Post 6; What makes a good short film?

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.


Below is a link to the London film festival with information on top of the range films in today's society.
http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/best-short-nominations/

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.