Concept Research-Strain

Included:

• Analysis of sound, text, locations, characters
• How this research impacts my product

Themes Spider Diagram

These are some initial ideas about the themes I want to include in my film. I think that it is important to have themes in films like this; the focus on specific subjects helps to target specific audiences. Furthermore, it adds another layer of meaning to the text, making it more engaging and powerful. All of my themes suit an educational purpose, as my film has the potential to be shown in schools.

Lighting Ideas Spider Diagram

These are some ideas I have of lighting styles to use.

I will balance these well; I do not want to create a very stylised piece with different coloured lights etc. as this reduces the realism of the film. It is important in my case to make my film as natural as possible to make it relatable, which is why I will focus on natural lighting.

Synopsis

§Main character introduced at home, where she seems to have a normal life

§Goes to school and is constantly bullied

§She is depressed and suicidal

§Main character commits suicide by hanging herself

§After her suicide, a forking path narrative is include whereby she wakes up and starts her day over again

§Somebody is friendly to her and helps

§Kind action saves her life

Ideas and Inspiration

I would like to make a film about something harsh with a serious message such as bullying. This will allow me to show what I can do in terms of camera work including disorienting canted angle takes, shot-reverse-shots showing confrontation and motivated cuts in editing.

Part 1



Part 2



Included:

• My idea
• Techniques I want to use
• Effects I want to use
• Theme research (mental health, bullying...)

Initial Ideas Spider Diagram

Narrative Structure

Included:

• Research  into narrative structures (forking path, linear, non-linear, 3 act structure)
• How the structures I researched will influence me

General Short Film Research

Included:

• Who makes short films
• Popularity of short films
• Audience of short films
• Narrative information
• Character focus
• Examples of short films
• Genres and audience of examples
• Research on film festivals

Editing Practice - Chase Scene

Practise

I had no experience in making short films, whether it be from shooting different takes or editing, therefore our class split into groups to have a practise.

All we were given were a few lines of dialogue therefore from here we created a storyline. Originally, our group decided that a scenario that would fit the dialogue would be somebody being encouraged to apologise. However, this took a sharp turn when we decided to make this about bullying.

The dialogue then took the meaning of encouraging somebody to send a mean text message.

We also discussed which shots we would use. I said that it was important that we use subjective shots in order to make the audience relate to the person being bullied, allowing them to empathise with the character and understand how people feel when receiving nasty messages.

Seen as this was a short film, we needed the meaning to be clear immediately and few characters to allow us to get straight to the point.

The group all decided which shots we would take. One member was in charge of operating the camera and the rest of us acted in our short film. I played the person being bullied.

Despite this only being a short film made in a short time, shot and edited in under 2 hours, we thought about editing, cinematography, sound and mise-en-scene. For example, I played the person being bullied because I was wearing the darkest clothes, highlighting that I was sad and lonely. This was my idea.

Our opening shot is of daisies, which are very natural and pretty, emphasising that bullying is often disguised under things that appear to be fine.

We used continuity editing in this piece so that it was more realistic. The harsh situation needs to hit people hard in order to maintain the severity. We minimised the background noise as much as possible although seen as we shot outside I liked that there was some as this enhanced the realism. The editing of our shot-reverse-shot looked extremely good and I think that we used each take to its optimum strength.

Please see our short film below...

Introduction

Introduction

Hello, my name is Lauren Heslop and I am an A2 Media Studies student currently beginning work on my short film. This blog will be a record of my planning, research and work along the way. Stay posted...

Brief

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• a poster for the film
• a radio trailer for the film
• a film magazine review page featuring the film