Following Production Processes P3 (d)

Was it achieved?

Initial Planning/Brainstorming:

My initial planning was one of the most import aspects of all the entire planning process as this is when I established the videos themes, background story and plot. These inspired me when creating my script and storyboard and helped me to create a vision of the final product. These initial ideas where thought of once I'd chosen my music.

The music was the most vital part of choosing the themes of the video, as the video would have to have a strong visual connection to the music, while also creating a story that the audience could connect with. To create this connection I recognised that my video would have to be dramatic, action packed and fast paced in order to respond to the beat of the music. This meant that the narrative I was trying to convey would have to be compatible with this style of music and editing.

The following text is an extract from my treatment/concept work;

'My production will be set in a post apocalyptic world in which robots have destroyed civilisation, the main plot of the video will be based around an unknown survivor who possesses special abilities such as being able shoot fire from his hands.'

This concept was my first well developed idea that I used for the video, many of the ideas mentioned in this extract are still seen in the video as they were scripted and storyboarded.

Examples of these would be;

Fireball

ideas about my antagonist were also developed in this stage

'When designing my 3D character/robot I will purposely make them look evil, giving features such as red eyes, large dark metallic frame, weaponry'

Antagonist

and also my protagonist

'My human protagonist characters costume will be designed to look rough and tattered e.g a Dark green trench coat with a hood and gas mask and large military boots.'

Protagonist

How I was going to achieve my vision: Planning, Equipment, Mis-en-scene and Location

Once I'd visualised my production I began to create a structured plan on how I was going to achieve my vision, this meant adding more ideas to fill in any gaps in order to ensure that the narrative made sense and theme's were clearly represented, the planning stage also involved removing some ideas that were either too complicated or unachievable in the time available, this was helpful as it meant that we wouldn't make any mistakes or have to change ideas while on the shoot.

The end result of the planning was a storyboard, script and a shot list all of which would have to be followed on the day of the shoot as without these the shoot would of been unorganised, reducing the quality of the narrative and also the cinematography which would be evident in the final product. However before I began to create these plans I had gone on a recce of my shoot locations, this helped me to plan out the shots I wanted, with regards to both the cinematography of the film but also the movements of each character in each shot, thus helping me to visualise the final product.

Right from the beginning of the planning the Mis-en-Scene of my production has been a key part of how I represented my themes and narrative. The best example of this would be the costume used by my protagonist, the gas mask used suggests themes of danger and apocalypse these both relate to the story so were suitable to the messages I was trying to convey. This also applied to the design of the robot, that greatly contrasted from the rural surroundings suggesting themes of invasion and destruction, this relates to the story as the world has been overrun by robots who've invaded earth.

Organising my equipment was the final stage of the production process that would help me achieve my vision of the production. To create the shots I required I had to use the correct equipment for the most professional looking shots, to achieve my handheld shots I used a steady mount to ensure that my shots weren't too shaky. Choosing the correct camera lenses was also important for achieving the look of the film as I wanted the lenses to be similar to human eyesight to create a more realistic view for the audience, however I did also need some variation in my shots so decided to choose the 18-55mm lens as this could be quickly and easily adjusted.

Behind the Scenes:

Was the vision achieved:

As the creator of this project I feel that my vision has been achieved in most aspects. I feel that the cinematography combined with the pace and colour grading perfectly matches with my vision for the production however what I found was less well done was the telling of the narrative which I felt could be misunderstood by some audiences.