Reflection Journal

Here is a reflection diary that summarises the entire creative process in bigger detail with various notes and trivia.

28th February 2025:

Yesterday I've started work on my Final Major Project for this year. Over the last few months, I've had a few ideas as to what my FMP will be, from a mockumentary about a fictional rock band to a sequel to my FMP from last year, The Killer Glove. Today I've finally figured out my idea. It'll be a story about a screenwriter thinking about various types of films of different genres titled "Subconsciousness Rules" and I hope to make it the biggest project that I've ever done for this college. I've started the proposal for it and should be done with it next week, then I will start the pre-production/research documents.

6th March 2025:

Today I've practically finished the proposal sheet. I wrote in all of the different sections including the project concept, which took the longest to do. I made a detailed plot synopsis of my film from start to finish, explaining the different sequences that will be in the film, the include a silent, psychological horror about a mannequin head, a western/sci-fi hybrid about two aliens, a slapstick comedy about three firefighters (which became about three chefs instead because it'll be easier to film and get) and a monster film where the main character grows in size and defeats a giant creature. Tomorrow I will make a mood board and a research document for my project that I will copy a link to in the proposal sheet.

7th March 2025:

Today I made a research sheet to accompany my proposal for my FMP. I looked at various inspirations for my film, these include 4 Rooms (1995) Because of the 4 films in 1 aspect of it being similar to my idea, Nosferatu (1922) For the atmosphere that I want to recreate in the silent film part of the film and various other films, some of which being old student films from my favourite youtubers like James Rolfe from Cinemassacre. I've also looked at documents and video essays showcasing various camera shots, set designing and scriptwriting tips that will help me with shooting the film when I get to doing that. I also made a mood board that showcases various images that show of the theme that my film will have.

13th March 2025:

Yesterday I've fully finished my proposal and gave it to Dan to mark and approve it. Thankfully he did but I did have to make a few adjustments to the proposal here and there, such as refining the project concept and adding more sources for the research table and adding notes to my mood board. Today I've started work on the pre-production process of my film, starting with the treatment. I had to recap my research/production schedule alongside going more into depth about my rationale and project plot synopsis. I decided to add more meta elements in project here and there after being inspired by another FMP that Dan showed us, plus making the monster movie part resemble a Kaiju film as I've always been interested in those films and how they're shot, making the comedy film have more inspirations to The Three Stooges and Ed, Edd N Eddy because those are some of my favourite slapstick comedy shows, as well as describing my project idea to the rest of the class. I really hope that next I can start writing the script to the film so I can start filming the week after, but I still have a bit more to do.

14th March 2025:

Today I've managed to make a focus group/questionnaire during the afternoon lesson. I got Mark, Tommy, Letizia, Gasper, Alex and Callum to sit around and answer seven questions that I came up with the previous lesson and drawn down on a piece of paper. The first question was "What is your favourite film genre?", most people picked action of thriller, although I got one answer that said crime thriller. The second question was "Are you interested in the history of filmmaking?", The answers were a bit more varied, with one saying that he only cares about the making of films, but the other answers were along the lines of being interested. The third question was "What was the best decade for movies?", and everyone said either the 90's or 2000's or both. The fourth question was "What is your favourite movie?", I've got answers like A Clockwork Orange and Transformers One, but most were unsure. The fifth question was "Would you like to become a filmmaker in the future?", most people said at least some interest in one department of media, such as photography and film production and editing. The sixth question was "Does a film with multiple genres and storylines sound intriguing to you?", most people said if done poorly it's bad and confusing, but if it's done well then it's great. And the final question was "Do you find a storyline with a character struggling to come up with ideas relatable?", some people said they did relate a bit to it, whilst others not so much. I also filmed a few test shots using various techniques and features on my phone camera in case I might need to use it for the filming when I get around to that, alongside briefly starting a shot list describing the shots in the film, however I would need to write a script to really continue with it.

20th March 2025:

Yesterday, I've started work on the script. Once I was done with the treatment and focus group, I was all set and eager to start writing it. I used Microsoft Word to write it since that's what I used to write the script for my last big project and it's a lot easier to use in my opinion. I started writing yesterday and continued on with it today. I made sure to use a lot of cues from my research and inspirations, such as making the office scenes have relatable dialogue about dealing with a difficult boss/workplace, or the comedy chef sequence having references and homages to Three Stooges and The Inbetweeners. I wanted to finish the script off today, but I figured I could finish it off tomorrow since I don't have a lot left to write.

21st March 2025:

Today I finished the script, as well as a shot list for the office scenes, which I am planning to film on Friday next week. It took a lot of time to fill every shot in for the whole sequence, as well as research to see what shot types will work the best. I also went down to the TV studio to discuss with Che about how the filming will be next week, which was a really nice time and we talked about influences and production techniques that I could use. All I have to do now is risk assessment, location recee, storyboard and finishing research to be able to film on the 28th. Hope everything will go well.

26th March 2025:

Today I've finished off the research portion of my FMP. I decided to look through a couple more articles that are about the history of filmmaking and different shot types. I feel like this information will be very useful for when I want to film the first sequences on Friday. I also made storyboards for the scenes I want to film on Friday, which took nowhere near as long as I thought it would because I'm not that good at drawing. I need to add a few more touches to the storyboards, such as shot types listed, but I will add those tomorrow. I also have the location recee and risk assessment form to do, which I will also do tomorrow. Then I will be finally ready to film.

27th March 2025:

Today I've finished the storyboards by adding the shot types and adjusted my proposal so that it can be approved. I need to film some test shots on Friday if I'm unable to film the real thing, which is becoming likely. I also filled out a risk assessment form, a document where I list of any hazards and scheduling problems that are likely to happen, to make sure filming is safe and ready, as well as starting the location recee, which is also needed to start filming the real thing.

28th March 2025:

Today I've filmed a bit of test footage in the TV Studio after filling out a location recee form. I filmed in the afternoon, using my iPhone camera with Mark and Sammy as my camera-people. Filming surprisingly took a bit shorter than I thought it would, only taking about 40-45 minutes. The test footage turned out good although I wished I could've filmed a bit more and I did forget some lines from the script so I had to improvise some lines into other ones. After break, I went with Che to the media office, where I looked at all the props and deciding that the office sequences will be filmed in there. I even managed to edit all of my clips together using Premier Pro. All I have to do now is upgrade location recee and assemble a definitive cast and crew list. And then I'll be able to film the first scenes.

2nd April 2025:

Today I didn't do too much but it's still worth bringing up. I managed to get a cast member, Tommy, to play the role of Klein when I'll be filming the office scenes, with the boss character being played by me. I gave him the script and he said he's okay with it and is fine with filming. I also updated my location recee form to include the media office and also managing to export my test footage and upload it to my teachers via Microsoft Teams. I will hopefully be filming either tomorrow or Friday and I can't wait to get this whole project finished.

3rd April 2025:

Today I finally started filming the scenes for my project. I filmed all the scenes that take place in the office with Klein and his boss. I had Tommy acting as Klein and myself as his boss and I did most of the camera work too, since it was all filmed on my iPhone camera. It was all filmed in the Progression Plus office since the staff that worked there wasn't in today, in fact, my student tutor was actually the one that suggested the idea to me as the media office was probably busy at the time. Filming took surprisingly longer than I thought, only lasting about 45 minutes total. There were barely any difficulties and everything went smoothly, with Tommy doing a really great job as the lead actor. I really hope to film the other sequences after half term, as I've also made a shot list for some of the other sequences during break.

4th April 2025:

Today I managed to film another scene, that being the scene with the mannequin head chasing the teens, which I decided to call The Head-Hunting Head. Filming took a lot quicker than expected, only taking about 10 minutes to film all the needed shots. I filmed using my iPhone camera again, and I managed to get Mark, Dominyka and Michael to play all three teens, and they all did a good job, with some confusion and needs for another take here and there, but overall it all went smoothly. I even had enough time to start editing and piecing all the clips together, along with adding music and additional touches to the scenes that I filmed yesterday. I hope that after half term I can film all the other scenes by 2nd May at the latest, and edit everything in a very quick time. I'm very eager to get this project finished.

24th April 2025:

Since yesterday I've been spending most of my time at college editing all the clips I've filmed for my FMP. In all honesty, this is by far my favourite part of this assignment, aside from filming. I've full finished and exported the Head Hunting Head sequence, I had a bit of trouble getting the head to move around using keyframes but it all turned out satisfactory. I also started filling out a shot list for the Astrotards sequence, which I decided to rename Astroturds since it sounds better in my opinion and is in better taste. In the afternoon I filmed green screen footage with Tommy for the monster fight sequence at the end of the film. I originally wanted Tommy to fight alongside someone with a dinosaur costume owned by one of the T-Level people, but due to the costume being unavailable plus other students filming in the locations that I want to, I decided to settle on Tommy pretending to fight against a Green-screened CGI T-Rex that I've found on YouTube. I hope to start editing tomorrow.

25th April 2025:

Today I've spend the whole day filming the monster fight sequence "Battling To The Death" on Premiere Pro and even managing to finish and export it. I really had to add in so many sound effects, music, visual effects like smoke and explosions and do a good job at green-screening both Tommy and the T-Rex, and I'd say I did an adequate job at it. Exporting was a bit of a pain, not only because it a very long while to finish exporting it, but also there was this glitch were Premiere Pro made everything way too bright when exporting it, but I did eventually find a way to fix this after looking around for options. I really hope I manage to film the rest of the scenes by the end of next week, as I can't wait to finish everything and move on to Level 3 extended.

30th April 2025:

Today I manged to film the Astroturd sequence. It was filmed in the outside area of the TV Studio, Mark and I played the two Astroturds and Oliver was the cameraman. I brought my costumes, which were a jumper, trousers and coat alongside old monster masks, we decided to use leaflets that we found in the TV Studio as guns weapons. It only took about 10 minutes total to film all the clips and everyone did well with the roles. I then went back into class to start editing the clips. I've added the titles and pieced all the clips together and added laser blasts and bullet hole effects/overlays into the footage. All I have to do is to add sound effects and music, as well as record voiceovers, which I will do tomorrow. I'm really happy with how to project is turning out so far and I hope I get to finish by this time next week, so that I can move on to working on the evaluation and portfolio website.

1st May 2025:

Today I finished the edit for the Astroturd sequence. In the afternoon I recorded the voiceovers for this scene with my iPhone in the hallway, since the recording studio was unavailable. I managed to export an edit without any filters, then I added them and exported another version to free-up export time. I did the same with the Head-Hunting Head and Battling To The Death sequences. Tomorrow morning I hope to film the Crazy Chef sequence and edit it all in the afternoon, I spent the afternoon making a shot list for it like all the other scenes, and I hope everything goes well for the upcoming shoot.

2nd May 2025:

Today I've finally finished the production of Subconsciousness Rules. I managed to film the Crazy Chefs sequence in the morning with me, Letizia and Tommy as actors and Oliver again as camera. We filmed a few bits in the learning suite as I'd planned, however there were staff members clearing up the tables and chairs, so I had to film the opening in the hallway right outside the learning suite. I also had ideas to include more slapstick but I didn't have enough time to add that in when filming. But overall It went by really quickly and everyone did a good job. In the afternoon I edited the sequence, I had a bit of trouble since the voices were too quiet in the original recordings and I had to make them louder in post, but other than that I knew what to do and I managed to finish rather quickly. I then compiled all the scenes into one edit and exported it all and uploaded to Teams, which unsurprisingly took a long time. Next week I will do exclusively evaluation and focus groups, with the week after being all on portfolio. Then I'll be thankfully done with the assignment.

7th May 2025:

Today I was happy with finally finishing my film, but that still didn't mean I was done. I made a promotional poster for the film using screenshots from the film as well as backgrounds from google images. I edited it all using Adobe Photoshop and I had a bit of trouble with cutting out some screenshots so that they fit perfectly inside the thought bubbles. After a while of getting frustrated and discussing ideas with my teacher, I found a solution where I slightly lessened the opacity of the image, making it much easier to cut it out to what I need. It still wasn't perfect, but it looked fine enough. I also had time to write down all the questions for my second focus group, a review/feedback of the film itself which I hope to do tomorrow morning. Once I'm done with that, I will start work on the evaluation and portfolio.

8th May 2025:

Today I held my second focus group, and it went well. I held a couple screenings of the film in class for people to watch and I managed to get Mark, Callum, George and Gaspar to take part and answer questions. The first question was "Did you enjoy my film?", and everyone said that they generally did enjoy it. The second question was "How entertaining and effective did you find the concept and premise of the film?", George responded with how I took a premise that was not that comedic, and that I manged to turn it into something comedic. The third question was "What was your favourite sequence/mini movie in the film?", everyone responded with either "Battling To The Death" or "The Astroturds". The fourth question was "What aspect of the film did you like best?", Mark responded with the ending where Klein's scream was cut out with the end screen and everyone agreed with him. The fifth question was "What do you think I could improve upon?", George responded with how the mannequin movement in "The Head-Hunting Head" was way too fast and stiff and that I should've thought of an alternative. He then added how I should've thought more about props and locations whilst filming. The sixth question was "Would you like to see this idea get expanded upon in the future?", Callum responded with how I can change the genres of the mini-movies with more varied options and Mark followed up with how I can expand the ideas of the four mini-movies that are in the film already. The focus group concluded with one last question, which was "What would rate the film overall out often?", George and Gaspar gave it a 6/10, Callum gave it a 7.5/10 and Mark gave it somewhere between a 7/10 and 8/10. Overall, the focus group went really well and everyone mad good points and criticisms that all of which I agreed with. I also started my evaluation and wrote a few paragraphs that essentially recapped my process of creating my FMP. I hope to finish that off tomorrow and then moving onto the website.

9th May 2025:

Today I've finished the evaluation, I wrote down some more paragraphs detailing my creative process, added various screenshots into the evaluation and added a bit of feedback from the focus group yesterday. I also made a feedback form in hope to get more responses. I also had enough time to start my portfolio website. I used Webnode to make it since it's been recommended to me from the college staff and it's easy to use and has lots of options. So far, I added the reflection Journal onto it and designed the home page, with the other pages being filled out with documents and notes next week. Although I will be filming for other people's projects as well as upcoming exams so I have to think about other things, but I hopefully should still be good.

14th May 2025:

Today I've finally finished my website. I edited it using WebNode, and I had a bit of trouble at the start of the lesson. For some reason my account that I'd set up on Friday just disappeared and I had to make a new one where I had to essentially start the whole website all over again, which left me very frustrated, but I didn't actually have a lot to redo and eventually, I calmed down and got the whole site completed. I might update the evaluation and website tomorrow and Friday if I get more feedback responses, but I'm fairly satisfied with everything so far. 

16th May 2025:

Today I decided to tweak a few things with the website. I added dates above every document on the page to let the viewer know when that certain document was made/finished, and I also went a bit more in-depth into research and reflection since I thought I could improve on that. Now this website is fully finished and I can't wait for what the teachers say about this. Hope I get a passing grade for all my hard work!