of a character that does this very well, the priest from True Detective. He said the character was made more sinister because the character is so friendly but their true motives are revealed as they continue talking. This really helped me give the monologue somewhere to go. I also told my brother the initial premise of my short film and showed him the storyboard. He brought to my attention the possibly difficulties that I could face such as weird colour grading and lots of ambient noise from recording outside. He said the story was good but that it would be quite technically difficult and that I needed to be careful which camera I used as some might not translate well to editing software ( I wanted to use an old camcorder off Vinted) He recommended that I get a professional Mic and camera equipment. This feedback is what spurred me on to book out proper camera equipment and sound equipment for this film.

G18 pitch

30260324 — 2025-06-02 13:41:10 UTC

Solo Project Evaluation

30260324 — 2025-06-02 14:57:01 UTC

Evaluation 2

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:22:14 UTC

Vocal Flexibility 1

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:23:51 UTC

In this session I used a warmup that provides exercises for a high female belt. This warm-up focused on projection and resonance to achieve a nice tone on my belt. I felt quite comfortable with this warm-up as it focused on more middle range for me and slowly built upwards. I felt that there were some parts that I strained, in particular the final exercise “hey that’s mine” I felt that my voice was quite shaken on this and it made me think that I could do with more support particularly as I climbed the scale. I really struggle with thicker notes past my break so in my next session I would like to be conscious of going over notes around my break to achieve a smooth transition but also to understand where I should be moving my voice as I go up the scale.

Vocal Flexibilty 1

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:24:43 UTC

In this session I did a light vocal warm up before progressing to the mixed voice exercise. I found this exercise quite challenging to do at first as I instinctually wanted to push my chest voice up. I had to really work at keeping forward resonance and not tightening my throat. In particular I really struggled with the na na na exercise as I wasn’t sure where to place my voice for it. I was straining my voice a bit so I decided to only did the exercise once and see if I could improve the na na na exercise in my next session.

Vocal Flexibilty 5

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:26:39 UTC

Vocal Flexibilty 6

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:28:09 UTC

I started with an easy vocal warm-up before progressing to the mixed voice warm-up. I found that I used mixed voice a lot with Fiona and I wanted to be able to have the technique down so I could use mixed voice for other characters and expand my vocal range. I still struggle with the “na na na na” sound as I feel that I push the sound too hard and I struggle to relax when I make a nasal sound. I’ve been tying to widen my mouth and make the sound taller in order to alleviate the strain on my higher notes but this is not yet muscle memory and I struggle with it. I do feel that my tone and accuracy during this warm-up has improved.

Vocal flexibilty 7

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:28:51 UTC

Song practice

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:29:50 UTC

In this session I focused on movements and vocal quality for a musical number in shrek. I still really struggle with tension in my voice and I could hear this when I was singing and tended to fall flat of a note. I did a small vocal warm-up before this session and went over the areas in the songs I had trouble with such as the line “if you can conceive it, believe it , achieve it”. I tried to reduce tension and mix my voice better to get over my vocal break . I also practiced some movements and experimented with different ways I would say a lyric or do an action until I found the version that had the best “intention”.

Characterisation practice

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:30:34 UTC

In this session I focused purely on the vocals for “I know it’s today”. I really struggle with this song as it is the first song I am in and I tend to feel very nervous and forget my lines or tense my voice. I felt that practicing it and getting into muscle memory was the best remedy for this.

Characterisation practice

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:31:02 UTC

In this session I focused on “Morning Person”. I wanted to do a proper run through of it on a stage so I booked out fs005 to do this. Being on a stage really made a difference as it felt easier for me to “perform” it. I made sure to go over the dance as well in the context of the song as I had been learning the dance but properly performing it in the whole song. I think there were some notes where I was a bit flat because of tension but I am trying to address vocal tension using mixed voice in my vocal flexibility target.

Shrek group practice

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:31:39 UTC

This session was an organised group rehearsal with the principals. We organised this rehearsal as there were some scenes we were still unsure of and felt needed practice and I wanted to work on my characterisation for Fiona as I struggle to do this alone. This rehearsal really helped me to learn my lines and staging as I could see it happening in the space and responding back to me. I really struggled with the more romantic scene as I am a bit awkward but otherwise I felt that my overall characterisation for Fiona was much improved since the last time we did a run through.

Characterisation Practice

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:32:20 UTC

Mixed Belt Exercise

30260324 — 2025-06-03 17:47:11 UTC

This is an exercise made my Tina’s Vocal Studio. It focused on learning the muscle memory for mixed voice. It has exercises for vowel placement, forward resonance and brighter high notes.

High female belt exercise

30260324 — 2025-06-05 09:22:04 UTC

This is a warm-up created by Tina’s Vocal Studio that I found when researching warm-ups to improve my belt. I really enjoyed how she gave explanations of why we were doing a certain exercises and she gave helpful tips like making a tall sound when belting so as not to strain and push your chest voice up. I felt the exercise “how do you do 1-5-5-1” was very helpful as it went past my break and helped me to understand where I need to be mixing my voice.

Soprano Vocal Warm-up

30260324 — 2025-06-07 22:31:55 UTC

This is the warm-up I used to help expand my vocal range and achieve better tone on higher notes. This warm-up focuses on pitch accuracy and flexibility in the voice to jump between high notes. I found it very valuable as I don’t get to explore my higher range in vocal warm-ups and this allowed me to do that