In June we had to set ourselves 5 SMART targets that we would meet by the end of this year . 1) was to become more familiar with the edit suites 2) was time management 3) was to create a better quality film 4) organisation and meeting deadlines and 5) was allowing myself to become more creative.
Target 1: This target is a hard one to complete, although i feel i need to do some more research and notes into edit suites. For me to feel i have met this target i am going to need to have further experience on the edit suites, before actually editing our film, so it will be less time consuming and beneficial for everyone. I am going to make sure i have done some research by next week, on edit suites and the sound techniques on them, and hopefully this will extend my knowledge and help me when editing our film.
Target 2: The second target was for me to ensure that this year me and my group will be more prepared and up to date with all work as last year it was hard for us to get started which may have effected our overall production. I feel that this year i am more prepared and am keeping up to date with all work that has been set. This is because from my experience last year i want to do better and get keep a constant good grade for this course.
I am also interacting more with students and getting their opinions on things. For example: when we were asked to come up with an idea about our script, i asked some class mates to help me, and eventually when i created an idea another class mate gave me feedback on what i could improve on, and we even developed my original idea.
Target 3: For this target i am going to have to devote as much time towards the making of this film, in order for it to become a good quality film. As i now know from last year, we left our production to last minute, which i have learned not to do this. I am going to do some research on what different audiences like and dislike, even though i have a rough idea, from the other part of the course. Also i will compare what age ranges like which specific genre's.
Target 4: I feel that target 4 is being met slowly, i am completing all work that has been set as quickly as possible, rather then leaving it to last minute where i will then be left behind.
Target 5: This target needs to be met consistently throughout the course. The aim is to improve our creativity and originality in the course which is why we are set little tasks which with help our imagination. We already have a rough idea about what creativity means, and what specific elements it has to it, but some more research into creativity and originality would also be helpful. I could also have a go at doing small little independent tasks, just like the one the teacher set us in post 2.
The targets are very specific and have detailed requirements for completing them, i feel that my five targets are good enough to help me improve my overall grade in media studies, and help me develop my knowledge in this course.
In order to complete every part of my targets i am going to need to re read the whole of my notes, and class work, and research up on anything i don't understand to help me with the course For example: i would read up on the different theories and theorists so i can widen my knowledge and have a better understanding for the exam.
Creating and thinking of a storyline for our script was very difficult. We were just asked to think and put down some idea's of a main character. Keeping everything in mind from what we have learned from the session with Becky, i eventually came up with an idea of a female football player, based on one of my friends.
In the beginning, i had no idea of what i would do. Speaking to friends and family, i still couldn't come up with a basis for a storyline, and one that would be established within 7 minutes. I had to keep telling myself that i shouldn't come up with a complex story, because the time limit for the film was 7 minutes.
I knew the deadline was for the 1st of November, and was eager to get started and i still could not get a rough idea of an outline for the script.
My first initial idea, was to create script based on the journey of someones life, without dialogue. Then i remembered i had to fit it all in 7 minutes. Every story i was thinking of was too complex.
I was in the library working one afternoon, and i asked my friend if she had any ideas, so she would be able to help me. She then said confidently, "base your story on me", i thought she was just being silly at first, then i realised i could base my story on her, a female football player.
When we went to our next lesson we were asked to share our idea's to the person sitting next to us, and then we would read out each other's idea's. Carolyn's reaction to my story was positive, she said she particularly liked the idea, that she breaks her leg which shatters her dreams, she thought it was unexpected, and a good idea. After speaking to our partners about our stories we were told to explain the stories to the class.Then other students and our teacher would give feedback, and were asked what they thought of people's idea's. When Carolyn read put my idea, a peer asked the question "What is the turning point?" i then needed to think about what i could include to make my story more interesting, and appealing. Our teacher then said that for her the story needed to be thought about, and researched into more, to see it it would relate to real life issues. I decided to research into different female footballers and the stereotypes which come with them, as in today's society is it common for women football players to be negatively portrayed as apposed to men. I have researched into Kelly Smith the professional football player from Garston. I found a short interview from the newspaper "The independent" and the headline was the dialogue Kelly has said which was "i should have been a male football player, then I'd be a millionaire"
The phrase indicated the stereotypical views that occur today, and the stereotypes that come with them, it is saying that because she is a female she does not get highly paid as male footballers, yet she is just as good.
Other research i found showed that many female football players who had dreams of becoming professional footballers had their dreams destroyed due to injury's. Some research had suggested that this may be because they have had not enough training as Male's have had and women are more "delicate" then men.
My basic plot outline was originally girl has big dreams to play in FA cup, breaks her leg, dreams are devastated. After taking to Carolyn she said that i should have a twist, something like she wants to be noticed by the cleaner of her football club, and in the end when she breaks her leg, the man rushed over to help her.
I liked this idea, and came up with a new storyline which was....
Girl wants to play in the FA cup, and asks her parents for a day off school to try out for the FA cup team.
Her parents say no, and tell her that she is not good enough anyway, and she needs to concentrate more on her school work. (This knocks her confidence)
The coach ensures her she can do it, and if it makes her happy she should pursue her dreams.
The girl Lie's to her parents and misses school for the try outs, where the cleaner of the football club is watching, she wants to impress.
She breaks her leg, tacking someone harshly, and is devastated, the cleaner runs over to help her, and calls an ambulance.
Her parents find out she has lied and is disappointed in her behaviour.
The girl is devastated and very emotional, she then comes home from hospital to find out her parents have bought her tickets to the FA cup at Wembley Stadium.
In the last scene we see the girl sitting cheering her team on wearing an engagement ring with the cleaner.
LESSON 1 When writing our scripts we need to know the difference between a story and the narrative. "Story is the irreducible substance of a story ( A meets B, something happens, order returns), while narrative is the way the story is related. (Once upon a time there was a princess...) (Key concepts in communication-Fiske et al (1983) Web definitions are: Story- a. A usually fictional prose or verse narrative intended to interest or amuse the hearer or reader; a tale. b. A short story. 3. The plot of a narrative or dramatic work. Link to story definition Narrative-a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program; "his narrative was interesting"; "Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children"consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story; "narrative poetry" Link to narrative definition
My own opinion on the difference between story and narrative are, the story is the basic line, which needs to be followed. e.g: Boy meets girl, they get married, happily ever after. Narrative is the way the story is told.
Julian McDoughall 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".
He is trying to get the audience active in our narrative, and so we can interpret narrative in a different way. The audiences have their part to play in interpreting narrative. Narratives can also have certain readings based on personal interpretation. The "Natural process of discourse"As seen on the other posts it is important that we know how to make a good script, and the elements needed to make one.
The last activity we did in class was watch the short film signs. Our teacher would stop the film at relevant points where we would have to guess what would happen next. We also needed to ask our self, what makes this such a good film? We started watching the film, and immediately we notice that the main character is a man who is lonely, scared, shy and bored e.t.c. Our teacher asked us to write down the characters want, need, and obligation when watching the film. We came up with:
Want- Love. We know the character wants love because of the way he acts around the woman in the other office. His dads phone calls also contribute as it implies the character is lonely and needs a woman in his life.
Need- Company. The characters need is company due to his loneliness. He has moved to a City where he knows no one and it is clear that he is secluded from society.
Obligation- The characters obligation is to go to work, and sleep. He has to work, and he tries to live up to his parents expectations. He does not answer his parents phone calls, he listens to their answerphone messages which suggests he wants to be left alone.
LESSON 2 In Lessons we have been preparing and getting ready to write our own script. We have been doing small tasks to help our thought process, which will enable us to create a good quality script. Our teacher set us a small starter task where we had to identify what sources can serve as a basis for a dramatic/documentary project. We had 5 minutes to write down some ideas, then we would go through and share each others idea's. I came up with 6 ideas:
imagination /idea's and fantasy's- Depending on how imaginative we are, a good quality script could come out of our fantasy's and dreams we may have. For example: I have a dream of becoming a singer, so i would write a script about me becoming famous in the music industry.
Personal experiences /memories- Often the best scripts cam come out of our personal experiences, and certain memories we have. For example: someone could have experienced a car crash, therefore they would create a script involving their experience of this car crash.
Other short films- With this idea, we have to make sure we do not copy the complete storyline of another short film which has been made, it must be original, therefore be your own work.
Books/TV/film- These elements Can help develop and further your story idea, and also help create different points of view for each of the characters.
Friends and Family- You can make a script about the different relationships you have with your friends and family, and how they affect you as a person.
Social issues/issues within society- Issues within society is very common fore the basis of what people want their story to be about. Many people want their stories to have a message about the factors affecting today's society, For example: crime and vandalism, social class issues/dominance, Racism e.t.c.
After discussing our ideas as a class, many more was added to my list such as: -Abuse -News/magazines- People may want to base their stories on things they see and hear in the news and in magazines. They may want to base it on a particular story in a magazine for example: Katie Price and Peter Andre's break up. -Places- Places would usually be based for documentary purposes, telling a story where the main idea is based on a particular place: For example, a train station and its journey throughout the day. -Poems -Religion- Stories can be based on a certain religion, which can also be linked to personal experiences. Showing the values of religion an be effectively shown through a short story. -Dreams and nightmares- Linking to personal experiences, certain dreams or nightmares that people can remember can be the basis for a story.
Historical events- Certain events that take place could influence the basis for a good script. For example: a film could be based on war, houses of Parliament, the army e.t.c
We were then given a handout which was a step-to step guide on how to help us get a storyline for our short story. We were asked to read it in our head and were asked for homework, to come up with an idea for our short story, and relate it to 8 key elements. These were:
Introduce the main character; (set the scene)
Give the character a problem, obstacle, obsession or addiction.
Let the character work out a plan to overcome the problem.
Before setting out to solve the problem, there may be a moment of doubt that will require the hero to seek advice from a mentor; teacher; best friend. This is an opportunity to let the audience know more about the problem and weigh it up in their own minds. What would they do?
With new resolve, the hero sets out to overcome the problem, obstacle, obsession or addiction.
Overcoming the problem or challenge will be met by extreme opposition from the rival, who will usually have greater but different strengths and will in some ways bear similarities to the hero: the nemesis of the hero's dark side
The hero will appear to fail in his quest. He will glimpse defeat, even death, and will require superhuman effort to overcome his final task
The hero wins the final battle, with an opponent, or enemy, or with himself, and returns to his natural state, wiser, or stronger, or cured, but not necessarily happier. The journey have made him a different person.
The following day, i was struggling to get a good storyline and was stressful knowing we had to have an idea for our next lesson. In the library i was with my friend doing some homework, and asked her if she would know of any idea's for a story. She said i should base it on her, as i thought she was only joking i didn't take any notice of it until half an hour after i realised i could base my story on her, so i did. Our teacher also said we should come to lesson with a beginning, 2 turning points and an ending. I knew my story would be based on a female football player, but couldn't quite think of a turning point. My friend often tells me she gets injured playing football on Sunday's, and always tells us how "good" she is and how she can make it into the FA cup one day. It then clicked. I thought My character could have huge dreams to be in the FA cup, but something bad would happen to her, so her dreams would be shattered. I then applied my story to the 8 point guide.
Introduce Molly, with her watching a football match, cheering when her favourite team score.
Her dream is to play in the FA cup (Addiction)
Her plan is to train really hard to get into the team ( before/after school) no time for school work. She wants to impress the cleaner at her football club.
Her parents say she is not good enough (moment of doubt) and that she needs to concentrate more on school work. Her coach is very encouraging and supportive, and tells her to pursue her dreams.
She practices one to one sessions with her coach every day after school.
She is now at the trials for the FA cup team, where they will be picked.
She then falls over tackling someone, and breaks her leg, her dreams are shattered.
The cleaner of her football club, rushes over to help her and calls an ambulance. The next scene shows her watching the FA cup, cheering on her team, wearing an engagement ring.
My characters want is to be a success full football player My characters need is to be notices/ acknowledged. My characters obligation is to live up to her coaches expectations, and please the cleaner at her football club.
When film producer Becky Knapp came into our lesson, we all learnt more about a script and the requirements we needed to know to make a good one.
Becky introduced some idea's and tips we need to consider when making a script.
1) We need to have a clear idea of what we want our film to be, and how we are going to make it. e.g: budget, characters,location e.t.c
We should ask ourselves can they write? For example, can they (who ever is writing the script) come up with a plot, structure, reasonable characterization, dialogue. In this case it would be ourselves, so we need to ensure we write a good quality script.
We also need to consider the 3 parts to our script.
The beginning The middle The end. Having these parts in our script will ensure that we make a high quality and detailed script. These idea's also link to the theories we have been learning in class, especially the theorist Todorov who believes in the notion on equilibrium. He states that the story should start with an equilibrium(meaning the narrative is unbalanced), then transforms into a disequilibrium (when something changes), which that ends up in a new equilibrium (something that can not be the same).
2) Who is the audience? a good script requires you to plan, and approach your target audience effectively. For example: getting the required message across to the audience will ensure you have hit your target audience.
My target audience would be for the younger generation who are interested in sport, ie football. Teenagers who play football could be linked with my storyline as they will be able to understand and connect with the message. The London Film festival is the city's most expansive film festival which will return to the city for the 7th edition, over ten days at London's best venues in January 2011. The festival has over 200 short films, which come into contact with Britain's finest film makers. The best short film of 2010 was you're the stranger here directed by Tom Geens. The nominees were: THE BEDFORDS (Henry Coombes)
BELIEVE (Paul Wright) JADE (Daniel Elliot) KID’S MIGHT FLY (Alex Taylor) LAST TRAIN (David Schofield) THE REAPERS (Nick Jordan / Jacob Cartwright) RED SANDS (David Proctor) STRANGE LIGHTS (Rosie Pedlow / Joe King) THE WAKE (Loren Slater / Kerry Kolbe) YOU’RE THE STRANGER HERE (Tom Geens)
Here is the trailer to the award winning film your the stranger here. The full film is not available to watch yet. It is a story about a woman with a "crazy " leg, where she lives in a fascist regime where people with her condition get shot on the spot. Inspired by the courageous death of one of her fellow sufferers, she goes on an all or nothing quest to change the world, falling in love with her executor in the process. Film reviews have enhanced that this film contains a powerful message. Some have even described it as " an ideal film for those who enjoy witnessing outbursts of inexplicable and disturbing violence in surreal and unsettling places" and an honoured powerful piece.
I would like my own short film to contain a message which enables the negative attitudes towards women footballers to be re established in a positive way. Even though many women are let down in the process to becoming professional footballers, many women are made proud by their level of skill. There are stereotypes which allow some form of negativity towards female football players. Foe example: some men have the attitudes towards women such as women are not as good as men, and women cant play football.
I am not the sort of person who is interested in women football, but many of my close friends like football, and play for a team which helps me when writing a script.
3) Budget- the budget required questions that we should think about, such as can i raise the money?, and do i particularly want to work with film makers are things that need to be considered. The website Britfilms indicates that there can be 4 main funding area's for short films in the UK.
These are: Public funding- This type of funding operates in areas such as distribution, producer support, promotion, festivals, training, new technologies and exhibition. Broadcasters, UK tax credits and International links. Other websites state that there are certain steps you have to follow in order for a short film to become funded. The first step is you have to watch a short film, then you have to think about the network, broadcast it online and organise face to face meetings where you can. The next step is to ask yourself why do you want to make the film, which you should then develop further training. Then you should think about and analyse your idea, making sure it is good, appropriate and original which you should keep developing. Below is a link to the website to the short film funding guide. http://www.stilettofilm.co.uk/funding/
Depending on how long each short film will last (in our case 7 minutes) there are different requirements which need to be thought about.
Under 5 minutes- this short film, usually requires material to play on stereotypes, and the character should be established straight away.
5-12 minutes- the character may change, and go on a dramatic journey
there should be simple characterisation, where stereotypes should not necessarily be used.
12-30 minutes-these types of short films are usually high budget films.
they usually require a sub plot (more then one story happens in the film).
Becky came up with the idea of 3 main elements to think about when writing our scripts, and thinking about the character we want to create.
1) the world the character lives in
2) who the character is (they have to have a problem which establishes dramatic tension to the audience), and the audience needs to know about this problem through messages in the text.
3) There should be an obstacle which makes the story more interesting (internal obstacle), for example: something that gets in the way of the character meeting its goal. ( a boy likes this girl, but she has a boyfriend) this would be an common example of an obstruction.
Point of view- who's story it is.
The short film should be showing the audience what is happening rather then telling the audience what is happening.
ex positional dialogue. We also need to ask ourselves if dialogue is required, so if we want dialogue or not, and how the message can be put across in these circumstances.
Becky also indicated that we have to make choices about what we are telling, thinking about how we can get the message across to the audience.
we could also introduce the idea of stakes, what is at steak for the main character, and what are the risks?
Tone
The genre is less important in a short film, but it should be tonally inconsistent. For example is it a romantic short film, or a dramatic one?
We should have a rough idea of what genre the film would appeal to and the audience we want to target.
Title
Becky said that before writing our script we should think about the title, and think about whether it sets up the tone of the film.
The title can also contribute to the setting of the short film, time and place.
we should also think about the character, and who is the main character. For example a script Becky showed the class was a script called "Donna" which was the main character's name.
We should also consider the character's wants and needs.
Other questions we should ask ourselves are :
Who is the opposition? (i.e enemies, protagonist/ antagonist)
What is the catalyst for change?
The climax- how could i present the ending?
the resolution- what happens at the end?
What does the audience feel? (Theme)
We were told not to have too many characters in a short film. Each character should have a function, may often have a problem.
Is the scene working for the story or the character?
Treatment
A short film should have a treatment. It often tells the writer, if the script works or not.
step outline. Becky mentioned the phrase step outline which was fairly new to all of us. As part of my in dependant study i decided to expand my knowledge and research on what Becky had told us in class.
Step outline is a detailed telling of a story with an intention of turning it into a screenplay or motion picture. It briefly explains every scene in detail, and often has dialogue and character interaction. The scenes are often numbered for convenience, which can also be extremely useful for a writer working on a script.
We have to think about what is revealed that is significant to the plot.
What is revealed the is significant to the audiences understanding of the characters.
Lastly, is there any indication of the theme.
We have to think about the decisions we will need to make in our groups, and we have to think of a way which can be the most effective order of telling our story.
We have to ensure that our short film is cinematic, not television like, it needs to have particular cinematic qualities.
Establish the world of the character. (Maximum speed, minimum dialogue), we have to make sure the audience react in a particular way to our film quickly, with as little dialogue.
WE ARE SHOWING RATHER THEN TELLING
The sound is important to establish the meaning and message the producer is trying to get across to the audience
Becky also mentioned that we should keep the tone the same, to save complications, we need to keep the tone consistent meaning there should be no tonal change or a change in theme.
There should also be an active character, which is always doing something (no passive character), this makes the story line more interesting for the audience.
Another factor i learned that is important is our need to show change in the character: for example, their relationship with others, having a visual character reference, clothing (often related to particular stereotypes) and the characters body language.
Our short film should also require a log line. A log line is a brief description of a television programme or a film, often providing both a synopsis of the plot, and an "emotional hook" which would stimulate interest. The log line first came into recognition after the old days of the Hollywood studio's. Producers would write a one line summary of what the script was about. An example of a log line is... Charlie brown is finally invited to a Halloween party; snoopy engages the red baron at a dog fight; and Linus waits patiently in the pumpkin patch for the great pumpkin. This is a famous example of a log line, which can be found on titantv.com 2005-10-25. Lastly, the last point to remember is that short films have a fairly knish market, they are not to distribute to a wide range of audiences and have a box office hit, they are made to purely sell your own talent and promote yourself to the film industry. They are not distributed like an hour long feature film, they have small postcards which help them target their smaller audience, which are usually written personally to the specific audience.
