Currently I wish to make something more serious or comedic, but it has to have good meaning behind it and thorough planning. I hope to perhaps create a short documentary about the homeless of Exeter following them in the current time and how they live on the streets as well as giving the views a wider view on how hard life can be. I’m also thinking of making a serious drama of some sort. Alternatively I am also looking also at making a comedy spoof of some sort. I also look forward to uploading experimental shots to the blog and to show how my ideas develop.
Mind mapping – Idea creation
After creating these two mind maps, One for each genre or idea of which I’d like to create. I expanded each and everyone. Idea one was to expand and think about making as short film about adventure, after thinking and using the mind map to the best of my ability, I came up with a short film about a young adult who is the protagonist of the story who is sold hats by an antagonist who sells and uses the hats to control and manipulate whoever wears them. During the story it will show how it affects the characters lives and will eventually end in a cliff hanger and having a lack of narrative closure. As of now I still need to make a decision on what do because I also developed another idea using a mind map. For Idea number two I came up with wanting to create an advert of some sort. As I expanded the mind map with all the topics and things I could base my short advert about, I came upon educational adverts of which I like the sound of, I know that there are some adverts that used animation such as the Change for life scheme that makes the viewers more aware about what they are buying in the supermarkets and how to check if its healthy or not. Now I would like to do something like this but about food waste, we all do it, when we don’t eat all our dinner at supper time, to large supermarkets throwing out stock that they are unable to sell of which is perfectly fine to eat. I spoke to my teacher that I have on Fridays and she suggested to create mood boards for each one so that I can sort of have see what each idea would look like.
Because Im doing the hat short film I am currently just vaguely thinking about potential filming locations. Ad the main antagonist owns a hat show I googled hat shops in Exeter and came across a few. But one came to my attention: 
This shop sells rather retro and vintage clothing including hat of which have a particular style i’m looking for as my main Vilan in the story has particular attributes. As of yet I still need to contact this shop owner to see if the indoors is suitable for the setting. I will be going to arrange to meet the shop owner in the next few days, this will later be evaluated in my journal.
Wednesday 8th March
Today is the day my proposal met its deadline, which meant that I needed to present it in front of Emily to explain and talk her through what my initial ideas are for this Final project. This included what skills I have developed over the past units and which ones I feel my skills have grown more. From then, I spoke about what my ideas are for my fmp and how they’ve developed. Emily advised me that My production schedule needs to be a lot more professional due to it slightly being rushed and not very specific as to what I am doing, she also pointed out a few practitioners that I should look into as that do similar work to what my short film is about. Such as Tim Burton who directed Alice in wonderland, she also advised me to look into the Netflix Series: Series of unfortunate events and to look at the character Olaf who is a very different and strange character ans that I should definitely study and look into his traits and how he acts, this will help me get an understanding of how I’d like my antagonist to act and be like in the story.
Above is my weekly Vlog that I have challenged myself to do, one of the things I had noticed while filming that i said ‘erm’ a large amount, hence why the video jumps al ot, because I had to edit it out. I think this was because I was uncomfortable with talking in front of a camera, but despite this I will definitely be continuing with this as I want to build my confidence.
Today on the 11th I have decided to have a go at creating myself into a hologram in Adobe After Effects, this was rather challenging, due to it being my first attempt at this. As you may see, the contrast is not very good for the reasoning of it being filmed in my room that was quite bright despite having the curtains closed. In the future I will be using this effect but record the shot in the TV-studio as I am then able to control lighting and have good contrast between the foreground and background.
I’m changing my Idea..
After doing my proposal and going through it with Emily in her lesson, we began to research for our audiences and original concept ideas, from doing this, i then was looking into how viable my short film idea is, and whether i will be able to pull it off or not. From reaching a brick wall, I have become less fond of the concept idea of the short film due to many factors. I feel that It is extremely difficult to pull off and I am pushing myself with not only after effects but with the whole idea in general, like acting, script writing as well as scheduling my production for when all of my actors would be available. I am aware of my first idea that I made on a mind map and mood board which was a documentary about food waste. The food waste idea is good but I do not feel enthusiastic about it nor will I enjoy creating it. After this, Izzy – who we have on fridays took us through our pitch presentation that included things that we must include when presenting it, and with great detail. Also noted on the presentation was that we CAN change our idea before we present our pitch but can not afterwards. Due to this I have started re inventing and creating a new idea.
My new Idea is rather cool, I have actually made a mind map of which is a music video, but expanded into a post-production based sequence. Here are some videos so that you can have a slight idea of what i’m making.
So as you can see in the music video above, there is choreography really well made and animations created in sync to his movements. This is definitely something I will be creating. I have yet to decide what song I will be using but I am sure it will be by Disclosure of whom create house music and have a great style of music videos of which I can play around with. One of their songs of which I have gained inspiration from is this one:
I am aware that with this change, I need to re-write my concept idea once more. But I will paste my concept of my short film below:
As I wish to go onto the level 3 extended diploma, I wish to push myself to the limits, with camera work, pre-production and post productions. These aspects are more focused on my after effects, experimental camera shots as well as idea development. I will be undertaking a valuable amount of primary research with the use of resources such as surveys and focus groups to understand my audience a lot more than usual. In addition to this I will be casting actors and making sure the acting is to a high standard. As to prior projects I wish to improve my pre-production as per previous feedback received it was one area I need to improve on. So as to my idea development I will be making a short film of the genre of Adventure. The Initial concept and narrative is about an antagonist who is a mysterious but intelligent hat seller of which he cast spells and curses upon those who wonder in to his store. His intelligence is shown upon how he warns those who fall victims to these curses through rhymes and riddles. I would like this to have lack of narrative closure as I would love to one day expand and create a second film.
21st March
There not been a journal log for some time, as I have been rather involved with work and forgot to update the journal, but today on Thursday we have had charlie who is out new teacher who is covering for Kiri while she is on maternity leave. So far charlie has been extremely helpful and has helped me know what I need to research as well as how to order it in a certain way so that it makes sense. Despite me falling a bit behind on research I do feel that I have done a good deal of work in today’s lesson and I have also decided to use our tutorial lesson today to catch up and do some extra work. As it is now 11:45 am, I will be using the time I have at home also before I have work this evening to continue with my research.
22nd March
Today Is a Friday and we have Izzy today. This lesson I have managed to begin to conduct my research and begin to think about my general Idea as I know that we have a pitch soon to make and propose to charlie. This will include run time, generalising my audience and also what my actual concept idea is. I also have to provide a full schedule of what I will be doing on each day.
24th March
This is now the deadline to hand in and present our pitch to Charlie today. My slot for seeing him was at 2:15pm with James and Joe who were in the same slot as me.Here is my presentation Link of my pitch: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=446E040496F78CD7!1644&ithint=file%2cpptx&app=PowerPoint&authkey=!AAxJKwGACk55x7k I was a little bit sceptical of the pitch just because I didnt really now what I needed to specifically talk about. But once going in there, Charlie explained what I needed to tell him, before I knew it I was talking longer than 20 mins (that’s the how long we were meant to present our pitch) I spoke about what I will be doing on each day as well as my concept idea – what my aims of the video is as well as what kind of narrative I would be using. I explained to him that my run time will be 3:35 mins as its the whole duration of the song that I am using as well as my project not having any narrative at all and if it did, it wouldn’t have any sense at all. My actual aim of the project is to promote and show what nightlife and music can do because it plays a massive role in the majority of peoples lives in this generation. It can bring love, joy and people together, as well as calmness in times of madness. In addition to this I have also purchased a digital Pen and pad that will help me animate and rotoscope my end film ans this should arrive tomorrow. 
27th March
After the Pitch being handed in on Friday, its now time to be doing pre-production for my project.
HALF TERM
11th April
Today I was asked by Ben if I would help him with his production for his short film of which he is working on for his final Project. He asked me to be a sound technician as he needed to record his sound separately on a boom mic to ensure he had quality to a high standard. During the day I’ve also been taking behind the scenes shots of Ben filming as well as his actors on set.
13th April
Today I’ve managed to finish my Storyboards for my project but I feel that I need to change them slightly as I dont think some of the shots will be a possibility as one of the scenes I want them to be in a nightclub. So tomorrow I will look into getting permission to film in a nightclub and arrange a meeting.
14th of April
Ive actually managed to arrange a meeting with one of the owners of a nightclub near the Quay of exeter to talk about arrangements for the evening of when I need to film. He said there is a a gig going on the 24th of april where there is possibility of ne filming on that evening.
15th April
Today is Saturday and I have managed to get a few more bits changed and altered with the storyboards and also managed to plan some potential locations. I’m planning of going down on Wednesday the 19th to get these Recce Sheets completed with taking pictures too.
19th of April
Over Easter I haven’t managed to do anything as such with pre production but I have today managed to get these recce sheets and risk assessments completed for my fmp. Ive also been contacted by the owner and he said its all go go go! So I am planning to film on the 26th in the evening.
20th of April
So right now I am working on my cast list and asking for actors for my film as I need to get a male and female to shoot a kissing scene. At the moment I’m not having much luck but I think my last resort is to ask my Sister and her Husband whether they would like to be in my film.
21st of April
After getting a response by Naomi (my sister) she has said yes to taking part in my film which is brilliant. All that is difficult is that I’m wanting to get them in the TV studio to film this scene as I need them to walk up to each other in a club setting where there are flashing lights but they work all day and don’t get home until 6 pm which is past the time of when the college shuts, so I’m going to have to think of something else as I dont think filming in the TV studio at college is going to be possible.
22nd of April
After doing some thinking I’ve managed to find a cheap but cheerful alternative for this club setting. Ive been doing a bit of searching and ive managed to find a White backdrop that Ben said he can lend me during my production phase of the project and I have also found a disco light for £16.99 on amazon with some clamps to hold the white backdrop to wherever is suitable. This means I can bring the studio to them!
23rd of April
Today I’ve spent the majority of this morning and evening editing the test shots and now my arm and hand hurts. At the moment its looking pretty god but I should get it done by tomorrow, fingers crossed.
24th of April
Finally my Test shot has been edited and it looks pretty good, using the pen and pad has really helped speed up the process and it is also much better than using a mouse as well as its a lot more accurate to draw with when outlining. Here is a gif of the end test shot: 
25th of April
After being given an extension on pre production from last week All my pre production is done such as my cast list, risk assessments, recce sheets, script (of lyrics) also the analysis of the lyrics of which I had to do in addition to all other necessary documents. What was really helpful was that charlie emailed up a file with all the pre production in there so that we had everything that we needed to complete and reach the Planning deadline.
26th of April
Today Is the day of production for my film and unfortunately I have had a major set back, I’ve been told that the gig that was meant to be happening this evening as now been cancelled which implicated that I am no longer able to film in a nightclub at all. As For doing my research I have also tried looking at other alternatives but no over venue will allow me on the premises as I am under the age of 18. This means that I am also going to change my Storyboards around and alter them to a better alternative. I will most definitely be reflecting on this in my evaluation at the end of the day.
29th of April
So right now I have managed to arrange with my actors when it is possible to film. Due to having work most evening and that I need to be filming in Exeter when its dark, I will have to plan around my work of which I work evenings and also my actors who also are busy with work and also college projects. At the moment I will be filming tomorrow with Jay Hornibrook and her brother Guy Hornibrook.
30th of April
So this evening I filmed some shots with Jay and Guy and they were really good. Some shots that I have captured have got good contrast between the actor and the background. The reason why I’ve made sure of this is because it will make it easier to rotoscope in post production. What was also great about today was that the town Center was dead this evening as it was in the week, this means the majority of people would not of been out clubbing.
1st of May
Today I have been looking at the footage that I have captured from last night and I feel that I need to get a few more shots in regards to it as I know that it will be important and quite handy to have some extra shots like cutaways to add to the video if for example, there is a lot of animation going on or when the song slows down briefly. In addition to this I have also planned to get Ben to help to be an actor in my video and we have also got some awesome shots.
2nd of May
Today is the day I start to animate and rotoscope my film. At the moment what I have unfortunately realised is that my footage is all taken in 60 fps which is not what I wanted to happen. I think what has ended up making this occur is that when I turn my camera off it then resets to its default settings. The Cameras default settings is to record and capture at 60 frames and not 24fps – this is the frame rate I promised in my pitch. So what I think im going to do is that because its all in 60fps I am going to stretch the frames into a slowmotion sequence, dont worry. Not all of it is in slow motion but doing this will help.
3rd of May
So after that hiccup yesterday I have now edited it all in sequence in Premier Pro and exported it ready to be then edited in Adobe After effects where I have began to animate and rotoscope. At the moment what I have also found is that because I have recorded in low light, some of my footage is grainy and there is quite a bit of noise to the images. So Ive managed to do what I can to the footage to reduce the noise on the film a bit by using the remove grain tool in after effects. Its made a small but noticeable difference. I know that the higher the light exposure is on your DSLR the grainier it can become, because the DSLR tries to then lighten up pixels and areas of the film. But in low light areas it can do this randomly and created grain to your film. Despite this I could’nt of prevented it because I had my ISO ie. light exposure rather low to reduce the amount of grain that I would get on the film.
7th of May
Over the past few days I have been busy editing for hours on end. IN addition to this I have also been having issues at my work due to there being redundancies but fortunately I will have a lot more free time in the evenings for my Final Project from the 9th – which is my last day at work. At the moment it is looking pretty good but still a bit bare so at the moment I am still needed many more hours until I am any near being finished. But I do feel that I should be finished by the 16th of May.
8th of May
Currently I have been spending most of the day trying to rotoscope the back of Bens back as the camera slowly moves backwards. Its taking some time but what is useful is the roto tool in after affects of which determines what shapes you are wanting to essentially cut out and make transparent. From then doing so it predicts the next few frames and tries to continue to outline the shape, despite this I have checked each frame regardless and made some small adjustments to the rotoscope as some parts are slightly off.
From then doing this I then ended up duplicating the clip that I was editing and precompose it so that it wouldn’t affect any of the other footage on the time line. From this I then proceeded to add the shapes and effects in an under layer of the clip that I have cut out . This took some time to add key frames of the position of the spiralling squares as it needed to be centred due to the camera moving a bit.
11th of May
At the Moment my film is looking pretty good and I’m getting quite sick of the song as its constantly on repeat when editing it. Currently I am around about 3 quarters of the way there to being finished. The only set back is the whole 60 frames a second issue. My arm aches a bit so I am intending of taking breaks every now and then as I am always in front of a screen.
12th of May
At the moment I have also been working on a scene where Guy is running past Jay in Princesshay as I feel some of it is quite bare at the moment and needs some animation. So my idea is to set Guy on fire and make him run through a rain cloud of which would then put the fire out.
14th of May
FINISSSHEEED!!! Today I have finally finished after hours of concentration and the feeling that you’ve been told to write “I shall not fail FMP” A million times by a teacher as punishment. This means its all exported and uploaded to youtube for all of my Family and friends to see my hard work.
15th of May
Today I decided to go into Pauls lesson as I am no longer editing from home. In this lesson I took the time to actually get up to date of some work as Chalrie emailed us some feedback sheets from our Final Project and I do have a few things that I need to update and catch up upon.
17th of May
Today I have managed to write down and note what I will be talking about when I film myself evaluation my project – this will cover all questions and stages reached during the whole process.
18th of May
Today was the day that I have been filming myself talking about my evaluation for final major project. I have also edited it all. I found that I wasn’t very comfortable in front of a camera talking to it. There was something just not normal about it. Due to this I was saying ‘Erm’ an awful lot. I’ve also spend the majority of the day editing as many of my stutters and those dammed ‘erms’ as possible. As my internet isn’t very good it would take me many hours to actually upload something to YouTube so i am planning to upload it tomorrow at college and the internet is much faster. Ive also in the meantime got a thumbnail made for the video. 
19th of May
Today is Deadline day! I’ve managed to upload my evaluation to YouTube and also scan and upload my new storyboards and pre production to WordPress. I’ve also been told that we don’t have to go into college now until Thursday next week to have a showing day with the rest of the pupil on the course.
20th of May
Today I have woken up to an email from UMG – Universal Music Group saying that my final project has been blocked by themseleves due to a copyright claim. due to this what Ive ended up doing is finding out on how to get permission to use this. I went on the official UMG website and found a section that states this – 
So what I’ve been doing is some digging and found the UMG site for the United Kingdom and they have a ‘contact us’ section that shows who I need to contact in regards of a media enquiry or permission to use a song. 
So what I then did is write an email to them asking for permission to use their video on Youtube. In regards to it I am now going to have to wait for a response via email.
Fingers crossed! Until next time.
Nathanael Dalton 