Second Year FMP

This is the page for my second year FMP project. I am working with Donovan on this project who's page can be found: here. We decided to work together on this project around a month before the project began as we realized we both wanted to create something similar that had a large scope to it, and realized that it would benefit the both of us to share the workload to make something better than we could achieve alone.

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Candidate Authentication Form

scan_lw335775_2024-05-07-13-52-10.pdf

Pitch Presentation

We had to create a pitch presentation for this project and present it for the entire class, the document was 69 slides in total and took around 30 minutes to present in its entirety. In the power point we had to outline the three ideas we came up with and then expand on the one we chose to go with in the end. Below all of this can be seen, there is a pdf scroll version and then a bigger version where the slides are easier to see and each slide is a png. The recording of the pitch can also be found below.

Click this to skip to the section below the power point.

FMP Pitch pdf version.pdf

Pitch recording

This is the recording of the power point pitch presentation, it has been edited together to best avoid echo and to put an easier to see overlay of the slides on the video itself.

Mood boards

Below are all the mood boards we created for our ideas, we tried to best capture the aesthetics and themes we wanted to include in the ideas themselves. A pdf document with all of them on can be found: here

ARG mood Board

Music video mood board

Donovan's idea mood board

Tyche's idea mood board

Name generation 2.pdf

The Name

We spent around two weeks trying to come up with a name that we felt suited the tone and themes of the project. As we wanted it to be relatively simple, like a singular word, but still have layers of meaning and metaphorical applications to it. We looked at similar naming conventions of other ARGs and horror projects to help us decide on our name, things like Local 58, Creep, and Marble Hornets

Mind Maps

Below are the mind maps created for the project, these were more in depth than the mood boards and include all the ideas we would want to include in the project themselves. A pdf with all the mind maps on can be found: here

ARG mind map

Music video mind map

Donovan's idea mind map

Tyche's idea mind map

Inspiration

This is a screenshot of an Instagram save board Donovan and I had together to save pieces of inspiration we found while working on the project. We started this board a month or two before the project started and a couple of the videos seen feature in the PowerPoint presentation we did. The profile picture of the pink creature is my account and the yellow creature is Donovan's, it just shows who saved what to the folder. We also had a YouTube playlist of ARGs and similar style products to the one we planned to make. It can be found: here.

Proposals

arg proposl.docx

Acontium Ual Proposal

This is the official ual proposal document for our project. This is the idea we chose to go with and as such is the one that has the most detailed proposal document for it.

music video proposal.docx

Music Video Proposal

This is the proposal for the music video idea, which would be on the song this must be the place by the talking heads.

railway proposal.docx

Station Pilots Proposal

This is the proposal for Donovan's short film idea, this one would have nothing to do with me but is good to put up as it is something we outlined in the powerpoint.

Proposal - pathfinder.docx

Pathfinder Proposal

This is the proposal for my independent short film idea, this would be made by just myself and not with Donovan if it were made.

Feasibility

These are the feesability documents for this project, we did one for each of our outlined ideas. They can be seen below.

FMP - Feasibility Study.docx

Acontium Feasibility

FMP - Music Video 1.docx

Music Video Feasibility

FMP - railway.docx

Station Pilots Feasibility

This document is the feasibility for Donovan's Short film idea

FMP - Feasibility Study.pdf

Pathfinder Feasibility

Deconstructions

These are the deconstructions for the project, i looked at three different products that i felt were good points of inspiration and similar things to breakdown.

Audiobook Deconstruction tma.doc

The Magnus Archives

This is the first deconstruction i did, it was on the sixty-fifth episode of the audio narrative podcast The Magnus Archives. I felt that it was a good point of comparison as it makes use of analog horror techniques similar to the ones we plan to use. These being audio being used to build up tension in a way that doesn't break the internal cannon and having the characters understand how they are being recorded. There are also forms of audio distortion that the show makes use of that add to the worlds reality without making it hard for the listener to hear the story and connect with it.

skinymaring.pdf

Skinamarink

This is the second deconstruction i did, this one was done on the Canadian experimental analog horror film Skinamarink. I felt that this was a good point of comparison as it is a feature film example of a product similar to Aconitum, with its use of abstract shots and soundscapes. It is a good example of how analog horror can work in a non short form content and is one of the few examples of it being used in a full film. It makes use of a nice visual noise effect and colour scheme id like to implement into the final project.

shea butter.pdf

Shea's Scientific Films

This is the third and final deconstruction i did, this one was on the ARG project Shea Scientific Films. I felt this was a good product to deconstruct as it makes use of edit and visual techniques i would like to implement into Aconitum. This ARG is still in its early days so i only covered the content that was out at the time of writing the deconstruction, so i have only looked at the first 12 videos as they were the only ones available to me. A link to their ARG channel can be found: here. And below the first video of their ARG can be seen.

Extended Research Report

This is the Extended Research Report for this project, it ended up clocking in at 7004 words total. This is one of the documents, like the deconstructions, that Donovan and Myself didn't share during production. In it i look at the theories i laid out in the pitch presentation and give a bit of insight into the history of ARGs and to a lesser extent Found Footage.

Aconitum Extended Report newwwwwww.pdf

AERD logo variations

The fictitious government branch that will feature in our project needs to have a logo to go with it, below the variations of this logo can be seen, we landed on the blue and yellow ones to use. But black and white and no background variations exist for different applications within the project.

script acconitum 1.pdf

Script Writing

The script went through many iterations, with Donovan and i often conversing and talking about what plot beats would happen. While we both planned the story Donovan was the one to write the script down as they are stronger at it than i am. There were two iterations of the script we made, along with the plot outline. The script we made use of can be seen to the left, and the original iteration and story plan can be seen below. We took immense care into crafting the script and story into a detailed look into the world of Aconitum. Story was a very important aspect for this film.

PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT.pdf

Initial Plot Ideas

aconitum .pdf

Original Script Iteration

Production Schedule (2).pdf

Production Schedule

This is the production schedule for our project. Everything in the red is something we haven't done during the week and the unhilghted items are things we accomplished.

Road-map

This is our roadmap plan for our arg release plan, this isnt the production schedule. This is more like an outline of the content in its release order and how we plan to do it.

The AERD Youtube

For the formatting of an arg the AERD need to have their own YouTube account to post from. To the left the banner for the account can be seen. This is where content "produced" by the AERD will be uploaded for this aspect of the arg. their account can be found: here. However i would advise not going straight here if you haven't yet followed the intended arg path later in the project as that is the way we feel best conveys the story, so should you go straight to the AERD channel spoiler warning.

Ashley's Channel

This is the second ARG channel, this being that of Ashley Cottons. This is where her content filmed on her camcorder will be uploaded. To the left her channel banner can be seen, for this i tried to make it look poorly done as the character of Ashley likely wouldn't be as good at photo editing as myself, especially not in 2001. This channel is a good starting point for the ARG itself, and you can find this channel: here

Shoot Plans

These are the shoot plans for each location in the short film version as well as the full project shoot plan. The arg shots are in the full version and will be prodominantly filmed on the camcorder we have.

Shot_List Accontium - car boot.doc

Car Boot Sequence

Shot_List Accontium - church.doc

Church Sequences

Shot_List Accontium - Greenscreen.doc

Suit Man Sequence

Shot_List Accontium - house.doc

House Sequence

Shot_List Accontium - mount kelly.doc

Mount Kelly Sequence

Shot_List Accontium.docx

All shots

all in one.pdf

Storyboard

This is the storyboard based on the shot lists above, giving a rough depiction of all the shots we want to make in the final product. Each slot in the storyboard is a plot relevant shot to avoid having to re draw any repeated shots or minor shots. They were drawn by myself in a way to try and convey an exaggerated feeling to help the actors understand their performances better.

Location Reccies

Location Recce - callywithl.pdf

Callywith Studio

Location Recce - car vrrom bot.pdf

Car Boot

Location Recce - ma hous.pdf

The House

Location Recce - mont kelle.pdf

Mount Kelly

Location Recce 2.pdf

Lydford Church

Contingency Plan.pdf

Contingency

This is the contingency plan document for the project, just in case we were to run into any issues while shooting.

Call Sheets

CallSheetEdith.doc

Edith call sheet

Edith plays Ashley Cotton in Aconitum.

CallSheetRiley.docx

Riley call sheet

Riley plays the character of Suit Man in Aconitum.

CallSheetKayden.doc

Kayden call sheet

Kayden plays an off screen voice and the door in select scenes in Aconitum.

CallSheetsyd.doc

Syd call sheet

Syd plays an AERD voice only operative in Aconitum.

Edith Release Form

Riley Release Form

Syd Release Form

Kayden Release Form

Test Shoots

Test shoot One

This is the first test shoot we did, we wanted to test a rotating door effect which we saw previously on social media. We thought it would work well for our film which will have a theme of doors. We shot a few different shots of the door being opened and then went into premiere, cropped the clips and organised them as you see in the video. We then nested the clips and added a zoom in and rotation to the nested sequence. It worked well but the next time i try this i will make sure to avoid the edges of the shots being cropped automatically when the sequence is nested. The link to the inspiration video can be found: here

Evaluating Test Shoots (3).docx

Test shoot Two

This is the second test shoot we did, it was to test a vhs distortion effect. All the footage was filmed on a camcorder and then edited in adobe premier pro. I tried multiple different picture qualities and with or without a vhs overlay, to see what works asd what doesn't. I like how the final result looked the most. With the 720p footage with the overlay and cropping.

Evaluating Test Shoots-2.pdf

Test shoot Three

This is the third test shoot we did and unfortunately we don't have a video to show for it as the data moshing effect we tried to do didn't work at all, just leaving us with regular looking footage. So we decided not to put that footage up as there is no evidence of it working at all, not even a failed attempt. A link to the inspiration can be found: here

Evaluating Test Shoots (2).docx

Test Shoot Four

This is the fourth test shoot we undertook for this project, and it is the one we undertook as a class. The elements taught in this were elements i already knew how to do or didn't apply to Aconitum. Whilst not the most necessary shoot, its still good to practice these skills.

Evaluating Test Shoots (2) 1.pdf

Building a Door

For the film we needed to have a functioning door prop, the requirements for this were that it had to be able to open and to be free standing so we could set it up in whatever location we needed. This was a lengthy process, it began with Donovan going out to various abandoned homes and areas to find any doors that have been left detached from a structure. The first door they encountered had the best aesthetics for what we wanted but unfortunately it broke apart when they tried to transport it to their car. The second one they found had a post attached to it that couldn't be removed, this was a shame as this door already had hinges attached which would have saved us some time when assembling the prop. Eventually they found the third and final door, which was at an abandoned building site. This door held together and worrked well enough for the rest of the assembly process.

The next step was to assemble a frame for the door, we began this process by buying some planks from a local hardware shop and got to work. I had access to an industrial electric saw and drill setup, making these aspects of the production quite speedy. If id had to do all of those sections by hand this would have taken a substantially longer time to come to fruition. In total it took around six hours of work spread across two days. Once the pieces of the frame were cut and had guide holes for the screws ready we took all of the pieces back to my house for assembly. We chose to assemble it the day after cutting as we felt this would be the most efficient when done in conjunction with filming. We used an electric drill to attach the screws on the frame segments but had to use a manual hand crank drill for attaching the screws on the door, we did this because the door was too brittle to sustain the vibrations from the electric drill. This was the most difficult stage of the construction as Donovan, with help from my Mum, had to hold the door at a 90 degree angle to make sure the screws went in straight. After around 20 minutes of holding the door up eventually the screws were fastened in and we had a door that was freestanding in my living room. A door that we were able to easy move to the filming locations and use functionally. The initial plan can be seen below, but we ended up opting for a more realistic frame with the base looking more like an n than a triangle.

Eventually however the door did have to come down as it didn't need to be attached to the frame for the final shoot, as we had to very quickly move the door out of the way in one take. So we took only the door to the church shoot as this made the most sense. We didn't end up taking the door back with us as we no longer needed it, and instead opted to giving it to one of our friends. The frame stayed in my kitchen for around 2 weeks afterwards just in case we needed to use the door again, sadly the door frame was also taken down eventually and went off to my Mum's school to become firewood.

ARG Uploads

These are the uploaded videos for the arg, these were edited by Donovan and myself, who did what will be indicated for each video as it goes along.

Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser trailer for the arg project, its not part of the ARG or short film story-line but more acts as a way to show subscribers the project we are working on, this video was made entirely by me, with input on music from Donovan.

Ashley's First Upload

This is the first video that Ashley films and releases about her finding the tapes in the car boot. I edited this one, but Donovan did on set audio while i handled visuals. The thumbnails for Ashley's videos require no editing as thumbnails weren't a concept in 2001. So to keep it time accurate the thumbnails need no editing

Introduction - AERD

This is the first ARG video we made for the project, it has a short graphic that will be the introduction to each video, i did the logo design and the visual editing elements for this video, and Donovan did all the sound design.

Recruitment - AERD

This is the second video made for the AERD side of the ARG, it is a video meant to be an introductory piece of media to any new AERD recruits. This video was entirely made by Donovan with stylistic input from myself.

Employee handout - AERD

This is the third AERD video made, and it consists of the character of suit man doing a small safety video for AERD use and distribution. This is the first AERD video that features an actor, suit man as said before is played by Riley. This video was filmed by myself but was edited by Donovan.

Missing Footage - AERD

This is the first secret AERD video, it consists of the missing footage of the previous video. And is more of a secret continuation of the Employee Handout. This video was filmed by myself and edited by Donovan. This video also features Riley playing Suit Man.

Feedback With Chris

As part of the project we had to get a piece of feedback from Chris during the project time, this was recorded on the 16th of April 2024 and will be continuously implemented during the rest of the project. This is important to consider when finishing the project as it helps us stay on track as we go.

Aconitum Posters

These are the posters for the Aconitum project, meant to entice people to the arg or short film.

The Main Poster

This is the main poster for the project, it was made by myself. It features a photo similar to the title scene of Aconitums short film. The font use is one called Belarus, and is the title font for the whole project. This was the second poster i tried making.

PC Poster

This was the first poster that i did for this project. It was made by myself with input from Donovan who had the idea to do a computer home screen for a poster. It was the first attempt at a poster and i therefore don't think its the best out of the selection.

AERD Poster

This is the third poster made for the project and this one was intended to follow the design theme that the AERD follows. I created this poster, and it makes use of a font similar to the font used by the UK government.

Enitity Poster

This is the fourth poster made for Aconitum. I also made this poster, and it features the Entity from the project (sometimes referred to as the doorman) . I like this poster however i do feel it looks a little too much like a young adult book cover.

Suit Man Poster

This is the fifth and final poster i made for the project. It makes use of a behind the scenes photo of Riley as the Suit Man character. I think this is a good poster, but not strong enough to be the main one.

BTS

There is a lot of Behind The Scenes content and photos on my business Instagram, posts were added whenever a notable event happened in the production. Things like behind the scenes of that days shoot, weekly diary releases and the creation of the title sequence. My Instagram can be found: here

Below the Blooper and BTS video can be seen, this consists of dud takes, random clips we filmed, and a little documentation of what we did to get everything moving and working properly.

Below here can be seen a miscellaneous set of BTS photos from the entire project, start to finish. We tried to capture as many different angles of our production as we could as we wanted to show the level of depth we went into for the project.

The Timeline

This is a screenshot of the Premire Pro timeline for the project. We colour organised it to show that in the edit process we split the work 50/50 the best we could. The clips and aduio labled in the Rose colour are the ones done by myself, and the Mango colour along with the blues are the work that Donovan did on the edit. With this system we each did our part and then switched with the other person. So on any given day one of us would be editing and the other would be doing things like paperwork and essay writing, this allowed us to have a continuous flow of work done on the edit, meaning we both had time to put maximum care and effort into the film. At the top of the timeline, markers can be seen, we used these to give each-other notes on what to add when we switched editing. The timeline had somewhere over 200 elements on it by the time we were done with the edit.

Export Issues

Due to the large nature of the timeline and effects we encounted issues when trying to export, this spanned multiple days with us initially trying to export on the 9th of may, we then tried to re export it multiple times a day on the 10th,11th and 12th of may. We tried nesting, exporting from Premire, exporting from Media Encoded and even rendering the whole project first. With our solution to the problem happening on the 13th, with us exporting each segment of the timeline one bit at a time and then stitching them together on a new timeline to aviod having to load all of the elements at once.

The 1080p Export

This is the low quality first export of the film just made so we definitely have something to screen even if the 4k one didn't work as mentioned above. This isnt the nice looking export of the film so this isnt what its final look will be.

The 1080p New Ending cut

This is the second low quality cut of the film featuring the changes to the ending we were advised to make by our lecturer Chris. This mostly consisted of minor changes to the ending and the audio to help it to flow better and be more horror aligned.

Letterboxd

We spent some time adding the film to a movie database and review site known as Letterboxd. We did this as Letterboxd is known as the most popular film review site, and its one Donovan and I hold in a high regard. It also means we have professional credits to films that we have made now, which looks good in our portfolio. The link can be found: here.

Aconitum

This is the final cut of the film, with all the ammendments that we made after reciving the feedback, the audio was upped slightly to be better heard and a few sound effects were added. We are incredibly proud of the final product and the project overall.

Weekly diaries

Exhibition Documents

These are the two documents we had to fill out for the exhibition, we were told about these after the final evaluation was finished, as they didn't need to be included in it. These are the final documents we needed to do for the project, and with these done it marks the end of the work we had to do.

Creative Media Production Diploma Exhibition - STUDENT BLURB PAGES.pdf

Exhibition blurb

Video Exhibition Proposal with the photo.pdf

Exhibition proposal

Screening Photos

Below are just a selection of photos from the screening itself, featuring both Aconitum and the other projects from the class. The screening ended up lasting for around an hour, with the exhibition segment lasting around four hours. this gave people ample time to see all the projects shown.

The Front of the Screening Poster

Made by Oscar Pendry

The Back of the Poster

Made by Oscar Pendry

The Exhibition Poster

Made By Lottie Kent

The Showreel for the Exhibition

This was playing on a loop at the front of the Exhibition room to just show a selection of work made over the two year period.

FMP eval aconitum.pdf

The Final Evaluation

This is the big final evaluation for the project, and one i'm very happy to have completed. Its been a long journey with a few problems along the way. But out the other side came what i would consider to be my best work yet.

Thanks for following

Thank you for following along with this project and also the many other units we have completed while at college. Its taken a while and been grueling at points but was ultimately worth it and i am proud of what i have been able to create. I hope to keep creating more projects in the future, but for now thanks for sticking with it to this point.

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Second Year FMP

Table Of Contents

Candidate Authentication Form

Pitch Presentation

Pitch recording

Mood boards

The Name

Mind Maps

Inspiration

Proposals

Acontium Ual Proposal

Music Video Proposal

Station Pilots Proposal

Pathfinder Proposal

Feasibility

Acontium Feasibility

Music Video Feasibility

Station Pilots Feasibility

Pathfinder Feasibility

Deconstructions

The Magnus Archives

Skinamarink

Shea's Scientific Films

Extended Research Report

AERD logo variations

Script Writing

Initial Plot Ideas

Original Script Iteration

Production Schedule

Road-map

The AERD Youtube

Ashley's Channel

Shoot Plans

Car Boot Sequence

Church Sequences

Suit Man Sequence

House Sequence

Mount Kelly Sequence

All shots

Storyboard

Location Reccies

Callywith Studio

Car Boot

The House

Mount Kelly

Lydford Church

Contingency

Call Sheets

Edith call sheet

Riley call sheet

Kayden call sheet

Syd call sheet

Edith Release Form

Riley Release Form

Syd Release Form

Kayden Release Form

Test Shoots

Test shoot One

Test shoot Two

Test shoot Three

Test Shoot Four

Building a Door

ARG Uploads

Teaser Trailer

Ashley's First Upload

Introduction - AERD

Recruitment - AERD

Employee handout - AERD

Missing Footage - AERD

Feedback With Chris

Aconitum Posters

The Main Poster

PC Poster

AERD Poster

Enitity Poster

Suit Man Poster

BTS

The Timeline

Export Issues

The 1080p Export