Planning for theoretical Problems
Problems I may encounter when
researching and planning
• Not being able to find the correct
research for my topic
• Not being able to get the locations
that I want to film at
• Trouble finding short horror films
about dolls
• Getting survey responses on my
genre and target audience surveys
• I may come across problems
involving my script, for example
having to make multiple drafts
• I may not be able to source all of
the props that I need
Planning for practical and technical problems
Practical and technical problems I may
encounter
• Actors might let me down
• I might have a shot that I don’t like
• The sound in some of the scenes
could be quite rough especially
between cuts
How I plan to resolve
- Use multiple sources to find out
more about my topic and to get
a strong understanding of my
subject
- Have multiple locations that I
want to film at and have a plan
for every location
- I can look on YouTube for short
horror films and if I can’t find any
then utilise feature films and
analyse scenes from these
- I can try and post these surveys on
multiple social media platforms
and
- Use my intuition to decide when
my script needs to be changed.
Take the best script forward based
om the story.
- Go to charity shops and search
online for resources. For dolls
clothes, it is easier to get human
clothes to match what the dolls
are wearing.
How I plan to resolve
- I have back up actors if my
current actors drop out of my
production. I haven’t been able
to find a backup actor for my
younger girl so Jack has agreed
to dress up as a girl as a last resort.
- I will reshoot and re-watch my
footage on the same day so that I
can film scenes twice if I need to.
- I will make sure to record sound
bites in all of my locations so that I
have sound to cover my cuts with.
 - I can ensure that I avoid members
• There could be an issue with of the public by filming at off peak
members of the public at my times of day and also by taking
locations breaks when the locations
become busy.

- I have a spare battery in case my

• Finding issues with equipment for camera dies.
example my camera
- I don’t like using music that is
• Finding licenced music for my copyrighted so therefore; I can
production on YouTube use Soundstripe to source my
music, copyright free.

• Shooting in the dark for some - Film these scenes at twilight so

scenes in my production that it isn’t as dark as it could be.
This will also mean that the
footage could be better quality.

-
Mid Project check-up (After Research and planning)

After completing the research and planning sections of my work, I have gone through my
list of problems to see what I have had to face and overcome in this section. I have also
thought about what other problems that I have encountered that I didn’t foresee
happening in this section of work.
The first unexpected problem that I came across was that I couldn’t contact one of my
main locations to get permission to film. I wanted to use Dunster doll museum to film my
production, so I contacted them on email and I didn’t hear back from them. I also tried
calling and I didn’t manage to speak to anyone. I was very passionate about using this
location and therefore; I decided to go down to Somerset one weekend and talk to the
volunteers in the shop. They were happy to let me film there and I had verbal
confirmation of them letting me film in their premises. By going into the shop, I found out
that their online information had been changed recently and that is why I wasn’t able to
contact them. Without trying hard to fix this problem, I wouldn’t have been given
permission to film inside the museum, so I am happy that I was determined to film there
and I managed to get their confirmation in person.
Another one of these problems was realising that my storyline didn’t include a
particularly ‘evil’ character in it. I decided that I should add in another character to add
more depth to my production. Having watched more horror content, I also thought that
this would be necessary in order to meet my brief and make a scary production that is
enjoyable for my target audience. This did result in writing up more than one draft of my
script however; I had planned for this to happen so I was prepared to develop my story
and improve it where I could. I wrote up three drafts and made developments each time
to improve my story and change sections that I thought could be improved.
I think that in order for my production to be successful, I needed to encounter all of these
problems so that I could improve my work and make changes to make it better and
more professional.
End of project review
After completing the practical section of my project, I have now been able to reflect on
the problems that I expected to face and I also know that there were unexpected
problems that I had to overcome. In this review, I will be looking at how I have tried to
overcome the problems that I have faced and what I could have done to plan for these
problems.
The first problem that occurred was to do with the college microphone not working with
my camera. To stop this problem from occurring, I could have looked into the type of
microphone that it was and practiced using it before going to my locations. I would have
then discovered that it didn’t work with DSLR cameras before going to my location to
film. Next time I film anything, I will practice using all my equipment so that I know for
certain that it works in the way I need it to. I have learnt from this mistake and I know that
it will make me into a better and more prepared filmmaker. I am frustrated that I didn’t
check my microphone because I did test all of my other equipment and I had no other
issues like this in the filming process. Luckily, I did organise for my dad to bring my camera
mounted shotgun microphone down to set after I realised that this problem couldn’t be
resolved. I also used post production software to edit out the background noise of the
water and I was happy with the results overall. I used a sound bite of the location to blur
together the cuts so that there wasn’t an obvious change in audio. This was down to
planning because I did foresee there being a problem with the sound in my production
and therefore I knew that I needed to take sound clips in every location to cover myself
for the post- production process.
One very unexpected problem was that my camera started shooting in VGA mode in the
middle of my shoot without me realising. I only noticed this a day later because it looked
the same in the view finder on my camera. It was only when I brought the footage up on
full screen that it was noticeably different. I was very annoyed and upset with myself for
making this error, especially because it meant taking more time to finish filming my
production. It also meant that my actors had to all come with me to set for another day
to reshoot. This actually did turn out to be very beneficial because I could re film scenes
again and this time, my actors knew exactly what they were doing in these shots. I could
also ensure that I got more shots of the dolls in the museum and other effective cutaway
shots that I had forgot to film on other days.
I am glad that I planned for all of the other problems because this meant that I knew how
to deal with them. They also helped me to feel a lot more secure and happy with what I
was doing because I had a clear plan with what I needed to get finished and I knew
what I wanted to aim for and achieve. I also knew how I could fix any problems that
could stop me from reaching my own aims and this helped me to feel organised and
prepared.