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End of MP 1 Blog Post

After now reaching the end of the first marking period of the 2019-2020 school year, I am able to reflect back upon the work that I have completed so far.

Intention Definition & Exploration Of Ideas

Having no prior experience in any particular area of film, I set out to choose a topic to focus on that would allow me to help narrow down my focus. The area I chose to focus on was documentary and mockumentary styled film making. I made this choice with the intention to be able to explore both formal and less formal ideas while also not relying on having to create an entire original idea by myself. The topic of my film (The Game) was chosen because of my familiarity and pre-existing personal opinions about it.

Planning

Planning an entire production entirely by myself was a change of pace in comparison to how I worked in previous years. I began the planning process by typing out all of my thoughts in order to help establish what I am trying to do. Once I developed an idea for the project, I began with writing out my ideas into a script. From the script, I also created a story board and shot list. After having all of the creative work for the project complete, I worked to plan out the production focused work. Knowing the roles I needed filled, I talked to a few of my peers to see if they would be interested in helping out with the project. After making sure that everyone's schedule would work out, I had all three of my actors lined up to be in the project. Next, I had to locate a location for the project to be filmed at. Since my script had not required any particular setting, I had asked my parents if we would be able to film the project on our home property. Both of them agreed allowing me to begin working on assembling props, set pieces, and costumes. Costumes were perhaps the easiest portion of planning as there were not any complex costumes required. This meant I could used normal clothing I had already owned and if I had not owned something, I had asked my talent if they could possibly bring their own clothing to use which they happily agreed to do so. Props and set pieces had both required some work to assemble. However, like my costumes, my props and set pieces were not complicated which led to me assembling them the day of shooting, prior to us beginning. Lastly, the shooting date was decided to be October 12th and all three talent members had ensured they would be present. The planning process had officially concluded with the submission of my Pre-Production blog post in which I summarized the process of planning.

Producing

The process of production for this project went very smoothly compared to how I originally thought it would go. The morning of our shooting date, I began by gathering the props and costumes which I had already knew that I had needed. This was followed by creating the simple set pieces using materials that I had decided to use. Next, I printed multiple copies of my script so that both my talent and I would be able to reference it while shooting. Later, all of my talent arrived on schedule at the time I had called them to. The process of shooting followed next and progressed very smoothly. Each scene was completed very quickly without very many issues. For the issues we faced such as weather or missing materials, I worked to adapt around them, such as by filming a different scene out of the rain or substituting different materials. The group broke for lunch half way through the day, picking up with filming afterwards. After filming was finished, I thanked my talent and began working on recording the narration as my next step. At this point, the production of the work for my film is essentially completed. However, there is the possibility of me having to change or make something else, which I would only learn about during the post-production process.

Evaluating

Looking back at this marking period and evaluating the work that I have done so far, I feel that I have done a fairly good job. So far, I have almost completed a documentary styled film just as I set out to do. My process of producing has, in my eyes, gone very smoothly. The results of production have me excited to see my final product. My planning for this project, however, could've been smoother. I feel that while I did mange to plan everything for my project out, my plans were not as in depth as they should have been.

Integrating

Now that I have learned through working this marking period, I should be able to integrate this knowledge into my next work. Seeing that my process of planning did not meet my expectations, the next time that I would need to plan, I would make sure to more thoroughly plan out what I want to do and what I can achieve. My process for producing can also be used to prepare for the future. Being able to go with the flow was a very helpful skill to have during production and hopefully I can do the same during my next project.
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