Evaluation for FMP- Ben Tidcombe.

For my independent research, I researched a numerous amount of things related to the production
in which one of those was about ‘prop’ prices in which I reflected well on why we needed some of
the various props , needed it for certain scenes to look realistic, in which I choose items that were
both suitable and relatable so when in the pre-production process as it allowed me to make
suggestions to the group on what the cheapest options were and back it up with evidence to help
organise things a little in future happenings. I also viewed a few thriller television shows via Netflix
as it allowed me to access, explore and indentify a variety of camera angles in which it helped me
personally as it meant I could be more creative when helping to film the short film and would enable
me to get a variety of multiple different shots which I could suit to each scene I film. I could have
viewed more films during this as it would of given me even more of an advantage point and would
have made me look even more professional and organised which is best for the industry.

I also researched film festivals and competitions in which I did this so I could view how individuals
make their selves known in the industry as it would be helpful in the possible future in case our team
would like to publish our final production and I did this my scanning through information on
websites and note it for the near future which makes things more organised for future situations. I
also did some research on editing in which I researched different techniques such as L and J cuts as
well as montages as I have never particularly done editing before and was a target from the last
project to participate in but never really learnt the basics and my target from last project is the same
in which this time I wanted to push myself as it would benefit me in further projects in the future. I
mainly used the internet to research this however I also used YouTube tutorials to look at some
more complicated techniques and communicated with the main editor, Kieran Murray, to help me
learn as it’s quite a difficult experience and took a lot of concentration and motivation but was very
enjoyable once notified about certain aspects of editing and was a massive learning curve once the
end product was finished. I personally felt like I could have tried to contribute more with the more
difficult parts of the edit but I didn’t feel confident enough and allowed Kieran to crack on, which I
know regret.

Also, I looked into different film posters as I wanted to view what particular thriller, genre based,
film posters had on them in which I took a few covers and compared them to one another and
reflected on what posters were similar and what were different about others. I also wanted to do
this to get some inspiration and more creativity for our team and me to create ours. I also gave
suggestions to the person creating the poster, Kasha, and also evaluated our own poster showing
what certain aspects of the poster meant to the viewers of the short film as most were obvious and
some weren’t. This also helped my communication skills I and others were discussing the certain
aspects that should be on the poster in which I personally suggested we take an image of the main
characters face and the idea got further developed by others which was a great use of teamwork. I
also did some research on target audience and the reason for looking closer into this topic was due
to the content that was presented in our short film in which I wanted to know what age rating that
our film would be presented as . I looked into the BBCF classifications and correctly implied what the
age ratings meant and chose ours, 15 rating, and explained my point to others and backed it up with
evidence to support my statement in which everyone had the same contribution as mine so there
was no evidence needed to back myself up. It’s also really important in the industry to know your
target audience so I made sure I was knowledgeable of the content I was creating for the viewer.
Another important amount of information I researched was ‘Logos’ in which our group and I needed
to know what other film companies averagely use when presenting their short film and the way in
which they present it, mostly plain/bland logo but noticeable object for recognition which is large as
well as a small amount of large writing which is normally the production name, as I was going to
have to know what to make as it was going at the start of the short film but Kieran, the editor,
decided to make it however, I and other communicated as a team to express what we all wanted on
the logo so it was unique to every one of us which was a great example of teamwork. I also did a
small amount of research on the mental health issue that our main character was going to have as
this related to a lot of things during the project and would allow me to be more creative if I knew
more in depth about this in which I looked it up on various different websites to give me the best
possible, and correct, answer. This would also allow me to direct or show the actors how to display
themselves and act naturally as their character so when I was operating the camera I could view the
emotions or feelings that were coming of the individuals while acting which I found personally
enjoyable and allowed my creativity skills to develop further-more.

In duration of producing the final production, I made sure I was communicating with others to
produce ideas and thoughts even if I felt they were slightly unrealistic as I thought others could get
inspiration from an idea to make several others. I and other members of the group were also
relatively organised in which I followed the schedule to date and made sure I did or attended
whatever was on the agenda for each days in which I participated in the pre-production process by
filling out things for the group folder which included both a risk assessment and a recce. However, I
do feel like I could have contributed to the group folder slightly more in which my communication
skills lacked slightly and did not have the confidence to ask which would lower my standard when in
the industry and is definitely something I need to work on. I also did a small amount of research
which helped the others make decisions for the project which was great.

I and all others managed to address our idea formally and professionally in which me and others
would always listen to one another and then look into developing the idea furthermore so it was
suitable for the short film. I attended all the production meetings which allowed me to give thoughts
about problems in the past, which there wasn’t many, and allowed me and others to organise things
for the future which meant my organisation was better, dramatically, I also took responsibility of
holding the production meeting in which I had to independently make an agenda for the meeting to
talk about and when finished, would communicate with others to view if there were any points they
would personally like to talk about as it’s a group project and we need a good chemistry during the
process; communication skills. For the pitch, I rehearsed my piece that I was presenting and created
a small piece about myself to present to the class with a small amount of research that I did, not
much, in which I felt I spoke relatively confidently although I felt very nervous and not too confident
in myself which pushed me down a little but overall it helped improve my social skills in major levels
and the feedback I received was brilliant as it was constructive, not all bad.

I felt like I made several contributions to the project in which, as a co-camera operator, I made
decisions/choices of some of the camera angles which were needed and because of the research, I
felt like I could link it to things such as pace and movement as it gave unique effects compared to
other slightly un-creative angles. This meant that I got encouraged to help get the content that was
needed for the editing process which I would personally be participating in. As I was also the co-
editor, I also had to review the content me, and Louis, produced over the week in which I had to give
opinions to the main editor of what I thought about the shot before making the decision. I also had
to organise the shots of the film and number them so when it came to placing them onto the
timeline, it would be simple to transport them over which improved the organisation of my work
and allowed it to work a lot smoother than previously possible. I also gave opinions on what editing
techniques we should use and why they were more effective than others. I felt like I could have
contributed more with editing, mainly the audio, as I felt it was too complicated and allowed my
mindset to give up which left Kieran, the main editor, and Joe to do it on their own. Although, I did
view what they were doing and made notes and videos for further knowledge so in the future I
would have an incline to what I was doing.

Personally I felt like me and my team worked professionally and brilliantly in which the chemistry
between one another was great and we all allowed ideas to be expressed and addressed which gave
everyone an opportunity which was a great example of teamwork. This is mainly because I have
known the members of the group from previous projects and we all respected one another as a
person in which we would all help one another with the pre-production folder and our personal
work if someone was behind as it was important we didn’t let anyone not get the grade they wanted
which was great. I did get slightly distracted from the group at times which wasn’t very professional
and fell behind a little but luckily got pulled up by others support but need to eventually achieve my
target of ‘not getting distracted’ which I failed on this project; I am disappointed as it meant I
couldn’t show my full potential.

Our group didn’t include the three things which were required for the short film which was very bad
organisation from us and very un-professional and in the industry would get severely punished, ruins
reputation, which would also damage the companies name and could get fired for this particular
aspect. We did personally feel that the three things needed would hinder our creativity in which
some that needed to be in the film, wouldn’t make any sense in which it was hard to get our head
around what we could do to add these aspects so we ended up scrapping them which was un-
professionally but in my opinion, needed.

During filming week, I turned up for all appropriate dates on filming week apart from a few which I
couldn’t attend due to me being ill and disabled me to full-fill a small amount of my role but still got
a reasonable amount of footage filmed by myself and the dates were set for the week so there
wasn’t anything I could’ve done about it but I communicated with others and they managed to get
Louis and Kieran to do it for a particular day which was a great use of communication and
organisation. I did rushed deadlines in which I got distracted a fair amount and did not produce the
work that was the best of my ability which I am disappointed about but was a good learning curve to
know what happens in the industry if deadlines aren’t made in which I did meet the deadlines so it
wasn’t a major problem just slightly rushed and un-professional work.

Personally, I felt like my technical skills have developed dramatically during the process of the
project in which editing, one of my targets, has improved dramatically in which I feel like I can
confidently edit a piece of work or footage basically for a further project and will now allow me to
focus on other, more technical pieces of work in the future in which I have learnt several different
techniques such as cutting clips before adding to timeline, adding effects, making sure the audio is
high enough to hear as it’s the most important part of the footage, how to add sound effects, e.c.t.
My creativity in camera angle shots have got much wider in which it’s worth trying everything even if
looks strange as it could be unique and perfect for your production. I have also learnt how to use
different settings on the camera in which to chose the right one for the appropriate lighting as
having an over-exposed shot can ruin the professionalism of the shot and also reputation of the
production in which taking note and using the focus on the camera to full advantage to make an
unusually unique/different shot.

Our Pitch went really well in which I and others helped set everything up in which I took
responsibility of asking my parents, mum, to bake a cake in which we communicated very well, the
team, and made sure everything was organised for the day. The feedback we got from the group and
members of staff was a variety of both positive and constructive which could make the film even
more interesting. An example of this would be Mel, one of our tutors, said our film could have had a
major plot twist and made it slightly darker than previous. There were also a few minor continuity
errors that consisted of the filming I was doing in Vicky’s office, one of the scenes, in which the door
didn’t shut yet we still had a sound effect so in the future I will not add this specific sound effect if
it’s not needed. The people also said that it was a very well designed and designated idea in which
was well thought out and ran smoothly by organisation and that we’d clearly been putting in a lot of
effort in which Kim said that it competes with level 3 work which is amazing. The editing was also
said to be smooth in which the transitions that me and Kieran added were both well placed and
were smooth in which they made sense and showed the location perfectly. The audio was also said
to be great with all the sound effects working really well and noticeable to be effective such as room
sound and door effects which me, Kieran and Kate worked on in the college which was a great bit of
communication and teamwork. Some of the audio we could’ve increased the volume off, not loads,
so we could give more of a suspense effect so I could look more into audio in the near future.

Overall, if there were anything I could change during the duration of the project it would be to start
my working earlier so that the quality of my work will be advertised more and allow me to get the
grade I personally want to achieve in which one of the ways I need to do this is by staying
concentrated and motivated while in class. I feel I could also be slightly more organised and got on
and helped a bit more in the pre-production process so the communication barrio with others would
be increased.