FMP Evaluation:

Up to this point now I’ve been doing this Final Major Project for the last three months or so. And
because this is my last unit I’ve set out with the intent of showing the skills I’ve learnt over these
past two year on the CMP course. Before signing up to this course my practical talents did not
include any basics of media production such as camerawork, editing or sound design. But over time
and despite me still having a lot to learn, I feel as though the fundamentals of filmmaking are at my
disposal. As I’ve said this FMP for my second year is my last chance to show my understanding of the
film process and in turn make something that I can be proud of. Therefore to begin with I was set the
task of coming up with three possible ideas to make for this unit. This proved to be the first major
problem for me personally considering throughout this course I’ve always been able to establish
project concepts with minimal time. But here it seemed that I ran out of ideas for a short while and
started to get worried that I couldn’t come up with anything to make. However after a few days of
thinking I produced three pieces of work that I felt could be made and that I’d enjoy making
personally. Encountering this problem so early on put me in a negative mind state for a while. But I
think the only way to avoid this if I were to do this unit again would be to considering what I want to
get out of my production, do I want the cinematography to be good, should I focus on my editing, or
shall I make sure my mise en scene suits the tone of my piece.

Each of my ideas had a light-hearted feeling to them despite all discussing dark themes or topics,
which was due to the success of my previous unit. For this I had made a music video for the song
“Star Treatment” By Arctic Monkeys, a 70s Sci-Fi inspired story about a space ranger called Jack
Jacobs. The whole production was a parody of the early cheesy Science Fiction shows where the sets
and effects look cheap. I felt that this worked in my favour being as student with no budget to
replicate outer space. Because of this the music video was one of the only units that I can say I
enjoyed making every aspect of it. So I knew that for my FMP I wanted that same feeling when in the
production process. However I should have stuck with this concept I’d created in the previous unit as
I could’ve made a short film based in my Sci-fi parody. This would’ve saved me time trying to find a
suitable idea to run with, plus my viewers would already be aware of the kind of production I’d make
before I even began practical production. My three ideas were a music video for the song “The
National Anthem” by Radiohead, which we follow an addict slowly fall into a state of decay.
The second concept was a film about a lonely man who befriends someone who died at a bus stop
and haunts it. The man doesn’t know he’s speaking to a ghost and therefore forms an unlikely bond.
This was my favourite idea but I convinced myself not to run with it because I thought I might offend
my viewers with my portrayal of the dead. I know now that if I hadn’t made a film within my Sci-fi
parody world, then my next choice should have been this concept. This is because it would have had
minimal locations to film at and not require many actors on set either. Although my film does have
both these qualities I had to play three characters, so it lessens the experience due to me reusing
actors. Whereas if I’d made this bus stop ghost story there would only require two characters. My
third and final idea was also the one I chose to run with, this being a short film about an adolescent
vampire who struggles with understanding what he is in modern society. This would be a coming of
age parody of the stereotypical vampire films but in this case the main character is an awkward teen.
This still keeps with the humorous tone to I wanted to create, but tried to tackle a different genre
that dealt with more real world issues unlike my music video.

After this I had to make my own brief which would include a rationale where I talk about how I’ve
progressed over the course of each unit, a project concept where I discuss what exactly I’ll be
making during this time. And finally an evaluation in which I describe the ways that I’ll conduct self-
reflection on my work all through the production process. I also needed to follow the CMP rules and
regulations which stated that all my practical work had to be my own, that I couldn’t use any work
from previous units.This brief also included a section where I say which client of festival my
production will be made for, in this case my work was constructed for the UK film festival Raindance,
Britain’s most popular independent film organisation. I did this because their rules and regulations
are very relaxed as they want creators to express themselves in any way they see fit. Therefore I
know that I have kept to the requirements to both my client and my course, so in this sense my
production is successful.

My project brief also included who my target audience were and why this was the case, meaning
before I began my research or any practical production I would know what type of person to have in
mind when going about these tasks – since I was making the production for people like them. My
chosen demographic where aged between 16-25 because I felt that the themes my production
would ultimately try to include would be best suited to a young audience. However I still do believe
that older viewers could enjoy experiencing my work too. I think this was I good choice to pick this
age bracket because it only required me to appeal to people of a similar age which I knew I’d be
more than capable at doing.

In order to ensure I kept a steady work flow to meet my deadlines the last part of this brief
required me to upload a full production schedule, mapping out each week that we were given so I’d
have a rough idea of what needed to be completed when. To be certain that my production includes
the relevant traits and tropes of my chosen topic, I began my research into looking at the basic
history of vampire. Both the historical relevance it holds and how the legendary creature influenced
film and literature. This involved me looking at documentaries and reading articles that described
the vampire’s traits, as well as exploring how they’ve impacted people’s lives today. I felt that this
research benefitted me substantially by getting me to understand the core basics of vampires as I’ve
only seen a few films on them. So apart from the need to drink blood I went I didn’t know much
about them. This was useful when planning on the rule book I used in my film, to see what could be
included and how I could bring out the comedic relief in it. This included a group of people who
believe they’re in fact real vampires that need a small amount of human blood to survive. Finding
out this information helped me to understand the psychology of vampires more which would benefit
my character development later on in the production process. After each section of research I was
required to re write my
final idea but include how
the research I’d made
help develop it. I felt that
this was a very good way
of tracking how my film’s
concept would change
over time because I was
actively showing the
impact the research was
having on my work. I do
think though that I should
have mapped out a clear
structure to my narrative
in the early stages of
production so that I could have more time to develop this aspect. Unfortunately I didn’t do this
which is part of the reason I struggled filming initially. The next part of my research focused on my
target audience, where I’d find out what my chosen demographic were interested in seeing in my
film. This was essential to do because without the necessary information my short film wouldn’t
appeal to my viewers and therefore be seen as an unsuccessful production. This section of research
proved to take the longest to complete considering I was scheduled to get it done in one week. This
was because I spent too much time waiting for my survey responses so that I could analyse them
later. However it turned into one of the most successful attributes to this unit as the responses
made crucial changes to my project concept.

Before this I’d designed a survey outlining the narrative of my short film, this included the themes I
aim to discuss as well as the a few examples of scenes in which the characters find themselves in
certain situations that I felt would lend a hand at the comedy side to the production. We needed to
get as many responses to these surveys as possible and I knew that just asking my fellow classmates
wasn’t going to be enough. Therefore, I joined a few online film forums and posted my survey there
with the hope that more people
would see it and give constructive
criticism. This was the reason I took
longer than expected to get this part
of my research done because I
waited an entire week to get the
most amount of response to analyse
later on. However, I should have
continued with sections of work to
ensure I didn’t fall behind. So for a
few weeks I wasn’t meeting my
targets which meant that if I
continued my production would fail to be complete. But the feedback I got from my target audience
was very useful which really surprised me considering in the past a lot of my surveys would get a one
worded response. This time it seemed that people were interested in what I wanted to make as on
multiple occasions I found them leaving short paragraphs where they spoke about what they like
and how I could develop it even more. My survey responses became very useful in term of me
developing my film’s narrative as I had so much information sourced from my demographic to work
with. The only part I would have done differently is sent out my surveys quicker so that I wasn’t
behind on coursework and I could’ve got feedback sooner.

But to cover a further range of criticism I set up a focus group where some other students and I sat
down to discuss each of our ideas for FMP. Much like the survey I sent out, the points raised by my
peers were extremely helpful in aiding my production’s progression. This benefitted me in making
my production more suited to my chosen demographic as I acquired primary research from people
who I could discuss these thoughts and opinions directly to. I spent time talking about each part to
my film, the nature of its story and how I wanted to make a coming of age flick within the context of
a vampire world. To me these two things seems to pair together perfectly as during my research I
found that all those people who believe they’re a vampire do so to feel a sense of belonging. For
most people they come from troubled backgrounds where they don’t fit in and because the very
nature of a vampire is the ultimate social outcast. Therefore I thought that a film about a young
vampire growing up in the modern world would make for an entertaining production. By recording
this focus group and uploading it to my page for analyse, I furthered my understanding of my target
audience which I think has had a positive impact on the my final outcome.
 Although I didn’t get to use all the ideas people brought up some of my favourite parts of my film
were because of this focus group. For example the scene in which the character Gus talks about his
fear and disgust of blood proved to be an effect scene, and this was all possible because a member
of the group suggested the idea of a vampire who hates blood. Therefore I continued to follow my
own brief because I met the needs of my target audience more as I’ve listened and responded to
their views. I did find however that my research lack the information on coming of age films, which I
only noticed weeks
after I needed the topic
section done by. In
order to solve this
problem conducted
some last minute
research into this sub-
genre of film which I
fond very helpful in
terms of developing my
characters. For example
the work I did told me
that adolescent boys
usually have worse
relationships with their father as a posed to their mothers- which is why in my film the Gus’ dad is
absent from the film but “tries” to reconnect with him via a letter so the theme of absent fathers is
present in my production. My codes and conventions research allowed me to look at films within my
chosen genre with the aim of finding different ways to show an understanding of the topic through
my work. Overall I think that this was some of the best research I’ve made to date because each film
was analysed thoroughly, talking about its cinematography, editing, light, mise en scene and
narrative. This would all come to help me improve my own work so with each film I included a
section where I said how knowing this information would benefit me. The way in which I found best
to pick out points from the films was to bullet point ideas whilst I viewed them, this created pages
notes where you can see my thinking of the film as time has gone on.

It’s just that after this I expanded

these points into well thought out
paragraphs. When it comes to
analysing film I don’t struggle to
pick them apart to find the relevant
information, so the actual analysis
of each of these films didn’t take
long. Unfortunately what made me
take so long to do this work is my
time management skills which has
been a reoccurring problem
throughout my time on this course.
I know that it’s because in most cases when I’ve made some form of progress I like to take breaks
that end up lasting too long. Heightened by the fact that when the work completed is in note form
as I convince myself that what I’ve done is sufficient enough. So if I were to repeat this unit again a
major conflict I’d need to address would be drastically improving how I use my allocated time.
With the codes and convention research finished I re-wrote my project idea but this time included all
the traits and techniques I’d learnt from doing this work. This developed my concept further and
also increased the likelihood of my target audience enjoying it. But still at this stage I should have
realised my film’s narrative structure needed more work to develop it but I chose to neglect it. As
the pre-production element of this unit began a large percentage of my problems occurred during
this same time. The smaller parts to this section where completed with ease such as the prop list,
location recces and even my storyboard, but even then I ended up taking wat too much time
completing this work which definitely cost me some filming time. When it comes to planning a
production the way I work requires me to storyboard the idea first then write dialogue after so in
this unit like the others my script was done secondary. This was probably my biggest mistake
because when it came to filming my script was all over the place as not much of it was assigned a
specific location. I now understand that in order to get the most out of a film, writing the script
should be my top priority, and visuals should always be secondary. I was also required to film some
test shoots of techniques I picked up on whilst analysing my films in the previous research. Here I’d
attempt to recreate the chosen skills so that when it came to filming my production I would have
practised and thereby eliminate any chance of failure. I had three test shoots in mind and this was
the notion I went in with, but what actually happened was very different. I had expected all three
trail shoots to be completely successful, however this was not the case at all because only one of
them proved to be so.

This was me demonstrating how to film in low light whilst incorporating practical lighting, but the
other two which were more shot type skills didn’t do so well. The first being a dolly tracking shot in
which the camera would move alongside the characters as they walked down a road, thereby
creating a moving frame. This unfortunately did not work out as planned because the dolly’s wheels
are too small to get smooth looking footage unless they are used on completely flat surfaces. The
second failed technique was a handheld tracking shot in which the character runs towards the
camera as it moves backwards, then later in post-production the footage is manipulated so that the
person’s head is the point of focus and the rest of the frame appears to move around this area.
Again this didn’t go well as to recreate this skill the frame needs to jump about to keep the head in
the centre and because I filmed it so close the border to my footage keeps showing, which means
there’re large gaps of black. Although these techniques didn’t make it into my film I am glad I tried to
make them before I filmed otherwise I would have been very disappointed later on and it could have
costed myself and the crew precious time to come up with a solution. But in future I would like to
include more techniques that I’ve researched so perhaps I should try more than once to
demonstrate the technique until I get it. I do think though that despite them not being successful,
the test shoots made my production more successful because I knew not to include them. As I’ve
mentioned before I chose to draw my storyboard before writing my script, and by doing so I backed
myself into a corner where I felt that my dialogue needed to make the imagery. Because of this I
took a lot longer to finish a rough draft of my script and even at this point I knew that what I was
working with needed drastic change to improve its quality. I’ve always thought that my script writing
is my biggest weakness when it comes to filmmaking, there’s just something about creating realistic
conversations between characters that I lack the creative knowhow.
It was my script that also
caused my biggest
problem in this unit
whilst we were filming
since I didn’t realise until
it came down to
recording that there
were literally pages of
lines where my
characters were just
rambling on about
nothing. Thereby
creating two problems, the fact that the narrative wasn’t being driven forward in any way and that
myself and my fellow actor had to remember all these lines for a single scene. This was where I’d say
I had a small break down where I was convinced that my short film would never be made, but thanks
to my fellow classmate and crew member Charlie Ker-Gray we went through my entire script and cut
out any unnecessary dialogue. This resulted in the loss of five whole pages worth of text. Although
we overcame this problem it still put us back an entire day of practical production so I fell behind my
work schedule too and I know that this wouldn’t have happened if I’d maybe given a draft script to
one of my teachers to look over and give me feedback on. Because the middle section to my film for
a while didn’t include any relevant scenes so it felt as though the production just came to a halt. In
future work I need to be more organised so that major problems like this don’t happen, as I have a
habit of keeping my ideas to myself instead of sharing them with others.

Speaking of practical production during the four weeks we’d been given, I both filmed and edited
my short film. This was whilst helping Charlie out on his own production so my filming weeks were
split into days were we filmed mine and those where did his. Because we ended up being each
other’s actors in our films the work achieved during this time was very efficient since we get on so
well. But I know in the future I would like the opportunity to work with others and possibly even
actors see how I could adapt in that environment. However I’d say that my time management skills
for this part of the unit was quite efficient. I found that working exclusively with Charlie on my film
was part of the reason it became successful, as without him I might not have got round my script
issues. Almost all my filming was done within the first two weeks, it was only my voice over dialogue
and a couple over overhead shots I needed that were recorded after this time. But I know now that I
should have recorded those voice over lines ASAP because when it came to including them in my
edit I didn’t allocate enough space for the lines.
This meant that I had to re-edit my film to suit the audio. But apart from this the edit itself it didn’t
take too long as the only over problem I faced was the opening scene. The way that my film begins is
with a dream sequence where my protagonist confronts an evil version of himself and during this
section music is played in the background to provide the tone of the scene. However my first chose
of song was this old folk song titled “Hangman” but after countless attempts to make it fit the scene
I decided that it would never work as an opening for my film and so I looked for new music. And I
found some from an unnamed
film score that I had to pitch shift
slightly to use, this piece provided
the right amount of tension with
enough release to create an
atmosphere for this scene that
was both amusing but dramatic at
the same time. However
understanding the fundamentals
of opening a film is another
attribute to filmmaking that I need
to drastically improve. Because
most of my productions begin by
slowly establishing a character through close ups of their body. So in my next production if I choice
to make a film again, I’ll need to come up with a different way to introduce my characters.

Because I set out my

storyboard so well cutting
together the rest of the footage
took a few days until I had a
rough draft to analyse. After
viewing it I’ve come to the
realisation that I should have
created another scene for the
mid-section of my film, this was
going to be round the friend’s
house or at college but lack of
planning and time management
prevented me from doing so. In order to improve as a filmmaker I should consider how the whole
piece will look once every scene is cut together. When looking back over the last three months or so
I’d say that despite all the problems I faced whilst both planning and producing this work, my short
film delivers on many levels that I set out from the start. I believe that it relates to my chosen topic
of vampire well by incorporating the traits and tropes of such creatures, as well as using the themes
of absent parents to show how the coming of age side to my research impacted my work. I think that
I’ve demonstrated my ability to listen to what my target audience had to say about my work and
adapt accordingly. For example making my protagonist hate blood and even vomit at the taste of it
was what my demographic wanted to see. In terms of how my film is stylised I say it’s a success due
to the fact that it makes for an entertaining watch, this is down to the editing and how characters
are portrayed in the production.
So in conclusion I’m happy with the outcome of my Final Major Project considering this was my
second time at making a short film. I’d say that during this unit I’ve worked on my basic editing skills
the most, just knowing when to cut away which I think has really benefitted me. Of course there are
critiques I have for it, such as the dialogue being a bit minimal and a few editing choses I had to
make with the footage provided. But this isn’t anything I can work on the foreseeable future and so
hopefully when it comes to making whatever I find myself doing next I can look back on “Finding
Your Teeth” I think of it as a mile stone for my personal filmmaking career.