WEEKLY JOURNALS

This is where you think about your FMP learning journey and development.
Don’t simply describe what you did - consider what you have learnt and how this has benefitted
your project. What do you need to improve?

THIS IS JUST GUIDANCE THAT YOU NEED TO ADAPT TO YOUR OWN PROJECT. YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR
OWN PRODUCTION SCHEDULES AND YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS SHOULD REFELCT THAT.

Week Two - Research

RESEARCH

What did you learn from your research?
For my research, I did three different types; Medium, Genre and
content.
Medium
Form the medium, I learned a lot. The first thing that I did was I
researched the history of short film, so I looked at what was the
first short film was and how it was made and then also how they
have changed over the years. From that I learned that in the
first ever short film was only 15 seconds only and it was a man
riding a horse. It was the same images repeated. The second
short film was the “Roundhay garden scene” this was only 2.11
seconds long also according to the Guinness Book of Records,
it is the oldest surviving film in existence. The third one I looked
at was the “Arrival of a Train”. This 50-second silent film shows
the entry of a train pulled by a steam locomotive into a train
station of the French coastal town of La Ciotat. It’s a single,
unedited view illustrating an aspect of everyday life, and the
film consists of one continuous real-time shot. I also found out
that there’s also a an urban legend associated with this movie
that says when the film was first shown, the audience was so
scared by the image of a life-sized train barreling toward them
that people screamed and ran to the back of the room. I
found out that the definition of short film means and it is any
film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No
consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short
film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40
minutes or less, including all credits.
Genre
I did a bit research for my genre as it was a big that that I will
need an understanding for. The first thing I learned as the
definistion of genre and it is a word which comes from the
French word for 'type', is important for both consumers and
media producers. Consumers can make choices about media
texts they wish to consume and media producers can create a
media text for a specific audience.
If a media producer wants to gain an audience for a particular

How has the research for your genre
helped you improve your ideas?
How has researching the conventions
of your chosen genre helped you
understand what is required from you in
order to meet a distinction grade?
genre, then they have to understand the genre codes and
conventions - and include them in the media text they are
creating. I also did a focus group talking about the genre that I
picked and to see if they agreed that my idea what suited to
that genre. I then did research on my genre which was a
docudrama and this was helpful as I didn’t know what a
docudrama actually was and I found out that it was film based
on events that really happened. Docudramas are usually
shown on television rather than in cinemas. I then learn some of
the codes and convention of a docudrama as I would need to
include them to make sure that my production would actually
be classed as a docudrama. Then next thing I did was I
analysed two productions one was a docudrama as that’s the
style I’m doing mine as and then the other was a film about
crim s that is the topic of my production.
Content
For my content research I researched about knife crime and
stabbings and then from that I found the person who I was
going to loosely base my production on. The way I found the
person was but researching all the stabbing that have so far
this year in and around London. I knew that if I could find a
victim who was a teenager and also a girl I would want to do
my production about them. This is mostly because I was also
trying to look who the number of teenagers who have been
stabbed has increased an also that most of the time is
boy/men who are in gangs. Although that has nothing to do
with girls, it would be better as is more unusual for a teenage
girl to be stabbed and if it is, it would be a random attack. I
also research some statistics about how crime is rising
Researching my genre helped my improved my idea as it
helped me understand the actual genre I chose was. By doing
this I was able to improve my idea to the way that a normal
docudrama is set out and to use the codes ad conventions.
By researching the conventions I found out a lot about you
they are
Narrative structure
helps set the scene and introduce topics, conclude narrative
and links items
music used as a bed to create an atmosphere and heighten
emotion (usually relevant to the topic)
background sound or noise usually kept to a minimum
Definition of docudrama:
A dramatized film based on real events
Camera
Codes and conventions of docudramas
based on real life events and stories
Narrative techniques used to 'flesh out' and dramatize a story
some docudramas told in a non chronological order to add to
the drama
Character driven - often follow a journey of a central character
Editing
Mise - en - scene
Hand held cameras used for actuality footage to give it a more

What sources of information did you
look at that were different from your
proposed project?
How will this be useful to your planning?
How has the research for your
content/topic helped you improve your
ideas?
personal feel
zooms on still images
interviews often framed off center, with a close up or medium
close up and usually comply within the rule of thirds (eye line is
1/3 of the way down) - extreme close up or big close up used
to heighten emotion
variety of shot types used to sustain the audience's interest
Establishing shot used to set the scene
archive material (such as photos or home videos) used
titles and logos are unique to the programmer
simple and easy to read text is used to give names and dates
text in a corner, usually in the opposite corner to the subject
matter
where appropriate, subtitles are used
simple typography
Graphics
simple cut (most common edit)
trying not to distract from subject matter
dissolves are sometimes used, but kept to a minimum
effects such as elliptical editing used e.g fade to black
montages used to give the audience a flavour of the subject
matter - also used to show multiple examples of archive
material
background in interviews reflects the subject or person -
everything in the shot is considered
mise - en - scene used to anchor person to the subject
location is also important in reflecting the story
lighting can be used creatively in interviews to convey a
certain atmosphere, though the light source is often placed in
front of the interviewee
If I follow all of this hopeful I will get a good grade as I will as I
will of stuck to the “rules” of a docudrama.
So far I have used quite a few other sources for my research as
these are YouTube and website links. These links are from
trusted sources and have been really useful for my research. I
have looked at news sources, educational sites used by
teachers, popular trusted YouTube channels and relevant sites
with direct information I need. For example I got direct research
information about awards from the UK Film festival website.
This will all be very useful in my planning as I have found out a
lot about what I will need to put into my production during the
planning stage. During the planning stage I will be writing the
script and making storyboards so from the research I have
gathered I will be able to make my narrative in full detail while
making it more appealing to audiences.
Researching my topic/content has helped me develop my
idea as I got to research about the victims and I did manage to
choose someone to loosely base my piece about. I was able to
find out who the person was and a little bit about them for
example I found out able the area that they lived in and got
stabbed in. I also learned that her nan was very out spoken
about the incident and she talked to the press about the
incident. Her nan believed that it her granddaughter was
 innocent and she had nothing to do with any gang or had any
issues with any one and that she was wrongly taken and was
taken too early.

What work do you need to complete I still have to finish my brief on lo1 and just add a bit more to my
outside of lessons to stay on track? research to make it a bit better

High Grade Tips

Research
● ‘Thorough research’ - include plenty of sources and detailed analysis of this information
● ‘relevant & coherent’ – make sure your research sources are not just the same as the Media
product you hope to make - and talk about how they inform your planning
● ‘sustained’ – continue your research throughout the eleven-week project and don’t just limit it to
the first two weeks
● ‘accomplished & considered’ – all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly reflections