Research and Planning

(A) The organisation of time and planning

In the organisation of my time and equipment for my foundation portfolio, i had to work very closely with my partner, we had to work out when we were both free and organise a shooting schedule. This enabled us to keep track of filming and plan what footage needed to be shot. Having a plan to follow made the process easier and allowed filming to run smoothly. The schedule did change now and again due to actors being unavailable and days were added for extra footage. Alongside our shooting schedule we had to book out equipment. For us, these was easy, we used our own camera and therefore only had to book out a tripod for when we needed it.
When it came to my advanced portfolio, i was working by my self, this made planning easier as i only had to worry about me. I used the same methods of planning however i also used a filming diary. The diary enabled me to document the progress made or problems with filming. The diary allowed me to adapt my plan in order to solve any problems that accurred.

(B) the effcient choice and organisation of actors, settings and props.

For our foundation portfolio i chose friends and teachers as our actors. These were people i knew i could work well with and were available at the time. Each of the actors were needed on different days which worked well in organising them.  For settings we chose ones that inspired our film such as the police station. This theme runs through out, with it being a police investigation.
For my advanced portfolio the organising of actors was infact harder. For this video i needed my actors together which made it hard to organise one day. Due to problems with my artist being unavailable, I had to reschedule both location and time to film him. I feel the planning of my setting really progressed for my advanced portfolio. I used the meaning behind the song and portayed it throught the location of the beach. I also used features of the location to enhance parts of my video, managing to capture sections matching lyrics to visuals.

(C) Scripting and Storyboarding

For my Foundation portfolio i used two story boards. At first I created a draft, however this changed when i adapted my ideas while out filming. I created a final storyboard to present my final idea. Scripting was a big part of planning for this task, although i had no direct conversation on screen, I used several voice overs. These voice overs added narrative to my thriller opening. Planning was very important for these scripts as the actors had to know exactly what to say but it also had to match what would be happening on screen.

Scripting was easier for my music video. I used a song my the artist appearing in my video, therefore scripting was already done. I used these lyrics to plan what was on screen and organise locations. For my Music video I also used two storyboards, a draft and a final one. I made planning of my storyboard very detailed as this helped my organise a shot list which had to be accurate on the day of filming. As i was filming in a location far away, i couldn't risk having to redo it.

(D) Initial Target Audience Research

For my foundation portfolio we researched into our target audience by creating questionnaires. Through out the production of our thriller we would ask there opinion on aspects of typography and titles. We also asked them what they would like out of our thriller film.These questionnaires were effective in that they enabled us to gain general opinions which led to important decision making. In both portfolio we arranged a screening of our final products. The screening was for our target audience and gave them an opportunity to air their opinions. The screenings enabled us to gain an opinion of our work and understand the need for improvements.

For my advanced portfolio, I conducted a pitch of my idea. I led a pitch of my story board and music, presenting my idea to my target audience. This enabled me to gain an accurate opinion of my idea rather than just the general 'music video'. The pitch highlighted any problems earlier rather than later, allowing me to correct them in production.

(E) Existing media practice/products

When creating our thriller film, we researched into existing products by watching other thriller films. This enabled us to understand and recognise conventions of the 'real thing'. We as a class highlighted common features and we able to gather ideas for our own opening.

For my advanced portfolio, I also watched existing videos  so that I could recognise conventions, however I pushed this research forward by relating theories to these existing products. This enabled me to gain ideas of how to portray Goodwin's principles and understand them further. It allowed me to understand how i could relate them to my own music video. A large amount of progression was made between these two portfolios. In my advanced portfolio, I was now able to research and apply factual knowledge, rather than base my project on opinion.