Evaluation

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Start/finish

the final stage of my project and so far its had some good days and some not so good days. on this page i'm going through the different stages of evaluation starting with the analysis of each page and the work within them as well as i will include some in depth analysis for the pre-production talking through some important paperwork. the body/center of this page will consist of multiple analysis's, feelings, thoughts and most importantly the final product analysis. finally on this page i'll be including what would i do next time differently this will include a final touch up on the general project as well as what i can take from previous projects and from the FMP.

Research

on this page i've conducted a load of research to help support my work and improve my knowledge and understanding on short films. i've looked closely into a range of films analysing and comparing them and looking at a variety of aspects as well as giving my own simplified definitions of terms such as genre, style, themes, etc and provided this with examples and further analysis of films. i've broken the page down starting from the terminology to allow viewers to understand what the different terms mean how they are implemented and examples. i found this 3 rule technique very useful as it doesn't limit me to write less in other forms it gives be a base to work with instead of simply giving a google definition. this way my audience can see what the terms mean, see how they are used in films and what are some examples. on this page i've also included a class task on feminism theory. i found this very interesting and simplified my knowledge to show my understanding of this topic.

feminism theory is simply describing the roles males and females played in the 1900s films compared to now which is a huge difference as there were a limited amount of female main characters back then compared to films today such as the hunger games and bend it like beckham which are focused on the female protagonist. in this section i showed what male characters are seen to be such as tall, handsome, strong, etc. and also the female portrays passive, erotised and objectified characters however these are still being developed since which is shown in the long list of female lead films portraying strength, energy, passion, etc.

the next section is advertisement methods. For this section i've conducted a fair bit of research on the different types of general advertisement methods such as social media posts, banner ads, etc. and i've also simplified the general definition to a more simpler and easy to understand definition i find this useful for me to retain information and for anyone else to save the hassle of reading too much. apart from the secondary research i've also conducted some practical and primary research by analysing posters and trailers to demonstrate what to look for in a advertisement relevant to films. i've also given more primary research with using my previous knowledge on advertisement to help define and give examples of what advertisement is and its importance. having analysed two advertisement methods has really given me an insight of what i'm suppose to create and given me an example of how i'm going to create this for my film, such as i really like the way the poster from black adam looks and the meaningful structure of it. the colours fit with the destructive narrative, the main character position in the center in a strong posture showing somewhat dominance and strength, and there are many more aspects that ill need to consider within my poster pictures. similarly the trailer helps see what to look for in my trailer and what i should include or not such as include parts with the main character and the antagonist and possibly some parts of the scenes. the only problem i see with this is there may be an issue with the time the trailer may be as my final video is to be around 5 minutes long which means the trailer is going to be shorter than usual.

the next section is professional script writing. this section was not a class research task however i decided to include it as a useful piece of work for my fmp script writing. this section is very short considering its just definition however the main purpose of this section was to help my script writing skills and take my script to another level of detail which it succeeded in. All the definitions were simplified to my knowledge which has helped understand what the words meant and how to implement them. one word which i had no knowledge of completely is parentheticals which simply adds depth to the script giving a tone or stage directions for actors during production. this helped me when i was filming reading through the script and understanding the emotions i was meant to bring forth in my visuals and acting.

up next is the censorship and viewer discretion part. this section being somewhat short is for the audience to simply understand what is censorship and what is viewers discretion as well as there is a video of how to blur parts out of the visuals. the censorship aspect gives a basic simple to understand definition and some examples of how this is used i didn't have a practical form to show how to remove swear words however i explained it in the most simplest and clearest way possible. the video is also a part of this as the video explains how to blur out parts of the visuals which is useful not only for censorship but other uses to help other future projects stand out. i've also included a viewer discretion part where i give a definition in my own words of viewers discretion and simplified how it's created and also what to look for when creating the viewer discretion such as the colour of the text should not be to complex as well as the text font should be clear and as simple as possible to avoid audience to struggle reading the text. this section is very important considering this film is a college project and may be showcased at college it requires possible censorship and depending on what it is about a potential viewer discretion.

the last section of my research page is the target audience. this section was short yet had the suffice and great amount of research in order to have an understanding of my target audience. i've limited how much i specify and breakdown who my specific audience are as i wanted to focus my film on a larger audience to limit the possibility of people disliking my film and increasing views and possible profits if this was a profitable film. in my target audience i state clearly that this is aimed for 15 and over however this is for a audience im generally looking at who would watch a film like this however i've further explained why some younger audiences around the ages of 12-14 may find an interest in this. my USP is the way my product has a limited amount of dialogue yet builds upon the fear and suspense creating the horror genre and a strong style for my film. To achieve my USP i used the music and atmosphere to create tension to my advantage and then further support i used foley to give it a more advanced and realistic aspect.

Reflection

this page consists all the reflection i've done on a daily basis everyday throughout the whole project. i've reflected on each lesson and practical work i've done each day. the days i did not do any practical work i've given a general view of what i did and achieved for that day this allowed me to maintain progress and keep up with managing my time however, i did fall of track after the easter holidays for about a week due to some issues i was having in my personal time however this was a learning curb and allowed me to work with a clearer and open mind when working. the reflection page also consists of practical class work we did and group work which helped us recall what we learnt previously and what is a last and new learning opportunity for us. i've noticed the reflection for me took a long time as i was struggling on talking to much and this it would require me to really take some time out and simply talk as much as i can. when i would be in these situations i would really feel demotivated when i've actually done quite a bit but there is not much to say about it. generally the reflection page had its benefits and disadvantages and overall i thought it was positive to avoid missing any class work and to keep up with work and manage what i have left to complete.

Pre-production

this page is consisting of the most vital part before any production the pre-production work. on this page ive started with a mental understanding and completion of what i think is necessary and then later down this stage i've included other work using a checklist. as i went through with the pre-production i noticed i was partially completing work and realised this was going to affect my work later such as the rationale was semi complete and held me back from doing other work like the location recce or production. the pre-production in my opinion consists of 2/3 of the research required to produce a successful and safe production. the pre-production page includes some of the following:

rationale-this was a very useful bit of work as it allowed me to do a lot of critical thinking and mental analysis of what could work in terms of my final major project and other consideration. the rationale was something i haven't done in a long time if not a new piece of work for me as i've done other pieces of which work closely to the rationale however i don't think i used this in many previous projects. the rationale was a useful and crucial part in the progression of my fmp giving me a build up foundation of what i want to create and other considerations and changes i need to acknowledge such as my strengths and weaknesses understanding which allowed me to consider improving and focusing on using my strengths to boost my weaknesses and limit my work from falling back.
proposal- the proposal in my opinion is a more detailed version of the rationale giving us a more wider understanding of what is being expected from us such as, who are we creating it for, the name of the product, etc. the proposal is very commonly used in our previous projects which helped a lot as it limited us having to be taught it and then reflect on it and the do it ourselves. this helped limit time waste and allowed me to understand what i initially was creating who i was creating it for and in a basic form how i'm going to create it. in the proposal i simply answered the given questions in the most detailed way at that point. most questions if not all where closely related to what i'm creating, legal issues that could impact the production, basic narrative, lighting etc. At this point this was very useful as i had a general narrative however i did not consider some important aspects such as the lighting i was going to use, the name of the film, and some legal considerations such as censorship, copyright etc.

location recce- this is another crucial part of the pre-production considering the location is a main element of the whole production. the location recce consists of multiple aspects such as scouting out the location and checking for various things such as legal permission, lighting in the area, access, your thoughts, etc. these are very useful and important before filming in a location as these will determine the suitability of your location. in particular i chose to film in three locations therefore have three separate location recce to complete a full assessment on the locations. with a location recce i also needed to gather photographic evidence from the location providing evidence on the space, lighting and safety.

These are some of the major pre-production paperwork analysing multiple and highly important aspects before production such as the narrative of the film, the structure, the locations and how reasonable they are, etc. there are many more pre-production paperwork going into more detail such as the risk assessment is a detailed part of the location recce and so on. all these paperwork are crucial in carrying out a safe and secure production with a limited amount of issues. the preproduction has to be carried out precisely and carefully before the production is to start however i did have some aspects i worked on while production which lead me to slow down slightly however once it was completely that was it of the pre-production and it was simply moving on to more practical things.

My thoughts and feelings

Throughout this project i had a positive approach towards getting started however with situations changing and my previous projects later than usual resubmission its not been as smooth and straight forward as i thought. my thoughts were quite ahead working with more than 1 thing at a time, thinking and planning my research, pre-production, reflection, bibliography all at once was very useful however trying to keep up was a challenge in itself and this lead me to burning out along with other issues during my personal hours. noticing that i'm coming to my last few days of my project really lifted me and got me rearing to go however that also had its own disadvantage as i struggled to get people to film and help in production this was not only the problem but also equipment was mostly given out which meant i had equipment for a very limited time and not much equipment being available.

From the start which was a mixture of emotions to the end i've noticed many things that have increased and decreased my motivation from having a idea of a short film and then growing that to become an actual project in action was a great boost and proud moment for myself. understanding how i started this year in general and seeing where i've got to has been a huge motivation itself as i've struggled with managing my time which has brought a lot of stress and more than necessary work all in at once. i've noticed this project has been a great challenge and the final weeks were the most hardest seeing the way i've had to squeeze in acting, reflection, evaluation, pre-production has been the most difficult weeks however my main motivation was and still is to continue to push forwards and see where this projects takes me.

i started on a slow but positive feeling for this project but half way having the drop in study and work on the project really has got me in other thoughts and feelings. im beginning to reanalyse and work around a fixed time working on my evaluation as much as possible to not to overwork my thoughts on the final day or two.

nervous that will i be able to complete the project in a high possible standard or is it too late too focus on quality and push forward as much quantitative work. is it going to work well for me in one week or not. how is it going to look in the final cut will i be able to make any changes in the final piece, etc.

scared if i don't pass its two years to a complete waste and there's not much i can do about that if it gets too late. i also at points thought that some things were not thought through enough such as the trailer. i realised that the trailer for a 5 min film was a bit on the impossible side nevertheless this did not stop me i successfully made a decent trailer and managed to reflect it on my home page.

panic the fear of any slight mistake i make now and there is no way i can fix this in the space of a week. realising this made me transfer work through three different places such as my usb, sds card and laptop and this meant more time as i had to get my footage onto all of them just in case. there were many other moments where i was panicking such as when i lost my sd card which had my saved work for a whole day of work which was overcomed with moral support from my family to keep going and ace through it. seeing the belief really eased my panic and fear.

i also had many positive moments through this project which i really enjoyed and thought were very useful in keeping the balance. understanding that all times will pass by made me also get through my difficult times knowing that they won't last forever either. some positive feelings i had:

excitement was the times when i would learn a new skill to help my FMP and give me new ideas. i loved knowing prior to starting production what i'm looking for and the different techniques i could create my project. generally knowing that this was our final project also got me very excited thinking i was going to give my all into this project and bring out the best of my work so far was an exciting approach to everything.

relaxed was another positive emotion i had considering everything was all chaos having those few times where i relaxed and did not think of much was really nice and this affected my work rate immensely as i started feeling less drained and more open minded to criticism and overall work, however i stayed in this feeling far too long at times and this led me to fall back in many ways however i realised it's still a crucial part and its necessary to stay motivated and consistent.

happiness was a very important emotion for me during all parts of this project. i believed if i was not happy something for sure was wrong as if i was not happy with the work i was producing i knew i have fallen this would make me fall more as i would enter other negative emotions however it was the fact that i realised something was wrong which brought me out of those emotions and back to feeling happy with my work. An example of this was my production and editing stage which did not start until a later time as i realised i fell back and was not happy with the amount of filming i was able to do however the minute i got a chance to film with some help that was where it simply didn't stop until the final cut was not ready to be on my blog.

These emotions all made me realise the importance to let your creativity and emotions go free in a controllable way when working, as they impact your work alot and give you a chance to enjoy every bit of the project weather that is the negative moments or the positives.

While filming i had a lot of mixed emotions at the start i was quite positive as i had everything as i needed it to be such as my research was at a good standard and also all my pre production paperwork was upto date and this made me more focused on the filming and shots i wanted and how was going to achieve this. this however later changed as the pace of filming was merely moving and the time i had was very limited, knowing this i was very scared i wouldn't make it and as the days were going by and minor progress was being made i thought it's best to think of an alternative or continue working on the theoretical side of things and leave the final product as it felt impossible getting my friends to not back out and also the limited amount i could do myself. however before giving up my friends decided to meet up one night and we managed to film the main element and after that i managed to grab some more help from my brother and cousin which really helped boost my motivation and give me the time to concentrate on getting the final cut sorted. slow but steady everything was falling into place and i finally i reached the editing stage. knowing that it's really hard to tell if anything needed reshooting and so i decided to reshoot while editing which meant a lot of exporting and rendering and changing which was long but this did not stop me and after sitting in front of my laptop for the whole half term i finally finished my production and editing stage and now it was time to get some feedback and get some advertisement for promotion sorted.

The feedback for my film was really positive from my family and peers and completely unexpected knowing that i was very tight with how much i could do and was in a rush to the finish. knowing what i needed to change was a very positive and encouraging feeling for me. i knew somethings i wouldn't be able to change however what was in control for me to change i altered and re-exported the final cut and this really left me on a positive note. knowing that i've bettered my work quite quick and got such a high rating of 8/10 from my friends and family, encouraged me with my work in general and the excitement to show them my trailer and poster helped my work rate increase giving me more time to reflect on what feedback i got and what i could change as all the other work was being completed very quickly. The final product being rated highly was really good however with the amount of time and changes being made i didn't have enough time to get a teacher feedback and re edit more detail parts. this was a really harsh part on me knowing that i couldn't really make massive changes while everyone else was able to was a struggle to understand and work around as i had to make sure everything was to the point and at its best without an actual verbal guidance. this however did not stop my thoughts as i thought to continue to my best ability get feedback from as many people and change up here and there where possible and hand in a completed project.

My thoughts and feelings did alter quite a bit with the final stage, editing the promotional video. I decided half way that i want to have a trailer and poster which is generally what would be expected from a movie. Having a limited amount of knowledge technically about trailers i decided to carry out separate research and try and break down and analyse what i professional posters and trailers consist of and how they are achieved. seeing these i noticed that there are lots of factors to consider with posters and trailers such as trailers require some sort of introduction to the story or characters as ell as you don't want to give away the whole concept of the story as this will ruin the films narrative as the audience will realise what they are expecting where to be and how. similarly the poster should not be too complicated with loads of different pictures and colours. posters have to have a simplicity in some way and avoid looking tacky and complex as this will show an unprofessional scruffy piece of work and would not interest people to view the film. the colours are also a key part for both trailers and posters as a dull piece of work will not look good for a kids movie as the target audience will lose interest almost instantly therefore colour is crucial and has to be observed when creating the two. With my trailer i realised i had a very short film of 5 min and having a trailer may have not been a great idea nevertheless i began looking at footage outside of the final product and incorporated them into my trailer as i've witnessed many trailers previously that do the same method. After being stuck for hours on editing and thinking of giving up i managed to get a decent trailer for my film and this was a huge achievement for me knowing the negative thoughts coming and going while editing and managing to overcome them giving me a great final trailer.

overall my general thoughts and feelings for the whole project were a mix of positive and negative moments which assisted each other very well as from feeling negative i was aided by support and positive reflection which helped bring me to a more productive schedule and kept me on track as well as from feeling positive in the start i was brought to a halt and negative emotions pushed into me which took some time before i realised to get back on track with work. these emotions have really made me learn not to be weak minded about any work and continue no matter how difficult things get and hopefully you'll see the results of hard work soon.

Final product analysis

Finally finished my filming and editing its been a long couple weeks some not so bad others really uneasy and stressful, however seeing the final video and a few relatives responses im glad to have continued and went forwards in completing this project. let's start from the beginning of this production having started at one of the worst times keeping in mind everyone had the cameras out and there was no possibility of filming for the next couple of weeks using equipment such as cameras and mics. this was really not too bad as one of my friends suggested i might as well start filming using my phone which had a decent camera to film with all i really needed was a tripod and a phone holder for the tripod which i sorted with my teachers on the same day and they also managed to offer a zoom recorder for filming, realising i didn't need it at that point i decided to leave taking too much equipment and took what was required. additionally i was prepared for one shot i really thought would be great in the film this required me to buy a suction car phone holder from halfords. using the phone holder quite often to get comfortable with how it works and how safe it is for my phone and road users as this shot was to be taken in one of the most uneasy positions for a film, outside my car whilst moving at a reasonable speed. taking the risk was certainly worth it having such a unique shot for my film felt like a success straight away. i did want to start filming as quick as possible possibly in the same week i got the equipment but there was a very difficult and complicated obstacle that did not allow this to go to plan. baring in mind we have 3 or so weeks left i really needed to start filming however it was difficult to get my friends help as it's meant to be filmed outside college hours and this meant no really wanted to come film in their free time except one zac chevasco. zac came and made a start with filming with me helping with recording and also acting. zac saw i was struggling and encouraged the other guys to come along as well as my motivation to push them finally we managed to get through that stage and had two more recruits for one night. we filmed a dead police officer scene which was very important to build fear in the main character. having only a 2 or 3 hrs to film we successfully accomplished this and then parted ways personally none of them wanted act so they decided to have the polices head on the steering wheel which was very much appreciated as they helped when i was really thinking about giving up and focusing on evaluating why i couldnt have a final cut. they really encouraged me to continue and finally reaching the stage i am at now. later i also got some help from my brother to film in another location which his acting fell quite a lot but with a little time and knowing he has never acted or filmed before he did great. we nailed the location in one night while doing that night i realised the time i have left was very limited so i did not stop and continued filming in the next location which was at home. i filmed some independent shots using the tripod and then called it a night. later whilst editing some of the clips together i was questionative with the projects success with achieving the horror element and was nervous as well as work outside college did not stop however later while working in wembley my cousin suggested he would come back to my area and film some shots and seeing his acting skills and the time we had i decided to film some other gaps and re shoot the police scene as i thought the shot that needed reshooting had a different car and shape so it was best to refilm the whole scene instead of having a confusing film. successfully achieving the shots needed whilst filming i realised a lot of things coming up as a problem such as lighting positioning and props such as blood we no longer had were all improvised and used with an alternative such as ketchup, different shots in different angles etc. we got the shots quite close to the others and i began editing these in my timeline. after thinking i've completed all my filming and made a start on editing i saw there were a few shots i needed to refilm which i got some help again from family and that was it filming was completely finished and editing was looking good. the film was not yet on the level i wanted and expected but with time and patience it was accomplished. now the audio which is a crucial part in any successful film and in my film was the main aspect having a limited amount of dialogue and more visuals and audio to help narrate the story and build the emotions and atmosphere i was looking for. I was very nervous and scared when i reached this stage as i was now very limited with time and had to consider completing my evaluation and other gaps in my research page. this was a major problem and it required me to reevaluate my schedule for work and college and how much time i needed to spend per day on the evaluation and on the editing. i continued to work with both evaluation and editing stage until one did not fully complete. the audio stage overall was not as complicated as i saw it to be. i managed to get most of the audio such as eerie sounds and nature music, such as trees and wind in the night, from pixabay and the general background music i decided to get from youtube's royalty free music. once editing the correct sounds in from the two sources i realised there was something missing with the jumpscare and it simply did not fit right with the visuals and basic audio, so i went onto pixabay looking for jumpscare sounds and didn't find anything of that category and decided to go to youtube and got a load of jumpscare sounds in one video which required a lot of time starting with separating the sounds then pulling out the ones i thought could fit in then putting it in position and realising it dont sound right then pulling out another one and finally got the one i needed. this not was looking at a worthy level and seeing how much audio this has required was crazy however they fit perfectly and kept the atmosphere where i want it. the audio would vary from 2 or more music at points which if this was a different film it would not fit right through out the film however with this working out for my horror film it allowed it to be more fast paced considering it still took weak and in nearly 2 days fixing and making sure the audio fits perfectly i managed to make it fit the mixed pace of slow and fast in correct timing. finally finished the editing and needed to check the film fully rendered. i saw that the audio was hitting the red limit and decided to fix this however in some parts i wanted to keep the red limit such as for the jumpscare it was a benefit as jumpscares are loud and have a unique sound to scare the audience instantly. lastly i got some feedback from some friends and family members about the final cut and everyone has given exactly the same rating of 8/10 which really is an unexpected rating but honestly it was shocking some of the feedback i cant really improve on due to the limit of time i have however its worth hearing as this could and will be a learning curb for myself. the first feedback was "change the music to make it more suspenseful possibly use music from devil part 1 horror movie" for this feedback it is understandable that i use more suspense in my audio in particular parts where the killer is following or approaching however taking music from existing movies will be seen as copyright and would be pointless i could recreate the music however that takes a lot of time and is a challenge considering i have a basic knowledge on recreating music and have probably never done it before. Another feedback is "when you see the knife being stabbed you could have more blood in the visuals and make it look more realistic with the final scene" this was a good point which i did notice while editing but honestly i could have got a fake liver and had it on the end however this in my opinion would not be right for college standards and would require a lot of time to work with considering filming at the right moment and the clean up after. in consideration to this it was reasonable to leave this out however this was a very smart way to increase the horror aspect and make it look realistic which ill surely take forward to possible future projects. there were many more feedbacks giving some good and some possible changes. one of my peers did say the cinematography and use of different angles was very good however the title had a gap which was uneven and looked out of place which i decided to have a shot once again to change it and pretty much the feedback was similar to each other with the murder shots looking a little too on the fake side and needed a touch of realistic.

overall the production was a great learning opportunity and hopefully a possible high grade. knowing how hard i've worked i'm really proud of what i've achieved in the amount of time i did it and realising all the downfalls i had were another encouragement to continue learning and practicing my skills and avoid the reasons for these for next time. To achieve my usp i managed to use the music to my advantage and the night time shooting to help support my films build up tension. i used foley to support this as i created some scraping noises and huffing noises to help elaborate on some particular scenes and make a more realistic visual.

My final poster was another part which required a fair amount of time and effort. i began by taking some pictures of the killer with a red light in the background. i had one night to complete this for my schedule and so i took multiple pictures rounding upto around 70 pictures. as i was taking these picture by myself i decided it was best to take as many as possible to save time later and it honestly worked very well as i went through the picture later and put the ones i thought were good in a seperate folder to the others. i realised that these picture were still too many and showed it to a couple of friends and all of them decided to vote for one particular one and realising that this was the one i began my work starting with cropping the picture to a portrait angle and then adding in the texts. i used dafont to grab some fonts i thought would fit right with the texts from the horror section and began downloading them to work with i downloaded two fonts which were for the title and the slogan however i had no idea which ones for which and incorporated them and showed some friends at college. we finalised on the more bolder font for the title and the more graphical one for the slogan and for the names i used a simple font which i found already downloaded. after altering the colours one of my friends decided to show me how to add a gradient to the text this made the title look much more aesthetically pleasing and professional. after positing the text carefully, i decided to finish of with the rating in the left corner and that was my final poster which i was very pleased with and again tried getting some feedback, hearing that all was positive i left it to that. i did have other pictures i was interest to incorporate in however realising how they looked i decided i was complicating things too much and went for the more simple yet clear and amazing poster.

My final trailer was a very confusing piece of work as i was not sure if i wanted to have a trailer or not this lead me to analyse whether it was worth it and what could be an alternative root. seeing this i realised that it was best if i had one as it was a film and most films have some sort of trailer or teaser to show to the public before the film is released. i began creating my trailer using footage from my exported version of my film and some secondary footage which was not included within the film. i had taken quite a lot of time to complete this making sure i was not giving away to much of the story or crucial scenes which i wanted to see peoples reactions with. seeing how the footage was going without any audio i decided to look for some horror trailer music and did not like the other ones so i decided to use a default epic trailer which does not fit the genre of horror however it fits very well with the visuals and the general pace which i thought was reasonable as if i did change the visuals to fit a horror music then it would require possibly more footage and more time as well as if more footage is used then i could be giving way to much information on the film and ruin the whole concept. i used pixabay to get the music and used archive footage to fill in any gaps and to avoid getting the whole story out there. finally the trailer was finished and i analysed how it was created and honestly im glad i did this trailer as it may not be perfect however it was there and showed the genral narrative and what the genre of the film is as well as some cool text to give a more mysterious and impactful touch to the trailer. seeing the final cut of the trailer

What went well

In my opinion i feel the final product was really shocking and having understood all the problems and falls i've had during this project i've realised the main part is to never give up because the only thing that was stopping me is me. these learning curbs were the main thing i thought went well. however there were many more aspects that went well for me such as the way i started my project.

i started my project off very strong and at a good pace keeping up with my class work, reflection and work from home all at the same time. normally seeing that i'm the sort of person to leave the reflection till a later time and pretty much all my homework also for later i thought that going through the start with all three weak points was a great achievement from the beginning and this went seriously well until i started getting more to the practical stuff and after the easter holiday break. problems started arising time was getting shorter and most of all the effort had to stay consist. observing these situations i now can say i'm on the final couple of days of my project and seeing how i picked myself up from the holiday i really think the work from home, class work and reflection has really gone well for me.

i've also seen how my research section has been and it did have some weak spots where i thought there is certainly room for improvement and achieving this at a later time was a wise and fantastic thing, yes i did not have it sorted in correct time however seeing that my final product had an impact on what my research was missing really made me understand what i can include within my research to show that i have not randomly used a technique, i've also done some research in correlation to the two.

the final product went well in all aspects considering i had a limited amount of time and also the issue with getting the team all to shoot in one night was difficult as i had to work with three different schedules which required a lot of time and patience. honestly having a completed final cut was completely unexpected as i thought it was not going to go through as i didn't have enough time, people to work with, and was generally running late for the hand in. seeing the way i've picked myself up and got through the production i really think this is a massive achievement for me and it meant i could carry on and possibly pass.

After seeing the progres i was making in the last couple weeks of my project i realised that i can achieve great potential even if i was limited with many factors i still can get through it. from thinking i would be lucky to even get a pass i see that honestly i have more potential possibly for a merit. this thought went extremely well for me as i was on for giving up soon and now i'm working through the day to simply fix up any work i have to complete and finalising some really good work.

i think i am slowly getting much better with premiere pro, understanding how the basic work such as how to add basic effects and transitions to my video as well as how to crop and alter the audio. i find this went well for my final product as it limited me having to research how to videos for premiere pro and i could focus on more aspects to make my video look much more creative. i've been working with premiere pro for such a long time and now seeing from where i started to where i've reached is amazing, im able to comfortable make changes and mistakes and rectify them and seeing the way i can work so effective and quickly with the software really is something that went amazingly well.

i also think that my knowledge with audition has really been increasing and still needs development however i know this is going well for me seeing the way i editing the voiceover in my final cut and the way i altered some of the audio to give better it in the visuals. it really shocked me as i thought i was quite weak with audition and photoshop but seeing the progress i made with audition over the years has gone so well it's crazy.

my pitch was honestly in the middle of good and bad i thought i needed to really change it up and make it stronger but the confidence on putting my work and ideas out there showing what i'm planning and thinking of was really good and that's why i decided to not redo a whole pitch presentation again but putting it down on my blog and see if it all makes sense and how successful does it look. i felt this way went well as i had a stronger narrative and a more wider understanding of what shots are achievable and what may need changing. even better i did not change any shots i wanted i simply altered them to avoid complicating things and making production more simpler. the pitch in general was good as i knew what my product was to be and how it will be achieved as well as research to back it up.

overall the project has gone really well not in particular at the start however later down the line it really started blooming with success. my thoughts and emotions were really out of the normal for this project i realised this has never happened before also its never happened where i've finished my final product in a tight schedule and its come out looking good. i've seen and learnt a lot which was really good as this is my final college project and i really wanted to nail it to consist of knowledge and skills i've got from previous projects all into one project which honestly it worked very well.

What could have been done differently/even better if

there are many things that could have been done differently to the way i did it. firstly the start of this project was a positive start as i was not slacking and was not leaving much to the end however i realised while doing my research that most of my primary research needed to be completed as well such as i left the trailer and poster analysis to a later date and this through me back as i was focused on getting that sorted thinking i was too tight on schedule. however later i found i was missing much more and the process just kept going which meant i was missing pretty much 20-40% of my research by not having it done along the rest of the theoretical work. i think if i did put my mind to it and thought through what i needed to research for a film i could have had the research completed a long time ago and avoid jumping between production and research to have them completed.

with my FMP final product i thought i could have bettered the visuals in a way for it to look more realistic and more scary. i understood with the feedback i got that what i needed to improve on and change which i'll have to keep aside due to a limited amount of time left to hand in my work. i could have used more blood and also thought of using paint to cover more areas with blood this would make the audience quickly realise what might happen soon also it gives a sense of fear and mystery as to why there is so much blood. Most of the other work i managed to complete such as fixing my title and changing the sound levels as well as other minor aspects which i thought could be changed in my fmp.

motivation was one thing i thought i needed to improve as i realized my motivation has been varying a lot during the whole project and thought in some places this caused major issues for me as it delayed my work and slowed my consistent progress to no progress however this did change quickly to a good amount of progress later however the minor gaps i had later added up towards a major and this pushed me back and made my delayed for submission and time i could spent on bettering my grading.

Timing was another crucial part i needed to evaluate as the time i put in was mostly near to the end during production and editing this caused my work and stress levels to be high and my motivation to be low with some phases where i was extremely motivated. Ath the moments i was sitting for the whole day simply working as i knew if i don't do the work while i'm motivate i wont see results and progress which meant i'll not want to work more and potentially give up as well as i may be too late to do anywork so in a way it was worth doing whole days where i just work on college work.

As of my reflection work i could have done many things better starting with having my practical work separate from my reflection page as this did confuse the page on and limited me on writing too much for the practicals as it would take up alot of space which meant the page would look unbalanced and i would look like my normal reflection is not enough compared to some reflection of the practical days.

i could have also re-evaluated how effective my methods of promotion would be as the trailer possibly gave a bit too much of the story however this was one way a trailer can look however understanding that my film was 5-6 min long was pretty difficult to fit in a 2 min trailer which had to look reasonably good. however this was achieved at the end and meant that it could work depending on how you structure it, i've never seen it done before and have no previous experience with trailer making but this trailer looks really appealing in the end.

i also think i could have changed the music in the trailer as this was a more basic, dramatic trailer music which meant that the music did not hint out any sort of horror theme it was very much all in the visuals

For the poster i would have some more complex and dramatic pictures such as possibly the killer standing near a dead body with his back towards the camera would be a better picture to work with. the image i had already however showed simplicity and was worthy for a poster but i simply thought there could be something more to it.

overall i have had some difficult times where i've realised i needed to improve and having the chance to improve on as much as possible was a good way to end the project. knowing where i needed to improve was the most interesting part from my project as i now know what i need to do to make my work from the level it is to a much more higher and professional level. this honestly is a great opportunity for me to take forward my experiences and better my ability to produce higher quality work in a limited amount of time.

Good and bad experience

i've had many good and bad experiences which have really effected my project hugely. i've stated some setbacks i've had previously that have really caused my work to drop massively on the other hand i've also had many positive moments where they've simply revived my work and progress having these positive moments were probably the only thing that had made me continue on with the project as having known im extremely limited with time i was honestly on for giving up and focusing on other aspects that possibly could be changed to a higher standard and simply expect the best later.

the good and bad were really changing very quickly and thankfully with these changes i managed to achieve something i never thought i could. i feel the bad experiences were caused by myself doubting that i can't do a certain thing as this though was a huge throwback to my work as when i wanted to film i felt as if i cant use cameras etc so is there a point to start when i don't have half the equipment and later still going without the cameras really was a simply me doubting if i can do it with or without the cameras and recorders etc.however the good thing about this is i managed to get through and sort out these problems in sufficient time.

overall seeing these experiences have lead me to be leaving college on a positive note and encouraged to continue bettering myself and understanding never to give into my negative thoughts and not to continue dwelling on something you have no control over simply continue pushing forward with whatever you have control of especially your time. what you do with your time is your choice and with this project in particular ive noticed ive caused some bad experiences which have lead to even more problems and stress however time was probably the healer of this. i'm glad i can take some things forward which will help make my future projects and experiences more better and possibly avoid clashing with the same bad experiences.

Why things did go well

i think the main reason for my project as a whole to come out to be at a high enough standard was primarily my own hardwork and dedication i've put into the project from the start to the finish. i've put in a lot of time mostly nearer to the end where i was pushing in a lot compared to my peers. this did go well in the end as i successfully managed to complete a final product and its marketing methods as well as having to complete the theoretical side such as the reflection and the evaluation which must be complete by the end as they are very crucial not only for my grade but for me to check and reflect on my thoughts and emotions and analyse my final products, these did go well as im almost done with my evaluation and reflection has been completed.

there were many things other than these that went really well for me at the end but not everything started looking good from the start. it got ugly before it was looking good which made my thoughts go wild as i thought there was no point of continuing however it went well in the end seeing the final product and how i picked myself up with my reflection and other theoretical work was really good as it was my biggest motivation seeing things fall into place and actually for once look good.

i feel like my final product was really good not only the way it looked aesthetically but the way it looked once it was finished. knowing that i had such a limited amount of time i knew i was going to need to reshoot a lot and won't have enough time to do so however when it came to editing while i was still filming reshoots i started to see the way the clips were looking and how they fitted with the other shots and the narrative. this by far was my most liked project due to the final product and how it was made in a rush yet still looked worthy of a high standard. i felt really relieved once the final product was finished and this affected my other work positively as i saw i wasn't sure if the trailer was worth doing due to the film being so short however i still went through with it and this led to me continuing on working even more harder on my project and made me think how grateful i am to myself and others around me telling me not to give up as im now content and satisfied with the work i've put in and having seen the feedback i've got from my peers i'm sure they are also very proud i got through this.

i've also seen how having encouragement from family and friends has impacted my work rate and how much i produced. this went really well for me as i did not have to worry about losing motivation as when i did look like i was in need of some support my family were always there and my friends were also a great way to encourage me with seeing their work and understanding that i should and must continue going.

overall the whole project was really good for me as i learnt where my weak spots were and where my strengths were as well as i've managed to learn new things as well as bring out as much from my previous projects to better my work and produce a final strong project. seeing the way things have gone so far and me making it through to the final parts of this project is my biggest achievement and hopefully next time ill better my work in my future projects so they dont be a final rush of things to complete and it will help improve my motivation and mental ability to focus more.

Why did things not go so well

there were many reasons why things did not go to plan and the reasons varied in importance. the main issue was time management.

i've noticed my time management should have been much more clearer and i should have known how to balance work, project work, and my personal things. i believe keeping this inconsideration would have helped better my work as it would limit the factor of rushing and trying my level best to simply get everything completed in 2 or 3 weeks time. time management was not really bad as it was still manageable in some way however the other factors that came with it were really not favouring this such as stress, dissatisfaction, external work, actors schedules etc. these all played a massive part in creating more and more issues with time and managing this in the ned was unbearable however accepting the challenge i managed to get through this project successfully.

Another massive problem i had was getting to grip with completing work independently. noticing that we were having lessons at the start of the project i put my brain in the thoughts that i don't really have to worry about working independently at this point however this did not help as i should have been reflecting on the work in class but as well as do my own research for what i'm about to create this caused a minor if not major set back in my work towards my research page, which i did not recognise until a later time of the project and this meant i was fitting as much as i can with no extreme detail overall however i feel as if this was not as bad as the page was not limited with detail but it was not too detailed for my liking.

overall there were some really tough times but these two were two that were some major setbacks for my work and this caused many issues later for me. these things are definitely something i would do differently next time and would recommend others to keep in mind when working on a project.it may not look like it can affect your work so much but it honestly can and will if not observed carefully.

How have my teachers affected my FMP (positives and negatives)

i must say this section is not the easiest as i know my teachers are very good with what they do but with the final project its been hard to say what did not went so well and what did.

starting with pauls. i've practically known paul for nearly three years and can say his motivation towards us has remained the same which has really helped support our work in terms of any help we required we did not get some boring plain feedback we got some very creative feedback and any areas we did have to work on he's given a lot of consideration to and helped boost these area with detailed explanation on what is required of us. with everyone they do vary with how much they can do to help apart from this everything was pretty straight forward with how pauls helped my work for this project. although i did feel as if the animation and key frame animation were not really useful having them in the middle of our final projects however we got through that stage with ease and also having the work experience at a crucial time of our FMP i feel this should have been done before possibly in the freelance project as this then would be done and out of the way giving us plenty time to focus on the FMP. overall pauls work has really given me a positive feeling on the way he has supported and how most of his work is focused on getting fmp work sorted.

sams lesson and support are up next. sam has really been a good teacher to approach whenever i've been stuck understanding a piece of work. i also think his lessons are pretty much always very interactive and enjoyable while also teaching us something new. im however struggling with the way his lessons have been this final project. i understand that having interactive lessons and lessons of refreshing our memory is useful however in consideration of our final project and time being limited to possibly 2-3 weeks left for sams lessons i really think he could have left us to complete our projects instead of having lessons where some students were simply playing games. this was nice to have however i really think it was not the right thing to be doing on the last days of our project. there has been many moments where i would rather choose to work from home knowing that i can get more work done home than in college for these reasons and honestly he is not bad at teaching but i think the lessons could be more varied with what we are doing especially if some people are falling back they wouldn't want to be sitting and wasting time learning something they have complete knowledge of instead they would prefer to work on progress and those who want to refresh their memory could possibly do this while others do more important work. overall sams done a very good job as a teacher and always had some good points to critique on for feedback.

What would i do different next time

There are few things that i'd definitely do differently next time and that i've learnt alot from some are more important than others while others did impact my work but not majorly.

time management- this was a very big issue when it came to my final project as i was pushing as much work nearer to the end which meant it was not to the potential i honestly could have given. the issues started arising from the beginning of the easter holidays and so i had 5 weeks from then to make major progression however with consideration to other issues i was having in my personal time and then work and college obviously never stopped, was a overload onto myself and really lowered my motivation and progress rate. although yes i was not making major progression i thought i was making some what progression which was certainly not enough and definitely something i needed to change overtime and when i decided to realise that i was very far behind i was slowly picking up and pushing through some strong work. unfortunately with working in the last 2-3 weeks before our first submission i really was in the position of giving up or continuing and seeing whatever i can get as i noticed i had my whole production todo and considering, reshoots, editing, actors availability etc. was very difficult to maintain. there was consistent motivation from my family whenever i was slacking in work which lifted me to look at the bigger picture and actually keep to a very tight and busy schedule. time management was a big problem and overcoming it was a mission however when i saw progression that was the most biggest motivation for me seeing how my product looked and the feedback i was getting simply amazing. i'm hoping next time i'll do differently and stay consistent with the hardwork and aim higher.

filming- i would change a few things with filming and my product such as the actors i had were very helpful however some were not really taking the work seriously, i could see this with some of the acting they did as well as the availability they had when ever i asked was really disheartening as i saw the importance my project had for me and i thought it would have the same importance for my friends and family, however it did not and realizing this was very important that i prioritise my work because not everyone wants or has the time to think about my work. this was honestly really disturbing as i was always up for the help of any friend or family and with people backing out last minute it really slowed me down and unmotivated me thinking i was not going to get through filming and acting all by myself, nevertheless i put the recordings i had together and honestly it did not look too bad it was not perfect and i wanted to change a few things however with the stress of getting it in for submission and actors availability i decided to leave it to that and make it as appealing as possible through editing and music. i appreciate everyone's help throughout this project but i think as of next time getting some more teamwork would be much better for filming as i will be able to ask my team to reshoot on a day that we could all sort out, as well as more realistic ideas for filming would be good from myself to fix as i think some scenes could be made more realistic and interesting.

overall the whole project went very well for me and having some amazing feedback as well as some things i could improve was very useful as i will certainly consider these for any future project i possibly have. i also will certainly keep somethings the same and further develop them. beside some issues i had a fairly decent team to work with and we finally managed to finish filming hoping for a merit of higher possibly.

Final statement

my final statement is simply a video recording which is my first take on closing of this project. i realised to that i want it to be completely unedited and a straight forward closing of what i think of the project so far and just a bit on the rough side i've had whilst working on this project. this is an uncut version of my thoughts before closing of this project.