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.

THESE QUESTIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE WEEKS YOU COMPLETED THEM. DO NOT JUST SUBMIT THIS
FORM FILLED IN FOR YOUR WEEKLY BLOGS. THERE SHOULD BE 11 WEEKLY BLOG ENTRIES (INCLUDING
EASTER).

Week Two - Research

RESEARCH

What did you learn from your By doing research I have taken a closer look into successful short
research? films of the same genre. I looked into why these short films are
successful, analysing the camera angles used, Lighting, Narrative
and Mise-en-scene. By doing this I got a better understanding of
what makes a good short film comedy.

How has the research for your
medium helped you improve your
ideas?
The research on the medium was useful as I looked into the
history of short films and looked into what a short film actually is
and what purpose does it serve. By doing this I thought about
what I want my short film to do and I decided that the purpose of
my short film is to make people laugh. Therefore I decided to go
with the comedy genre.

How has the research for your genre
helped you improve your ideas?
Looking into short films in the comedy genre gave me a few
ideas as to what the narrative of my story will be. A couple
award winning comedy short films were crime related weather it
being a robbery or gang related. I decided to go with the
narrative of a robbery and to produce something similar to the
story line of home alone. A house getting rob and a kid
defending his home on his own.

How has researching the conventions
of your chosen genre helped you
understand what is required from you
in order to meet a distinction grade?
In order to meet a distinction grade I have to implement the
elements of research into my planning. Researching has helped
me find out the conventions of the comedy genre. For example
a comedy sketch usually occurs in a bright place therefore I will
set mine in the day light. The camerawork in comedies is
naturalistic, no character is shown to be better than anyone else.
Sound Is also a very important aspect, diegetic sound such as
dialog needs to be good quality and clear so it can be heard
and laughed at. Non diegetic sound can be used to place
emphasis on certain scenes.
How has including a variety of sources
(primary and secondary) helped with
your understanding of your medium /
genre?
Primary and secondary research on the medium has helped me
to understand the comedy genre. The focus group and survey
that I did helped me understand what my peers think of my idea
and how they would change it to make it better. Apart from that
I have a pretty clear Idea with what I want to produce and I will
stick with it.

What sources of information did you
look at that were different from your
proposed project?
I looked at an award winning short film ‘deep it’. My proposed
project was based on the comedy genre and this project was
based on crime and comedy. After watching this short film I
decided to adapt the idea of a robbery gone wrong. The
narrative of the story was very engaging and entertaining for me
as a viewer therefore I decided to add a similar narrative to my
story.

How will this be useful to your The research will be very valuable for my production planning as
planning? I will be able to apply the conventions that I have learnt, to my
story boards and scripts. I will be able to develop an idea that will
have a purpose of making people laugh. When I make my story
board I will try and use the most naturalistic looking camera
angles and show every character to be equal to each other.

How has the research for your
content/topic helped you improve
your ideas?
My ideas changed a lot throughout the research process. Firstly I
was going to do a thriller based short film however now I am
doing a comedy. I realised that a comedy will be more
interesting and fun to make. Doing a focus group of my peers
helped me to narrow down my ideas. They told me specifically
what they would like to see and what would ruin a short film.
Some even suggested adding in satire and dark humour into the
short film.

How has the research into Research into producers helped me

artists/producers helped you improve
your ideas?

What work do you need to complete Other weekly blogs.(total of 9)

outside of lessons to stay on track?

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