EXPLORE FILMAKING: NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL

I have signed up for a Future Learn course. What attracts me to the course is the opportunity to explore film making and learn from professionals how they take a script to the screen, how they use film language to deliver the plot and theme and, in particular, the special qualities of short films. I hope that it will improve both my film making and my quality of articulate reflection.

In week 2 I learned a good deal about short film making from Destiny Ekaragha in the unit called Having Vision, Telling Stories. Destiny Ekaragha's first short film, Tight Jeans (2008), was chosen for the London Film Festival in that year. She then went on to make her first feature film, Gone Too Far (2014) which was given cinema release is 2014.

What I learned from this introduction confirmed what I had already researched about short films

•  They differ from feature films not just in length. In a short there isn't enough time for such extensive exposition of themes or introduction to key characters.
• Shorts require real economy of action, dialogue, plot and locations to be effective
• Shorts require film makers to work within limitations, most obviously of budget.

What I learned about the difference between plot + theme

• Theme is main points of the story, an idea that runs throughout the entire movie
• Plot is what happens to the person

What I learned about visual language

Gone Too Far (Destiny Ekaragha, 2014)

Gotcha (Bryn Williams, 2015)

• In my two shot, the boys discuss the themes that run through the film (relationship issues, dealing with women, men's roles)
• I chose my camera angles very carefully: like Destiny's camerawork, I leave the camera "flat on them". I place my 2 characters opposite each other and I leave the camera on them for a long time. This signals to the audience the significance of this scene as the exposition.
• Considerations for my target audience lie at the heart of my film: it shows a scenario that concerns my target audience very closely - the pitfalls and challenges of the dating scene.
• I use over the shoulder shots and reaction shots to show the boys' emotions towards the subject.

PLANNING: POSTER

I have researched short film posters and identified a set of codes and conventions which I have used to inform my initial planning of my film poster.

• Producer's name: A Bryn Williams film
• Film Title in large font: GOTCHA
• Production Company: Hands On
• Names of actors: Elliot Hogan, Agatha Parry, Amber Saville, Georgina Self, Bryn Williams
• Written, directed and produced by: Bryn Williams
• COMING SOON
• WWW.HANDSON.COM/GOTCHA
• Twitter
• HANDSON PRESENTS GOTCHA STARRING BRYN WILLIAMS   ELLIOT HOGAN   AMBER SAVILLE
  GEORGINA SELF    AGATHA PARRY   WRITTEN   DIRECTED   &  PRODUCED   BY   BRYN WILLIAMS
                                                                                                                                                              COMING SOON
                                                                                                                      WWW.HANDSON.COM/GOTCHA

CONSTRUCTION: IDENT

In today's lesson I made my Production Company's ident. My idea was to use 2 articulating hands and use stop motion to create  the ident. I used iStop Motion to assist me, this program compiles all the individual photos together into a movie resulting in what looks like a moving image. I called my Production Company HANDS ON

SNAPCHAT

Throughout this year I have been watching Casey Neistat on youtube and snapchat. He is a film maker with 480,000 subscribers on his youtube channel. I looked at his use of snapchat stories. As a result I plan to use snapchat stories to document some of my creative work.

FEEDBACK PUB SCENE

I received very positive feedback on this sequence from the rest of my group and from other members of my year group, especially the boys. My male target audience immediately picked up on what i was trying to achieve: male bonding and boasting over the subject of female conquests. Two aspects in particular were singled out for praise: the realistic mise-en-scene of the pub environment, props like beer and the warm cosy atmosphere and that encouraged the "boys will be boys" atmosphere. The use of visual codes such as the symmetry of the chairs, boys and glasses was also noted. this functions as a device to show how much in tune the boys are in their attitudes to girls and equally importantly as a visual bridge and match cut to the next scene which opens with 2 cocktail glasses.

CONSTRUCTION: CORRECTING FOOTAGE

During my edit, I was faced with the technical challenge of cropping some footage that was framed in black. 

 

 To over come this I had to crop the video when editing. I did so in a way which still started with a close up of the glasses then zoomed out to reveal the girl and man.

After cropping, the image then filled the full required space.

PLANNING: COCKTAIL BAR MISE EN SCENE

In order to get an idea to create my mise en scene I looked at Degas' painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. I will use tighter framing as illustrated by the red box. Recently cocktails have become more popular among younger people, therefore it is ideal for my target audience. When I create this scene i will use more bottles and glasses within the frame and only have the bartenders hands visable.