Planning - Storyboard for Nina

Darren S Cook

I had a visiter come in to my school to talk about short films which was handy considering I am currently in the middle of producing one.   Darren has vast experience in editing, directing and much more, and after working his way up from being just a rune on set, he became his own director. As being a part of a production crew, he told us about adjusting lighting, colour correction on cameras, camera angles, film budgets etc... 

He showed us these...

WISDOM from Darren S Cook on Vimeo.



Little Angels from Darren S Cook on Vimeo.

Experience

I was lucky enough to be invited on set for a feature length film. This experience in filmmaking enabled me to see how it's all done, not only did I watch but I helped out with sound and setting the equipment up. 

It also enabled me to consider the time, effort and money put into filmmaking. Equipment such as, black magic cameras, sound boom, jibs, tracks, camera lenses, and many more. This helped me get an idea of what sort of thing that is expected when filming my short film, only with a smaller crew and cast. Obviously with my short film being amateur I won't be using black magic cameras, therefore, I will be just using a Sony NEX 7 that will give be a good enough quality image to improve the professionalism of my short film. The equipment they used on set, for instance, the tracks shown in the pictures, as I would not be able to supply myself with this type of equipment, however, I thought about how I could adapt it and use something else like a household object to allow me to film a smooth steady handheld camera shot. 

Thinking of an idea for a short film

After completing my 1 minute short film, I started to begin thinking about my initial idea for the concept of my final short film. I started to focus on the essentials of short films, for instance, a small cast and no major plot or plot twists that could cause confusion upon the audience. I started to think of a main, simple initial plot, I also thought about the main characters that I could include which could include a greater impact on the audience. I am personally inspired by the short film "ReMoved" by Nathanael Matanick. ReMoved follows the emotional story through the eyes of a young girl taken from her home and placed into foster care. 

This video inspired me to create a short film with a protagonist of a young girl and her past life that revolved around being bullied and/or abused. With the help of editing techniques I then decided to incorporate flashbacks within my short film to create a bigger impact on the storyline. On the other hand, with sticking with the essential codes and conventions of short films, for instance, I have the two main characters, and then one other characters. I then thought about different shots I could include to make and help my short film look better and more professional. For instance, over the shoulder shots, close ups, POV, tracking shots... etc. Similar to ReMoved I have decided to have a voiceover of the main character, the voice will be of a young girl around the age of 7, this young voice will definitely help me create a more sympathetic atmosphere for the audience as hopefully it will be touching. I have decided that I might add in a slight plot twist to my short film where the main girl is seen in a counsellors office at the beginning, then leading on to flashbacks of being bullied and/or abused, however, at the end it shows the main girl in the counsellors office again as if the whole thing was one big flashback, the cousellor asks what her name is, she replies with her name, which establishes that the cousellor was once the bully. Now I have a main plot for my short film I have to think about the type of audience it will attract, the genre...

Main Task Planning and Research

As part of my primary research for my short film I produced a mood board. Once I discovered my short film initial idea, I began to go on the internet a google images related to my film idea, this was also a free, easy and reliable way to research. 
My short film idea is of a teenager who lives a normal life, when suddenly we see a flashback of her life, we see her walking on the same street gradually getting older, but as this is happening we see again more flashbacks. These flashbacks start with her playing with her friends in the park, then to her so called 'friends' are standing behind her talking about her a pointing as her, lastly, we see her mum aggressively coming to pick her up from school and pushes her in the car. This mood board helped me grasp a better understanding and a clearer picture of what I wanted to produce. For example, the consistent images of young children being bullied I feel makes a bigger impact on who ever is watching as it is hard to see someone so young going through something so horrible. Also creates a bigger impact as it shows how bullying or distress in someone's childhood can affect their life later on, a bit like nature nurture. 

Initial short film ideas

Evaluation and Feedback of 1 Minute Short Film

This is my evaluation for my 1 minute short film "A Day in the Life of Feet". Firstly, because the short film was so short I found figuring out the concept and main ideas really easy as there was not much to it. Apart from the match on action at the beginning the rest of the shots were really simple and quick to film, and actually finding the actors to be in the 1 minute short was the hardest bit! The filming was done very quickly and filmed over a couple of days during our lessons, we also filmed on a simple handheld cam recorder supplied by the school. However, on the other hand, I found the editing rather difficult. With having never used FinalCut Pro before in my life it was a challenge trying to work it out. In the end we managed to figure out the basics of FinalCut Pro on the macs and we were able to edit the shots of our 1 minute short film together to finish with a complete short film.

Personally, I feel very proud of what I have accomplished considering I had never used the software FinalCut Pro before nor have I ever filmed and made a short film or video with a purpose before. I also feel that this has proven me and given me enough experience to now go on further to now focus on my main task; a short film roughly 5 minutes long. Spending time filming my 1 minute video has allowed me to expand on my knowledge and creativity, for instance, when we filmed the 1 minute video "A Day in the Life of Feet" we decided that we were going to put the camera on a tripod, hold the tripod the wrong way around to then have the camera at a low angle making it easier for us to film the close ups of peoples feet without making it look messy. Finally, with the techniques of FinalCut Pro, we used the power of the software to turn out footage the right way up, since using and holding the tripod upside-down left us with footage that was also upside-down. 

I will now go on to carry on using these techniques I have learnt along the way whilst producing my 1 minute short film, and I will also expand on my knowledge and learn new things whenever I am filming or editing. I want my final short film to look as professional as can be with all the little resources I have available to me, so therefore, I will make sure that I never fall behind and always know what I am doing to that assure that I am confident with my project unlike the 1 minute video. 

Disappointingly, in the 1 minute video we slightly ran out of time which could be due to the fact I didn't know how to use FinalCut Pro, due the lack of time, the sound was very poor. Throughout most of the video it lacks in sound which prevents it from looking professional. However, we did manage to add diegetic sound such as the school bell which did help with establishing the location and the plot. Overall, I feel that FinalCut Pro was the downfall to the 1 minute video as more knowledge of editing would have enhanced my video greatly. Next round, I will ensure that time on editing is spent wisely as the editing has a greater effect of the overall short film as a whole. In order to do this I need to fiddle around with FinalCut Pro to establish what does what, theoretically this has already been done as this is what my preliminary task was originally for; to get a feel for filmmaking covering all aspects. 

On the other hand, I am proud of what I have accomplished so far and I have learnt from my mistakes so I have a lot to bare in mind for my future project of which I will be creating a short film of around 5 minutes long. 

~Feedback~

Nathalie - "Considering you have never made anything like this before and this was your first shot it is pretty good, I like the close ups of the feet walking. But I would work on the sound and making it look more professional in the future."

Questionnaire/Feedback on Prelim Task

I produced a questionnaire with questions on my prelim task asking a total of 5 people what they liked and disliked. After I gathered a decent amount of feedback I was then able to read and think about how I could improve when it came to filming my short film.

1. What did you like about "A Day in the Life of Feet"

Nathalie - I liked the whole concept of different people walking with different shoes but the way you've put it all together is as though it's one person, I think it's really clever.

Louise - The different camera angles.

Paige - I liked how you track the shoes, it makes me feel really engaged in what is happening.

Ellie - The close ups of the shoes and how you used different people rather than just having one person.

George - I like the use of different kind of shoes, so you've got a range of girls black school shoes to fashionable trainers. Gives a wide variety attracting a wide audience of both genres.

2. What did you dislike, how would you improve it?

Nathalie - I didn't think quality of it all was that good, perhaps you were limited with equipment but I would perhaps invest in a decent camera. 

Louise - Some of the shots were shaky, for instance when the actor was walking down the stairs it looked like you struggled to move the camera along with her. I would maybe get better equipment or if not, change the idea so you don't have to deal with these problems.

Paige - I thought the variety of shoes wasn't equal. At the beginning we see girls school shoes repeatedly, and the suddenly at the end there's trainers. Maybe spread them out so you have trainers, school she's, trainers... etc

Ellie - I think the quality of it is very poor, I would get better equipment so it looks more professional.

George - I would work on the structure, as it is unclear what you're trying to get across. I would have the actor starting off somewhere and then working their way to a football game, that way you have a completely different range of shoes.

General feedback...

"The whole concept of the feet is a really good idea, I would've never have thought of that myself! The quality isn't great but I know you were limited to what the school has to offer"

"I like the use of the sound of the school bell ringing as the students walk into school, however I feel that it needs a song playing whilst the people are walking to make it more rememberable."

"The camera is a bit all over the place and the shot is wonky which prevents it from looking professional"

As I was limited to as what I could ask my target audience due to the product being only a minute long, there wasn't much to work on. However, I have asked the main question, what is good and how I could improve so now I can put these into good use when it comes to filming my short film enabling me to produce a more professional looking film.

1 Minute Short Film

For my preliminary task I had to create a 1 minute short film in preparation for my final short film. The 1 minute short film had to be based on something really simple in order not to cause confusion to the audience. We planned a storyboard for our 1 minute short film which was not essential as it is really short. The storyboard consisted of four boxes and in each we plotted 4 main highlights or significant moments that would occur in our 1 minute short film. On the other hand, to keep the plot as simple as can be, we were given a title to get us started, which was "A Day in the Life of..." we then had to use our creative skills and finish the title with what we want our 1 minute short film to be about. In the end I decided that my short film was going to be called "A Day in the Life of Feet" and which is conveyed very clearly, it is based on feet. We used a handheld cam recorder which was supplied by the school and started filming. The filming took around three days, which we filmed within our lessons so theoretically it could've been filmed within one day. The shots we used were all very simple so we firstly had a match on action at the beginning establishes the students walking into the school property, we then had a low angle close up of their feet, we then did this for several people getting a range of different shoes. Furthermore, we then used the use of editing techniques to enable us to edit the low close up shots of peoples shoes together to make it continuous with a fluid flow to it. As the short film was only a minute long and was very short, we ended it with a fade to black.

Prelim Task Planning

In order for me to produce my prelim task, 'A Day In The Life Of Shoes', planning for it was a big must as it is essential to a plan.
For example; 

• Initial idea - this is what I started with in the first place. We were told to end the title ourselves.. "A Day In The Life Of..." which was potentially our initial idea. My idea was 'shoes' so  I started to think and brainstorm all the different ideas that I could use.
• Brainstorming - this is when I gathered all the different ideas for my prelim task. Firstly, I thought I could film close ups of different peoples feet an shoes on their journey to a dance class or something practical where the type of shoes they'd end up in was to do with the practicality. However, with the one minute deadline I realised that this was probably unachievable as it would take too long to film and edit all together, especially with no experience in filming or editing on FinalCut Pro! When looking at these initial brainstorming ideas I realised that the idea of the close ups of the different shoes was a good idea and that id put them all together to have this continuous flow of different shoes as though worn by the same person. 
• Filming - before I started filming I had to plan the equipment I was going to use, the actors I would use and finally the time and callings for the actors. As I wasn't very familiar with different cameras and the different techniques so I continued to use the cameras available at my school as I figured they would be easier to access, and also free! I also thought id use the tripods available at school for similar reasons. The actors I decided to use school students who attend the same school, as I would have a range of different school shoes, and those who are in mufti in sixth form would have a range of different stylish shoes. I also planned that when it came to using these actors for their shoes, I would ask around quietly if any could pop out of their lesson for 5 minutes, I will also film students in smaller groups so they won't be out their lesson for long. 

History of Short Films

As short films are not that popular in the modern era, there are some poplar shorts such as 'The Muppets' however, some shorts are also used for charity to raise awareness, for instance, Red Nose Day or Comic Relief. These short films are to persuade people to donate money to a particular charity and the most popular themes to be shown are children and animals as people tend to feel more sympathy towards children and animals.

However, comedy short films were produced in large numbers compared to lengthy feature such as D.W. Griffith's, "Birth of Nation". Short Comedies were very popular and in the 1920s they were typically produced in series, such as, the many outings of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp character. 

Even though there was no set real ease schedule, these series could be considered as what could've been their 'modern TV Sitcom' - lower in status than feature films nowadays but nevertheless very popular. Short films or otherwise known as 'short subjects' were mainly animated or live action and the aim was to make people laugh, newsreels also principally came short subjects too. In the 1950s shorts include the animated work by studios such as Walt Disney Productions and Leon Schlesinger Productions/Warner Bros, and by the mid 1950s, with the raise of television, the short films were virtually dead. With The Three Stooges (last major series of 2-reelers) ending in 1959, short films had become a medium for student, independent and speciality work. Overall, cartoon shorts were the most popular shorts made and had a longer life, and The Pink Panther was the last regular theatrical cartoon short series, having begun in 1969, it ended in 1980. 

Watching Short Films

We watched a short film called 'Slinky' as a starter and introduction to short films. I discovered that firstly, a short film can literally be about anything you want, there is no need to have a long and complicated plot with a twist in it. 'Slinky' is simply about a man that is confronted by a lunatic in a park who happens to be his best friend from school. The short film consists of two actors, one location, and a script and a range of camera shots to add a sense of humour. Overall, this ignites the fact that it is much simpler to make a short film than it is to produce a feature length film.

I also have been apart of a short film and this has enabled me to gain a better understanding to short films as a whole.

This was theoretically a trailer for a promotional feature length film, however with a large budget needed it never went any further therefore can be used as a short. Yet again the short film has a very simple storyline with no plot twists so there is no causing of complications and confusion upon the audience. Also, on the other hand, this Zombie theme is a very different genre to 'Slinky' and still works as a short film because it only consists of one location, small amount of actors and very little props used... etc

Whats Important?

Feature Films and Short Films

Both short films and feature films all go through the same process of the scriptwriting, producing, directing, cinematography and sound. However, the average length of a feature film have gone from just under 2 hours to more than 130 minutes. On the other hand, short films only average around 5 - 30 minutes, also short films are usually entered into film festivals rather than shown on TV. Films festivals are theoretically the only way to get the film out there and noticed, Youtube and Vimeo are also used to publish the films. Such film festivals include Cannes Film Festival(France) and Sundance Film Festival...

Also, furthermore, although short films and feature films go through the same or a similar process of producing, directing and editing, they are also very different from one another. Short films consist of:

• a much smaller cast making the storyline easier to follow
• not as much detail within the plot so it is not complicated and messy
• set mainly on location(local)
• lower budget/costs
• no sub plots
• entered into film festivals rather than on TV
• published online(Youtube and Vimeo)

Continuity Editing and Montage Editing

There are two diversely different approaches to editing, continuity editing and montage theory. I will look into depth about both of these editing techniques and find out the similarities and difference if any. Also i will state my own opinion and feeling on which editing technique I feel works the best and produces the best and most successful outcome of a short film. This also will aid my research in film editing as i will need to also edit my short film, having done research on these different types will give me a wider range of knowledge.

 

Continuity Editing (Classical Continuity)

 



The simple definition of 'Continuity Editing' is the way shots go together to create a seamless chain of events. However for good continuity, all of the strategies need to be looked at closely during the shooting footage. Once raw material (filming) as been created, editing techniques provide further means for binding the scenes together so the film runs easily and smoothly for the audience. Continuity editing aims to hide or at least minimize the shift from one cut to the next, and as a clear result of making the edit seems as 'transparent' as possible. This technique has several component parts and shots which I am about to talk about individually.

 

- Shot Reverse Shot

 

Is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

 

-180 Degree Rule

 

The 180 degree rule is not a law, many notable filmmakers intentionally cross the line to achieve a desired effect that might support the stories narrative.

 

-Graphic Match

 

Is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which objects in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically.

 

 

-Establishing Shots

 

An establishing shot establishes the setting of a scene. When we see a shot of the sun setting behind the exterior of a building, and then we cut to the inside of that building where our scene takes place, we have seen an establishing shot.

Montage Theory

Montage editing is a process of cutting up the whole film which is created and editing it into a screened sequence. It is sometimes used to consciously evoke subjective messages through the shots which are related in composition or movement. 

Film Genres

Film genres are the way we tell films apart. There are many different film genres and everyone has their own taste in genre. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog and within my A2 Media I will be learning and exploring the techniques used in order to make a successful short film(5 minutes). Techniques such as scriptwriting, producing, directing, cinematography, sound and editing. I will explore how each of these aspects are dealt with in the real industry therefore enabling me to produce a professional and successful short film. Alongside this I will also be looking at marketing and distributing my short film through the use of posters, radio or magazines, also throughout the making of my short film I will be investing in GarageBand, iMovie and FinalCut Pro. I hope that I can expand on my creativity through the creating of my short film as I will be working independently whilst casting, directing, filming and editing the short film. However, we are assigned to the making of a 1 minute short film to gain experience in all the techniques and aspects benefitting me when it comes to making my 5 minute short film. Lastly, I will gather feedback from my audience on both my short films and see which aspects I worked well in and what I could improve, this will enable me to establish my weaknesses and strengths.