Planning

This is the planning page, which includes all of the planning that I have done for my Final Major Project. 

One of the best things we did to prepare was a shoot as a class, which enabled me to work on my skills within the pre-production area ready for my final major project to take place. 

    

My role in the Maths Forum shoot was to do the pre-production paperwork, and then to "schmooze" with the staff and cast of the shoot to make sure that they were happy and comfortable at the shoot and in-between shooting locations. There is not much footage or many pictures of me doing my jobs, but I learned a lot from doing them none the less.

On the test day, I did not have a lot to do because the pre-production paperwork had already been completed and I had no one to "schmooze", so I started off by sitting in the chair in the studio that the cast would be sitting in when they were being interviewed so that the crew could set up the studio ready for the next day. This included setting up the screen behind me, the Ursa BlackMagic camera and the lighting. This did not take long and I enjoyed watching how they set up the studio (even though my face appears to be very grumpy!).

First of all, by doing the pre-production paperwork I learned a lot about how much the rest of the team relies on the paperwork for a shoot to run smoothly. There were a couple of issues with the paperwork and this had a knock-on effect on the shoot and a couple of things were left out/not planned for as a result of this. An example of this is the RECCE form. I believed that the RECCE was done efficiently as it included pictures, relevant information about the location etc. however I later learned that I should have included a sketch of the setup that was going to be in the room on the day. Unfortunately, because this had not been done there were errors with the setup such as the cameras not being able to get a shot of people's faces because they were behind other people, however we soon resolved these issues on the day of the shoot simply by moving the cameras and making the legs longer so that the cameras could see over the top of those sitting at the table. Another issue we had was with microphone coverage- the RECCE did not specify how long the table was that the cast would be sitting around, and as a result of this the audio when the people at the furthest ends of the table talk is not of a very good quality. The post-production team have fixed this issue, however, by boosting the volume of the audio when those members of the cast speak- the only problem with this is that the quality of the audio is sacrificed as a result of this, however not much else could be done. If I had have planned for this in the pre-production paperwork, however, then this would not have been a problem.

I did show all of the paperwork to the producer, and he also did not notice any problems with the paperwork, as did I, however we can all put this down to experience as a crew, and things not to be overlooked in the future when doing paperwork ready for live (or any) shoots.

My other role as a "schmoozer" was a success. I believe that it went well, and I actually really enjoyed getting behind the scenes knowledge on things that the rest of the crew did not get. For example, whilst I was walking between locations with the staff members, they gave me their insight on the shoot, telling me that they thought that the entire cast was very professional and that considering the size of the crew and the shoot, we did not intrude on the conversation and that it flowed naturally how they wanted it to.

The next thing to do, was to set SMART targets every week to work towards so that I stayed on target. SMART targets are essentially just realistic targets that you are likely to hit within a certain time scale e.g. by the end of the day, I will clean my room and do one load of washing- it gives you a specific time frame and a specific, achievable goal to do.

Student Name: Courtney Beckett                                                                                          Signature:                                                                                                                                           Date:                                                            

DATE	SUBJECT	TARGET FOR THIS SESSION Specific – Measurable – Achievable –  Realistic – Timely	REFLECTION   DID I ACHIEVE MY TARGET? What went well? - What didn’t go well? - Why?	TUTOR SIGNATURE
27/2/2019	Maths Forum Shoot	My target for this week is to finalise all paperwork including RECCE's, risk assessments ready for shoot on Friday.	I did manage to hit this target- I managed to finish all of the paperwork and get it signed off my the producer 2 days before the deadline of the day of the shoot.
6/3/2019	Evidence for unit 12.	My target for this week is to gather evidence for unit 12. I want to gather at least 5 different sources this week from 2 different channels to support the argument of my essay.	I did manage to get this done- it was a push to get 5 relevant pieces of evidence done, but seeing as the target throughout the whole essay is at least 15 sources I feel like it's a good start, and as I begin to write my essay it will become clearer what I need to research.
13/3/2019	Create and perform pitch.	My target for this week is to create my pitch in the form of a Powerpoint for my final major project and perform it by the end of Friday.	I managed to hit this target comfortably- I created my Powerpoint through Wednesday and Thursday and I performed it on Friday morning. The only issue I had was that I left some details out, however the group simply asked me some questions and I managed to iron out any queries they had about my piece.

20/3/2019	Create primary research for FMP.	My target for this week includes creating my survey for my primary research on surveymonkey and putting it out to as many people as possible. By the end of the week I want at least 15 responses and to have analysed the results.	I did hit my target this week of creating and sending out the survey, however I only managed to get 11 responses by the end of the week. I decided to leave my survey until the next week to fully analyse because I wanted a minimum of 15 responses before I analysed any findings.
27/3/2019	Focus on unit 12.	As the deadline for unit 12 is next week, my target for this week is to gather another 10 sources for my essay by Friday at 5pm.	I managed to hit my target of finding 10 sources for my essay this week, and I began writing them up in my essay. Finding the sources really helped me to progress within my essay writing as they gave me something to write about.
3/4/2019	Finalise unit 12.	As my deadline is 5/4/2019, this week I want to focus on finalising my essay and getting it to at least 1800 words by Friday.	I did manage to hit this target with plenty of time, and I even had time for another member of the class to look over my essay and give me some feedback which enabled me to add in one last source, thus boosting my grade slightly more.

10/4/2019	Testing and shoot day 1.	This week my target is to complete do the necessary pre-production paperwork (storyboards, shot lists, RECCEs, risk assessments) ready for the test shoot and the actual shoot on Friday.	I did manage to hit this target. It was a push because there was a lot of paperwork to do in one week, but I knew what my vision was and with some hard work and determination I got it all done, as well as the test shoot and the official shoot day 1.
17/4/2019	All other paperwork for shoot day 2.	This week my target is to finalise all of my RECCEs and risk assessments for the second half of my shoot- I need to go to three different locations to do this, and I want to have these done by Friday at 5pm.	I did manage to do those this week, and I also managed to do some more planning for the video itself by doing some more research for my music video.
24/4/2019	Edit shoot day 1 together and prepare for shoot day 2 on 30th.	This week my target is to edit together the second half of my video that I shot 2 weeks ago, and fully prepare for the shoot on Tuesday by Friday at 5pm.	I did manage to hit my target this week. I found the second half of the video easy to edit together  because I had planned so proficiently, and I was definitely prepared for the shoot on Friday which made the actual shoot on Tuesday very successful.

1/5/2019	Edit together full video.	My target for this week was to edit together my entire video, as I now have all of the footage. I want the entire video composed in the timeline by Friday at 5pm.	I did manage to hit this deadline thanks to the precise paperwork and planning that I had to rely on, although I did have difficulty finding which footage was the right one to use as we shot each shot more than once.
8/5/2019	Place graphics in video begin editing advert.	My target for this week is to have placed all of the graphics in my video by Friday night at 5pm. I also want to begin editing my advertisement together.	I managed to get all of the graphics done by Thursday evening so I was ahead of time with those, and that left Friday for me to begin putting together my advert.
15/5/2019	Finalise edit of advert and video ready for upload.	My target for this week is to finalise my edit for the advert and put that online on the 17th of May, and then finalise my final video and upload on Monday 20th.	I did manage to hit both of my targets this week with time to spare. I managed to get both edits completed on Friday 17th, and they were both uploaded on time.

22/5/2019	Finalise weekly evaluation logs and finishing touches to research.	This week my target is to finalise all of my weekly logs in my evaluation by Friday at 5pm, and to add any finishing touches including sources to my research page.	I did hit my target this week, and I completed all of the dates within my weekly logs that I can at the moment. I also finalised my bibliography with all of my sources, which is placed at the bottom of the evaluation page.
29/5/2019	Test products with target audience and evaluate against professional product.	This week my target is to test both of my products with at least 3 people, and to evaluate my product against a professional music video by Friday at 4pm.	This week, thankfully, I did hit my target- it's a good job I did because it's the deadline!

Below you can see my pitch in both the original PowerPoint form and me presenting it.

And here is the video of me pitching my idea, and the second video is the questions/feedback that I got from my pitch (I'm not as angry as I look in the thumbnails, I promise!).

Overall, I felt as though my pitch went well. I spoke confidently and I feel as though I explained my idea and the process in which I am going to undertake to create it thoroughly. 

Paperwork

Paperwork is arguably the most important thing to consider when working on a project, because they are the backbone of the project in terms of planning. They are what gives you, the cast and the crew the vision, so it is fundamental that they are as clear as possible to ensure that everyone working on the piece with you understands what they are doing fully. You can see all of my paperwork below:

Storyboards

Shot List

Risk Assessments

RECCES

Time Plan

Overall, I feel as though my planning is developed and detailed, and will allow me to operate the shoot and the production safely and with ease. I have done the proficient risk assessments and I have also completed the shot list and the storyboards to a high standard with key details in them so that the cast and crew can better understand what is needed from them.

Of course, I will be at the actual shoot so if there is any confusion I can iron that out almost immediately, but I am happy with my paperwork and the detail within it all.