Evaluation

Whilst creating my one minute short film I have learnt many things about filming a piece from scratch. One of the main things I have learnt, that I will take on to my final coursework piece, is that you need to film a lot more footage than you will actually use. Due to this I now know to do as much filming as possible in preparation for my final piece to ensure I get all of the shots I want.

Creativity

To begin with I found it hard to decide on a topic for my one minute short film. I had a lot of ideas but wanted to do all of them. My initial ideas included, A day in the life of...

• a dog
• a girl
• a geek
• a superhero
• a computer
• a disney princess

Some of my ideas were easier to film than others and in the end I chose which idea to do based on this. I knew I didn't have vast amounts of time and so instead of filming something I would have had to use someone else in, I decided I would do 'A day in the life of a dog' because I can film my dog at any time of the day. Next time I will probably make my decision based on similar criteria.

Research and Planning

Before I could start my film I looked at existing short films to gain ideas. I looked at many short films on Youtube and identified the conventions. I found that short films tend to,

• Have a simple story line - follow one thing (no complicated sub-plots or similar)
• Have a simple structure  - clearly defined beginning middle and end 
• Little dialogue - tend to use little or no dialogue or a voice over
• Use simple background music in place of dialogue (tends to be classical/piano music with no contradicting melodies) 
• Due to little dialogue, editing techniques, camera work and mise en scene are key to showing the passage of time etc. 

When making my short film I tried to comply with these conventions. For example, my story line and structure were simple, and the background music I used was mainly instrumental. I didn't use a voice over because I didn't use a point of view shot and there was no other dialogue because dog's can't talk. 

Digital Technology and Post Production

I used imovie to create my final video as I have previous experience of using the programme from when I did BTEC Media at GCSE but before I began making my final film I experimented with Final Cut Pro.

We filmed this in front of a green screen then keyed out the background and replaced it with the Britain's Got Talent logo. I then added some sound affects and music and sped up the footage so that it fitted with the music. Finally I added some text to get the final product below.

Final Cut Pro Test

On my final video I put together the footage from different shoots I had done. I then added some text to commentate because I didn't have a voice over. Next I chose my music. I knew I wanted to use Puppy Love for the ending but I spent ages trying to find the right piece of music for the opening. Finally I edited the colours on the final piece of footage to give it a pink tinge as though the viewer was looking through rose tinted glasses.