Self-assessment

I have now uploaded the full video for my one-minute short film.The full video somehow did not upload fully onto YouTube before I left for Easterbreak as I left the video to publish auomatically after processing - I believe I uploaded a small scene instead of the whole production. This has now been resolved. Also, a clearer twist needed to added in production. 

Issues

As I spoke of before in my main evaluation report. My team and I faced several issues, which all three members were responsible for.

Firstly, I did not attend the first scene shooting as it was scheduled at a time that conflicted with another of my lessons, Maths. Therefore, my teammates had shot the scene in my absence. I had missed several days for specific reasons which I had explained and apologized to my group for - as I know my absence can create a domino effect of prolongation or incompleteness of production. It was fairly decided, that my team place Tommy's script into production only because I was a liability at times for attending certain days. 

Secondly, the pre-production wasn't completed to its fullest. Several production documents had not been attempted or completed which resulted in my team having to restart pre-production and scrap recorded footage. All three members, myself, Roopa and Tommy were responsible for each 1 incomplete pre-production document. 

Thirdly, teammates had not carefully planned for production as a day was wasted searching for a place to shoot, which should have been decided and planned prior to the shoot. All crew & talent were present and equipment available for the completion of the rest of the production - however, it all went to waste resulting in no footage being recorded, money wasted on travel, wasted use of equipment and hours of wasted time. 

Conclusion & Resolution 

As I have spoken on before - I missed certain things which resulted in slight confusion. I could improve on this by trying my very best to attend, even when I'm feeling very ill. However, I always informed my crew before hand and explained the reasons. I take full responsibility for my abscense which is unprofessional in the professional-media world/sector. 

I do wish my teammates would admit that they didn't diligently plan certain things out or complete pre-production before a deadline. Also, certain members weren't vocal or didn't communicate. This can be resolved next time, by actually communicating with the whole group. 

*NEW: FINAL CUT* - Black Oak

My teams 1 minute short film: Black Oak. (Full video)

Evaluation - 1 minute short film

Introduction

There are three main things I've learned after planning, shooting and editing my first professional short film. Firstly, and most importnatnly - communication is key. Make sure you conversate with your production team so you all know what needs to be done and so that everbody knows there roles and what will take place, when, where and why. Lack of communication will result in unfinished prep work, confusion and prolonging of planning or shooting. The second thing I've learned is that you should be organised and prepared by a certain deadline; this is done by completing all pre-production requirements and keeping ahead of all work that needs completion. Myself and crew memebers had not completed certain pre-production requirements which resulted in us having to push back our shooting scheldule and having to re-do some parts of work. Lastly, I learned to listen to all crew members as this can be a way of advancing in production work. Other people may have better ideas and/or advice which my benefit the production and members in a great way. Not listening or selfishly dismissing memebers will create tension and negative creative differences.

My team and I had several problems (around six issues) with the whole process of production. Not all were solved in the way it should have - but we eventually found a way through to pull of the production. I now know and 100% believe this could have all been resolved with much more communication. Talking and explaining allows others to know how things will run and most probably run smoothly.

Main Body

The shooting schedule was almost perfectly made - however, it sometimes conflicted with lesson times. Other than that, it was realistic and completable as most shooting times were after an early morning lesson - which left us with hours to shoot our production.

The storyboard was made a little late - however, when it was produced, it was clear to depict what was going on - until the end; as the twist was slightly unclear. However, I believe my team members and I can produce a better storyboard next time with a much more advanced illustration.

The shot list was well thought out and produced with a wide-enough variety of shot types, angles, scenes and actions which were all appropriate for my 1-minute short Thriller film.

My short film was shot almost-entirely shot in a nearby woods/park, local to my sixth form. Therefore, my team didn't seek for permission to shoot in this location - however, our back-up locations required permission. The woods were pretty quite as there was hardly any people or animals there. It was far from machine objects (building crane, cars, etc.) and the weather wasn't breezy creating wind-blowing-noises. Therefore, my team and I had no problems with interfering sounds. However, my short film was supposed to be shot at a later time of day, meanwhile we shot in midday which caught bright sunshine. This can be resolved by shooting at a later time or adding a gloomy colour grading to the lighting edit on final cut, which is then added to my footage.

My team added a male actor to the production, named Trevor. He was skillful at acting and made our production look professional. Roopa, played a dead character in the production - although she was good, she moved in several takes. Next time, we could add another actor/actress to the production who is skillful at acting or Roopa could just 'rehearse playing dead' before shooting.

Everyone in my production team responsibly took on their roles eventually - creating a seemingly professional short film.

My team and I had to book to use the college's film equipment due to high usage of them. The camera was charged and checked for our usage for long periods and the lighting equipment and tri-pods were accessible for us also. This allowed us to get on with shooting without any difficulties.

Call sheets were hardly used. However, some team members and I contacted each other for information, availability and other important enquiries.

Conclusion

The production was a success due to good footage and camera work. However, The production could have been excellent. Had I been present more - which I definitely will be next time around and if some team mates spoke up more, communicated and were just so much more vocal with all the team members. This whole process was a great lesson for myself and I hope for others: be organised, communicate, and lastly listen more.

BINS & EDL

EDL stands for editor's decision litst. There were two scenes for my 1 minute short film therefore I made two bins titled "Forrest" and "Green room" to place each specific part of the footage in its correct section. I have identified the shots as good or bad so I know which ones to use and not to add in the final cut. I also, added the camera angle/shot to make it easier for me to know what kind of shot a singular footage is.

I later exported (Export XML) the footage, saved it to the desktop, then opened and saved it on the software, Microsoft Excel which allows me to share and edit the footage further to my will.

Black Oak - Rough Cut

Black Oak
Heat Productions
Luke, Roopa, Tommy, Trevor

Unit 1 Pre-production report

Introduction:
I am writing this report to promote my 1 minute short film, 'Trippy'. My short film includes a young male who accepts and digests' a hallucinogenic pill which results in him him blacking out and then imagining he is being chased to death by an unusual man. He awakens from the 'blackout' but the danger seemingly doesn't end. As production manager, I have several responsibilities as I will have organise funding, sourcing, and scheduling to perfectly execute my shirt film. 

Type of production: 
My short film will be of a Thriller, genre. It will also include the codes and conventions of a Thriller such as: suspense, mystery and tension. My shurt film will require a relatively small crew as I need: 2x actors, a cameraman, a lighting technician and a editor. However, I will be taking on nearly all of these roles at a given time when shooting the production. I have also written a script for my short film so that my crew will understand my exact vision of how I'd like my short it to be. A storyboard was also made so that my crew can quickly and easily understand how the short film will be.The producer in my team has the responsibility of calling the council of a certain area and receiving permission to film in your specific pick of location, I have chosen to shoot in Waterloo, London and will have been in contact with Lambeth council and I may have to pay a small fee of to film in my choosing location. I will use professional camera's and LED lights so that my sort film looks refined.

Finance: 
My short film will require so many to be invested into it. Funds for my short film will cover: travel, food, props and (maybe) talent. Talent and crew will have oyster cards that will freely get us from one place to another. However, I will be travelling to a central place which will require a fee of: £7.30 per person. Also, the food budget for the whole crew will be £25 - £30. Lastly, hardly any props are needed for my production, however I have purchased a mask from Amazon which cost: £7.25

To raise money from my production, I could promote needed-investmenton the popular money funding website, 'Kick-Starter'. I'd have to set a goal as to when I'd reach a certain amount of money for my short film to be in production. If I didn't reach my goal before a certain deadline, all the proceedings sent to fund the requirements of my short film would be refunded. If this was a professional feature film I could also, request a loan from the bank to fund my short film and then pay them back meanwhile making a great profit if the film results in being a huge success. Another alternative would be to pitch my idea to investors, if they lent me money, would pay them back after the success and money earnings of the film. 

My sixth form has cameras, lighting-equipment, tri-pods and an editing suite within the facility which is accessible for students usage. However, if I was a professional production manager for a feature film or company I would have to rent/purchase equipment/facility's.
Professional camera: £250+
LED lighting: £50+
Studio hire: £150
Editing suites: £250
Locations: £30+ - thousands

Time:
Scheduling for production shoot will be planned carefully by my team and I around our availability. Moreover, it will mostly be done after school when some of us have time to do so. We will be strict with managing our time keeping as it is very important to meet deadlines. Missing deadliness can lead to lawsuits and missing out on great opportunities within the professional media industry. Also, many other deadlines for rental on an item (like a camera) and/or place (like an editing suite or green screen studio) may cost the crew much more money. 

My crew and I will have made a call sheet which will include contact numbers, what will be shot in a scene and what day it will be recorded and finally, directions. In addition a shooting script has been made so that no time is wasted when the time to shoot the production commences, we will know what shots to take and how to take them.

Schedules & deadlines:
My team will book the usage of camera equipment in my college such as a: camera, tri-pod and LED lighting. We will have to make sure we book them and return them at appropriate times to shoot our production so the our short film is produced and looks professional. My team and I communicate through phone messaging which is how we will organise certain things for our production. 

Crew & Personnel:
I'm going to be doing this production with three other people. I, myself am the director, Tommy is the camera operator, Roopa is the producer and Trevor is our talent (actor). Roopa is very reliable and organised which is why she has job of being a producer. She will handle the location recce, make a call sheet, handling the budget, producing release forms and permission clearances, make a risk assessment, and looking over the script(s) and storyboard. As the director I will control the films artistic and dramatic features, from the script, to the camera shot angles and movements, and to the talents actions within the production. My creativity will be emphasised within the short film from my vision with the inputs of my team. Tommy knows how to handle the camera very well and finally Trevor is great acting who is willing to work in our production for free. 

In the professional world of media:
A camera man would cost £250+ for the day
A director and producer would start from £100+
An actor may cost £80+

Facilities:
My college allows me to use facilities such as an editing suit and green screen room for free, as long as I make an appointment to use it. We have the usage of final cut, logic pro x and all camera equipment. An editing suite would cost from £500+ if I did not have the support from my college. 

Final cut allows footage to be edited to an artistic standard, logic pro x allows audio to be manipulated to anyones will and a green room is used to edit the background of talent in front. 

Materials: 
Clearance for certain clips/videos and audio is needed so that no copyright is involved. If a company, radio station, advertisement, film production or television production uses a private media (audio /video) they will have to pay a sum of money to the owner of the media. I will not be using a private media in my short film.

Contributors: 
The talent in my production is working for free however, I would have to pay a reasonable fee for a talent in my production in the professional world of media. The talent in production will have to sign a release form so that there's proof he is allowing himself to be seen in the production.

Locations:
Our production will be shot in the woods. We have sent permission forms to our back-up locations in case we want to shoot in a more public environment. The location, the woods has a dark and sinister feel to it which will add suspense and mystery to my short film - (fulfilling a thrillers codes and conventions). The producer, Roopa will have visited the locations (as well as I have) taken photos, made a risk assessment and location recce. You have to choose wisely when picking out a location to film as some places may cost a lot of money to film there and there are some limitations such as: far distance which may tire the crew, is the place relative to the plot to make the film interesting, will the weather and lighting be suitable for shooting and are there any risks like: theft and a dangerous environment. 

Codes of practise:
As previously covered, I will need permission to shoot in a certain location by calling up the council of which the location is in and receiving clearance (permission form), I will also need proof that the talent in my production has accepted to showing his physical state (release form), clearance for any copyright material, if I were to use it (pay a fee for usage or freely receive permission). I would also need to show to the council proof of knowledge of health and safety for the public and crew in my production. I need to make sure people will be safe when shooting my short film, hence why a health and safety assessment is produced. Also, the BBFC will look over my film and see if the material is appropriate enough to designate it into a certain certificate section. My short film will be classed as a 12a as there is two peril scenes and one violent scene - mature but not too graphic. 

Conclusion:
Pre-production is don so that shooting a production will be easy for team and talent involved and so that everything goes to how the people in-charge had versioned. 


Refernces:


http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification
http://ctkmedial3shortfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/18-codes-of-practice-and-regulation.html

Unit 1: Pre-productional report [DRAFT]

Introduction:
I am writing this report to promote my 1 minute short film, 'Trippy'. My short film includes a young male who accepts and digests' a hallucinogenic pill which results in him him blacking out and then imagining he is being chased to death by an unusual man. He awakens from the 'blackout' but the danger seemingly doesn't end. As production manager, I have several responsibilities as I will have orginise funing, sourcing, aand skeduling to perfectly execute my shurt film. 

Type of production: 
My short film will be of a Thriller, genre. It wuill also include the codes and conventionz of a Thiller such as: suspsense, myztery and tenshun. My shurt film will reqire a relatively small crew as I need: 2x actors, a cameraman, a lighting technichan and a editor. However, I will be taking on nearly all of these roles at a given time when shooting the prouduction. I have also written a script for my short film so that my crew will understand my exact vision of how I'd like my short it to be. A storyboard was also made so that my crew can quickly and easily understand how the short film will be.The producr within my team has the esponsibility of calling the councuil of a certain area and recieveing permission to film in your specific pick of location, I have chosen to shoot in Waterloo, London and will have been in contact with Lambeth council and I may have to pay a small fee of to film in my chosin location. I will use professional camera's and LED lights so that my sort film looks refined.

Finance: 
My short film will require so many to be invzted into it. Funds for my short film will cover: travel, food, props and (maybe) talent. Talent and crew will have oyster cards that will freely get us from one place to another. However, I will be travelling to a central place which will rekwire a fee of: £7.30 per person. Also, the food budget for the whole crew will be £25 - £30. Lastly, hardly any props are needed for my production, however I have purchased a mask from Amazon which cost: £7.25

To raise money fro my production, I could promote needed-investmen' on the popular money fuding website, 'Kick-Starter'. I'd have to set a goal as to when I'd reach a certain amount of money for my short film to be in production. If I didn't reach my goal before a certain deadline, all the proceedings sent to fund the requiremnts of my short film would be refunded. If this was a professional feature film I could also, request a loan from the bank to fund my short film and then pay them back meanwhile making a great profit if the film results in being a huge success. Another alternative would be to pitch my idea to investorz, if they lent me money, would pay them back after the success and money earnings of the film. 

My sixth form has cameras, lighting-equipmet, tri-pods and an editing suite within the facility which is accessable for students usage. However, if I was a professional production manager for a feature film or company I would have to rent/purchase equipment/facilityzz.
Professional camera: £250+
LED lighting: £50+
Studio hire: £150
Editing suites: £250
Locations: £30+ - thousands

Time:
Scheduling for production shoot will be planned carefully by my team and I around our availability. Moreover, it will mostly be done after school when some of us have time to do so. We will be strict with managing our time keeping as it is very important to meet deadlines. Missing deadliness can lead to lawsuits and missing out on great oppurtuneaties within the professioanal media industry. Also, many other deadlines for rental on an item (like a camera) and/or place (like an editing suite or green screen studio) may cost the crew much more money. 

My crew and I will have made a call sheet which will include contact numbers, what will be shot in a scene and what day it will be recorded and finally, directions. In addition a shooting script has been made so that no time is wasted when the time to shoot the production commences, we will know what shots to take and how to take dem. 

Scheldules & deadlines:
My team will book the uasge of camera equipment in my college such as a: camera, tri-pod and LED lighting. We will have to make sure we book them and return them at appropriate times to shoot our production so the our short film is produced and looks professional. My team and I communicate through phone messaging which is how we will organise certain things for our production. 

Crew & Persanel:
I'm going to be doing this production with three other people. I, myself am the director, Tommy is the camera operator, Roopa is the producter and Trevor is our talent (actor). Roopa is very reliable and organised which is why she has job of being a producer. She will handle the location recce, make a call sheet, handling the budget, producing release forms and permission clearances, make a risk assesssment, and looking over the script(s) and storyboard. As the director I will control the films artistic and dramatic features, from the scipt, to the camera shot angles and movements, and to the talents actions within the production. My creativity will be emphasised within the short film from my vision with the inputs of my team. Tommy knows how to handle the camera very well and finally Trevor is great acting who is willing to work in our production for free. 

In the professional world of media:
A camera man would cost £250+ for the day
A director and producer would start from £100+
An actor may cost £80+

Facilities:
My college allows me to use facilities such as an editing suit and green screen room for free, as long as I make an appointment to use it. We have the usage of final cut, logic pro x and all camera equpiment. An editing suite would cost from £500+ if I did not have the support from my college. 

Final cut allows footage to be edited to an artistic standard, logic pro x allows audio to be manipulated to anyone's will and a green room is used to edit the background of talent in front. 

Materials: 
Clearance for certain clips/videos and audio is needed so that no copyright is involved. If a company, radio station, advertisemnt, film production or television production uses a private media (audio /video) they will have to pay a sum of money to the owner of the media. I will not be using a priavte media in my short film.

Contributors: 
The tealent in my production is working for free however, I would have to pay a reasonable fee for a talent in my production in the professional world of media. The talent in production will have to sign a release form so that therez proof he is allowing himself to be seen in the production.

Locations:
Our production will be shot in the woods. We have sent permission forms to our back-up locationz in case we want to shoot in a more public environemnt. The location, the woods has a dark and sinister feel to it which will add suspense and mystery to my short film - (fulfiling a thrillers codes and conventions). The producer, Roopa will have visitited the locations (as well as I have) taken photos, made a risk assessment and loction recce. You have to choose wisely when piciking out a locatio to film as some places may cost a lot of money to film there and there are some limitations such as: far distance which may tire the crew, is the place relative to the plot to make the film interesting, will the weather and lighting be suitable for shooting and are there any risks like: theft and a dangerous environment. 

Codes of practice:
As previously covered, I will need permission to shoot in a certain location by calling up the council of which the location is in and recieving clearance (pemission form), I will also need proof that the talent in my production has accpeted to showing his physical state (release form), clearance for any copyright material, if I were to use it (pay a fee for usage or freely recieve perimission). I would also need to show to the council proof of knoweledge of health and safety for the public and crew in my production. I need to make sure people will be safe when shooting my short film, hence why a health and safety assessment is produced. Also, the BBFC will look over my film and see if the material is appropriate enough to designate it into a certain certificate section. My short film will be classed as a 12a as there is two peril scenes and one violent scene - mature but not too graphic. 

Conclusion:
Pre-prodiuction is don so that shooting a production will be easy for team and talent involved and so that everthing goes to how the people in charge had visioned.