Short film ideas

Our final task is to create a 5 minute short film of which we have filmed our selves. We can choose from a wide range of genres such as; romance, horror, tragedy, rom com, action, mystery. The two genres in which have stood out to me is a documentary or a comedy.

I personally have a huge interest in documentaries, particularly ones in which specialise in social/political problems about issues within their country. I particularly watch a lot on the issues between Palestine and Israel as I'm half Palestinian therefore this is a topic in which is permanently present. Recently there have been protests all over the world, from london to Berlin to South africa. I attended a protest in London and did a lot of filming as I knew that i wanted to create a film at some point about the conflict and public opinion on these particular issues.

As most documentaries are of a large length it may be difficult to include all of the aspects of a documentary in the space of 5 minutes therefore i did some research on short documentary films and came across a video on how to make a short documentary, in which i found rather helpful:

Questionnaire for prelim task

Questionnaire


Do you think that using an animal in our short film worked well?

Aniesha- Yes, it suited the title of A day in the life very well.

Rhiann- Yes I thought it was different than just using a person.

Liberty- Definitely, I think it worked well.

Brittany- I like the fact that you used an animal rather than just a person.

Do you think that the voice over suited the theme?

Aneisha- Yes, the voice over added a comical element to it

Rhiann- The voice over was the favourite part of your short film!

Liberty- The voice over was extremely funny and conveyed the comedy theme of your short film so well!

Brittany- The voice over really brought the animal to life and was very humorous.

Do you think that the camera angles were suitable for your short film?

Aneisha- Yes,  particularly the point of view shots.

Rhiann- All of the camera shots showed the animal clearly both long and close ups

Liberty- Yes you used a variety of shots that showed different aspects of the dog.

Brittany- Yes the camera angles were appropriate for the theme of 'A day in the life of'.

Do you think that the editing was successful looking?

Aneisha- The editing flowed really well

Rhiann- Yes the way the shots were edited together looked very professional

Liberty- The shots were put together well, it flowed nicely

Brittany- The way it was edited showed the way that your film was an anecdote and flowed well.

Evaluation for the prelim task

Here I will be writing about what I thought was successful about my 1 minute short film and what was not successful within all aspects; planning, directing, producing and editing. Doing the preliminary task has enabled me to see what I need to improve on for my 5 minute length film and what I already plan on doing.

When creating a short film there is not masses of planning compared to a full length film although planning is vital in the process of making a film and keeping organised. As the preliminary task title was 'A Day In The Life Of....' we first thought about whether we wanted to use a person, animal or object. Me and my partner then both agreed on using the animal of a dog and my partners dog to be specific; named Tilly. We thought that using an animal perhaps would be slightly different and thought that we could be creative with our ideas. Moreover due to the fact that our main focus was going to be the dog we had to film out of school hours as her dog evidently would not be on school premises. Therefore we aware of this and were willing to do the filming out of hours, this meant that our planning had to be immediate in order for us to film straight away and continue with the editing. Also we used our own Camera and equipment as we were unable to use any school equipment as none of our filming was done on school premises.

Once this was initialised our film basis we decided that it would include three characters; the dog and two of its owners therefore enabling the focus to be maintained upon Tilly. The next step to our film making process what the story/plot to the film allowing us direction into actually filming the shots. In addition we used the idea of a storyboard as this would allow us to have a clear vision of the order and context of our film. A storyboard is so simple yet so effective; just a plain piece of paper, with six boxes to fill(draw) in of the six main events of our story and underneath we made notes of the ideas we had for that particular moment typically being the specific camera shot or piece of sound. For example; our first box we drew Tilly in her dog bed as she wakes up in the morning and our notes where that it would shot at a high angle and that upbeat non-diegetic music would begin as the introduction to our film. Overall the storyboard was a success in the planning process and made us clear on our storyline and which camera shots/ piece of sound we were using at particular moments and I will most definitely use this when planning my 5 minute long film.

In the filming process it went rather smoothly although It was difficult to initiate when we would do the filming as it needed to be out of school hours, in the end we managed it well as we made a schedule and did the filming in one day. We used three locations for our filming; at home, in the park and on the way home from the park (all of which was in Kettering). We used various high angle shots when filming to convey that the owners were in a more powerful position than the dog herself, we used a long two shot when Nicki (actress) to convey the relationship between Tilly and her owner, a close up of Tilly's face as she eats her food to capture her features, we also used filmed the grass and the walk home from Tilly's point of view so that the audience see what the dog see's herself and to grasp the life of a dog. Once we had done all of the filming we imported it from the camera straight on my partners Apple Mac so that it was not accidentally wiped.

Editing was the most complex and time consuming part of the preliminary task as this is where you put all the pieces of filming and sound together as one. Both me and my partner did the editing together, firstly we overlooked all of the filming that we done and we actually had more than 1 minutes worth therefore we decided which parts we more effective and what we were going to keep. We used Final Cut Pro to edit our film and we did not find it too difficult to use as we had used this application in our first year of AS Media on a small project called Cops in which we edited shots together and dubbed over parts non- diegetic music. We had an order of which we were going to place the shots due to the title 'A Day In The Life Of' therefore we set the filming from Tilly in the morning and her routine throughout the day. Once we had edited the shots together we then wrote a script for the voice over that I was going to record, as I thought it would be easier for me to think of a script once I had inspiration from the filming and the shots edited together. Therefore I wrote a brief script but I also improvised a lot as I am a theatre studies student and improvisation plays a role in the study of Drama at AS level. We thought that the voice over would add an element of comedy to our short film and it would also give the dog a voice as though the audience were in the mind of Tilly and were really living a day in her life. Recording the voice over itself's was done on Final Cut Pro also so it uploaded directly onto the edits of our film. Once that was done we also used a non-diegetic piece of music over the full film at a low volume so that the audience were aware that the film was upbeat and humorous.

To conclude overall I found the process of the preliminary task successful, I found that the process overall was not too difficult although doing the filming out of school hours meant re-scheduling filming time rather than doing it in our media lessons therefore resulting in us having spare time in lessons until the filming was done, so perhaps next time I would pick a topic of which would consume my time more in lessons. Also I feel that using certain applications to edit will not be as difficult as I initially thought as I have had practice with this task given.

Prelim task - planning

Task Title- A Day In The Life Of Tilly.

We were given a prelim task, of which was to create a 1 minute long short film and the Title was A Day In The Life Of...
The kinds of things in which me and my partner needed to think about were;
Who or what it going to be about?
Where we would film?
When we would film?
Would we have a script?
What equipment we would use?

(We liked the letter W evidently)

After thinking of these things we came to the conclusion that we would base 'A day in the life of' on my partners dog Tilly, rather than usual what the obvious would be; a human being, we wanted to be a little be different and be creative with our filming. Also both me and my partner have a huge love for dogs therefore we made an easy agreement on the choice and were excited to get started. Moreover we were aware that evidently the dog would be the main focus in our short film although h you usually need at least 3 characters within the film either create conflict or to show a type of relationship between two or more people. Therefore my partner and her mother briefly appeared in the short film as they are the two people in which are closest to Tilly and of course if was the day in the life of Tilly after all. We also decided that we would film Till mainly in 2/3 locations; these being at home in her usual environment, in the park on her daily walk and on the way back from her walk. Due to the fact that Tilly is a dog evidently we could not film her on school property therefore the only place to film was out of school hours. Also we were of course unable to use any school equipment for this as we were filming out of school we used our own Camera/I Phone and luckily we knew a friend in which had a tripod for us to borrow briefly, although most of our camera angles were rather low down therefore we preferred to just hold the camera hands free in order to really get the shots that we wanted. All of this we were willing and happy to do.

Furthermore once the characters, location and timing were sorted we needed to think about creating a storyboard / script as due to the fact the I am a theatre studies student and have a passion for comedy we decided that I would do a voice over as the Scottish voice of Tilly and make it rather humorous, although the scipt in fact comes later on. I felt that the fact that both me and my partner took part in the film itself as well as producing it, conveys that we are both hands on and are not afraid to take a lead role in the filming process. First of all we made a storyboard; in which began with Tilly waking up at home, having breakfast and then going on her walk. She would then go on her walk and as she made her way home with her owner she came across an alteration with a cat, which we thought we could make quite comical as cats and dogs usually dont get along. She then returned home, had her dinner and lastly had some quality time with 'Sylvia' my partner in the living area.

Although sound comes under the editing process of film making we still thought that we would have a think about whether we wanted to have music perhaps at a low volume in the background of our film as well as my voice over; being the main sound for the audience to hear. Overall we decided that we would have a piece of upbeat music just so that the audience would be aware that it is a comical/happy film therefore not to expect a fright at all within the film.

The planning for our preliminary task allowed us to have a structured schedule for the making of the film (particularly because we were filming out of school) and also helped us to keep our focus on the storyline and not get side tracked. I will most definitely be planning for my final task in film making to ensure the best result.

Narrative structures for short films

Narrative form is the structure in which movies tell stories.

The story; consists of all the events in a narrative, both presented and inferred -Bordwell + Thompson (2004)

Plot; What is visibly and audibly present in the film -

Narrative; How the story is told, the way in which the material is selected and arranged enabling there to be particular effects upon audience members.

Conventional narrative structure

The way in which they construct a story is pretty similar to that of the above.

Tzvetan Todorov defined the three main parts of narrative structuring (start, middle and end) e.g:

Equilibrium; Balanced normality of the world of any story

Disequilibrium; Unbalanced world between the problem and climax within the story

New equilibrium; A return to normality at the end
If there is not a return to normality at the end and an unresolved ending, this usually brings discomfort to the audience and they will still have unanswered questions. This is more likely to be used at the end of an episode of a soap opera to engage the audience and almost bring them to commit to the series, moreover unless a film is likely to have follow on films then perhaps it is unlikely.

1. Situation or Exposition- This is needed at the beginning of al narrative to set the scene. Its where the info is given to the audience, this enables the audience to create a clear image of the setting of the film. Where,How, Why, What and When? 
2. Complication- Events throughout in which create problem or conflict and usually cover a large amount of time within the film
3. Climax- The moment within the film where perhaps the problems are solved.
4. Resolution- This is the part of the narrative where the world of the text returns to some sort of normality. This also usually unravels any misunderstandings and answers the questions in which the audience have been dying to find out. Of course unless the film or narrative is an NB, leaving the film on a cliffhanger.

Continuity and Montage Editing

There are two different approaches to editing, Continuity or Montage editing;

Continuity Editing is the way in which the shots go together to create and conjoin a series of events together without seeming as though they were done separately, therefore appearing to be continuous. Overall Continuity Editing specialises in binding scenes together making them appear as one, so that it is almost transparent.  Shots in which this type of editing is popular is;

Shot reverse shot- Here the camera will be observing action in which will be present in more than place/angle. Usually it is used in a conversation situation therefore one character will be filmed( perhaps looking in the direction of the opponent they are conversing with, usually opposite). A separate shot will then be taken of the opposing character as they reply. 

Match on Action- This is a shot in which continuity editing will most definitely be used as it shows several actions being partaken in different places therefore the action on the screen will need to be made to look continuous and as though it flows. {E.g if the character is walking through a door, the camera will firstly show the front of them as they are about to step through the door and then also behind them as they walk and then also perhaps once they are through the door.

Montage Editing- Montage is a film editing technique in which is basically used to conjoin a series of short concise shots and edit them into a sequence that will convey information and its story in a condensed space and time. Montage editing is used more so to cram/convey pieces of information into a short space of time rather than something of which contains a strong meaning to it. A good example is the opening scene of the film 'Hot fuzz' as it shows the process/journey of how he became a police officer in the space of 2 and a half minutes:

Making a film

There a several elements to making a film but determining which are the most important is vital, particularly if you are new to short film making. Processes of making a film are;

Script writing- A script/screen writer is whom practices writing screenplays within the media like television, film, video games etc. Scriptwriting is what initialises what your film will be based upon therefore this is a very important process. Stage directions, lighting& sound queues, setting, dialogue and overall instructions can be included in this. Evidently there has to be a pattern to every story and an order in which the story is set, there are 5 steps to which you could follow when Scriptwriting;

1. Exposition; The opening of which sets the scene and introduces characters perhaps.2. Development; The storyline continues and begins to build/unfold.3. Complication;  A complication occurs and alters the storyline.4. Climax; Werther good or bad this is where the story reaches its peak. 5. Resolution; The final outcome to the story. 

Producing- The producer specialises in preparing and supervising the actual making of the film before showing the final product to a film distributor. The producer is in charge of assembling the crew and cast members therefore these people are responsible for getting the film made and are a huge necessity to the film process. Pre Production is vital in making sure everything is organised ready for the making of the film it includes budgeting, scheduling, equipment, shooting locations e.g outside or in a studio.

Directing- A film director is whom directs the making of the film by guiding crew members and the actors within the film to help evolve their own visualisations and dramatic aspects into the film. A director interprets their own style and opinions into the making of the film and ensures that each movie that they have directed reflects their work and has a unique element to each film. Film studios then employ a certain film director of their choice for perhaps camera work etc. 

Cinematography-Is the art of making motion pictures. It is the technique of film photography which covers the shooting and development within the film, they cinematographer usually collaborates and works closely with the director to create visualisations that complement one another.

Sound- Sound plays a huge role in making the audience feel a certain emotion or to portray the emotion of a character. It is also used to enhance/heighten sound to emphasise say an object or person, sound could also create distortion (perhaps used in a horror).  Now that most things within the filming process is converted in digital and no longer analogue, each element of film making can be put into one file. Sound is so vital as it enables us to hear dialogue within the movie, ambient sounds and music. Sound is personally my favourite part of making a film as I feel that sound is so crucial when trying to portray an emotion or for the audience to fully grasp what they are watching. 

Editing- Editing is the last element in the process of the film yet brings the whole making of the film together, from shots to sound and more. It brings things into a coherent sequence so that each shot is placed in the right order and that the story line is done justice. Various mass applications are used to edit the film together e.g FinalCut Pro, Avid or Adobe.