Planning and Research

(A) Planning: The organisation of time and equipment 

1. Describe how you organized your time and equipment in the Foundation Portfolio task.

Firstly, shot lists were written up after deciding the plot line for my thriller opening to help structure planning and creating. However, no draft storyboards were drawn, only for the preliminary task which did help with planning for the thriller opening because the preliminary sequence featured within it. Secondly, a shooting schedule was created to ensure time was used efficiently to get enough work done.

2. How effective was this aspect of your planning?
The shooting schedule and shot list were useful in helping plan the time I had to get the thriller opening complete. Considering the deadline and time needed for editing, the filming aspect had to be done fairly quickly. To achieve this but also film some effective footage, the storyboards helped.


3. What problems did you encounter? How could it have been improved?
 There were problems with timing and being able to work with the shooting schedule which affected both myself and my partner for the project. To overcome this problem we shared the amount between us equally to ensure the filming got completed in time to begin editing. This could have been improved by creating a more detailed, precise shooting schedule and confirm that we could both stick to it.


4. How did you organise your time and equipment in the Advanced Portfolio task?
 Because of the vast amounts of work I had to put into this project to create an effective stop frame animation and filmed footage sequence, I decided to use my own camera instead of borrowing one from school, so I always had it when I needed it and did not need to worry about whether a camera would be available or not. I used the camera to take the photos for the stop frame and to film the footage which saved using more than one device.
Precise, detailed shooting schedules and pages of complex storyboards allowed me to plan my time efficiently and ensure that I included everything I intended to.


5. How does this show progression?
I thought a lot clearer about the equipment and time needed for this advanced project. More detailed storyboarding and shooting schedules than with the thriller opening helped with this.

 (B) Planning: The efficient choice and organization of actors, settings and props.

1. Describe how you chose and organized your actors/settings/props in the Foundation Portfolio task.

After watching 'Layer Cake' we researched the typical setting for our theme further to make our thriller opening convincing. We also looked into what time of day would usually feature in similar films. We did the same with actors and props. In other thrillers such as ours the characters are male so we adopted this convention and included it in our own. The shooting schedule helped us to organize the actors.

2. How effective was this aspect of your planning?

This aspect of the planning was very useful and helped with the development of our main idea for the project.

3. What problems did you encounter? How could it have been improved?

One problem was lighting. We wanted it to be relatively dark and after all it was supposed to be night time, but we worried it would not be clear enough that this was our intention and the audience might have not been able to understand that or see the action properly. This could have been improved by using spotlights and torches to create a more atmospheric feel.

4. How did you choose and organize your actors/settings/props in the Advanced Portfolio task?

One of the settings had to be inside, preferably within a house, which I already had access to. The camper van that was needed to create the concept had to be purchased, but I already knew where to find the perfect one because I had seen it where I work. The props needed were easily found around my house. I know the actor well so that was not a problem either, apart from when I had trouble with filming and had to repeat it three times without any help from my partner for the project.

5. How does this show progression?

By sticking to familiar settings where I knew everything was available, I was able to experiment more with the concept and story because this gained me more time. If I had an idea and the camera was nearby, I could create it there and then.

(C) Planning: Scripting and/or storyboarding

1. Describe the process of scripting or storyboarding your Foundation task.

We talked through our ideas and listed them, the selected and rejected them where we felt it was appropriate. The final storyboards then allowed us to film the correct sequences at the same time to ensure continuity. Some of the shots differed from the final storyboards in the end but they still helped with planning and getting the base of the story there.


2. How many drafts did you do?
We unfortunately only did a preliminary storyboard for the first task we had to create. However, this sequence did appear in our actual thriller opening so it was relevant and useful.


3. How effective was this aspect of your planning?
Not very effective, we did not plan our time properly or think clearly enough about the separate sequences withing the thriller opening.


4. What problems did you encounter? How could it have been improved?
The only problems we encountered were being able to stick to the final storyboard due to finding places to film in order to create the right setting. This could have been improved by finalising these details before filming.


5.How did you storyboard/script the Advanced Portfolio task? Did you do anything different?
I was a lot more organized with my the planning of my music video since I learnt from my previous mistakes. Firstly I drafted twenty pages of storyboards,  this amount was needed to account for the stop frame animation. This draft allowed me to take the photos and film the footage, and adapt or change any ideas I originally had. After doing this I made the final twenty-four pages of storyboards which include any changes I made.


6. How does this show progress?
This displays how much more organized I was with the second project and having to do most of the work myself, in fact all of the storyboards, helped me continue to organize my time properly and efficiently.

(D) Research: Initial target audience research

1. Describe how you researched your target audience in the Foundation Portfolio task.

After watching many existing thriller openings and gaining inspiration from 'Layer Cake', we looked more deeply into the target audience for that film, and then adopted that as our target audience. We also researched the target audiences for other thriller openings that we watched.

2. How effective/useful was this research?

Very useful and effective. This research allowed us to take an existing target audience and adapt our ideas to create a thriller opening that would also appeal to them.

3. What problems did you encounter? How could it have been improved?

Deciding on what particular conventions to include in our own thriller opening and hoping they will also attract and appeal to our target audience. This could have been improved by not adopting an existing target audience and creating our own so that our work was more personal to us.

4. How did you research your target audience for the Advanced Portfolio task? Did you do anything different?

I was familiar with the genre of music we chose to create a music video for, so I already knew of many bands of the same genre. By researching their target audiences and whether or not they were similar, we were able to agree on our own target audience instead of adopting the ones that already existed.

5. How does this show progression?

By displaying that I was able to research similar bands and their target audiences, and adapt them to fit the genre of music I used exactly. Instead of targeting existing audiences I could offer something original, new and exciting to attract my own target audience.

(E) Research: Existing media practice/products

1. Describe how you researched existing media practice/products in the Foundation Portfolio task. Did you analyse comparable products?

By watching existing thriller openings and analysing them I was able to understand the conventions of that particular genre of film. I grouped them into sub-genres withing the thriller genre and analysed them even further by looking at typical conventions more deeply. I also looked at important directors associated with the thriller genre such as Alfred Hitchcock and analysed his work.

2. How effective/useful was this research?

This research allowed me to develop my own ideas for my thriller opening, adapting existing ones and making use of the conventions I closely looked at. Hopefully this helped me to create a convincing thriller opening of my own that did not appear to have simply been copied from an existing one.

3. What problems did you encounter? How could it have been improved?

I only researched one thriller film that inspired me for my own because I couldn't find many others of the same sub-genre. Instead I made the best use of this one as possible to help me with my own work and adapted conventions that featured in other types of thrillers.

4. How did you research existing media practice/products in the Advanced Portfolio task? Did you do anything different?

I looked at and analysed more than one genre of music within the music videos and also different styles such as performance, concept and narrative. This helped me decide what genre of music I wanted to use myself, and whether I wanted to play it safe with a performance based video or be more creative and adventurous with a concept.

5. How does this show progression?

Again, I was more able to make my own decisions and not just replicate something that already exists. I was more imaginative, creative and original with my music video because of my research techniques.