Character Work : The Brainstorm of Ideas...

Within our AS course we focused on the first interpretation of characters, and how the opening two minutes of a long film can allow the audience to start to derive their own ideas of the main characters for example we focused on how we personally interpret the character played by Lester Burnham in American Beauty). In today's lesson we advanced on our characterisation work, firstly we looked at how every film demonstrates a beginning, middle and end however the narrative may not be linear, for example in the film 'Brick'  starts in the middle then goes to the beginning then to the end. We then focused more on characterisation, we looked at 'Shrek' which as a film followes a linear narrative and is a good example that demonstrates the break down of a characters, most basic films demonstrate the four key characters; the protagonist (hero), the antagonist (villain), the mirror (side-kick/buddy) and the resolution/romance.

 

When focusing on Shrek we can break down the characters into these four key roles: 

 

Protagonist or Hero : Shrek

Mirror or Buddy : Donkey

Antagonist or Villain : Lord Farquad however also at parts Shrek's own self-doubt

Romance : Princess Fiona
Within Shrek the story line followes the Shrek who is the protagnist , to start with his main aim to get his swamp back, however when he goes to Lord Farquad (antagonist) to ask for it back, he is told that he can have it if he saves the princess and brings her to him (as Lord Farquad wishes to marry her). However as the story continues the twist starts, as Shrek falls for Princess Fiona (the romance), However when Donkey (the mirror) sees Fiona turn into an ogar, he believes that Fiona and Shrek blong together, when Dinkey and Fiona are chatting Shrek over hears Fiona talking about herself however he belives that in fact she is talking about him when she says "hideous, green and ugly", and at this stage it is Shrek's own self-doubt that makes them fall out. However Donkey saves the relationship by making Shrek see that he has mis-understood, another issue than arises as now Fiona and Shrek wish to be together however Lor Farquad stands in the way between true happiness, and it is not untill Fiona reveals her true self that her and Shrek can be together, and they live happily after ever...(well untill the next crisis!)

 

We were then set the task of enforcing our new knowledge of the role of characters in films by coming up with a few short film ideas in a small group that demonstrate clearly a protagonist/mirror/antagonist/resolution, so off me, Caitlin and Nicole went into the sunshine to get our thinking caps on and try to think as much as we could outside the typical box! We decided to go more down the comical side for our two ideas as when creating a short film, many of the most successful films are comical
Idea One
As valentimes day is fast appraoching, a young, timid and small boy (the protagnist) has since reception been in love with the beautiful, cleaver and musical girl that sits infront of him (the romance) however he does think such a girl would love a boy like him. However his bestfriend (the mirror), decides that the best way for him to show the girl his true feelings, and too see if she feels the same is to send her a card in the school "love box" every day for the fourteen days prevous to valentimes day. However he is not the only one in love with her, and his greatest rival, the school bully (the antagonist) also likes her and when they girl recieves the mysterous cards he pretends that he is the sender. Whilst the timid boy is to scared that the girl will reject her if he tells her the truth, hides the fact that he is the true author behind the cards however it is his bestfriend that plays cupid and ensures that the girl understands who is the true sender behind the cards. The happily ever after ending is that in fact the girl has always been in love with the small and timid boy that sits behind her, and the boys recieves the valentimes kiss he had been dreaming of!
The Protagonist : Author (timid, he lacks confidence and victim of bullying)
The Antagonist : Jack (over confident and popular, however is also a bully who is in all the sports teams)
The Mirror : Rose (author's bestfriend)
The Romance : Florance (beautiful and cleaver, she is musical and kind)
Idea Two
Inspiring childrfen that maths is cool, the hardest task for a maths teacher to do - however this maths teacher takes education to a whole new level when he becomes the next Banksy, graffiti wall art + maths calculations = a whole new sort of education, to insipre the young minds of today. However now all of the community agree with this "new banksy" and the neighbour-hood watch man goes around in the day painting over all the new art that has been added by night. All the teacher wants to do is insprire the children, however the more he paints the more that is destroyed, however in the end it is the neighbour-hoods daughter that shows him that the art is not vanadalism instead it is amazing, by gaining her B through the calculations she sees on the walls that surrond her.
The Protagonist : Mr Waller (a highschool maths teacher, he has a passion for art and the aim to insprie young minds that maths is not always the boring subject)
The Antagonist : Larry (the neighbour-hood watch man, he sees the art as vandalism and is jealous that it is recieving so much praise)
The Resolution : Tilly (the daughter of Larry, she has struggled with her maths for years and the chance of  getting a C in maths seems so distant however she is inspried by teh graffit resulting in her getting a B)
 

Photoshop Workshop : Exploring the Creation of a Magazine Cover...

This is our final workshop focusing on photoshop, today we explored different fonts and were set the task of creating out own film magazine cover. Before starting my cover I researched existing Film magazine covers to see what common elements they included, what fonts were favoured and how much information was obtained on a cover. I found a common element was having a main eye catching image as the background, and for most times the image was the main article within the magazine. As a class we discussed the importance of typography, and how the key element for a magazine cover is one that is bold therefore easy to read from a distance. We also discussed how the font can set the ominous of the film when used for a film poster, for example 'Trainspotter' is done in a font which is very bold and simple, and therefore similar to the font that would be used for railway signs, it would not create the right ominous if they had used a font such as Sabon.

The first challenge was trying to think of a name for my magazine (my imagination was not flowing that lesson!), I settled on the name "streamed", I chose this as I wanted my magazine to focus of independent film from up and coming artists and how their work can be streamed from many different sources. For this particular issue, I wanted the main focus to be on film festivals, especially focusing on the Sundance film festival and the winners of the short-film awards. Therefore I chose to have the background image of the directors with their awards, this would not be seen as the typical "norm" background image as many film magazines use the stars or the characters of up and coming films, I chose to do this as firstly I wanted to demonstrate how behind every good film is a great director and also if it was on the shelves I would want it to stand out against other film magazines. I used a different colour for my main title, to my features as to ensure my cover did not appear boring to the audience.

Photoshop Workshop : Exploring The Use of Grids...

James is back for another week (we can't of scared him off too much with our many questions about photo shop last week then!), this time we focused on using the grid tool and were set the small task of creating a film poster for either an existing film or for our AS production. We used a pre-drawn template of the grid (all of which was mathematically accurate). A grid is a key part in media, not only in helping the arrangement of a film poster, but also for magazines covers and newspapers. I decided to explore both creating a poster based on an existing film, for this I used 'An Education', as well as creating a poster for my AS production (I thought creating two I would get as much practice in - which I must say helped as I'm not the number one whizz on photo shop just yet!).

Photoshop Workshop : Exploring The Manipulation of Images...

James has returned (we can't off scared him to much last year!), to help expand our knowledge of computer software. Last year we learnt about editing and post-production using the software 'After Effects', this time we have focused on Photoshop, as for our ancillary task we must create a film poster and review page, photoshop therefore is a key element in the completion of these tasks. I personally had a little insight into photoshop before we started, as last year James taught me a bit about how to create a transparent background to objects and move them so you could create a final image using a range of smaller images, as I needed this skill to create my beachut-sea gull ident image (so I didn't feel I was going into the task completely blindness just slightly).

We were focusing on completing our own "creature"  inspired by the botanical-artwork-heroes image. We were set the task of choosing our own base image (I chose a mushroom), our own set of crazy eyes, and any other features we thought our "creature" needed in order to create an impacting effect - I went for the "cute creature" look than scary! Once we had formed our basic image, we then had to develop a knowledge in changing and manipulating colours and saturation, in order to stop the image from looking like lots of different elements pulled together (even thought in fact that is what it was!). Once we were happy with our final image, we started to focus on adding text (which is a crucial aspect to creating the review), we learnt how to create a word path, in which the text follows the line (example = round the image in a circle) or goes around in the image (example = when a box a is formed by the lines).

Here is an photo collage of the different processes involved in creating my "cute creature" :

(insert image of photo collage)

Five Key Steps to a Low Budget Film...

Unfortunately I am not a millionaire or have a partnership with a successful American production company, so I have been doing some research on the key elements to a successful low budget short film. As in a previous post I commented on what makes a good short film, I found on the Raindance film festival website five key steps to a successful low budget film (perfect for seaside productions, as we are defiantly a low budget production company!)

1. Draft a creative, engaging script : This goes without saying one of the most important ingredients to any successful film is a quality script, therefore meaning the script is the most critical aspect to the success of a low budget film. In order to have a successful script it must be creative as well as original. It is the script that on low budget films carries the film from start to finish, as unlike professional high budget films there is not the funds to have elaborate sets or extraordinary special effects, therefore it must be the most creative element that keeps the audience interested throughout the development of the story. An example of how a script can be the source of a successful film is black a white film 'Clerks', the script was written by Kevin Smith and had a budget of $27,575 and made a gross of over £3million

2. A Visionary Director : The most successful films are ones which have a director who is willing to take risks, innovative and knows what it takes to create a quality film. An example of this is the successful 'Blair Witch Project' which was co-wrote and directed by Daniel Myrick and Edurado Sanchez, the success was down to the successful director role of managing and directing the creative elements

3. Resourceful Production : With limited funds the only way to ensure success for a low budget film is to have an imaginative and creative production team (most of the common roles to filmaking however is carried out by the director because of the lack of funds to have a full production team). An example of a resourceful production is 'Clerks', Kevin Smith filmed almost the entirety of the film in the convient store where he worked, he worked around the issue of not being able to stimulate day scenes as he filmed at night by closing the shutters and incorporating this into the story line. In order to cut costs low budget films may also conduct post-production in the home of the producer as this means that a production office is not needed

4. Unknown Actors : The most successful films are those that cast relatively unknown actors (which is great news for low budget films). The reason for this is because there is no association to the other work that the actors have been in therefore making it easier (as well as cheaper) for the director to deliver a clear depiction of the unfolding events in the story. For example in 'The Blaire Witch Project' Daniel Myrick and Edurado Sanchez casted actors with little or no acting experience, this was so they could create a sense of realism allowing the portrayal of a documentary


5. Marketing : Success to any film especially those on a low budget is marketing. In 'The Blair Witch Project', the success was the direct result of the innovative way the producers carried out the tasks. Initial buzz for the film was carried out on a website that was created a year before the film was even released. More interest was gained through TV and radio advertising, and prior to the release of the film the actors were not allowed to make public appearances in order to make it is as authentic as possible. This in turn meant that a gross of over £248million was gained from the film.

Exploring The Criteria of a Good Short Film...

The creation of a good short film cannot be based on set rules as the interpretation of a good short film is all based on the subjective views of the audience. However when an exhibitor reviews short films in order to develop an understanding of what is successful or not, the exhibitors may looks towards certain criteria's:

• An exciting and original idea = a purely original idea is hard to come by however a basic subject matter, can be used in a variety of ways demonstrating the matter from a different angle or with the use of a different technique, by researching lots of different short films leading trends can be identified, therefore a successful short film would be one that rather than following a cliched idea, develops its own twist and original aspect to a certain subject matter
• A strong script = the key element to a narrative-based short film is a good script, therefore many short films are let down by a weak, overwritten or underdeveloped script, strong scripts are those that have been developed and reviewed by the target audience, feedback received and taken into account before the actual production of the film therefore resulting the creation of a good short film
• Good acting = strong films created by local film makers will be one's that have recruited up and coming actors who are searching to make there names known, this recruition could of been done by advertising on message boards of film making communities, therefore not only is the filmmaker gaining great actors but also advertising the film via another Internet connection
• High production values = a good digital produced film will be one that has always applied the basic production values used to create any film. Many low budget short films are let down by the poor sound, lighting, camera work and editing, however by ensuring the values are applied a good low budget film is accessible and affordable for all to create
• Making it short = the longer the short film, the less chance of capturing the viewers attention therefore a successful short film that is popular amongst distributors and buyers are very short films as they are easier to programme and in turn can be sold to a range of multi-platforms (example = online, mobiles and VOD). Evidence has also shown that on Film Network the average time a view watches a film for is four minutes, and no film longer than thirty minutes are accepted by film festivals.
• A strong beginning = a film that grabs the attention of the audience from the very first shot is an exemplar of a good short film, an unsuccessful short film therefore is one that has not pique the audiences interest within the first two minutes
• Exciting new techniques and styles = an average plot can be made intriguing by a new technique or style, this could be anything from a new kind of animation, camera work or art direction, therefore a successful and good short film is one that exhibits the exploration of the director and in turn the development of their own unique style

In order to also gain a professional opinion on what goes into a short film, the BAFTA's short winner Michal Please expressed his own view on what determines whether a short film has been successful or not :

The Concepts of a Short Film...

In order to create my own successful short film, I have firstly been exploring the concept of short film from looking at the basic criteria to seeing how it is professionally defined within the industry. Catherine Des Forges states that a short film is "spare economic narratives, interesting storytelling, well structured work which draw in the audience quickly" whilst as Gareth Evans stated that "short films are long films that end earlier. A good idea, succinctly, less is more". Short films have a number of contrasting elements to feature length films, below is a table I have constructed comparing a short film against a feature film :

FEATURE FILMS	SHORT FILMS
Must be 80 minutes or more, the majority of feature films last between 90 and 210 minutes long	Must be less than 40 minutes to be classified a short film, but many last from 5 to 10 minutes
High budget : Pirates of the Caribbean : At worlds end (2007) is ranked as the most expensive film production with a budget of $300 million	As made by independent filmmakers short films often are low budget (or in our case no budget at all)
Professional	Amateur
Mainstream, usually exhibited multiplex cinemas such as ‘The Odeon’	Alternative, usually exhibited at independent cinemas such as ‘Cinema City’
Formulaic	Experiential (Such a surrealism short films)
Widely distributed	Commonly distributed through the Internet, such as BBC film networks and virgin media shorts
Mass audience	Niche audience
Large “Hollywood” cast	Small casts (for example when we reproduced ‘My Beast Friend’ there was only three cast members)
High levels of special effects in order to create a “wow” reaction	More focus on engrossing the audience through the plot of the film, rather than creating an out of this world experience

DEFINED BY LENGTH
Gareth Evans stated that "short films are long films that end earlier", this would indicate that it is the length of time that defines a short film, in order to be classified a short film in must be less than 40 minutes, and Gareth Evans indicates that a short film need to imply more than is possible to be screened in their limited time. We are creating a short film which is 5 minutes long, this would be dubbed as a 'micro short'. There are festivals that specifically exhibit very short films, such as 'The International Festival of Very Shorts' (a film festival based in Paris, which exhibit movies that last 3 minutes or less) and 'The International One-Minute Film Festival' which has since 2006 presented and promoted a collection on one-minute films
 
DEFINED BY CONTENT
Gareth Evans stated that the best short film are "crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity", therefore similar to how Catherine Des Forges states that a short film is "..well structured work which draw in the audience quickly" and Dave Sproxton stated that a short film is "a good idea, succinctly told. Less is more". Therefore a short film is an effective realisation of one particular idea, it is the essence of their creators imagination told in a snippet. In summary a short film can be defined by how their content is well structured, in order to intensely engage the audience in one particular creative idea.
 
DEFINED BY FORM
Short films have the ability to be both fiction (my personal short film is a fictional drama) and non-fiction (may short films are of a documentary genre). Short films can be recognised as multifarious as they come in a variety of forms and functions. This flexibility, is seen as a great aspect to short films, they are experimental and able to cross the boundaries of formulaic of film production and create a thought provoking production

DEFINED BY MEANS OF PRODUCTION
The term 'short film' can be an inclusive one that refers to all short sequences of moving images, furthermore short films in this definition might be produced by the use of a diverse range of technologies rather than being short purely on film stock

DEFINED BY CREATIVITY
Short film is associated with alternative filmaking, both in terms of its content and freedom of expression. Away from the constraint of industrial production, high fiance and the need to tailor a film to the expectations of the audience present in a feature film, those who make short film have an ability to retain creative control