‘We Exist’ – FMP Proposal Presentation

https://vimeo.com/groups/278705/videos/117263052

Online Production Folder: Conclusion

Overall, I am not all that happy obviously with how my project has ran so far, as three weeks ago, I effectively didn’t have an idea. They say though that your first idea is always your worst, so hopefully this second one won’t be too bad. I regret that I unfortunately don’t have very much physically in terms of work to present for this coursework, however if I had scrapped my original idea in two weeks time, I would only be giving myself less time to produce something that I am completely happy with for my FMP. A bad start aside, hopefully I am on the right track now. I personally think these next six weeks are crucial, cementing every little detail of my idea, so that I know it inside out, and if I can achieve that before a second of footage is filmed, I think the rest should all fall into place. The thought of producing a clever, quirky, different, and emotional short film, with some nice shots capturing New York, hopefully I will make my Dad, and myself happy.

Online Production Folder: Logistics

As mentioned in my earlier posts, due to effectively having to start my FMP again, I am unfortunately currently only just moving from the conception stage to pre-production. By my estimations then, pre-production will last for the next six weeks, taking me to the beginning of March. During this time I will have completed a script, storyboards, shot list, and finalised all of my locations. As well as this I will have also sorted out all of my props, i.e. the box heads, Al’s passport, the picture of Al and Fae, and the necessary letters. I will also have gathered every member of cast and crew that I require. This will then take me into production, which will be spread over four weeks, to the first week in April. I will then have six weeks to edit the film.

In terms of a budget, I don’t really think I am going to be spending that much on this one actually. My cinematographers that I am using for both New York and Leamington are both friends using their own equipment, as is the musician I am using. I’m writing, starring and editing in it myself. The rest of the cast that I already have are friends of mine too, and I already have in mind the couple more that I need, and I won’t need to be forking out anything for them either. The only elements to my film that I can think of where I will be spending money, is my flight and hotel to New York, a couple taxi fares, and various props. Altogether then, I’d say around £500.

Why am I the right person to be making this project? In terms of what I want to do in life, and what I want to produce with this project, I’d like to think I am pretty well suited for the job. I’m not perfect, and like anyone I have my flaws, but like anyone I also have qualities too. I am polite, I am a people person, a good communicator, I speak well, I’m twenty-five and more mature than the odd person on my course. I’m not afraid to be honest. Writing is my passion, I’m a good director, and I’m not the worst editor you will ever see. I’m reliable, hard working, and I take my work very seriously. That’s not to say I can’t have fun from time to time, because I regularly make people laugh. Overall, I think I have enough of the individual key ingredients to produce an interesting, well made short film. I know my idea, I know what I want to make, and with a little bit of luck, hopefully I can succeed.

Something that I also wish to include is permission, and paperwork, in terms of location and content regarding what is on screen. In one scene, where Al witnesses an image into Fae’s future, he sees her new partner abusing her. Even though I don’t plan on revealing this as a full screen image, instead I intend for the audience to witness the events through the reflection of Al’s eye, however some people may still find this offensive, so I intend to ask my tutors in advance whether or not I will have permission to film this scene. Other forms of permission include locations, some that I have already inquired about, for example filming at airports, in hotels, offices and bars. I intend to have written permission from all necessary parties involved for all of these locations.

Online Production Folder: Impact

I’m twenty-five years old. I’m a student. I haven’t had much experience regarding the industry. I’m obviously unknown to everyone. I know this film is not going to set the world a light, but I am aware I have to start somewhere. I will be honest and say though, that I am not using this film as ‘the’ platform to present myself to the industry as such, as I am far too stressed right now trying to get a degree for one! However, I will say that I am using it as an experience for maybe my next film that I hopefully get the chance to present, without College or University, and one that I feel I am making for myself, with a definite audience in mind. I have the ambition, I have the passion, but unfortunately I am also realistic, and I know when I feel I am able to give one hundred percent of myself to something. So I apologise if my expectations aren’t very high in terms of the goal of this film. For the purpose of this task though, I will tone down the cynic in me.

Once this film is made, the world is going to want to see it! A press meeting will be held and there will be hundreds of journalists present, and the premier will be sold out months before the screening, and on opening night, the film will be trending on twitter, because isn’t that just the dream?! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. No, as I am filming in New York as well as this country, I feel it is only fair that America has to unfortunately watch the film as well; therefore, I will be sending the film to festivals in both countries. As all of the festivals that I could find will be closed for this year’s submission when finishing the film for May, I will therefore be submitting the film to 2016’s offering, in the hopes that they are all still there in a years time. I have decided on four festivals, two in America and two over here, and they are as follows; Brooklyn Film Festival, New York No Limits Film Series, London Short Film Festival and finally Just Free Film Festival, simply because it is free. Having people watch it in two different countries, I feel this may hopefully widen the viewing audience. Hopefully.

In terms of an actual audience though, I think my intentions for my previous idea still apply to this one, as my interests are my own. I think it is impossible for me to produce something that wouldn’t interest me, and something that I wouldn’t want to watch myself. So I’m sorry teenage girls, fans of One Direction and Twilight, ‘We Exist’ is not aimed at you. Something I always initially set out to do over the years when planning my scripts and films, is to produce something my Dad will enjoy. Art house cinema, films by Ken Loach, films that are shown at the Warwick Arts Centre, films that are made with real heart, and films that make you think as well as just watch. That market. That’s my audience. It’s not about a demographic of age; it’s about a demographic of how we think.

After that though, as a secondary audience market as such, I guess it would have to be individuals interested in Science Fiction, considering the genre of the short. Overall though, I myself am excited to make this short, and to film in both this country and New York, so to me, I obviously find that appealing, maybe more appealing when I hear some of my peers projects, not to be rude or anything. And yeah, filming in New York, and two different countries has been done before, it’s all been done before, nothing is original! To me though, I haven’t done that before, and that’s why I am doing it. It is original to me, and I find what I am making to be exciting! Simply put. And I’m sure I’ll find one other person out there who also does, even if it is just my Dad.

Online Production Folder: Stylistics

In terms of a plan of style, and how I want everything to look, although it is still very much early days with my FMP, fortunately I do have a clear idea for how I envision the project as a whole. As the content is more of a moodier theme as opposed to uplifting, it is critical that the shot types, editing and colour of the film replicate this. I plan to produce, a very slow paced, well shot, engaging, interesting, and clever short film, which at its heart is hopefully quite emotional. When I say slow paced, what I mean by this is long takes, with not much sound, as opposed to something that is fast cut, with a lot of noise. I want this piece to be slow, and drawn out, especially at the start, in order to give the feeling of loneliness, isolation, and a sense of not belonging. There will be a combination of well lit and darker shots, shoots at both night and in the day, as well as inside and out. Sound is obviously highly important, and as mentioned I can see the piece being very quiet at times, particularly at the beginning. There won’t be much dialogue, sound effects will occur when necessary, for example when Al is performing more of his fantastical feats, and the same goes for music. It will only be used when I think it is needed, for example to imply drama, when Al is looking at the picture from his past. In terms of the actual look of shots, colour for example will be a highly important component. The past and the future will be emphasised with additional light in the edit, manipulating the contrast, in order to signify a change from reality. As I will also be filming in two different countries, I also intend to present New York as a different overall colour to that of Leamington Spa, as I will be predominantly filming my scenes in England there. The change in colour between the two places is simply to emphasise the difference in location and space. Camerawork will comprise of a mixture of both handheld and a tripod. The majority of shots will be very steady, however on occasion when filming handheld the camera may move position. I am also in the throws of deliberating about a few different, more experimental shots, for example possibly a type of crane shot inside Al’s flat, as well as a shot of Al lying on his bed, completely still, filming for a few hours as night becomes day, and then obviously speeding the footage up in the edit.

  In creating ‘We Exist’ I have been inspired by a number of different things. The primary inspiration, towards my original idea in creating the box heads, was a short film I watched back in 2010 called I’m Here by Spike Jonze, where his main character played by Andrew Garfield, has an old computer tower for a head. The film stayed with me, and the director remained on my radar, as a year later his next short film was made to accompany one of my favourite bands latest album at the time, Canadian rock band Arcade Fire. As a nod to Jonze and the band, the name of my film is a title of one of their songs. As music built the entire story of my previous idea for my FMP, it has once again inspired me with this new story. The song ‘New York’ by Snow Patrol helped inspire events in the plot, and another Irish band, Kodaline, the video for their song ‘All I Want’ inspired the idea of a particular scene, regarding being singled out in the workplace for being different.

This film will be the first time I have shot in a different country, and I think for a student to produce work showing more than one, it automatically gives the piece more of a substance, especially with one of those places being New York City. I am hoping that some of the scenes will be visually stimulating for audiences, and I also think the contrast between New York and Leamington Spa is an interesting one. In terms of actual locations, I plan to film in the hotel I am staying in in New York, as well as various other places that I need to enquire about, for example, the street outside the hotel at night, a street in the day that isn’t too busy, a bar, a taxi, at the airport, and if possible even on the plane itself. I also need to try and find an office, but if I am unable to obtain one in New York, I will film that in England. Locations here are once again another airport, another taxi, at my girlfriend’s house in Warwick, at Newbold Comyn and at Warwickshire College. In terms of a cast, there aren’t that many characters. I myself will place a cardboard box on my head and play the role of Al, my girlfriend Hattie will play Fae, other than those two, I need to get someone to play Fae’s abusive new partner, a work colleague for Al, and then ask really nicely if a member of staff working at the airport I am flying to doesn’t mind being an extra. Other than that I have approached cameramen for both England shoots and New York as well as a musician to compose a score.

Online Production Folder: Content

Over the last few weeks, my FMP has unfortunately hit a few road works. Confusion, and an overall lack of confidence in my idea, have caused me to doubt myself. I believe this has occurred due to my attempt at including as many different and unusual techniques that I can possibly think of. In trying too hard to pile as many different things on top of myself, in the hope to impress, I unfortunately buckled with the pressure.

Before we broke up for Christmas I spoke to professional producer, Saskia Sutton, and although it is maybe too early to tell, hopefully she has really helped me! She said she loved my idea, and she found it incredibly interesting, and although she didn’t outright tell me to take the concept and apply it to a new story, the ideas that she suggested definitely impacted me in this way. What I took from the meeting, was that I should take the ‘box head’ characters, use them, because they are the heart of my idea, but that I should try to present their story in a way that audiences might be able to relate a little more to, and that I shouldn’t complicate things so much, i.e. live stop motion. This eventual thinking was combined with the singular element of my idea that Saskia admitted that she didn’t like, which was the idea I had to stage the film in solely one location, almost as if it was in the theatre. Saskia told me that I was limiting myself to one location as a result of compensating for the live stop motion.

In the last two weeks then, it has very much been a case of going back to the drawing board, resulting in me unfortunately effectively starting again. Taking my box head characters and forming a stronger narrative than the one I had previously created. As I am travelling to New York at the end of March, and the short film that I wanted to produce there appeared to have fallen through, taking a few individual ideas from that, I decided to make the most out of my trip, and base my FMP in both Warwickshire and New York. In short then, my FMP, titled ‘We Exist’ is about box head protagonist, Al, who has recently moved to the Big Apple due to a new job. However Al is miserable, and longs for his life back in England with former lover, and fellow box head, Fae, whom he has had to give up due to his new job. Upon realising that he has made a huge mistake, Al returns to his previous home, to find that Fae has a new partner and has apparently moved on with her life. Heartbroken, Al runs from the house, and is even lower than he was back in New York. Using a built in computer, he is able to view an image of Fae’s future with the man. To Al’s horror, he sees that the man is abusive and that Fae is miserable with him. Al realises that he is responsible for the situation, and determined to make it right, he turns back time, going back to before the start of the film. We then see Al opening the letter for the job offer, which he rips up, as Fae and he remain happy together.

The thinking behind the box heads was to make something visually different and striking. Initially I think they were for artistic effect, however now I have based my story around them, to me they now present an image of someone in an environment where they feel they don’t belong, because they are different, and that they are treated differently for this. This subject interests me, and as it is unfortunately a common issue and one that occurs in a number of different places globally, hopefully due to the way that I present it, with a lead character that has a cardboard box for a head, hopefully others may also find it interesting too.

As this second idea has only really come about in the last few weeks, pre-production is still at an early stage, however yes I can state that scripts, shot lists and storyboards are all being worked on, simultaneously with this coursework.

Cliché Task – Cliché In Film

 “A cliché or cliche (UK /ˈkliːʃeɪ/ or US /klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being trite or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliché

“cliché

Almost every line in the Twilight series.

“Bella, I couldn’t live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don’t know how it’s tortured me… You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever.”

– Edward Cullen

 Airhead: OHMAGAWD THATS SO SWEET AWWW

Person with Brain: That’s fucking cliché man.”

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cliche

“13 Short Film Clichés.”

http://www.raindance.org/1short-film-cliches/

“11 Romantic Comedy Clichés We Love To Hate.”

http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Most-Common-Romantic-Comedy-Cliches-19308464 – photo-19308471

“Is It Dead?’ Keep Your Script Alive by Avoiding These Screenwriting Clichés.”

http://nofilmschool.com/2013/12/keep-your-script-alive-by-avoiding-these-screenwriting-cliches

Visual Examples

Top 10 Comedy Movie Clichés

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04UhdGKJsxU

Supercut: I Can Explain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUecGB5yZ0U&src_vid=GH0YPXb49q0&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_558859

Let Her Go

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/let-her-go_n_5908396.html

Not Another Sundance Movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5AfdJRuRw

They Came Together – Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0GCGXJk40

The End Task – Treatment For FMP + Character Profiles

 My story for FMP

‘Strangers And A Chain.’

A Man. In love with a Woman. But he is unable to tell her he is in love with her because he is too shy to talk to her. So instead, he watches her. He devises a plan to give her a magical Chain, which will place her under a spell, first making her fall asleep, so that when she eventually wakes, his face will be the first that she sees and she will then realise that loves the Man. He plucks up the courage to give her the Chain, and the spell works, and the two are madly in love with one another.

They are happy together and things are good, as the Woman continues to wear the Chain, as the Man informs her never to take it off. Trusting him, the Woman is overcome with happiness as she has found love herself, and the Man is almost in disbelief, as he can’t believe he is finally with the Woman he has loved for so long.

Now that he is actually with the Woman however, slowly the Man begins to profusely apologise for all of his insecurities and faults. He is also secretly worried that the Woman will realise that the Chain is magical and that she is under a spell, and that she may still take it off, and inadvertently break the spell. As a result of the Man voicing his worry about the Chain so much though, the Woman begins to develop suspicions about the object. Eventually, her curiosity gets the better of her and she removes the Chain, breaking the spell. The Woman is angry that the Man has deceived her and she leaves him. The Man is upset that everything has fallen apart.

The Man continues to be upset that he is no longer with his love, but he feels even worse for having lied to the Woman. He is unable to get her out of his head, and he realises that he loves her more now, than before when he was watching her and when she was under the spell.

On her own, the Woman ponders all of the events with the Man and the Chain. She realises that her love for the Man wasn’t as a result of the Chain, and it was in fact genuine. She decides to rush and find the Man and to tell him that she loves him and that she wants to be with him. Simultaneously, the Man realises that he has to see the Woman, to tell her that he is sorry and that he loves her. The pair find each other and share their love for one another. The film ends with the reunited couple once again happy, and completely in love.

 As a genre, at heart, the film is primarily a love story, although it will include traits of fantasy. I intend for the film to be fifteen minutes in length, without any credits. In terms of an audience, I think the film is aimed towards those that can appreciate a more artistic form of cinema. This is due to particular elements that I wish to include in the film, for example, the film will be a silent one. Titles on screen will depict the characters thoughts and feelings to the audience. The film will be black and white. I have decided this as I feel it will accompany the silence of the film naturally, giving it that classic look and feel of films from the past. Another vital point to mention is that the film will be stop motion, but not a typical stop motion animation, as it will in fact be live action, with actors. The content of the story then, interestingly enough, was inspired by a number of different pieces of music, most of which referred to the characters in their songs as either strange or weird. From this, I created the idea to show my two leading characters with cardboard boxes for heads, which I do think will visually stand out especially in black and white. In terms of location, I plan to shoot the film in one large room, similar to that of a theatre.

Strangers And A Chain Character Profiles

The Silent Lecture/Only Human (Non Task) – Foreign Film

Well this weeks task wasn’t too bad then was it?! I contacted Ryan Ives and Adam Hammond and asked if we all wanted to watch a foreign film together, and like a couple of weeks ago filming the ‘Death’ task with Ryan, we pencilled in for Friday. The film we watched was a French drama called A Prophet (2009) by Jacques Audiard. My Dad had watched it when it was released, and he was impressed by it, and it had been on my list for a long time, but I had never got around to viewing it. Twas the perfect opportunity then as none of us had watched it before.
The film tells the story of a young French man who is sent to prison for six years for fighting police, and it shows his rise inside, from the scared new boy, who has his life threatened and is informed that the only way he will not be murdered is if he murders another, to an important, well known, respected and protected individual. All three of us enjoyed the film, with myself and Ryan both saying how impressed we were. It is a very well directed film, with some impressive acting. It is quite stylised in parts which I also admired. What I liked most about it however were it’s characters. The majority of characters with more than four lines, each one had a specific role to play. I like to think of myself as a writer, and seeing the relationships between some of them, forcing the story along, was brilliantly done. Very well written characters, in a plot that has been produced over and over again, I certainly, finally realised why this filmed earned as many fans as it did in 2009. A recommendable watch.

A Prophet (2009) by Jacques Audiard.

Death Task

For this week’s Death task, for the first time on this course, I haven’t produced a piece of work by myself. First, Ryan Ives, a friend from my HND College course from the past two years approached me and asked if we would like to work together. I thought that sounded good and a few days later we got together to suggest ideas. Ryan had already come up with an idea for what he wanted to make, and as we only had four days to make it, we were both thinking we didn’t have time to waste. The idea itself was also a really good one in my opinion. Ryan wanted to make a short film, imagining that Ebola had hit the UK and wiped a great deal of the population out. The film would show a survivor among a number of bodies. He even suggested this great location. An former burnt down night club which would come to look brilliant on screen. We came up with some ideas and contacted a third to join us, Jon Bull, also a friend who I have known for the past two years.
Filming went well, although it got dark unfortunately a little too fast. I personally felt we were able to get some quality shots though. Surprisingly, it was the first time all three of us have worked together, and I felt we worked well. I was acting as the survivor, and the other took it in turns to film and play dead as it were. The three of us all made suggestions for filming, and given the lack of light, we done a good job. I even brought my young cousin Callum along to film, and Jon came up with a brilliant idea for a scene involving me choosing not to loot him, as he was a child.
The edit was completed by Ryan and myself. I put an ensemble edit together, and Ryan added some brilliant footage of News reports to really give the piece some weight, as well as a voiceover of a Biblical scripture, read by his Italian uncle.
Overall, an interesting visualisation on a situation that is current. I feel the piece doesn’t just work for simply showing Ebola, because with death, there is always life and survival.
Enjoy the piece.

https://vimeo.com/109523339