FMP Josh Richardson

UAL Awarding Body

THE HENLEY COLLEGE 62441

Josh Richardson, 97920

Hitman
Short Film
Year 2 FMP
FMP Josh Richardson

Rationale
My planning skills have developed very well during
the last 12 units. At the start of the course, for
me, planning was always rushed due to the excitement
of making a production, but this lowered the quality
of my first productions due to a lot of it being made
up on the spot and in a rushed locations and mediocre
actors. For the last few units, I’m a lot more
careful with the work I do for planning, taking time
on each piece so that the production time can be
efficient. Scripts and storyboards are key aspects of
planning which now during each planning stager I make
multiple drafts of, asking for help/advice when
needed for it and giving myself a generous amount of
time to assure myself the work is of a high standard,
this has naturally lifted my grades for past units
and naturally lifts the quality of the production. My
editing skills have also improved a lot during the
course – this has come from both making more
productions and getting more experience with the
techniques and software, to watching tutorials on
YouTube regularly, noting down the links when I see
something that has potential to be in one of my
future productions, as the more I learned the higher
quality my future editing skills would be. I also
chose editing for my unit 12 specialism study, and
therefore my knowledge of the history and what
professionals do when editing increased to a large
extent.

Project concept
The concept of my production is a short film based on
a rookie hitman. The hitman is tasked with his first
solo job- which he rapidly accepted due to seeing the
pay check if it gets done with no suspicions, its
only until he accepts the job and gets to planning
the job his issues come at him, some being because he
is a novice, and overall, not the smartest people,
FMP Josh Richardson

while also realising the person he’s supposed to get

is someone well known, heavily guarded and heavily
armed. The production shows how he plans the eventual
job and the outcome of it. I have chosen this because
of the editing techniques the come into it- such as
realistic bullets from the firearms, the lighting
around the ‘dark’ atmosphere created by crime as well
as costume design which is a strong point of my
previous unit- as I can be creative as it is
fictional- with the antagonist designed to look like
some one who is to be feared. I have chosen a short
film as I feel I am experienced when making them and
therefore more confident when planning for it-
however it is not necessarily as ‘safe’ option for
me- as the storyline and editing is the most
ambitious, I have done throughout my course, and
needs to be executed at a high quality to ensure I
get the grades that I want for my FMP.

Evaluation
I will write a weekly blog at the end of every week;
it will go into detail of everything I have done in
the week showing the progress I made week by week.
Not only with this show my markers where I am with
the project, but it will also help me keep track of
what I have done and what I still need to do or catch
up on as every piece of this work will go towards my
grade and to ensure a good grade, I need to make sure
all pieces are of a high standard and deadlines are
met. I will also use feedback from teachers to improve
each week- as the more I send my work in, the more
improvements I am able to make thus my grade will
naturally improve. And will produce a final written
evaluation where I find what I did well in my FMP and
what I need to improve going into the next stages of
my life, and the more critical I am the more
improvements I will know that are necessary when
taking the next steps into the industry. At the end I
FMP Josh Richardson

also present my ideas to my target audience, as I am

not the most confident with pitching ideas, so
therefore I will need to work extremely hard when
planning it to makes sure it does not bring down my
overall grade.

Project Action Plan

I am very professional and on time when it comes to
deadlines, as all of my previous units have been met
for the last two years on this course, I need to
continue to replicate my time management skills- with
a tougher challenge and much bigger workload on My
FMP, with 7 LO’s instead of 4 with the standard
units. However, As I have been so consistent in the
past with deadlines this is something, I am confident
with, as doing my weekly blogs will remind me of any
outstanding work, as well as the one to ones and my
feedback, so I will 100% know if anything is missing
or not up to a good standard. I have also made a
production schedule that ranges from now until my
final FMP deadline, in over 100 days from now. By
dedicating weeks to certain criteria of my FMP I will
not start the day having no work to do or being lost
with what I need to do- as my production schedule
outlines this step by step. Production schedules have
helped immensely in my past units and the outline it
gives me makes me feel confident I have enough time
to make all pieces of work I do a very high standard,
whilst also giving me enough time to meet my
deadlines ahead of time, to get feedback more often
and improve more often- as the more I improve, the
better the grade I will get. When it comes the
filming aspect of my FMP I always aim to be organised
too. With detailed planning, which I always get high
marks for, including crew list, equipment list etc
that allow me to not need to worry on the day as
people have been pre-assigned roles and I always
makes sure equipment is either charged or has spare
FMP Josh Richardson

batteries so that the filming days can be as

efficient as possible. This year with the added risk
of COVID-19 I will have to make sure all crew are
safe. So, if possible, I will order some COVID-19
tests to be taken the day before shooting, whilst
also making sure my crew have masks and sanitize -
while knowing to let me know if they have symptoms
and having constant communication to make sure they
are okay. This will make the risk of COVID-19 as low
as possible.

Competition- Raindance Film Festival 2021

The Raindance film festival is the largest
independent UK Film Festival and has so far had 28
festivals, with the 29th upcoming later this year. The
festival has had global recognition by Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences USA as well as the
BAFTA’s. Each year, Raindance attracts 16,000
visitors and
The 28th Raindance was supposed to take place on the
27th October 2020, but due to COVID-19 it had to be
primarily online, where the attendance were allowed
to watch most of the entries free of charge, however
they requested people to donate if possible. This
year it will take place in ‘Autumn’ which is likely
purposely been made vaguely due to the uncertainty
caused by the pandemic.
To submit a short film, it must be Under 45 minutes,
and will be judged on Quality of narrative and
production values as well as the independent nature
of the production. Raindance will notify all parties
that submit if it was successful or not on 15th
September 2021. To be eligible to enter, the
production much have been made after 1st January 2019,
which mine will be and therefore I am eligible to
enter.
 FMP Josh Richardson

Submission deadlines and fees

The likelihood is that my production will be finished in May,

however with the uncertainty around with the pandemic it could
change, and therefore I am going to be submitting into the
‘late submissions’ in June 2021, so I have enough time to plan
in case any of My FMP changes due to the pandemic. This would
cost me £50.
If selected, I MUST provide a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) in
order to be screened at the Raindance Film Festival, as well as
a backup Blu-ray. I would send these by post or digitally. My
production is completely in English and therefore I am not
required to use subtitles.

The festival has 8 different entry categories.

 Narrative Feature
 Documentary Feature
 Narrative Short (The category I am going to be entering!)
 Documentary Short
 Animation Short
 Music Video
 Queer (Feature)
 Virtual and Augmented Reality Experiences

I chose Raindance due to not only the popularity of the

festival, where it is appreciated all over the world, but also
because of how much freedom it allowed me to express myself, as
it does not have and strict restrictions about aspects for my
production like narrative, which will allow me to show my
creativity and hopefully get the best grade possible. I also
have chosen to do a festival instead of a client because it
will be completely my own ideas, camerawork, narrative and
editing. This is different with a client as you would have to
 FMP Josh Richardson

change quite a few ideas to suit their needs, they will also
not like everything you do and ask for changes, but I would
have had to agree with him even if I did not agree with his
changes- for my FMP I wanted this project to show what I can do
without someone giving me any sort of structure or pre-idea. I
am passionate about my work and having creative judgement on my
project will allow me to improve myself before going into the
industry and being able to show what I can do.

Anticipated problems
Problems when doing research and planning and how I
plan to resolve them
One problem I am aware of from previous productions
is struggling to get enough primary research ahead
of the production- including vox pops and a large
number on survey results. One of the main reasons in
the past when I have struggled to complete all
necessary primary research ahead of production is
because I leave it until I have a huge workload and
then have to catch up when I don’t have enough time
FMP Josh Richardson

to do it all to a high standard, to resolve this

I’ve made a detailed production schedule which I am
to follow strictly, as doing so will mean that I
don’t fall behind on my work and am able to complete
it with enough time to get some feedback and improve
my work. To get more survey results, I am going not
only am I going to send a link directly to my
closest friends and family like I usually do – but
also share on social media like Facebook, as this
will give me some extra responses, and the more I
get the better information I have about my audience
and their needs, so I can shape my ideas to what
they like, and then they will enjoy it more.
Problems when filming and editing
Will complete after research when I have a clearer
idea of possible problems when I know my locations,
and what equipment I will use.