Location Release

This is my location release that says I am able to film at my selected location on the set dates that I need to. I used microsoft word in order to personalise the premade document so that applies to me and my situation.
 

PRODUCTION LOG - Institutional info onto my poster

I worked on my film poster today using the font "Steel Tong" the font is particularly interesting because it requires the use of capital letters to actually type normally. Every lowercase letter has been replaced by a different crew member’s job. For example the letter "a" will instead be replaced with "Produced By". This was confusing at first but I have managed to get used to it. I am now approaching the completion of my film poster. The only thing required is my picture now. Obviously I still have a lot more to add but it shouldn't take too much longer.

 I still need to add the BBFC to my film. The BBFC rating is important and must be added because it gives my film poster the overall look and feel of an actual film poster.

PRODUCTION LOG - Conventions of Short Films

I looked at the conventions of short films and what they need in order to become very successful. I found out a lot of this information by watching quite a few short films and then comparing the newly obtained knowledge about short films to my already existing knowledge of feature length films. I used the new film Oblivion as an example when I analysed the ways in which short films stack up against feature length films.

This was helpful to me because it gave me a clear focus on what I should emphasis in my own short film.

Conventions of a short film

Short films have several key conventions that really distinguish them from the feature length films. These differences can range from simply being the amount of characters to the budget and most importantly the length of the film because that's how it is identified as a short film.

·         Characters - The characters in the short film are probably one of the most important things in the film. This is because the film relies on the appeal of the characters and the way that the actors can portray the characters. The heavy reliance on the characters stems from the lack of time that the short films allow directors. For example;

o   A feature length film starring Tom Cruise such as Oblivion has the ability to feature boring and plane 1 dimensional characters because people are not paying or wanting to see interesting characters, most of the audiences for the big budget action flicks want to see explosions, intense action and a dramatic conclusion. For them it is more so about the ride than about whose nit with them. On the other hand, certain feature length films can fully develop anything between 1 and 10 main characters fully as thy have the time.

o   However, Short films have the potential to develop one or two characters, if that! This is because of the time constraint that is placed on the short films.

·         Plot Twists – short films require a dramatic flair that can be added through the use of a twist. Without the aforementioned twist a short film could be preserved as boring or uninteresting. Of course twists happen in feature length films but the twists are almost a necessity for short films.

·         Budgets – In terms of budget it is fairly obvious that short films contain lower budgets. Short films are normally restricted to a small budget as they only tend to be little projects. As with everything there are films that break these conventions but it is quite rare to see a short film with a big budget.

PRODUCTION LOG - Looking into short film as a genre

I spent today's lesson looking into the conventions of the Short Film genre and the way in which those different and ever-changing conventions effect short films. I did this by looking at Tom Cruise's newest film Oblivion. I used it to highlight the different types of conventions that can be used in films.
I chose to do this in blog format as it was something that was quick and easy to create. If I had taken more time maybe I could have used a prezi instead but for this particular task I felt that doing it as a blog post would be very beniniftial to my situation.

Film Poster Draft

This is the first draft of my film poster. So far it lacks the main image; the main image of course will be the main focal point of the poster as it’s what grabs the attention of the viewer. I used Photoshop to create my title piece. The title piece was created by writing my text in my chosen font; I then duplicated the layer and added a gray tint to it, with the correct angling I managed to create the blur-like title you see before you. At the top of the poster I have place five reviews from a mixture of magazine and real directors. I decided to add the quirk of certain comments as I felt it would juxtapose nicely with the seriousness of the poster. An example of this quirkiness is the review from Shane Meadows. In the review I have written that he believes he can learn something from me, thus implying he used to mentor me. Creating this false universe around my film adds nicely to the image I am attempting to build. 

I am hoping to improve this drastically as you would assume. The main points I am looking to focus on will be the credits at the bottom of the poster. This is mainly because it is the part of the poster that I feel will require the most work to ensure that it will look correct.

 

For comparison, here is another official movie poster for the film "War" you can see where I have taken the typical conventions of a film poster and added them to mine, for example;

• The title stands out in bold taking up a large portion of the lower screen but not too much, making sure it doesn't detract the focus from the main image.
• the credits at the bottom, they are near illegible as there are so many,
• Reviews at the top demonstrating how my film was received.

Some things my poster could use from this official poster would be;

• the use of text at the very bottom of the screen to tell the viewer when the film comes out
• The name of the actors.

PRODUCTION LOG - Short Film Companies

I looked at a plethora of short film companies today in order to gain an understanding as to how and why the industry is in its current position.
I chose three different companies to study and this gave me a wide enough scope to understand different areas of film that different companies can address.
I looked at companies that make short documentaries and how they go about getting their liscencing and footage.
I then looked at a company that focuses more on the story aspect of a short film and how they look at the ways in which a story can really drive the film

This was helpful to do as it let me know more so how I want to approach the making of my short film.

Short film production companies

Brass moustache

Brass moustache write and produce in house, and accept thematic commissions across the disciplines outlined above. Brass Moustache is comprised of professional producers, editors, directors and writers working and established at the highest levels of the UK creative media. Brass moustache collaborate to write and produce unique perspectives on our world, both factual and fictitious; often conveying the space between the two.

They are currently producing their first short. 

Jack the Lad Films

 “We're a Manchester based, independent short film company. We work countrywide, making all manner of videos for all manner of clients.

Short Films, Corporates and Music Videos, we make the lot. And even though we're still brand new (in just our fourth year), we've already racked up an impressive 28 film festival screenings worldwide, from Belfast to Bangkok and London to Amsterdam. We've also been fortunate enough to be nominated for eleven awards, picking up four of them. Keep up to date with our latest festivals and films on our news page.

Our clients include Merlin and the NHS, hear what they've got to say about us on our corporate page."

The Mob Film Company
The Mob Film Company is a company that I am previously familiar with, as I decided to go job hunting a little while ago and did some research into this particular media group. The Mob Film Company are a media based company, that are part of the Red Arrow Entertainment Group, that create a variety of different films and moving image pieces to express their creativity and offer interesting advertisements and visuals for other media companies (such as products in need of advertising). They also focus strongly on culture and international commissioners. They create lot of short films and are really good at it! They base they purpose on  creating high quality videos and trying to look and be as professional as possible, without being a major production company. Considering they are only a small company, they are doing pretty well for themselves!

PRODUCTION LOG - Original Footage Work

I spent my time in today's lesson working on the original footage in its raw state and I compiled all of my raw footage that I wanted to use into an Adobe Premiere CS6 document as that was the best way for me to get all of the footage onto my blog. I chose specific clips that I felt would show the directorial process that I went through in the best way. It was a key point for me to work on showing how the directorial process worked as it was something that I wanted to convey because I think it's something that the audience should see, this is so that they can see how I went about making my short film with my actor and close personal friend Arun. I think the raw footage also shows how me and Arun get along and how smoothly the shooting process went. The picture shows me using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 in order to create a video for my raw footage to be uploaded to YouTube. I then uploaded the video onto YouTube under the title "Original footage in its raw state".

Original footage in its raw state

This is my original footage in it's raw state. I have personally selected clips that I thought would best show how the filming progress went and how it effected myself and my actor. I chose some clips because they showed perfectly how me and my actor interacted and how we communicated throughout the shooting, an example of this is the shot where he reads the news paper and you can clearly hear me talking him through what he should be doing and how he should be doing it. It is these sort of interactions that add authenticity to my short film as I feel like a director in the sense that I am create a film with the vision that I see in my head rather than being handed someone elses script and being told to go by someone's rules.

Short Film Theory

When researching short film theories I came across one teacher (whom I assume is at a university level). This teacher ran through what he believes to be the theory behind short film. He explains the conventions of short film and the difference between a short film and a student film. He also explains that sometimes there is no difference between the two at all. I have selected three paragraphs from his article to implement here.

Source: http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_05/section_4/artc1A.html :

However, I shall argue that studying short films makes possible a fruitful relation between theorizing and practice that is beneficial to both. Furthermore that studying short films may lead us to new ways of seeing spectator engagement in general.

Let us hypothesize, for a moment, that a good short film does not use dialogue. From this hypothesis we may search for counterexamples and qualifications as in conventional theorizing, but we may also discover to what degree this description helps students in their production. If dialogue is not used, and the films still suffer, we should look for another parameter-say the photography or acting-or reject the theory. Of course this is not a scientific experiment in a strict sense since it cannot be repeated by others in the same way. Nor should it be, as creation needs a certain freedom from rigorous rules. But feedback from practice may improve the traditional tools in humanistic studies and make us better at qualifying counter-examples and refining concepts

If the first thing we can learn from the short film is related to practical and "experiential" knowledge, the second concerns the spectator. What engages the spectator, and what are the different ways of engaging him or her. This second question touches upon issues that are traditionally dealt with under the headings of identification or narration, but I shall argue that we advantageously can see them in a new and more general perspective. A spectator is engaged when something claims and holds his or her attention and even more so if the film invokes empathy toward characters.

Here we should recall that film theorists have always studied professionally produced feature films. A lot of craft practices and functional principles have been invisible to film theorists because they have not compared amateur shorts to professional films. In this perspective, the insights gained from studying the transformation from primitive cinema to so-called Classical Hollywood Cinema or Continuity Film is pivotal. In these studies the logic of craft, the solutions to problems, become visible and are often very accurately described. However, the potential pitfalls when handling this "new" material, for instance seeing the inventiveness of early filmmakers as ideologically repressive in odd ways, should caution us against some established interpretative doctrines. If we accept the goal of the films as being to engage, the lack of success in engaging a spectator can hardly be seen as liberating (or "heterogeneous," if you prefer) in itself, neither in early films nor student films.

 

Research into Genre

The modern satire genre is a genre in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, and society itself, into improvement. This basically refers to the film taking a new perspective on a general issue in order to exploit it and make more people notice the flaws in the way society are viewing the issue.

The 1867 edition of Punch magazine included a great deal of satire and contemporary, social and political scene. This truly demonstrates that satire has existed for years upon years.

In the case of my short film “Flicker”, I have produced a satirical view on the way in which our modern day society is consumed and surrounded by the media. The satirical message used here establishes meaning through a message.

Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, television shows, and media such as lyrics. Satire and humor Laughter is not an essential component of satire; in fact there are types of satire that are not meant to be "funny" at all. Conversely, not all humor, even on such topics as politics, religion or art is necessarily "satirical", even when it uses the satirical tools of irony, parody, and burlesque. Even light-hearted satire has a serious "after-taste": the organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize describe this as "first make people laugh, and then make them think".

Literary satire is usually written out of earlier satiric works, reprising previous conventions, commonplaces, stance, situations and tones of voice. Exaggeration is one of the most common satirical techniques

PRODUCTION LOG - Planning shoots

Now that we have returned from summer I have started to line up my plans for filming my short film during the up-and-coming October half term. I am planning to shoot then as that is when my friend Arun is available to film as he is busy most of the time with his own schoolwork. I will film throughout the half term in order to have as many clips as I can for when we return.

In today's lesson I spent my time on the computer looking at my research into genre article for my blog. I looked at many websites on the internet referring to satire and then I spent my time looking at different satirical films and the ways in which those films come across as satirical. I looked at early satire like Punch and Judy because that is very early and it then makes it very easy for me to adapt how I will film and how I plan to shoot my short film.

Visual Progression

The visual progression of my short film is going to start with extreme close ups and slow paced editing and it will ultimately end up with fast paced long shots.

My idea begins with the protagonist waking up and eating breakfast. I will use long cuts. One scene for example will be that of an egg cracking and going into a pan filled with sizzling oil. as the egg sizzles violently for the first few seconds the camera will remain but as the sizzling dies down it will cut to a shot of the protagonist putting the eggs on a plate from close up.

For example the opening scene to dexter is a great demonstration of the shot's I'd use. The centre image there of the egg is likely one I will use.



Later on once the change has been initiated the protagonist will be wearing the TV on his head he will enter the field and it will contain extreme long shots, the ominous music will add to the horror atmosphere of the film.

I have opted to use this structure for my visual progression mainly because it suits the atmosphere to the short film very well and it will keep the audience on edge. Recently I have been studying The Hurt Locker for AS Film Studies, it is a film that uses camera movement and visual progression very well to build suspense and create the correct and intense atmosphere so that the audience remains encaptured within the film.

 

PRODUCTION LOG - Researching The History of Short Film

Today I looked into the history of short film and I researched it to later post. I looked on Wikipedia to find out as much as I could about it before putting all of my new found knowledge into a blog post. Knowing how far short films have come ever since they first started is important as I need to know what made a successful short film and how I could emulate them.

History of short film

Short films started to surface at the start of the 20th century. For a long time short films had very similar popularity to the full length feature films like "Birth Of Nation" by D.W. Griffith's.

Throughout the progression of film short films became associated with comedies such as Our Gang, animated cartoons and newsreels. This started to separate short films from feature films substantially.

Animated shorts became the fashion in the 1960s as more and more studios were acquiring the abilities to animate their movies. It cost more in terms of production in some cases but bigger name actors were not required. The animated short eventually died out in the 1980s. When disney acquired pixar in 2005 the animated short genre started to make its ultimate comeback with things like "Goofy" and "How to hook up your home cinema".  

After the great depression cinema took a severe hit. Causing cinema owners to develop programs that supported feature films far more than their short film counterparts. This ultimately led to a massive dip in short films being made as there was no room in the already suffering cinemas for it. With the rise of the double feature as a cinema programming format, 2-reel shorts went into decline as a commercial category. Hal Roach, for example, moved Laurel and Hardy full-time into feature films after 1935, and halved his popular Our Gang films to one reel. By the 1940s, he'd moved out of short films altogether.

Planning the Magazine Article

Today I planned my article and my poster, here I will be showing you the rough paper sketches of my article that I have completed. I laid it out like a magazine for shots of the two pages side by side in order to get and idea of what it woould be like if this magazine was complete. 

This is the side by side shot of page one and page two.

 This is the very first page of my magazine plan and I have chosen to make it as eye catching as possible. The large image at the top of the page will grab the attention of the readers and make sure they read my article. The masthead will be the same one used on my poster to keep everything consistant.

 This is the second page where the information starts to come through as opposed to the previous page where it was all about intoducing the film to the readers. The fact file along the side will help readers understand everything about the film whilst they read along. Having lots of pictures serves as a teaser to the actual film.

 This is the side by side shot of page three and page four.

 The reviews in the top left will help out a lot because it will give people a chance to read what others who have already seen the film think about it and then they can make a judgement as to whether or not they would like to go and see the film.

The final page of the magazine will be my own film poster as it establishes everything that I want to in the article, it will give readers all of the information that they need in order to go and see the film.

Planning The Poster

I spent today planning my poster and my article. I decided to do a rough sketch up of how I wanted it to look from what was in my head. I chose to have a very large image at the top in order to grab the attention of people walking past the poster in the street or those who are flicking through magazines. Reviews will be placed at the very top and in order to ensure that the image isn't obscured I will need to accomodate for the reviews. The main image will be a picture of Arun wearing the TV head but it will have colour bars overlaid in order to add effect and build atmosphere.
The title will be in a bold eye grabbing font in order to grab people's attention. Underneath the masthead will be the credits that will show all the people that worked on the project with me as well as any companies that helped.
Finally, at the bottom will be the date of release and the cinemas that the film will be released in.