Friday 15 October 2010

Storyboard part 2

Short Film storyboard


To be continued.. Next blog post

Brief Script Structure

Section 1

Blimey I’ve been in here for ages. It’s doing my nut in. This pig is gassed up. I need to get out of here, can’t take it. What’s this, who’s this, what’s going on? (Piggy bank smashes) 

Fresh air. God i miss this. Err wait don’t touch me with your jammy hands. FINE here we go! Looks like I’ve got no choice, story of my life come on then you chylimida infested yout. Take me away!
You know what I’ve been doing this for nearly 27 years and I’m getting fed up, Mary Jane messed head up. That’s the problem with these teenagers complain about money but yet blow it on anything, and following all these political movements yet none of them are able to vote – eddiuts. Alright alright crisps will do. 

No not again. Argh hate this place. Cash tills are hell. Always have a stuck up 50 thinking he’s the godfather of Santander some sort of Arabian prince -  ha Get out of here. I’ll show him whose boss.


Section 2
Women – Can I have 20 silk cuts purple.

Fiver – Could get a change jobby here. Yes, do hope the bloke don’t throw a few coopers in. All rite here we go.

Women – Sorry but like do you have a five pound note this one’s really dirty and kinda crinkled.

Fiver – Bloody hell shes got some cheek. Not having it. I’ve been with tones of business women and there all the same.... Stuck up, always doing something fishy. Ahaha ya get me bud.
well I tell ya she got smooth hands could be useful. Woo I’m on fire today. Gosh calm down love stop running, oii mate watch out, easy, slow down, steady on, im slipping...



NOTE FALLS OUT OF HER HAND


Section 3
Fuckin hell that killed. Gonna jack up on some pain killers go all cobain on it. Arrr balls that nitty over there is staring at me, come of it don’t come over here. Tramps are the worst type of owners all they do is keep you in there rough diseased hands. God look at those gloves holes and all. Might spend on something warm or the usual white star to get piss’d.

Production Sheet

Final Synopsis/ Detailed Version

As a group we read over the first synopsis and discovered some elements that could be improved. We made some minor adjustment and added more detail so it's easy for us to understand the clear concept.

Detailed Synopsis
 
The narrative follows the story of a five pound note, being passed between three people between the space of six minutes. Being captivated inside a children’s piggy bank, a young teenage boy forcefully smashes the jar and releases the thriving five pound note into the unbeknown streets of London town. Fifteen year old Leroy takes the five pound note to the local corner shop, to invest the note in Caribbean cola, guava juice and sweet chilli Thai crisps. Being exceedingly pessimistic, the note is forced back into darkness, eager to meet his new occupant. The note then encounters the hands of a wealthy business woman, who is reluctant to receive the note as change after buying cigarettes, due to its crippled exterior. As  the elaborate mistress swiftly jumps in a cab, the five pound note flutters through her hands into the gutter, the cab then drives off. Taking each step at a time, dragging his belongings behind him, homeless Minty approaches the note. Snatching up the five pound note, Minty takes it back to his corner to rest for a while. Time passes by and a sumptuous young lady passes Minty, dishevelled and raunchy images are flowing through his mind, illustrated through facial expressions. Remembering he has the five pound note, Minty heads straight to the corner shop. Skimming through the shop, he heads straight for the obscene section of the magazine rack. Riffling through each magazine, he chooses one suited to his tastes, and purchases it. The note is reluctantly trapped back into the till and Minty walks out the shop, dragging his belongings beside him. The film explores the value of a five pound note, and how people from different cultures, backgrounds and classes value the note differently. Also, challenging stereotypes of people within the unwritten classes pyramid. The narrative is driven by the voiceover of the five pound note (being the protagonist) and everything is narrated from his point of view. The film has obvious comedic tones within the script, but a serious underlying message. 

Shot List for short film

Here's a shot list that we want to include in our film if possible.
·         POV of the Fiver looking up to the hand as he/she takes the note out of their wallet
·         Close up of piggy bank getting smashed/close up of hand reaching into the jar
·         Over the shoulder shot of the fiver getting handed over
·         POV of a little kid holding the fiver and then switches to a POV of the fiver to show the facial expression
·         Close focus of the fiver on a living room desk but still can see the background where family are arguing over bill payments (Arguing in the background)
·         Close up of  five pounds getting blown away
·         Close up of the fiver dropped on the ground
·         Wealthy business man/women gets handed two fivers and complains because he wants a tenner instead. (Over the shoulder)
·         POV of the fiver in the till as it shuts
·         As man takes a big wallet of cash out the five pounds gets dropped out
·         Tracking shot of the teenager walking with the fiver
·         Close up of the money being put into a wallet
·         Long shot of the tramp sleeping with the five pound note.
·         Close up of the wallet in the jeans whilst walking.
·         Medium shot of the note being between shopkeeper and stranger x3 (So that the shots are significant and is a iconic to the film)
·         POV of the tramp as he selects what magazine he wants.
·         Time lapses of the tramp as he holds the five pound note

Brief Synopsis

"Five Pound Pablo" - (personally, this is what I think it should be called, need to consult the team!)
Being found at the bottom of a penny jar, the thriving five pound note is released into the unbeknown streets of London town. First, being in the hands of a young teenager addicted to smoking green, the note is eager to be set free from the drug scandal. Next, he encounters the wallet of a wealthy, 24 year old business woman on her way to work. As she gets off the bus, the note flies out of her jacket pocket and she doesn’t bother to pick it up, but carries on to work. Lastly, the note is picked up by a homeless person who savors it for an endless amount  of weeks (passing of time conveyed in a post production time lapse). Finally, he uses it to buy himself a porn magazine and the note is then trapped into the shopkeepers till. The film explores the value of a five pound note, and how people from different cultures, backgrounds and classes value the note differently. Also, challenging stereotypes of people within the unwritten classes pyrimid. The narrative is driven by the voiceover of the five pound note (being the protagonist) and everything is narrated from his point of view. The film has obvious comedic tones within the script, but a serious underlying message. 

Emma wrote a brief synopsis.


Oh yeah, we just need a name for the short film now...
Emma put forward the name 'Five Pound Pablo'
I've put in the name of the film which is 'Take Note'
But we still yet to decide on one.
This is short ideas mind map of what group memebers put in for thier short film idea. Everyone pitched thier strongest ideas and as a group we decided who was the best idea and what idea is most achivable.
My Idea got choice but the idea is still brief therefore both Emma and Kai still input ideas and structure the narrative so it's a complete idea.

Short Film Brainstorm

Monday 4 October 2010

Avant Garde film

Avant Garde is experimental type of film. The genre of film experiments with all components included in film such as new ideas, techniques and editing style. Being experimental makes them type of film that pushes boundaries and invent new styles and conventions. Hence the name “Avant-garde” which means ‘ahead of their times” in French. Playing with the codes and convention of narrative creates an abstract style. This abstract style sees beauty and stories in the oddest objects which may shock viewers. Film makers that create ‘Avant-garde’ films normally want to shock and make the viewer think outside the box rather than sticking to ordinary. Experimental films are completely parallel to the typical codes and convention of a mainstream film that we see in everyday cinema that why these films are more underground and never make it to cinemas. Avant Garde films often receive mixed opinions; many people see it as poetry in film form and have a artistic visuals throughout. Some find it very weird and disturbing at times. So it’s a genre of film that seen as love and hate. Avant Garde film is made to shock the audience to bring out opinions that aren’t normally said after watching a film. This is a new way for people to express there opinion with emotion and passion as the film emotionally effects you as you watch it and it’s clear straight after watching a Avant Garde film whether you love it or hate it.

Short film festivals and film festivals

Short film festivals
Short films are mostly shown through short film festivals. Film festivals are a great platform for directors to submit their films and get film investors or people interested in seeing new and innovative films to watch your films. Film festivals are getting more and more popular and there are at least one going on every month so it’s not hard to find one to submit your film in. The only downfall that comes with being so many film festivals is picking and choosing what one you want to submit your film at and where it would gather the most views and feedback and you may get less people going to each event because there are so many around.
Often you have to pay to submit and enter a short film festival that emphasizes on your choice on what festival to enter in. Short film festivals are often more quirky and different to a film festival to some extend as short films are often more creative and uses more simplistic ideas but oddly different.
The short film festival has produced some amazing talent that have gone on to make feature length films so it defiantly have a success rate which is why short film festivals still exist. I would say that because many film investor go there to invest in peoples film they may pick only marketable ones and make there decision based on that which does make it tough competition.
Short film festivals are mostly for people to exhibit work and invest in certain products I would say that the investments are normally made in the director than the short film because short films are alike a show reel as it showcases the directors creativity and film making skills and people look to see whether that film makers style can be transferred onto a feature length film.
Film festivals
Film festivals are normally held annually especially the big events. But smaller scale festival happens frequently in many countries around the world.
Film festivals are for independent films to have a chance to be seen. A independent film festival will be completely different to a normal film festival in terms of films and how they’ve been shot or what messages have been portrayed and also the scale of budget. Film festivals have catapulted huge films and have also sparked of many actors and directors careers.
An independent film festival would normally cost you a entry fee both big scale and little scale, but some film festivals don’t require an entry fee so there films are often chose by certain region. Some film festivals require certain duration therefore if your film runs over a certain time period you may be ask to cut your film down by editing bits out. This is because it is a tight schedule and they want to show all there entries in one night.
In 2005 they launched the first ever online film festival.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Silver Film

Silver film is a fantastic film making company that was founded in 1966. That has won BAFTA awards and have had commercial success throughout. There track record proves it. They have engernered some of the most creative campaigns in the past for companies such as Umbro, Lexus and Toyota.
There unique approach allows them to combine both creative film making and advertising to make successful campaigns that have all elements tied up into one and are very good at both crafts so they tick all boxes. They also create campaigns for clients they understand and see there vision and that message that the may client have gets protrayed in there advertising campaign so that audience get your product imediatly and target the right people. As a company they love working with new and different people which shows they are opened minded and want whats best for the client and product. Silver film as a company also see 2nd place as nothing and only strive for the best that creative drives makes a company that always come out on top. Above all of that they are passionate about film making which is shown through the success in there work.
Thier short films have emotion and are hard hitting at times. Creating such amazing storylines and showing them in a creative way allows them make you feel many different emotions and think of different thoughts throughout which is one of the most amazing things I enjoy most watching a Silver film.
Check out there work and see for yourself!

http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/#Nav_intro

This is where it all began!!!



(La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon)

In 1895 is where film making began, this 45 second clip was the first film ever made. It static shot of workers leaving a factory in 45 seconds. It is very simplistic but at the time it was a huge step because noone had ever seen anythink like this and only got bigger and better as time went on.

In 1910 films became longer so it sparked of 'short film'. Short film were shown in cinemas and the duration ment that 3-4 were shown in one screening. This became hugely popular as going to the cinema was one of the very few things people could do at this time period.

In 1930, A man named Aldoph Zukor who was the leader of Paramount studios introduced a block booking to the hollywood film industry. Block booking was getting someones short film idea and turning it to a feature length film. Short film makers were normally made by small production companies so were forced to sell there ideas. Block booking was seen as wrong and was made illegal despite this, feature length films were hitting cinemas and pushed short film to the side as 90 minute feature length films become popular in the film industry.

There were 4.2 million television sets in America in the 1950's, this was a gate way for short films to become popular again therefore it was shown on television until the 1960's.

In the 1980's short films were made way more gritty. Short film as a type of film became less about making profit and having comercial success and became more about protraying a message and being creative in all aspects. Short film was now reinvented.

Short Film and The Internet

Short film and the internet
Short film is a type of film that struggles to find its place in the film industry. A industry where it’s all about mainstream films and breaking box office records and making the most money through franchising and ticket sales. It’s hard for a short but fantastic film to find a place to be exposed to a wide appeal. This is where the World Wide Web comes in as it’s a gate way that allows anybody in the world access to internet find a short film. Internet and short film is match made in heaven as everything short film stands for is not compromised by the internet. For example it’s no cost to upload a video on the net which helps because there isn't a big budget for short films. For inspiring directors trying to get recognized can get there short films on websites like YouTube and get many views. You can be virtually no one and upload a short film so it’s motivation for anyone to try and make a short film. Short film is a platform where you can be creative as one’s mind can go and the internet is a place where creativity is always welcome. There are certain websites where short films belong that really help inspiring film makers to get recognition for their work.
Coffee Shorts – short film website
A website where award winning short films and creative film making all in one place. The website is so easy to navigate it allows you to browse through many short films easily. It’s a website that branches to different internet platforms such as blogs, MySpace and Facebook. It breaks up films by categories and makes dedicated playlist so it’s easy to just sit back and enjoy many short films that have been picked by specialist.  
The BBC Film network
This is another brilliant website that showcases many short films made by inspiring directors or academy award winners. It’s a website that allows anyone to submit their work and be watched and whether they think the short film is great they will upload it onto the bbc.co.uk webpage and also create a video profile on their website which then allows you to upload more short films and keep track on what people think and how many people view it. It’s a place where film investors can go and see fresh new film makers out there which really gives inspiring directors a chance to pursue a career in film.   

Post Secrets Stories

Post secrets
“I try to sympathise with my friends that fight/arguing with their parents. I would give my left arm to have a mother that I could fight with”
A girl had a car accident 3 years ago in the car crash. In this car crash she lost her mother and was also badly injured. In the accident she had suffered a few head injuries and a big scar on her left arm. The left scar on her arm reminds her everyday of that tragic day when she lost her mother. It’s set in one location the girl 17th birthday during her birthday wish. The audience now realising that the cause of the car crash was because the mother and daughter was arguing and was more concentrated on the argument that she lost control of the steering wheel. So her birthday wish is for her to give up her arm in order to bring her mum back because she feels it was her fault so she should pay the price not her mum and also she wants to erase the constant reminder that’s on her left arm.
Post secret
“I’m so jealous of her baby”
The location and scenario is set at a parent and toddler class. A pretty girl who has a child and a ugly girl has a child and it turns out that the pretty girls baby is ugly and the ugly girls baby is pretty/cute. The pretty girl is jealous of her friend’s baby and it shows all her thoughts during a civilised conversation between the two. A simple idea which is parallel to Sam Abs idea despite both having the same source to work with.

Lesson 27th September

In today’s lesson we had an interesting lesson. We started of the lesson by deciding what groups we are going to work in for our short film project. We was given 5 – 10 minutes to discuss amongst each other to see what ideas we all had and see what people wanted to work with who.  After this short discussion I decided to work with Emma and Kai. Emma and Kai were my group members for my last 2 video projects. I personally felt us as a group create high standard work and felt why fix it if it’s not broken. So we stuck with our original group. After deciding our groups we moved onto our next task. The next task we got given a secret postcard and we had to come up with our own short story by the secret postcard we was given. After coming up with our own short story and write up a 100 word synopsis I personally told my idea to the class. Our next task was to swap secret postcard with the person next to us and come up with a different story but from the same source. This shows how different people interpret the same thing. I swapped with Sam Ab, and when I came up with my story it was totally parallel to his story. It was also good to hear other people’s stories as it shows how creative people can be and make a whole narrative from a couple of sentences. Our next task was to make our own secret postcards which will be used next lesson. All the secrets were hidden and were all true so next lessons should be very interesting!!!

Lost Boy 'My Pre-lim task'



For our Pre-lim task we had to do a short story between two characters and use the camera rules that we’ve learnt over the past year. We had to include continuity, 180-degree rule, match-on-action and reverse-shot-reverse. For this task I was put into a group that included Hedi and Pepe. I think as a group we worked fairly well and as individual are very creative and enthusiastic so we went straight into filming with a little bit of planning which did let us down on our part as we didn’t think our location and scenario well enough. Our location wasn’t a very good location as it limited out camera shots and angles as it was narrow and quite dark. Taking that into account I think our work was to a decent standards as we got ticked all the requirements that were needed. The dialogue and scenario could have been improved with more planning and preparation. Overall I think it was a great lesson as we learnt many things and are now more prepared for shooting our short film than we was before. We also learnt that we could make credits and titles more creative and give a insight of what a film could be about just by showing the credits.

Friday 1 October 2010

Andrea Arnold director

Andrea Arnold is a film director former actress. Her short film work has lead her to win numerous awards one being an oscar for her short film titled 'Wasp'. Andrea is 49 years old and was a actress/presenter at the age of 23 after making short film 'Wasp' in 2005 and recieved such a amazing response by winning awards from the film her acting and presenting days were older. Her style is hard hitting and topic on harsh reality which people can relate to one way or another. Andrea's style is more on the storyline in my opinion but does show 2 sides of the story in numerous shots back to back which highlights the different atmosphere amongst the 2 scenrios. As a director she uses a lot of tracking shots and shaky camera work. She puts her stories well and use foreshadowing a lot to allow the audience to think whats going to happen through camera angles and camera techniques. All her films portray a deeper story and meaning which leaves the audience to think about life and the harsh scenerios that go on in life.

Check out her short film 'Wasp' thats already posted previously. If you can't find it heres the link anyways :)

Wasp (part 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rL0lq4fxpQ
Wasp (part 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rL0lq4fxpQ

Michel Gondry and short films

Michel Gondry born May 8th 1963 is a French film maker that specialise in creative short films and commercials but his distinctive style allows him to branch into making music videos. Michel is also an award-winning screenwriter. He is most famous for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scene.
Quotes from Michel Gondry
‘Sometimes it’s better to have less money and more freedom’
‘Being surrounded by people who are creative makes you want to be creative’
‘Every great idea is on the verge of being stupid’
‘Back to the future is one of my favourite films, and if I was offered a quirky, funny, big-budget movie. I would do it!’

Michel Gondry has made many video/film projects.
And seeing a few example of short films and commercials and music video he has done in the past I gather that he is very quirky, niche and different. All his films have a dream-like element to them which allows him to be as creative as possible because as we all know that dreams can be as wacky and crazy in parallel to reality. After watching some of his work I’ve noticed that he likes the idea of appearing in his own work so you get a real sense of what kind of person he is on screen. He is quite weird but oddly funny so most of his works contain humour in one way or another. Also a lot of his work includes a lot of editing techniques as well as camera techniques. Editing techniques are used effectively and helps keep the audience entertained. 

The Stairwell by Shane Meadows



The Stairwell by Shane Meadows



‘The stairwell’ is a very short film that has the duration of 40 seconds. It was filmed on a Nokia phone and was filmed with Shane’s two friends.

The narrative is a male walking down the stairs at a fast pace and a female walking up the stairs at a slower pace. After turning the corner the characters bump into each other violently and the film ends.  The narrative is very simple but Shane Meadow normally uses these opportunities as a creative playground therefore he experiments with camera techniques and styles and if they work they are often portrayed in his full-length feature films or future short films.  

Analysis
The music throughout was very tense and had a dramatic feel to it. The pace of the music built up dramatic which makes the audience assume there’s going to be a big climax.
When the two characters bump into each other the music cuts out and are now diegetic sounds of them being moaning and being hurt. The cut of the tense and exciting music makes the climax a anti-climax as it doesn’t deliver the big climax that everyone expected.

I noticed that Shane meadows uses a lot of titled shots and plays with angles which make every shot visually interesting.
Throughout this film both characters are in dark lighting so the audience don’t get a clear view of each character so throughout he create mystery in both the characters and narrative.
Also as a director he likes to play with the audience’s perception. The whole build up of having titles made it seem like it was going to be a longer short film.
The lighting used in this particular film is lighting that Shane Meadows often uses in most his film so he has created a distinctive look that is recognizable to an audience.
Shane meadows also put titles and credits with a background that doesn’t necessary have a direct link to the narrative.   

Shane Meadows - Short Film Director


Short film – Directors
Shane meadows

Shane Meadows was born in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire on the 26th December 1972. He is a self-taught, British film maker who hails from the Midlands.

Shane Meadows is a famous film director that built up his reputation by making short films with a group of friends. In 1994, Shane started off by volunteering his services at Nottingham based Intermedia Film and Video Ltd. He was allowed to borrow camcorders and use the editing facilities in exchange for working there for free. Shane’s friends were hesitating whether to appear in his films but gained more confidence when he put together more and more short films that were made at a high standard. Shane’s friends became frustrated that Shane’s work wasn’t getting recognized because there weren’t any real film festival to exhibit film makers work therefore took matters in their own hands and started their own film festival event  titled ‘Six of the best’. The event allowed any inspiring film makers to show their work for a small fee. The event grew popular and eventually became a international video festival called Flip-side.

Shane meadows went on to make films that caught attention from film industry. Shane made a short documentary titled ‘Smalltime’ which won many awards from European film festivals. This created a platform for investors to invest and fund Shane’s future products. This lead to Shane to make his first full length feature film which was titled ‘Twenty Four Seven’ through to ‘This is England’  Shane continued to make films that are heartfelt and attract an ever growing fan base. ‘This is England’ was a huge success and done well at the UK box office. Despite his huge success, Shane Meadows still carries on to make short films and future full length films as well. Shane Meadow also wants to inspire new film makers through his work and documentaries. Through the raw energy he brings puts a message across to inspiring film makers that with a little bit of talent and some borrowed equipment and a small budget you can make a short film to a high standard. 

Prey from BDC on Vimeo.



I picked ‘Prey’ because personally I thought it told the story in a unique way that worked really well. It portrayed a strong and serious message that was heartfelt. It left a cliffhanger to allow the audience to guess or predict what happens next which is one of the key things that make a short film good. It brought you through the story and the emotions she felt at the time that is effective as it positions the audience in her shoes. I really liked the way the story revealed itself. The camera shots were good as well; shaky and blurry which was effective at times. My only element I would change was that fact it was to illustrative at times or too literal at times as the voice over would say a scenario and the next scene would show exactly what the voice over said which got repetitive at times.  Apart from that the short film works well and I can tell a lot of effort and teamwork was put into ‘Prey’ which is shown through the success of their work. 

Skin Deep - Excellent BAFTA Nominated Short Film (Part 2)

Skin Deep - Excellent BAFTA Nominated Short Film (Part 1)



This short film was selected by Jerome Golding. The film is a story about racism in UK how difficult  it is to fit in. The main dilemma is ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ and that’s exactly what the main character does he joins being a racist to his own culture and nationality just to fit in. It’s a sad story that shows what life is like on the receiving end of racism which is a subject that everyone can relate to because a least once in everyone’s life has been discriminated against. The short film touches upon a deep subject that matter and the story is told well.



Throughout the film the lighting is low key which creates a dull atmosphere throughout that’s relates to the whole subject matter. The lighting also adds a gritty atmosphere and from the atmosphere we gather that it’s set in Britain. The story is told through a typical day and it shows the reality on how frequent racism effects him and his families lives. Constantly the director shows a insight of decision he has to make to fit in and by filming for a second longer on a situation  or close up of a particular item makes the audience wonder whether he will go with fitting in or telling the truth which is effect as the audience know the serious dilemma and problems that would come with telling the truth for him but also want him to be comfortable and proud of his race.
 For example He asks his co-worker who thinks his full British for a lighter but the only lighter he has is a full British bulldog lighter and it’s a split second decision whether he is going to use a lighter like that.

Throughout there is a lot of close up of people’s faces which is effective in two ways as it shows people facial features and skin colour which is a constant reminder to the audience that people are different and also close ups of people faces  show there facial expression which gives the audience of what people emotions are.

The film includes interesting camera techniques that help tell the story more effectively. For example having a visual display of his thoughts which are also his past memories which shows how racism can mentally effect someone. By having a visual display makes the thoughts even more powerful and acts as a sound-scape which creates a feeling through sound. The sounds-scape is loud and goes on for long as the audience the name calling become too much and we want it to stop which puts us in the exact position as the character which is hugely effective.