charecter breakdown

john. hardly an average teenage boy. when he isnt daydreaming or drinking highly volatile cocktails he is fighting crime, of course this could all simply be in his imagination. he is not very well grounded at all, constantly going into flashbacks or else simply talking in his head. i played with the idea of him being autistic or else having some other mental difference but felt that to outwardly state anything would be to critisize the audiences intelegence.

mother. the standard housewife. she is only seen making breakfast and only seen thinking about finishing her task. her charecters simplicity is meant to contrast with johns absurdity

brother. much like the afformentioned mother charecter this charecters simplicity is meant to contrast with john. he is implied to be a good studier, thinking about homework during breakfast and barely noticing john or his stunned expression.

red haired freind and short freind. these two are meant both as literal charecters and as a lesser extent the proverbial angel and devil on johns shouolders. one eggs him on do strange things like drink the strange liquid in front of him while the other is more hesitant towards it.

dr.insano PHD. this charecter is meant in many ways to be the same as john, not paying attention to the world around her and simply going about her way. she is motivated much like the old cartoon villians for the sake of evil. her motivation is not greed or pride or even hatred, but simply a lust to do that which is wrong.

props list, costume, makeup

while i was trying to go for a very nattural feel to the piece (no makeup, nattural lighting, sound effects ect) and i have already mentioned the props list i still have something to say for costume. while the charecter has several costumes throughout the piece they are usually similar. in three scenes he is simply wearing the same thing (in one case minus a jacket and in all three wearing different T shirts). in his confrontation scene he is wearing the garb of a ninja which i did to add absurdity to what was already a very unrealistic scene. i added this scene to contrast with the harsher realism of the rest of the piece

dr insano's costume of a green labcoat and rubber gloves both paints her as an absurdist charecter and an anti hero. this is the only scene in which john is not wearing green and she the only scene in which another charecter is. this is to link their charecters as different from the mainstream, isolated. the rubber gloves were meant for the sake of comedy as were the goggles but i still was trying to breach the subject of this insane villian being far more relatable to john than any of his freinds and family.

locations

after searching several locations i was able to find a good house in which to shoot. before writing i was trying to decide whether or not to make the charecter of john a homeless man or a teenager. i went with my decision of teenager for two key reasons. firstly i felt that as a teenager i was better able to do the charecter justice in writing. second much of the filming was done during christmas and many of the scenes involving him being homeless involve iether lying on the grass (or mud at the time) or what were then extremely damp park benches.

research

i did research into my genre but i was unable to find another film that was both psychological and absurdist. therefore i watched both genres individually. the best examples i found was "a beautiful mind" for psychological thriller and "monty pythons the life of bryan" for absurdism. their is a homage to the monty python style of dialogue in the confrontation between doctor insano and our protagonist "you silly evil prick"

script

here is the final version of my script. as you can see their was much that was lost on the editing floor but i feel that while the message may be somewhat bastardized it is still an enjoyable film overall

equipment and props

the equipment i used was as follows
pdx170
boom mike
2 tripods
hd camera
mac

the props list is somewhat longer
soda bottle
mustard
frozen pizza
other assorted bottles
green hat
green jeans
sword
milk
sticky note


no items from ither list proved particularly difficult to procure fortunately

short films in todays market

while short films have gotten much less attention that they once did they still have a certain sway in the industry. besides being used as calling cards or sampls they also have something of a niche market. in both europe and north america there are chanels devoted solely to short films and their viewing. the north american short film channel (creatively named i think you'll agree) is one of them.

audience

the audience for my film is an older one. my film is a psychological thriller as it covers both the ideas of perception, reality and mortality. it also is absurdist through both editing techniques and mis en sen. for instance the cap which dissapears or the shifting pitch of the voices.

short film audience

the audience for short films is somewhat more limited now than as it was. like i mentioned previously short films once would often preceed full length features but currently reside as calling cards. however there are celebrated short film festivals where others (often other film makers) gather to view short films en mass such as cannes

a pixar short

as we can see here this film is at its base absurdist. it uses light colours and high pitch sounds. this is due to it being a short made for children. it was simple to follow the plot and the message likewise was very clear. for these reasons it fits the genre of childrens comedy well.

circumstances of short films

short films are often produced for two purposes. 1. as a calling card for new film makers or 2. as a student project, not unlike my own film. short films used to play a larger role in the film industry, often preceeding longer films. this tradition has been kept alive by pixar who have each film follow an animated short film.

aqua teen

while researching post modernism i discovered not only short films but also an interesting little 15 minute cartoon series called aqua teen hunger force. this revolves around talking fast food but is in no way a childrens show. it is shown on "adult swim" a lineup of animation for teenage and older audieces.

post modernism

i have done much research into post modernism in cinima as well as the arts in general http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernist_film

rehearsal

as proof of practice i hope you enjoy this clip of myself and DR insano (phd) rehearsing

my powerpoint presentation

after long hours painstakingly pasting pictures and film clips into the presentation it is finally finished. hope you enjoy

Media a level powerpoint presentation[1]

View more presentations from guest5d2d7b.

the film itself

im sure you have all been waiting intently for the film itself. this is far from my final post but now that the film is finished i shant keep it from my adorring public any longer

inspiration

my film was loosely based on the metamorhpasis by Kafka. i enjoyed exploring the ideas of isolation in the book and the imagery was inspiring

problems with filming

during the process of filming i expirienced certain problems that i shall list
learning to use the camera, which i solved with practice
lack of actors, which unfortunately was only solvd with patientce and both directing and acting in the film
technological problems, technology simply doesnt seem to like me but patience once again won out

been working hard

the editing process is nearing completion and unfortunately i have somewhat neglected the blog. i am going to now catch up you readers on some of the things that have been keeping me busy in the editing studio. i have had to work the sound hard. unfortunately due to some strange circumstance the sound on the clips and the footage did not sync up properly, meaning that i have had to manually link the sound and the picture with regular skips and bleeps in them. luckily this has not generally effected most of the better takes but it has been very time consuming and added much stress to the process. furthermore the animation of putting in thought bubbles (the process of which i shall add in a later post) has taken some time and figuring out that has been consuming my free time.

a search

now that the editing process is almost complete i am looking for the final piece to this intricacy which is my film. ok that may have been a tad arrogant but in all seriousness i'm searching for thought bubbles on the internet. i have found many good pictures using simple search engines like google images and have even created my own using photoshop. below are several bubbles i have found

poster

i have finally finished the poster for my short film. designing this was challenging for a few reasons. firstly it was difficult to find short film posters, though i did manage to find a couple. the first one i found leant to me the idea that since short films often attempt to portray a level if postmodernism as is not often scene in mainstream cinemas i would design a postmodern poster for my film. the characters on the poster were made as stick figures with exaggerated aspects to them. for instance the villain has the gloves that they wear in the film, the protagonist has his green clothes and the mother has the bread knife. all chosen because of the main characters mind. he is portrayed as being "not all there" as portrayed by his absurdist flashbacks. its meant to be an insight into the character and his perception of those around him.

final product

it was no small task but the magazine article is finally finished. after reading through magazines like EMPIRE and FILM i designed a template for what the article should looks like and what should be covered in the writing itself. i believe i have more than aptly portrayed what a film article looks like.

grid plans

in preperation for my final products i have created multiple grid plans (two of which are featured here). i studied the layout of a film review by reading the film magazines Film and Empire. i also looked at the layout for non film reviews in magazines i normally read.

inspiration

i have used the film Thank you for smoking as the bases of my work. the camera usually cuts to a medium shot with the character in question dead centre of the screen. the colours in the film are mostly browns and greys and overall is quite bland. this if anything adds to the films sense of realism from which it derives its comedy.

scripting

i believe firmly in critical analysis of my own work however seeing as few look at their own products impartially i will often ask others to look at it critically. here is a page from my old film which i have drafted and improved upon later

film reviews

i have been reading up on film reviews for the past week in preparation for my coursework and have discovered that much like most print the film magazine is hardly a flourishing industry. that being said they have adapted and many reviews can be read online. below are two film reviews from the website of empire which is a premiere film magazine

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=136655
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=136159

some websites such as rottentomatoes do not even have magazines but operate solely virtually, making profit from advertising

posters

although most short films do not have posters i have managed to find a very interesting one

the poster draws you in with its detailed..well..lack of detail. it aptly hints at the plot of the film. the choice of beige as the background colour was a good one as it contrasts with the flesh colour but syncs well with the whiteness of the missing face.

seeds

many feature length films are based on short films. district 9 was based on the short "alive in Joburg" and most film makers start of with short films, often as a sort of calling card to the industry. a good way to get your name out in the industry is to make a short which is successful at festivals.

key points

there are 12 regions in the UK in which you can apply for funding for filming. they support all genres and styles.

make sure to constantly get feedback to improve film. it is important that critisism is given to the film before it is sent off so that it can appeal to an audience rather than it being something self indulgent.

18 month window between completing film and researching festivals. many film festivals have a time limit of anywhere from a year to 18 months

like with large films it is key to organise. organisation is needed for a serious project and schedules must be strictly adhered to

some festivals pertain to certain styles. it is no use sending your action film to a festival that specialises in art house films

strangers

i was looking through the long list of short films on youtube and found this. the film is entitled strangers and felt it was relevant to my own short.

the film does not use dialogue, it does not require it. narrative is shown through facial expression and movement from the actors. for the initial interaction between the protagonists back to back shots are used with closeups on the characters, allowing their smallest change if expression to be seen and understood to its fullest potential

the camera remains stationary for most of the film. besides the shots on the moving train, where the camera is shakings slightly, the camera remains very steady, including the few panning shots it utilises. closeups on the protagonists allows us to concentrate more on their reactions and motives, something especially vital in a film with no dialogue.

it appears to use natural lighting which i personally feel adds to the drama and authentic feel of the film.

it shows a plot we have seen recycled a hundred times over in film. the two protagonists do not trust each other, but ultimately unite against a common foe.

this film creates great misen sen. the jewish protagonist is shown to be jewish through use of a star of david necklace and his hebrew ring tone. likewise we see the arab protagonist as such by the newspaper he is reading being in arabic.

genre

my short film is a drama and follows many of the standard codes and conventions of a drama. the story, while surreal, is not absurdist and likewise the charecter's, while strange, i have tried to make human and relatable.

the film will utilise steady camera movement and natural lighting to give it a mire authentic feel. i used stranger than fiction as a bases for how i wanted my film to turn out. strange, occasionally very strange, but ultimately an interesting piece highlighting the normal human reaction to something that is in essence very abnormal