1. In my first target I wanted to improve upon and learn how to use photos hoop correctly so that I could produce a good quality postcard. I have not completed this target so far and I will need more time to complete. The reason that I haven’t managed to complete is due to the fact we haven’t got this far in the course yet where we are required to produce our post card. When it comes closer to creating and using photo shop I will do some practice example and then possibly merge a few designs together. By creating a range of designs I will be become more confident in using the work shop, which will lead to my final post card being a good quality
2.My second target was to make sure that I follow our shot list during production of our short film. I again haven’t been able to complete this target, as we haven’t got this far along in producing and directing our short films yet. However when it comes to creating our shot list I would like to spend a good amount of time working on it so I will be to the best of our abilities and will take our film look as professional as possible.
3.The next target I had was to use good English language when producing a film review for our short film. This is another target that I haven’t completed yet as we haven’t got this far along in the course. I would like to spend a lot of time thinking about all the relevant information I can add to the review as well as having peers to read over my work to make sure that it is interesting to the audience and will make them want to read on and later go and see the film.
4.My next target was to make sure that I stay organised throughout to make sure I don’t fall behind on tasks. I feel that this will be an ongoing process throughout the course and year however, I feel that so far I am keeping organised and that I am completing work and posts on time while also putting a lot of effort and thought into what I produce. I feel that by keeping on task I am able to add much more detail into my work as it is still fresh in my mind and I’m not having to spend longer rethinking what we talk about in class.
5.My final target was to make sure I did a lot of independent research in my pre-production tasks such as looking at popular genres and their box office profits. I feel that have some a large amount of independent study this year. I have looked at a wide range of short films and the response that they were getting from film festivals and did they win any awards. I’ve looked why do producers create these short films and all of the different techniques they are using to try and capture the audience. When thinking about my own storyline and script I have done a lot of research into people characteristics and does there characteristics reflect the kinds of drink they consume. As well as looking at different personality types and seeing if I can relate them to previous character or cartoons.
Over all I feel that my targets are very achievable and I will be able to complete them during the course of this year. I will make sure I remember the targets I have set when completing my postproduction tasks such as writing a film review, as well during production tasks as I have past experience of what its like to not follow a shot list during production. I feel that I could set myself one new target, which would be.
To make sure I show and present my independent study on my Blog through post, this means the examiners can have a look visually at what independent study I have been doing and how it is relevant to the task we have been set
In class we was asked to individually explain for 1 minute what we did the night before, as a class we thought that this would be an easy task as a minute isn’t very long however, when it came to our turn we all found out that it was a lot harder than it first seemed. For the most of us we rushed though our events that happen the previous night and only spoke about the events in which we saw were relevant. This only became clear to us once we had listen to our teachers one minute talk when she could have easily carried on talking way over the minuet while we had all finished after 30 seconds. It was clear from listening to her sequences of events she had put into detail her story and didn’t leave out any information. This is linked to Narrative that is defined as ‘is the coherence/ organisation given to a series of facts’ as well as ‘everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end.’ We has all used narrative to help explain our events of the previous night and placed them in order of importance. This is supported by another quote that says narrative is ‘ we understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts.’ When telling our stories we chose to leave out what we thought was irrelevant for the audience to hear, this was done by using our passed experience (e.g. telling friends stories) and knowing what the audience will find interesting to listen to.
This task made us think about the different kinds of narratives that we see in different media texts, it also made us think of the difference between a story and a narrative in the way it is told. The definition to help explain this is ‘story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happened, order returns), while narrative is the way in which the story is related (once upon a time there was a princess.’ When creating our scripts we had to think very carefully about the ways in which we want our storyline to be portrayed. The different ways in which the narrative can be interoperated is done through the audience. Julian McDougall warns us not to ‘clumsily apply a formalist model’ as it ‘does little in terms of understanding our roles in constructing narratives, and how narratives carry discourse that appear natural.’ From this statement I get the impression that audiences have an active role in interoperating the narrative. When looking at scripts however it shows that we can apply narrative in different stages e.g. the beginning, middle or end, Its down to our past experiences that narrative comes naturally to the audience as it what we know and expect in stories.
We also looked at the different models of narrative from Propp, Todorov, Levis-Strauss and Barthes, each had very different ideas into narrative and what is the most common form of narrative. Propp proposed that there are 8 different types of characters that is always present in fairytales. These where Hero, Villain, Princess, Helper, Donor, Dispatcher, False Hero, Princess Father, he further added that there is only ever 31 different actions that these characters can do. Todorov produced that there will always be equilibrium the normal narrative, dis-equilibrium something that will change the narrative and then new equilibrium the narrative will carry on but only because of what happened in dis-equilibrium. Levis-Strauss proposed that there is always Binary Opposites for example Good Vs Evil, Hero Vs Villain. It’s through these binary opposites that the narrative develops. Finally Barthes proposed that there is always Enigmas, a raising question and the audience will carry on watching to answer this question. However as an audience everyone will have a different interoperation.
Next in class we looked at another short film called Signs, a much more lighter and upbeat short film compared to ones we had looked at previously. To look at the narrative if this short film we watched it in sections and paused the film to try and guess what was going to happen next and as a audience what are we conditioned to think. We discussed this as a class and it was interesting to listen to the different opinions of what people though would happened next, some thought it would have a happy ending others thought the opposite. When looking at this short film we though about what makes a ‘good’ short film, there cam never be an answer for this question as everyone is so diverse and different everyone will have a different interoperation into what makes a good short film. Even though there can never be an answer its important to remember to keep it interesting or to add in a twist to the final scene
Lesson Two In class we was asked to brain storm all the different places we could think of where we could get ideas for our own scripts, these where sonme of my ideas.
There are many different ways in which you can start to get ideas for your own script. You can uses the example which I have mentions above to get a starting point for you storyline however, these is also a number of different think that as a producer you need to think about. For example one of the first things you need to do is establish the World in which the character lives in, then the main Character what kind of personality and characterises are they going to have, then finally the Problem what kind of problem is going to get in the character way and prevent them from carrying out their task. Once you have created these three things you need to next think of another three things, the first is a Want (what is going to be their motivation throughout your story line), next we have a Need (this can be anything they feel they must have), then finally and Obligation (what must the character feel they have to complete or do).
Another way of writing a script is by completing the 4 Step to writing a script.
1. Find the ending of your story
2. Then find the beginning
3. Find the 1st turning point to your storyline, this will be the event that gets the story going
4. Then finally the 2nd turning point, this can swing the story around and sets up the ending.
The 3rd and final way in which you can start writing your script is to use the ‘Making Short Films Eight-Point Guide.’ Personally I find this the most helpful way to writing my script as its more in detail and gives you a lot more to think about while planning. Eight Point Guide
1.Introduce the character, set the scene 2.Give the character a problem 3.Let character work out the problem
4.Before setting out to solve the problem , there may be a moment of doubt that will require the hero to seek advice. Let audience know more about the problem and weigh it up in own mind
5.With new resolve (oftener a magical gift from the mentor) Hero sets out to overcome the problem 6.Overcoming the problem, will meet extreme opposition from the rival will usually have greater or different strengths and will bear similarities to the hero 7.Hero will appear to fail in his quest. Glimpse defeat, even death, will require superhuman effort to overcome the daunting final task 8.Hero wins the final battle, the journey has made them a different person will never go back to the way they were.
An example of the 8 point guide when looking at a strory such as Goldilocks And The Three Bears is shown below,
1. An introduction into the Three Bears
2. The problem of the porridge being to hot
3. Try to solve the problem by leaving it to cool down and go for a walk
4. The introduction of Goldilocks, where there is a moment of doubt
5. Goldilocks eats the porridge, breaks the chair and sleeps in the bed
6. The three bears arrive back home and try to overcome the problem by telling Goldilocks to leave
7. The Three bears seem to fail in there quest as Goldilocks is still in their house and have broken the chairs
From looking at a wide range of resources into what makes a good short film, I now have a good idea of the planning and thinking that goes into a short film before it gets shown to an audience. There are many different processes that you as a producer or director have to go though that takes up a lot of time and thought.
From the time spent with Producer Becky Knapp I now know that there are 3 different lengths of short films. The first is 5 minutes here the story line plays on the role of stereotypes and looks at a joke or a visual experience. This is supported by the independent research that I did looking into 5 minutes short films. I found the film called The Black Hole, the story lines plays on the role of a stereotypical office worker, and uses comedy as it genre as the man is given the power to steal and take wherever he wishes by using this black hole which in the final scene we see the man getting stuck in a safe. The second is 5-12 minutes, here the story line follows a character go through a dramatic journey and the audience can see the character change. And they don’t use the role of stereotypes. This is again supported by the independent research that I did looking into longer short films. I looked at a film called About a girl, the audience can understand the girl’s life and the background that she comes from and can go through the journey of the girl throwing the baby into the water. The final is 12-30 minutes, the story lines will have secondary stories as they have enough time to build up the characters and there will be complex characterisation.
From looking at two scripts that have been produced, it has shown me how much you judge what the film will be like just by reading and not actually seeing the film. The first script I looked at was called Donna produced by Rowan Walker, from reading the script I was clear that there was very limited speech and the script was mostly describing what visually was happening in the shot. I found it very hard to understand what the film would actually be about however I had a good mental image of what each shot would look like. After watching the film I still wasn’t very clear about what message the film was trying to give to the audience and what genre the film was. The next script I looked at was Does God Play Football produced by Michael Walker, I found this script a lot more interesting and understandable as it was mainly speech so I had a good idea of what was going on in each shot as well as what I should expect to see visually. After watching the film it was exactly what I had expected to see. When comparing the two scripts I think that is important to have speech from the character as it allows the audience to have a better understanding of the message the director is trying to put across as well as makes it more interesting to watch and follow.
Music plays a huge role in helping to recognise the genre of the film, for example in the short film Does God Play Football it starts with classical music with the sound of an organ which instantly tells the audience that the plot is based around a church and possible religion. It also helps build up tension when needed. I looked at the role of music for my independent study; I looked at the Disney film Mary Poppins where they had changed the music to low pitched, spooky music, which you would associate with horror drama films. Just by the changing of the music gave the film a brand new genre. This proves how its very important to think carefully about the music you add to your short film and it can instantly give away genre to the audience.
The book Get Your Short Film Funded, Made and Seen, published by The shooting people shorts directory 2007 has helped me the most in understanding how much time and thought goes into creating a short film. It describes a short film as ‘having an idea for a novella and then deciding to tell it as a haiku’ which I interoperate as you can have this amazing idea however you have to make it as short and simplistic as you possible can. When finding a story there are 3 important areas that you need to think about
The World. Try to make the character world instantly recognisable e.g. a dinner party, Christmas party, first day at school. This means that you can start to explore the problem much quicker as the audience can relate to the situation they are in as its common. An advantage of setting the world in familiar surroundings is that it gives the story a defined time frame. This is supported by The Sunday Times article called How to Write a Good Script written by Marilyn Milgrom, script consultant published on Febuary 11 2009.
The character and the problem. As a producer you need to think about who is the main character, what is their problem, how will the audience recognise the problem, are their high enough stakes, and finally who’s point of view is the story coming form. Its important that from the very beginning the audience know the film is about. Through out the film it must be following the main character want, need or obligation and obstacles in their way to achieving these wants and needs.
It’s also very important when we are writing the script how as the producer we are going to portray the message to the audience, which can be very hard. For example when we read books it’s much easier to understand what is happening and how they are feelings as we are inside the character head, but through film we need to see the character doing an action or by showing their emotions. In films rather than writing emotions down in the script it has a much bigger impact if it done visually to the audience, e.g. if the character is annoyed rather than saying “I’m annoyed and angry” simply rolling their eyes has the same or bigger affect. As well as making everything visual it’s important that you think about the tone of the film. The tone needs to be established straight away through the genre, in short films there isn’t enough time to make shifts in tone so the audience are looking for clues about the kind of story it is from the beginning, by the use of conventions. The last thing I would recommend would be to give the script to friends and family to ask for their feedback, as the message you are trying to portray might not come across as you hoped. This feedback allows you to change parts that they might not understand before it becomes too late.
After looking at all of these conventions of what goes into making a good script, an important question to ask ourselves is who the audience of these films will be and why. Short films are mostly produced for one reason. Directors use their short films as a way to show off their talents in the film making industry, this in turn allows companies and investors to quickly get an understanding of the skills the director possess. In addition companies may see their short films and want to use the plot and story line to develop into a big budget feature film, linked in here is also companies remember shot films produced and wanting to use the director to help with a new idea for a film they have. Its not only the director that can be spotted through the production of short film, its also a place for Script writers, Actors, Lighting and Camera individuals to get noticed.
Finally once you have created and thought about everything you would like to have in your short film and have finished writing your script you should use this step outline and make sure you can answer all the questions about your short film;
One sentences that summaries what happened?
· What is revealed that is significant to the plot?
· What is revealed that is significant to the audience understanding the character?
4.My next target was to make sure that I stay organised throughout to make sure I don’t fall behind on tasks. I feel that this will be an ongoing process throughout the course and year however, I feel that so far I am keeping organised and that I am completing work and posts on time while also putting a lot of effort and thought into what I produce. I feel that by keeping on task I am able to add much more detail into my work as it is still fresh in my mind and I’m not having to spend longer rethinking what we talk about in class. 
