In preparation for my short film I made a story board which has sketches of the main shots I want to get.
![]() I have decided to change my idea from the infinite loop as it was far too complicated and it was unlikely I would be able to do the idea justice in such a short space of time. My final idea is about a 19-year-old girl who is emotionally unstable and fabricates in her mind that she has an verbal and physically abusive boyfriend. However at the end of the short film it is revealed that it was just a figment of her imagination and it was her who was tormenting herself. The actress: The girl who is going to act in my short film is called Vi Mendoza. She has plenty of acting experience and she has been in a film of mine before so we both know what to expect. She is 17, which is ideal as her character is only meant to be two years older. The actor: The guy acting in my short film is called Liam Grace. He is also like Vi 17 so he can realistically act the age 19. He is also a very good actor and him and Vi have acted together already. This is perfect as they will be really comfortable around each other. Another reason why Liam is fitting for this role is because he has a beard which in the context of my short film stereotypically suits his character and makes it seem more realistic as he needs to seem frightening.
I wanted to mirror this style and therefore called my ident ‘Lucky Shot’ which could imply that I am a first time director and could also encourage younger filmmakers. I wrote ‘Lucky’ because the symbol is a horseshoe, which represents luck. I chose ‘Shot’ because when you do something like in sport someone will say, “That was a lucky shot”. Also, ‘Shot’ as in a film shot. Therefore my catchphrase has much symbolism and is also memorable and simplistic. Instead of using bright colours like my previous ident I decided to go for more monochrome colours to make it more sophisticated and sharper. I used the combination of illustrator and after affects to create the animation. Below is a picture of my new ident.
What is a film ident? A film ident comes before a film starts and is a logo that shows the production company. For example: I wanted to create a film company ident that would represent the type of institution that would distribute my film. My film is a British, low budget, independent film shot in and around one location. Considering these facts, my film will have a fairly niche audience as it will primarily be shown online such as Vimeo or YouTube and film festivals. With this in mind I came up with a variety of different ideas for my film company. I didn’t use the one I began with because it wasn’t distinctive and memorable enough for a legitimate company. This is because it had my initials, which is unrealistic for film idents. Also, it doesn’t appeal to the target demographic as I choose niave colours, which don’t reflect the seriousness of the company I want to create and the type of films they would want to distribute. Here is a shot of my initial ident. In order to create my ident, I used After Effects. Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Systems and used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, rotoscoping, compositing and animation. As well as using After Effects to create my animation I used Illustrator to create the initial drawing of the horse shoe. I then transferred it into After Effects, animated the image and choose how long I wanted the animation to be.
Buzzfeed posted 129 shots from well known movies across all genres known as the most beautiful. I have picked five which are my favourite. The first one is from 'The Shawshank Redemption'. This shot inspires me because despite the fact it is highly simplistic, there is so much passion. The birds eye view shot gives an interesting angle and helps us empathise with the character who is looking up at us. Without this perspective, you wouldn't be able to see his face. Also the way there is so much negative space makes the character the centre of attention and draws us to him far more, emphasising his despair. The emptiness of this shot perhaps mirrors the characters feelings which is further conveyed by his body language. This has made me want to have similar shots like this in my short film as it is such an effective way to focus in on a character. This shot taken from 'The Dark Knight' is also highly effective. The simplicity again is what draws me to it. The way the focus is on the main character is standing centre frame makes the shot very symmetrical. Also, the figure is very dark compared to the light surroundings creating a contrast, further drawing our attention to the character. I chose this shot because in my short film there are going to be many shots of just my main character alone, so hopefully I will be able to create the same effect as this shot. This shot from 'The Blade Runner' caught my eye as the lighting in it is so powerful. The close up focusing on the girls face is intense and powerful. The way the depth of field has put the background out of focus again makes us focus on her face. I love how the light is bouncing off her cheek, contrasting with the darkness behind her, again emphasizing how she is the focus of the shot. Her body language is also a pivotal part of this shot as she is looking at something with so much feeling whist also smoking a cigarette in an effortless manner. The way the right side of the shot is also so dark compared to the left creates an ominous feel as that side of her face is almost lost in the darkness. There will be many close ups in my short film which is why this shot has been such an inspiration. I really like this shot from 'The Wrestler' as it is a wide shot that is revealing so much. The way the man has been framed in the centre yet far away from the camera draws your attention to him but also makes him seem insignificant at that time. The pale blue and greens which seem to be prominent in this shot create a very childlike feel to it, which is clearly exaggerated by the toys and paintings. This one shot tells the audience so much which I think is highly effective, but it also leaves us confused. There is a lot of mise-en-scene used to create this shot and make it very interesting, which is emphasised due to the deep depth of field allowing everything to be in focus. Finally, this shot from 'To Live and Die in LA' is so powerful. The composition in this shot is incredibly important as it has been done in a way that the viewers are aware of this dangerous figure with the gun yet the other two characters can't see him. The way the man with the gun is far darker than the rest of the shot mirrors his danger and how that side of the room is frightening and ominous. This shows how important cinematography is when it comes to getting a great shot as the symmetry here is also poignant as the other two characters are perfectly in line with man other than a wall separating them.
For this task I filmed a simplistic scene and then added two different soundtracks and video effects to create two different genres. It showed how you can manipulate the exact same footage to appear to be a different genre by adding a soundtrack and a different colour. For the first genre, I decided to do make it a scary thriller. For this I firstly made the contrast high to make the scene pop more and I lowered the exposure to make it darker. I also decreased the saturation and this overall made the clip look more bleak and frightening. However, I then decided to make the scene black and white as it was the most effective at making the scene the genre thriller. For soundtrack I added a suspenseful and intense piece of music. The second genre I wanted to portray was comedy. I added a lighthearted and bouncy soundtrack making the atmosphere humorous and fun. I also used the white point dial to make the scene more yellow and therefore warmer. This overall changed the scene from thriller to comedy just by soundtrack and colour. This conveys how important these aspects are at transforming a piece of work which I will definitely keep in mind when editing my footage for my short film. I found my previous idea of a girl leaving town hard to build on so I decided to continue to think about other ideas I could do. For example I thought that I could have a short film where a character finds out they have a terminal illness and in turn try to live their life completely differently. However I decided I didn't like this because I didn't want it to seem like I wasn't taking an awful illness seriously. I have finally come up with an idea I am going to stick with. It is based around the notion of 'groundhog day'. The short film will be about a girl who finds her self on a roof about to commit suicide, however she doesn't end up going through with it and ends up sleeping on the roof. The next day she wakes up on the roof, leaves, goes outside and walks down the street. She will be in the same clothes as she was the previous day. She will go get a coffee and go sit on a bench and time will pass. She will then go back up to the roof and the exact same cycle will happen. She will wake up again and again there as she has put herself in a false groundhog day so she could never live anything else other than this fabricated moment. As time is going on, she will continue to look more rugged, making the audience aware of this relentless loop she is in. The loop is broken when she attempts to go into the house to go on the roof but the house has construction making it impossible. It will then cut to before she was on the roof showing what lead her to go onto it in the first place. I still have a lot to develop with this idea but I am pleased with it so far. I am sure some aspects will still change, like what caused her to go onto the roof in the first place and want she does when she live the roof in the loop. Here is a pitch for my idea: |
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April 2016
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