Institutional Mode Representation (IMR)

In film theory, the IMR is the dominant mode of film construction, which developed in the years after the turn of the century, becoming the norm around 1914. Classical Hollywood cinema is the dominant style within the IMR, but other styles such as art house, independent, and most (current) foregin styles fall no less under the IMR.
The concept was developed by Noel Burch in his 1969 book: Parxis du Cinema. His goal was to show that the IMR is a class-determined practice, developed out of the bourgeois desire for totalising illusionistic representation. Andre Bazin has identified the 'myth of total cinema', or a constant to represent reality as completely as possible, which he claimed as the root of cinema innovations.
The IMR is characterised by the attempt to create an entirely closed fictional world on screen. The audience is completely imaginatively involved in the film, instead of being distant from it and seeing it as an object to be examined. Burch argues that the key to the IMR is 'spectatorial identification with a ubiquitous cinema'. Various techniques were developed in order to accomplish this identification.
Films are constructed out of a sequence of shots, each of which presents the viewer with one clear piece of information. In contrast to Primitive Mode (early cinema), IMR uses close-ups.
A 3D space is created, using Renaissance rules of perspective as well as new cinematic techniques such as editing and lighting. To preserve the illusion of spatial integrity, which was lost with the introduction of close ups, eye line and directional matches were created. The film is thus perceived as taking place in an environment around the viewer.
Characters are psychologically individuated, through closeups on faces and acting methods borrowed from (bourgeois) theatre. Psychological depth is prized, and the narrative is driven by character psycholo. The audience is therefore invited to interpret the motivations of the characters, and thus involve itself with the film.

Branding of my Artist

According to my research, Marina from Marina and the Diamonds appeard to have created her look by accident! After visiting a hairdresser in LA before a shot, her stylist told her that her hair had a lot of breakage, resulting in her loosing a fair amount of length to her hair. The next week she had all her hair cut short and she purchased a wig. After purchasing a wig to cover up the unfortuante new look, she continued to use the wig for 9 months whilst her hair grew back to a more natural length.
She used the wig in some of her videos including 'Primadonna'.
Marina quoted: “I bought a wig and painted the roots black and wore a ribbon over it, so it looked natural. And the ribbon became part of my look. I wore the wig for nine months. Nobody knew... It's only now that my hair is long enough to look natural. Wigs are fun, but I never felt beautiful in a wig.”
This has created a signiture look for Marina and you can easily identify her by this unique look. She also does this with her qurky fashion. She experiments with vintage style clothing and appears to be quite controvesial in her look in comparision to other artists. Her apperence has developed over time, some of her songs have been about how she doesn't want to be like everyone else and wants to be her own person. The most obvious songs have been 'Hollywood' and 'I am not a Robot'. Also, in the video 'Fear and Loathing' she is seem hacking off her hair infront of a mirror. I think that this symbolised her wanted to change. Stereotypically most Americanised girls have long hair, in the start Marina does but then cuts it short. I think this is the start of her changing her apperence to a more unique and vintage version. Also, the good reaction she got to her new hairstyle of the blonde waves with dark roots seemed to influence her to be a bit more controversial.
However, on Tuesday 25th September 2012, the singer was branded as 'ugly'. The singer was scheduled to release the visuals for her latest single 'How To Be A Heartbreaker' yesterday, however, Marina claims she was told that she didn't look pretty enough in the video so the release has been delayed while they smooth out the "ugly" parts.

                         

"So, someone at my record label wont let me release the video bc I look ugly in it apparently + we need more $ / time to paint out ugly parts," Marina tweeted.
"The video will be out end of the week. If not, I am happy to leak the 'minger' version for my fans."

Marina didn't recieve any negative opinions publically on her previous 'dark haired' look. It appears she is now being ridiculed for different look. She is described as having a unique indie-pop brand and I think that a genre of music in most cases effects the way the artist looks. For example artists such as 'Ke$ha' match their look to there music. Her genre is described as 'dance-pop', 'crunkcore' and 'electropop'. She has a very controversial look and experiments with extreme makeup and clothing. On the other hand is Ed Sheeran and his genre is 'folk' and 'acoustic'. His fairly casual look with messy hair seems to follow the convensional look of 'indie'. People such as Ben Howard and Alex Turner also seem to share this look and the genre of music.   

 Ed Sheeran

  Ben Howard

 Alex Turner
                     

Research into Directors

The director I have chosen to research is Kinga Burza. He has directed 2 of Marina and the Diamonds videos.
Kinga Burza was born in Poland and was raised in Melborne and Sydney, Australia before moving to London in 2005 and signing with film production company Partizan. She completed a BA at the University of New South Wales, before she went onto do postgraduate studies in Theatre and Film at UTS in Sydney. Whilst at university, she began teaching herself by making amateur videos for her then boyfriend Sydney musician Jack Ladder and some other friends she had in bands.
Since being in the UK, she has directed music videos for stars such as; Marina and the Diamonds, Calvin Harris and Katy Perry.
Promo magazines quoted she was 'amoung the next wave of up-and-coming directors'. She was nominated Best New Director at the CAD award in 2007 and a Young Gun music award for Music Video Direction for Kate Nash's 'Foundations' in 2007.

These are some of the videos that Kinga Burza has directed between 2005 and 2011.

Analysing work of previous students

This is the first humourous video I have seen that has been recreated by another person. I admire this as I think that it is a very difficult to do as it could be very risky and the song choice is crutial when choosing to do a video of this genre. The first time I watched it I wasn't really anaylsing it, I just watched it to see if I could use it for this post. However, the next few times I watched the video I analysed it and interpreted it. There are some very clever editing techniques and camera shots used in this students work. The first one I noticed was the opening shot and this was edited in black and white and rotated onto full screen. I think that the use of black and white could represent a 'classic situation', 2 young people in love but eventually things turn sour between the 2 of them. There is a slight low angle shot on the couple dancing and smiling and this connotes their vunerablilty and their innocence. I think if this was done in, for example a midshot or long shot it wouldn't give the audience any clues to what is going to happen.
They have used some simple white on black text to tell the audience the changes in the time. I think without this is could be very confusing and seem rushed. The use of a sans serif font could connote the idea that their relationship is average and not very serious.
There is a midshot of the 'girlfriend' texting her boyfriend the words 'I luv u'. This is very colloquial and modern. It is also common amoungst younger teenagers (ages around 13 - 15) trying to be mature and grown up in their relationships.
After this, for me this is where the humour begins when you can obviously see that the boyfriend is not happy and expresses this by looking unemotional and motionless around the girl. The use of dramatic irony becomes humourous here because the boy is very obviously unhappy and the girl doesn't seem to notice, just carries on how things were before. The student has filmed the dramatic irony scenes in the same places as they were when the couple were getting on. This represents a repetition in their life and prehaps a bordem.
As the boyfriend breaks up with his girlfriend, there is a shot of the girlfriend in what I think is her bedroom, there is a poster in the background on the wall that reads 'All You Need Is Love'. I think the humorous things about this part in the film is the irony and you can see that the poster is still on the wall throughout the music video.
I think this video is very well timed. When I say this I mean in a way how the characters actions change as the music changes from major to minor key and vice versa. For example, when the boyfriend is newly single, he does a dance with some others as the chorus begins. This is another funny part in the video and I think this is because of the exaduration of his emotions, he seems overcome with joy and relief.
The video uses a lot of the stereotypes associated with a heart broken girl and a newly single boy. In terms of the girl, she sits destraut eating out of a large tub of ice cream and lays on her bed crying. On the other hand is the boy, he seems fresh faced and happy to see his friends he has probably left behind after being in a ralationshi, he starts to workout more, concentrating on his apprence. The girl does the oppersite and seems to 'let go' a little in a tee shirt and yoga trousers.
There is the use of a pause in the video of 3 boys (inc. the main character) jumping in the air doing a high five. I think this effective as it gives connotations of happy memories, because the pause creates a photograph like effect. 
The boyfriend also returns to a place he has been with his girlfriend (the running track) alone and is much happier to be there alone rather than with her. This is another use of the exadurated emotioms to create humour.
I can only see 2 things that I think could of been improved. The first one being the 2 dances in the first chorus that do a duet. The dancing starts well but then unfortuantly they seem to be slightly out of time towards the middle/end. One alse looks a bit unsure of what they were doing at the end and look to the other for reassurence when they should be looking into the camera. After the dancer tries to copy the other and is a bit out of time and sadly not as good as the rest of it. I personally would of refilmed this part and made sure that the dancers knew exactly what they were doing.
The second and final thing I think could of been changed was the weather in some of the shots towards end. These scenes are meant to be overcome with happiness, and they are apart from the weather. Obviously the weather is out of the students hands, but altough it was a fairly bright day, the clouds looked very dark and miserable. I think I would of waited for a really sunny day and filmed then. Saying that, the students schedule could of been very packed and precise and maybe couldn't afford to wait for another day, so this should be taken into account.
Overall, I think this video was very funny, effective and successful.

A few brief notes on some inspirational videos

I have collected a few videos and in this music videos there are particular scenes that inspire me and like the ideas. I might choose to use some of these ideas in my own video.

The part I like in this video is the stop motion animation that shows the paint being spread accross his body and the wall behind him. I thought that seeing as my video is going to be about Hollywood, I could use red, blue and white paint either on myself or on a background to represent the spread of Americanisation around the world. I also like the use of reverse editing in this music video and I am quite keen to use this to symbolised the 'undoing' of Americanistion and show how people should go back to the way they were before the obession with celebrity lifestyles and perfection came along. 

Theres only a small section I would like to use in this video. I like the idea of taking over the shoulder shots, or just a mid/long or close up shot of someone from behind looking into a mirror. (In the video this happens at 1:21) I think this could represent the idea of reflecting on life. In my video I would like to do an eyeline match of either myself or one of my other characters I am using, looking in the mirror (close up of face) looking 'average or normal' then cut to show the reflection of the same person, just an Americanised version of themselves.



In this video I really like the way the shot changes from 'real life' to an animated version. In my video I think this would represent the divide between reality and a fantasy world. I think this editing technique could be really effective but unfortunatly I am not sure how to go about doing this. I am unsure if I am able to do this with the editing software I will be using. 

My Favourite Text

I think my favourite music video is 'Lego House' by Ed Sheeran. Ed Sheeran is a British singer-songwriter. It was the 3rd song to be lifted from his debut album '+' on the 11th November 2011. The video features Harry Potter's Rupert Grint as a play on their similar apprences. The video was released on the 20th October 2011 on his YouTube channel. The videos narrative shows Grint as an obsessive Sheeran fan, it shows his mental breakdown before Grint and Sheeran meet as Grint is removed from the concert venue and Sheeran appears from an elevator. The video was filmed at 'Forum' at the University of Hertfordshire. The song unfortunatly only reached number 5 in the UK charts.

I think this video is very unique, I have never seen a music video that stars somebody else singing rather than the artist. Also, I think the narrative is very unusual, it has a very controversial topic of the obsessiveness and mental breakdown. I think the video portrays Grint in a way that is childlike and in a dreamlike state, in addition to this I think the video represents the divide between celebrities and 'average' people, and the idea that people have unrealistic goals in life. I think the video also contains slight humour by the use of actors and the fact they are very similar. They could of just used a 'regular' lookalike actor, but instead they chose someone iconic. This could make the song and the video increasingly popular by using Rupert Grint. Some people may be massive fans of the Harry Potter actor, and less of an Ed Sheeran fan, but people will be drawn to the song because the video stars one of their favourite actors.

The first part of the video shows Rupert walking down a corridor but cuts occassionaly to shots on a crowd at a concert. I think this part in the video represents the dream he has and maybe his thoughts as he walks to the venue. However, because the actor and the actual singer look so similar, for someone who has never seen the video before this would be very unexpected and could just simply seen as parellel editing.
There is an over the shoulder shot of Rupert walking down a path. The location is very flat, slightly over grown and not very pretty. This could represent the actors life as a 'normal' person and how without his dreams his life would be very plain and average. The long path in the scene could represent the long journey he will have to take to achieve his ambitions or, alternativly, how his dreams are out of reach and that its an endless road.
The shot of Rupert infront of the door bus is a mid shot but from quite a long distance away and he looks very much like Ed in the shot. The shot is still aswell and could mimic a photograph of the singer.
In terms of costuming, the 2 men wear very similar outfits, but not identical. This is the jeans, tee shirt and unzipped hooded jacket. The fact there not identical could show that Rupert and Ed are still very different and althought they may look similar, Rupert still has a long way to go before achieving his goal.

I have also studied some of the lyrics in the song and the scene they are sang in in the video.
One that stuck out to me is:

I'm gunna paint you by numbers
Colour you in
If things go right we can frame it
Put you on a wall

In my interpretation, the lyrics to me seem to connote the idea of being a child and doing dot-to-dot pictures, and if all the lines are drawn correctly, the picture can be put on display and this as a child would be something to take pride in. In terms of the song, the actor could feel like a child looking up to an idol. Also, he could be taking pride in his possessions with an 'Ed Sheeran theme'. He might go into a childlike state when he sees the star and become excited like a child would if they were to see something that was extremly important to them or they idolise. This can be supported by Ruperts facial expression, when he is looking in ore at his new piece of artwork. His facial expression looks quite vacant aswell, but this could symbolise a fantasy world or dreamlike state.
Lego is a prop that is used on occassions throughout the music video. I think that this prop is used, mainly because of its title and it could appear in this way to someone who just wants to watch the video, rather than think too much into it and interpret it. The lego could represent the idea that dreams can easily be pieced together, but just as easily broken, this links to the midshot of Rupert playing with a Lego helicopter, then dropping it and it smashes on the floor. I also think the lego represents the theme of childhood dreams as it is popular with young children. It can be made into anything you want it to and this to me connotes the idea of out of reach dreams. The use of the multi-coloured lego bricks supports the idea of childhood.
Ruperts facial expression changes frequently in the video, in my opinion this could link to the idea of growning up and how times changes, emotions come and go. I think that this could also show how Ruperts dreams can't be a reality and how angry this makes him feel.
The video also contains other props such as handmade dolls and a scrapbook, which are again very childish, but also very artist and symbolises the mind of a child which is artistic, creative and has no limits. Rupert looks at these props in a way that shows realisation, yet he still pretends to talk to the dolls, but then his face changes to look sad. This could show the end of his dream to be the singer.
Towards the end of the video, it seems as if Rupert is starting to begin to realise that this fantasy is over. He starts smashing up all the 'Ed related props' and looks angry and distraut.
Finally, after Rupert sees Ed at the end of the video, he looks shocked and in ore of him. But after this the lift doors shut and I think this represents an ending, this could be an ending of this dream, his goal to meet him or just simply the end of an era.

Textual Analysis of Marina and the Diamonds Video

By looking at a selection of Marina and the Diamonds videos there are themes and patterns that run through each video.
Marina is in each of her videos and lip syncs in each of them. However, the videos contain some other shots that don't include lip syncing, for example dancing or simple mid shots. Some of the videos contain a lot more lip sync than others, the video 'I am not a robot' has a heavy amount of this and only has a few shots of Marina not singing.
One theme that seems to be carried throughout Marina and the Diamonds music videos which is a 'vintage' theme. By this I mean in terms of Mise en Scene. An example that I noticed was costume, like hair, make up and clothing. A video in particular that presents these ideas is 'Primadonna'. Whilst watching this video I saw that this theme is carried past just costuming, but in props and in the opening titles (opening titles aren't very convensional in music videos), in this the titles gave connotations of a 1960's cinema and even had the noise of the camera which made the connotation even stronger. In this video, there are things like vintage cars, a television, a car wash and various editing techniques. These editing techniques include filters, some shots are in black and white or sepia to give it an antique and old fashioned feel.
Some of her videos show other people in them, for example dancers are sometimes used. In the videos above, there is only one actor and he doesn't feature much. This is in the video 'Radio Active'.
In other videos this theme is slightly more subtle that in 'Primadonna', for example in 'Radio Active' there are use of vintage props. In the video 'Shampain' there are opening credits, similarly to 'Primadonna'.
Marina doesn't often dance in her music videos, but in 'Radio Active' and 'Hollywood' she seems to a lot, it seems that she either dances a lot or not really at all. How often the costume changes occur in each video veries between videos. For example, in 'Hollywood' there are lots of costume changes, but in the video 'Fear and Loathing' there are none at all.
In addition, I was looking at the make up in 'Primadonna' and notice it was very similar to the 1960's icon Twiggy. Its quite similar in all the videos, she has the heavy eyeliner and bright lipstick.
Generally, cuts are fast paced in all of the videos, this could support the vintage theme I've mentioned and create a feeling that time has moved quickly to the present day. Also, as the music changes from minor to major key, the shots seem to change. For example, if the music is in a minor key, the shots generally seem to be either in slow motion or slow paced cuts, and if the music is in major key, shots seem to become fast paced and cuts become quicker.

Research Methods

There are 4 main types of research. All of these can help me gather research for my coursework. These four
types are:

• Primary
• Secondary
• Qualitative
• Quantitative

Definitions of these types of research.

Primary
Primary research is finding research yourself. For example, through personal interviews and questionnaires. The internet would not be an example of primary research, as it is other peoples work that you can read and copy. The main advantage of primary research is that it is more likely to be true, as it comes from the original source. However, this method does carry some disadvantages. Primary research is often very time consuming and and can be expensive.

Secondary
Secondary research is research that has already been done and this can be copied by anyone who is interested in this topic. This is the most common method of collecting information and it does have some good advantages. For example, researching in this way can save alot of time and money. There are methods that make this research very easy, like accessing the internet or a book. However, the main disadvantage of this research method is that the information given can not be completly trusted to be true and reliable. Some information can also be out of date.

Qualitative
This is research on a small scale and gives valuable insight into specific forms of data. In this method data is categorised. An interview is an example of this type of research. Qualitative data provides a rich, detailed picture to be built up about a topic.A disadvantage of this is that it is difficult to be done on a large scale.

Quantitative
This is research done that is measured by a numerical form. They also can obtain a large amount of data. An example of this type of research is a questionnaire. An advantage of this method is that data can be easily analysed. However, it might not reflect a true value, just the closest one to it.

Which ones will I use for my coursework?
I think my main source of information will be from the internet, using sites such as Google and Youtube. I have already used secondary research in my AS coursework and I have also already used it in my A2 coursework to research the history of music videos and will be using it again to find music videos to analyse.

History of Music Videos

Music videos represent a crucial part in the music industry. A music video also gives a chance for artists to impress the audience with a querky and/or expensive video, as well as show off looks and dances.

One of the first videos made was 'Strawberry Fields' by The Beatles.  It was filmed on 30 January 1967 in Knole Park in Sevenoaks, and directed by Peter Goldmann.

After watching this video, I noticed a lot differences to current music videos in comparison to this, and this shows how much ideas and technology has moved on since the making of this video. The first thing I noticed was about the video was the quality of the image. The colour isn't of particularly good quality, but the quality is just good enough to see what is going on in the video. However, as I have mentioned in other posts, videos are getting more and more of a 'vintage' theme and are using effects to make the film look 'old fashioned' such as camera quality. I think the biggest difference in current music videos to this one is the technology used. I assume this video was lit naturally (day light) and in the nigh time scene it isn't ver visable at all. Also, the video only took 2 days to film, where as more recent videos take a much longer time to film. There is a very limited amount of props in this video, the main props seem to be the piano and the car, but these props don't appear for alengthy amount of time.. Most videos now have loads of props and they feature throughout the music video.  There are also not very many scene changes, whereas music videos now commonly have multiple locations and scenes. Coloured filters are used at the end of the video, and these are very rarely used, most videos want to have the best quality and locations. Also, music has changed alot since then and things are becoming more artificial and futuristic, so artists want to produce a video that matches the music they make. One of the main differences I noticed was that, at the end of the video it just stops, rather than uses something like a fade.
However, there are some features in the video that are still used now. For example the use of editing techniques like cross disolves, jump cuts and fades. Stop motion animation is used sometimes and it gives the same 'vintage' effect. Something that I thought was effective in this video was the reverse effects and this is used often aswell.



This video used similar effects to the Beatles music video. It used the reverse effect throughout the video similarly to 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. It also uses slow motion and this video also just cuts at the end. This isn't done very often but here it is. There are not very many scene changes, there appears to just be locations including; the house, the road and the park like area. The video also uses pans up and down, like the previous video.
Overall, although technology has moved on and better images are being produced, I don't think that the way we film now compared to previous years has changed a great deal. Some ideas have been developed and special effects are alot more accessible now than they were then, but similar camera angles and editing techniques are still being used. I think that more artists want to give there video a more classic theme, but others still like their video to be modern and futuristic.

'Hollywood' Lyrics

American queen is the American dream 
American queen is the American dream
She is a Polish girl in America  
Tall, tanned, hot, blonde called Anya I asked her, 
"Why would you wanna be a hollywood wife?"
"Because, I don't want to end up living in a dive on Vine"
You do anything for a dime 
Looking for the golden lie
 
Hollywood infected your brain  
You wanted kissing in the rain, oh oh 
 Living in a movie scene 
Puking American dreams, oh, oh
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America 
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America
 
I fight security making plays for me 
 Soon as I touch down in old L.A.  
He said, "Oh my god, you look just like Shakira!  
No no, you're Catherine Zeta" 
Actually, my name's Marina
 
Your mind is just like mine  
All filled up with things benign 
You're looking for the golden lie
Hollywood infected your brain  
You wanted kissing in the rain, oh oh 
I've been living in a movie scene  
Puking American dreams, oh, oh 
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America  
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America
 
American dream is the American queen 
American queen is the American dream  
Is the American dream
 
Hollywood infected your brain  
You wanted kissing in the rain, oh oh 
I've been living in a movie scene 
Puking American dreams, oh, oh
 
Hollywood infected your brain  
You wanted kissing in the rain, oh oh 
I've been living in a movie scene 
Puking American dreams, oh, oh
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America  
I'm obsessed with the mess that's America

The artist quoted this about the lyrics:
"That track is a sarcastic and cynical take on everything that's commercial about America. I love the country and people dearly and can't wait to tour there but I hate the way it brainwashes you. I am seduced by its pop culture but I don't want my brain to be infected."

My Chosen Song

                         
The song I have chosen to make my music video to is 'Hollywood' by Marina and the Diamonds. This is on of her songs from the album 'Electra Heart', which was her second album. Other songs on this album include 'I am Not a Robot' and 'Shampain'. The song was written by Marina and was produced by Liam Howe, Richard Stannard and Ash Howe. The album was released in 2010.
When each of the songs was released individually as singles, the highest it reached in the UK charts was number 12, and that song was 'Hollywood'. The album as a whole achieved a 4 star rating.

After the watching the video and studying the lyrics, I believe the message each of them give is quite different. The song is about how people are being brainwashed by Americanisation and obbession with celebrities. Overall sending a more negative message than the video. In my opinion, the video is not a very good representation of the lyrics. The video, seems very happy and quite posative. If the song is about how Americanisation is a bad thing, I think the video should be more 'negative' in a way. In the video, there is lots of smiling dancing and very 'stereotypically American'. By this I mean that there are cheerleaders, baseball players and other American costuming with flags and red white and blue themes.

One reason why I chose this song is so I am able to lip sync in the video. I have learnt from previous experience (such as my short film prelim task) that yourself and your team are the most reliable people.So therefore, I will in the video myself, but also have some additional characters.

My main idea is create my video in a way that makes the message of the song more obvious than in the current video. I watched the video without the video without sound and thought that it seems that the song is trying to portray Americanisation in a good way, but in fact the song has a more negative feel. I want my video to amphasise this negativity more than the original. I don't mean in a way that makes it really unhappy and angry, but as I have said, I want my message to be more obvious and more fitting to the song. I think one of the most confusing things about the song is that it is in a major key rather than minor. Typically songs giving a negative message are in a minor key. 

My Short Film Evaluation

Story boarding and script

Our storyboard w very detailed and we kept to it as much as we could, but we also added additional features to improve our work. Our film didn't have a lot of dialogue in our film, so our script was limited and we didn't follow it word for word. It was useful having a storyboard to revisit ideas and we also used it to improve on the original. I think that our script could of been more professionally done, for example word processed. Instead we just jotted down our ideas by hand. 

Locations

Our location for filming was very limited as we were only able to film in school. This effected things such as what the film was going to be about, and when we were going to film, as corridors can get busy when we don't want them to be. Our film was about a student being bullied at school and this left our options fairly open as to we're we could film around the school. We chose a corridor and stairway to film as it provided good light and very quiet when lessons were in progress. Unfortunately this meant it was quite hard to film outside of lesson times as people needed to use the corridor and stairs which created unwanted noise. 

Talent

We first filmed our short film using other people, rather than ourselves. We found that throughout the process of filming, our talent began to loose interest and this made it increasingly difficult to film. After a while, we decided that we would be in the film ourselves, as we know we could rely on ourselves and each other. We wanted our film to be the best it could be. We found that after being in the film ourselves we became a lot more creative with our ideas, this also helped as we achieved exactly what we set out to do in our plan, aswell as developed ideas.

Organisation 

Overall I think that we were organised. More so when we finally decided to star in the film ourselves. We were given lesson time to create our short film, but we also decided to do some filming outside of lesson time. I think that this made the film more successful and all the plans we had made to film outside the lesson were always carried out. I think that organisation is very important to a successful team, as it makes tasks much easier to complete and with a lot less stress. 

Team work 

I found that me and my partner Alice worked very well together. During all the stages of creating our short film we communicated well and shared ideas to make our film better. I think that making this film with poor communication would be very difficult, as it would be hard to make agreements and overall the film could be of a poor quality. As we were both in the film, we both had to film and act. This is something that I think was very good as it allowed us to gain experience in how to use the equipment and learn skills relating to filming, as well as how to act in front of the camera. Overall, I think we worked well as a team and I think that I have learnt some valuable things, in terms of choosing an appropriate team member to make the final product successful. 

Editing 

Editing took the most time out of the whole process. The most difficult part was trying to crop videos to keep continuity. For example, there is a part in our short film when there is a slight jump cut. This wasn't intended but it was the best we could do to keep the continuity. We also added additional features such as music, this helped create a much more tense atmosphere in our film which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. Also, we added some transitions and credits and this also made our film look more professional. 

Final product 

Overall I was very pleased with the final product. I think it was edited well and the topic of the film was suited well to our location. I have learnt somethings as well, for example finding talent that is willing to cooperate throughout the whole process is extremely important. We needed to start ours again about half way through because some members of the original talent decided they no longer wanted to take part. This meant we had to be in our film and this was much more reliable, and it would of been better if we had been in it the first time. I also learnt that you need to work around other things, for example locations and what time you can use them and availability of cameras, tripods etc. Making this short film enabled me to gain experience using iMovie which will be useful in next years tasks. I think that our film could of been better if we had opportunities to film outside of the school, as this would of left our ideas more open when it came to knowing what our film will be about. 

My Short Film