Exhibiting our short film

We would exhibit our short film on YouTube as it is the most widely accessed video-sharing site. It would allow our short film to be seen by a variety of audiences and get the relative criticism. YouTube could open many doors for our short film as many users have gained worldwide recognition for their posted videos.




Our short film could also be exhibited on Vimeo as like YouTube it is a video-sharing site. However Vimeo only  allows user-created videos like short films to be uploaded so the community is more appreciative and understanding to the work and effort that has gone into a creation.



ScreenTest is a UK student film festival by the National Student Film Association and is another place where we could exhibit our film. Submission is free and entrants must attend: college, university or film school and have attended whilst the film was being made. The films must be no more than 20 minutes long and the deadline for submissions is 28th January 2011.

Other Influences

Our other influences for the short film include the range of T-Shirts by David & Goliath. The shirts feature childish-looking drawings with slogans such as 'Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them'. We felt something like this would fit in well for our opening titles as it would sum up the simple 'average girl' story in our short film.

Target Audience

Our target audience is teenage girls as they are able to relate to the protagonist and her story. Ex-boyfriends and going out with friends are all part of what the average teenage girl goes through. Even up to the part where the protagonist is stalked, most girls have had an experience or know someone who has had an obsessive ex. 

Influences

Before we formed filming groups I was particularly influenced by the short films ‘About a Girl’ and ‘Prey’.  The narrative structures of both pieces were done in a way in which the audience is able to connect to the protagonists, follow their story and then be shocked at the end when the climax was revealed. For example in ‘About a girl’ she walks through the park and tells the audience about her life, allowing us to get an insight into her life. However it isn’t until right at the end when she throws the dead baby in the river that we really see what kind of a character she is and things that she previously says start to make sense.

Conforming to short film codes and conventions

     There are many different codes and conventions of short film and our piece conforms to several of them in some way.

Controversial-Our film could be deemed controversial as there is violence and a murder

Low budget-We didn’t spend any money on our short film except to buy bin bags. All other props were personal belongings so we didn’t have a budget at all.

Small set of characters-Aside from the main character we used three other characters. Two were used in the cutaway and the ex-boyfriend was used as a mystery character where his face is never revealed.

Reality-Our shot film is shot in a documentary style and is about a common reality of bad breakups. The controversial part where she is murdered is also a reality as there have been many reported cases where this has happened.

Where We Are & What's Left To Do

1)      So far with our short film we have completed the sequence, opening titles and colour correction. We are in the process of going through the different effects and deciding what works best for our cutaways as we want something that distinguishes between the main scene and the cutaways.

Originally for ‘I Hate Boys’ we had planned that the main protagonist would be walking through the park and talking to the camera. However on the day of filming we only had a short amount of time until it got dark so had to be prepared and use our time wisely. We couldn’t get the microphone to work and as it was a long distance tracking shot and there were only two of us-one controlling the camera and one controlling the boom microphone there wouldn’t have been anyone to look after the rest of our equipment. As our time was limited we decided to film the tracking shot without the monologue and use a voiceover for the film instead. In our planning we had also chosen to use a layered shot so at the end the protagonist would walk over to her dead body and explained via the monologue that her boyfriend killed her. Although we filmed the layered shots, when it came to editing it worked better without the layered shot and was just as effective.

As most of the short film is completed the final things to do are: choosing an urban genre music bed for the end shot where the ex-boyfriend runs away; either grainy, de-saturated or vignette effects for the cutaways and editing the opening titles so we can use them for the end credits.

Editing Process

As we needed to film again and the cameras weren’t available until the second week of editing we had to use the small amount of footage we had and edit it. The footage was used for a cutaway and once that had been edited how we wanted we focused on the title sequence. Our short film is called ‘I hate boys’ which has a girly feel to it. Because of this we wanted to do a school theme title sequence and I had an idea to do a stick boy and stick girl. The titles actually took quite long because we had to get the right dimensions for both of the stick people on Photoshop and then as we wanted it to be animated, we had to individually save each letter of the title as a JPEG then put it all together in Final Cut Pro as an animation.

Once we had completed our second filming I felt relieved because we could finally get stuck into it. The short film is one long scene of the protagonist walking through the park so to make it visually interesting; we edited several short shots at different angles to make the shot seem continuous. Trying to get the continuity perfect was quite difficult because when we were filming we didn’t consider little things like the tripod or an old man in the background. This meant some of our really nice shots couldn’t be used because the continuity wouldn’t match.

Lucy wasn’t in so I completed the sequence, trying to focus on the continuity and making sure the visual matched the length of the voiceover. I was happy with the end product although it had changed from our original idea of a layered shot with the protagonist appearing twice in the shot. Even though we had the footage of the layered shot, I felt that it didn’t work once we were in the editing process.

When Lucy was back she was happy with how the short film was completed and so during the lesson we just tightened up the shots making it perfect. Some of the earlier shots were too white due to a problem with the iris so we spent the majority of the lesson using the colour corrector to try and make it look more professional.

PowerPoint

Filming Process

As I was going on holiday for the majority of the two-week half term and was returning on Thursday 27th we planned to film everything on friday 28th and Saturday 29th. 

Friday we had planned to film a cutaway where the actors are at the bus stop. We wanted it to be filmed in the early evening to show that they were going out to a club/party. However as a group our actors could only film in the morning so we improvised and changed the scene to them in a bedroom getting dressed to go out. This actually worked much better and filming went smoothly.

Saturday we were supposed to film the main scene of our protagonist walking through the park. However an hour before filming was due to take place she told me that she wouldn't be able to make it so we arranged to film on Sunday 4.00

By the time we were all set to film on Sunday it had got too dark and we didn't want to simply film for the sake of it and lower the quality of the film. We had to rebook the camera out but could only get a baby HD. This was actually more suitable for our film as the majority of the filming was handheld and the baby HD was easier to hold steady. 

When we started filming we couldn't get the microphone to work and we were panicking because it was starting to get dark so we just decided to film without and use a voiceover instead which we hope will work well in the editing process.

Filming went very well, as it was the basic shot of our protagonist walking through the park we shot it from several different angles. The layered shot that we were worried about was filmed easily enough and we did a few shots of these then went back to my house to film the rest of the cutaways.

Location Research

Storyboard-Lucy

Production Schedule

29^th October 2010 AM

Filming:

·         Richmond Park

·         Richmond Bridge

Props:

·         Necklace

·         Rose

Actors:

·         Main protagonist-Harley

·         Ex-boyfriend-Rochelle

Filming equipment:

·         Boom mic

·         Camera

·         Tri pod

29^th October 2010 PM

Filming:

·         Bus stop, Kingston

Props:

·         Phone

·         Necklace

Actors:

·         Main protagonist-Harley

·         Friends-Carla & Chloe

Filming equipment:

·         Camera

·         Tri pod

Contingency plan

If there are any issues with actors not being available, problems with equipment/props etc we will be able to film on Saturday 30^th October and Sunday 31^st October.

If there is bad weather we will also need extra props of umbrellas for the cast/crew and we will also be needing a helper to hold an umbrella over the camera.

Props-Rochelle Parker

Necklace-The necklace will be given to the main protagonist during a cutaway by her boyfriend to show how nice he was at the start of their relationship.

Phone-During a cutaway the voiceover says ‘starting full blown arguments’ and we see the main protagonist arguing on the phone.

Rose- Whilst the couple are walking down the bridge, the main protagonist will be holding a rose in her hand to emphasise the voiceover ‘he started to take me out to all these posh restaurants and surprise me...’

Umbrella-If it is raining during filming umbrellas will be used by all characters.

Actors-Rochelle Parker

Main Protagonist/Harley

The main protagonist will be played by Harley Dunsmore. We wanted a teenage girl with acting experience as the way the speech is conveyed will reflect on how well the short film is shown. Harley will have to deal with a long monologue but because she is in musical theatre strand at The BRIT School this should be simple for her. She also lives quite close to me and Lucy which is more convenient for us during the filming process.

Ex Boyfriend/Murderer

This is actually me in the picture 

The boyfriend will be played by me Rochelle Parker because me and Lucy know exactly how we want the boyfriend to be acted and feel only one of us can do it. This role will only ever be shown from behind which will add to the mystery of the narrative. I will dress up in baggy jeans, a hoodie and walk with a bit of swagger to depict the boyfriend.

Friends

The two friends who will be used in the bus-stop cutaway will be used by Carla and Chloe. They are both in musical theatre and have good acting abilities as well as being professional. We chose them as they have a natural friendship with Harley which really needs to be shown in the cutaway when they are laughing and joking.

Shot List - Lucy Gibbs

1. Medium Close up (tracking)
2. Extreme long shot
3. Long shot
4. Medium shot
5. Long shot
6. Extreme long shot panning into...
7. Medium Close Up
8. Long shot (360 degree rotation)
9. Long shot
10. Long shot (depth of field)
11. Medium close up panning out to...
12. ...Long shot
13. Medium close up (tracking)

Monologue - Rochelle Parker & Lucy Gibbs

The monologue should be read in an upbeat and enthusiastic tone to give off a good vibe to the audience. The last two lines “That’s when he flipped. Look what the psycho did to me” should be read quietly with little emotion.

“I hate boys. My last three boyfriends have been absolute jokes! First there was James, he was with me...and about three other girls too! Then Connor, he was beautiful but he kissed like a bloody hoover. He had to go. Finally, there was my most recent boyfriend Nathan. Don’t even get me started on him. I mean, everything started out great. At the beginning he was really lovely and I really liked him. He used to take me out to all these posh restaurants and surprise me all the time. He even bought me this beautiful necklace. He was THE most perfect boyfriend. But then, he started to get a bit...controlling. It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was...but eventually he got more possessive, starting full blow arguments just because I went out with my friends! I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had to end it. I wanted to remain friends with him but he made it impossible. He was practically stalking me...turning up everywhere I went, begging me to get back with him. I mean babe...get over it! Anyways last night I was on my way back from Stacey’s house and he turned up accusing me of cheating on him when we were together. I told him he was mad and that my biggest regret was ever going out with him. That’s when flipped...Look what the psycho did to me.

Script - Rochelle Parker

The protagonist is walking through the entrance of Richmond Park and is talking directly to the camera.

Harley: “I’ve had enough of boys. My last three have been absolute jokes! First there was James, he was with me...and about three other girls too! Then Connor, he was beautiful but he kissed like a bloody hoover. He had to go. Finally, there was my most recent boyfriend Nathan. Don’t even get me started on him. I mean, everything started out great. At the beginning he was  lovely and I really liked him.

Cutaway

  

Harley (Voiceover): He used to take me out to all these posh restaurants and surprise me all the time. He even bought me this beautiful necklace. He was THE most perfect boyfriend.

Cutaway shows the couple walking along Richmond Bridge holding hands and the boyfriend giving his girlfriend a necklace.

End of Cutaway

Harley: But then, he started to get a bit...controlling. It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was... 

Cutaway

Harley (Voiceover): It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was...but eventually he got more possessive, starting full blow arguments just because I went out with my friends! I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had to end it.

Cutaway shows protagonist and her friends dressed up ready to go out, laughing around at a bus stop. Protagonist then walks away and is having an argument with boyfriend on her phone. Argument is made obvious by body language and facial expressions.

End of Cutaway

Harley: I wanted to remain friends with him but he made it impossible. He was practically stalking me...turning up everywhere I went, begging me to get back with him. I mean babe...get over it!

Cutaway

Harley (Voiceover): Anyways last night I was on my way back from Stacey’s house and he turned up accusing me of cheating on him when we were together.

Cutaway shows protagonist walking through park on the phone unaware that her ex-boyfriend is watching her

End of Cutaway

 Harley: I told him he was mad and that my biggest regret was ever going out with him. That’s when flipped...Look what the psycho did to me.

Synopsis - Rochelle Parker

The shot opens up to a teenage girl walking down a spacious street and eventually entering a big park. Whilst walking she directs the camera and talks about her three previous boyfriends. She talks the most about her most recent boyfriend and goes on to describe the stages of their relationship. As she describes, a series of cutaways are shown to illustrate what she is saying. The further she walks, the more secluded her surrounding area becomes. Eventually she stops walking and says her final line ‘Look what the psycho did to me…’ A body lying on the floor then comes into view and we see that she is looking over her own dead body.

London Short Film Festval

The London Short Film Festival was founded in 2003 by Philip Ilson and Kate Taylor. The festival originally started out as the Halloween Short Film Festival but later in 2008 changed to The London Short Film Festival.

The 2010 LSFF was the 7^th edition and took place in January in ten different London venues over a period of ten days. It is a popular event with over 6000 tickets being sold each year. LSFF accept submissions from different styles and genres of short film and some of the awards given out are:

• UK FILM COUNCIL AWARD for Best Film of the Festival
• VAUXHALL AUTEUR THEORY AWARD
• Darryl’s Lo-Budget Film Award
• Sci-Fi London Award for Best Horror Film

Funded by the UK Film Council, LSFF works with some of Britain’s imminent filmmakers to showcase over 200 films at their events. They also run a programme called Transformative Training offering expert advice through one on one sessions for both experienced and new filmmakers.

Submissions for the LSFF in January 2011 are now open

‘Cannes may have Borat in a thong, Sundance may have condiments with Robert
Redford’s face on them, but only the freakiest film festival in town can offer poledancers and a film competition judged by Larry Clark. How d’you like them apples,London?’ - Empire     

Short Film Festivals

Short film festivals are normally held annually worldwide. From independent filmmakers to established studios, they all gather together to celebrate short film and award the shorts that have managed to amaze the judges and the audiences. They are a way for aspiring filmmakers to gain recognition in the film industry and show off their work.

Many short film festivals started off small scale, created by independent filmmakers wanting somewhere to showcase their work. For example Shane Meadows created ‘the short film festival ‘Six of the best’ because there was nowhere for him and others to exhibit their short films. Over the years film festivals have grown into the acclaimed events that they are today.

Depending on the festival, the requirements for entry can be different. The amount of films shown and the number of awards can vary but in general the common awards at all of the festivals are:

• Best short film
• Audience favourite
• Best Director
• Best script

Short Film Websites

CoffeeShorts

A top quality website supporting filmmakers by allowing them to upload their music videos, documentaries, experimental, animation and independent film trailers.  Only the best make it on to their site and many of the filmmakers have won prestigious film awards. CoffeShorts also has a directory of some of the top short film and independent film directors for people to view and do their own research on.




BBC Film Network

The BBC’s video site has over 400 short films uploaded by British filmmakers. Categorised by animation, artist’s moving image, music, drama, comedy and documentary it is simple for users to navigate their way around, and rate and comment their opinions on the films they watch. Any British filmmaker can submit their film onto the BBC Film Network with the following details:

• your contact details
• your film's details - including length, funding details, production company, a synopsis (of less than 100 words) and log line or short description (20 words)festival screenings and award details
• crew and cast names
• a short fact about the making of you film

The film may not be published but it will definitely be viewed by the panel at the BBC Film Network.

How the internet has changed Short film

The internet has been the saviour to short film, enabling it to regain its once highly regarded place in the film industry. The internet has acted as a portal allowing anybody’s experiments and ideas to be viewed, rated and shared by the masses.

The different styles and genres of short film are broad so sites such as Youtube, Vimeo, Veoh etc. offer the public a chance to share their short films and see them appreciated by others with interests in that particular field.

Thanks to the internet, short films can rapidly be spread from person to person. Social networking sites such as Facebook & Twitter mean that if just one person were to share a video with their friends list, it could potentially be viewed by more than a thousand people.

However it isn’t just amateurs who use the internet to show their short films. Top film directors also do this including director Spike Jonze. His short film ‘I’m here’ was made available via the internet. This is fast becoming the case for many directors. At the click of a button a director can get worldwide recognition without even needing a budget.

Now that more and more people are using the internet (2010 world statistics- 6,845,609,960 people worldwide) and the internet can be reached virtually anywhere - phones, home, work, school etc. the future for short film seems as though it can only get bigger and continue to grow.

Case Study:SilverFilms

Janey De Nordwall is the producer of the award winning short film ‘ About a girl’. She owns ‘Silverfilms’ along with director richard oliver who joined her ten years after she started the company in 1996.

Silverfilms combine filmmaking and advertising which is evident in much of their work, particularly their automotive work. They make commercials for big name brands such as Lexus. Unlike other car commercials, Silverfilms give the cars character and through use of lighting, camera angles and editing techniques effectively set the desired mood to target their audience.  This shows that they are versatile to their working subject and can still create an effective narrative.

Silverfilms worked with a major charity to raise awareness of their cause and created ‘Gardens with Red Roses. Through their work, Silverfilms try to convey messages. Whether it be ‘buy me (car commercials)’, ‘help me’ (Gardens with red roses)’, or ‘look at our society’ (About a girl).

De Nordwall and Oliver are open to new talent and give freelancers the opportunity to work with them by just sending an email.

Maya Deren

Maya Deren was a film theorist and a prominent American avant-garde filmmaker. She created the short film ‘ Meses of the afternoon’ a short, primarily experimental film featuring a lot of imagery, distinct camera movement and slow motion editing.

-The film uses a lot of symbolic imagery for the audience to come to their own conclusion with (the key, the knife etc.)

-The narrative is very repetitive

-The film can be interpreted in different ways

-Deren uses sound effects to emphasise action (the key falling down the stairs)

-The handheld camera and disorientated camera angles give a dreamy effect

-There is no dialogue or diegetic sound. The film relies on action, camera movement and non-diegetic sound to explain the narrative

-The sacrificial music, along with the close ups make it seem almost scary and unnerving to watch

Deren has publicly attacked Hollywood placing herself as the complete opposite of the industry’s standards and practices. Deren states “I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick" and that Hollywood “has been a major obstacle to the definition and development of motion pictures as a creative fine-art form.” 

Avant Garde...?

Avant Garde is an experimental filming style, translating into French as ‘ahead of the crowd’. Directors of avant garde films challenge the codes and conventions of the typical ‘Hollywood’ feature films by experimenting with narratives, editing techniques, camera movement etc. Avant garde is about producing something out of the ordinary that hasn’t been seen before and leaves an audience thinking.

Avant Garde films are often made on low budgets by directors wishing to express a point or opinion. Audiences are often left confused by avant garde films due to the eccentric styles that the director has chosen to convey their message.

Alain Resnais-A French avant garde film director. His work explored the themes of memories and previous violence that one suffered using t

Jonas Mekas- Dubbed "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." Much of Mekas’ work was about events that had actually happened in his life and the life of those around him. Mekas helped to create a company that exhibited and distributed all independent films that were submitted to them which was rare at the time.

Spike Jonze - Multi talented media man

-Spike Jonze is an American film director and producer.

-As well as films he has also created feature lengths, commercials, music videos, television work and magazine work.

-He is best known for his feature length films such as ‘Being John Malkovich’ & ‘Adaptation

-He is the co creator and producer of the series and movie Jackass.

-However Jonze has directed a small number of short films including ‘Amarillo by Morning’, ‘We were once a fairytale’ featuring Kanye West and his most recent ‘I’m Here’ about two robots finding love.

How they get there - Spike Jonze (Short film)

Brief History of Short Film

Fred's Dead; Preliminary task

Freds Dead from BDC on Vimeo.

For the preliminary task I was partnered with Roisin and Callum. At the beginning of Thursday's lesson we had a short discussion about what would be the best way to make a short film withj the requirements Miss Pemberton had given us which were:

-Film a character opening a door

-They cross the room & sit down opposite another character

-They exchange dialogue

- Match on action

-Shot reverse shot

-180 degree rule

When first shooting we wanted to make sure we had good natural lighting and a place where there wouldn’t be too many students around because this would ruin our continuity. We were happy with our filming, however due to a technical problem with the camera we weren’t able to use the footage.

The next day we filmed again which was easier as we more or less knew what we would be doing. Instead of focusing on a big story we kept the storyline and action simple so that our main concern would be getting the continuity perfect. Even though the location wasn’t as good as our previous choice, it still worked out okay as it was quite an isolated area so we weren’t really disturbed and where there were lighting problems we were able to fix it with the white balance and exposure.

I think we were successful in producing very good continuity. This is because when filming we made sure to keep the action exactly the same and film the same shot about 4 times at different angles. Having a lot of footage meant that we were able to play around a lot more on Final Cut Pro and where there were mistakes in one shot, we could easily use another. A problem I found was when we did the long shots it was hard to hear the narrative and when we tried to raise the audio levels during editing it also brought up the sound of background noise so a boom mic was definitely needed.

Another problem was that we didn’t have the one ‘money shot of me with my head in Roisin’s lap. This was filmed over the shoulder and if it was a wide shot with both of us in, it would have been visually attractive and completed the footage nicely. 

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is a French Academy award winning screenwriter, film, commercial and music video director.

Gondry started out directing music videos for his school band -Oui Oui. After the band went their separate ways Gondry was approached by Bjork and asked to direct her music video for Human Behaviour. Bjork was impressed with his work and went back to Gondry for him to direct five more of her videos. This gave Gondry worldwide exposure and eventually the likes of The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz etc. wanted him to direct their videos.

Gondry also directed commercials for big brand names such as Nike, Polaroid, Adidas etc.

Gondry also created new film techniques such as morphing and came up with the idea of using several cameras to take pictures at the time of somebody. Many people think that this technique was first used in 'The Matrix' however it was in fact used by Gondry in a commercial for insurance. 

Gondry’s abstract films are supported with his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene. In much of his work Gondry has the theme of dreams with camera movements used to emphasise this. Audience expectations are challenged throughout his work because just when we think we know what is going on something completely unexpected happens. He also uses music to add to the audience’s feelings and to build tension.