The first week of my FMP I started with the idea. I came up with the idea for my film whilst on a visit to the location taking photographs of the climber I plan to film. I thought about it and realised there wasn’t any good short climbing documentaries about Sheffield’s local crags and especially no documentaries about the young climbers in the aria. This week I also did a practice proposal to learn how to write them and. I did it on a film I saw called Denali. I did it on this film because its also a short adventure film, similar to mine.

here is the practice proposal;

Proposal test on someone else’s film ‘Denali’

1.   Summarise why this film was made (the reasons and purposes)

This film was made, I think to show how precious life is and how people in there busy city lives don’t appreciate whats around them. I think on another level its also about a dog and his love and appreciation for his owner.

2.   What skills would you need to develop to make this?

I would need to develop underwater cinematography skills and even more importantly my editing skills to invoke the level of emotion in the film.

3.   In what ways would making this film (danali) have offered you to stretch and challenge yourself.

I would have to opportunity to make an emotional film and create a character through mostly monologue. I would also have to film a dog, Ive never had to film animals.

4.   Why the film should exist, are there other similar successful products or is there a gap in the market for your film.

The film should exist because it is a beautifully shot film and makes one rethink they way they live there lives and encourages them to get out and live life as they truly wish.

This week I also started research for the film. I researched the codes and convention of the genre short adventure films, this is to give me some ideas of how to make my film, what to include and how its shot. The research was visiting the SHAFF (Sheffield Adventure Film Festival) where I watched a series of climbing films, skiing films, mountain biking films and general adventure films. this was very useful as it gave me a sense of the kind of style of editing and film making that I would need to achieve. I realised that the most successful films had a slight storyline and a connection to a person rather than just beautiful cinematography. But they did include very cinematic landscape shots.

This week I also completed a brief project action plan outlining roughly what I will be doing, and roughly when I will be doing it. This will impact my production because it will help keep me on track and help with time management and make sure that I get everything completed.

The impact this weeks work has had on my product is that I have an initial idea to work from and an idea of the genre, what it includes and how its shot so that I know what to plan in terms of the cinematography and content. What I feel I’ve done well with is starting the research into the codes and conventions of the genre early in the pre-production process. I feel this will help because I will have a better idea of what the final product will be, making it easier to plan for the film because I will know what locations to look for and what equipment I will need.

I will need to improve on the answers to the questions for the proposal so that I can put across the idea for my film better. the problem that I have solved is finding out the codes and conventions of the genre early in pre-production so I know how to make my film and what to plan for and I can progress quicker.

This week I’ve learned how to write a proposal and I’ve also learnt the codes and conventions of a short adventure film. Next week I need to work on: writing the final proposal, primary research into recording audio in windy conditions and further research into the codes and conventions of the genre, specifically looking at the cinematography.