Film Pitch

Recently, we have been told to create a pitch including a 90 Second Synopsis, 90 Second speech on Distribution and our mock poster. Here is a written format of pitch:

Synopsis
From young, Paul Smith (currently no name has been decided), was the under the illusion that the Sockmonster had left an odd sock on the top of the stairs, which his mother tripped over, fell and died. In reality, the Sockmonster was a fable created by Paul Smith's father to hide and reconstuct his memeory as to how she really died, which was by Paul Smith leaving his odd sock accidentally.
The short film follows Paul Smith on his mission to catch this Sockmonster. We are situated not only with Paul Smith's of obsession with finding the Sockmonster, but also his compassion reunite lonesome socks with their missing partner - He believes this will not only benefit the owner, but everyone because it will prevent others from plunging to their own death. Paul Smith's legacy leads him to great deal of legal trouble and his back story gains him little sympathy from the police, but they let him go under strict orders to find the truth about this so called Sockmonster. His father also plays a key role in telling the story. He explains to the documentary crew, that his fabrication of the Sockmonster got 'out-of-hand' as Paul Smith got older. His father thought that he had forgotten about the Sockmonster as Paul Smith grew up, when truthfully Paul Smith had created a delusion based upon hallucinations he suffered as an older child and teenagers - symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Distribution
I believe the distribution of our film would fit successfully within the mainstream market. Just like the synergy used in the feature length film 'TED' ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbo_pQvU7M) of merchandise E.G. the bear TED, and the film; I see out short film using a similar technique - the synergy of the short film and of merchandise such as socks and it could be seasonal for example at Christmas, stockings could be apart of the franchise. It could be argued that the short film would be a success on the independant market because it covers issues of a sensitive nature, however, I think the way the mental health issue (Schizophrenia) is covered is in a mainstream way as it glamourises the disorder by not displaying the harsh reality of living with the disorder.
I also believe the short film would gain the largest attention if it were to be uploaded on the internet where it will gain an audience seeking such material and with the rise of Web 2.0 it is easier than it ever has been to access and share short films. It allows for it to be spread virally through Social Network (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr), which could be argued as the most important way to share information and art.

H.M.

A little bit of idea devolpement for our film

 This is a video of us summing up where we are up to in our idea for a film and what we plan to do next.

Magazine review research

Below are examples of magazine reviews from the magazine Empire. This is a magzine dedicated to film so we thought it was a good place to get inspiration for our magazine and learn more about them. They all follow a set theme but are slightly different so that they stand out and are more interesting to read. As a group we looked at them all and analysed them.

 

This magazine review is one done by A2 students.They have succesfully created a magazine review that I think is possible for us to also do. They followed the convetions closely which worked well so we should do the same.

Below is an example of a typical layout that we could use or take bits from so that ours is more succesful.

Thinking about sound..

During the house break in scenes we decided to use only diegetic sound our Short is a documentary. They rarely use non diegetic sound to increase tension etc as this detracts from the real life feel of it and we wanted ours to have a real life feel to it.

To make up for the lack of non diegetic sound we plan to use a lot of close ups of Paul's feet and what he will be doing while breaking into the houses to help increase tension. We also felt that just the diegetic sound could work quite well to help raise tension as it will leave the audience expecting something to happen but unsure when it will happen.

As for the interviews of the family and Paul during our Short some of what the people are saying will be placed over the top of footage of Paul breaking into houses as this kind of use of the vocals of an interview is often used in documentaries and we thought it was an effective technique and we should also use it. 

This is Stranger Than Fiction, a Short which plays around with diegetic and non diegetic sound, especially voice overs which would be similar to when the family is being interviewed about and then placed on top of shots of what he is doing.

I felt that when the voice over stops and you can only here diegetic sound that is quiet it can add a lot of suspense to the footage (although used in this Short for a slightly comical effect I think that it could also work well to create suspense in our Short). 

In Stranger Than Fiction the voice over at the start is only present when the man has the toothbrush in his mouth. This gives it a slightly comical effect and I don't think something similar would work well in our Short. Instead the voice overs and narration should come and go sporadically to help create suspense and allow the audience to become better positioned with Paul.

Research into Mockumentaries

I have been looking at other short films in documentary style to examine how different shots may impact the atmosphere of the films. 

http://houseofshorts.com/the-runners/

In their film, The Runners, directors Gormley and Rochlitz use a variety of effective shots to ensure that their short film about a group of runners in a London park involves the audience in both the setting and what the runners are saying about their lives.  The film adopts a journalistic style with ‘real’ footage of the runners while moving.  This has the effect of involving the audience in the ‘run’ of each of the ‘eye witnesses.’

The camera moves along with the runners which is very effective as a method of involving the viewer in the ‘run.’  There is a combination of long shots and close up shots.  The close up shots of each runner as they talk about their running and lives are intimate and has the effect of making the viewer feel as though they are both part of the run and more directly involved in the lives of the runners. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6F7T1EGSoMQ#t=37

Some shots are used to ‘link’ the different runners by either the ground they run along

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6F7T1EGSoMQ#t=320

or the surrounding area.  This is also effective at involving the viewer with the environment of the runners.

The continuity of editing to different runners works well and I think that the ‘environment’ shots are useful at providing credibility and a ‘news style’ to the work.

Looking at Documentary Shorts

 

After deciding that we are going to do a Short in the style of a documentary I started to do some research into Short documentaries. I found this...

 

 

Due to budgetary and other constraints our film will be shorter than this documentary style into a report about Aliens landing in USA. However, it has been a useful film for shot analysis for our production work because the theme is obscure like our ‘sock man.’

On analysis of the shots this is some of things that I have noticed that I think we should include in our film on post production work:

Mis en scene is created with some external shots that seem interrupted on editing as though the footage could be intercepted by the aliens. The shots are short and cut quickly like a quick radio change. The film also uses sound of ‘changing radio stations’ white noise and flashing colour between the shots which adds to the suspense and sense of reporting style.

By using a mixture of close up shots on radio/hands the scenes are set well for the eye witness narratives which the audience can hear over the footage sometimes. Mixing these shots with wide shots/over the shoulder shots so that the audience feel that they were at the re-enacted event works well.

A combination of mid shots and reverse mid shots of the ‘eye witnesses’ after they have grown up are given credibility with reporter style typography detailing their names and the film production company. These shots are linked from previous film footage that seem to show a reconstruction of events. When interviewing the eye witnesses the shots are direct with the witness looking directly to camera as they talk. However, the reconstruction shots include over the shoulder footage and birds eye views which gives the audience the sense of ‘watching’ what happened. The juxtaposition of these shots next to each other, I think, is effective way of involving the audience in narrative.

Shots of ‘newspaper’ articles add support and reinforce to the idea of the alien invasion using ‘expert’ as does repeating some of the shots (e.g. the over the shoulder shot of the alien landing). The final important witness is shot with a detailed close up shot (zooming right up to his cheek at one point) this is effective in emphasising the importance of what they are going to say.

The narrative is also used effectively as a “talk over” at the introduction is a good way of scene setting the start of the film. I have also seen this in other short documentaries with the use of either typography or voice over real life footage and need to consider this for the opening and ending sequences of our films.

Our man Paul

Together as a group we profiled the character of paul so that we all understood him before choosing an actor and writing the script.

Name: Paul Smith (Pseudonym)  

Age: 20 

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Works part-time at a book and stationary store (able to get free stationary to plot his adventures)

Residency: Lives with his Dad who believes that his son would be incapable of looking after himself without guidance.

Family Life: Mother died when he was 10 and was mainly brought up by his father and grandparents. He has a younger sister, but they are like strangers due to Paul's self-exclusion from the family.

Close Friends: He believes his own company is more than enough and doesn't enjoy the company of too many people because he finds them interfering.

OCD burglar devolpment

We looked around on youtube to see if there was already short films about a burglar with OCD and we found a large amount of them on youtube, examples below.

 

 

 

 

We wanted our idea to be original and have not been done a lot before. So we started looking into other ideas to see what else we could do. We all liked the OCD element so started looking into different more unusual ways of incorporating this.



Possible film idea

The OCD burglar!

The film could be about a man who breaks into a house when the family are away, carries the tv out, then the laptops etc. but as he is leaving with the last item he notices a plate not washed, goes back and washes the plate and puts it away and starts to leave. Then they spot a crisp packet on the floor, stop and put it in the bin. This behaviour continues and escalates until the burglar See's some cupcakes, one is the wrong size so quickly tries to make cupcakes so they are all the same size. The family come home to find him wearing oven gloves in a sparkling kitchen make cupcakes.

I like this idea as I think that it doesn't require great acting and I think it is has a lot of potential. I also think that it could be funny and is a possible idea to do on our budget with what we have available for us to use 

Talking about what kind of film to go with...

We called a group meeting, this was very exciting to do, about what kind of film we wanted to do, so we could all go away and start to refine our ideas. We did this becuase we felt we weren't getting very far with trying to come up with ideas and this would hopefully help us get the ball rolling.

In this group meeting we decided on several things:

• Plot driven rather than character driven-bad acting can often let down a film and we decided that if it was plot driven the acting is slightly less important and could be kept to a minimum
• Original idea so it is more interesting and doesn't seem like a remake
• Interesting abstract idea that has never been seen before
• We like the idea of a documentary or mockumentary as they give us a lot of freedom to come up with an idea that hasn't been done as there isn't many documentaries/mockumentaries

VOICE OVERS (imagine that to be read in a dramatic voice)

This is a video of me chatting away to the camera about narration, how it can be used, why and how I think I could use it in my film.



What not to do in my Short

I dont want to sound too mean but below is an example of an A2 short film called "Stranded" and it is literally terrible, but by watching it I have managed to pick up on things not to do in my film which should hopefully make mine better.

What I learnt:

• They use alot of copywrited music which isn't proffesional
• The characters often look at the camera for a split second, which takes away the feel of it being a film, so I need to tell my actors not to do this and if they do, redo the shot
• Their is a lot of wind and car engine noise, if I have this problem I should record the lines seperatly and dub it over the top
• A lot of the actions don't really seem to have any purpose which makes it a bit comical in a way although it's not supposed to be. So I should try to make it clear why my characters have done things
• It's a very predictable idea and ending, I should try to be more original
• The acting is so bad, if I can't find good actors it might be worth me trying to come up with a plot that isn't heavily dependant on acting
• I didn't like how the bad guy was a very stereo typical bad guy, I think a more original bad guy or one that you wouldnt expect would be a choice 

Another Film Idea!!!!

While getting the train home from work a couple was talking very loudy about how they didn't want to go to a friends wedding as neither of them liked the couple and they were trying to come up with a valid excuse so they couldn't go. I thought that it could make a good Short so started to think more into the idea and this is what I came up with...

Plot:

A couple get invited to a wedding which neither of them want to go to and they say that they have been invited to another wedding on the same day so they don't have to go to the wedding. After the date of the supposed wedding the couple who actually had a wedding ask to see photos of the wedding the other couple went to, in a mad panic the couple have 3 days to try to get a scrap book of photos together of a wedding that never existed. While pannicing for ideas they walk past an actual wedding going on, so gate crash it and take loads of photos. However part way through they get arrested as it was actually a funeral.

Important update (made after I posted this idea): Although I liked the idea and thought it could be funny it didn't take long for me to realise that staging a wedding/funeral is basically impossible and way out of my small budget so I will probably not be doing this idea although I like the idea of people trying to make up excuses that go wrong so I may use that in another more practical film idea.

Character devolpment

We were given the task of creating a character bio for an image of a random person, I chose this happy old man.

Name: Rupurt Stevenson, known as "Dartsy" to friends due to his incredible skill at darts

Age: 68

Martial Status: Happily married to Lorain Stevenson and has been for 43 years

Occupation: Owns "The Red Bear" pub and works there every other day and night, been a family business for years

Previous Job(s): Worked as a farm and for his friends dad for 2 years after he left high school until he was old enough to work in the pub

Residency: Lives above the pub in his small village Eccles Road in rural Norfolk

Family Life: His wife and 30 year old daughter whom he loves with all his heart however is unhappy with her husband as he doesn't trust him, but he loves his daughter too much to say anything

Close Friends: Jack Fletch aged 64, known as Meaty Jack due to his old job as a butcher and his size, Meaty Jack spends most nights in the pub and they have grown very close due to spending so much time together. Tom McDavids aged 68, been best friends since Dartsy worked on Tom's dads farm for 2 years and are always together

Where is he in the photo? At Tom's annual cheese party, everyone in the village is invited to Tom's farm once a year to taste a new kind of cheese he has been working on

Who are they with? Tom, Meaty Jack, Lorain and other people from the village

Where were they at 10pm last night? Dartsy was working in the pub

Who were they with? Meaty jack, the pub is usually empty besides him

Where do they see themselves in 5 years? Exactly where they are now

Any Secrets? When Dartsy was 7 he accidentally wet himself and his uncles wedding and has never told anyone about it

Although this character may not be in my film it has helped me understand that the more thought you put into a character the more believable they will be, therefore making you film more believable and realistic.