WEEKLY JOURNALS
Week Four - Planning
PLANNING
What did you learn from your
planning this week?
What issues did you encounter and
how did you overcome them?
How did you ensure that your
storyboards were completed to a
high standard?
Week 4
I learnt a lot from my planning this week. Most of this being
time management skills. Due to the pandemic happening
right now, I have found it extremely difficult to manage my
time the same it would be if college and life went on like
normal. It has a been a huge change to adjust to but
especially this week, I have found ways that work for me and
putting them in place during my planning, I felt helped my
work stay at a high standard, rather than slipping off, which
at times I caught it doing. For example the past few weeks I
didn’t have any sort of routine and that was proven to be
very difficult for me to cope with, I took the opportunity over
Easter to push myself into some kind of routine that worked
well for me but was also adapted to the needs of the
pandemic, the best I could, in Easter I found that this had
dramatically increased my willingness and motivation to
work. When this we started, I was able to prioritize my work.
The planning work itself gave me an incite into what it would
be like in a more professional environment. This is the most
amount of planning work I have had to do yet in the entirety
of the course and although at times it was proven to get
difficult and in some cases draining, this has really shown
me as a filmmaker what I am capable of and overall is a
really rewarding feeling.
I didn’t encounter too many issues this week to be honest.
Again, due to the coronavirus, it has been harder to get that
1 on 1 help you would get in the classrooms, however, the
teachers have been quick with replying to any questions I
had about the work and on Wednesday this week we had call
1 to 1s which helped a lot if you needed that ‘in person’
help.
Another main issue I would say was keeping up my
motivation, its hard working from home when you have so
many distractions around you and its been hard to get into
that work headspace, planning my day the night before and
making to do lists has really helped motivate me and
overcome that issue.
For my storyboards, I made sure that I had completed the
script 100% first and that I was 100% happy with it. This
ensured that I would be completely happy with where my
storyboards were going because effectively, I would just
have to put the shots I had in the script in a storyboard with
the shot type, which stayed consistent throughout. I wanted

How has your planning
developed/changed during the
planning stage?
How have you ensured your
script/shooting script is of a high
detailed standard?
How well have you managed and
organised your cast and crew to be
in available when you need them?
Are you on track for the week? If
not, how far behind are you?
What work do you need to complete
outside of lessons to stay on track?
High Grade Tips
Planning & Production
● ‘effective planning, organisation’ – your FMP Workbook will explain what you need to do
in the next few weeks to make sure all of your planning is completed, and also how this will
help you
to make sure my shots weren’t anything overly complicated
as I believe that would take away from the narrative itself.
My general visions and ideas have stayed pretty solid to the
proposal but due to covid-19, a lot of the whole planning
process had to get altered and changed around. We are no
longer able to film our production, this meant that all form of
practical planning had to get cut, such as production
schedules and cast and crew confirmations.
My work in general had a few alterations here and there to
ensure that I was producing a high standard piece of work
but nothing too dramatic and notable. Overall I am
extremally happy with my work this week and believe it is
some of the best I have produced.
As I am making a short film, I didn’t making a shooting script
but, to ensure that my script was to a high standard I made
sure I proof read once I thought I had finished, I also made
sure that this process was what I spent the most time on this
week as I felt it was the most important aspect, you cant
have a film without a script. Once I was happy with the
narrative and what I had created, I sent my script out to
people I was close with but also who I knew I could fully trust
to give me their honest opinion, I felt as if I were to send it to
some of my friends, they would come back an tell me it was
100% perfect so they wouldn’t hurt my feelings, I knew I
needed to give it to people who would give me the full truth
and not shy away from telling me where I could improve.
This worked really well form me and I got some great
feedback that I quickly acted upon, I then sent it out again
and got the all clear, except for some little spelling mistakes,
which I then when back and edited. As well as ensuring this
meant I was at high standard, it also helped me feel a lot
more impressed and proud of my work from the lovey
feedback given, especially to do with the ending plot. It was
really important to me to make sure my script had all the
details it needed to create a strong image of my visions, due
to the coronavirus, we are no longer able to physically go
out and film the production, this being a safety precaution
for the whole nation, I knew that my script needed to make
up for any of the missing details I would fill in when filming.
As I just mentioned, the coronavirus pandemic has cancelled
all means of production, regarding a national lockdown. This
meant that I didn’t need to organise any cast or crew for my
production.
Am I all on track for this week.
n/a
● ‘efficient production against timescales’ – your FMP Proposal will clearly identify how
you intend to create your project before the deadline in May
● ‘commitment & subject engagement’ – all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly
reflections