In our course we conducted a mind-map on the methods and skills we had learned in our college course.

From the start of the course to the start of final major project I learned many skills both practical and theory based.

With the practical aspect of the course, I learnt how to function a DSLR camera, through changing the camera to a manual camera, adjusting the camera’s ISO settings. Functioning an audio kit by learning how to record audio and advancing on the editing skills on the editing software (Premiere Pro) that I first developed last year. In addition to learning types of camera shots such as establishing shot and wide shot and camera angles such as high-angle and low angle. Also, during that time, we undertook some filmmaking sessions through this we learnt different things including blocking the scene which involves the actors and how they move within a production space and preventing continuity error.

On the other hand, from the theory-based work from the course I was introduced to narrative theories including Propp’s theory, he believed that narratives are focused on characters and the plot of a narrative develops from either a character’s action or decision. He also proposed that characters can be grouped into different roles within a narrative, examples include the hero, the villain, the princess and the donor. Another theory we reviewed was The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell, who proposed all narratives follow the same basic structure through seventeen stages, though not all narratives feature all the stages. One of the main pieces of theory work was writing a screenplay. Through what goes into a screenplay such as the where the scene takes place (scene heading) the characters and dialogue. What to write and not what to write in a script as when writing dialogue its unnecessary to write too much and instead write less.

Considering both the practical and theory aspects of the course I am hoping to transfer those skills I learned in both of those areas and use in my final major project.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

I have found that I like coming up with ideas for creative projects. For instance if the idea develops into a project I would then progress onto planning the project, similarly to being able to coming up with ideas I have found that during the development stage of a project when working with a group in the course, that I enjoy planning as I would usually compose a mind-map and write down ideas from myself or others within the group, which could be potentially used in the final project.

I have a great knowledge of the course subject (Film and TV) In addition to being organized with my coursework and working up to deadlines. Unlike last year I have also found that I can work well in a team and have the ability to contribute things within a group. As I mentioned above writing down ideas from the people in my group or myself.

Weaknesses

I have struggled with confidence in myself and my work and I'm still working on being able to accept constructive criticism.

One of the issues I experienced and likewise to constructive criticism, during my time on the course is trying to work with other people and being able to accept collaborating with my peers within the course. In addition to still developing my skills on editing through the editing software Premier Pro.

Opportunities

As I mentioned in the weaknesses that I am still currently working on my editing skills, fortunately I have the editing software (Premier Pro) at home so this gives me the opportunity to advance those editing skills I am hoping to work on.

Threats

Due to the current restrictions going on during the time of working on the final major project,

With using Premier Pro at home I might be unable to ask for assistance. For instance in the past I found it difficult to export the project I made with Premier Pro. In addition to how to add effects, this may be the case of me taking responsibility and finding tutorial videos online.

Idea

Within our course we discussed different types of media products we could make for our final major project

I decided to create a mind-map, composing of my ideas for my own final major project

Research

With the two ideas (short film or music video) I wrote on the mind-map I discussed the two ideas with my lecturers and decided to go with making a short film. Though prior to the discussion I looked into music videos, via a video showing the codes and conventions of a music video.

I viewed a video detailing the types of music video with music videos.

Short films anaylsis

I decided to go for creating my own short film, after discussing the two ideas with my lecturers. I have enjoyed viewing short films from Disney and Pixar so I decided to analyse three short from Disney Plus.

The Goddess of Spring

Notes I took on the short film. On its codes and convections which included its visuals, audio, technical and narrative.

https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/video/d8d7a380-8aff-4bde-8a62-fea3c05fec76 (Link to short)

The Goddess of Spring, was an animated disney silly symponhines short. The Goddess of spring focuses on the Greek myth Persephone and Hades.

I admired the iris cuts used in for the opening scene and end of the short, The Goddess of Spring (shown in video) I would like to use that cut method and apply to my own project.

Piper

Visual, audio, technical and narrative codes and convections present in Piper.

Piper is a computer animated short film from Pixar animation studios.

The short film focuses on a young bird trying to overcome her fear of the water

Hair Jujisu

Hair Jujisu was one of the shorts films from disney's series Short Circuits specializing in short films.

Other shorts I viewed.

Reflection

From viewing and analyzing each of those three short films, I have found that from viewing The Goddess of Spring that I really liked the iris technique used and would like to use that technique for my final major project, though I know that I will need to practice that technique first so in order to do that I may need to speak to my lecturer who is going over a practical skills workshop.

Whilst from viewing Piper, I have found through viewing the short, has shown me that you can make a simplistic story and it can be effective at the same time.

Similar to Piper from watching Hair jujitsu showed that you can take take a simple everyday concept and turn it into a story that the audience can be engaged in. In addition to the main protagonist (the you girl) and connect to the main character as you can sympathize with the young girl that she doesn't' want her hair to be cut, from this the audience may remember when they were young once and didn't want to get their hair cut.

Also from the feedback I received from my lecturer on my research, suggested that I focus on the narrative structure of a short and then brainstorm some simple ideas I could use for the short film I am planning to create.

Narrative

From my lecturer's feedback who suggested I look at the narrative structure I decided to view a short film and analyse its narrative structure. I selected Lou a Pixar short I viewed via Disney Plus.

i watched videos from Pixar discussing narrative and storytelling. I found both of the videos to be incredibly formative and provide great advice on telling a story, particularly the video on introducing storytelling (right) as they mentioned that using experiences from your personal life helps.

Stopmotion

Since I am planning to create a stop-motion animated short. I decided to review the technique and products hopefully similar to my final major project.

Pitch

Pitch feedback and reflection

After presenting my pitch to my course, we were then placed into groups, to provide feedback on each other's pitches.

Peer feedback

From the peer feedback I received from my pitch, I then had to analyse each of the feedback I received from my peers.

Both peers admired that I was using stop-motion animation for my final major project also bringing in my own personal experience to the project and was looking forward to seeing how my idea would be developed further. Another peer also commented on how I was able to determine my target audience (children) for the project.

They also agreed that I need to develop the narrative and concept for my project, I find this criticism to be fair as I am still working on the project’s story and concept so I will be looking into these in detail for my further research. And both peers suggested how the minor characters will affect the main character in the story? For instance, one of the peers mentioned if the minor characters will support the main character or if the project will instead focus solely on the main character.

I can conclude from analysing the peer feedback, that I agree with what the peers said about my pitch and think that the constructive criticism is valid as I am concerned about my story for my project, so for my further research I am going to think about what narrative and concept I want to use for my final major project.

Proposal form

Project Proposal form

Click button to view my Proposal Form

Further research

After analysing and reviewing the peer feedback I decided to research more into story and narrative. Though first we created a mind-map on ideas and from this know what we need to research next before beginning pre-production, nevertheless I will continue further researching narrative and story I am also going to look into stop-motion animation short films and techniques.

Evolution of mind-map

Stop-motion

I did research stop-motion prior to presenting my pitch, but I decided to research stop-motion techniques and test them out myself. In addition to viewing more stop-motion animated films.

This video showcased techquines for stop-motion videos, I found this video incredibly resourceful

From viewing this video I found some great advice for production on my project as, the woman in the video was using a computer connected to the camera to click the photos, to prevent the movement of the camera. Another thing I liked was how the tripod

I viewed a video discussing narrative

Narrative

StopMotion demos

As part of my further research and final major project I decided to experiment with different stop-motion mediums, which included figures, model and paper.

Reflection

From experimenting with different stop-motion mediums I found that while I enjoyed using dolls, as I have made stop-motion projects with dolls in the past, from experimenting with paper I realized that I want to use the paper technique for my stop-motion animation short, this is because I have not used paper before and I am hoping to try a different stop-motion technique, in order to advance my stop-motion skills.

In addition to dolls and paper I did experiment with play-doh for Claymation though easy to model, I found using play-doh rather messy and would be rather difficult when touching the camera with messy fingers if using for my final major project.

So in conclusion as I'm interested in using paper for my final major project, I am going to view paper stop-motion shorts and keep experimenting with paper cutouts.

Paper-Stop-Motion

From viewing this complication of paper-stop-motion I loved the techquines

From viewing Red I really liked how the paper techquine was conveyed, in addition to the narrative behind Red, I liked how the narrative was based around the concept of life of how the character grows up.

From Coco I liked how the paper technique was utilized in the short film. In addition to the colourful background.

While the cinematography for Summertime caught my attention, I was really impressed with how the paper was cut and presented for example the steam coming from the tea cup were shaped like tiny clouds.

I really liked the paper stop-motion technique and storyline in Paper.

This video on paper stop-motion was incredibly simple.

I also viewed stop-motion paper techquines videos

While I found both videos to be incredibly helpful in advancing my stop-motion paper technique I found the second video more beneficial for the future, specifically for the production stage of my final major project for how to arrange the paper.

Stop-Motion paper demos

After testing out figures, play-doh and paper, I decided to chose the paper technique for my final major project and continue with experimenting the paper technique

Story Idea

For my story idea I accumulated a mood board of ideas for my final major project, such as potential scenes

Moodboard

Reflection

During this week I have tested different stop-motion techniques for my final major project, and start to finalize a story idea.

I found that testing the stop-motion techniques have been successful as I selected the stop-motion technique I want to use in my final major project, (paper) I have learnt through doing the paper technique that it does require a lot of patience as paper is often fiddly at times. In addition to the project's story I do have an idea, though I have been primarily focused on advancing my skills of the paper stop-motion technique, nevertheless I created a moodboard of my ideas for the story's location.

My plan though for next week is to still continue the paper technique and start to develop drafts of my story. Though I have an idea for the story I need to document this on my wix page.

Story idea part two

Questionnaire

I decided to conduct a questionnaire from my paper stop-motion experiment videos and see what people liked about them, what I needed to improve and if they liked the paper stop-motion technique themselves.

Questionnaire analysis

Question one asked the participants on whether they liked the three videos? 89% of the participants liked the three videos, whilst 11% of the participants where not sure whether they liked the three videos.

Question two asked the participants who selected yes on the previous question on what they liked about the three videos. One participant found all the videos "were very creative" Three of the participants commented on the use of sound effects, with one participant particularly "liked the sound effects used for the rain" And one participant found the way I created the videos were very "smart and interesting"

Question three asked the participants on whether they liked the stop-motion paper technique I used. 100% of the participants liked the stop-motion paper technique I used for the three videos.

The final question asked the participants on what could I improve. While one participant didn't comment on anything I need to improve and found the three videos instead"very good". One participant suggested that each frame could be cut shorter in order to prevent long gaps. Another participant also commented on the frame issue but instead suggested to add more frames in to make the movements smaller.

And one participant suggested keeping the camera steady so that the frames move around less.

Reflection

From the questionnaire I conducted I found that the feedback I received from the participants who completed the questionnaire to be very beneficial for my final major project, for instance the feedback I received on what I could improve I found to be fair and will help when filming my final major project. So I will still continue to practice the paper stop-motion techquiue .

Soundtrack

I would like to add a soundtrack for my final major project, as I am hoping to use the soundtrack as an aid for the project's story.

I viewed soundtracks from Pixar Films as I was inspired to compose a soundtrack similar. I viewed the soundtrack of Soul but was piano with jazz elements and found that this type of soundtrack wouldn't be suitable (video on the left) Though I found some of the Pixar's soundtrack as piano which I preferred over r the previous video.

I also enjoyed the piano segment (from 1.53 -2.35 on the video) from one of the tracks for The Little Prince soundtrack. I found the piano segment effective in capturing a rather somber effect, though at the same time I also found the segment to be incredibly melodic.

I looked into melodic piano music and found these two videos. The first video I found melodic while the other video had a soundtrack of different classical piano pieces I really liked DE FALLA 7 Canciones Populares Españolas: No. 6, Canción (17.13)

Draft expermention

I also experimented with felt and card. I found that using the felt technique may be a rather original and creative idea to use and the felt technique hasn't been used, nevertheless the material is rather fiddly, time consuming from cutting what shapes you want and felt is hard to stay together though I added glu dots which aided in sticking the felt parts together.

Whilst with card I found was similar to paper, though similar to felt its time consuming when creating different models and also fiddly

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