Apologies for the terrible quality of video:
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Short Film Script Proposal
My short-film script is going to be a mocumentary about the making of a feature film. The original idea came about having watched the DVD extras on a copy of the film ‘Superbad’ (2007) which include a featurette called ‘Everyone hates Michael Cera’. It’s a faked documentary about how hard it was to work with the famously easy going and lovable Michael Cera. Each member of the cast and crew, including Cera is interviewed about the filming process and what it has been like to work together, and whilst all other members of the team complain about how annoying Cera is, he talks about how well he gets on with everyone. These interviews are then inter-cut with examples of situations in which Cera acts inappropriately or forces his way into a conversation between other cast members.
Shooting Day 2
Everyone on the team was expecting the second day of shooting to be a lot less stressful than the first, and in a lot of ways we were right. Almost all of the scenes that we had to shoot on the Sunday were set in Lydias house which meant that we were out of the rain. There were however, a couple of exteriors of houses that we needed for continuity, as well as one scene which was shoot on a street very near both mine and Lydias houses.
Though the shoot was easier on Sunday it was also a lot longer, we started at about 11am and finished shooting a party scene at about 9.30pm. One of the main challenges of the day was filming In Lydias room, mainly because almost all of the crew had to fit behind the camera in order to not be seen in the shot, and as this room was where we did most of our shooting there were several times where a crew members foot or hand would be in shot and we'd have to do it again. But after a while we got used to the situation and perfected the art of hiding from the camera and being silent.
Probably the most enjoyable part of the final day of shooting was the fact that the final scenes we shot were set in a party, so we had to bring in our friends as extras and provide them with music and drinks in order to get the atmosphere we needed for the scenes. Though we used far more takes to film these scenes as there were more people to keep track of, they turned out looking pretty convincing and it meant that filming ended on a very positive note.
Lydia and Alex are now in charge of the edit, but hopefully everyone will have an opportunity to get involved, luckily everyone has a similar idea of what the film will look like post-production so the editing process shouldn't be too stressful.
Though the shoot was easier on Sunday it was also a lot longer, we started at about 11am and finished shooting a party scene at about 9.30pm. One of the main challenges of the day was filming In Lydias room, mainly because almost all of the crew had to fit behind the camera in order to not be seen in the shot, and as this room was where we did most of our shooting there were several times where a crew members foot or hand would be in shot and we'd have to do it again. But after a while we got used to the situation and perfected the art of hiding from the camera and being silent.
Probably the most enjoyable part of the final day of shooting was the fact that the final scenes we shot were set in a party, so we had to bring in our friends as extras and provide them with music and drinks in order to get the atmosphere we needed for the scenes. Though we used far more takes to film these scenes as there were more people to keep track of, they turned out looking pretty convincing and it meant that filming ended on a very positive note.
Lydia and Alex are now in charge of the edit, but hopefully everyone will have an opportunity to get involved, luckily everyone has a similar idea of what the film will look like post-production so the editing process shouldn't be too stressful.
Shooting Day 1
The first day of shooting was a lot more stressful than anyone anticipated. We threw ourselves in at the deep end but not filming on Friday night (not everyone was available) which meant that there was a lot to do on Saturday, all of which had to be shot in town. We started at about 8.30am because we needed to shoot main high streets but not be surrounded by people. The first scene that needed shooting was a montage scene of our main character shopping, this proved difficult to achieve because, though we knew the types of shots we wanted, we weren't sure of the right location. However, after a few attempts at shooting in different locations we started to get usable footage.
Another problems we were battling all day was the weather, not only was the rain a problem in terms of continuity between shots, but also in terms of keeping all the equipment dry and undamaged. Fortunately there were enough of us there to keep track of everything and constantly hold umbrellas over Adam and the camera. Despite this, and a few issues with sound at the beginning, we got into a rhythm with the filming and everyone knew what they were expected to do. We took a break just before filming the new scene 7 but there were some decisions that needed to be made. I thought that it would be easy enough to shoot the rewritten version of the scene as everyone knew it and we didn't have a market to film in. However Lydia (our director) knew of a market that wasn't far away which she thought would be perfect for the original scene so, having got their permission, we shot there instead.
Luckily everything worked out and we ended up getting everything filmed that we needed for the day, but we did wrap earlier than expected. I think that the rain spurred us on.
Another problems we were battling all day was the weather, not only was the rain a problem in terms of continuity between shots, but also in terms of keeping all the equipment dry and undamaged. Fortunately there were enough of us there to keep track of everything and constantly hold umbrellas over Adam and the camera. Despite this, and a few issues with sound at the beginning, we got into a rhythm with the filming and everyone knew what they were expected to do. We took a break just before filming the new scene 7 but there were some decisions that needed to be made. I thought that it would be easy enough to shoot the rewritten version of the scene as everyone knew it and we didn't have a market to film in. However Lydia (our director) knew of a market that wasn't far away which she thought would be perfect for the original scene so, having got their permission, we shot there instead.
Luckily everything worked out and we ended up getting everything filmed that we needed for the day, but we did wrap earlier than expected. I think that the rain spurred us on.
Pre-Shoot Drama
Having finalised a script and shot-list Mark (our producer) emailed me a copy of the shedual and asked me to fill it out as I had more of an idea about the working shot-list and where we would need to be as well as for how long. I’d never written a shooting schedule before and had no idea how long each scene would take to finish so the final copy that I emailed out to everyone was more of a guideline rather than a definitive schedule. However on the Friday before filming, Mark called me to say that he’d gone to Green Park Station (one of our filming locations) to reconfirm that it was possible to shoot there, and let them know what time we’d be there. The owners of Green Park station had changed their minds about allowing us to shoot there which left us with a massive problem, scene 7, one of the most important scenes in the short film was all set in a market, and now we didn’t have one. It being the night before filming was due to start, I decided that our only option was to rewrite scene 7 completely and set it in a different place. Which I then did, I also extended the scene because there were some concerns that the film wasn’t going to be long enough. I managed the get in touch with everyone and let them know about the new scene and emailed everyone a copy, so by Saturday morning everyone was prepared.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Re-writes and Shot-lists.
This week there have been some issues with my groups work on our short film. One member of our group was assigned the job of putting together all of the different versions of our re-write into one final script. However due to Lydia having technical difficulties this took a lot longer than expected and caused some problems in terms of progressing with our film.
Due to the fact that we didn't have a script to work with during the session, we discussed who we thought would be good to play the two central roles in our film, as well as where we would like to shoot. We decided to meet up twice during the week to look for locations and get permissions sorted out well in advance of our shoot.
Mark and I met on Thursday morning with the intention of going location scouting using the script as a basis for finding locations. However we were unable to contact Lydia in order to get hold of the script. Our feeling was that there was a small chance that we would arrive at the lecture on Monday without any script at all, so I offered to re-write it again to be sure that we had something to work with.
Mark went location scouting on Saturday instead while I stayed at home and did the re-write. With the intention of saving time I decided to write the shot-list first, because I felt that it was more important to have a guideline of exactly what we needed to film. As a group we had already discussed in detail what kinds of shots we wanted to have in the film, as well as a scene by scene breakdown of the script. I was having trouble understanding how to use celtx when writing a shot list as opposed to a script so decided to use Microsoft Word instead. I then emailed my work to the rest of the group so that they could read it before the session.
I was planning on then writing out the final script but after emailing the group I realised that Lydia had managed to send out her version. Having read her script, I felt as though they it was similar enough to my shot-list that any inaccuracies or differences there may have been between the two could be talked through in the session with the rest of the group.
Hopefully we will also have some images of locations in which we intend to shoot by the end of the session which I can add to this blog.
Due to the fact that we didn't have a script to work with during the session, we discussed who we thought would be good to play the two central roles in our film, as well as where we would like to shoot. We decided to meet up twice during the week to look for locations and get permissions sorted out well in advance of our shoot.
Mark and I met on Thursday morning with the intention of going location scouting using the script as a basis for finding locations. However we were unable to contact Lydia in order to get hold of the script. Our feeling was that there was a small chance that we would arrive at the lecture on Monday without any script at all, so I offered to re-write it again to be sure that we had something to work with.
Mark went location scouting on Saturday instead while I stayed at home and did the re-write. With the intention of saving time I decided to write the shot-list first, because I felt that it was more important to have a guideline of exactly what we needed to film. As a group we had already discussed in detail what kinds of shots we wanted to have in the film, as well as a scene by scene breakdown of the script. I was having trouble understanding how to use celtx when writing a shot list as opposed to a script so decided to use Microsoft Word instead. I then emailed my work to the rest of the group so that they could read it before the session.
I was planning on then writing out the final script but after emailing the group I realised that Lydia had managed to send out her version. Having read her script, I felt as though they it was similar enough to my shot-list that any inaccuracies or differences there may have been between the two could be talked through in the session with the rest of the group.
Hopefully we will also have some images of locations in which we intend to shoot by the end of the session which I can add to this blog.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Rewriting the 'Shoes' Script.
Over the last couple of weeks, the task we have been given by our lecturer is to rewrite the original 'What would you do for a pair of shoes?' script and make it into something we would want to make into a film.
We started out by discussing what we thought were the main themes within the original, and how we could take those themes and adapt them into a different story. There were a lot of different ideas about what the main themes were. Most people felt that the main themes in the original script were those of desire, materialism, attention, possession, or more generally 'needs and wants'.
Our group decided that we wanted to focus our film on the idea of desire as there was more potential to expand and develop ideas.
An important decision that we reached as a group was about the look at atmosphere of the film. Having watched several short films as research for this module, there was one that stuck in my mind.
Post-It Love is only about 2.40 minutes long and there were several reasons that I particularly liked this film. I enjoyed the fact that it was a very simple but unusual story, I liked the fact that the entire film contained no dialogue and I also liked the use of music. I thought that these elements could be used, or at least considered whilst brainstorming ideas for our film.
As a group we decided that we wanted to focus on visuals more than dialogue and I thought that an interesting way to do that, which also linked in with the story would be to have the whole film set in a black and white world where each person has one item of clothing which is brightly coloured, eye catching, and totally individual to them. The story of the film would then focus on one girl who did not have such an item, and would follow her desire to find that item and fit in with everyone else.
The look we are hoping to achieve within the film is something like this:
The only things in the film that would be shown in colour would be one item of clothing on each character, everyone accept the main female character.
We also decided as a group that we would follow the original script in some ways, and use it as a platform from which to build ideas. We then decided to individually come up with ideas about the story and then bring them all together in our next seminar.
We started out by discussing what we thought were the main themes within the original, and how we could take those themes and adapt them into a different story. There were a lot of different ideas about what the main themes were. Most people felt that the main themes in the original script were those of desire, materialism, attention, possession, or more generally 'needs and wants'.
Our group decided that we wanted to focus our film on the idea of desire as there was more potential to expand and develop ideas.
An important decision that we reached as a group was about the look at atmosphere of the film. Having watched several short films as research for this module, there was one that stuck in my mind.
Post-It Love is only about 2.40 minutes long and there were several reasons that I particularly liked this film. I enjoyed the fact that it was a very simple but unusual story, I liked the fact that the entire film contained no dialogue and I also liked the use of music. I thought that these elements could be used, or at least considered whilst brainstorming ideas for our film.
As a group we decided that we wanted to focus on visuals more than dialogue and I thought that an interesting way to do that, which also linked in with the story would be to have the whole film set in a black and white world where each person has one item of clothing which is brightly coloured, eye catching, and totally individual to them. The story of the film would then focus on one girl who did not have such an item, and would follow her desire to find that item and fit in with everyone else.
The look we are hoping to achieve within the film is something like this:
The only things in the film that would be shown in colour would be one item of clothing on each character, everyone accept the main female character.We also decided as a group that we would follow the original script in some ways, and use it as a platform from which to build ideas. We then decided to individually come up with ideas about the story and then bring them all together in our next seminar.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
An Introduction to Short Films.
Short Films
Luv Delux
When first watching this short film you believe that the story begins when the protagonist leaves home and is signalled by the shot of a note saying 'Dear Mom and Dad, leaving home, for good.'
However, once you reach the end of the film it becomes clear that the story really begins when the female character rips up their bill in the diner, as this is the catalyst which leads to them both going off the rails.
The structure of the film is interesting as the narrative occasionally goes back in time and alters an event in order to show how the story would have progressed had that event not taken place. Unfortunately, by the end of the short film, the line between perceived reality and fantasy has blurred to the extent that the ending reached is, in my opinion, unsatisfying, as it is unclear what sequence of events has lead to that conclusion.
Goodbye to the Normals.
I think that the film began when ‘Dad’ sat down in front of Magnus and began asking him what he was planning. The story develops as their conversation continues and humour arrises from the manner in which the parents are choosing to deal with the childs decision to run away, as well as Magnus’ decidedly grown up approach to the exchange. At the end of the film, when Magnus is running back into the arms of his mother, it felt a little too much like an easy way to close the film, however when he runs past her to get his passport there is a simple pleasure for the viewers in the fact that his fantasy continues. I liked this short film because it was short, simple and funny, there was no pretention or important message, just something that made you smile.
No Room For Gerold
The film begins with all the flatmates sat around the table discussing the fact that they want Gerold to move out. The narrative of the film is merely how the conversation progresses from that point onwards, highlighting the issues that have arisen in a flat occupied by a crocodile, a deer, a rhino and a hippo. I enjoyed this short film because the idea is very original and because of the way that the dialogue is very downbeat and realistic. In some ways it is a conversation that you could imagine having with your housemates. I also liked the fact that it is indicated at the end, that the whole thing was filmed on a handheld camera because it adds to the ridiculousness of the film as a whole.
How to Break Up (Tales of Mere Existence)
This film begins with the title ‘How to Break Up with your Girlfriend.’ It consists of 64 different images which each represent a different stage in the process of being in a relationship and that relationship ending. The structure of this film, the fact that it is made up of still images and the fact that it looks so basic, I think work very effectively. The narrative moves fast enough to keep people interested for the whole film despite there being r
epetition and the fact that the entire story goes in a loop. I liked the film because, despite it having a pretty depressing final message, there is humour within the story and various elements are easy to relate to.
A Small Silent Film about Death
The story within the film begins when Mr Jonas sends the email to Mrs Jones by accident and progresses by moving from the story of one family to that of another. I like the way that this short film has been produced, despite being evidently quite low budget this is well hidden by the silent film style that is used. Being such a short film with very little in terms of plot it is hard to link the beginning of the film to the end of it other than to say that the light hearted story is rounded off in a satisfying way and I believe the desired effect is achieved.
When I Move
This film appears to lack a beginning, middle and end, although after watching it a second time it could be said that in the simplest way, the beginning is when each of the four characters starts moving, the middle is the time in which they describe what movement means to them in the voice over whilst showing what they are capable of. The end is when they stop moving. I thought this film was shot beautifully but there was nothing that happened during it that grabbed me or made me want to continue watching. There was no conclusion or story behind what was going on.
Post-It Love
This film began when the male character sat at his desk and found a message from the female character made out of post-its, this then sparks a series of escalating post-it murals exchanged between the two characters who do not speak to each other throughout the film. The ending of the film doesn’t link with the beginning because the film is about the progression of their relationship. I loved this short film because I think that it illustrates exactly what a short film should be. It’s original, funny, entertaining and endearing.
Luv Delux
When first watching this short film you believe that the story begins when the protagonist leaves home and is signalled by the shot of a note saying 'Dear Mom and Dad, leaving home, for good.'
However, once you reach the end of the film it becomes clear that the story really begins when the female character rips up their bill in the diner, as this is the catalyst which leads to them both going off the rails.
The structure of the film is interesting as the narrative occasionally goes back in time and alters an event in order to show how the story would have progressed had that event not taken place. Unfortunately, by the end of the short film, the line between perceived reality and fantasy has blurred to the extent that the ending reached is, in my opinion, unsatisfying, as it is unclear what sequence of events has lead to that conclusion.
Goodbye to the Normals.
I think that the film began when ‘Dad’ sat down in front of Magnus and began asking him what he was planning. The story develops as their conversation continues and humour arrises from the manner in which the parents are choosing to deal with the childs decision to run away, as well as Magnus’ decidedly grown up approach to the exchange. At the end of the film, when Magnus is running back into the arms of his mother, it felt a little too much like an easy way to close the film, however when he runs past her to get his passport there is a simple pleasure for the viewers in the fact that his fantasy continues. I liked this short film because it was short, simple and funny, there was no pretention or important message, just something that made you smile.
No Room For Gerold
The film begins with all the flatmates sat around the table discussing the fact that they want Gerold to move out. The narrative of the film is merely how the conversation progresses from that point onwards, highlighting the issues that have arisen in a flat occupied by a crocodile, a deer, a rhino and a hippo. I enjoyed this short film because the idea is very original and because of the way that the dialogue is very downbeat and realistic. In some ways it is a conversation that you could imagine having with your housemates. I also liked the fact that it is indicated at the end, that the whole thing was filmed on a handheld camera because it adds to the ridiculousness of the film as a whole.
How to Break Up (Tales of Mere Existence)
This film begins with the title ‘How to Break Up with your Girlfriend.’ It consists of 64 different images which each represent a different stage in the process of being in a relationship and that relationship ending. The structure of this film, the fact that it is made up of still images and the fact that it looks so basic, I think work very effectively. The narrative moves fast enough to keep people interested for the whole film despite there being r
epetition and the fact that the entire story goes in a loop. I liked the film because, despite it having a pretty depressing final message, there is humour within the story and various elements are easy to relate to.A Small Silent Film about Death
The story within the film begins when Mr Jonas sends the email to Mrs Jones by accident and progresses by moving from the story of one family to that of another. I like the way that this short film has been produced, despite being evidently quite low budget this is well hidden by the silent film style that is used. Being such a short film with very little in terms of plot it is hard to link the beginning of the film to the end of it other than to say that the light hearted story is rounded off in a satisfying way and I believe the desired effect is achieved.
When I Move
This film appears to lack a beginning, middle and end, although after watching it a second time it could be said that in the simplest way, the beginning is when each of the four characters starts moving, the middle is the time in which they describe what movement means to them in the voice over whilst showing what they are capable of. The end is when they stop moving. I thought this film was shot beautifully but there was nothing that happened during it that grabbed me or made me want to continue watching. There was no conclusion or story behind what was going on.
Post-It Love
This film began when the male character sat at his desk and found a message from the female character made out of post-its, this then sparks a series of escalating post-it murals exchanged between the two characters who do not speak to each other throughout the film. The ending of the film doesn’t link with the beginning because the film is about the progression of their relationship. I loved this short film because I think that it illustrates exactly what a short film should be. It’s original, funny, entertaining and endearing.
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