2013 Post 9- Film Development

For this post I have undergone further research into my short film, looking at the main character's inner conflict, locations and characters.

Inner conflict
I found a post that explains a guide to using and portraying inner conflict, this is relevant and helpful for figuring out how to show my main character's inner conflict, in a way that will keep an audience interested. http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/08/the-inner-struggle-guides-for-using.html
Below is the post's layout of how major plot points in a narrative could show the character's inner conflict and growth, I have used this as an idea for how my film's story could be developed:

• Inciting event (main character realises friend's have forgotten memories)
• Act one climax (main character brushes off problem)
• Mid-point reversal (realisation he is gaining other's memories, begins to write them down)
• Act two climax (memories too much for main character, avoids contact with people)
• Climax (main character rejected when asking for help, obsessively writes down other's memories to cope)

I found several sections of this post very useful for developing the plot and sequence of my short film as well:
"Whatever the fear is, make things happen that force that character to face and experience that fear. Make that fear the thing they need to overcome to succeed..."

For my main character, their 'fear' would be that people suddenly lose their memories, which he experiences by making physical contact with them. Upon realising that he is the cause for his fear, he will feel the need to overcome it which he does by becoming immune to it. I would like to end the film in this way so that the audience will wonder if the main character had succeeded in overcoming his fear, as the problem would not be resolved.

Locations
I would like the locations for my short film to be based around the main character so that the film remains as realistic as possible. I would like to have sections of a house, e.g his bedroom, in the film as he is living with room-mates away from home, for teenagers this could potentially be messy and small.

A messy bedroom would give the appearance of a casual and laid-back character

Incorporating busy areas, such as a city street or popular park would be ideal for making my main character experience his problem. In these areas he would be more likely to often come into contact with others, thus robbing them of their important memories and creating the sense of a constant surrounding fear for dramatic effect.

Trying to avoid contact here sets the stakes high for my main character

 

Characters
My short film will mainly be focused on the main character as he comes to accept his ability. I imagine him to be an average 17 year-old boy, one that does not fit into a particular stereotype and has no discerning skills, as I believe that this would make the impact of his ability more dramatic. A character I found to be fairly similar was Andrew from 'Chronicle', although he could be seen as a 'loner' and has family issues, this character obtains a strange power and feels guilt for the consequences that come with it, similar to my main character. Despite this, the two deal with their abilities in different ways, Andrew feels as if he is superior and lashes out on the world whereas my character accepts his ability but becomes a recluse.

Andrew enjoys his power but my main character does not

Secondary characters include my main character's room-mates, I imagine them to be similar to Andrew's friends who are very dear to him and get along well,as this would have a more emotional impact on the audience and my main character once they can no longer remember him.

My group and I interviewed members of our target audience, teenagers 14+, for feedback on our short film idea:

Interviewer: What do you think of the plot? Is it a plot which seems fluid and will fit into the 5 minutes we have?

Interviewee: I really like the idea, it's different in a good way? You might have trouble fitting it into 5 minutes though. I really liked the sketch book idea, thought that was awesome.

Interviewer: Is there anything which seems out of place? Or can be changed?

Interviewee: I think that it'd move too quick for someone to understand what's going on, but I guess it depends on dialogue and how much you have in each scene.

Interviewer:You mentioned dialogue, do you think it is important to focus on what is not said rather than what is?

Interviewee: I don't know about dialogue, I think it would probably be more effective without loads of it, but only if you can explain what's going on without it, if that makes sense, so using the actor and locations to the best effectiveness you can.

I also recorded an interview wherein I asked a friend of mine questions about our plot and character idea, they have a strong interest in film and fit into my target audience so I believed that their feedback would provide an interesting perspective.

After gaining feedback on our idea our logline has been improved to hint more towards the Drama genre and create a better sense of intrigue for the audience: 'When a teenage misfit comes to a realisation he's gaining the memories of the people around him, he must decide whether to be selfish or be selfless, as he slowly begins to go insane.'
With this new logline the ending and the main character's choices are still unknown.

 

 

2013 Post 8- Film Language

Below I have created a Prezi that discusses the importance of Camera, Editing, Sound and Mise-en-scene in filmmaking and how certain techniques may influence my own short film.
All short films were found from this website: http://www.filmsshort.com/genre/Drama-Short-Films-1.html

2013 Post 7E- Drama Genre convention summary

Our short film genre will be Drama as we believe this will challenge us to make a dramatic project, yet be realistic enough for us to achieve with our resources.
I have researched the conventions of the Drama film genre so that I know what makes up the genre, and can incorporate these into our short film.
Conventions:

• Real life situations with realistic characters, settings and stories to really connect with the viewer. This means there will usually not be any fantasy involved, which is perhaps where our film subverts from this convention as our main character has an un-natural gift amongst the normality of society.
• Narrative driven, typically following a character development journey wherein the core is focused on conflict, showing difficulties/pain, within the character or with others. Here, our film relies on this convention to emotionally engage the audience.

This convention can clearly be seen in the Adventure, Drama 'Castaway' which focuses on the main character facing life-threatening ordeals.

• Dramatic storyline to emotionally move the audience, this includes intense/serious social interactions within climaxes often followed by anti-climaxes, intense music often orchestral and emotions and events being shown at their most dramatized moments. I believe the short film we plan to make, follows this convention closely through the main character's inner struggle and frightening gift.
• Happy or resolved ending to set the audience at ease, although our short film will not feature this convention as we'd like our work to have a strong impact on the viewer. The 'Titanic' was a Drama film that also broke this convention with a tragic ending for the protagonists.

• Editing to mood, such as fades to black at the end of scenes to show closure and continuity for the sense of realism, so jarring jump cuts are usually avoided. For cinematography a deep depth of field draws the audience in and long takes draw out scenes for added drama. This convention will be incorporated into our short film as it is key for emotionally engaging our audience.

Popular themes for this film genre include: Injustice, corruption of power, racial prejudice and typically link to something topical like politics or poverty that an audience can relate to. More basic themes can also involve failed romances, family loss and broken friendships, although these are usually known as Melodramas for being typically 'overly dramatic'. Our short film would include a melodramatic theme of broken friendships, but the main theme would be isolation as the storyline closely follows a character's decent into seclusion.

I found this link very helpful when conducting this research into the Drama genre:

http://chelskifilm.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/genre-drama-conventions.html
They list different subgenres within the Drama film genre, discussing the core techniques that can be seen in all which will be crucial for me to keep in mind for our short film.

2013 Post 7D- Drama film genre moodboard

Below is a moodboard I created for our short film genre, based around Drama conventions and my own interpretation of what makes up the genre. It includes images presenting conventional Drama film themes, films and settings that I believe give an impression of the genre that will influence our short film.
http://www.pinterest.com/sabwilkin/drama-film-genre/

2013 Post 7C- Genre continued

In this post I have looked at some key factors that affect film genre, and Sub-genre to gain a clearer understanding of what may affect and can be included for my short film to attract a wider audience. Below is a link to my Slideshare that contains my information:

2013 Post 7B- Genre

In order to obtain a clearer understanding of the Drama genre for our film, I have analysed a selection of short drama films.



I chose to look at 'Love of Mine' as it portrays the memories of a teenager which relates to my short film.
I really admire the slow-motion used as it sets a continuous, slow pace for a dream-like feel that is at first relaxing and then dramatic as it drags out the moments when the story twists. This is accompanied by a slow, calming piano soundtrack that sets the mood before becoming orchestral and dramatically increasing in volume to emphasise the sudden negative emotions.

The focus on her notifies the audience that she is the main character

 What is most intriguing is the lack of dialogue, the film instead relies on close-ups of expressions to tell the story through body language, which I believe has a more profound impact on the audience as they relate with the character's emotions. The constant, subtle camera movements and natural lighting provide a sense of realism, yet the frequent fade in and outs indicate flashbacks of the past and echoes inform the audience that the film is a memory.

I created a timeline that shows the beats for this short film so that I could have an idea of beats for the Drama genre:

0:18+0:31- The two environments for the film are introduced, one is outside and the other is inside with a pair of lovers as our focus
0:45+0:55- The main character is introduced as a teenage girl, she appears at first with her lover but then alone which signifies the problem
1:00- The second character, the boyfriend, is introduced, he links to the problem
2:36+2:39+2:46- The main character smiles as she finds her boyfriend, the problem is resolved as they are together
4:18- Music changes to signify new problem arising, the boyfriend is unhappy and moves away
4:34+4:42- New problem recognised by main character, she becomes confused as to what he is doing
5:06-5:17- The problem is clear; the boyfriend is leaving and the main character tries to resolve this by following him
5:50+6:19- The main character wakes up and newspaper shows it was all a dream, problem is not resolved as they are not together



I chose to analyse this short drama film as it is quite different from the one before. 'Collisions' is devoid of any soundtrack, unlike 'Love of Mine', but this provides the audience with a powerful sense of realism.
The short film fades in from white with black text, a stark, dramatic contrast that shows a glimpse of an emotional scene; immediately setting the 'drama' tone for the audience to recognise. The lack of soundtrack is made up for in the form of diegetic sounds, such as the heartbeat monitor in the beginning and end that signifies an unstable life and provides a sense of drama.

An interesting shot from ground level depicting the aftermath of the collision

The long takes and hand-held camera pace the scenes in a natural and realistic manner, when combined with the camera's close attention to detail, of character expression and significant props such as the struggling with the money, the audience is instantly immersed within these miniscule actions thus making the crash scene very dramatic.

2013 Post 7A- What is Genre?

For my short film I will have to consider the genre it will fall under, as this is crucial to gaining an audience's understanding and thus shaping my film as a whole. Film genre consists of identifiable types and categories of film that include similar techniques or conventions. These categories can include ones listed below and much more:

-Plot
-Themes
- Subject matter
- Narrative
- Settings
-Stars
-Stock characters
-Styles
-Motifs



I created this diagram from my own knowledge of certain film genre conventions, allowing me to refresh my memory and consider examples of what conventions they may include.

 

Genre began as a commercial idea, generated by Hollywood in the 20s to generate income; this was when during a time when the major studios were established. Marketeers gave films a label, categorising them so that the audience could for the first time decide what they wanted to see, they would know what to expect and be drawn to the cinema, allowing studios to see which genres made the most money and thus gain the advantage.

Conventions and Paradigms

 Genres work to sets of conventions, responding to these by developing formulas and patterns, known as Paradigms. Conventions being what you would expect to see or hear in a media production, usually pertaining to the film genre.
Paradigms may acquire typical dominating ways of seeing and of representing the world around us, and can be grouped for those relating to:

Iconography- (main signs/symbols an audience sees or hears)
Structure- (the way a text is put together and the shape it takes)
Theme- (issues and ideas it deals with)

The positives and negatives of Genre:

Negatives: Rigourous conformity to established conventions can lead to the stagnation of a genre, for example Hollywood Westerns and Musicals started off very profitable but their formats became stale due to over-repetition of conventions.

Positives: Films that do not rely entirely on over-used conventions and prefer to challenge them help evolve a genre and increase its durability in today’s ever-changing society, e.g. Moulin Rouge defied audience expectations of a Hollywood Musical, being more contemporary and open with the passionate side of love.