To start off the development of my FMP I first did research I knew mine was going be on mental health because I did it previous to this project and I thought there would be a lot I could write about but I did not just want it to be about depression but something more. So I decided to do some research and PTSD popped up I started doing research into that and I noticed that it was mostly associated with people in the army so that’s where the soldier and the war part came from and while writing the script I realised how would this character who has been through war can come back from a dark place and after some thought I decided to add another character called James who is a supporting character and best friend of the main character he is there to pull the protagonist out of his dark place and help him move forward sort of like a normal friend would do or a therapist. When writing the script, I was wondering how could I convey the emotions he’s going through and show how bad he’s suffering from mental illness so I did some research on the NHS website and YouTube videos about people who suffer from PTSD and I found that it can be triggered from the slightest thing for example it could be sounds to sight or smell and I added a scene in which the character hears a loud bang and is suddenly reminded of the war he lost his friend in and snaps then suddenly runs away in a panic.
Production was easier than most peoples I got through it fairly easy but I had to cut the beginning part of my film lout because I just didn’t have enough time to film it and wanted to get the film out there as soon as possible first day of shooting was fairly simple and easy I got the shots for the mind sequence inside college on the bottom floor and it took toughly about an hour and a half to get it all done we flew past that. The next day I got my actor and camera man to come with me (both the same person) we went to thorns park which was like a half an hour walk from college and once we got there I needed to get some shots of me walking so we spent a good 45 minutes on that trying to find the perfect path and shots and trying not to get anyone in the background once we got those shots we moved up onto the bench and got some close ups and wide shots while of characters talking and after the bench we moved onto the next scene which was up in the trees but on the way there we got two shots of me in a panic running this is when we see the PTSD side of the film kicks in. we got a shot of me running up into the middle of the trees and calming down then we got the rest of the shots in total we spent about 3 and a half hours filming and getting all the shots needed.
First day of editing I put all the clips together I also added the voiceover to the walking scenes It all fit really nicely excepts for a few abrupt cuts here and there but in the end it all turned out well after a bit of editing I did a bit of research into noir films and how they were black and white which fit the very depressing atmosphere so a quarter of the way threw I decided to add a noir filter to the film I continued editing until I reached a part where there was a loud bang and I had to show the PTSD side of the film so after the bang I added sound effects of war and stuff to show what his mind is forcing him to re-live I also added an ear ringing sound effect because usually after a loud bang there’s an ear ringing and your mind is in a daze and that’s the feeling I wanted to give the audience although I do believe that I put it up just a bit too loud after that I had to add a little bit of a transition the transition was fairly simple I just zoomed in really fast and then it cut to the next clip after which does not have the noir filter which represents the main characters mental progression then after the mind sequence the rest of the clips are not in black or white they are very bright and there is lively music to indicate that the main character now has a bit of hope in him and I thought it really brightened up the atmosphere and made the audience feel happy for him as well.
My critical analysis of my final product what I personally think is the strongest is the atmosphere I think I nailed it pretty well with the long shots and the camera work I think the writing and the music also help to really make the audience feel something as for the weaknesses I think the biggest one is the acting although we tried our best we aren’t very good actors so we couldn’t really convey the characters emotions to the audience and didn’t hit the audience in the right way other weaknesses were some of the sound effects and sound design such as the ear ringing sound effect and how during the voice over u can hear me move the microphone which sort of breaks the emotion but overall I feel like the product was a success I think it accomplished what I wanted it to and it was to show people the effects of PTSD and depression and that you can overcome it with support from the people you love it was meant to send a positive message and I think I have accomplished that.
Ibrahim Abbasi Media 