Confined-Vimeo Settings HD from BDC on Vimeo.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Completed Short Film
When I think of short films, I think of films which contain a very short narrative, but manage to engage an audience. When we started planning our short film we wanted to create a strong narrative, which would capture the attention of its viewer. I believe that we were able to create a very strong narrative, using shots and a limited script. I feel although confined is centered on the difficulties a teenage boy goes through after he's attacked, it could appeal to all ages. As I believe fear affects everyone. I was very pleased with the way the film looks visually. I feel that the shots which were used in the film convey the tone and mood of the film perfectly. This is because there are a number of very personal close ups of the main characters which allows the audience to build a relationship with the characters. When looking over the finished film I feel that the lack of speech really adds to the drama of the piece. I feel the hardest part of creating confined was trying to find the best way to show what the Sean was thinking and what he was seeing. We settled for an effect which would flicker between two different shots, we used this to try and show the difference between reality and thoughts.
When looking back on the final piece, I feel that there could be a number of improvements which could be made. One of the main areas that I feel needs work on, is the way the story is told through out the film. I feel that the audience has to work to hard to pick up the main plot of the film. I think that the main way to improve this would be attention to detail in areas that send out mixed messages. The main scene I’m talking about is before and after one of the fear, when it starts off looking in to an adult man and finishes look at a child. I feel that the other area of the film that needs work is the flash back in which one of the attackers feels guilt, for his role in the attack. I believe that this scene doesn’t convey the intended message, after watching the final piece over and over again. This scene is the one that confuses me and other people.
Over the course of the project I feel I have made a good contribution to the group. I feel that I had most impact in the idea generation and planning stage of the film. I feel that during the ideas process I came up with a number of ideas for the short film. The final idea began from my idea, and with that Idea we all had our own opinions of what could be improved. I also created a small video about people’s fears with Taylor, which I felt was very successful and told us a lot about the narrative of our short film. During the filming of the film I did operate the camera along with Taylor and Ryan. I also feel that the main reason the filming went so smoothly was because I feel we all were joint directors. Whilst editing I feel I did help the group by sharing my views on the edit. I think I did make a big contribution during the editing process, but I don’t feel I pushed myself.
Influences
Confined has been influenced from a number of different areas and media. At the begining of the project when we were working individually on different ideas for short films, I came up with a number of ideas from a number of areas. My main influences during this time came from television and the news. I also feel that I gained a lot of influence from shorts that were being shown on the BBC film network.
"Fight" is a film I really enjoyed I felt that the way the narrative was formed and told really help the film created huge suspense in specific areas. I really thought that they had an ideal storyline for the film, and this was where I began to think about what our short film could be about. I feel that in this film the storyline of peer presure and school fights was really influence in the film and really meet the demands of their target audience. When I started to think about ideas for short films, I began by thinking about issues that have a huge effect on people. The one that really overpowered me was fears, and how everyone fears something. My original idea was to show how people’s fears follow them in everyday life. My idea for the film was that everyone who was shown in the film would have a shadow which represented there fear, except those who had faced their fears and were shadow less. The narrative behind the film was to follow one main person as they try to confront their own fear. But when I told my idea to the group we began to see that this weren’t foreseeable. One of the major problems was how to show the shadows. We then discussed as a group how we could improve the idea, and maybe put it in to more realistic context. We finally agreed on confined which would tell the story of a boy who tries to get over an attack that take place on his way home from college. With Sean confined to his room will he be the same as he was before.
We felt that they were a number of ways we could use the storyline to create interesting shots which would hopefully engage the audience. I feel that looking back we did take a lot of inspiration in the mugging scene, from ASBO. I feel the visual style of the scene was very similar but like ASBO I feel it worked well and was maybe the best scene of the film.
"Fight" is a film I really enjoyed I felt that the way the narrative was formed and told really help the film created huge suspense in specific areas. I really thought that they had an ideal storyline for the film, and this was where I began to think about what our short film could be about. I feel that in this film the storyline of peer presure and school fights was really influence in the film and really meet the demands of their target audience. When I started to think about ideas for short films, I began by thinking about issues that have a huge effect on people. The one that really overpowered me was fears, and how everyone fears something. My original idea was to show how people’s fears follow them in everyday life. My idea for the film was that everyone who was shown in the film would have a shadow which represented there fear, except those who had faced their fears and were shadow less. The narrative behind the film was to follow one main person as they try to confront their own fear. But when I told my idea to the group we began to see that this weren’t foreseeable. One of the major problems was how to show the shadows. We then discussed as a group how we could improve the idea, and maybe put it in to more realistic context. We finally agreed on confined which would tell the story of a boy who tries to get over an attack that take place on his way home from college. With Sean confined to his room will he be the same as he was before.
We felt that they were a number of ways we could use the storyline to create interesting shots which would hopefully engage the audience. I feel that looking back we did take a lot of inspiration in the mugging scene, from ASBO. I feel the visual style of the scene was very similar but like ASBO I feel it worked well and was maybe the best scene of the film.
Audience
Although short films aren’t as dependent on audiences opinions and viewing figures like mainstream features. The audience still has a huge impact on short films, many shorts gain most of their viewers through word of mouth, and if someone didn’t enjoy the film, it would be unlikely they would recommend it to a friend. When we began planning confined we did think about what type of story would most appeal to audiences. But my opinion was that a short film is when people can be creative and suffer no consequences if it goes wrong. This did have a major impact on the way I began to create ideas about different types of short films.
I feel there are a number of ways in which confined interacts with its target audience; I would say that the main interacting is the relevance of the narrative to young adults and students. I believe this because thefts and attacks are very common amongst this age group, and many people feel threatened and worried about it happening to them. The film engages the audience because it shows away of how people deal with the aftermaths of attacks. The other way confined appeals to it target audience is the issues it deals with about fears, our film shows different situations where fears can affect people. I feel the main moral of the film is that everyone fears something in life, but you have to make sure that the fear doesn’t take over your life. Like our main character Sean.
To gain more feedback about how the film went and to get other people’s opinions we decided to create a questionnaire which would be handed out during a viewing of the of confined to a group of year 12 students. I feel this was a very beneficial exercise as it allowed us to see what other people thought about our piece. We decided that it would be important to ask questions about what appeal to the viewers and what could be improved. One of the main positives that came from the evaluation was that most of the people who took part in the questionnaire said they enjoyed the film and understood the narrative. One of the possible improvements which was suggested was that were maybe a bit repetitive in the use of effects throughout the film. Although we did use the effects to show a dream sequence and I felt that the effect gave the film stability and structure. During the editing period I feel that I was a bit blinded by the way the film was coming together, I feel that during that period I never critically looked at the film. I feel this was a big mistake as once I saw the final piece, I could see a number of mistakes and a huge amount of areas which could be improved. When I look at the final film for the first time I felt that other people wouldn’t understand the narrative of the film. But thanks to the questionnaire I was able to see that the majority of the audience understood the narrative and themes behind the film.
Over all I feel that the film was a success in area of audience. I feel that we managed to gain good feedback which has helped us to highlight possible improvements in the planning, edit and production. Although there are a number of improvements which could be made, I’m still very proud of what we managed to achieve. I feel that we took on a hard task of trying to convey a number of emotions in such a short space of time and with a limited amount of dialog. I also feel that our short film conformed to its genre of drama, but we did also take inspiration from avant guard and art house.
I feel there are a number of ways in which confined interacts with its target audience; I would say that the main interacting is the relevance of the narrative to young adults and students. I believe this because thefts and attacks are very common amongst this age group, and many people feel threatened and worried about it happening to them. The film engages the audience because it shows away of how people deal with the aftermaths of attacks. The other way confined appeals to it target audience is the issues it deals with about fears, our film shows different situations where fears can affect people. I feel the main moral of the film is that everyone fears something in life, but you have to make sure that the fear doesn’t take over your life. Like our main character Sean.
To gain more feedback about how the film went and to get other people’s opinions we decided to create a questionnaire which would be handed out during a viewing of the of confined to a group of year 12 students. I feel this was a very beneficial exercise as it allowed us to see what other people thought about our piece. We decided that it would be important to ask questions about what appeal to the viewers and what could be improved. One of the main positives that came from the evaluation was that most of the people who took part in the questionnaire said they enjoyed the film and understood the narrative. One of the possible improvements which was suggested was that were maybe a bit repetitive in the use of effects throughout the film. Although we did use the effects to show a dream sequence and I felt that the effect gave the film stability and structure. During the editing period I feel that I was a bit blinded by the way the film was coming together, I feel that during that period I never critically looked at the film. I feel this was a big mistake as once I saw the final piece, I could see a number of mistakes and a huge amount of areas which could be improved. When I look at the final film for the first time I felt that other people wouldn’t understand the narrative of the film. But thanks to the questionnaire I was able to see that the majority of the audience understood the narrative and themes behind the film.
Over all I feel that the film was a success in area of audience. I feel that we managed to gain good feedback which has helped us to highlight possible improvements in the planning, edit and production. Although there are a number of improvements which could be made, I’m still very proud of what we managed to achieve. I feel that we took on a hard task of trying to convey a number of emotions in such a short space of time and with a limited amount of dialog. I also feel that our short film conformed to its genre of drama, but we did also take inspiration from avant guard and art house.
Distribution
Distribution is arguably the most important aspect in the short film production chain. Short film has developed a lot over the last few years, with its popularity rising thanks to the Internet and video sharing websites like you tube and vimeo. As a group we decided that we would upload confined to you tube and vimeo, so that the film could be out there and be accessed by millions across the world. We feel that the video sharing websites will allow our film to reach a number of different people from a number of different cultures. One of the positives about video sharing websites is they allow comments to be left on the videos, which will help us critically evaluate our final piece.
One area where short film is stronger than it was years ago is the number of short film competitions there are. Also there has been a huge rise in cinemas having short films exhibitions showing work from some of the best directors in the world. Although short film cannot compete with feature lengths in terms of audience, I feel it can compete in terms of creativity.
For our group to optimize the potential of our short film we are going to enter a number of competitions and we will upload our film to the BBC FILM NETWORK. The competitions we plan to enter our Encounters short film festival, as it is one of the major short films in the world. To get our film on the BBC film network we will have to apply through their website, where we will have to sign a copyright contract. We will also have to send a copy of the short film to the BBC by post. We intend to submit our short film to encounters but due to limited funds we are unable to meet the submission fee.
One area where short film is stronger than it was years ago is the number of short film competitions there are. Also there has been a huge rise in cinemas having short films exhibitions showing work from some of the best directors in the world. Although short film cannot compete with feature lengths in terms of audience, I feel it can compete in terms of creativity.
For our group to optimize the potential of our short film we are going to enter a number of competitions and we will upload our film to the BBC FILM NETWORK. The competitions we plan to enter our Encounters short film festival, as it is one of the major short films in the world. To get our film on the BBC film network we will have to apply through their website, where we will have to sign a copyright contract. We will also have to send a copy of the short film to the BBC by post. We intend to submit our short film to encounters but due to limited funds we are unable to meet the submission fee.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Sundance
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S and has been running since it was founded in 1978 by Robert Redford and the then govenor of Utah Scott Matheson.
Sundance has grown over the last 40 years to become arguably the biggest film festival in world. The festival showcases the best in american and international films. The intital goal of the film festival was to showcase strictly american films and to hightlight how big independent films could be if they were showcased in the right light. Sundance is most known for its dramatic and documentry films although they do showcase work from a number of genres. Two of the biggest comeptions at the film festival are the US documentry comeptition and the US Dramtic competition. Because of sundances growth over last 40 years or so, it is now a very classy and well respected amongst the film indusrty. Meaning that all of the work is of extrem quailty and rarely created by amitors.
4 Talent
4 Talent, is a section of channel four which speicalises in giving young teenagers between 14 and 19 years old expreiance within the media indusrty. One of the events 4 talents events is the channel 4 inspiration week. In which young teenagers attend the channel 4 studios and take a master class in there chosen subject, which could be Marketing, Advertising and a number of others. Channel four also run a internship programme which is called Generation Next.
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