“Finding Your Teeth” - Problem Solving
Planning for theoretical Problems
Problems I may encounter when
researching and planning
 I may find that the sourcing
detailed research sources will
be hard if I just stick to
YouTube videos and online
articles.
 To develop my idea further I
need to see what my target
audience think about my
ideas, and adapt it
accordingly. However I might
find that just sending out
surveys won’t guarantee me
the best results.
 My research needs to actually
help me develop my idea
further, not just find
information out about my
chosen topic.
 I might find that filming my test
shoots will prove to be difficult
to replicate the techniques I
want to, therefore the end
result will be unsuccessful.
 When it comes to who will star
in my film because I’ll be
relying on students, they might
suddenly become
unavailable to help me film.
 For creating my character
profiles I need to consider who
I can practically cast for the
role otherwise my actors won’t
suit the role.
 It may turn out that as the
weeks go on I could lose sight
of the aims for my short film
How I plan to resolve
 Therefore I should also look to
outsource books or interviews
with experts on the topic. This
will ensure that I cover a wide
range of mediums for my
research, showing that I’ve
considered all possibilities.
 So to work around this I should
find film and student forums to
post my surveys to, which will
give me more responses and
a higher probability of
descent ones. I should also
look to film focus groups to
get feedback from my peers
or people within my target
audience.
 So all research found should
relate back to my film idea
and how it will help me
improve what I’ll make.
 All I need to do is to analyse
the test videos no matter how
they turn out and if they have
a negative result it will help
me in the future when I come
to filming my production. This is
because I’ll know not to try
and include those techniques.
 I need to make sure that I still
have actors to work with no
matter the situation I face, so
a contingency crew list
required to make this possible.
 To rectify this I will make my
film’s characters have
universal traits when it comes
to their personality, so that
whoever plays them will suit
their role.
 Therefore I think a good way
to ensure I’m considering the
final outcome of my FMP is
“Finding Your Teeth” - Problem Solving
and the end product won’t
resemble the themes I hoped
to include in my work.
Planning for practical and technical problems
Practical and technical problems I
may encounter
 My story board should be a
visual representation of my
script, and so if I don’t have it
with me when filming the
progress made will be as
much since I won’t know how
to set up each shot
 My script needs to be concise,
as I don’t have time to ramble
on as it’s a short film.
 It could turn out that some of
my locations I’ll be filming at
suddenly become
unavailable to use which
could ruin a day’s worth of
practical work
 When it comes to editing I
could find that I’m missing a
piece of footage which will
disrupt the entire production if
not included.
 It could turn out that the way
my film cuts together isn’t as
smooth as I hoped it’d be.
actually using the weekly blog
format to evaluate myself.
How I plan to resolve
 So I need to make sure that I
have my storyboard with me
on all days of practical
production.
 Therefore after finishing my
script I need to go through it
all and cut out any sections
that I feel don’t drive the
narrative forward or that
doesn’t add any comic relief.
 So before the time comes to
film I need to check that I’m
completely able to film at that
place, as well as provide
backup locations if such a
situation occurs.
 I should provide a check list of
all the clips and shots I need
to edit my film together, as
well as allocate enough time
to re shoot certain bits of my
production.
 Therefore I need to balance
my time out so I can work on
the edit more and fix the
pacing of it, otherwise the
entire production will suffer.
“Finding Your Teeth” - Problem Solving

Mid Project check-up (After Research and planning)

It turns out that quite a few of the problems I talked about earlier occurred
during the making of my FMP. I found that my initial research didn’t cover
the “coming of age” aspect of my short film, so I had to go back and seek
out relevant information on this subject matter. This did proved to be very
useful as I found a book dedicated to the male adolescence, which gave
an interesting insight to the way in which a boy grows up. Apart from this
my research was detailed enough to show I really delved into my topic and
understood its codes and conventions. Doing this also made me develop
my idea constantly as I went through this research, but this positive
outcome came with a few negative ones too. For example on the second
day of filming I had a small break down because I realised that my script
didn’t make much sense in terms of conveying the narrative well. There
were about five whole pages of dialogue where my characters just
seemed to talk about nothing which made the scenes seem really slow. But
as well as that, me and my other actor found that by having those pages
included, we would have to remember so many lines. Therefore to solve this
problem we went through my script and cut out lots of dialogue so that the
film was stripped down to its core. Another problem I faced was two of my
locations needed to be changed on the day of filming there. This was
because they were both situated outside in the public domain, and
because it was good weather this meant that they were both full of
people. So in about the space of half an hour me and my fellow crew
members found two new locations to film at where we could film with
minimal interruptions. These were my two biggest problems as after that the
filming got done within a week mostly and the editing was complete
quickly too.

End of project review

This has been one of the hardest unit to complete over the last two years I
think since the work load was a lot more than usual and what the work
needed to contain was more detailed. I found that in the beginning I was on
track with coming up with my initial ideas and proposal, but after that I
slowly fell off course with certain aspects of the unit. I’ve manged to get
everything done but this despite being weeks being my schedule, which led
me to rush some of my work and unfortunately unable to include various
“Finding Your Teeth” - Problem Solving

ideas I had for this FMP. Although the research took longer than expected I
did complete it and in appropriate detail, linking back to how it will help me
improve my work. The filming aspect to this unit began fine with all the
house scene being filmed mostly within a single day, however the rest of the
film became a problem as I needed to adjust my script half way through
practical work. This was very stressful because for a few days a was
convinced that I wasn’t going to be able to make the rest of my film, but
luckily with the help of my fellow student Charlie Ker Gray, we managed to
fix the script and get it done the next week. The way my short film was
edited started off very well as I just followed my storyboards that were quite
detailed. What stopped this flow of productivity was the fact that the music
I’d chosen to include as my opening scene didn’t suit the tone of the piece. It
was a fast paced old folk song from the 1930s that had an eerie feel to it, but
this did not pair well with my footage because no tension was built. So I had
to spend some time removing this song and finding the appropriate music to
include. Once this was found I moved on to cut together the rest of the
footage in two days then my film was almost ready to export. The last thing I
needed to was record my voice over audio that should have been done
weeks before, not on the week for submission. But once I got the dialogue
recorded in an afternoon I then attached then to my edit and spent another
day tweaking little bits and finally my short film was done. I think the most
enjoyable part of this unit was the edit because I personally find it fun to cut
together all my clips and once I’ve added my music then I get the real sense
of what I’ve made will be.