07/01/19: This week i completed my rationale and made my mind map I chose what my i was gonna do for my final project. My project rationale was finished near the end of the lesson because i was having trouble choosing between a simple action movie and a movie to do with mental health because i wanted to show my camera work with the action but i think i could do good camera work in the mental health video. Because if the project i had done before this one i knew i wanted to do my final major project on PTSD because it interested me a lot i heard a lot of stories about it on various YouTube channels and such so i already have a clear idea of what i want my film to be and will further develop it as the weeks go by. i want this film to be my most original in depth film i want to really push myself to really be able to make a film that can strike a chord in the hearts of my viewers and make them feel something while they watch my film. I really wanna make something touching visually appealing and inspiring because if you could i would love to be able to inspire someone to change for the better. I’m very passionate about this project because mental health is a topic very close to home I’ve helped many people with it and i always wanna support people who go through it because its the only way to make it through it takes more time and it is harder to move past mental health on your own you really do need support and friends and that’s what i’m gonna add in my film as well i’m gonna add scenes of encouragement hope into the film and mgive it a positive meaningful ending hopefully helping people out there.
14/01/19: This week i worked on the cult TV show for Gemma i still haven’t managed to finish it and probably should hurry up and get it out of the way. I have also been watching a couple YouTube videos about PTSD and analysing what it does to people and how it effects them next week i will try and do more research for my project. while watching the YouTube video they did a really great job at making the audience feel sorry for them and show what they were going through and they went really in depth in some of them it was a real eye opener on how severe PTSD can be. After watching countless YouTube videos about PTSD I’ve decided to see if i can find any movies that have PTSD as the core plot of the movie and convey it really well so i can learn from it and put it into my movie.
21/01/19: I researched more on PTSD this week and try to get as much down as possible i went on the NHS site i found some YouTube videos about peoples experiences with PTSD how its changed them what they had to do to overcome it various types of information which i could use to help me write my script. i watched some key scenes from various movies about PTSD one that stood out to me was called “brothers” PTSD is one of the main focuses of this movie there is one scene where PTSD is clear in affect and you can see how it is affecting the people around him and how much it has changed him he snaps and breaks stuff throwing unable to listen to the people around him but in the end he runs out in a panic angry unable to control his own emotions but because of his brother and wife he manages to calm down and is taken into custody. I think this could help my film achieve the PTSD look i really loved the sound design and how an Arab son played while he put a gun to his head reminding him of what he did while at war i thought that was really powerful i also loved the use of shaky cam and how after he calms down its not as shaky and it really gives you that calm feeling and i think ill put the shaky cam into my film when the PTSD kicks in
28/01/19: this week i did research on depression because i found that both of these mental illnesses are very linked with each other it seems that when someone has PTSD they will most definitely get depression so i decided on looking on various sites mostly the NHS and looking at the treatments and experience for people on YouTube who suffer from depression i also had information from my last project which was a document about various mental health disorders that affect kids nowadays. While doing search on PTSD and depression i found a very informative short film that did a great job at showing both of the illnesses it shows a man who snaps from PTSD and stabs his dog that’s how it starts and its a big smack in the face for the audience because it sets the atmosphere just right and the representation of PTSD was done amazingly they added a shaky affect and ear ringing effect some gun and war sound effects it really made PTSD intense i think i will put a couple of those sound effects in my PTSD scenes to make it intense and really make the audience feel something.
1/02/19: this week I researched more to do with PTSD and depression and i found that people who suffer from PTSD aren’t just soldiers who’ve returned from war it could also be teens or kid it depends on how traumatic the event in the past was but after discovering this i started to create a survey which i had a bunch of people answer questions to do with PTSD, Depression & Anxiety. While i was watching videos about videos about PTSD noticed a lot of close up shots were used to make the audience feel claustrophobic and sounds like metal banging and cars driving anything and just ramping it up too 1000 with fast cuts and close ups really helps with the atmosphere and tension.
8/02/19: this week i went around and gave people a sheet of paper to write their stories or experiences with depression or anxiety and if anything has happened i tried to be as respectful as possible if nobody wanted to answer i just accepted it but luckily everyone i asked was so i added that to my research i also decided to go back and add a little more info to the previous research i had done on PTSD typing how it would help improve my script/project.
15/02/19: this week I researched a couple movies and TV shows to do with PTSD and i watched clips of how they conveyed PTSD and changed the character it was really helpful as it helped me decide how i could make my main protagonist look and what type of effect he should have on the audience when he starts having flash backs or snaps. In the movies the acting throughout the PTSD scenes is amazing and really lets you although this will be a little difficult because there are not that many great actors in my class so it’s hard to show the full emotion of the scene so if i don’t get the acting right i will have to rely on the sound and camera angles.
1/03/19: this week i went back and added a bit more information to my research i got more information about treatments and facts about PTSD but it was mostly to do with depression as i was lacking a bit of research for that. I also did a bit of my rational and will finish it probably next week. I’m also planning on researching on how to make a good short film from various sites and see what cliche i could avoid and how to make my story different to others and make it stick out from the rest.
8/03/19: This week I finished of my project rational and i have started to format my pitch properly in Adobe power point to present to Gemma and Joe (my teachers) i needed a good title to stand out so after a bit of messing with google translate i decided to name my film Frateres which translates to brother in Latin and since this is a story about a soldier who lost his best friend in battle who he grew up with i thought it would just work with the film.
15/03/19: today I pitched my idea to Gemma and Joe for my short film i think i did really well and structured it properly i got a clear picture of what i want my film to look like and how i want it to feel this really helped with deciding what i should keep in my film and take away.
22/03/19: this week i started my script i first wanted to decide where my character would end up so i wrote the end of the film which is that the main protagonist learns to live and moves forward and tries to get help with his mental illness and so after i had finished that i thought in my head that in the beginning i should really hit the audience with an impactful opening setting the mood so i’m starting the film off with the protagonist having a nightmare and about to kill himself because of the PTSD and depression. I think that would immediately hit the audience with the feeling of despair and hopelessness that i want in this movie. I also considering adding a scene with the protagonist walking while there is talking in the background and giving an insight on his mentality and what he’s had to go through but this is a cheap trick which i would like to avoid but i think for a short film like mine it would help move the story forward and get it all done on time.
29/03/19: I spent the whole week adding to the script i decided to add the big paragraph of just information on the main protagonist and i added another character called James which is the main protagonists friend who died is war and is why he suffers from PTSD and Depression because of the guilt of not being able to save or protect his friends so i have now added the cause of it which is more than just war but a loss of a close one. I thought i could add this character so i could get more of a reaction from the audience because everyone’s experienced loss or seen someone cry over losing a loved one so people can relate to him. I think it is very important that the audience can relate to the main character so they can really feel what they are going through because not many people have experienced war but almost everyone has experienced loss.
5/04/19: This week i spent adding and updating the script i spent a great deal of time thinking what is the best way to get the main protagonist from point A to point B and not make it seem like it comes out of thin air and then it hit me instead of adding another character to help the protagonist get through the PTSD and guilt why not add a little fantasy element but which also has a deep meaning about letting the people that love you help you and just use the one that died and add a little bit of a horror element to it as well that would certainly help the atmosphere. help him overcome his problems.
26/04/19: this week was really short but i wanted to work on my script now and wanted to flesh out the protagonists connection to his dead friend so when he shows up it has more of an impact so i added a scene where the protagonist and his friend talk about going helping each other and having each others backs while they are out fighting in the war i think this would make the audience feel sorry for the protagonist they understand why he feels so guilty and why he is so depressed. It is also relatable for the audience because the protagonist will never be able to achieve his dream and in reality most people in their lives will most likely never achieve their dream their one true goal because something will block their path or distract them and i understand that feeling and i’m sure many others could to.
3/05/19: I have finished the script and the overview i have now almost finished the storyboard and I’ve got my actors i decided to only have two because the more actors there are the more stress so only the main characters will show up no supporting or anyone else because what if they don’t show up and mess up the film can’t risk that when there is only a couple weeks left. I’ll hopefully get more of the pre-production done next week unless i get all the shots in that case i’ll just try and get the editing done.
10/05/19: this week i managed to get a big section of filming done and uploaded it onto the computer now i just have to shoot the outside scenes and then once I’ve uploaded then i can start editing we are planning on getting the rest of the scenes done on the 12th may but I’ve also managed to finish the storyboard and put it up onto my computer. We decided to shoot mind scene which is in the middle of the movie first since we were at college so we spent the entire day doing that it was easy nothing caused problems except we were short on time and other people needed help filming so I had to shorten a few lines in the script so we could finish a bit earlier for them.
17/05/19: This week on the 12th I left college and went on a 30 minute walk to thorns park once we got there we started short the rest of the movie it took up to 3 hours to get all the shot and I didn’t have to worry about anyone else bothering us because it was on a school day and most of the teens were at school and the adults were at work so the park was almost empty i also didn’t have to cut any lines because it was just me and James shooting on that day so I took my time to make sure I got everything correct and it all played out smoothly. I got all the filming done and uploaded it onto my computer i am now in the process of editing i have almost finished it once i’m done i will upload it and try to get everything else done.
24/05/19: i got the editing done and uploaded it today i had a lot of stuff i wanted to change and get right in order to really bring the film to life i took out the intro sequence because it wasn’t gonna really have that much effect on the plot and really had to get stuff moving forward plus i didn’t have enough time to film it i got a bit of my evaluation done and also got my focus groups for my post production done. the editing was fairly easy i knew what i wanted i had it all planned out in my head the only problem i was facing was trying to nail the atmosphere that’s when i remembered noir films back in the only days(the third man) had the exact atmosphere i was looking for very dark and gritty atmosphere so i decided to add the noir film which really helped set the mood and i also got rid of it at the end of the film to represent the growth of the character how he has learned to finally seek help and move past his problems and try to move forward it really changed the mood when i remove the filter and add a cheerful song so i think sends a positive message ending on such a positive role.
7/05/19: i have spent this entire last week on evaluation post-production and pre-production i got my shot list, shot plan, props & equipment’s list, key charter list, editing diary i got it all done i still have my edit decision list to do and once that’s done i believe i have completed everything and have finished my final major project.
Ibrahim Abbasi Media 