Target Audiences

We have to start thinking about who the audience for our short film will be. I know theres a possibility that the film will be submitted to a film festival so we have to take into account the fact that it may be viewed by film literates and critics. The film will also be shown at our end of year screening at the cinema where there will be family and friends so we have to keep in mind that they will also be watching it. Both of these groups of people are on completely different ends of the spectrum when it comes to their knowledge of film, in order to appeal to all we have to make our film relatable and interesting from the get go.

Research for potential idea

We came up with a potential idea for our short film which involves a young teenage boy who is deaf mute. Before being able to come up with a storyline or a detailed character analysis I thought that I should do some research into the trials and tribulations of being a deaf mute.

I found this extract from a book called the deaf and dumb world about Frederick Painter. The 1861 census tells us he was a fishmonger, born in London, but by the 1871 census he was an “itinerant vendor of cockles, oysters etc”, aged 49 living with  Mary Ann Harris, also “Deaf and Dumb from birth”, birthplace unknown.  By the 1881 census he was clearly on a downward spiral as he has no job listed.  A sad story of someone who deserved to get a fair chance.

I found this interesting as I wanted to challenge the stereotype of someone with the disability living a sad life.

The Art of Storytelling

For our short film one of the most important things to think about is the aspect of storytelling and being able to convey accurately a whole story in the space of 5 minutes. In order to engage our audience we need to come up with an idea that will grab their attention from the very beginning. This is a TED talk I found which explains the art of storytelling in films and focuses on creating a storyline that your audience will care about.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg

Todorov Model

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)

2. A disruption of that order by an event.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

Movie Posters

Short Films

As a start to my search for inspiration I looked at a few random Short Films, all of different length and subject matter. These were the few that captured my attention and got me thinking about the type of short film I want to make.

https://vimeo.com/35037314

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFwNVNTy6E

https://vimeo.com/101528677

https://vimeo.com/42021579

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcrM74s7tm4

Brief

BREIF

Create a short film in its entirety, should be no longer than 5 minutes - also must include two of the following :
- A poster for the film 
- A radio production for the film 
- A magazine article reviewing the film 


PROCESS

Research
Pre-production
Production (3 day shoot)
Post-production --> picture edit, sound edit & picture grade
Distribution & evaluation Q's