Professional Studies- Writing a Report

In the upcoming weeks in professional studies we will be working on our report in the area we've chosen, so this weeks professional studies lesson focused on how to write a report and how to structure one for those who are new to writing reports. It covered all the information and techniques to successfully write a report and showed us the best way to start the process. The key points that were given to us at the start were to remember that writing a report is not writing an essay, there two different things and are done differently. Also to stress how you gathered the information and make sure all the available ways of linking your source in the report are there, it's key to remember that reports are designed to be read accurately and quickly so should be straight to the point with all the facts.

When it comes to starting the report you first need to research, to start this process you'll need to identify the purpose of your report and decide on the structure and style your going to use throughout the report. In many cases reports that are been written are aimed towards a client or boss and ours will be written with the readers in mind which will be our tutors, Mike and Di. A simple step process is to plan out your work and then collect the information, after that you start your first draft and then continue to check and re draft until satisfied. This is a good process to use and I'm currently focused on using this because it simplifies it and gets you writing instead of thinking to hard about it and if there any changes you can figure them out in the re drafts.

When researching on the internet or while reading books I need to make sure I trace back the information and make sure their quality sources and not unreliable or passing off as someone else's work. There are two different types of research to use while writing a report, primary research and secondary research. Primary research is first hand meaning you gathered the information and facts while secondary research is you using and incorporating research a third party has gathered. Interviews and questionnaires are a good way to get primary research while secondary research can be found all over the internet or again in books. It's significant to keep a balanced view throughout the report and not let any opinions or views effect how the report is been written. When I arrive at my conclusion I need to make sure it brings all the main issues together and to keep it nice and clear with no new information popping up. If I manage to use all this advice and knowledge when it comes to writing my report, I should be able to successfully finish my report to a high standard.    

Scriptwriting- Structure

This week we looked closely at structure and the importance and ways you can build it in scriptwriting. We looked at the popular three act structure and went with the basis that every page equals a minute, looking at roughly 120 pages for your screenplay. Act one is where you start and normally contains about 30 pages, about three pages in you should include your hook, something that engages and draws in your audience and gets them invested, then around page 27 you introduce plot point one, something that carries the story further where theres no turning back. Next is act two which carries on from page 31 - 90, during these pages you'll hit your mid point and around page 87 you'll want to include plot point two which makes a conclusion more accessible for act three. Finally you have act three consisting of pages 91-120 and this is all about tying up lose ends and coming to the conclusion. This is a solid structure to use in scriptwriting and is popular for a reason.

We then moved on and started to look at theme and how theme is structure, if narrative is what happens then theme is why it happens. There all lots of components to think of when touching on theme such as moral undertones which can reflect:

Humanity,
Core Beliefs,
Values  
Whats Important to you
What do you Believe in
What you know
Life Experiences

There are many different ways to show and convey theme in your script and it's crucial you find the right one or combination of ones to successfully communicate the theme. This can be done with:

Characters
Actions
Decisions
Relationships
Conflict
Dialogue
Symbolism
Visual Imagery

It's also key to try and create a backstory for your character so you can lay groundworks for his past and have them reprise in your story so your character is more human and believable to your auidence.

Location/Drama- Final Shots

On Monday 1st December we started to film the final shots of our production, these were shots we decided to leave to last due to how technical they could be while filming. The main shot we needed to get was Georgie's hand been pulled into the drain by Pennywise and because this scene only features hands we used different people to do this scene than the people who did the acting. We filmed outside on the university campus and reused the drain that John created to make it look like through the camera the hand is reaching into the drain.

Crew filming final shots for recreation

We watched the scene for the shot we were looking to recreate on set so we could accurately set up the camera to the right height and angle for our production. The shot also includes water flowing down the drain so we had multiple bottles of water on standby so we could use them in the shot, we tried several times to get the water to look like it did in the film but it was complicated with having electrical equipment around to keep a good distance between the two while managing to get the shot. We did multiple takes of this shot some with and some without the water flowing, it only took 20-30 minutes to set up and film and their was very little obstacles to overcome.

     
Later on Chloe (Director of Documentary) scheduled interviews for the documentary to take place at Flix Cafe in the afternoon, all of the crew turned up and we shot the interviews in twos. Steven (Director) and Simon (Production Manager) did their interviews together and John (Sound and Lighting) and Jacob (Cameraman and Editor) did their interviews together. The interviews weren't too time consuming and went quite smoothly. Chloe asked all the questions she wanted to feature in the documentary and now has enough footage and completed all the footage she wanted for the documentary and ready to edit it to go along side the recreation.

Crew in Flix Cafe filming interviews

Location/Drama- Georgie Shoot

Our second day of shooting took place on Saturday 29th November in Hartlepool, it was first shoot to take place outside for this production and was all of Georgie's scenes where he's talking to Pennywise through the drain. We casted a kid actor called Connor to play the role of Georgie and he was supervised by his mother on the set while he was filming. Filming took place from about 12:00- 1:00 and we managed to get all the shots of Georgie we needed on the day, Connor was very good at learning and remembering his lines and responded well to been directed on the set. Unfortunately we couldn't find a real storm drain for Georgie to talk too so John (Sound and Lighting) created on himself out of strong card and we used this on set for a point of reference and to give the effect around the camera that it was looking out of a drain.

Cast and Crew Preparing for Scene

All the cast and crew turned up on time and we all managed to do our jobs successfully and ended up wrapping before our scheduled time. We had a slight problem with sound because the location was close to a road so occasionally we would need to stop so we didn't get the sound of cars in the background but we got multiple shots in case some were unusable. Overall I think it was a successful shoot and we all left feeling like we managed to achieve our goal and complete our jobs to the best of our abilities.

Director and Producer Working with Actor

   

Sound and Cameraman - Photos Taken by Chloe Lowe