Initial Assesment

During the summer, I started the plan for my next short film. This wasn’t to be a full pre-production, but it was still planning nonetheless. Unlike last year, this film needs to be approximately 15 minutes in length. To do this, I’ll need a lengthy script, as I won’t be able to make something long without this.

 Due to having a lack of ideas to begin with, my script is not yet finished. However, it is going nicely and will certainly help me hit the mark. This is already an improvement from last year, as my script featured very little dialogue and was mainly action. I have steered away from this, and have included far more dialogue driven scenes in my new film. Admittedly, I would prefer my script to have reached completion, but I am trying not to rush. Last year, I made the mistake of taking too long with the other parts of pre-production that should have been completed quicker. As these things are not necessary this year, I can focus more on creating a solid script and screenplay for my film. Due to the fact that my script is not yet finished, I am yet to start planning a storyboard. As soon as I have finished my script, I will start this. I want my storyboard to be way better than the one I used in my planning last year. I feel like it was really rushed, which lead to it not being very detailed, which in turn made it somewhat less clear to my cast. I managed to get around this, but i feel like the action in that film would have been a lot better had I simply worked more on my storyboard and made it a lot better. I feel like I can easily achieve this now, as I know how to manage my time for the different areas of pre-production a lot better than I used to.

 For locations in my film, I will be having some scenes outside, and some in a house. The scenes in the outside may be difficult to film in terms of audio quality, depending on whether or not there are strong winds, cars going by, or people. The scenes are supposed to take place in back alleys/secluded locations, so hopefully I won’t encounter much of a problem with this. The scenes taking place inside houses will not be a problem. All I will need is permission from the homeowner to film.

 All but one of the roles in my movie has been cast so far, so in this aspect I am already ahead of where I was at this point last year as well. I had many issues with casting last year due to people just genuinely not wanting to be involved, but this year I have had better luck. I hope to find the right person to play the final part and then everything will be fine.

 This time around, I want to make sure every scene in my movie is perfect. Due to this movie having less “action” scenes and more dialogue, it will be easier to shoot. This allows me to be able to focus more on getting good takes with different camera techniques. Last year certain scenes in the final cut could have been vastly improved upon, but were kept anyway due to how awkward they were to be able to film, and it seemed like it was the best that I could manage. I won’t allow this to happen this year.

I feel like my new film will be a massive improvement upon my last in literally every aspect. I have more experience with what does and doesn’t work, and since I’m doing a vastly different idea, which is honestly going to be easier to film, I can put together something that I can be proud of. With more time to focus on the actual shooting of the film and the script, I can make something that is objectively way better made than what I made last year.