Where would you exhibit your short film?

We would first put our film on YouTube as anyone can watch it on there, you don’t have to have a specific genre so by putting it on YouTube everyone can watch it and also leave feedback for us. YouTube is also popular with our films target audience so that’s how we would get people within our age group to watch it. A short film festival we could enter our film into is Bang! Short Film Festival, based in Nottingham. You don’t need to have any prior experience in filmmaking and they have a section within the festival called ‘’community’’ where you can enter short films that have been made in school or college. It is also free to enter. Another place we could screen our short film is a website called www.renderyard.com . It is a free film network for filmmakers to watch free online independent films from around the world and upload films and contact each other to provide a global film network for new filmmakers. Renderyard lets filmmakers, musicians and actors create a free film profile to upload your short or feature films online in HD quality and 100MB in size for Free with no film length restriction, including music, showreels and voice over to share with each other and the world.

 

Who is your target audience and how have you reached them?

Our target audience is teenagers, mainly girls as they can relate to Harley, the protagonist, in the film. She is talking about her bad experiences with boys and all her annoying boyfriends and teenage girls can watch it and understand what she is talking about. Everything, other than the murder at the end of the film is something that the majority of teenage girls have experienced or will experience.

How does this piece conform to short film codes and conventions; think both in terms of technique?

Our film conforms to the general codes and conventions of short films. It is really short, it’s under 2 minutes yet it doesn’t feel unfinished when you watch it and the plot is strong enough to be that short. As the majority of short films have a low budget, so does ours.  We didn’t have to buy anything for the film and any props/clothes we used were our own. The film didn’t cost anything to make as we just filmed in a park and we used our own props and the schools facilities for the rest of it. We only have two characters in our film as well, a boy and a girl, but you never see the boy properly, just the back of his head so it is basically like there is only one character in the film. The film isn’t really genre specific, it could be a thriller but the majority of the film is quite happy and it is filmed in quite a chatty way so it can’t really be designed as one specific genre.

Editing Process

Our editing has gone really well and has mostly gone to plan. We have kept the script the same and the order of what has been shown the same as we had it in the storyboard. We had to change the last shot, which was supposed to be a layered shot because we weren't sure if it would work. We changed it to Rochelle, as the boyfriend, running away from the scene of the crime, I think it looks more effective than the layered shot as the audience don't see the dead body so it leaves a lot to the imagination. 
     We have completely finished all of the editing and all we have to do now is just work on the effects. We've done a few things to the footage already, some of our shots were too bright so we had to make them darker. This was really time consuming because you can't just highlight all the shots you want to change, you have to do them indvidually. We want to add some effects to the cutaways so people can differentiate them from the rest of the footage.

I Hate Boys!

Filming Process

Our filming hasn't really gone to plan. Before half term we had everything planned out and we had all our work done in advance. Our first day filming went well and we got all the shots we wanted and we had 16 minutes of footage for a 30 second clip. We were supposed to be filming the next day as well but our actress wasn't available that day so we decided to do it on the next day evening which was the Sunday before we came back to school. By the time we actually got to film it was too late and dark and we couldn't see on the camera. We had to get the camera out to film again but they were none available on the first week so we had to get one out for yesterday, Wednesday 10th November. The camera we wanted wasn't available so we had to use a smaller camera instead.

 On the actual day of our filming we had to change a few things around because of technical issues. Our actress was supposed to be reading the script into the camera but we couldn't get any of the mics to work and we didn't have time to be trying to fix it because it would start to get too dark to film again. We decided that we would go back to Rochelle's house afterwards and get the mics to work and we would record the script as a voiceover. Apart from that we got all the right shots and we shot lots of the same footage but from different angles.

 When we got back to Rochelle's house we managed to get the boom mic working and recorded the voiceover without any problems.

Production Schedule

29^th October 2010 AM

Filming:

·         Richmond Park

·         Richmond Bridge

Props:

·         Necklace

·         Rose

Actors:

·         Main protagonist-Harley

·         Ex-boyfriend-Rochelle

Filming equipment:

·         Boom mic

·         Camera

·         Tri pod

29^th October 2010 PM

Filming:

·         Bus stop, Kingston

Props:

·         Phone

·         Necklace

Actors:

·         Main protagonist-Harley

·         Friends-Carla & Chloe

Filming equipment:

·         Camera

·         Tri pod

Contingency plan

If there are any issues with actors not being available, problems with equipment/props etc we will be able to film on Saturday 30^th October and Sunday 31^st October.

If there is bad weather we will also need extra props of umbrellas for the cast/crew and we will also be needing a helper to hold an umbrella over the camera.

Storyboard-Lucy Gibbs

Monologue-Lucy Gibbs & Rochelle Parker

The monologue should be read in an upbeat and enthusiastic tone to give off a good vibe to the audience. The last two lines “That’s when he flipped. Look what the psycho did to me” should be read quietly with little emotion.

“I’ve hate boys. My last three boyfriends have been absolute jokes! First there was James, he was with me...and about three other girls too! Then Connor, he was beautiful but he kissed like a bloody hoover. He had to go. Finally, there was my most recent boyfriend Nathan. Don’t even get me started on him. I mean, everything started out great. At the beginning he was really lovely and I really liked him. He used to take me out to all these posh restaurants and surprise me all the time. He even bought me this beautiful necklace. He was THE most perfect boyfriend. But then, he started to get a bit...controlling. It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was...but eventually he got more possessive, starting full blow arguments just because I went out with my friends! I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had to end it. I wanted to remain friends with him but he made it impossible. He was practically stalking me...turning up everywhere I went, begging me to get back with him. I mean babe...get over it! Anyways last night I was on my way back from Stacey’s house and he turned up accusing me of cheating on him when we were together. I told him he was mad and that my biggest regret was ever going out with him. That’s when flipped...Look what the psycho did to me.

Script-Rochelle Parker

The protagonist is walking through the entrance of Richmond Park and is talking directly to the camera.

Harley: “I’ve had enough of boys. My last three have been absolute jokes! First there was James, he was with me...and about three other girls too! Then Connor, he was beautiful but he kissed like a bloody hoover. He had to go. Finally, there was my most recent boyfriend Nathan. Don’t even get me started on him. I mean, everything started out great. At the beginning he was really lovely and I really liked him.

                                                                    Cutaway                            

Harley (Voiceover): He used to take me out to all these posh restaurants and surprise me all the time. He even bought me this beautiful necklace. He was THE most perfect boyfriend.

Cutaway shows the couple walking along Richmond Bridge holding hands and the boyfriend giving his girlfriend a necklace.

End of Cutaway

Harley: But then, he started to get a bit...controlling. It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was...

Cutaway

Harley (Voiceover): It started out innocent enough like a few texts here and there to see where I was...but eventually he got more possessive, starting full blow arguments just because I went out with my friends! I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had to end it.

Cutaway shows protagonist and her friends dressed up ready to go out, laughing around at a bus stop. Protagonist then walks away and is having an argument with boyfriend on her phone. Argument is made obvious by body language and facial expressions.

End of Cutaway

Harley: I wanted to remain friends with him but he made it impossible. He was practically stalking me...turning up everywhere I went, begging me to get back with him. I mean babe...get over it!

Cutaway

Harley (Voiceover): Anyways last night I was on my way back from Stacey’s house and he turned up accusing me of cheating on him when we were together.

Cutaway shows protagonist walking through park on the phone unaware that her ex-boyfriend is watching her

End of Cutaway

 Harley: I told him he was mad and that my biggest regret was ever going out with him. That’s when flipped...Look what the psycho did to me.

Synopsis-Rochelle Parker

A teenage girl is walking down a street and eventually enters a big park. Whilst walking she directs the camera and talks about her three previous boyfriends. She talks the most about her most recent boyfriend and goes on to describe the stages of their relationship. As she describes, a series of cutaways are shown to illustrate what she is saying. The further she walks, the more secluded her surrounding area becomes. Eventually she stops walking and says her final line ‘Look what the psycho did to me…’ A body lying on the floor then comes into view and we see that she is looking over her own dead body.

Shot list-Lucy Gibbs

Shot List.

1.    Medium close up (tracking)

2.    Extreme long shot

3.    Long shot

4.    Medium shot

5.    Long shot

6.    Extreme long shot panning into…..

7.    …..Medium close up

8.    Long shot (360⁰ rotation)

9.    Long shot

10.                       Long shot (depth of field)

11.                       Medium close up panning out to……

12.                       ………Long shot

Bibliography

• http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/
• http://www.openfilm.com/
• http://www.wikipedia.org/
• http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/
• http://www.imdb.com/
• http://vimeo.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

Sony HVR V1 camera notes

• Push-Auto focus-Focus is set manually, when this button is pressed the camera focuses on what it should be focusing on
• Focus Pull-The focus ring focuses on an object/person in front and the camera records the meter number, they turn the focus ring to focus on an object/person behind the first object/person and then record that meter number, now they can flick slowly between the two readings, so that one object/person is in focus when the other isn't
• Exposure/Iris-determines how much light the camera is letting in through the aperture

Sony HVR V1 camera notes

• Microphone-for single audio source, the switch is up and the microphone is in input 1, for 2 audio sources the switch is down
• Status check-gives information about shooting mode and and shows you everything about the camera
• Focus-mountain range lets you know if you've got control over the focus, to know if you're in focus, zoom into something detailed such as hair

Sony HVR V1 camera notes

• Auto Lock-the camera cannot be controlled manually unless it is specified
• Hold-No control over the settings
• Manual-you have total control over the camera
• Gain-You want more light, but there is no light. The higher the gain, the worse quality of the footage, the average gain is 12db
• Shutter Speed-Allows more motion per second
• White Balance-Indoor lighting is represented by a light bulb, outside lighting is represented by a sun on the camera screen
• Menu-Used to change the camera settings

Short film festivals-London short film festival

• London short film festival started in January 2004 and is still going strong now
• The next short film festival is being held in January next year and they are already accepting films now
• The festival lasts 10 days and is held at ten major cinemas across the capital
• There are over 200 short films featured a year
• Over 10 days the country's most creative independent filmmakers screened their work across London in cinemas such as the festivals home, the ICA and newcomer Shortwave cinema
• Some of the nights include 'lo budget mayhem' and 'midnight movies'
• In 2010 cinemas in central London such as Curzon, Soho, in East London Rich Mix and Vibe Live, in West London Cinephilia west and the Lexi, in South London the Roxy Bar and in North London the Roundhouse
• The festival was founded by Philip Ilson and Kate Taylor, who in 2003 organised the first Halloween short film festival at the ICA
• This was a continuation of the Halloween short film club which was started by Philip in 1994
• Only in 2008 it became the London short film festival and it gets bigger every year
• In 2010 over 6000 tickets were sold, there were 42 events over 10 nights and 10 venues, 75% of events sold to capacity, over 200 short films were screened
• The event was also featured in many magazines/newspapers such as Time out, The times, Metro, Guardian and Empire

Short film festivals

• Short film festivals are a great chance for aspiring filmmakers to demonstrate their work
• Many people like to share their work with other filmmakers but the main reason to enter a short film festival is to get your film picked up by a director and made into a feature length film or get funding for future films
• One of the first short film festivals was created by Shane Meadows called ''Six of the Best''
• Six of the best was held in a local cinema where entrants paid a small fee for a chance to get their short films displayed in front of an audience
• The festival was a huge success and has now become international 
• Other short film festivals are Encounters short film festival, London Short film festival, Bang! Short film festival, Los Angeles international shirt film festival and Renderyard short film festivals

Short film and the internet-Openfilm

• Openfilm is a website for finding and distributing independent films
• It was founded by James Caan and Dmitry Kozko in November 2007 and launched in June 2008
• Its advisory board features members of the film industry including James Caan, Robert Duvall, Scott Caan and Mark Rydell
• The site was named best video sharing site by Videomaker magazine in 2008
• Openfilm recently hosted a competition called Get it made where users uploaded their videos for a chance to win $200 000 and the opportunity to to make their short film into a feature length film, the winner is due to be announced this month!
• The top six films are decided by the amount of votes they get, the ultimate winner is decided by a panel of film industry experts
• The whole competition is a 5/6 month process

Short films and the internet

• The majority of short films made are displayed on the internet
• Posting videos online has become easier and more accessible in recent years due to advances in technology with websites such as YouTube where anyone can upload a video for free
• Unlike many websites, YouTube allows amateur filmmakers to display their work for free without having to be any good
• Other websites which encourage this are Openfilm, Britfilm and Newgrounds
• BBC film network features more professionally made films
• Openfilm.com is a fast growing online film community where film makers and film lovers can watch independent films and distribute their own
• Their is a section on iTunes called shorts international where short films can be viewed and purchased in USA, Canada, UK and Germany
• The short film section is updated once a month and also includes the annual release of the Academy Award nominated short films 

The Craven

Ciley Myrus from BDC on Vimeo.


For my short film preliminary project I worked in a group of 3 with Sam and Shaakira. On the first day we were filming Shaakira wasn't in so we had to do as best as we could with only 2 people. We hadn't planned previous to the day we started filming, which we should have done because then our work would have been more organised and we would have been properly prepared on the day. We also had to use someone else to do the filming for us, which didn't work out too well as they didn't shoot a lot of camera angles and a lot of the shots were shaky. Our idea itself was alright but nothing really to do with what we had to do.
   When we looked back at our footage we didn't really have a lot so when Shaakira came back the next day we filmed some more. The editing went really well and no problems occurred at all during the time. We all worked well together and there were no arguments or disagreements at all. When we created the opening titles, we wanted to do more with them to make it more exciting but we had a limited amount of time so we had to leave them as they were
   From doing the preliminary task I have learnt a lot. I have learnt that I should plan what I am doing in advance to avoid complications like this time and I should also be prepared for unforeseen situations like having a missing member of the group. I should have also thought about what we actually needed to do as part of the task instead of focusing too much on the storyline.

We were once a fairytale-Spike Jonze

• It seems like the main purpose of this film is to promote Kanye West as the whole film is about him and features his music
• The mise en scene is a nightclub, the lighting is dark so it is hard to get a feel for the surroundings
• The camera is also blurred because Kanye is supposed to be drunk so the audience can see what he is seeing, as the film goes on the camera becomes more blurred to show Kanye getting more drunk

Spike Jonze-short films

Spike Jonze-feature films

Spike Jonze

• Spike Jonze was born Adam Spiegel on October 22nd 1969
• His work includes music videos, television, film and television commercials
• In 2006 he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for work that included Hello Tomorrow for Adidas, Lamp for IKEA, and Pardon Our Dust for Gap. 
• He was a producer and co-creator of TV show Jackass and Jackass: The Movie
• Spike was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine alongside Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins
•  He was an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding
• In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, including Blind skateboard company's Video Days in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right! and the Chocolate Skateboards video Hot Chocolate
• Spike has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey who is the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey alter ego started when Spike filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank" as it played in a public area, Spike showed the video to Slim, who loved it, Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You" outside a Westwood, California cinema and taped the performance
• He also has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in the Beck song "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" 
• Since 2007, he has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by Vice and funded by MTV
• Jonze directed Where the Wild Things Are, which opened in the USA on October 16, 2009. It is  the product of a decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak
• In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, Light Boxes. It is expected that Jonze will act as producer on this project with Ray Tintori
• In July 2010, he directed a stop-motion trailer for an upcoming concert for the Canadian band Arcade Fire

One Day by Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry

• Michel Gondry was born on May 8th 1963 in Versailles, France
• He is known for his inventive visual style and manipulative mise-en-scene
• His filmmaking career began when he created a music video for French band Oui Oui
• His video making style caught the attention of singer Bjork who asked him to direct the video for her song human behaviour
• He then went on to direct 7 more of her videos
• Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry more than once are Daft Punk, Radiohead, Beck, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines and Stereogram
• He has also created numerous TV adverts including Gap and Smirnoff vodka where he used the technique ''bullet time'' which was later adapted in the matrix
• Michel made his feature film debut in 2001 with ''Human nature'' which received mixed reviews
• His second film ''Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'' became one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year
• Michel directed the musical documentary Dave Chappelle's block party which followed comedian Dave Chappelle as he attempted to hold a large, free concert in Brooklyn
• His TV advert for Levi's jeans holds the record for most awards won by a TV commercial in the Guinness world records 2004

Shane Meadows

• Shane Meadows is a self taught British filmmaker from the Midlands
• He was born in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire on 26th December 1972
• He dropped out of school before reaching his O levels and intended to be a criminal mastermind
• He was caught buying a stolen set of John Lowe darts and admitted to stealing an egg custard tart from Sainsbury's, it was clear the criminal underworld wasn't for him
• When his criminal charges were read out in court, laughter could be heard from the gallery and judges bench after it was revealed he had stolen a breast pump from Boots, this was when he decided to embark on a career in filmmaking
• In 1994 Shane volunteered his services to the Nottingham based Intermedia Film and Video Ltd, he was allowed to borrow camcorders and editing equipment in exchange for working there for free
• He asked his friends and family to get involved in his films at first
• After he had made a couple of short films, his friends watched them and were impressed, they decided they wanted to get involved in the future
• After making a short film every month, Shane and his friends were frustrated there were no festivals or venues to screen their films
• They set up their own event called 'six of the best' which was held every couple of months in an old local cinema
• The event grew in popularity and eventually became an international video festival called 'flip side'
• The first of Shane's films to grab attention was ''Where's the money, Ronnie?"
• He then made a documentary for Channel 4's 'battered Britain' season called 'King of the Gypsies'
• Shane then made a film called 'smalltime' which was an example of Shane's philosophy for aspiring filmmakers, stick to what you know and you won't go far wrong
• Shane then made his first feature film Twentyfour seven which led to This is England
• As Shane looks to future feature length projects, he still likes to create short films as much as he can

The Stairwell-Shane Meadows

• The opening scene is of a light switch, it has been shot at a slanted angle to show that the film is not high budget, Hollywood film but is a gritty, low budget film
• The lighting in the film is mostly dark to make it more edgy and gives the audience the impression something sinister is going to happen
• The first character we see is a male with dark clothing on and his hood up, their is bright lights shining from behind him so we can't see his face because of the shadow from the light, this makes the character seem mysterious and the audience would automatically assume he has done something wrong
• It also looks like he is running away from something/someone 
• The lighting is very bright on the female character and because the camera is also very close to her face, the audience gets a good look at her
• The way the camera keeps changing focus from one character to the other really quickly it makes the audience fell like something big is going to happen between the two
• The music throughout is very repetitive and fits in with the urban location of the film, it stops when it reaches the 'climax' of the film
• The film ends with the two characters running into eachother as they were travelling opposite ways up/down the stairwell, its an anti climax because the audience were expecting some sort of conflict between the two characters

• The film has a circular narrative, what we saw at the beginning of the film is exactly what we see at the end, its like a continuous loop
• The whole film is very dream like, it may have inspired films today such as 'Inception' where you don't know whether the main protagonist is dreaming or not, the whole film is so surreal its hard to differentiate what is reality and what is in the characters mind
• There are many significant objects featured throughout the film; a flower, phone and knife. 
• The music in the film builds up tension throughout, every time something more dramatic starts to happen, the music starts to build up
• I think that the flower symbolizes the womans life and the hooded "grim reaper" character keeps trying to take it away from her and she's fighting to get it back, we see that the hooded character has a reflective mirror face so when the woman looks at it, all she sees is herself, so it's like she's is battling with herself whether to take her own life or not, this links to the end of the film where she does decide to commit suicide