Progress Next week

Week 1 During the first week, I went through the - Research Codes and
entire A2 course structure, but today I conventions of
made my primary focus the practical dramas
production structure with my teacher to
gain an understanding. After some close
analysis of the advanced portfolio options
and initially I wanted to create a regional
magazine, however, after some deliberation
I decided to form a group with some other
classmates to create a short film. This will
enable me to further develop the skills that
I had already obtained from my film
production skills in AS.
Week 2 This week the focus was analysing short - Draft ideas for film
films to understand their codes and - Create synopsis from
conventions. This help me understand what chosen idea
was necessary to incorporate into my own
short film. I found this website called short
of the week from which I watched a film
called Boneshakers which featured similar
concepts to which I would like to achieve in
my own. After analysing this short film, I
came to realisation that I needed to
consider more, however, this proved quite
difficult due to the wind range of films
available, which resulted in me looking to
independent films and TV shows with
similar themes.
Week 3 The task of this week is to generate as - Research mental
many ideas as possible for our short film. I health
personally, was inspired by an episode of - Developments to
Hollyoaks I had watched and numerous ideas
other music videos and short films. I
created a synopsis for each of the ideas
and consulted the other members of my
group and teachers to evaluate the pros
and cons of each idea. In the end, we all
decided on the idea that would require a lot
of creativity and would be interesting for as
well as relevant to our demographic today.
Week 4 Today I did some further research into films - Brainstorm character
with the similar theme of mental health expectations
issues amongst black people. This led me
to go back to Boneshakers, as it
contained this portrayal and in a negative
way. However, as this portrayed African
Americans assumedly from a different
 decade I watched a documentary on BBC
called Being black, going crazy. This gave
me some background information and
statistics on black people suffering from
mental illnesses, which is currently
uncommon in todays media. In addition to
this as a group we created a story
brainstorm of what our film would be about,
which incorporated our research. After this I
wrote up a synopsis of the short film,
however, after discussing our storylines as
a group we decided to develop Leighannes
idea.
Week 5 This week we brainstormed ideas about the - Look at the
characters to identify the different accessibility of the
demographics they would have and difference
determine what their appearance. We drew characters
up ideas of potential protagonists of our - More drafting of
films to understand what each character character
could offer to the overall storyline. expectations
Week 6 This week I considered characters and - Location research
casting. Finding a cast to play our
characters was difficult as many of our
friends and other students are currently
studying for their A levels so their
availability would be unreliable. Now, we
have got someone who could potentially
narrate the storyline for us if we need them
too but we are quickly running out of time.
Week 7 Today we went to evaluate different - Plot development
locations for our production but first we had - Create a script
to create a storyboard to establish what
locations we would need and what we were
specifically looking for. During this location
hunt we came across a wide variety of
locations and we created a table to
document our findings and evaluate which
ones we were going to use. This included
analysing the various dangers and
problems with certain locations as well as
the availability/accessibility and the ability
to manipulate locations to suit our storyline
Week 8 After considering the storyline, we began to - Script developments
realise that it was incredibly complex for a
short film that will only be 5 minutes so we
had to make numerous changes. This lead
to a few changes regarding the script

Week 9 As a group, we decided that Leighanne was - Create similar

going to be responsible for the writing of product
the script whilst I would be editing during
post production. However, I did consider
some narrative theories that could
influence the way in which the script is
written and the order of the storyline. I
specifically documented this on my blog
Week 10 In addition to the other similar products I - Target audience
looked at I further delved into the Holly - Create a
oaks episode that featured schizophrenia to questionnaire
analyse how we should depict
schizophrenia, without being offensive, as it
is a topic that should be handled carefully

Week 11 Today I created a questionnaire on survey - -alterations to

monkey to post on my social media sites to locations
get a wide range of response and find out
what people would expect and who would
be consumers of my drama

Week 12 After much deliberation, we have decided - develop script

that it would be better to reduce the - establish characters
locations that we are filming in so it will not
be overly complex. In addition to this we
have also reduced the props and actors.
Also, I have considered numerous
cinematographic technics as alternative to
filming in certain locations. Leighanne is
also responsible for writing the treatment
Week 13 After the numerous changes made to the - conduct casting
film idea we have begun to consider - select names for the
characteristics of the main characters and I characters
put together brief notes on what we expect
of each character which will be put into
consideration during casting

Week 14 Today auditions were held for the cast of - schedule filming
our short film. In addition to this we have - begin filming
also looked into character names and found
it important to research into the meanings
of their names, as it will add another
dimension to their roles. Since filming is
due to start next week I am beginning to
brush up on my editing skills by watching
YouTube videos to expand on skills I
developed last year
Week 15 We read through the scripts and held - - schedule filming
rehearsal for the cast but we didnt spend - begin filming
much time on this as we were running out
of time. Also, to reveal that the protagonist
has schizophrenia we will need a medical
room so we will contact the medical office
in our school to ask for permission to use it.
In preparation for filming we collected a
Nikon DSLR from the school and tripod,
whilst charging numerous batteries for
filming. We made sure we kept in contact
via our group chat on WhatsApp for any
updates on our production schedule.
Currently, we are looking to start filming
next week
Week 16 First, we created a schedule for filming, - Complete editing
which we delegated to two days in the
week. The first scene to film was the final
scene on the cliff, fortunately the weather
was gloomy, which would ultimately
contribute to the overall mise en scene of
the film. Filming went really as each shot
was planned with precision and although
one member of our cast arrived late we
could get what we needed.

The next scene to film was the detention

film, which ran smoothly as we could
manipulate the lighting of the classroom to
create a moody atmosphere. After this we
filmed the drama scene and the audition
 scene which was quite easy, as we used the
drama studio in which we were also able to
ask the technicians to help change the
lighting for the scene

Week 16 Today, I took the camera and footage home - Complete editing
part 2 to film a scene with two young girls who are
my family friends. They were chosen to
play the roles of the younger amber and
blossom. This was quite difficult as both
girls are 6 years old therefore their
attention was all over the place, however, it
allowed me to assume the role of a director
as I had to specify exactly what I wanted
them to do in detail to achieve what was
necessary for the scene. Overall it turned
out great. Once finished I started editing
the footage on IMovie on my MacBook
Saturda This was a very busy day, as we filmed the - editing
y penultimate scene in the medical office
where Amber discovers she has
schizophrenia. We could create a form that
include her medical diagnosis to create a
sense of verisimilitude. This was the most
important prop, as it rounds up and
explains the storyline and explains Ambers
actions
Week 17 This week I began editing all the footage we - Post production
got for the first rough edit. I considered
numerous editing techniques so I could
make the film flow as much as possible and
be as creative in my approach as possible.
In addition, I also found the soundtracks for
the film

Week 18 After finishing the edit I showed it to the - refile

other members of my group and we
collectively made annotations on what we
saw. We came up with new things to film,
as well as shots that needed to be refiled.
However, in the end we decided to change
the plot, as it didnt make enough sense for
others who were unaware of the plot.
Changes we noted are as follows:
- After the initial scene with the young
Amber and Blossom, there will be a
 fade to an older Amber and Blossom
who are sitting in Ambers room; we
felt that this would be more effective
in portraying how theyve grown and
give a reason as to why Blossom is so
angry about Amber having an
audition (please look at the
storyboard for clarity). Blossom will
express that she doesn't want Amber
to go to her audition because if she is
successful she moves away and
leaves Blossom
- Also, we decided to reduce the
scenes where Blossom is on a cliff to
a part of a dream of Amber, who falls
asleep after an argument which
precedes the previous bullet point
- Furthermore, we decided to change
the way that Blossom commit suicide,
our teacher expressed his concern
that we may not reach a high grade
due to our inadequate use of
locations, as they are mainly in school
and seem quite lazy. We decided to
film the suicide scene on a bridge
above a motorway, this will create
the idea that Blossom is in integral
danger

Week 19 Today we planned the filming of Blossoms -

break down and eventual suicide. Since we
wanted to show this on a bridge we had to
write and risk assessment to consider all
the possible dangers, as there were many
cars and it would be dangerous to stand to
close to the edge on the bridge. One of the
major problems we encountered when
filming was that one of our cast members
was not available to refilm so she was
edited out
Week 19 Today we went to the bridge in Dartford to -
part 2 film, which was incredibly awkward, as it is
a busy area so some people walking around
would stop and watch, which made filming
uncomfortable for the actors. Ultimately,
our biggest difficulty was filming on the
bridge to make it seem as if Blossom was
on the edge. To successfully do this, we
took numerous different shots to portray
 this. After getting this done we filmed the
scene prior to this one which was the
argument which was easy to get done. The
room overall was a perfect location to film
in as it contributed to overall mise en scene

Week 20 As filming is now complete, I can complete -

editing. We created our title s today as well
and took on the feedback that our fonts
initially used were too basic.

After showing some of the fonts I found to

the group we agreed on some fonts and I
am happy with the final product achieved