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The first day

On the first day of beginning to make the short film we had to sign a BTEC Learner Declaration, this document confirms that we are the ones who are creating the short film and prove that we are the ones behind making the planning documents, filming our short film and then editing the short film to make the final product. Without this declaration there would not be a way to prove that we have made our films ourselves and have not got another person to make it for us.

Beginning to plan the production of our short film.

We started to plan the production method of our short film, we did this because we needed to know what the best way handling things would be able to create the best short film we could. Planning would also make filming the scenes for the short film much more effective and time efficient, rather than choosing a random day in the week and expecting everything to go to plan.

The first piece of pre-production planning I started to work on was the screenplay. This is because this is the most important document of the pre-production planning as it will give the idea of what possible costumes, props, actors, etc that I will need for the short film, this will also make it a lot easier to find appropriate areas to film in.

For the screenplay I decided to make the story centred around the idea that teenagers are getting bored that they are unable to do new exciting things in the old town that they live in. I made the main characters teenagers in the film as it is much easier for audience members to place themselves in this situation, also it was much more effective for me to be able to get some of my friends in the film rather than possibly finding people that are unreliable and do not show up to the shooting days of the film. After finishing the screenplay I am happy with the narrative and how it finishes at the end of the story also I am happy with the characters and how they act, as I think that they are able reflect the emotions of teenagers.

Filling out the Shooting schedule.

Today I am filling out the shooting schedule document this is also a very important document as I need to find the best day that all of my actors are able to spend the day filming scenes for the short film and so I am not rushed to get all of the scenes before the actors have to start leaving for the day.

To find out when the best day was to film I had a conversation with my two actors Robert Long and Zach Tidy to see what day was best for them and how long they would be available for. And we came to conclusion that Saturday 18th of January was the best day for both actors to come to the area that I am filming in. They are both available for the entire day so I may be able to get all of the scenes that they are in for that day and be much more time efficient for when it comes to editing the short film.

Location scouting and Location recce

The next pre-production documents to complete are the location scouting and the location recce documents. These are very important as this allows me to find the perfect area for me to film the scenes in as they need to reflect the areas described in the screenplay as they need to be very similar to them as the story may feel very out of place in certain areas and settings that I might choose to film in. And the location recce is also very important as this is the document where I need to enter the important information of the area, for example I need to include the land owner’s mobile owner as I may need to contact them at some point during the production of the short film.

The location scouting document was very easy to fill out as I already had some ideas of local places where I could film the scenes for the short film, meaning I was able to quickly find the best and most suitable settings to film in and made sure that they were the best places to film at by including a short paragraph of each area explaining why each area is suitable for the short film and its narrative. Because randomly areas to film in is not very professional and can possibly make the production of the film much more difficult, as I might not know the area that well making it harder to use the area effectively for the film and its story.

And the location recce documents were able to filled out with the correct information quickly as the areas that I am using for the short film are public areas meaning that I will not have to wait for responses which could possibly take a very long time to hear back from the land owner and possibly ruin the shooting schedule. Also using public are much more accessible for me and the cast as I know these areas well and can use them effectively. The information included in each of the location recces are the descriptions of the areas, possible noise disruptions, whether the shoot is night or day and the mobile number of the lands owner.

Professional practice

The next document I need to complete is the professional practice document. This document is about following the policies and laws set by organisations to keep the general public from harmful and sensitive content that could be allowed to placed into the public. The professional practice document includes questions about the various companies and organisations that set these rules and enforce action on different productions to make sure that the general public is safe from any harm. This document will show that I can be professional when creating a short film production and that I know the rules and how to follow them.

Filling out the document was able to teach me about the very important policies and laws that are set by the BBFC, OFCOM and the ASA, it also informed me about how to follow these rules and not violate them. I also learned the different ethical rules that I should follow when making the short film as breaking any of these rules could make the short film dreadful and not easy to watch.

Risk assessment

The next document to complete is the risk assessment document, this document is where I need to list all of the possible risks that could happen to me, crew members and the cast members in the areas that we are filming in, this is important because everyone needs to understand the possible dangers of filming in these areas, additionally we need to know the possible dangers of the equipment being damaged during filming.

Filming the scenes for the short film

Today was the day that we had filmed the scenes for the short film, I began the day by getting my DSLR camera that I decided to use as this was the easiest camera that I could access at anytime I wanted to and by getting the tripod for the camera this would allow the scenes to be much more professional and much more comfortable to watch rather than some of the handheld scenes. I then contacted the actors and other crew members early in the morning to make sure that all of them would be able to make it on time and be ready to start filming the scenes. I then met all of the crew members and the cast members at 10:00 am, we then made sure that we had the props and equipment ready so that we were able to start filming. And finally we began to start filming the scenes. There were not any major problems that would stop us from filming as everything went to plan and no one experienced any of the risks that were said in the risk assessment. Although the main problem was waiting for members of the public to move on from the area where we were filming, but that did not ruin the time schedule we were on so we were able to finish the filming day.

Editing the short film

To start editing the scenes that I had filmed the other day, I need to move the scenes from the SD card to the mac computer that I am using to edit the scenes. The software that I will be using to edit the scenes together is Adobe Premiere Pro and the software that will be using to make different effects for the film is Adobe After Effects. I have chosen these software as I am familiar with the interface of Premier Pro so I am able to understand some of the editing techniques more and can use them more effectively. And I chose After Effects because it is a new software to me and I want to include some new effects that make the film seem more professional.

While using After Effects I decided to make the short film’s titles in this software as that would allow me to animate the text and make it more interesting to look at rather than having a plain piece of white text be in the middle of the screen as that might bore the audience and make them stop watching the film and not pay attention to the narrative. One title animation I learned and began to use today. I learned this technique by searching for a tutorial on YouTube and now I have been able to use the effect very well.

When editing the clips and scenes together I made sure to use a variety of video transitions to make the pacing of the movie feel natural and comfortable for the audience to watch. I also made sure that the transitions did not repeat themselves frequently as it would be quite jarring to see two transition be the same right after the other it would make the scenes seem disjointed and disorganised from one another.

Additionally when editing the sound aspect of the movie I had to check that the sound levels of the clips, music and sound effects were loud enough to be heard by the audience and so that they were able to get the effect that they were supposed to make get across. To make sure that the sound levels of these clips were not too loud or too quiet, I decided to listen to the film with headphones on and then listen to the film without headphones and played it through the speakers and I made sure that the audio was at an appropriate level so that the audience would be able to actually hear the clips.