Short film: Screwball

GENRE: Teenage Comedy

Narrative: 3 part structure. The story shows the three part structure because of the way that the film develops. The set up being two young teenagers who have evidently planned the first time that they have sex. She goes to his house and they don't know what there doing so they are trying to wing it. The confrontation being that he does something wrong and it doesn't go the way that they want it to both of them, there are a series of obstacles that they have to overcome and then the resolution is they realise that they have to talk about things and they don't really wanna do it.There are lots of shot reverse shots which show that it is just them together and they are close and it is an intimate situation. The light is quite bright so we can see all of them - this creates a humorous element because it shows their naivety.The MES is characteristic of a young boys room and the obstacles create a humorous element, with the trumpet and the cats.This film is a bit more typical and cliche then what we are hoping to achieve but as it follows a similar storyline I thought it would be a good one to evaluate. 

Change of idea

After audience feedback from friends and family we decided to change our idea. Whilst we are still fond of our original idea overwhelmingly, people said that it was just too complicated and would be too hard to execute.

Back to the drawing board!

Zippo Treatment

1.   Eli Samuel Jones ( age 38 ) works as a archivist research analyst, a job that requires him to spend a lot of time with nobody but himself in a small, cramped and artificially lit room. He lives in a decent size home in New Malden ( south west London ) which he used to share with his wife of 4 years. He was married to Poppy Hughes; a 5’7, blonde english national, now 35. The couple got divorced 3 months prior after many failed attempts at having a baby due to Eli’s impotence and infertility. They went to many doctors in an attempt to save their marriage however Poppy left him on the basis of her need to have a biological child. After their divorce Eli managed to keep the house and developed a mild gambling habit, anything to take his mind off the heartbreak. He is also a talented pianist, a skill he inherited from his mother Golden Jones who played piano for an 80’s jazz band called ‘The Baby’s’ 

Our story begins with Eli and Stanley, his friend of 10 years. Eli tells Stanley of a bizarre and rather frightening dream he has been having; a young child of about 8 enters his home dripping in oil and stands about 5ft from him. Eli reaches into his pocket and pulls out a zippo lighter, he flicks it on and uncontrollably begins to move closer and closer towards the child without hesitation. Luckily, as he tells his friend, he has woken up right before the moment the child would have been set on fire but he worries that when he next goes to sleep the dream might complete itself.

Throughout the period of 3 days we follow his descent into madness as he attempts to continue with his life but without falling asleep. We see first hand the effects lack of sleep has on the human body and when it comes to the 3rd day he is clearly loosing his grip on reality. He overwhelms his brain with information on the meaning of dreams and spends hours on the internet, eyes straining so much they turn bloodshot, trying to find an answer.  

The film ends with Eli, barely conscious, opening a letter which comes through his door. Inside he finds a note from Poppy and a pregnancy scan which she claims to be his child.

2.    Our film is going to be in the style of a drama, therefore the plan is to be using a lot of cinematic techniques to create tension and a suspenseful atmosphere to keep the audience engaged at all times. The sections of the dreams will appear more ‘stylised’ to differentiate them from his moments when he is awake, and as he goes crazy the two worlds will become harder and harder to tell apart.

3.    For our casting we will need a middle aged male ( Tom Hardy vibes ) to play Eli, a younger kid and another middle aged male to play Stanley.

Conventions of a short film

1.  Short Films are typically between 5-10 minutes in length. Usually there are only a few main characters and no secondary ones as the film is to short to get to know them. Short films aren’t very big in the US but they are quite popular in the UK being shown at film festivals, they are often released by independent companies. The most popular form of short films are animation or live action. 
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3.  Normal events take place in everyday situations. This allows views to relate to the film. The short films are realistic. Usually audiences find them more intriguing. Normal situations are easier and more effective in a short films. Short films often provide a problem which need to be solve by the protagonist. Short films are often made into music videos they also can be documentaries. 
4.  Short films often have a low budget or no budget at all.
5.  Typically characters only have 3-4 characters. Less characters is more effective as there is no time to develop the characters. Characters numbers are kept low so the audience can relate to them There will normally be one protagonist throughout the whole plot. 
6.  Short film almost always contain a twist to make the short storyline more interesting.

Character Development

First Idea (treatment)

Our idea is about a middle aged man who is telling his friend about how he is experiencing a recurring dream. The recurring dream which he has 2 times in the duration of the film consists of him being in a kitchen setting when suddenly a young boy who is covered in gasoline appears and through some means we don't understand, the man ends up nearly setting him on fire but wakes up just before he does. The film follows his decent into madness as the dreams get progressively worse, each time him getting closer to setting the child on fire. He speaks about his concerns to his friends as he's unsure about how much closer he is going to get in his fourth dream. Throughout each morning he wakes, and in the background the radio is talking about how their have been multiple deaths by fire in the area. The film ends, with him waking up mid dream and he is standing over the kid asleep in bed.

This is our primary idea to use as a basis to work off, we know its nowhere near finished but we wanted to share our process of our brainstorming idea.

Black Swell

GENRE - Drama

NARRATIVE - This story is about a deeply unhappy man, who goes to a motel room with the intentions to kill himself. As he is getting ready, he is distracted by his neighbour who ends up being an old student. He get's frustrated when the neighbour tries to get him to talk and screams at him to "fuck off". The film ends with a twist, by the neighbour killing himself instead of our original man, and therefore the man having to go and find his body.

This could be seen to be a joke structure; as the set up is us expecting the man to commit suicide but the pay off being the neighbour doing it. This is a very sad and dark structure.

The way this is filmed with the setting being symmetrical and using dark colours sets the narrative for the film being a sad drama. The opening shots showing us the dire surroundings which are very empty. It also sets the time that this is set, that being the witching hour when it is dark but starting to get light, or it could be dusk when it is beginning to get dark.

We get a lot from the character by how the man is covering his bed with a sheet so as not to get the bed messy, as depressed as he is, he is still aware of other people. The whisky by his bed is a key convention of a depressed man. The only music is the heavy metal coming from the neighbours which initially distracts him, this kind of music is so loud that it is distracting from ones thoughts. This should be the give away that the neighbour is also depressed, and then by the desperation he has to talk to the man about how he is feeling. However, we are so focused on the Old man and how he is feeling that we aren't aware.

 The end scene is very powerful, with the slow pan away from the symmetrical room and the Old man going to find the dead ex student. It remind us of the line that the ex student said "we could share and recognise ourselves in each other" 

https://vimeo.com/139874888

Le Miroir

Genre: DRAMA

Narrative: This is about the transformation from a young child to the old age. It really cleverly introduces character and we see a lot about what his life consists of. It is all from POV which is really interesting because it means that the camera is the actor. I like how it ends in the same way that it begins with the light switching off - which gives a circulical structure.The MES being in the same place each time gives a good feeling to the play as we see a real progression of the child and we see how his tastes change swell, it also means that we focus the most on the actor. The colour is quite drawn which is symbolic of his life and how it pans out.This film is more along the experimental structure because of the breaking of conventions and not having a typical structure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL9B6VSYix4