At the start of our course, each student had to come up with their own idea for a 5-minute short film and give a presentation on it, including aspects which would need to be considered to create the film; such as, location, props, potential problems, etc.
My idea: was a fantasy/festive family film and revolved around the idea of Christmas and Santa instead of the typical thriller film. The main plot of my film was that Santa would be going around the houses on Christmas Eve and would get sucked in by a dolls house chimney which was a present and then end up stuck inside the house as a miniature Santa so that he was not able to go and finish the rest of the deliveries.
Pros:
- The genre was different to what the other groups members had thought of.
- Detailed plot thought out.
- It would provide a chance to use green screen and so those effects would look very good in the film.
- It could all be shot locally and didn't contain any fast-paced action shots which would make it easier to film.
- I wouldn't contain any violence or swearing for example and so would be suitable for a wider audience.
- It provides good convergence opportunities for promotional toys etc.
Cons:
- The green screen effects may be very hard to achieve to a high standard and therefore may look unprofessional within the film.
- Due to the film being based around Christmas it had lots of 'snowy' scenes which would make it hard to film around the weather and would look unrealistic using a snow machine.
- It is a seasonal, festive film and so may not be of interest after Christmas time.
- It may miss out a vast age range; as children would enjoy it, and their families may watch it around Christmas but teenagers to young adults may not.
I felt my presentation was quite detailed and informative after carrying out a fair bit of research into each aspect; lighting, sounds, location, potential problems, props etc. However, my idea seemed fairly limiting to the group to link new ideas into it and so we decided to look at how we could use the other members ideas.
Matt's idea: was based around a fairly average man who was trapped in a dead-end, boring job but he dreamt about what his life used to be like when he was younger and where it all went wrong for him. The idea seemed to be more of a romance, with hints of psychological thriller.
Pros:
- Combination of genres.
- May appeal to a large age range.
- Some ambitious locations
Cons:
- Loose ending would need to be thought about in detail
- Ambitious locations
- Similarly to my idea, it focus's on the weather in order to create the right atmosphere for most scenes
Overall, Matt's idea seemed fairly feasible to create but needed some contribution from our other groups ideas in order to form a more solid plot.
Richard's idea: was all about going through the journey of a young man's memories whilst he appears to be lay down in a grassy field. However, the big twist in this plot is that later, the camera pans out and we find that it was those events which led up to him being stabbed and he is lying there with a knife in him. His presentation came across extremely thought out; consisting of a slide-show as well as including a more in depth idea for the treatment and parts of the script.
Pros:
- Very unexpected and effective twist in the plot.
- Seems as if it would reach a broad audience.
- Incorporated changes of mood and setting, however may include weather like he previous two which can prove difficult when needing to film.
Cons:
- It would require a lot of good quality editing to look professional.
- Flitting between settings and times could confuse the audience with the plot.
- Doesn't fit into a specific genre.
This idea seemed to be the one that would be most effective to produce with possible additions from other ideas. However the presentation could have been a bit shorter and a lot less writing to make it easier to understand and keep interest.
Jodie's idea: was slightly unclear as to the actual plot idea but was based around a glass of water which would empty itself during the night, however turned out to e a practical joke played on the girl by her sister. The presentation had lots of images to help follow the story.
Pros:
- Based around young character's which would relate to a large audience.
- Had a clear twist in the plot.
- The locations were easy to access.
Cons:
- The plot didn't feel as though it would last for the 5-minutes.
- There weren't many ways to change the plot by adding our other ideas to it.
- The plot wasn't very strong.
The idea seemed okay initially but then after listening to the whole presentation, there were problems with how the story of the glass would actually be able to be created and it didn't seem a good basis to start on.
After listening to each of our group's pitches, we decided that a combination of Matt and Richard's film ideas would make a good film and so we began working on that basis. As a group we have chosen to merge these two ideas because we feel they could link together as one really easily as they have some similar aspects about the plot to them. Also because mine and Jodie's ideas were very much unchangeable plots to link into the others. We also feel we will be able to make the most of different locations and shots by using Matt and Richard's ideas to create a professional outcome and the plot seems as though it will run for the desired amount of time; 5minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment