Short Film Outline

This section of our assignment was to outline our short scripts for film. The process looks simple and it would be if you were a hundred percent of your film. As I gave in my idea i was told that my idea to to large for a small film and could not be filmed in under 8minutes. So during the process of the outline i then had to alter the proposal in order for my film to be filmed in under 8minutes. After completing it I feel far more confident with the script writing stage of the film as we have broken the ideas down bit by bit. that is why these small processes in preproduction make a huge difference when writing and shooting the film, the more work you put in early the easier it becomes further down the production line.

Script Ideas for film 2

Emptiness describes my head at the moment as I cannot think of a proposal for my short story, I have two weeks to come up with an idea for a script. Unfortunately my major problem is I keep going into Hollywood mode with explosions and gun fights. Not only this but small simple things that one might think would be easy to do, become challenging such as, a train ride. For this there is the task of getting permission to use a train and film on it, once you have done that you would have to find a realistic way of filming on a train without it deviating from its times. Then getting the shots on a moving train without it looking like the 'Blair Witch Project'. Not only this, but you would then need release forms for any one who is in the shot, stopping people from messing up shots. All of a sudden a 15seconds sequence on a train to show a journey becomes a month of work to get it shot.

What is challenging is to get a great simple short film to be simple and shootable. It is all well and good writing a script that Spielberg would say is good if you cannot shoot it on a students budget and equipment. For example I have always wanted to do a World War II film, but this would be extremely difficult, just to find the right locations for it, let alone the costume and slight issue of War; guns, explosions and amputees.

To over come the challenge of writing a good script I feel i am going to have to rein in my thoughts and create something simple yet inspiring.

The Filming Weekend... "HEAD OVER HEELS"

DAY ONE: 21/11/2009.

09:00 the day begins with having to collect all of those who did not have cars and get them too the first setting of the film which was the University and as i am a nice producer i thought it's best to get them rather than make people wait in the cold for the bus which would have not been on time.

After collecting every one from various places across Oldfield Park we descended on Newton

Park Campus.

The first scene of the film was to be shot in the class room of our planning and making a film seminar room, this was chosen as it has good lighting from a wall of windows, as well as the artificial lights. The shoot got off to a slow start as the nerv's of the group started to kick in, nevertheless after a few takes the filming got under way and the ball rolled well from there.

After the class room we moved over to the library for the the opening scene of the movie, this scene was a good laugh to film as Andy and Emma had to have their on screen kiss which brought a good laugh and kept the mood high amongst cast and crew. Despite a few little rain delays we managed to film both the opening and closing scenes of the movie plus two others 2 hours ahead of schedule which was great for me as a producer, not having to move things along.

By far the best scene of the day was the 'bedroom' scene with Andy and Emma this time they are in bed together looking like they have just had sex, portraying this in my small, cramped, cold, single bed with the two looking naked under the covers brought both great laughter, and awkwardness to a very good scene of the movie.

Over 3 hours ahead of schedule we stopped for the day as I did not want to push every one too hard on the first day so all enthusiasm would be lost for the second.

DAY 2:

10:00 On the second day we started later as we had done so well the day before, we arranged to meet at Becky's house to do the outfit scene. This only involved Natasha as it is a scene all about her getting ready for a date. She was a superstar she did several costume changes, hair and make up changes and a million pairs of shoes for the take and did it really well each time and came into her own when the camera was rolling. This meant again we finished early and moved straight onto the Little Theatre this was one of two very short scenes which we had to do but it was also the first time we had to worry about the general public being in shot. For the Little theatre this was not so much of a problem, the problem came when we went over to Victoria Park as there were many young children in the park who we had to keep out of shot, for obvious reasons.

THAT'S A WRAP, after this scene that was it all of the scenes had been shot, all on tape and ready to be logged and captured.

The actors in the film were all fantastic and i would like to say a huge thank you to Natasha Ball, Andy Henry, Emma Reeves and Douglas McDougall who all did a wonderful job over the filming weekend and did not complain when it was cold or about to rain but just got on with the task in hand. So thanks Guys!!!

Being the Producer!

the trial's and tribulations of being a producer.

This role is always vital to the film making process, not only in ore production but in production and post production. At this current time in pre production i am having to a lot of paper work, this including the unenviable task of risk assesment, scheduling, casting, location sourcing and much more.

Location Finding: With our film having a love element to it i felt it necessary to have picturesque beautiful locations, which is why on the university campus we will be at the lake, and castle. Then when in town shooting at the little theatre rather than the Odeon as it is more inkeeping with the style of the film.

As you can see from this picture the grounds of the university are a beautiful tool right on our doorstep, it would be foolish not to use it, in all of its glory.

Shot Listing

When shot listing we have to take our formated Celtx script we have to think about putting our scripts into shots. By doing this it makes the days of production a lot simpler and gives both director and camera man a better idea of what is needed on the day. Another great use of a shot list is so that no shots are forgotten during the day and in editing continuity stays coherant.
As a class we have all made a shot list of the "shoes" script, this was not to challenging as the script is very basic and self explanatory. Nethertheless a good insight into what has to be done. For example the layout, starting with the obvious, title, then same as the script with the slug ling (INT/EXT...LOCATION/TIME OF DAY) then into the way ou will shot the film on the day. A Good book incase any one is struggling is "Producing and Directing: The Short Film and Video" (Peter Rea, David Irving. 2006) This books talks to you about shot listingfor those struggling to get it.

Script Editing

As part of this course we have been given a script from a previous student to edit and adapt into our own short film. At first a very daunting task as many people have never used script editing software or written an industry standard script. We have been using software called CeltX a commonly used editing software which has everything a basic script editor needs. What was also a great help to me when thinking about the script and the ways in which i could re write it was the book, 'Making Short Films: The complete guide from script to screen.' (Clifford Thurrow 2005) Berg Publishers: UK. this book is full of tips and points to help you write a good script. It is also layed out very well and easy to read making the process much easyer.
Once in groups we have had to adapt the script based on the theme of the script. Our group have met up three times to discuss what should go in our script and how the film should look. Looking outside the box i feel we have a good solid film idea. You will have to wait and see what it is though!
On this film i have been assigned as the Producer which is a very vital role to the film. My skills in deligation, organisation and Liaising. In both Pre - production and Production will i be at my most busy as i have to find locations for the film, Actors for the film and make sure evry one is ready and understands what will be happening during the shoot. Netherthe less i am pleased with such an important role.
The other roles have been handed out to the members of the group and we have both an editor camera man and director all ready. One book i have looked at to help is 'Making SHort Films' (Jim Piper 2006) Alworth Press: New York This book breaks down film making step by step going through pre, post and during production. A great book for those first time film makers in need of a helping hand.
Whats Next?
Next we turn the original script into our own using celtX to create an easy to follow, formatted script in order for us to make shot lists and story boards.

The blog

The first thing you see on this blog are the short films i have watched and posted onto the wall. In our seminar groups we watched some short films to give us a taste of what the course was about, an example of the films we saw was 'The Black Hole' which you will see later in the blog. What this film shows is that the simplest ideas can make a good film. With in the film we see themes of greed, glutony, mystery and exploration. Yet there is only one man and on photocopier within the film. It is a great use of cinematic ideas to create a very good film.

I felt these films were good in many ways and helped me in my understanding of short film making as i will be making my own film in the near future. To find the materials i needed such as the short films i used two main sources. Firstly the Virgin media shorts website http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/ and the second was of course YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ These websites where full of films that have been made for similar seasons to mine and also as projects. Virgin Media shorts was particularly good as it had more catagories from comedy to drama. It also had sections of the best film and other previous winners. Its usfull rating system also helped when choosing a film to watch, as not only did it tell you the films average score but it let you give your own rating too.

Hiccup

Mixtape

Kiwi

SIGNS

The Black Hole

Offside

I Forgot My Passport