Test scene

We the audience are halfway through the film and the main protagoinist is constantly cheking skype to seee if his beloved is online however when he asks the question 'Have you got a boyfriend' we realise that they have broken up and he is devestated. This is reinforced through the use of non-diegetic sound of what sounds like a brass band. We also added the edditing effect of voice over, reason being we felt it would be a dynamic way to nirate to the audince what the protagoinist is going through. I created the music through the music edditing software 'soundtrack pro' this fraction of the film helped me see what happens next. Since I have written a huge treatment/script I now see that I have no choice but to conndence it, and jump to the final scene.

Short Film Audiences

Who watches short films?

How do they watch them? Cinema, festivals, online, TV, DVD, etc Which is the most common source?

Most people consume short films through film festivals, television and the internet. It is very rare for a cinema to show a short film for it would not bring enough revenue. For they appeal to a very niche market.  Most people tend to watch short films on the well known video website Youtube, Future Shorts, BBC Film Network and Short of the Week.

What are the most popular short films?

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?title_type=short
http://listverse.com/15-great-short-films/


In terms of audience, are they male/female? Educated? Film makers/fans? Social class/status?

The audience usually is, in social terms, middle class (A - C1). They are usually fanatics about films and they are interested in making or producing short films. In some cases, they are already in the business of making them. If they are viewing the shorts online it means they are educated in the networks and are knowledgeable of how to access them, they are media literate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/introduction/why-make-a-short - info here

http://www.slideshare.net/gracew41/target-audience-3310758

From your research about short film audiences, who would be the audience for your short film?

I searched 'popular short films' on 'Google' and came across a short film Finite which focusses on some on my chosen themes - loss, love and memories of a relationship, which is reason for me to believe that my short film 'BOOST' is giving the mass audience what they want to see.  I am targeting 15 to early and late twenties that have probably experienced this situation and are stereotypically craving love and they may also think that no one in the world as ever felt this immense pain before so for them to see a character that has hit rockbottom may emotionally educate them as well. As the 'Finite' made me realise just now that break ups  happen to everyone and hurts everyone just as much and I hope to give this message to the people who will watch this film learn as well. 

Test shooting Beach Scene

I have got a scene which takes place on holiday the scene itself is on the beach. Given that my film is postmodern the use of a poster as background should work well to signify the beach and a hot day. The lighting is not good in the pictures and I will have to get the actor to sit a little way away from the poster so that it can be backlit.

Obviously the actor will be in a T shirt or topless and I will also use glycerin to create an authentic  sweaty look and atmosphere. I think the main problem here is that my face has not been lit however the background suggests bright light. So to make the cheat more believable ill need to use some careful lighting.

Test shots

Firstly, we drew a quick sketch of the scene which is called storyboarding. We did the test shot to see just how precise you have to be even to film a simple scene. We made two versions of the same scene
We used a tripod, video camera and two performers. Firstly we filmed my hand grabbing a cup, which will be a can of Boost in the final film. It was a close up that tilted up to reveal the character drinking it, which was a medium close up. Secondly, we filmed what will be a girl, looking at me and me looking at her, though for this shot it didn't really work out. It the second shot the camera didn't move and was a two shot close up.

Index Cards

Index cards - What are index cards?

Index cards are what you use after you write the treatment and they allow you to break it up into smaller scenes and allows you to see more clearly the narrative structure.

How did you use them?

I copy and pasted the treatment into these index cards and using sellotape stuck them up on a wall so I could refer to them in a more easy fashion. I had 42 index cards, some vary in detail, some of them carry about 200 words whereas others carry about 20 words.

I found these really helpful because they are small and tell me exactly what to shoot next. I may have to in the future replace or exclude some cards for the reason being they may not be relevant or will overrun the task, which is exactly five minutes.

My treatment

A Treatment is a synopis of the story line. It has helps people plan their narrative. And helps them see what scene comes next in their film
I wrote my entire past with my ex and condensed all the key moments that made and destroyed this relationship. I used the free open source software, Celtx to write my treatment. It was approximately 2000 words. It was extremely helpful for it helped me foresee the story and what how it follows. However, it also made me see clearly how to play it next time and gave me some advice on what not to do.

Rufus boost from mediastudiesfinearts

My interview

I got interviwed aboiut my film. And in it We got some really good shots of my Treatmenat which is almost completed. It also helped talking about it for it made me come to terms with the reality that even though I am making a film about my ex doesn't mean she's coming back and it's over. The interview was quite therapeutic and made it clear that it is just  with cameras and actors and not me reliving my past. I find it hard filming and writing about this but I feel that my subconscious is the director and telling me what to do. The interview in my head is still going on I keep asking my self what 'happened next?' It's quite cool because even though it is very emtionaly straining I feel as if it is going to conclude with me walking out with a good grade and Chloe free thoughts and fantasies. I feel that it is going from an idea and turning into an actual object of creativity. For the interview we used a panasonic DSLR we used various shots such as paning tilts and Close ups (CU) And the editing technique of title heading and fade in text.

We also used cut aways, which are conventional for interviews.

Conventions of Short Romantic Dramas

What short romantic dramas have you seen? List them.
Gone with the wind.
Bad Lands
Romeo and Juliet


Where did you see them?
At home

What themes are common? What's conventional? Falling in love and sycoligical objects that cause them to  break away from love.

Are there any particular camera, editing, sound or mise-en-scene techniques that are conventional? Or that you enjoyed? I enjoyed the music in Bad Lands and the locations such as there tree fort that they made out of wood and I liked the creativerty of the male prtagonists groosme traps.

How will your film look? What conventions will it use? Develop? Or change?

My film will changle the conventions of a Romantic Drma for it wont have  a sad ending orginally it was going to but I felt that it would alinate tha audinces and dissapoint them. And  I would like to delvop the idea of the male protagonist over comeing the pain and trimafe over it and not induldge it. I also think it might make audinces happy to see the character get over it and end with him walking away with another girl. I feel a sucidal ending may cause them them say to themselvs, 'That was a waste of time.' and according to some exinmers critsims is that  sucidal ending are, 'Cleachi' I would like my film to have a more possitive end.

Research

by using WEB2.0 I came across a valuble webiste page that informed me about the codes and conventuons that feature  in romantic drama which is the genre of my short film, for it is based around love and how it all fell apaart and the conflict that the protagonist went through. Knowing that audinces are board of students ending their  films with suicide, as however due to research it is conventional for tradic dramas. Since  my themes are love, addiction, heartace and anger. Knowing this  I feel that a suicdal ending would be justified to end my film.


Genre:

Romance Sub-genres:

Romantic Drama

Romantic Drama film is a genre that explores the complex side of love. The plot usually centers around an obstacle that is preventing love between two people. The obstacles in Romantic Drama film can range from a family's disapproval, to forbidden love, to one's own psychological restraints. Many Romantic Dramas end with the lovers separating because of the enormity of the obstacle, the realization of incompatibility, or simply because of fate.

Examples: Titanic, Breakfast at Tiffany's, An Officer and a Gentleman.

Demographic for Boost

Boost- Who my audience is.

I am hoping to gain a teenage audience for my film Boost.

To be more specific this film might also appeal to film students since they watch short films to get inspiration. 

To this end my film focuses on teenage love, paranoia, jealousy and suicidal heartache. With a happy ending 

I feel these themes will attract my demographic since most of them will have some experience in this area. Added to this  I am using young people and hope that the narrative will be identifiable with a large percentage of them.

The genre is romantic drama and although teen films are often focused on horror or action there are films that are attracting this demographic such as ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’ and ‘Lymelife’ Both films deal with teenage issues around love and deceit.

Inspirations for Boost

I have selected several short film and feature length films that deal with similar subject matters and themes that my film deals with an example of this is Teen Suicide which is a drama romance with a tragic end same as my short film which is about a young boy who discovers love and goes on an emotional journey with his lover he ends up being the cause of the break up which leads him to take his own life.The feature film leaving Vegas which is about addiction my character also suffers with a strong dependency onEnergy drinks to conclude this post I feel these films follow the same narrative structure as my film.            








This short deals with unrequited love. Like my film it is about teenagers. 
The main protagonist is in love and tries to engage her but it is to no avail
She has no way of dealing with the despair she feels.
We see her high up on the school roof with a rook on her arm, possibly signifying death?
She swan dives off the roof.
It also uses the editing technique of blank screen with text. I am interested in using this for my film
I am also interested in suicidal tendencies in young people and the extreme difficulty of dealing with heartbreak.




Leaving Las Vegas deals with giving up and using and the physiology of thinking that something outside of yourself can make you feel better, which is the same theme that my film will try to attempt.
Also there is a romance connected with suicide as though it is a welcome refuge rather than self murder. 
Suicide is dealt with in this film as a final place of retreat and I want my film to try to convey this. 
However, both my idea and this film deny the truth, that suicide will not bring relief only an end to life.




Lymelife: 
This film has an ensemble cast but within it two teenagers. During the film we see the young boy try to get the girl. However for most of the film she sees him as a friend/idiot and is quite cruel to him. Some of this dynamic I would like to attempt in 'Boost' 


Bad Lands:

The Film Band Lands inspired me to make my film since it's subjects are orientated around destruction. My character is also fixated with acting out destructively but instead of physically hurting others he is emotionally hurting is girl friend and himself.  The film's genre is romantic drama which I am keen to make myself. In Badlands the protagonist goes on a killing spree as does mine, not with a firearm but with a can of 'Boost' and hurtful words which leads to is predictable catharsis, suicide. Both the characters smoke which symbolise destruction and self hatred.





Blue Valentine

The task list

 I will have to create a working title
I will have to research the conventions of my film/ audince research/ delvoment
 I will have to create a script

I will have to create a storyboard

I will have to create a cast list

I will have to find loacations
plan rehersals
I will have to find props

I will have to direct

I will have to shoot the film

I will have to find non copywritied music to go with the film

I will have to edit the film/sound edit the film

The brief

I have to make a 5 minte long film
I have to make a poster for my film
A radio trailer for the film
A film magazine review page featuring the film

I have decided that my genre for my film is drama. The subject matter is passion love pain, selfhated, gulit  and exceptionce. What inspired this subject matter was a break up that I have reasintly experinced and a short film called 'The Plan.' and a feature film called leaving Vagas. The deadline for the film is the 13th of december. Knowing this I know I have alot of planning to do firstly create a script and I will write the first draft this week. Once its been analyses by the media teach and or assitant I shall then decide weather it needs to be rewritten or to move on to the story board. 

Preproduction

I would like to start creating the script for the film I am going to use an open sorce software known as Celtx this allows me to make a script and create other necerythings to help me plan such as a storyboard with created animations to make the storyboard more visaly effective. In todays lesson we went into detail about equipment and reaserch. So for my reseach I will watch and amananalyse  reality drama shortfilms using the world wide web.  The film has to be compleated by december. Knowing this I would like to start filming in two weeks. Knowing that I will be the leading character in the film I will need a camera man and a female to play the role as my girlfriend, since I do drama A2 leval I am confidont that a girl from my drama group would be more than happy to play the role. The two things that inspiered my idea was a short film  call  'The PLAN.' and my break up. Eventhough I have not yet found my female character I know what costume I would like her to wear which would be a gothic girl look or metal head for example dressed in black no lipstick however I would want her to wear alot of eye shaddow. I am going to wear jeans aTshirt compleate with a dark blue demin shirt.

The Plan

Director : Matthew Kallish

Year : 2008

The film deals with the difficulty in breaking out of a rut. This is a story of a young man who tries to escape his current life and find another. This includes leaving his girlfriend, Claudia. 

The film is shot in black and white. The film opens with a shot of a highway as if looking out of a rear view mirror, suggesting leaving.

 There is a V.O of the young man explaining ‘his plan’ to leave. We see him in his room packing. This is a hand held shot focusing on the contents of his hurriedly packed bag, which implies a impulsive decision rather than a planned journey. We see him chucking together what he thinks he might need such as tinned food, tapes, camera, vodka, ‘What I may need to sustain life.’ Lastly we see him rejecting a call from Claudia on his mobile phone. We hear her message, which is both insulting and full of contempt for his plan, describing it as ‘a phase.’ His response is to look at the phone and the V.O say’s and ‘to leave Claudia....for good this time.’ Again suggesting that his life is in a rut and he is escaping.

This cuts to a shot of him walking towards a bank, with the V.O saying that he will take all the money out of his account.

Next shot is a highway taken from inside the drivers P.O.V (through the window screen) followed by a shot taken at the side of the road showing cars passing. The V.O then reveals his plan, to go to Vegas ‘and put it all on red.’

Cut to white with the film’s title: The Plan.

Through most of the film there is a constant sound of soft non digetic music which inspires a feeling of tension that something is going to go wrong. We see him on the side of the highway taking photographs we see what he is shooting as a wide angle shot. Next location is a rest stop. He appears from the rest-stop observing a notice board, advertising a casino. We hear a  voice, ‘that’s a good casino.’ The camera pans round to reveal a pretty girl, a short pice of dialogue prevails, later he takes a picture of her, she gets upset and walks away. He returns to the car park ask’s a truck driver for directions. Suddenly she appears in shot and steals his camera, we see this through a high angle shot. He runs after her through a maze of trucks he comes out the maze and we experience his confusion /isolation mirrored by the use of an extreme wide angle shot with him being the only person we can see.  He gets back in the car hears the phone ring- see’s that it is his ex girlfriend and triumphs over the temptation to pick up. It’s now night and we see the glowing lights of the casino with the inference that he is about to enter. 

The casino is shot in very tight frames revealing only the various gaming tables such as the roulette table. It is clever because despite never seeing a casino setting by using a soundtrack of a busy casino sounds and the cross cutting of hands moving across tables of games we are convinced of the experience. We hear the croupier announcing that there were ‘No winners’ on the roulette table and by that we realise our protagonist has been unlucky and lost all his money.

We go back to the rest stop, the protagonist is slumped on a bench. The shot is a mid shot which looks hand held and documentary in style, as does a lot of the film.  A sound of a mobile and the camera goes to extreme close up on mobile. We hear Claudia’s voice pleading ’ Come home Mitch, just come home’ Although his facial expression registers pain and defeat he looks really pissed. As the audience we are expecting him to submit and turn around and go home.
However, as he looks away with the mobile still to his ear we see his eye focus on something out of shot. He sees a picture of himself on the noticeboard.  The music which we could no longer hear suddenly comes back to underscore the feeling of renewed energy and hope. The camera goes into POV. He turns the picture over and sees the words, ‘Now we’re even.’ and the address of where the thief  lives. The film ends with an establishing shot of his car driving on the high way, we are left to presume that he is driving towards the new girls place. Interestingly the car drives in the same away direction it has done the whole film which again establishes that he is breaking free and not returning home.

Symmetry

Director:  Everynone 

Year: 2011

This film has a rigid presentation of a split screen of equal size. So in effect we are watching two screens. The images shown oscillate between  opposites, for example cop and robber to people and things that seem to go naturally together such as salt and pepper, popcorn and movies. 

The film starts off showing almost humorous opposites, like cat and mouse as well as visual plays on words for instance we see a paint box with brushes that an artist would use and on the other screen we see a decorators kit. 

The short film then moves into a more reflective area, for instance we see a toddler walk across his screen reappearing on the other screen as an old person using a stick to walk across his screen, alluding to the life cycle, again this idea is repeated with the end shot where the camera looks down at a new born baby and a old person, both are in hospital type environments but one has just arrived whilst the other is dying or even dead, we can tell this by the diegectic sound of the medical equipment making a series of beeps that gradually slow down to one continuous beep. 

The split screen often shows two images that are opposite but as with the toddler becoming the old man the split screen is used to make a point, we see two cars, one in each screen, driving in different directions which in this case is towards each other.  We see a young boy in an arcade pointing a toy gun at a an older man in the other screen who is in the country also with a rifle pointing back at the child.  So the split screen allows for the images to combine.

The photography is quite static in style for instance we see a corn field, the shot is still but the corn is blowing in the wind. The same shot is then set up at night.  Other static shots use the frame to make the story, for example we see half a boys face and half a girls face in their respective frames which then creates a whole face and shows the natural symmetry. 

For all the shots there is growing and continuos non diegectic soundtrack of music which seems to get faster as the film progresses. This creates a strong sense of an unfolding story and manages to make it a cohesive story. There is also diegectic sound, for example the squeezing of the ketchup, the sounds of children crying,

I feel the theme of the entire film deals with the different stages of life and the naturally occurring symmetries that occur even when they are opposites such as man and woman or child and an adult.

Cross Over

Director: Max Witting 

Year: 2012 


The film is shot in black and white which has a high contrast, this gives the film a reflective feel which is unusual when dealing with this type of subject matter, urban youth on an estate. Adding to this quality of mood is the stillness of the opening establishing long shot. The camera is still almost like a photograph which gives a strong sense of a forlorn landscape, with the only movement being a passing cloud. This then cuts to a shallow focus shot of a   of a branch of a tree just coming into bud, we can just make out a blurry block of flats behind it. Until now all we have heard is external diegetic sound but there is then a J-cut and we hear hip hop music we do not yet know where it is coming from. Cut to a boys bedroom, we see a young man, the room is back lit. The boy is exercising, he then goes to a mirror, we get the mirrors POV which is a slight wide angle shot which adds to the humour of the boy painfully plucking his eye brows. His phone rings, we hear him arranging a place to meet, ‘down stairs’. Cut to long shot of a glass tower block designed so that we can see the stair case. As he is descends we can only see half of him which gives a 2D quality to the film, possibly it represents his internal reality; for he can only show his manliness in a  cliche costume of baseball cap and hoody. Cut to Mid-shot of two friends sitting on a wall, briefly we see the friends beat boxing this signals an almost loving bond, cuts to a close up  transaction of what we presume to be a drug deal. Our protagonist joins them, after a moment the boy who got sold the drugs goes back into frame to complain, their response to his complaint is to cal him homophobic terms of abuse, ‘Batty Boy’ and set on him, however the violence is not shown in a way that is particularly hard core but more low key every day as though violence or kicking some one to the ground is acceptable part of the day to day. During this scene the camera is moving in round the group in an arc shot.There is a brief cutaway of ground and we see a gust of wind blowing a plastic bag we then return to the two shot of the friends walking towards the camera. The perspective changes to seeing them from the back walking away. There is another cutaway this time a still life of the estate which is in juxtaposition position to the live action and reaffirms the films opening atmosphere. The boys move on, there is a brief location shot of an another tower block a low angle shot which tilts down to reveal a sad row of shops.Friend enters shop acts friendly towards the lady at the till as she turns to get him some cigarettes he makes off with a bottle of vodka. The two boys run. shot cuts to boys running towards camera with the external digetic sound of a police siren.  The boys are out of breath and appear to have run into a covered car park. The lighting is very low key. The continuity editing is a maybe a little confused for the bottle of Vodka that they had just stolen is almost empty. The most surprising part of the film is when the friend drags the protagonist behind a pillar, quickly scanning the area and pushes him against a wall, turns cap around and kisses him.The two friends walk off away from camera and a sudden burst of non digetic hip hop burst out and then black to credits.

Loosers

Director: Everynone

Year: 2011

The film begins with the sound of precision clapping which accompanies the film through out. This seems to underscore the tension of the editing which is fast cuts.

The film opens with a POV of the tool bar of a Facebook page which shows a blank profile picture and letters which appear as though being typed whilst we watch the word , ‘Losers.’ appear. It then cuts to an overweight teenager eating alone in what appears to be a school cafe. This is then followed by a series of jump cuts showing teenagers persevering with various pursuits from weightlifting to painting. What gives the film it’s sense of isolation is that, with a few exceptions such as the the footballers and the skate boarders all the teenagers appear on their own, even a shot of a couple shows them physically in touch, (they are holding hands) but emotionally alienated, the boy looking as the girl is stares in the opposite the opposite direction.  

   A lot of the pursuits we see are motivated by the desire to overcome the oppression felt by being harassed. For example the lone boy in the basketball stand trying to score a hoop but keeps missing denotes a sense of not being ‘good enough.’  

   Half way through the short it changes pace and the editing becomes even faster. This starts with a close up of a boy in what looks like a school corridor,  there is very little depth of field the  background is blurred this camera technique increases the sense of isolation and we here a voice saying ‘Faggot’ he turns as though fearing it is being said about him. There then follows in rapid succession a series of close ups of expressionless teenage faces staring back at the camera. At the same time the nondigetic sound of rhythmic clapping is over laid with V.O’s of teen voices shouting insults, there is also a build up of experimental orchestral music which increase the tension. 

   This sequence ends with the sound of mocking laughter and a serious of shots of below the raider bullying, for example a close up of a boy spitting into someones face, as well a jump-cut to a Facebook message reading, ‘I hate you.’  The Final frame is one of the longest, lasting approximately 30 seconds. It shows an extreme close up of a girl crying. To further express the sadness of the shot there is no nondigetic sound and we can only hear the sound of soft tearful nosies. The film then cuts to a Facebook message reading, ‘Don't Bully LOOSER.’ 

Personally I found the film a touching and compelling message. It shows the undercurrent of the reality instead of animations on school walls showing a crappy sketch of the typical bully and a helpless character instead it goes deeper to the real heart of the matter. 

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Director:  Joseph Pelling, Becky Sloan 


Year: 2011 






 The film is made in shot motion. We open on a kitchen which has all been made in soft bright colored fabric. There are various close-ups of things you would typically find in a kitchen. The lighting is high key and the whole feel is very small children T.V. However we do see a newspaper with the words ‘right wing on it’ which is a little out of sync with the general tone. We see three characters sat at a table and then a closeup of a notepad/face who starts to sing in a flat dull child's voice very typical of the voices used in most children’s learning programs. I.E lifeless but fake enthusiastic, similar to how children are forced to cheer when in a studio audience, there is a terrible desolation to the sound. The song as well as the cheerful music is all very techno and robotic, which again perfectly duplicates the children’s genre. The pad begins to instruct the three characters on ‘being creative’ just the instruction is enough to flatten all creative urges. However, she goes on and on telling them they must be creative. As soon as one of the characters attempts to be creative by painting a clown the note pad destroys it by pouring black ink over the painting since the act was too independent for her liking. The characters seem to then become more and more anarchic and the filming suddenly becomes less like a kids t.v show and more like a horror, briefly seeing shots of blood and organs as well as the words death. Finally we return to the calm of the kitchen table with the note pad announcing ‘now lets all agree to never be creative again’.

Still Life with Smoke and Mirrors

Director :  Graham Young
Year : 2009 


We open with a still shot of a window which looks through to an indoor pool.The camera begins to slowly pull back revealing that the window is in fact a mirror which is reflecting the pool back to us which slowly as the camera continues to pull back makes sense. All the time this is happening there is non digectic sound of classical slow music with ghostly echoey sounds of children, and also water dripping, evoking the sort of sound quality you get inside a indoor public swimming pool. The visual is quite static except for passing shadows that come in through both the skylight and the windows. We see a white flicker gliding across the space which reappears nearer us; each time becoming more recognizable as a paper airplane this is also supported by the shadow of an airplane passing over head with the sound of distant plane engines. The Paper airplane is an animated image. Surprisingly we see the slow gathering of what looks like red rain, blood? but as it begins to gradually fall it becomes clear that the rain is actually red petals which fall both into the abandoned pool which is devoid of water and instead houses a pink container, and of the sides of the pool. Again the red petals look to of been put in after the film was shot and are animated. The film ends. All the time there is the sounds of echoey children voices denoting a sense of a super natural presence also evoked by the paper airplane. The scene conjures up a sense that something terrible has happened and we are looking at the aftermath.

Droom

Director : iloobia 

Year : 2011


The film is shot in black and white with a very hight quality sharpness. As the film opens we can hear the non digectic sound of a needle on a record before the music has started, together with the black and white film it denotes a mysterious retro effect. The film quality is very contrasted and this too makes the images seem more potent. The camera is also quite static with it pausing over objects almost like a stills camera. This stillness imbues the film with a feeling of ambiguity. However the quality of film changes dramatically as our protagonist picks up a 16mm camera and begins to film. Suddenly we are seeing as if through her camera, we are no longer in the sleek environment of her hotel room but out in the woods, the quality of the film is jumpy (time lapse?) and fast with the sounds of an old fashioned camera supporting this. We also hear amplified and distorted unknown crackling sounds of nature. the story jumps back and forth between the two styles of film, the hotel appear to be HD and the woods something more like old fashioned home movie. This could of been achieved in the edit. As we enter the fantasy or pandora’s box we see a naked woman being painted and amplified sound of sploshing paint. curious sounds are constant throughout the film, either amplified digetic or strange strands of sound, bells, stringed instruments but nothing really allowed to flow. This uncomfortable sound works well with the story which also feels unnerving and disconnected.