Week 1:

This is the first week of being introduced to the A2 OCR media

course. We were directed to the
OCR brief page in order to
choose what brief and what
coursework we would like to
select for A2. Compared to the
AS course there is a much wider
choice of media we could
select, for example video
games and music videos.
Selecting the brief was an
overwhelming process as it
determines a large amount of
our A level grade. Originally I
selected the film trailer brief, I
began to analyse trailers such
as the Godzilla trailer and the
Son of Rambo trailer. After
analysing these trailers I made a U-turn and decided against
the trailer, this felt like a big decision to make as I was off and
running on the research. However I believe making a successful
trailer proved very difficult without telling a story and giving to
much away which would have greatly affected my production
marks therefore I turned against it and opted for the short film
process.

That night I began watching different

short films in order to see what makes a
good one and what makes bad one. The
ones I found most moving was Love field
by
Mathieu
Ratthe
and
Elefante
by Pablo
Larcuen so
I began to
analyse
them.

Week 2
This week I will be looking into institutions that can distribute
short films. I have decided to study Film Londons London
Calling. This is an independent organisation that typically
distributes first time film
makers and script writers
projects. Studying this
organisation has given me the
opportunity to look at the
types of short films that get
distributed and the quality that
they reach.
I additionally this week looked at the BFI and the short films
that they produce. Comparatively to London Calling, the BFi
tend to distribute and produce known and experienced script
writers work. This in my opinion is clear to see in the final
product, for example it is obvious that the
short films produced by the BFI had a
much larger production budget with
higher quality actors.
If I was to choose between these
organisations who would distribute my short film, I would
choose the BFI. The BFI are an internationally known
distribution company, therefore if my film was to be distributed
by this institution it is highly likely that viewing figures will be
much higher than that of London Calling. Additionally if the BFI
were involved I would have a much larger budget available to
my disposal.
I found this section of research interesting as previous to the
research I was not aware of institutions that produce short film
other than the BFI. It was interesting to see how an
independent organisation operated and distributed their films
compared to the BFI.

Week 3
My aims for this week were to produce a research survey that
would enable me to see and understand what my target
audience would like to see in a short film. I attempted to be as
open as possible with my questions to try and get as I tried to
get detailed opinions from my target audience on what they
believe makes a good short film. This is the, in my opinion,
most important aspect of my research as it enables me to
collect responses from my target audience and therefore
directs the way my short film will flow and the content of my
short film.
To create this survey I created Survey Monkey. This is a website
which allows you to create and distribute surveys over the
internet for free. The use of the internet enables me to collect
results from all over the world and not just my class. It also
allows me to see what different cultures think of short film and
how they should look and what content message should be. My
questions I included are below.

Week 4
I completed research this week into film classifications, I found
this section of research very challenging for my research. All I
could find was classification systems for films, not short films,
therefore I decided to do in depth research into the BBFC and
films that they have certified. I
researched the BBFC and the process
that they go through to classify a
short film. To further research I
looked at how the institutions would
classify to film at different ends of
the spectrum, Shrek and Snatch an
18 and a PG.

This week I also decided to start looking at posters for sci-fi

films. This was done to allow me to see the common
conventions in a sci-fi film. I thought posters would be the best
way to do this as it is the common codes and conventions
which will draw the audience in to watch the film, this would
also be highlighted within the poster it is a marketing
mechanism to draw the audience in. I looked at Tron the sci-fi,
fantacy Disney film this week.

Week 4
I continued to look into posters
this week as last week I feel it
helped me develop my
knowledge. This is greatly
beneficial for me as it enables
me to understand what my
audience are looking for in the
short film. This week I analysed
two posters. I looked at The
Matrix, an award winning sci-fi
film and I also analysed
Thirteen, a film about a
relationship between two
teenagers. This was done
because I intend for my short
film to be about the developing
relationship between two characters.

Week 5 and 6
This week my results came through for my survey. I sent it off
to people in my class, teachers and other media knowledgeable
people. It was interesting to see what my
target audience came back with as I genuinely
did not know to expect. In my survey I asked
the audience for information such as their age
and gender as it enabled me to see whether
they would fit into my target audience and
therefore how valid there responces would be.

I continued this analysis for the next week as

well as I only had 8 responses to work with. It
also took a lot longer to interpret the results
and what they meant for my final piece.

Week 7
This week I decided to complete another short film analysis. I
did this as all the posters I
was looking at were
posters for full length
films. By analysing
another short film it
allowed me to get back
into the short film mind
set.
For this short film analysis
I worked with George
Feast to create the
analysis. This was done
because he is the person I
will be producing my short
film with, it gives us the
opportunity to work
together for the first time
and see how one another
take apart and analyse a
short film and understand
how one another works.

Week 8
This week I created and
edited a Vox Pop. I enjoyed this section of my research as it was
the second opportunity I have had to use a camera and practise
my camera framing, even if it was just created a Vox Pop. It
also gave me an opportunity to speak personally to my target
audience and see what they would like in a short film. It is also
a lot less direct than the questionnaire as they get to choose
how they answer. I think that the Vox Pops is more significant
than survey with regards to research as it gives me to
opportunity to home in on my target audience and get a
personal insight on their opinions.

Week 9
I created my typical target audience
member this week to try and put
myself in their shoes to attempt to
understand what they believe makes a
good short film. This task was similar to
the vox pops but from my opinion, this
was more enjoyable however as I could
create an avatar. I attempted to say
that they would be a bit of a sci-fi geek.
This week I also furthered my
knowledge of narrative theories by
looking over past works done in class
and additional research on the internet.
I
looked into Roland Barthes plot theory, Props stock characters
and Todorovs narrative theory.
My favourite narrative theory that I studied was Propps Stock
characters theory, I felt that I could identify and put together
the characters to films that I have recently watched which I felt
made me understand the theory more.

Week 10
This week I looked into what different colours mean and there
significance to a story. I did this because in my survey there
were some people who said that using symbolism was more
important than dialogue, so I am doing research into colours as
this will help me decide on costumes for my characters.
This week I also began investigate into different possible
camera shots that I could possibly use for my short film. I found
this an exciting task as it showed
me ways in which I can portray
different feelings and emotions of
the characters and therefore
evoke emotions from the
audience.

Week 11
This week I studied the common conventions of a sci-fi. This
helped me decide what to incorporate within my film to insert it
into the genre of sci-fi. Enforcing sci-fi was my plan as the
genre will entice my target
audience (which can be seen
above).
I decided to put the conventions I
was thinking of using in the form of
a video montage as it illustrates the
conventions using a different
medium of presentation and it
enables me to visualise what these
conventions will look like within my
short film.

Week 12
This is the week I decided to
start the planning of my short
film as I feel I have done
enough research to gain
information on different short
films, audience profiles, the Scifi genre, conventions and use of
cinematography to evoke
feelings from the audience. I
started planning my film by
developing the script. This was I
feel the most difficult part of the
planning was creating the script
as it sets a template for the
whole film.
George and I created a script
each as we were both creating
the short film together. Once we
had each read each others
script, I took the responsibility
of combining them to create our
final script for our short film.

Week 13
In order to be able to figure out what properties and the
amount I need to spend on the properties I created a Prezi to
illustrate what extras I will need to shoot the film. This Prezi
also included costumes and factored in the location, I will alter
go on to do a full location report however for now it will enable
me to see how I will use the props in each location.
This week I additionally began to
create the shot list from the script, this
was an exciting process for me as it
enabled me to see how each scene
would be set out and how it would be
viewed by an audience. It was tough
however as the shots used can cause
the audience to root for a character or
dislike them.

Week 14
This is the week I developed a location report form so I could
work out the space that I need to make the appropriate
precautions for the actors, actresses and myself, accompanying
this I also created the appropriate
risk assessment for the project.

Week 15
This week George and I decided that we were going to do a
mock presentation to demonstrate our short film, in a Dragons
Den style manor. It allowed us to visualise how our short film
would come across to an audience and how we each tell our
story in front of an audience.