JACK ROWLAND:

MINDSCAPES

FINAL PROJECT
FOR YEAR ONE
DEADLINE DATE:
9 JUNE 2023
th
 INTRODUCTION
This brief outline the basis of my Final
Production for Year One. I will be outlining:
 My idea
 The film festival competition I have
chosen
 My production schedule
 My problem solving
 MY IDEA
After spending a lot of time thinking and going over all three of my
ideas in excruciating detail, I have come to the ultimate conclusion I
will be going with idea two. This idea is the live action into
animation/stop motion idea. I came to this decision due to the survey I
conducted and my own decisions and reasonings. In the survey I
conducted this idea was by far the most popular one. In every
question that was related to asking which idea was the best, idea two
always won by a landslide and the other two ideas were, almost
pushed to the side. In addition, idea two is easily the most ambitious
idea out of all three that were presented.

However that is one of the main driving reasons why I want to do this
idea. As this is my Final Media Project for Year One, I want to ensure
I am creating a great production that will highlight all my skills I have
learnt over the past eight months and I believe that the other two ideas
will not be able to provide me with that production or good grades.
This is because I have already done a documentary, and even though I
believe the editing was not too bad, overall it was not good. Even
though I had the most ideas for it then I have ever had for a
production on this course, it still was not good. That is why I chose
not to do another documentary, as the first one did not turn out good,
and I don't think it's a good idea to do one again.

Furthermore, I chose not to do idea one, the gangster short film, as it

was voted the weakest production in the survey, and also because I
believe I will face challenges not only showcasing things like the
location, but also with things like keeping the audience engaged,
which was mentioned in my survey. In addition, I know I mentioned
earlier that I didn't want to do a documentary as I have done one
before and it didn't come out good, and I would apply the same
principle to this short film, however I think what the plot could be for
idea two is very interesting and unique whereas I don't think the same
applies to idea one. Using the idea of, "Gangsters in New York" to me
seems very basic and I know for a fact that I can come up with
 something so much better and I think idea two is that. Even though
yes I have done short films before and they haven't worked out how I
wanted, I think idea two using stop motion and animation mixed in
with live action can, and hopefully will, make out for something very
unique for my FMP. I am completely aware that this idea is going to
be so difficult, easily the most challenging out of all three. That is
why one of my main concerns this unit is, that if my project comes
out how all my other ones have and I don't think it's good, my written
and theory work is all up to great quality.

Of course this does not mean I am going to put my written work at the
front of my mind over my production, I will obviously spread my
time equally. I just believe that because this project is going to be so
difficult, I want to have at least one aspect of this unit that will be up
to the highest quality. The plot of this short film has not been fully
figured out yet, but I am thinking something along the lines of the
protagonist falling through a portal or walking through a door that
takes them to another world. This world is going to be a stop motion
world, drawn world, or photos etc. With the end goal of the short film
being that the character is able to successfully escape. I like this idea
because even though the medium this is being shown through is a
short film, it will be a a very unique idea, and could be something
special. If I am also able to pull this off it will be a phenomenal
display of the skills I have learnt and developed over the last eight
months. This idea is extremely ambitious, and will require a lot of
patience, time, effort, and work. But for my Year One Final Media
Project, I feel like that is exactly the type of idea that I am going to
need.
 THE FILM
FESTIVAL I HAVE
CHOSEN
For our FMP, we were instructed to find a UK Film Competition to research to follow their
guidelines, and because we needed a client of some sort. So the competition I decided to
research was the London Short Film Festival (LSFF). Below is all the information I found on
it

The London Short Film Festival (LSFF) was founded in 2003 and is a BAFTA and BIFA
qualifying, internationally regarded independent short film festival. Every January the LSFF
hosts a wide number of short films, QNA's, and more, spanning over the length of ten days.
They show off anywhere from 250-500 British and international short films. These,
maximum 500 short films shown get chosen and narrowed down from an average entry
amount of 5000. LSFF say that they exist to try and spotlight small film makers, and
highlight creative people to the world. They have a team of 20 people that are dedicated to
getting everyone's work shown off to the world. 

On the LSFF website they state that every year at the end of their festivals they give out cash
prizes to the films screening in their competition. They also mentioned how because they are
BAFTA and BIFA affiliated, they can offer accepted film makers and winners the chance to
submit their film to the 2024 BAFTAS AND BIFAS. Looking further into it, on the Film
Freeway website they specified that the winner gets £1000 and the runner up gets £500.

LSFF state that submissions are open to short form of every genre - including fiction,
comedy, horror, sci-fi, documentary, animation, music videos and more. There are multiple
deadlines you can submit your film to however the later the deadline the more the fee will
cost when submitting your film. Their offered deadlines and the fees are as follows:
Early Bird Deadline: 7 April 2023 - Fee is £20
- Regular Deadline: 16 June 2023 - Fee is £25
- Late Deadline: 7 August 2023 - Fee is £32

All entries must be in English or provide English subtitles. Films being under 5 minutes in
length qualify for their Under 5 Minutes Category. Films must be no longer than 45 minutes.
They have many categories including Best UK Film, Best International Film, Best LO
Budget Film. 

On the London Short Film Festival Instagram they show clips of the festival and screenshots
of the films submitted. In their bio they have a link to info about the festival and their story
highlights have highlights from the different festivals over the years. They provide an
extreme amount of detail and inform you very well about what it is, past examples, etc. 

PRODUCTION
SCHEDUELE Production Schedule Table

What Is Dates Location(S) Who

Happening
Context Research Due 31st March
The Henley Jack
College
All Research Due 28 April
th
The Henley Jack
(Topic, Genre etc.) College
Pre-Production Due 5 May
th
The Henley Jack
Planning College
Filming and 5 May – 26 May Filming on
th th
Jack for filming &
Editing Production Production is due Locations which editing
26 May
th
are TBD, editing to All actors and
be done at The crew (If there ends
Henley College up being more
crew than just me)
for filming
Pitching Week of the 5th The Henley Jack
Production June College
Everything Due 9th June The Henley Jack
Completed College
(Including all
Research, Pre
Production
Planning, Test
Shoots,
Production,
Evaluation etc.)
 PROBLEM
Problem
SOLVING Solution Faced Didn’t Face
Camera Dies Make sure I
charge the night
before or buy a
spare and bring
that
Mic Doesn’t Make sure to
Work bring two to use
and/or do a
quick test
recording
beforehand to
make sure it’s
filming
Cannot do these Don’t be too
different overly
‘Animations’ ambitious with
and ‘Worlds’ in what I try to do.
time Set 3 (or 4 at a
push) effects to
try and create
Cannot find Make sure I get
locations or a wide range
cannot use and backup
locations locations to
ensure that I am
not left with
nothing
Actors I want Ensure that I
can’t do have the actors
shooting days schedule to
make sure my
production does
not clash with
anything; and/or
get backup
actors
Editing takes Make sure I
too much time plan my filming
& I don’t finish extremely well
so I have lots of
time to edit.
 Also don’t
commit to other
peoples
productions as
that let me
down last time
Overloading on Make sure I
equipment bring a few
heavy duty bags
and preferably a
good mode of
transport so not
too straining
Losing all Use Weebly’s
theory/written backing up
work feature to get a
copy of my
website every
few weeks
Not having Plan everything
enough time on meticulously to
filming days to ensure I have a
film everything good schedule
I want of the day so
nothing goes
wrong
If in a public Go film at times
area, the public when it isn’t as
or noise gets too busy, and/or
distracting in choose private
the shots areas to shoot
The effects I’d Make sure I
like to create practise them
don’t work loads of times.
Really take
advantage of the
test shoots
 MY TARGET
AUDIENCE
For my FMP, I have chosen for my Target Audience Age Range to be
16 – 25 Year Olds. I have chosen to go with this age range mainly due
to the nature of the topic for my short film. As my short film is on
psychedelic drug use and the effects that they hold; I wanted to go
with this age range as a lot of people in said age range take drugs. In
addition, I think with a topic and film like this, it would be a lot easier
for people in this category to relate to the film, and I believe that they
will find it more enjoyable than say, the elderly or middle aged
people. I also want my protagonist to be in this age range, preferably
around 16 – 18. This would help immensely with the further
relatability for the audience.