Week 1
On week one I worked on the Theme Analysis blog post, this involved deciding on the theme for my montage and creating a mood board and a mindmap to get some inspiration for ideas surrounding my theme, this made me start thinking about what my montage would actually look like. I found it quite easy to choose a theme because I had an idea of what I wanted to do from the beginning so at this stage it was just forming my idea more clearly. This step was important because it allowed me to begin to develop my ideas which allowed me to create the whole montage, without it I wouldn’t have had as clear an idea which would have made my montage unclear.
Week 2
On the second week I created my research portfolio, for this I looked into two examples of montages and thought about how successful they were and what made them successful. I also researched locations I could film my montage in. Doing this research was useful because it let me see what makes a good montage and let me use this knowledge in my own work.
Week 3
On week 3 I did all my pre-production documents, this included: a montage proposal, a shot list, a storyboard, a call sheet, a shooting order and a risk assessment. Doing the proposal and the shot list was useful because as I wrote up my final ideas for my montage I was able to have a clear vision of what I was making before I began to shoot. Doing the other documents was also useful because it meant I was fully prepared to shoot and ready for any issues that could happen. Pre-production gives you a clear idea of what you are doing in what order and I wouldn’t be able to complete the montage without it.
Weeks 4 and 5
One the 4th and 5th weeks I filmed and edited my montage. This was successful because of how much planning I did before so I knew exactly what I was doing and aiming for when filming and editing. Recording day went quite well, I was able to get most of the shots done and they all turned out well. Overall it went well, although the weather wasn’t great and the wind made it hard to get some of the shots I wanted, also it got dark early meaning that I had to solve lighting issues whilst shooting. Editing went well, I was able to get across the mood and vibe that I was going for. I would improve it by making the transitions smoother and more creative, this would be something I’d need to think about in the planning stage for it to be successful. I faced issues with transitions and trying to understand the controls for them, after searching the internet for solutions and asking for help from Ashy I was able to solve these issues.
Week 6
On week 6 I wrote up my post-production and my evaluation. This was useful because I was able to reflect on what I had done to see what I had done well and what I needed to improve on next time and learn how to fix my mistakes. This also gave me a chance to get feedback from others which gave me a different perspective and help on how to improve in different ways.
Laura Altman 