Production Diary

PRODUCTION DIARY (more like a Report)

diary entry #1 - 1.09.18

This past first week we have definitely progressed from 0 to something. We have created a personal blog website where we upload all of our researches and notes, watched a lot of inspirational videos that greatly helped us with what we had to do. We, first of all, starts off with a title sequence/ opening credit and I think the progress I made with my team mates was really satisfactory even though we all know there's a lot more to come in the future. I've overcome the physical problem with my laptop and it's dying features to squeeze as much editing I could in it. But concerning the academic part of the Media Studies, I don't think I've had any real hardship I've passed through (just yet). Everything is going awesome! The teacher explains clearly about what we have to do with the subject so I think he's part of the reason why . The entire subject was enjoyable, should I say, I've became more passionate about it now I've learned and read through the lessons. Researching about movies and finally making one my own had always been something I've wanted to try doing, so I can't explain how happy I am to be actually learning it in Harrow despite the work load and some tiredness I have to go through. I've learned about how much depth each and every part of the Media has in it; it's not just writing and composing a piece of work, there's a lot more to it that goes in it. Research, ideas, plannings, management, etc. The things that we're learning to go through now. As for the plan of action next week, I think I'm going to watch a little bit more opening title sequences which I never knew were so significant and important before. I'll probably have some more work to do according to lessons, but I'm actually (really) looking forward to it.

3.Sept.2018 - Film Opening Project #1

feedback from others: the mood and the tone was clearly state, use of filter B&W makes the better, color grading, foreshadows what's to come, we didn't tell, we showed the story, audience interaction/ engagement - by not being obvious, it hooks the audience, clear and easy to understand, the cinematography - slow motion scenes - the sound effects (told the story thru the sound)
"montage editing" - a little bit here and there complied - it's exciting, frantic; played with the scene, dynamic cinematic, "picture in picture" - layering of pictures, uses of color

could've been better: the quality of the video - more stable, could've had more better acting,

diary entry #2 - 09.09.18

In the previous week, we have mainly looked at the audience, researching and analyzing each different types to find out which target we were supposed to aim at for our production. Researching was fun, as I felt like I got to use my brains in areas which I've never focused on before. I'm still having problems identifying niche and mainstream films as I believe that I do not watch as much movies as I thought I did, when being compared to others with the knowledge we have. It's nice how we cover each different each week and I know I still haven't decorated my WIX site unlike others who already had their layouts set. It might be hard fixing them all at once when things are finally done, but I still do not know what I am fully supposed to do with my blog so I've decided to keep it this way for now. Maybe when I've collected more raw data, primary data by me, I will know what I want to do then. For now, I do feel left behind but I know I will be able to overcome it soon. Class is still like class, but it had been enjoyable with Mr. Simpsons teaching each and every one of us carefully on the topic we're covering as well as exam techniques. As I've mentioned last week, Media is a totally new subject for me so I think I'm enjoying everything I learn in class because it's all new. *The More You Know*. haha. I plan to continue stead head this way but I also plan to look at the booklets the teacher have given us, because I've been lazy to bring the folder back to boarding.... I shouldn't do that. I might revise some media essay questions and take a clear look at our coursework and start planning on it carefully.

diary entry #3 - 17.09.18

Due to the limited time we had, I think we didn't make much progress during lessons. We finished up audience gratification theory and have started planning for our coursework. We had House Camp for two school days so we missed 2 lessons of Media, which I think reduced our planning time and efficiency since we did not meet up due to difference in Houses. But our thinking does not stop there. Even though we were left as individuals, we continued on our research and thought up of ideas and plans. I decide to share them when we meet, but the problem is that we have problems communicating efficiently. I complied everything I wanted to say into a organized folder and kept the Spider Diagram that we made together. For the following week we will be working on completing the discussion and checking things off from the Production Checklist. I think we will be filing out the boxes in the Pre Production column.

diary entry #4 - 22.09.18

After all initial research about film opening and target research done, we are now off to a start for our coursework. We are to create a two minute film opening while keeping our Wix blog site up to date. We're slowly to start tick off the boxes from our Production Checklist. I made a spider diagram together with Prim and Ling Ling and all of us agree on the idea of creating a romantic comedy film because we all like K-dramas and Korean culture. It could be that RomCom movies aren't that much of a popular genre but is loved by many, so unlike others which decided to make a movie that carries deep meaning, we all agreed to stray away from the topic of negativity such as sadness or horror and make a funny cringe-y yet meaningful opening for everyone to enjoy. When we finished with our initial spider diagram, we all wrote our statement of intentions. There wasn't any obvious hardship at the moment that we have to overcome but in the long run we know that we are going to face problems such as editing, casting the actors, script, directing, filming and so on. But we are preparing for ourselves for any case scenario so that we are able to bounce back up if any of those hardships are faced. The following week we are expected to continue ticking off the boxes from the Production Checklist and I'm excited to do so.

presentation - 24.9.2018

We are doing the presentations to gain ideas and knowledge from our colelgues as well as gain feedback on our own opening. We are to share what we have done so far and get advice on how to improve it.

BE THERE FOR YOU

WHAT WENT WELL:

- detail explanation of the storyboard of our opening

- explanation of our genre, synopsis, etc. summary of our film

- sharing of methods used and difficulties

EVEN BETTER IF:

- include method of typography

- think of methods to make our film stand out and unique

- usage of showing the opening credits

WHAT WENT WELL:

- detail explanation of the storyboard of our opening

- good planning of characters

- unique plot for psychological thriller

EVEN BETTER IF:

- include method of typography

- color grading decisions

THE STRANGER

WHAT WENT WELL:

- finishing the presentation

EVEN BETTER IF:

- more explanation on the story board

- how to make it more unique

- location decisions

ATTACHED

WHAT WENT WELL:

- very detailed plans (characters, location)

- a different genre from the rest

EVEN BETTER IF:

- needs better camera angle/techniques

- think of more than music in the background

Summary:

We have learned that we should be able to plan faster and come up with finished planning and understand more efficiently about the importance of what to include in openings. We did not fully conventionally used every knowledge we learned. We now know what we need to improve more on and hopefully it will also help us in the future and the film it self.

diary entry #5 - 30.09.18

We're making full head-on progress now. I've made an action-packed 2 week worth of planning to finish our Pre Production Development idea film checklist; now all that's left is to finish it. We're still going through researches and now even going deeper into each topic. I feel like I'm learning a lot of new things but everything is pretty enjoyable because it's all about topics I enjoy. I'm also working with great friends which lifts my mood and keeps me motivated to continue. Mr Simpson advised us to keep track of EVERYTHING we do in form of any media, so I tried to screen-record our conversations we did while conducting the Protagonist research, but unfortunately it did not save, so I am now unable to put in on my blog. I'm also planning on starting a Youtube channel with my friend Ling Ling because we love singing and as part of media, editing. I'm trying to make small travel vlogs about trips I take as part of boarding and put it under my skill development, but it's still not process because I don't have any editing software (yet) and cannot find the time. But hopefully, Time will help me in the future to overcome these problems. And I should make sure of everything if they are saved or not, otherwise I could miss any good opportunity. All of us are planning to continue with our researches for the next few weeks till term break, hopefully we would be able to finish all of them and probably even add more things I hope to add as additional points.

diary entry #6 - 06.10.18

The following week is our last week till term break. Due to unfortunate reasons, the action-packed planning I made is not going according to plan. We are 2 days late behind schedule. But still we have progressed over half of the Production Checklist and now approaching the ends of it; but those are the ones which require most work. Me and my teammates are trying to overcome the communication barrier by trying to match our time coming online and discussing. But with other stress and work, we don't seem to match up with one another's pace. Oh well, still I am leading the team and I understand the stress my teammates are going through because they're moving to university soon. I'm trying my best to prepare as much as I can and use the time we meet together efficiently to finish discussing and planning our story. As much as there's stress, there are moments which I enjoy during our time together. I feel the most content when discussing with my teammates. Because we all enjoy the thing we're making and Media Studies is such a broad subject that deals with all types of media and it's supposed to be fun (since it's our hobby too). We laugh at some funny mistakes and jokes we make and be happy when we find out a conclusion we make after a long journey of talking. One more week left. I'm most afraid of not finishing our job in time. I feel like I can do my decoration work after I've done all my research, and I've experienced it before; decorating and additional extra features takes time. Well even though, it's inevitable to finish the job, so I shall try my best until the end. :)

diary entry #7 - 06.11.18

This is actually the second week back from our school's half term break; the first week only had two days of school so I couldn't include anything much to put up as a diary entry, but turns out I have a lot to put in for this week so many things had happen. Many, many unfortunate things. But lets start with good news, from our return from holidays, we had progressed onto a new chapter in Media Studies about Representation. We got to learn about theories and signs that directors use in order to relay their message in their movies and we also get to learn about stereotypes which I love to research about because it's a topic that many youths have to pay attention to these days as the world revolves heavily around different types of media.

About our progress with our filming, our dead line is in 10 days. And we haven't even started filming. The problem all started on the first day back after half term, when the actress that we casted pulled out due to several issues concerning her schedule. I, as a foreign student, went back to my country over the two weeks break whereas the rest of my class which were locals in the country had more time to spend filming, which subconsciously added more stress to me because I felt like we were being left behind. To make matters worse, the child actor/actress both of them couldn't make it to filming date because of their exams. So almost every main cast that we needed are gone, which brings us to square one of the whole casting progress. I didn't want to blame anyone but myself, but to blame myself, there were many circumstances that points at others for they are to blame for. I didn't have any friends that fits the role or any one I knew that could help me out.

That slowed us down by a ton but now I have plans to ready forward and turn the tables around. My team members are focusing to move onto their university and are really busy with other studies they have, so I have decided to take on the responsibility of the change I am about to make. To appreciate every planning we've done together, I do not want to erase what they have made so instead I have come up with a plan to change our entire shot list and the opening story board. The. Entire. Thing. I had no other choice but to do so when we do not have the cast to fill us out in the next week. The picture lock deadline is in 10 days but I am also still worried about other things such as sounds and effects. That will be for next time to worry about. I always remind myself to look things forward and finish them piece by piece. I am taking today, 6th of Nov 2018 Sunday, to finish what I have started. Hopefully I do finish it by the time we start filming.

I have learned a lot of lessons this week regarding both in class and out of class. The teaching on Media Representation with our teacher and as well as the life lesson of 'things do not always go your way' or 'failure is a mistake to learn from to succeed'. I have learned that resilience is one of the key to success, and along with other factors such as creativity and hard working, I hope our project comes to a success in the end.

Oh and next week we are going to learn a bit more in class, and after I finish making the shot list and script today, I shall re draw the storyboard (which I know, I'm supposed to do first) and do an extra point creativity work in making our character profile. We have till the end of November to completely make our Pre Production site look 100/100 and hopefully after research and drafting would add some credit to our work.

diary entry #8 - 13.11.18

I thought I would have time after I planned out exactly what I want with my filming schedule but things never goes the way I want it to. I'm not sure whether I'm really terrible at Time management or is God never on my side? But the GOOD unexpected thing that happened was I took on the job of editing one of our school's house event, called House Art. I have no experience in editing. I have played around with editing softwares before but since this was an actual official video that's supposed to be uploaded on an actual Youtube channel (Lion View Production), I got a little stressed and freaked out. But on the bright side, I have something to add to my Skills Development - and this is a really good development for me since I'm a Media student. As much as I'm editing this video alone, all of the filming for the Art event was also done by me, alone. And furthermore I was part of this event and was doing another event at the same time. This week is very very stressful.

Back to class, for this week somehow we got A LOT of free period which was given by our teacher to make time to improve our websites. I finished the shot list and script last week, and took the time after school to film accordingly. And during the free period, I continued with the Character profiles and the story board - I still have a lot to improve them. Now for the BAD unexpected thing is that, I could not, once again, get the schedule on time with the actors. One reason was partly my fault, I did not take in consideration of their busy school life as well as not being able to clearly deliver the message of 'casting' them. Another was because one of our actor cancelled filming 10 mins before filming time : ) It messed up the schedule I had originally planned with group casting, which delayed the rest of our filming.

I have learned to always have a plan B, and not be stressed or feel depressed if things do not go your way. Must be positive. Things have been continuously being a downfall for me but it is important that I do not give up.

There isn't anything in particular that I have enjoyed this week, to be honest. Because it had been really stressful. But hopefully next week will be better. I would only have 2 weeks to complete EVERYTHING, so I better get things going. I haven't really been turning things on my Idea Development green like our teacher hoped - initially I thought I would finish filming first and then do the blog, but it is also not going according to plan.

diary entry #9 - 20.11.18

This is actually the second week back from our school's half term break; the first week only had two days of school so I couldn't include anything much to put up as a diary entry, but turns out I have a lot to put in for this week so many things have to happen. Many, many unfortunate things. But let's start with good news, from our return from holidays, we had progressed onto a new chapter in Media Studies about Representation. We got to learn about theories and signs that directors use in order to relay their message in their movies and we also get to learn about stereotypes which I love to research about because it's a topic that many youths have to pay attention to these days as the world revolves heavily around different types of media.

About our progress with our filming, our deadline is in 10 days. And we haven't even started filming. The problem all started on the first day back after half term when the actress that we cast pulled out due to several issues concerning her schedule. I, as a foreign student, went back to my country over the two weeks break whereas the rest of my class which were locals in the country had more time to spend filming, which subconsciously added more stress to me because I felt like we were being left behind. To make matters worse, the child actor/actress both of them couldn't make it to filming date because of their exams. So almost every main cast that we needed are gone, which brings us to square one of the whole casting progress. I didn't want to blame anyone but myself, but to blame myself, there were many circumstances that point at others for they are to blame for. I didn't have any friends that fit the role or anyone I knew that could help me out.

I have learned a lot of lessons this week regarding both in class and out of class. The teaching on Media Representation with our teacher and as well as the life lesson of 'things do not always go your way' or 'failure is a mistake to learn from to succeed'. I have learned that resilience is one of the keys to success, and along with other factors such as creativity and hard working, I hope our project comes to success in the end.

Oh and next week we are going to learn a bit more in class, and after I finish making the shot list and script today, I shall redraw the storyboard (which I know, I'm supposed to do first) and do an extra point creativity work in making our character profile. We have till the end of November to completely make our Pre Production site look 100/100 and hopefully after research and drafting would add some credit to our work.

diary entry #10 - 27.11.18

We only have a few days until the due date for the picture lock as well as the Idea Development part of our Wix blog. We had finish filming last week and I had given it to our editor, Prim to finish the case. And I now have the time (without stress) to focus on the blog and to meet all requirements. For once, I actually went through the check list one by one to see what I've been missing on. There are parts where I need to put some creativity in. I regret actually not starting on the checklist earlier as I have been too focused on finishing the film. But I have tried to overcome it by making a video blog of myself talking and explaining about some of the parts in the Idea development. But we did learn some representation lessons and we went from Media Representation to Research Media language. We also did a small project just for media language going through different camera techniques (angles, movement, etc.) and it was really fun doing it because our teacher incorporate fun activities for us to enjoy learning. As we have our deadlines coming up, my plan of action for the next week will be to just go through our finish product, and with the help of the teacher and feedback, I believe we will be working on improving our coursework opening.

It is near Christmas holidays and almost the end of the term so we are giving our Wix blog in to our teacher for final remarks. I do not have much to write now as the deadline is getting nearer.

FIRST ASSEMBLY FEEDBACK

ATTACHED - May and Ploy

what went well :

setting the scene - establishes the tone and mood really well with the help of color, music and actions.
facial expressions very well done - performance is authentic, verisimilitude.
color grading done well
continuous editing - one scene, looks like one long shot. communicates the meaning well.
nice blocking movement of characters

ebi:

feels a bit claustrophobic
only music included in the background - there is no sound from the scene, "diegetic sound", does not engage audience as part of the scene
If it was one long take - it would HAVE BEEN AMAZING

US - CC, Sea and Tim

what went well:

montage editing - various camera shot styles, angle
good performances
good representation of innocence
authentic location, costumes, mis en scenes

ebi:

the genre is not clear
the mirror showed a crew
does not do any foreshadowing?

Be There For You - Sweety (me), Prim, Ling Ling

what went well:

color grading
acting/performance
use of Thai language
clear narrative - easy to understand
tone and mood and emotion is clear
cinematography wasn't too bad - it worked with the mood of the piece
lovely ident

ebi:

narrator voice must be clearer
subtitle needs to have steady layout
better costume and location - it was obvious that it was in Harrow
different use of setting would have been so much better
don't tell too much of the story
what could happen to make the audience want to watch the film? don't have much hook.

XXIVX - Peter, Dol

what went well:

mood and tone - very clear genre
variety of different types of shot
performance was good
location choice was good
clear story mystery?

ebi:

camera quality
narrative, needs to improve
there is no mystery in the film
a bit too dark
too much background
typography, credits edit text.

MISSING VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

diary entry #11 - 04.12.18

After we finally finished our film openings, on the lesson on Thursday we immediately got our feedbacks on everyone's film as shown above. That has been the process that's we've done so far. On Friday was our last due date to get ALL of our Idea Development finished, which today, we got our results in as well. Thankfully, I have seem to accomplish all the necessary details that's needed for me to get high scores (even though I felt like there could be more that I could've done to improve more than this). The only new additions I've made to the Development page would be my self interview video, which talks about all the possible issues that we've considered, instead of writing them all down. Writing takes a while, and it's boring to read it all. With that in mind, I've went through some troubles of getting them on the blog, but got a rewarding mark for that in the end. I think I got over those hardships by being patient. It was frustrating to see that the internet connection wasn't working as well as I hoped, and the WIX blog processing took very long to load my changes. But all went well at the end. I was away for two days and missed two lessons due to a trip, but I really enjoyed our lesson on Thursday when all of our picture locks were revealed and all of our film openings that we've been working hard on was opened to all. We had a great laugh, a great round of applauses and great comments and feedbacks. It was rewarding to see what we've done to achieve those results. I hope it feels the same for everyone else. For my plan of action next week, I really don't know what to do now - probably because I've missed two lessons and did not know what the lesson plan was following the end of our picture lock. But I think we might be going either have more lesson on Research or to write more feedback on our film.

Midway Creative Critical Reflection

diary entry #12 - 13.12.18

For this week, we mainly focused on filming and making our Midway Creative Critical Reflection video which was about thinking back at our progress and our finished project and answering some questions in those aspect. Me and my friend, Ling Ling, finished filming and interviewing in a day, and the rest was up to me to edit and upload it to Youtube. The video had to be at least 7 minutes long, but mine went on for more than 10 with some bloopers included in it. So I have edited to make it shorter and added the title (the questions) so that the audience could see and understand what question I was answering about. But it was the last week before Christmas break, and everyone was already tired after they finished their coursework, our teacher gave us some time to finish up anything left to do and he was going to mark our blogs again. It was our chance to make it complete and make it as complete as possible. There wasn't much to enjoy or anything difficult this week because it was a really quiet and slow week as it's before break. My plan of action is to participate in a film competition suggested, which is the Across Asia Youth Film Festival. I will be trying my best to plan and film for as much as possible by collaborating with my friend.

diary entry #13 - 10.01.19

This is the first week of the new term, first week of the year, and our main goal is to prepare for our written exam of the subject. For the first term we all focused on the Pre Production and the Production, which is the coursework part of the subject, and hopefully we are all completely done and are prepared to get full marks on it. We are on Research Media and Language and we are focusing on the 4 main important aspect of filming; which are mis-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound. We are going in depth detail of the category 'cinematography' and we are learning a lot about the components that makes up cinematography. There haven't been much difficulty that I've come across this week but the main stress I'm worried about would be the actual exam paper that we're going to answer. I have borrowed books from the library and read about AS level Media and what are supposed to be asked and what topics are to be practiced. But I'm enjoying the fact that we're all not stressed about our Idea Development blogs or filming any more and just sitting down in class actually learning something. It's really fun doing activities that our teacher arranges for us and the small filming tasks that he asks us to do. My plan of action next week is to continue paying attention in class and doing some extra reading outside as well as editing practice. I had initially given up editing on my laptop because my software was not cooperating with me and it would cut off everything I'm doing and would wipe out every progress I've done. I was really disappointed and sad about it during the holidays (because I was trying to edit for the film entry in the competition and it wasn't going well).

diary entry #14 - 19.01.19

For this week we have made progress with the microelements of filming, focused more on sound and editing. We have done a lot of research and practised a lot of case study and practice questions with the teacher to prep us for our mocks. We went on to studying sound first and I learned about diegetic, non-diegetic sounds and how sounds can bring a different meaning to the film. I think this is what I enjoyed most. I also enjoyed writing about how sound can create meaning from a certain clip or movie which was kind of like an exam practice. There was nothing I found particularly hard as I enjoyed the challenge of writing. For my plan of action next week, it would mainly depend on the teacher and his teaching plan. It is likely we would continue learning about the micro elements.

diary entry #15 - 26.01.19

By the end of this week, we have started to go over our Creative Critical Reflection. But before, this week had just been focusing on the microelements of filming and answering more exam questions to prepare us for the mock exams. Our teacher says we are able to put our research on our blogs which is helpful for our coursework and as well as prepare us for our exams. Baam, two in one. The last part of the microelement we went over was editing. I really enjoyed getting to know such different types of editing and how invented them and as well as how they are used in certain aspects to create certain meanings. The only problem I figured out during this week is that I found out our Media Studies written exam would be 50 marks per question with two questions and 2 hours to write it down. I found myself taking a long time to think and plan and write out my answers, and I think it may be a problem when I write the actual exam. I plan to overcome this problem by practising more. Practice makes progress. Along with studying other subjects, I plan to integrate the skills I learn from answering other subjects to Media studies so that I will be able to concentrate and focus much better and answer my exams well. Like I've mentioned in the beginning, by the end of the week we have started on our CCR and my plan of action next week is to work on my CCR.

diary entry #16 - 02.02.19

Due to the emergency closure of our school, I missed two days of lessons in class. But our teacher did not let us rest, we had to finish our CCR. This entire week have been us just focusing on our CCR and trying to make it as creative as possible. I plan to go on with an interview/vlog style of video to answer each question. I felt it would be easier for me to do so. As I have looked through the previous student's record and websites, I found most of them does voiceovers or an interview kind of style like I do. I plan to edit my video with pictures, text, video clips and more into it so it is more interesting than just me talking to the video. I enjoyed the class time we had as I got to focus on what I wanted to do for my CCR. Now what's left is to accomplish it. To talk to the video, I would need a proper script. I am writing it down for now, but the problem I'm facing is the will to start filming and to learn the script. I could feel that in the future I am going to have problems while editing as I've faced them before. It's a matter of motivation to start making this work. I plan to overcome this by just diving right into the job and not put it off any longer. Our teacher informed us that we will be practicing a past paper to prepare us for our mock exams coming up, and I think that will be my plan of action for next week. I intend to read and research ahead (which I have done a little) but it seems like I cannot find the time to focus on this subject as I have my other AS level subjects weighing on me.

Go to Post Production (Editing)