IDEA!!

So in today's lesson we were told that we had to write out a script for our idea, even if we didn't have one. This definitely put a lot of pressure on to come up with a solid idea that I could turn into a short film. So I at around for a bit thinking of things that happen in my life that I could base my film on. I came to the decision that it would be based around a teenager waking up after a hang over wanting a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee but he has found there is nothing in the house, after rooting around for change, he arrives at the shop 1 penny short of what he needs.

Audience Research

Untitled from Jessica Baker on Vimeo.

Ideas?

So far I haven't really had many ideas. My first idea that I wanted to run with was to create a film based around a middle aged man who is convinced that he is Elvis reborn. The film would show him performing and going about his day to day life as Elvis, he would then be haggled by a stranger who would shout drunkenly, 'You are not Elvis'. This would have caused the main character to begin questioning his life and struggling to come to terms with his reality that he is not Elvis. He would then stumble through his door where his mum and dad, dressed as Marilyn Monroe and Darth Vader would comfort him and he would go back to his usual life as Elvis.

I felt this idea would work as a short film, but it had too many complications for me to actual be able to construct it. One of these was actors, for my AS piece I was lucky to find actors who fit the role I needed to, but it is very difficult finding middle aged people to be willing to act in a teenager's media coursework, so I've had to replan and think of something I could find an actor for. Another issue with this piece is its similarity to The Crusader and therefore I feel it wasn't original enough to go with.

Narration

A narrator is a person who tells the story to the audience, in certain pieces the narrator is also a character in the story known as the viewpoint character such as in films like Wayne's World. The process of telling the story is known as narration. A film's choice of narrator is crucial for the way a work fiction is perceived by the audience. Most narrators present their story from one of the following perspectives first-person, or third-person limited or omniscient. A film may choose to let several narrators tell the story from different points of view. Then it is up to the audience to decide which narrator seems most reliable for each part of the story

Tasks

In class, we have been given several tasks to do in the last couple of lessons. Firstly we were given an object to use as inspiration and told to go off over a 2 hour time limit and film a short that lasts for 3 to 4 minutes. The catch with this was that we had to film in order as we were not allowed to edit the piece at all. In a group of three, my team were given an old broken guitar. We then discussed and came up with the idea to do a parody of a music video. We chose the song Tribute by Tenacious D and filmed in one continuous shot. The idea was that of having two friends sitting with their guitar, the guitarist leaves and asks her friend to keep an eye on her guitar whilst she goes to the toilet. The friend then picks up the guitar and starts playing this song, we acheived this effect by playing the song on an ipod next to the camera. The camera then follows round this girl getting into the song and eventualloy at the climax at the end, she destroys the guitar in the heat of the moment and then the friend reappears shocked at what has happened to her guitar.



This video containss the whole group's stimulus task videos.


Our next task was to yet again create a short film in the space of 2 hours that lasted 3 to 4 minutes without any editing. Our group was told to do something in a documentary style. So, given the time and space we had, we decided to do our piece about school life. We created a rough tone to the piece by putting in varied shots of people misbehaving, we then interviewed students and teachers alike, telling them to act annoyed about being in school and the teachers only being here for the money.

Our final task was to create a short after being given a list of Smith's song titles. Our group chose the title of 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'. We expanded on this song title by suggesting that there was a boy with a secret. He had lured two young women into a dark and dirty room and left them there to do who knows what with and people were beginning to grow suspicious of him.

Narrative

A narrative is a story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. Narrative means having a plot including; beginning, middle and end. Film plots usually go in this order, however some films begin with the end of the film, this happens in films such as Memento, where the film opens at the end and then skips back and forth to certain points throughout the film. Narrative can also be changed and there can be flashbacks within a film (going back to the beginning or middle).