Half Term Tasks

Over the course of the week I will hopefully brng the planning of my video to a close

This will include:

Finishing of storyboard

Properly create script

Sort out props

More Textual analsis

Locations and actors.

What I have been doing this week. - Unfinished

Film script and storyboard draft

Opening shot. Interior. Inside a house darkly lit. Only half of body- rest behind, talking on the phone “Let me know when you hear anything, yeah, ok bye.”

4-5 seconds

Long black fade. Re fade to a close up of mouth talking into phone.

“oh my god, I,” character trembles covers mouth with phone in hand 10 seconds.

“I need to go” as person on phone ends the call another black fade.

Medium shot- character sat sobbing in the dark Head in Hands. Camera slowly pulls away from character, loosing focus then fade to black. 4-5 seconds

As fade to black comes again music begins.

Sound: Saint John – Cold war Kids. Faintly no lyrics

Whilst faded title flashes up. “Crash”, the words come up shaking as if they had crashed. 5 seconds the words “I’m sorry Tom she’s dead.”

Song finished.

 New shot EXT, establishing long shot of the college dining hall, through window from the outside. 2-3 seconds

Slowly moves in on character walking towards table. 10+ seconds

Close up, Int Camera quickly cuts to a shot of character sitting down at the table however the camera is place on the table. So we only see up to about the shoulders, maybe bottom of face. No full face reveal yet. – This is too show the character has lost identity from the accident. A “Sigh”, the character picks up the knife and fork then starts to cut up the food. 6-7 seconds

Close up, mouth eating the food very slowly, long pauses of eating. 5-6 seconds

Swallows food and puts down the knife and fork, before he drops his head into his hands. 4 seconds

Shot from behind him, wide shot- medium. Showing more of the room, perhaps empty or just show a distance between him and the rest of society. 3-4 seconds.

Back to the table, the camera place on it. The boy pushed the food away from him and gets up.  Head not revealed yet. 4-5 seconds.

Cuts to the bathroom scene. Black fade, then fades back in. 2-3 seconds.

Bathroom scene, people leave as he enters. The character walks past them with his head down, then walking into the stall. Camera follows him over his shoulder. Until he enters his stall 5-6 seconds.

Point of view shot from the inside of the closed stall, he looks around and up at the ceiling, then looks down into his hands as he turns them around and makes a fist with his right one then punches it into the palm of his left. 6-7 seconds.

He gets up after we hear a gulp, a indication of being sick. The shot starts as a first person, but as he gets up it seems to pull back over his shoulder, changing the shot to a over the shoulder shot. He walks towards the sink as the camera moves to the right of him, changing again into a profile shot of him hunched over the sink, gagging.

10-15 seconds.

If possible I want a reflection in the water, obviously the ripples may distort the reflection, then the character puts his hand in the water and cleans his face.

7-10 seconds

Then we have a close up of the characters face finally revealing them. The camera then zooms in on the eyes of the character. Extreme Close up 3-4 seconds.

As he blinks, we get a white cut which takes us to a flashback, I will use conventions of a flashback to portray this and make the viewers aware of this. Within the flashback we have the camera of the bonnet of the car or the dashboard looking at the driver. The driver/protagonist’s phone starts to ring. 10 seconds

Close up of phone ringing on the seat 1-2 seconds

Then a shot from were the phone is, as the driver looks down and reaches for it

2-4 seconds

Suddenly we have a shot of a girl, the camera moves towards her fast as she stands and shouts, this could be a silent scream as we can only hear the roar of the engine.

2-3 seconds

A shot of the driver as he puts his foot down, this is a medium close up 2 seconds.

As they collide we hear the crash, the screen fades to a shot of the boy with the girl, the boy desperately tries to communicate with her, however we do not hear him, only the sound of a heart monitor. The shot fades to white and back to a shot of the boys blinking eyes in the bathroom.       6-10 seconds.

The camera stays fixed on the boys eyes which blink rapidly until he is sick into the off screen sink below the camera. 3-4 seconds

A long shot of the character walking down the street towards the camera, the girl from the flashback walks towards him, her back to the camera, wearing the same clothes from the flashback.  5-6 seconds

As she walks past him we get a shot across the protagonist’s chest as he looks at her and she looks at him, blood on her face. 3-4 seconds.

The camera then rotates to the front of the character looking at the protagonist’s body as he stops and wonders. 2 seconds

We then go back to the long shot as he turns around and she is not there. 3-4 seconds.

2.40

This time a tracking shot of the character walking down the street, as he passed the bus stop we see the girl again this time our protagonist doesn’t see her. 5-6 seconds

The next shot is a medium close up of her face as she turns and looks at him, and then walks forwards and past the camera towards him. 2-3 seconds.

The next shot a medium shot of the protagonist walking towards us the girl is hidden from us because of him being in the way, but then she steps out from behind him and carries on walking towards us, following him. 4-5 seconds.

The next shot is a wide shot- similar to the style of the tracking shot, however the camera doesn’t move and the character walks of screen, the girl is gone, but we still have the boy in shot. 3-4 seconds

We then have a shot of a door, the protagonist walks onto screen and opens it. 3-4 seconds

As the door  opens we cut to a shot from inside the house, so he opens the door into the camera, he drops his bag and sighs, the door is still open in which we see the girl walk by in the background. 5-6 seconds

The boy closes the door and we get a fade. 2-3 seconds

The next shot is a medium shot of the boy laid on his bed looking up at the ceiling.

3-4 seconds

He looks towards the camera which is so his side – so he is looking into the camera. 2-3 seconds

We then get a point of view shot of the clock that he was looking at.1-2 seconds it reads 10pm.

Over the Weekened

Over the course of the weekend I started to analyse another piece of film and about finished my first script.They will both be uploaded before the end of the week.

The next Step

In my next update I will upload a textual analysis of Ricky Gervais 'Ghost Town' the reason I plan to analyse this after comparing 'Sixth Sense' is to compare the different styles between a more serious ghost drama to that of Gervais' comedy one.

Textual Analysis 1

Textual Analysis 1 – Sixth Sense, M.Knight Shyamalan,1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE

Knight’s, Sixth Sense is famous for its use of colour to drive the tone of the sequence. This is mainly in his use of reds to indicate danger, which will appear in this sequence of film I am analysing.

The scene begins with a medium close up of a police officer’s arm/hand and bottom half, walking away from the camera. The officer pops a red flare and continues to walk away from the camera as it slowly follows. The officer walks off screen past 2 talking police. We assume there has been some kind of accident as we can hear sirens, and smoking cars with dents in the bonnet which has caused a long queue. As bystanders stick their heads around the cars to see the cause the camera slowly moves down in between the two cars. We have sound over 20 seconds before we get to the car with the woman talking in it, as the camera gets closer to the car it moves round to a shot through the drivers door window. We see Toni Collete, dressed in red talking to her movie son, Haley Joel Osment dressed in black.

As the two talk, all diegetic sound from before, the sound of sirens and people talking disappears, focusing on the conversation between the mother and son. Until 1:45, the previous was all one long shot, this long one shot is ended when Cole, the young boy, mentions that he can see a ghost stood next to him outside the car. We get another medium close up of his mother, as she turns her eyes from the commotion outside to looking at Cole, when the camera finishes moving as Lynn starts to turn, it we don’t see over Coles shoulder, which I feel emphasizes a sense of distance between the two characters. We then get a med shot from Lynn’s direction looking at Cole and behind him outside the car we can see a ghost. I think a important factor in this is that the ghost is not represented differently to any other character, the only small give away is a trickle of blood down the characters face, we also assume that it is the ghost as Cole says he can see her outside of the window, which means that the narrative is moved along via dialogue and cinematography.

We then have a sequence of dialogue, Knight uses shot reverse shot, however doesn’t show each characters shoulder as the two converse, again a sense of distance is felt between the characters. Lynn’s distance from her son who says that he can see ‘dead people’. There is no diegetic sound in the background of the conversation, only dialogue between the two. Again as I mentioned above this is Knights use of pulling us deeper into the conversation. As the conversations become more intense, the Lynn’s emotions change and the camera gets closer

and closer to Coles face.

In this image I am showing how Knight doesnt use the traditional style of the ghost. there is no see-through, or a pale blue colour to the ghost. The woman just looks like a normal human, aside from the blood down the face, I will strongly consider this idea when it comes to making my film.

Todorov's Narrative Theory / Structure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Narrative Structure, this was a narrative theory which Todorov discovered.

The theory, has the idea of each narrative sequence to follow a certain rule which is the structure uploaded in this post.

 We begin with the Equilibrium, the characters diegetic world before the events of the story unfold. The protagonist and the antagonist, the good and the bad. Then we have the disruption, caused by the antagonist, then followed by the quest of the protagonist to correct the antagonists bad deeds. The final part of the structure is the Climax/Resolution, followed by a Re- Equilibrium. The Re-Equilibrium being that the antagonist Robber is then captured by the Protagonist police officer.

Analysing Film

Over the course of the weekend I analysed some scenes from the Sixth Sense and plan to upload them to my blog promptly.

Aims and Context

My film is about a student who accidentally runs over a girl when answering his phone from the passenger seat. He is emotionally depressed and filled with sorrow, and has also been isolated within the community. The boy is haunted by the ghost of the girl, which will be represented in scenes, until finally the boy admits to what he has done to himself.


Aims: Using cinematography to portray the main character, the protagonist, I plan to portray the main character as a isolated wreck. I will accomplish this using a range of long shots and wide shots, both which will only show the main character in selected scenes. Another idea is to in selected scenes keep a distance to that of the character in shot (the protagonist) and the camera/audience, the reason I will do this is to emphasise the isolation this character has with the rest of the world including the audience itself.

I will also use sound as a second stylistic to emphasise the mood of the scene. Using different instrumental to set different tones for individual scenes. There is a strong possibility that I will only use instrumental or only briefly involve vocals, that could be perhaps relevant to the sequence, I plan keep vocals in the music video to a minimum in fear that the sequence becomes that off a music video.

I also aim to, using conventions of a flashback to portray a realistic and distinguishable flashback scene, which unfolds the disruption within my film.

I will keep the above in mind, when I think about my target audience, the sequence will be designed for a audience of 15+, as the sequence will contain problems which younger people might face and be able to relate to, in the sense of being emotionally stranded.

Context: A short film 3-5 minutes long called ‘Crash’, the short film will be a Melodrama, as it focuses around a main character and having strong emotional themes.

My Audience

The audience I am looking at for my film will be around the 16 and above age line. The reason I chose this age line is because of my chosen genre. My chosen genre is Drama, Drama is a realistic genre or more realistic than the rest. Drama focuses around realistic characters with realistic problems, problems such as the drug addiction or religion. My film will follow a melodramatic drama genre, which relies heavily on realistic characters and problems.

My Short Film Sequence - Drama and Synopsis

Equilibrium: Tom is a young student from England, studying at college, it’s the end of his first year and exams are coming up.

Protagonist: Tom, the student

Antagonist: The girl, the emotional distraught

Quest: To overcome his emotional distraught, and confront what he’s done. Keeps seeing girl.

Climax/ Resolution: Confronts the problem, admits to himself what he’s done.

Re-Equilibrium: Tom, is no longer as emotionally effected after admitting what he’s done to himself, and the girl makes it known that she has forgiven him.

‘My film’ is a short sequence about a boy named Tom, a student in England who is studying for his final exams for college at A level. Tom thinks that these at the most of his worries, when in fact, these are the least. On the way over to a friends house, Tom- driving his car, leans over to the passenger seat next to him to grab his ringing mobile, he answers still driving down the road, he glances up at the road, when a girl runs out in between 2 parked cars, however due to Tom being on the phone his reaction times are a lot slower forcing a collision between the two. Weeks go  by, he is sick with dread, he sees the girl in the reflections of mirrors, or just walked down the street at first glance. The boy is isolated and alone, both physically and mentally, no-one understands what he’s going through, and he cannot accept what he’s done. Then one night he realises, that maybe the only way to get over the event is to finally admit what he has done. The ghost of the girl shows her sign of approval and he finally seems to feel himself that he is going to overcome the guilt, and try to carry on with his life.

Revised Synopsis

My film is a short sequence about a boy named Tom, a adolescent, he is studying for his final exams for college at A levels, he thinks that these are the most of his worries, when in fact, these are his least. After a tragic accident, were Tom knocks down a girl in his car when he tries to reach for his phone, unfortunately he kills her, Tom is then isolated from society, alone, with no foreseeable way of forgiveness. He then starts seeing the girl ghost everywhere he turns, she stands and watches him, this eventually drives him off the edge, he wants to end this pain so he decides to take his own life the way he took hers.

Conventions of my chosen drama THIS WILL BE EDITED

The drama film is a genre in which mostly depends on in-depth development of realistic problems that are focused around realistic characters with emotional themes. These themes could include, drugs, poverty, crime, society, religious intolerance, alcoholism and emotional distraught.
This film genre can be contrasted with an action film, which relies on fast-paced action and physical conflict, but superficial character development. All film genres can include dramatic elements, but typically, films considered drama films focus mainly on the drama of the main issue.
Some well-known drama films include Citizen Kane (1941), The Godfather (1972), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Forrest Gump (1994) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

Drama films have been nominated frequently for the Academy Award (particularly Best Picture) - more than any other film genre.
Melodrama: a sub-type of drama films that uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship." Film critics sometimes use the term "pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled, campy tale of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters (often including a central female character) that would directly appeal to feminine audiences.” Also called "women's movies", "weepies", tearjerkers, or "chick flicks". If they are targeted to a male audience, then they are called "guy cry" films.
Tragedy: a drama in which a character's downfall is caused by a flaw in their character or by a major error in judgment.
A typical drama may also have music in, however the sub category for this genre will effect the music, for example, a melodrama will more likely have a dark and depressing tune than a comedy drama set in a happy setting.

These 2 sub Genres above are probably the focus of my film project, my idea is about a 18-20 year old going through college, after the ordeal of accidentally killing a girl whilst driving his car, he now lives with the guilt, I plan to show this through character isolation, long shots of the character in a empty scene.

My ideas for my short film.

My short film

My ideas originally began with a idea that focused around a ghost, I originally thought Rom Com or just a comedy. The idea then expanded from that to a drama, I researched the drama and its conventions which will be posted above.

I plan the story to revolve around a grieving student, overcome with dread from a accident in which he runs over a girl and kills her, the boy keeps seeing the girl and is isolated from his community both mentally and physically.

The Brief

Develop an extended sequence from an imagined feature.

Or

Develop a complete short film of between 3 and 5 minutes.

With both these options you are meant to engage with the issues raised in FM1 in relation to the production of meaning and the study of film stylistics and theory.

We can undertake this task as an individual and it is advised that we do so, but if we work in a group then your production role within that group MUST be clearly defended and you will need to provide evidence of your contribution in terms of that role and you will be assessed on your performance in that role.

We are to develop a short sequence of film, 3-5 minutes long, with a chosen stylistics and genre of our choice. Within the choice we must use traditional codes and conventions. We must also create a storyboard, analyse film text and conventions.