WEEKLY JOURNALS

This is where you think about your FMP learning journey and development.
Don’t simply describe what you did - consider what you have learnt and how this has benefitted
your project. What do you need to improve?

THIS IS JUST GUIDANCE THAT YOU NEED TO ADAPT TO YOUR OWN PROJECT. YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR
OWN PRODUCTION SCHEDULES AND YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS SHOULD REFELCT THAT.

THESE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE WEEKS YOU COMPLETED THEM. DO NOT JUST SUBMIT THIS
FORM FILLED IN FOR YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS. THERE SHOULD BE 11 WEEKLY BLOG ENTRIES (INCLUDING
EASTER).

Week Two - Research

RESEARCH

What did you learn from your I learnt the main codes and conventions for my genre, this
research? helped me decide what music, costumes and characters I want
to use. I also learnt what a short film is as it has to be under 40mins
from the Oscars. Moreover I learnt how the popular short films
won awards and how they got popular by analysing them.

How has the research for your
medium helped you improve your
ideas?
I have learnt what a short film is I visited the Oscar awards
definition for a short film. It says it has to be 40 mins or less. Also
you cannot do work such as previews and advertising films,
unsold TV series pilots, etc. I also created a survey which asked if
people knew what a short film was and if they had watched one
and they all said yes, I also asked how long would you want one,
most people said 5-10 and some said 10-15 mins. When I asked
what would make you watch a short film I got a variety of
answers saying that a story that they had something in common
with so they can relate or a horror, comedy or thriller as they are
the best genre for a short film. I also know the rules to making a
short film so I don’t do it wrong.

How has the research for your genre
helped you improve your ideas?
I learnt all of the convention for a physiological thriller, for the
mise-en-scene shadows and low key lighting, mirrors are used a
lot, the villain normally wears smart or casual clothes and the
location is normally in modern and urban settings. The sound
usually is eerie and tense sounds, camera movement is normally
quick and panicked. The editing uses flashbacks and obstructive
or montage editing. This all helps a lot as I now know everything I
need to use in my short film to make it as close as I can to a
professional psychological thriller. This has helped me improve as
I analysed lots of psychological thrillers and have lots of good
ideas that helped me improve my idea.

How has researching the conventions Researching the conventions of my chosen genre is helping me
of your chosen genre helped you
understand what is required from you
in order to meet a distinction grade?
How has including a variety of sources
(primary and secondary) helped with
your understanding of your medium /
genre?
What sources of information did you
look at that were different from your
proposed project?
How will this be useful to your
planning?
How has the research for your
content/topic helped you improve
your ideas?
How has the research into
artists/producers helped you improve
your ideas?
What work do you need to complete
outside of lessons to stay on track?
High Grade Tips
Research
● ‘Thorough research’ - include plenty of sources and detailed analysis of this information
● ‘relevant & coherent’ – make sure your research sources are not just the same as the Media
product you hope to make - and talk about how they inform your planning
● ‘sustained’ – continue your research throughout the eleven-week project and don’t just limit it to
the first two weeks
to understand what is required from me to meet a distinction
grade as I know there is a lot of work and my production has to
be very good. The conventions have lots of steps to make the
short film to that genre, the narrative, editing, camera angles,
music, characters, locations, and props. Moreover there is a lot of
work that needs to go into the production and the research as I
will be analysing short films with the gang / crime genre and
seeing what they do and use and take elements from there
productions to make my production better and more
professional.
I have researched lots of websites so I have a greater
understanding of the medium /genre. Moreover I have looked
into what makes a short film and analysed different short films to
help me get a better understanding of them. For Genre I looked
into short films with the same genre as my production and
analysed them to see how they used the codes and
conventions. I also looked into the raw codes and conventions
which are mainly used with crime dramas so I can try and
include most of these in my production.
I started off looking into gang initiations as that was part of my
production I then found out that they use manipulation to gain
trust so I looked into this as it would help develop the characters. I
also looked into how many crimes in the Uk are related to gang
initiations. I also looked into the upbringing of kids who are in
gangs.
This will be useful as it gives lots of depth for the production and
helps with the characters as it gives them more background and
makes them more interesting.
The research for the content/topic has helped improve my idea
as I now know what people normally do for gang initiations and
how people usually bully so my production can be as realistic as
possible. It has also helped to make the characters more
interesting as they now have backgrounds and are more
developed.
The research into artists/producers has helped me improve my
ideas as I have lots of techniques or trademarks they usually use
to make their films stand out, so I have researched these so I can
use some of them in my production to make it stand out and look
more professional.
I have nothing to complete.
● ‘accomplished & considered’ – all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly reflections