Dicks Day Animation

This is our storyboard in the form of an animatic

Shot List

This is our shot list ready to film on Tuesday

Pre Production - Our Booth

This is our booth and we have stuck up all of our pre production information. It includes our college timetable and the lessons we will be missing while filming. We have our shooting schedule, our scene summary, an overview of our shooting schedule. We also have our shot list, one line schedule and our call sheet.

Audience Research

Our target audience for our short film is 16-24. This age group is the main cinema audience and the sort of themes in our film are relevant to this age group. Also, the type of humour would be suitable for the age group.

I think our film would target a simlier audience to that of 'The Inbetweeners'. We have this because the type of humour and themes are similar and so are the characters. We have done mood boards and used characters from 'The Inbetweeners'.

Our Characters

Dick

Teddy

Sally

Music

We have been researching and studying other programmes with the same genre to see what type of music is used . We found that the most popular style of music used is Indie, guitar, riff based, up beat music. Working with that knowing here are three tracks that we have found and would like to use in our blog.

Titles/Opening scene - It's the little things we do by The Zutons.

Scene 10/Dick gets soaked - Buttercups by Cajun Dance Party.

Scene 12/Dick caught with porn magazine and tissues - 'Amylase' by Cajun Dance Party.

All Locations We Will Be Using

All Props We Will Be Using

Sally Mood Board

Dick Mood Board

Scene Breakdown

Script Most Recent Draft

Script 1st Draft

Short Stories I Researched

This is the first Short Story I studied.

This Story is about a mother that is unable to look after her kids. She is constantly having arguments with her kids about whether they have completed their homework, how much television they are allowed to watch and how many songs they are allowed to listen to.

This could be turned into a film by giving it a simple beginning, middle and end structure. The beginning would show the mother getting along with her kids and them playing happy families.

The middle could be the point of attack, when the dreaded question is asked and she starts having an argument with her children about school work. This is when everything starts to go wrong for the mother.

The end could be when the arguments is resolved and she makes up with her children. This would follow the structure of most films with the beginning, middle, end structure, with the ending being a good one.

There would be five characters used in this film, if I were to go ahead and make it. The main character being the mother, of course.

I picked this story because I like the fact it is about family. I would like to make a film that focuses on family as this one does because to me it is one of the most important subjects to address.

Production Meeting - Roles

ROLES

Petros

• Producer
• Camera
• Editing
• Music
  
• Scheduling
• Casting

Franklin

• Director
  
• Costume
• Location
  
• Title Sequence

Edward

• Camera
  
• Sound
• Location
• Props
• Casting
• Set Design

Charley

• Editing
• Sound
• Sound FX
• Location
• Casting
• Make-up
• Costume
• 
  

In this meeting we discussed what we have to do and then who is going to do what and got completely organised. By getting organsied we will hopefully have less problems in the production of our film.

Research

We have decided to make a comedy. The programs that we are getting ideas for the style of our film is The Office, The Inbetweeners and Curb Your Enthusiasm.


The camera work is handheld which gives the impression of reality in the programs. it is extremely similar to the style in which documentaries are filmed. This style of camerawork is difficult achieve because a lot of the time there has to be more than one camera shooting at the same time. This is because a lot of the acting is improvised. The reason for this is to achieve continuity. The people in control of the cameras have to be on the same wavelength. For example you have to make sure you do not break the 180 degree rule You have to be careful not to get a camera in one of the shots. One person may be in charge of the close ups and capturing facial expressions, gestures and reaction, whereas the other has to concentrate on wider shots to show locations, other characters and to set the scene. Zooming is a big part of this type of filming, the cameras follow the movement of all of the characters.


The editing is quite basic. There are not many transitions and effects used. This is because it would make the program seem unrealistic otherwise.

In these styles of filming ambient lighting is used as it gives it a realistic feel to each scene.

Scene List

This Is Our New Idea

Scene 1.

Wakes up gets out of bed puts on a tracksuit.

Scene 2.

Goes down stairs looks at note on fridge saying his dad is out on business (out for the weekend again. sorry). He opens fridge gets milk smells it, it smells disgusting.

Scene 3.

Goes out to get milk. walks past the card section and picks up a card. shot with open framing, him standing alone looking down at the card with the music playing.

Scene 4.

Cuts to him later in the day playing FIFA 11, gets beaten badly (commentators voice over saying how badly he is doing), throws the controller on the sofa then decides to have a microwave lunch by himself, puts ..... in the microwave and it explodes so he cant eat.

Scene 5.

Trying to call his friends to get them to come to his house for his birthday but it keeps getting to there anwser phones. leaves for his job as a dog walker, as he is out he keeps getting to his friends happy answer phone messages in the background of the action. the dog does a poo, he doesnt have any carrier bags, he does know what to do, he 1. covers it up 2. kicks it away 3. runs away and someone steps in it 4. he steps in it

Scene 6.

Then starts journey home, drops the dog off at the owners house the owner runs out of the house and shouts "how nice to see you!" but she goes for the dog over him, takes the dog and slams the door and he walks off. after he goes past a man washing a car. as he walks past the man throws the whole bucket of water over him. stops at the same corner shop as before, buys a porn magazine (the audience dont know its porn) and some tissues, because he feels he will be alone for his birthday.

Scene 7.

Arrives home, opens the door, walks into the main room with the magazine and tissue in hand, then he is caught by all of his friends who have been waiting for his birthday party. over the shoulder shot of him facing his friends. cut to him holding up the porn and tissues. cut to black.

This Is Our First Idea

Scene 1.

Wakes up gets out of bed puts on a tracksuit.

Scene 2.

Goes down stairs looks at note on fridge saying his dad is out on business.

opens fridge gets milk smells it, it smells disgusting so gets dressed.

Scene 3.

Goes out to get milk. looks at the card section opens an audio card playing happy birthday.

Scene 4.

Cuts to him later in the day playing fifa, gets beaten, throws the controller so decides to have a microwave lunch by himself.

Scene 5.

Trying to call his friends to get them to come to his house for his birthday but they all make excuses. after lunch he leaves for his job as a dog walker close up of him picking up dog poo, dropping off dogs at houses.

Scene 6.

Then starts journey home in dusk gets sprayed with water as a car goes through a puddle, stops at the same corner shop as before, buys a 6 pack of beer, because he feels he will be alone for his birthday, to make matters worse, it becomes clear to the audience that he is being followed home, shown by a series of P.O.V and handheld shots.

Scene 7.

Arrives home to find the door ajar, appears his house is being burgled, walks in to investigate grabs a bat walks up to the kitchen door slowly turns the door handle.

Scene 8.

Finds he has been thrown a surprise birthday party.

An Idea For Our Film

We have changed the story of our film. We are not using binary opposites as we were before. Before it was conventionally a horror film. We have made it into a quirky slapstick comedy.

The story follows a seemingly depressed 18 year old male waking up home alone, puts a tracksuit on and smelling the milk is off. He then goes out to get more milk, buy a birthday card for himself at the same time.

He goes home and tries to call his friends but it keeps going straight onto their answer machines. He then plays FIFA 11 and loses. Attempts to make himself a microwave lunch, it explodes, so he gives up and goes to do his job as a dog walker on his birthday.

He then drops the dog off and starts walking home. He stops off at the same corner shop as before and buys a porn magazine, but the audience do not know that it is a porn magazine. He also buys a box of tissues.

He then goes home to the embarrassment of all of his friends at his house for the surprise party they have organised for him while he has the porn magazine and box of tissues in his hand. It then fades to black.

For this idea we combined 2 pieces of research being "Lovefield" and "The Empty House" and came up with this idea.

The story follows a seemingly depressed 18 year old male leaving a friends house saying, "see ya mate", the friend replies "happy birthday see you soon". The camera follows him on various parts of the journey home, with P.O.V shots of someone following him behind, the objective for this is to build as much tension as possible and to create the illusion that the protagonist is in danger.

As he arrives home he see's his front door ajar and his belongings strewn across the floor. "oh shit", he immediately thinks his house has been burgled, he cautiously enters his home and hears a noise coming from the living room, he grabs a bat and approaches the room. By now the suspense will be at its peak, he slowly turns the door handle and swings the door open. "SURPRISE", a look of relief crosses his face as he realises he has been thrown a surprise party.

The film Lovefield shares comparison to ours in the sense that the illusion of one thing is contradicted near the end. The empty house story gave us an idea for the setting and tone we want to create. The style we have in mind for the film is a realistic documentary style, perhaps taking the shape of the Dogme 95 style.

Filmmakers I Admire

Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows - I admire Shane Meadows because I enjoy the genre he makes, which is British Drama and I like the cinema verite style. I also like the fact that all of his movies are British. My favourite film of his is 'This is England'. This is because I like the fact this film contains a social realist narrative and it is distinctively British. This genre in particular interests me. I have enjoyed watching 'This is England '86' because I enjoyed seeing how Shane Meadows took the characters from the film and used them in the TV series.

Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie - I also admire Guy Ritchie because once again I like the genre he specifies in, which is British gangster movies. I enjoy the comic scenes that are included in his movies. This is one of the reasons i admire him. I was a fan of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', which i felt was the best of the British Gangster Movies of that period. Since then i have watched every film that Guy Ritchie has Directed and particularly enjoyed his most recent film 'Sherlock Holmes' because I particularly enjoyed the voice over technique used throughout the film. The high production values show that he has come a long way since the very low budget production of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'.

Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow - I admire Kathryn Bigelow because I enjoyed watching Hurtlocker and like the style she films it in and I like the fact that there is not one particular main character and the main character keeps changing. This is because it keeps me locked into the film and gives me more concentrate on. I admire the fact that she is a female director and is the first female to win an oscar for her film 'Hurtlocker'.

Sort Films I Study

The Black Hole is made by Philip Sansom and Olly Williams. The story is of a man working in an office using the photocopying machine when it becomes faulty. It then prints out a piece of paper with a black circle on it. He comes to discover that the circle is in fact a hole. He then puts the hole up to the vending machine, steals a chocolate. He catches eye of an important room, walks in sticks the hold onto the safe with cello tape, grabs the money. Then lets greed get to the better of him and climbs into the safe when the hole falls off the safe, resulting in him being stuck in there.

The dull, blue tint to the picture makes the office setting seem boring, dull and tiring to be there. The fact that there is no music placed in the background and it is just of the photocopier gives the dull, uninteresting feel. The mysterious sound effect used for when he enters his hand into the black hole makes it seem mysterious and out of the ordinary.

I enjoyed watching this short film because i like the comic side to it, I also like the moral of the story and the way it is being portrayed. I like the character that has been created because although i cannot relate to him being in a boring office job, I like how he plays the character.

The short film Lovefield is made by Mathieu Ratthe. The story is of a woman driving down a road, when she pulls up on the side of the road because her waters break. A man driving a tractor spots her, and helps her deliver the baby, the police/ambulance arrive.

The narrative of the film is that it is set in a corn field and there is a woman lying down, her feet are all muddy and there is a bloody cloth on the floor. A man then slams a knife into the ground, runs to her car and gets out a plastic bag and walks back to the person on the floor. After a fews second of silence a baby starts to cry. The camera tracks out into a wide shot to reveal the actual scene, the police/ambulance then arrive.

At the beginning, the film includes all of the characteristics of a horror, for example, there is a dull tinge to the picture, the music is very mysterious, the crow noise is a typical convention of a horror movie and the point of view shot in the car.

When the baby is revealed the conventions of a horror movie suddenly change to the conventions of a feel good movie, for example, the tone of the picture becomes very bright and full of sunlight beaming down on the corn. The music changes to a slow instrumental soft tone.

I enjoyed watching the short film 'Lovefield' because i like the use of binary opposites. I like the suspense and the use of all of the conventions of a horror film. The message given at the beginning of the short film is death, but when the story changes the message portrayed is birth.

Maybe One Day is made by Chris Cottam. The story is of a man waking up in the morning, gets ready for work and starts walking to work. While all of this is going on, there is a voice over stating all facts about his morning. For example, he mentions that it takes 12 steps to get from his bed to his bathroom. While walking to work he starts to question what he is doing with his life and what is meeting him at the top 'or is it just a good view'. He then turns around and starts to run in the opposite direction. He talks about leaving and saying goodbye to the city and hello to the country. He talks about going on his own quest. He then goes to sleep with a smile on his face.

In the beginning of the short film once again there is a blue, dull tint to the picture. The voice of the voice over is very dull and monotone and there is no continuous music playing, just tiny, little fills.

When he has a sudden change of heart and is running through the field, the lighting is very high-key lighting and upbeat. The voice has a lot more meaning in it and more interesting. The music becomes more powerful and moving it symbols him going on a journey.

I enjoyed watching this short story because i like the message portrayed in it. The fact his life is extremely boring and repetitive and nothing changed, he wants to make a change but never has the bravery to. However, half way through the film he turns around and starts running in the opposite direction. To me, this means he is making a change and setting himself free.

Research For Our Short Film

What is an 'auteur'?
- a filmmaker who has a personal style and keeps creative control over his or her works.

For example, Tim Burton has a very strange and gothic style.

Top 12 Tim Burton films

What is 'Cinema Verite'?
- a movie that shows ordinary people in actual activities without being controlled by a director. It is a style of documentary film making.

What is 'avant-gare film'?
- Experimental film. A range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking.

What is 'film noir'?
- a cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. Associated with low-key black and white visual style.

What is 'French new wave' about?
- Filmmaking style that uses long scenes that get aggressively cut at random places, usually a chunk in the middle, like montage editing.

The Brief

Short Film

The OCR brief asks you to produce a short film and two from these three:

• Poster.
• Radio Trailer.
  
• Film magazine review page.