04-10-10
Workshop.
Our first Planning & Making a Film workshop began with a discussion of recommended reading and a read through of the student handbook. Mike Johnston particularly recommended Voice and Vision by Mick Hurbis-cherrier and The Film Makers Handbook by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. We discussed the information in the student handbook, paying particular attention to the assessments for the year. This year will be assessed in three ways; an independent short screen play, a group short film (where we will be put into groups) and a second group short film (where we can choose our groups). Mike also informed us about how the group projects we will be marked, and explained that there is a point system which will be discussed between tutor and group to ensure everyone is marked fairly for the amount of work and effort they put in.
As well as these assessments we must write a reflective journal throughout the year. Some of the questions I will think about while writing this journal include; what are my ideas? What do I think are the key things to include in the script/production? How am I influencing the group? What am I contributing to the group? How successful am I in doing so? What would I change about the final product? What I think worked well in the final product and why? How well do I think we are working as a group? What ideas have I seen in other films and feel could be useful in our production?
Mike also gave us a pre-warning that we will each be attending two production weekends this year. The first will be either the 13th and 14th of November or the 20th and 21st of November, depending on which group we are in. The second production week will be the 26th and 27th of February or the 5th and 6th of March, again depending on our groups.
I will also research the following to aid my short film knowledge;
· Danny Stack (Writer’s blog)
· British short film collections
Mike also urged to us to watch as many short films (between 3 – 10 minutes long) as possible, in order to gain knowledge and ideas for our own production later on in the term.
After the workshop.
After the workshop I researched Futureshorts online, and discovered that they are a short film production company, YouTube channel, and that they are interested in sharing and increasing the popularity of short films. I watched several short films on the YouTube channel, and wrote the following notes on the films which stood out to me.
Characters/art/composition – Matias Vigliano
Hand drawn, traditional animation. Sound effects and music; no dialogue. Comedic. There is a structured storyline (beginning, middle, end), but no sense of definite story or plot (random, wacky style). Cartoon fiction.
A CRF Production
Text introduction. Speech, narration. Non-fiction. Serious, factual. Variety of shots and camera angles. Real people, no characters. Documentary.
Play on words, neither fiction nor non-fiction. Music, dialogue, sound effects. Playful. No regular or repeated characters. Poetic.
Words; play, blow, break, split, run, fly, fall, light, space.
Structured story line. Dialogue, music, sound effects. Action. Acting, scripted characters. Fiction. Interesting plot, characters and special effects. Surprise ending; a romantic twist. Fiction. Robot/sci-fi theme.
Directors: Cristóbal León, Niles Atallah and Joaquín Cociña
Structured story line. Art/animation, no physical actors. Spanish dialogue, English subtitles. Narration. Sound effects and music. Interesting story, fantastic animation and art work. One main character. Suspense. Horror/thriller style.
After watching these videos I began thinking about which films I enjoy and why. Out of these films I particularly enjoyed Words, because it was clever and imaginative, and Lucia because it was tense and unusual. Mainstream films I really enjoy include;
The Orphanage – For the suspense, horror theme, surprise ending, and interesting location (remote Spanish house).
The Wizard of Oz – For its fantasy element, imaginative set and costume design, and originality. Also for its use of colour, particularily the way in which it is used to differeniate between the real world and Dorothy's dream.
The Shining – For its original horror theme, suspense, action and high class acting (Jack Nicholson).
I particularity enjoy films that surprise me or keep me guessing. A great example of this is Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis. Throughout the film I am kept interested by the horror elements of the film and the ensuing action, but the twist at the end of the film is what, to me, makes it worth watching again and again.
I also really enjoy comedy films, particularly those based around real life situations such as The Hangover. The plot of The Hangover’ is wildly over the top and hilarious, but it is based around the idea of a group of friends going out, drinking too much and in the morning finding themselves unable to recollect all of the previous nights antics. This is something I think most people can relate to, as we have all had a bad hangover at least once in our lives. Being able to watch funny characters mimic things we do in real life, but with much funnier consequences, is something present in most of my favourite comedy films.
In the future I would like to create a horror short film and a comedy short film, as these are the genres I enjoy the most and as an audience member feel that I know the most about.
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