A short film is usually between 3 and 8 minutes long, should have a clear plot structure and should be entertaining to its audience. Futureshorts is a particularly good source for short films and in my first blog post I show examples of clips I watched on Futureshorts’ YouTube channel and some notes on what I thought about them. Most films have a log line which is usually just one or two sentences designed to entice the audience and give a hint as to what the film will be about. An example of this is from Titanic where the log line is a boy and girl from differing social backgrounds meet during the ill-fated maiden voyage of RMS Titanic. The log line should give enough information as to give the audience an idea of what the film is about, without giving too much away. In my second blog post I give examples of short films we watched in class and the log lines that I created for each of those films. The outline of a film is usually a short paragraph describing in more details the events of the film. If you visit The Internet Movie Database you can search movie titles and find out the log lines for these films and examples of outlines written by movie fans.
In November we created our own short films. We were put into small groups and given the script Choices. I took on the role of Producer, and through my posts three to eight I reflect on the pre-production matter and organisation. On the filming weekend I played a small role in the film and I kept the cast informed of where and when they would be needed. I also brought food and drink for the cast and crew to have on set and I used the clapper board. In pre-production I watched some clips of the first cut of the film and offered some ideas and suggestions during our discussions. I organised the production folder and ensured we had all the necessary release forms, permissions and paper work. This role gave me the opportunity to see how much is involved in the production of a short film and helped raise my interest in film production. I knew that I would like to produce another short film and felt that it was something I did well.
Before Christmas break we watched the films in class. I felt that for a first attempt we were quite successful, although I could see several things we could have done better. We could have taken lighting into more consideration as we ran out of natural light on one of our shooting days and in the final scene you can tell that it is dark outside when it should be daytime. I also thought that for the next film we would concentrate carefully on casting and organise a proper audition. There was a slight editorial error also, as 1:27minutes into the film there seems to be two shots playing over each other. We also realised that there was far too much swearing and this would be something we would watch out for next time. Overall I was quite pleased with the film but it definitely gave me several things to think about for next time such as language and what elements make a film ‘studenty’.
Here is choices.
Over the Christmas break we had to write our own short film scripts with the idea that they would be plausible for other students to film. In my ninth blog post I discuss the key things to take into consideration when writing a short film designed for student production. I had several ideas for my screenplay but found that the difficulty was in writing a script that was easy to produce but also interesting. I then came up with the idea for my script Breakdown, where a young couple break down on their way to a wedding weekend and hitch a ride through the countryside. The journey to the wedding however does not turn out as they expected. In this script I used a limited number of characters, only three with dialogue, one pub location and the rest country roads. Country roads may seem a difficult location but because the university campus is surrounded by rural land I figured this would be ok.
I wrote the script Breakdown and we reviewed the first drafts in class. Several people who read mine seemed to really like the idea and the characters. One negative comment was that it would be too difficult to film in a car. I defended this point and explained that it may be harder than filming in wide open space but it is in no way impossible. Another suggestion was instead of starting the script with the couple leaving the house instead to start it with the car breaking down. This was a comment I took on board and I changed the beginning of the script. This exercise showed me the importance of writing a realistic script. If my script had too many characters or a huge action scene I knew that no-one would choose it and it would not fit the set criteria. It also showed me how helpful other people's feedback and suggestions can be.
We all gave in our final drafts and Mike selected a few scripts that he felt would be good options to produce. My script Breakdown was on the list and I was really hoping someone would produce it! In class Dan and I discussed the scripts we might like to produce and in my tenth blog I explain the pros and cons of each of the possible scripts. We met up with our group and discussed the scripts. We all quite liked The Good Listener but felt that it needed altering.
My blogs 10 – 16 give details on pre-production and in particular, casting. I again took on the role of producer and had the same responsibilities as before, except that I took on casting. I organized an audition, advertised it around university campus with posters (see blog 16), emailed drama and performing arts students, and contact Chris Jury asking him to spread the word to his students. Dan, David and I wrote brief monologues for the actors to use in the audition and I created a hand out for the crew, with details of the actors, who they were auditioning for and a space for notes. This went really well and by the end of the day we had chosen our cast. This showed me how vital organization is to a successful production as we now had options to select our cast and could choose actors we felt suited the roles, rather than having to take what we could get like we did previously. We even organised a rehearsal (see blog 14) with the cast as by selecting our cast early on we had more time to prepare for the shoot.
Cast Rehearsal with myself and Ed.
Filming weekend went fairly well, the cast were efficient and we managed to get quite a few extras for the house party scene. On set I had the same duties as before, and kept in contact with the cast and crew, informing everyone of where and when they were needed. I felt that this shoot was much more successful than Choices, and I think this is largely down to casting. We were so much more organised this time that everything seemed less stressful and to run smoothly. Blogs 17 and 18 give further details on production weekend.
In post production I organized the production folder, ensuring again we had all the correct documents. In the editing room it was discovered that some of the scenes weren’t good enough as there was dust on the camera lens and in another case the lighting was too dark. We decided to re shoot the scenes and I organized the re shoot by checking the actors availability and when would be best to shoot. There was only one weekend when the actors were all available and unfortunately Dan and I could not get this day off work. I gave the production folder over to Ed to have on set and Ed, Harry and David re shoot the distorted scenes. The following week I added the final documents to the folder and checked through it all. Dan, Ed and Harry continued with editing. I explain further details about the re shoot in blog 19. The issue with the dust of lens made me realise how important it is to check every detail during the shoot. If someone would have noticed the dust on the lens, then we could have cleaned it and carried on without the need for re shooting.
Before Easter break we watched the first cut of our films. I found this to be really useful and in blog 20 give full details on what we learnt from watching back the film with an audience. I find it’s really important to have other people who are not involved with the production to watch the film and give criticism. They can give honest and unbiased opinions of the film, and are particularly helpful in seeing if the plot makes sense and if the story is told clearly.
Here is our second short film, Silent Disco.
Here is our second short film, Silent Disco.
Two groups decided to produce my screenplay Breakdown, the original script can be found on the scriptwriting page of my personal blog.
Here are their interpretations of my script.
This course has taught me a lot about film making that I didn’t know before. Previously I did not realise huge a huge part pre-production played in the final edit of a film. Without proper organisation it would be impossible to shoot a decent film. I also realised how much can go wrong during all stages of production and that a production team must be ready to overcome and solve any problems. I feel that producing a short film really does depend on the people you work with, as it is hugely important to get on with your team members and work with like minded people who are striving for the same goal. Another valuable lessons was the the importance of writing a script with its purpose, audience and suitability in mind.
