10/3/21
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Today is the first official day of the final project. To give myself an advantage I had already started to properly think about ideas and plans for this project nearly a month prior on around the 10th February. So before today even began, I had started to flesh out an idea that I really like that I believe will be challenging to pull off but could ultimately work if I do it right and stay true to the cores of the messages I'm trying to communicate. After re-watching the film It's Such A Beautiful Day (2012) I became brewing at the idea that I could make a film in the same narration style but about lockdown and how people's mental health have been deteriorating since the pandemic happened over the past year. So I created a list of some of my favourite quotes and memorable scenes from the film and then built upon that crafting brief scene ideas that would fit into the lockdown narrative I'm aiming for. I then started to map out in detail scene ideas and the structure of the film. Which brings us to today.
Today we went over the assignment brief in detail on a teams call. Everything was pretty clear and I knew what I had to achieve today and I feel that I have done that. I started off by creating my Wix website using the help video created by UAL that was on the assignment brief. This was really helpful as it made creating a simple but effective website really quick. After this, I worked on the Project Proposal Document where I completed and proof read the Project Rationale and Concept. After that I went searching for a website where I could create my diary entries for the project that I need to complete which is where I found this website Penzu. After that, I focused on coming up with a title for the film. All I did was have a long think and read through some of the memorable quotes from It's Such A Beautiful Day and looked through my ideas and scene drafts to see if I could get inspiration there. I really liked the quote "one day soon, we'll finally have our day" said towards the end of the film. I like the sad hopefulness around this quote and thought that it suited the theme of my film idea but I didn't want to directly copy the quote for my title so I hashed out other ideas for the title on the document. I highlighted the 3 I liked the most and eventually decided on "We'll Soon Have Our Time" at least for now. I'm quite open for the title to change to something I prefer. After this I started a pitch plan for the film to explore the core ideas and messages I want to include in the film to help understand my own ideas clearer.
I'd say that I've been very productive today and I'm proud of that. I've done a lot of work and I'm very far ahead.
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11/03/21
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Today was a little less productive than yesterday because the call lasted for longer than I expected giving me less time to work on the project throughout the day. I'll be honest and say that I could have done a lot more work than I did but it's not too much of a problem given that I am already well ahead and that yesterday I was incredibly productive. I didn't really encounter any problems other than less time and distractions in real life that couldn't have been avoided. However today I did complete the Evaluation plan on the project proposal document. I've proof read my work and gotten it very close to the requested word count and I am quite happy with it. I've also made a big start on the project action plan and timetable which is coming along nicely. It's giving me a better understanding of what I'll need to be doing and gives me a chance to plan out my work. That's all that was done really.
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12/03/21
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Not entirely much to add today. I completed the project timetable and action plan and also redrafted and finalized my pitch and shared it with friends to see if anyone would want to help out with filming. I've been fairly unproductive today will admit and haven't been able to get a lot of work done which is something I'm dedicated to change starting next week, which is where the research truly begins. It's going to be a lot of work but I'm looking forward to diving head first into all of this. There weren't many challenges today other than trying to ignore distractions which is something that I always find a challenge. My teacher said on a call that I should start getting a draft of the script done soon or as soon as I can which is something I may start next week too however I'm not sure yet. I think I'd like to go over my initial scene ideas one more time, contributing to that before I start to make a crack at the script.
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15/03/21
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Today has been a good day. Firstly I started to compile all of the research and work that I have done for this project and put it into my website whilst adding lots more. I talked about why I found Its Such A Beautiful Day so inspiring and the timeline in which the concept of my idea developed. I also included the primary research in the form of my questionnaire that I shared on my Snapchat story as well as the time lapses I recorded last week that I will hopefully use as the opening shots of the film. I feel like today has been very productive and I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish. I've also briefly looked at and narrowed down some useful websites and information for gathering my research about the film It's Such A Beautiful Day and it's director Don Hertzfeldt. I haven't really faced any challenges today other than the fact that it is hard to find information about the creation of the film. All of the interviews with Don I can find are about his world of tomorrow trilogy of shorts which is still interesting and some information is quite relevant to It's Such A Beautiful Day but trying to pick it out is proving to be difficult but I'm confident I can do it. Like I said I've only briefly started researching the film and the director so I've only scrapped the tip of the ice berg so far.
But yeah, overall, today has been very good and productive.
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16/03/21
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Today has been primarily focused on researching Don Hertzfeldt and finding useful sources that discuss the film It's Such A Beautiful Day in detail, talking about Don's influences and his style that he used in his films previously like Rejected. I had no real challenges today and I think I've made a good start. I've sourced out some useful links on a google docs and I've also done a fairly good job at synthesizing information about Don online and putting it into a brief description of him in my research page. It shouldn't take me long now to finish the boring research about Don where I just synthesize information online so tomorrow I can hopefully start completing analysis of his work and putting that into my research.
There's been no real issues today. I guess I didn't complete as much as I would've liked to but it was unavoidable and the work that I have done is work that I'm happy with so I can't complain.
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17/03/21
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Today has been an exceptionally productive day. I carried out a lot of relevant research about Don Hertzfeldt and I also conducted a lot of research about Its Such A Beautiful Day. However, today I really went into a lot of depth analysing the film in a lot of depth. I've nearly completed a full length analysis of the film breaking down and explaining everything in detail and also commenting on why and suggesting how I can use these ideas that the film presents into my own film. I will only really need tomorrow to finish my analysis of the film before I can talk about and analyse other films that I'm taking inspiration from.
Again no real problems today other than the analysis taking a lot of time and thought but I've stayed focused and powered through it. It also helps that I really love the film and analysing it is something that I find really fun to do.
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19/03/21
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Unfortunately I couldn't complete any work yesterday due to unforeseen issues but I'm back today. After the feedback yesterday I have a better understanding of how to organise my work. Today I've highlighted the segments of text that I need to expand upon and put in the content page of my research. I've also proof read all of my work from Wednesday and corrected all of the mistakes. Additionally I've begun working on ideas and research for the cinematography of my film and how I need it to convey the feeling of loneliness and sadness. I've listed multiple different films about loneliness and talked about them and talked about how they differently portray loneliness. I've then mentioned the main film that the cinematography of my film will be taking inspiration from which is Her (2013)
There weren't many issues today other than I wasn't able to do as much work as I would've liked because my phone has broken. I think I'll be a lot more focused and productive next week.
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22/03/21
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I've been very productive today and gotten a lot of work done. I would have gotten even more done if Wix hadn't decided to completely mess up all of my work, rearranging images and text for no reason at all. I ended up spending upwards of an hour today just rearranging stuff from where Wix had messed it up. I think I've figured out what causes these glitches though so I should be fine tomorrow. I think that the research is going really well. I just need to talk about the inspiration for the final scene of that I'm 100% clear on and then I can start drafting the script and shot list.
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23/03/21
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Today I've once again been extremely productive, so much so that I finished early today. I've completed the main research that I set out to achieve now tomorrow I'm going to start working on the first draft of my script. I talked about all of the different things that I've taken inspiration from in the form of the Sound of Metal final scene and the aspect ratio change in WandaVision and Mommy.
There were no real issues today. Wix didn't mess up all my work today which was a nice change and I've had no trouble getting hold of or finding the information that I need online. Everything is going smoothly.
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24/03/21
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Today I started the script and made it 2 and a half pages in. Scriptwriting is a lot harder than I remember but I'm fairly happy with what I've done so far. There's still a lot of work to go but that's alright. Not really any problems other than real life problems that couldn't be avoided but it is what it is I've made a good start with the script.
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25/03/21
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Today I've continued with writing the script. I'm happy with what I've done so far I'm making good progress. Nearly on page 5. I think I'm going to have to make my film shorter so that I actually have time to film it all but I'll make a draft of everything I want to be in it for now and cut stuff out and make it shorter with my redrafts.
No real problems today. I've been pretty productive.
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First Day Back From Easter (15/04/21)
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Over the Easter holidays I completed my script and sent the first draft off to my teacher. I also continued with my research for the project which included further research into aspect ratios and aspect ratio changes and how changing it mid way through a film can have an effect, and using examples from 3 different projects and analyzing the effects that it has on the audience. I also talked about how I may use an aspect ratio change in my film and also research into how I can achieve that effect with examples of work I've done. I then completed detailed research into filming locations and the role and importance of location scouts. I talk about locations that I plan on using in my film and discuss the legal things about my permission to films in these locations and what licensing and permits, if any that I will need. I then completed a detailed character profile about my main character to get a better understanding of him and to really explore how he pushes the film forward.
I think I worked at a sensible pace over Easter and I achieved a lot of research whilst still managing to balance it with my social life. I managed to actually relax a bit which was nice. There weren't any major issues that occurred over the holiday and everything really just went very smoothly. Maybe I could've started an animatics and story board and done more pre-production work rather than solely focusing on the research section. There is a lot of pre-production work that needs to be completed rather quickly so I wish I gave myself a head start on that but it's not the end of the world.
Next week I will go full steam ahead with the pre-production forms and location recce's and storyboards so that I don't fall behind and leave myself plenty of time to film the actual film.
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Script and Shot List Finished (26/04/21)
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Having more or less completed the research I wanted to do for the film it was really time to focus on the pre-production of the film, mainly the script and the shot list. Once I got feedback from the first draft of the script I immediately worked on creating a second draft. I clipped segments out of the script and rearranged the order slightly. However, this didn't flow quite as well as I wanted it to so I revisited the original and put the order of scenes towards the end in an order that was more similar to the first draft for the third draft and then my teacher was happy with that draft of the script, as was I.
The script writing process was actually a lot easier than I had expected it to be. This was because I even started writing the script I had already put together a good and detailed plan of what I wanted to be in the film. So this meant that I didn't need to write that many drafts of the script because the first draft was already pretty good. I think it's good to do lots of planning before you start the script because it makes the process a lot easier and quicker. I didn't have to add anything new into the script once I finished the first draft it was all a matter of rearranging things and putting them into the best order.
Once I finished the script I was able to start the shot list, which did take quite a while because there are over 100 shots in the film which is scary but it is necessary. Creating the shot list was very tedious given how long it is and how similar a lot of the shots are however I managed to get through it relatively quickly without much trouble. It was hard to focus and find energy to it at times and I found myself getting distracted quite a lot but it was easy enough to get through. The shot list itself was very easy to fill in, however creating a storyboard and an animatic of the film may prove to be difficult due to how much work it takes and the relatively short amount of time it is from now until I actually start filming.
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Storyboard finished (05/05/21)
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Today I finally finished the story board for my film. Taking the pictures for the storyboard was very consuming as I needed photos from all of the multiple different locations which took me a while to do. I also had to use my sister as a stand in for all of the shots. Due to the fact that there were so many shots I needed to get I didn't have time to get every single one so there are some gaps in the storyboard of shots that are just descriptions. But other than the gaps I'm very pleased with how everything has gone. The storyboard is easy for me to get a grip of and I know exactly what I will need and how I should frame each shot in my film. If I were to make a storyboard again I would create a list of all the shots I need in each different location so that I wouldn't miss a single shot from any location, therefore removing any gaps in my work.
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