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.

2013 Post 6- Group Work

I now have a better understanding of how to write a script and so my group and I have selected from our loglines which short film we will develop.

Our chosen logline: 'While the rest of the world begins to lose their memories. A sole teenager starts to learn things about the world that they had never dreamed of'

Firstly, my group and I chose this as our logline to develop as it appeared the least complicated to film. The main character is a teenager, a demographic that my group and I can relate to and portray with relative ease; using locations and costumes that we are familiar with as we can understand the environment they are placed within.



Drama encompasses a mixture of emotions

We also believed the logline to be a good concept with the potential for adding subtle hidden symbols/meanings; we can be more creative and inventive when imagining how to film people losing their memories, and the consequences of this.

We have decided that our short film would best be suited in the Drama genre, as this would highlight the serious nature of the world losing their memories and dramatise the main character's isolation.



The beats for our logline:
Beat 1: Environment introduced as an university dorm room
Beat 2: Main character introduced
Beat 3: Main character experiences newfound ability
Beat 4: Main character tries to ignore problem/ability
Beat 5: After gaining people's memories main character hurts himself trying to ignore them
Beat 6: Main character almost defeated by the absorption of memories
Beat 7: Main character rejected when trying to solve problem by letting people know
Beat 8: Writing down people's memories is the main character's solution

My group and I also created a mind-map for our initial idea, this helped us to gain a better understanding of our film by planning in smaller sections

2013 Post 5- Script formatting

In order to write my script I had to undergo research into how to format it. I discovered that there are different softwares where one can write scripts, you can use a scriptwriting software such as Final Draft or there are also typewriters and many writers work on celtex.com. This is an online site for scriptwriting and collaboration that provides software and services for writers on many devices; whilst online they can work with their production team on the same script.
You can visit the site here: https://www.celtx.com/index.html


I will be using Microsoft Word to write my script, in 12-point courier font as this is the standard font that can fit 10 characters per line. My script will require a minimum of 3 pages as each page is equivalent to one minute screen time.
There are three parts to any script:

Headings, for Master and Secondary scenes (these are only used when starting a new scene, they must be in capitals, underlined and should be followed by action):

• Include camera location in EXT(exterior) or INT(interior)
• Scene location in brackets
• Time MORNING, AFTERNOON, EVE, DAY or NIGHT
• Headings for montages, flashbacks, dream sequences etc

Narrative description(words should be used sparingly because film is a visual medium, and in present tense as you watch a film in the present):

• Action/Character movement(helps viewer imagine what would be happening on screen e.g 'looks intensely'. Aligned left)
• Visual (character and settings)
• Sounds

Dialogue(sharp and to the point as films are focused on action and use double spaces between dialogue and action):

• The person's name should be in capitals, aligned centre at the top(dialogue directly underneath)
• Speech(Justify this)

Example of text alignment from Jurassic Park screenplay

Below is an example of formatting when a shot/scene continues from one page to the next:


SKYLAR
           See, it's my life story.
                        (MORE)
        
                                              (CONTINUED)
        
-------------------------page break--------------------------
        
                                                 Page 23.
CONTINUED:
        
                        SKYLAR (CONT'D)
                 (parenthetical goes here)
           Five more minutes and I would have got
           to hear your best pick-up line.
        
                        WILL
           The caramel thing is my pick-up line.


CUT TO or FADE TO can be put in the bottom right hand corner with double spacing between this and the sentence above for scene transitions.

2013 Post 4- Beats

Beating is a Hollywood term for beating out an idea, a beat being when something occurs that moves along the plot. A short film will ideally have around 8-12 major ‘beat’s during the story so I have researched these in order to create my own for my short film. Below are examples of the type of Beats you may see in a film:

1. Introduces the environment the film will be set in
2. Introduces the main character
3. Introduces the problem
4. Shows how the main character chooses to solve the problem
5. The main character experiences a major set back
6. The main character is almost defeated
7. The main character rejects a solution to the problem
8. The main character discovers their own solution/or not

I looked at the beats in a short film called 'Paperman':

1. Introduces a train station as the environment and the film is set in a city
2. The main character is the man in the suit holding papers
3. The problem is introduced as the man not being able to reach the woman he met
4. His solution is to fly paper airplanes to her
5. The major set back is that the planes do not fly far enough
6. The main character is almost defeated as his boss tells him to stop
7. The main character does not want to stop
8. His own solution is to leave his job to follow after the woman but he loses her
9. The main character is almost defeated again as he gives up
10. The resolution is that the planes bring the two together in the end

From this I have planned the beats for my short film logline:

1. The environment is in the Swedish mountains
2. The main character is introduced
3. Introduces the problem being that Pappa is stranded
4. His solution is to try to start the car
5. The major set back is that the car does not start
6. Pappa is almost defeated by the harsh weather and wild animals
7. He does not want to give up
8. Pappa discovers he can follow the star at night
9. The resolution is that the star leads him safely back home to his family

Post 3: Characterisation

In order to understand characterisation in films I researched the conventional Protagonist and Antagonist:

Protagonist: Usually the main focus of the narrative, the character who plays the largest role in the story, although the protagonist and main character may be played by different characters. Traditionally they were male and a hero-like figure but this has changed as film has evolved to incorporate strong female characters, such as Beatrix Kiddo from the 'Kill Bill' movies.

 

Antagonist: The opponent to the protagonist, they are the opposing force in the plot and often represent or create obstacles that the protagonist has to face. Traditionally, there would be a clearly defined antagonistic force, or villain, and a hero that would have to overcome them. Occasionally the antagonist is not always the villain and their goal is simply to oppose the protagonist.

A clearly defined Hero and Villain

From my logline I have tried to define my protagonist and their antagonist:

'Led by only a star, a traveller tries to return to his child.'

My protagonist is a passionate Swedish photographer, nicknamed 'Pappa', he is middle-aged and married who adores his daughter.

I collected images of what I imagined my protagonist to appear like, his daughter and where he would live
 

I find my character is similar to Janusz Wieszczek, from 'The Way Back' film, as they are both suddenly thrown into finding their way through dangerous terrains.

They both have a similar sense of determination and will-strength but my protagonist is driven by his need to reunite with his family, in this way he is also similar to the character Maria Bennett from 'The Impossible' ,although he has the stars to guide him home.

My antagonist would be the perilous, mountainous area and wild animals that puts my protagonist in danger.

This is an example of my 'antagonist', the frightening force of the mountains

I created an interview with questions designed  by myself and a colleague to help me better  my understanding of my protagonist and  create answers that would develop his unique voice:

Interviewer: What is your name, age and nationality?
Protagonist: I'm known as 'Pappa' by my adorable little girl, I'm 45 years old and Svenska(Swedish) and proud!

Interviewer: What does your daily life consist of?

Protagonist: For my photography I get up very early, before my bebis(baby) girl has rose, and head out on location. I'll spend the whole day and often a good part of the night out there, getting the shots I need. My wife, bless her, takes care of things at home and I only get to spend time with them a few days a week.
 

Interviewer: What is important to you in life?

Protagonist: My family. Without a doubt, I would be nothing without them, my daughter means everything to me.

Interviewer: What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Protagonist: Haha! This is hard...my weakness might be my daughter, but she and my wife are also my strength.
 

Interviewer: You live in a quiet area, is this because of preference or for a reason?
Protagonist: Actually I used to live in a city; there I met my wife. She wanted to re-locate to a smaller area so we ended up in a village much further away, it is gorgeous here, my daughter loves it. I prefer the quiet here and there is some beautiful scenery.
 

Interviewer: Have you travelled much in your past? As a photographer, you must have?
Protagonist: I have not been a photographer all my life, only since I moved to the village have I taken it seriously. I used to go camping in the south but I have never travelled outside of Sverige(Sweden).
 

Interviewer: Why photography? What section of photography to you specialise in?
Protagonist: I enjoy capturing moments of happiness and beauty and a camera lets me do this. Recently I have loved taking landscapes, especially in the snowy mountains and forests.

 

I also researched Vladimir Propps Theory of Narrative wherein he formed a selection of character types from folktales. His list of types, however, can also be seen in films and characters can fulfil more than one type:

The villain—struggles against the hero

The donor—prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object

The (magical) helper—helps the hero in the quest

The princess and her father—gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished

The dispatcher—character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

The hero or victim/seeker hero—reacts to the donor, weds the princess

False hero—takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

This list I found from this website: http://www.ealmanac.com/3114/numbers/the-seven-character-types-of-vladimir-propp/

 

If I were to apply Propps theory to my characters, my main character would be the Hero, the Donor the daughter as she wishes upon the stars for his safety, the Helper the stars, the Princess the main character's family and the Dispatcher and Villain the mountainous environment; it created and enforces my character's problem against the elements.